“WISE MEN STILL SEEK HIM”
SELECTED SCRIPTURES

I. Introduction
Many years ago, when I was still new in the faith, we received a Christmas card with a message I had never heard before. On the cover was an illustration of the three wise men trekking across the sand dunes in the direction of the Star of Bethlehem. There were no words on the outside of the card – just the illustration. But inside the card was a simple five word message – “Wise men still seek Him.”

That message intrigued me then and it still does. After all, wise men (and wise women and wise children) do still seek Him, don’t they? If you are a Christian, you did, didn’t you? But here’s the question: Just when and how did the process of seeking Him begin? And if you think about it a little, a second question may come to mind: Does the Bible really teach that wise men seek Him, or does the Bible teach the polar opposite? Jesus did say, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).”

The Book of Romans is the NT book that introduces, defines, and describes Christian doctrine. It tells us what God says about man in his fallen and lost condition. It goes on to tell us of our need for salvation and lays down the foundation upon which the church is built. In short, Romans is the book that, when studied and learned, grounds the believer in the Christian faith. One of the first things the Book of Romans teaches is that people are lost in their sin. That fact is followed by this…
Romans 3:10-11
10 “There is none righteous, not even one;
11 There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God.”

Well, that’s pretty clear, isn’t it? So maybe that Christmas card that said, “Wise men still seek Him” was wrong. But didn’t Jesus say, “…seek and you will find,” or something like that? The skeptic, the cynic, and the unbeliever say, “There you are. There is yet another contradiction in your Bible.” Such people love to point out the apparent contra-dictions in God’s Word. After all, they say, if there are any contradictory statements in the Scriptures, then none of the Bible can be considered trustworthy, now can it?

So what do you do with passages that, at least on the surface, seem to be completely con-tradictory? What do you do when you come across things that seem to make sense, that seem logical and even biblical, but then “trip over” a passage looks to be diametrically opposed to it? How do you go about reconciling statements like “Wise men still seek Him” and “…there is none who seeks for God.”?

The first thing to do is be sure that both statements are biblical. “…there is none who seeks for God” is Scripture (Romans 10:11). They are the very words of God.
On the other hand, “Wise men still seek Him” is not Scripture. They are not the very words of God. This is a classic example of why you and I as Bible-believing Christians must know the Scriptures we say we believe. While the words, “Wise men still seek Him” are not found in the Bible, there exists an element of truth in them. But that truth is too often misread, misunderstood, and misapplied.
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II. Text
So do wise men still seek Him or don’t they? In order to answer that question we’ll need to examine two words that, by themselves, we already understand. But we won’t use a dictionary to define them. Rather, we will use the Scriptures to see how they are used.

The two words are “wise” and “seek.” When we see them as they are used in Scripture, we’ll understand what God means by them. And when we do that, we’ll also see that there are no contradictions. In the process we’ll see that the Prophet Isaiah can say, “At night my soul longs for You, indeed my spirit within me seeks You diligently (Isaiah 26:9a),” and the Apostle Paul can say, “There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God (Romans 3:11).” And we’ll see that there is not the least contradiction!

Let’s begin with the word “seek.” As we look at the following Scriptures we will need to remember that no verse or passage can ever be rightly interpreted when it is removed from the context in which it is found. False teachers and cultists delight in doing that, and they inevitably twist and contort the Word of God to the point where they can make it say virtually anything.

But Romans 3:11 says, “…there is none who seeks for God.” So let’s examine a few passages that would seem to teach the very opposite. We will consider each of them in context, and in the process see whether or not one passage contradicts the other. Then we will be able to determine just who wise men (and wise women and wise children) actually are.

In Deuteronomy, Moses speaks to God’s chosen people on the plains of Moab. He pro-phesies and tells them they will be punished for their disobedience.
*Deuteronomy 4:26-29
26 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you shall surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but shall be utterly destroyed.
27 “And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where the LORD shall drive you.
28 “And there you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
29 “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.”

In 2 Chronicles, during Asa’s reign as king, the prophet Azariah reminds Asa of the need for Israel to continue to look to God.
*2 Chronicles 15:1-4
1 Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded.
2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will for-sake you.
3 “And for many days Israel was without the true God and without a teach-ing priest and without law.
4 “But in their distress they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him.”

