The Question Will Be Asked: How Is It, if God...
Andrew Murray challenges the church to re-examine its understanding of God's commands and promises, and to seek the supernatural power of God's Spirit to achieve entire devotion.
Andrew Murray addresses the pressing question of why the church has failed to embody God's love as Christ did, emphasizing the need for complete devotion to God's Word. He acknowledges human weakness but argues that it is often underestimated, leading to a lack of reliance on the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. Murray asserts that the church's low state stems from a misunderstanding of God's commands and promises, which are often interpreted in a limited human sense rather than their intended divine power. He calls for a deeper pursuit of God's Spirit to realize the grace and devotion that God desires from His children.
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The question will be asked, and it is most needful and natural that it should be asked: How is it, if God really meant his children thus to bring his love to their fellowmen in the way Christ brought it, by living and dying for it, how is it that the church has failed so terribly? Does God's Word actually teach and claim such entire devotion? Is it indeed an attainable degree of grace, a state that can actually be realized? Or must we not take into account the weakness of human nature, and consider the present state of the church as about all that could really be expected?
We must indeed take into account the weakness of human nature. But only in a much greater degree than is usually done. It must be seen that human weakness is such utter impotence that it makes the life of God on earth an utter impossibility except as the supernatural power of the working of God's Spirit is waited on and experienced. And if the question be again asked how it is, if the declarations of God's Word are so plain, that this power of God's Spirit is not more sought and known, the answer leads us again to what we have called the root evil of the low state of the church. It is because God's wonderful commands and promises are all understood and accepted in a certain human sense, and not in their divine quickening meaning and power.
(Excerpted from The Coming Revival, by Andrew Murray , pg. 61)
Sermon Outline
- The Question of Devotion
- The Teachings of God's Word
- The Role of Human Nature
- The Root Evil of the Church
- Understanding God's commands and promises in a human sense
- The lack of divine quickening meaning and power
Key Quotes
“We must indeed take into account the weakness of human nature. But only in a much greater degree than is usually done.” — Andrew Murray
“It must be seen that human weakness is such utter impotence that it makes the life of God on earth an utter impossibility except as the supernatural power of the working of God's Spirit is waited on and experienced.” — Andrew Murray
Application Points
- The church must re-examine its understanding of God's commands and promises to achieve devotion.
- The supernatural power of God's Spirit is necessary for the church to achieve devotion.
- The church must wait on and experience the power of God's Spirit to overcome human weakness.