Dependence
Overcomers • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 23 viewsReliance upon God or upon others. Dependence on God for help with spiritual and physical needs arises out of an awareness of human helplessness, though dependence may be wrongly directed. People may look to others for encouragement and support, but over-dependence is not commended.
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Dependence arising from a sense of helplessness
Dependence arising from a sense of helplessness
Physical helplessness
Physical helplessness
In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried to my God for help;
He heard my voice out of His temple,
And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.
See also ; ; ;
They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region;
They did not find a way to an inhabited city.
They were hungry and thirsty;
Their soul fainted within them.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He delivered them out of their distresses.
The Lord preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.
Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years,
and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse—
Spiritual helplessness
Spiritual helplessness
; ; ;
For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute;
and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.”
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
Dependence on God encouraged
Dependence on God encouraged
God is to be trusted
God is to be trusted
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
See also ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.
“He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And trust in the Lord.
And those who know Your name will put their trust in You,
For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.
Some boast in chariots and some in horses,
But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.
Trust in the Lord and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
The Lord is good,
A stronghold in the day of trouble,
And He knows those who take refuge in Him.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
God is a refuge
God is a refuge
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
See also ; ;
“The eternal God is a dwelling place,
And underneath are the everlasting arms;
And He drove out the enemy from before you,
And said, ‘Destroy!’
Trust in Him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us.
Selah.
In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be ashamed.
God can help those who depend on him
God can help those who depend on him
so that we confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.
What will man do to me?”
See also ; ; ;
The Lord is for me; I will not fear;
What can man do to me?
The Lord is for me among those who help me;
Therefore I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me.
In You our fathers trusted;
They trusted and You delivered them.
To You they cried out and were delivered;
In You they trusted and were not disappointed.
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope for His lovingkindness,
To deliver their soul from death
And to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
If the Lord had not been my help,
My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.
If I should say, “My foot has slipped,”
Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up.
God will help those who depend on him
God will help those who depend on him
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
See also ; ;
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Examples of failure to depend on God
Examples of failure to depend on God
; ; ; ; ; ;
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
“But for all this, you did not trust the Lord your God,
“When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice.
However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
Even those who trust in their wealth
And boast in the abundance of their riches?
This is the way of those who are foolish,
And of those after them who approve their words.
Selah.
They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame,
Who trust in idols,
Who say to molten images,
“You are our gods.”
Dependence on God for physical help
Dependence on God for physical help
Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah.
“O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”
See also Hezekiah; the men of Judah
Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.
Thus the sons of Israel were subdued at that time, and the sons of Judah conquered because they trusted in the Lord, the God of their fathers.
Asa:
Asa:
;
Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.”
“Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand.
David;
Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb;
You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts.
Upon You I was cast from birth;
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.
two blind men;
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
Mary;
When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”
And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”
Paul
For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life;
indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;
who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,
Dependence on God for spiritual needs
Dependence on God for spiritual needs
Childlike dependence is necessary for those who would enter God’s kingdom;
John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.
But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
See also ; ; ;
“May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”
But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
“And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”
And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”
and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
“You are witnesses of these things.
“And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,
Dependence on God expressed in prayer
Dependence on God expressed in prayer
Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God,
For to You I pray.
See also ; ; ; ;
For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from him;
But when he cried to Him for help, He heard.
But I, O Lord, have cried out to You for help,
And in the morning my prayer comes before You.
Hear my prayer, O Lord!
And let my cry for help come to You.
I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I wait for Your words.
Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
Examples of those crying out in dependence on God
Examples of those crying out in dependence on God
the Israelites in Egypt;
Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God.
Job in his suffering;
“I go about mourning without comfort;
I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help.
the people of Jerusalem;
O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.
Jeremiah;
I called on Your name, O Lord,
Out of the lowest pit.
Jonah from within the fish;
and he said,
“I called out of my distress to the Lord,
And He answered me.
I cried for help from the depth of Sheol;
You heard my voice.
the tax collector in the temple;
“But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’
the church praying for Peter;
So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
the Corinthians praying for Paul
Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God.
you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.
Misplaced dependence
Misplaced dependence
Dependence on surrounding nations
Dependence on surrounding nations
“But now what are you doing on the road to Egypt,
To drink the waters of the Nile?
Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria,
To drink the waters of the Euphrates?
See also ;
“You say (but they are only empty words), ‘I have counsel and strength for the war.’ Now on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me?
“Now behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt; on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
And rely on horses,
And trust in chariots because they are many
And in horsemen because they are very strong,
But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord!
Dependence on false gods and religions
Dependence on false gods and religions
How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust,
And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
See also ; ;
“For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.
They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame,
Who trust in idols,
Who say to molten images,
“You are our gods.”
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
Dependence on human strength and resources
Dependence on human strength and resources
;
Thus says the Lord,
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the Lord.
So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
See also ; ; ;
The king is not saved by a mighty army;
A warrior is not delivered by great strength.
A horse is a false hope for victory;
Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
Than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
Than to trust in princes.
Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Dependence on sinful behaviour
Dependence on sinful behaviour
;
Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Since you have rejected this word
And have put your trust in oppression and guile, and have relied on them,
No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly.
They trust in confusion and speak lies;
They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
The futility of misplaced dependence
The futility of misplaced dependence
;
Like a bad tooth and an unsteady foot
Is confidence in a faithless man in time of trouble.
“For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me,
The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns
That can hold no water.
See also ; ; ; ;
“Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah;
“Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates,
Even the king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks.
“Then it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through,
It will reach even to the neck;
And the spread of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.
Now the Egyptians are men and not God,
And their horses are flesh and not spirit;
So the Lord will stretch out His hand,
And he who helps will stumble
And he who is helped will fall,
And all of them will come to an end together.
You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice,
You have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your way, in your numerous warriors,
Therefore a tumult will arise among your people,
And all your fortresses will be destroyed,
As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle,
When mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
Now he was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; and with one accord they came to him, and having won over Blastus the king’s chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because their country was fed by the king’s country.
and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,
so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.
A proper dependence on others is commended
A proper dependence on others is commended
Human help can strengthen
Human help can strengthen
Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
See also
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.
For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.
Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?
And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
Examples of a right dependence on others
Examples of a right dependence on others
a priest’s support for an unmarried sister
also for his virgin sister, who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself.
Support for the poor and needy:
Support for the poor and needy:
;
“For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’
‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’
Achish found David to be a reliable soldier;
Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the Lord lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army are pleasing in my sight; for I have not found evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, you are not pleasing in the sight of the lords.
Uriah and Zechariah were reliable witnesses;
“And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”
Reliable teachers are a blessing to the church.
The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.