In Jeremiah, God used him to send a letter of encouragement to the Jews who were in captivity in Babylon.
*Jeremiah 29:11-14a
11 “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans for welfare and not for calamity (in order) to give you a future and a hope.
12 “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
13 “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
14a “And I will be found by you,” declares the LORD…

But Romans 3:11 still says, “…there is none who seeks for God.” So someone might say, “Well, maybe the standard in the OT was different than the standard in the NT.” No, that’s not the case because Jesus expresses the very same principle in the NT.

In the Sermon on the Mount the Lord is teaching God’s people how they are to live their lives. With regard to worry and anxiety, He says this…
*Matthew 6:31-33
31 “Do not be anxious then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’
32 “For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.”

Then with regard to the prayer of the faithful, Jesus says this…
*Matthew 7:7-8
7 “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.
8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.”

What’s one of the things these passages in Isaiah, Deuteronomy, 2 Chronicles, Jeremiah, and Matthew all have in common? They all speak of seeking God, and they are all either spoken by, or directed to, God’s people. And just like us, all of them are sinners, but just like us, all of them are saved. They, and we, are God’s chosen ones.

What does God do when His chosen ones sin and turn away from Him? He disciplines them, doesn’t He? But sooner or later God’s chosen ones will turn back to Him and dili-gently seek Him. And when they do, Deuteronomy 4 says they, “…will find Him.”

What about when God’s chosen ones decide to forsake Him? He will forsake them, won’t He? Then when they become distressed, they will seek Him, and 2 Chronicles 15 says, “…He will let (them) find Him.”

What about when God’s chosen ones are oppressed or find themselves in the midst of trouble and strife? What will they do? They will seek Him in prayer and He will hear them, and Jeremiah 29 says they, “…will seek Me and (they will) find Me.”

In all three of these examples from the OT it is clear that when God’s people seek Him, they will find Him. And in the NT, speaking to God’s people in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says the same thing – “…seek, and you shall find.” So, who finds God when they seek Him? His people, His chosen ones do!

Now let’s go back to Romans 3:11 which says, “There is none who understands, there is none who seeks after God.” Is the Apostle Paul speaking to God’s people? No, he is not. Is he speaking about God’s people? Again, he is not. He is neither speaking about nor to God’s chosen ones. Rather, he is speaking about the lost, Jew and Gentile alike, who are still in their sin, still condemned, and still without Christ.

Listen, we can never rightly understand any verse or passage of Scripture unless and until we understand it in its context. Any time any question arises about what you are reading, read the whole passage and ask yourself a few pertinent questions.
• Who is saying it?
• To whom is it being said?
• About whom is it being said?
• What is going on before the passage in question?
• What is going on after the passage in question?
• What are the circumstances under which it is being said?

So far we have heard from Moses, Ezra, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Matthew, and Paul. Each of them wrote under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit.
We’ve seen that each of them was speaking directly to God’s people, or indirectly of God’s people. With one notable exception, the circumstances varied from warning to encouragement to hope for the future. That exception was Paul in Romans 3:11. “There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God.”

It is clear that Paul is talking about those whom God has not saved; those who have not repented and received Christ. They are the subject of Paul’s comments. And the point is this: It is among those people that…
*Romans 3:10-12
10 “There is none righteous, not even one;
11 there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God;
12 all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.”

These are the same people of whom Paul had already spoken. “Professing to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:22).”

By this standard, by this definition, God’s people are not fools at all. Now, we may act like fools, and we sometimes do, but God’s people are wise in the sense that we possess access to the wisdom of God. He has made us “wise unto salvation,” as the KJV says it. Paul told Timothy that it was the Scriptures, God’s Word, that gave Timothy, “…the wis-dom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15b).”

So it is in that sense that Christians are wise. You see, God’s chosen men, women, and children fear God, and in that fear, we become wise.
Psalm 111:10
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

James, speaking on the subject of wisdom in the church, says…
James 1:5 (speaking to believers)
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

But in Romans 3 Paul is speaking of the lost when He says…
Romans 3:18
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Too many Christians today are attempting to make the church palatable to the lost by referring to themselves as “seeker-friendly” or “seeker-oriented.” This would be won-derful is the lost were seeking Jesus. But the problem is that the masses of those who do not know Christ are not seeking Him. They may be seeking some sort of fulfillment or some sort of religious experience, but they are not seeking the Christ of the Bible. We know that because of Romans 3:11. – “…there is none who seeks for God…”
So the great failure of the modern seeker movement is that it tries to mold the church to appeal to the lost. But in order for the church to appeal to large segments of the lost world, the church must become like large segments of the lost world. It has been rightly said, “When the church becomes like the world, the world no longer needs the church.”

