God Only Wise

God’s Wisdom and Ours

Definition of wisdom “Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.”

“The practical side of moral goodness.”

God is wise in his essence.

Wisdom and Power

We may be wise to the degree which we can know the varibles, yet not be able to accomplish much.

God is all wise and all powerful.

What’s the goal of all the wisdom he has and has displayed?

“His ultimate objective is to bring them to a state in which they please him entirely and prise him adequately, a state in which he is all in all to them, and he and they rejoice contninueally in the knowldege of each other’s love - people rejoicing in the saving love of God, set upon them from all eternity, and God rejoicing in the responsive love of people, drawn out of them by grace through the gospel.”

John Piper

“That seems to be the hardest thing as I’ve listened to questions that students are having difficulty getting a handle on. If God is the most all-satisfying reality in the universe, the most loving thing he can do is point you to himself. I don’t know how to say it any simpler. I’ll say it again: if God is the most all-satisfying reality in the universe, the most loving thing he can do is point you to himself. God, you do the rest. I don’t know what else to say.”

Oh sing to the Lord a new song;

sing to the Lord, all the earth!

Sing to the Lord, bless his name;

tell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous works among all the peoples! (Psalm 96:1–3)

That’s the gospel. That’s the message that we take, because the glory of God is the only thing that will satisfy the human soul, and therefore, the only loving thing you can do for the nations is to join God in directing them to the all-satisfying glory of God. That’s the only thing you can do. And since they’re all sinners, they will never ever be able to stand in the presence of the glory of God without being consumed, unless they know Jesus, who loved them and gave himself for them.”

In the mean time he is sanctifying us into the ultimate revelation of his wisdom - Jesus Christ the Son of God.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;”

Personal sanctification: Jesus saves. I’m a sinner in need of a savior. God the Father. Now life in the Spirit.

Joseph “Joseph was being tested, refined, and matured; he was being taught during his spell as a a slave, and in prison, to stay himself upon God, to keep cheerful and charitable in frustrating circumstances, and to wait patiently for the Lord. God uses sustatained hardship to teach these lessons very frequecntly…Once again, we are condronted with the wisdom of God ordering the events of a ahuman life for a double purpose: the individual’s own personal sanctification, and the fulfilling of his appointed ministry and service in the life of the people of God.”

“We should not therefore, be too taken aback when unexpected and usetting and discuraging things happen to us now. What do they mean? (Personally) Why, simply that God in his wisdom means to make something of us which we have not attained yet, and is dealing with us accordingly.”

How do we meet these baffeling circumstances?

First by taking them form God and asking ourselves what reactions to them and in them the gospel of God requires of us

Second, seeking God’s face about them.

2 Corinthians 12:7–9 “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”