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Wisdom and Prudence

Pastor Albert N. Martin expounds Ephesians 1:8, focusing on the overflow of God's grace in imparting 'wisdom and prudence.' He defines wisdom as penetrating insight into divine realities and prudence as the practical ability to apply these insights to life. Martin argues that Paul blesses God for this because he knew both the futility of the world's wisdom, which cannot answer life's most basic questions, and the fountainhead of heavenly wisdom, Jesus Christ. The sermon concludes with exhortations for believers not to be intimidated by worldly wisdom and for young people to guard against questioning the absolute authority of Scripture, as this leads to despair.

1 illustration in this sermon

The Futility of the World's Wisdom
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Academics and the Pogo Stick Kid

In this part of the sermon: Through an illustration of brilliant academics unable to answer simple, fundamental questions about God, sin, and salvation, Martin demonstrates the absolute futility of the…

A hypothetical scenario where the world's five most brilliant minds in every academic field are gathered to solve problems, only to be stumped by a small child asking simple, one-syllable questions about God, right, wrong, and forgiveness. This illustrates the absolute futility of worldly wisdom to address foundational spiritual realities.

Now, suppose this is the case. Suppose this afternoon it were possible for me, for you, for someone in this area, to convene under one roof, say they hired a large hall somewhere, the five most brilliant men in every field of academic discipline, every one of them with earned Ph.D. degrees or doctor's degrees in their field, and we gather together the five most brilliant nuclear physicists from all over the world. Then we gather together the five most brilliant philosophers from the five most brilliant computer scientists, and the five keenest sociologists, and the five best neurosurgeons, and...

12:04 - 13:05 Read in full sermon