The church is not to be like the world. The church is to be distinct from the world. It is that very distinction from the world that appeals to those whom God is drawing to Him-self. It is that very distinction from the world that calls out to the ones Jesus is seeking.
Luke 19:10
10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

The Church of Jesus Christ is, by definition, God’s people. It is those people whom Jesus came to seek and to save. It is those people alone whose eyes have been opened. It is those people alone who have been given the wisdom to seek after God. It is those peo-ple alone of who can be called wise. So it is those people alone of whom it can be said, “Wise men (and wise women and wise children) still seek Him.”

And therein is found the key point. Romans makes it clear that the lost do not – hear me carefully now – the lost do not, on their own, seek after God. The lost only seek God AFTER God has seen fit, in His sovereign wisdom, to seek them. This is the heart of the doctrine of election. It isn’t hard to see why the doctrine of election is hated, is it?

Yet it is a critically important doctrine because it teaches that salvation is purely and com- pletely a gift of God. It is purely and completely by, of, and from God. We had nothing to do with it. Even the very faith which we used to receive it is a gift from God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).”

Jesus Christ, fully God and fully Man, did not come to this earth in order for us to seek Him. He came to this earth in order for Him to seek us. That is precisely what He said:
“…the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).” You can see why He had to do it, can’t you?
• How could the lost seek Him? The lost are, “Professing to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:22).”
• And fools have said in their hearts, “…there is no God (Psalm 14:1b).”
• And those who deny His existence have, “…no fear of God before their eyes (Romans 3:18).”

The Church of Jesus Christ is for those who do fear God. It is for those whom He has sought and called to Himself. But in our human pride and arrogance we like to think that we start the process by coming to Him through the decision making processes of our own “freewill.” But that is not the case at all.
Scripture tells us that prior to our salvation our wills are enslaved to Satan and to sin. So our so-called “freewill” is anything but free. It is corrupted and does not seek after God because it cannot seek after God. Listen to the following statements by Jesus and ask yourself what is there of man’s “freewill” in them.
John 6:44a, 65b
44a “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him…”
65b “No one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

Could Jesus have stated it any more plainly than that? In our fallen condition our sinful will has no desire to come to Christ. God starts the process by seeking us. Only then, do we begin to sense our need and do we begin to desire Him. Listen, if you want Christ, it is only because He first wanted you.
1 John 4:10, 19
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son…
19 We love (Him), because He first loved us.
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III. Conclusion
The magi were wise men. They became wise because God sought them and drew them to His Son. They were seeking the King of the Jews, the Christ, because, unbeknownst to them, the King of the Jews, the Christ was seeking them. He was making them very wise indeed. We know that because of what they said to Herod…
Matthew 2:2
2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

Only wise men worship Him. Only those drawn to the manger worship Him. I pray that you are all wise today.
• Is Jesus drawing you to Himself?
• Is something stirring in your soul that longs to be connected to Him?
• Is He calling you to come to Him in faith and trust Him for your salvation?
• Do you sense that baby in the manger come to seek you?

If He has, I think you know it. And I think you know you need to respond. Don’t wait. None of us is guaranteed our next breath. So wise men (and women and children) still do seek Him. Let Him make you wise today. Receive the indescribable gift of eternal life.
2 Corinthians 9:15
15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

You say, “I have received God’s indescribable gift of eternal life.” Good! Are you thanking Him for it every day? Good! Now what are you going to do about it? Let me suggest a few things.
• You can keep seeking after Him. He has promised that you will find Him.
• You can keep seeking His kingdom and His righteousness. He has promised He will give you everything you need. (“need” – not want)

In seeking after Him and His kingdom and His righteousness you will become wise. In your wisdom you will learn to submit yourself to Him, you will learn to humble yourself before Him, you will learn to obey Him, and you will grow in grace and knowledge. And in the process you will find that “Wise men really do still seek Him.”

~ Pray ~