Total Dependence
Notes
Transcript
INTRO
INTRO
Back in 2008 when the market crashed all around the world, we saw some of the wealthiest people on the earth begin to harm themselves and take their lives.Wealthy but inside completely destroyed. Right now in 2020, we have seen a world-wide pandemic that has touched the wealthiest of people all the way to the poorest of people. Living here in Taiwan, it is easy to live inside of a bubble isn’t it? Things are pretty much normal here thank God, and it is easy to miss the reality that God is shaking things all around the world. In times like these God begins to lay bare things that we have trusted in, things that we have worshipped, and things that we have sought after to satisfy us. All of us, Christian or not, all want to have our needs met, all want to have ultimate satisfaction in our hearts. Socrates even said that all men seek happiness and satisfaction. Yet how many times have we sought, how many times have we tasted, and yet we’ve been left, thirsty, hungry, and still searching? God has laid on my heart a message that will different than our normal study through the book of Mark. Several weeks ago He began to press things on my heart, and also on the hearts of many of you, and this week, I believe what the Lord has for us is in Isaiah 41:17-20.
The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I will answer them. I am the Lord, the God of Israel. I will not abandon them. I will open rivers on the barren heights, and springs in the middle of the plains. I will turn the desert into a pool and dry land into springs. I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees in the wilderness. I will put juniper, elm, and cypress trees together in the desert, so that all may see and know, consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.
困苦和貧窮的人尋求水，卻沒有水； 他們的舌頭因口渴而乾燥； 我耶和華必應允他們， 我以色列的 神必不離棄他們。 我要在光禿的高處開闢江河， 在山谷之間開闢泉源； 我要使曠野變為水池， 使乾地變成水泉。 我要在曠野種上香柏樹、 皂莢樹、番石榴樹和野橄欖樹； 我要在沙漠中栽種松樹、 杉樹和黃楊樹， 好叫人看見了，就知道； 思想過，就都明白， 這是耶和華的手所作的， 是以色列的聖者所造的。
THE PROBLEM
THE PROBLEM
(CONTEXT)Jews were in Babylon at this time.
“the poor and needy seek water”: who are the poor and needy? Every single one of us. We are all seeking water, something to fulfill us to satisfy us. “If I only had that I would be happy, or my life would have meaning.” As we look around at the 91000 people in Linkou who don’t know Jesus, and we look inside of our own hearts, we know that each of us are seeking something. Something to fulfill us.
"Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. ." C.S. Lewis
But the prophet says there is a problem. “But There is none”.
Here is the problem. These poor and needy people, they are parched, their tongues are dry with thirst. Because THERE IS NO WATER TO BE FOUND. As we look across this world, we seek, we search, we look, but there is nothing to satisfy us in this world. It leaves us thirsting for more, hungry for more, and in the end with dry mouths and parched tongues. I believe there are some here who have had this similar experience, you have searched, you are searching, and place after place, idol after idol, job after job, relationship after relationship, has left you empty and thirsty. Idols over promise but underdeliver.We thirst for approval, for recognition, for success, for relationship. To be known.
Even success and fame will not satisfy. Here is what Madonna， one of the most successful people says this:
“I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being and then I get to another stage and think I'm mediocre and uninteresting. And I find a way to get myself out of that. Again and again. My drive in life is from this horrible fear of being mediocre” Madonna. There is an ongoing thirst, because those things don’t satisfy.”
“broken cisterns which hold no water”.
For my people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves— cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.
「因為我的子民作了兩件惡事， 就是離棄了我這活水的泉源， 為自己鑿了池子， 是破裂不能存水的池子。
Could you imagine, trying to fill a bucket up that has a huge hole at the bottom of it. Doesn’t matter how much you put in, it will always run dry and empty.
GOD’S RESPONSE
GOD’S RESPONSE
6 I will’s
These are the promises—I will keep them without fail I will “means to establish, confirm, arrange, fix, cause to stand”
1. I will answer.
But how does God respond? I will answer them. How did they get thirsty how did they get parched? Because of their own idol worship and rebellion. Does God turn His back on His people? Does God say, well you screwed up, see you later?How does the Lord answer them? By saying, come and you do the work. You dig the wells, You go find water. If you are poor and needy, well just do something and get yourself out of it!
NO HE SAYS I WILL DO THE DIGGING, I WILL DO THE POURING, I WILL DO THE CREATING. That in the wilderness hard fallow ground of your heart, I will create new life, where there has been death I will bring life, where that has been hard heartedness, I will bring forth springs of living water. God knows our frame. God knows that we are dust. God knows that we are unable to save ourselves, to fill this hunger and thirst that each one of us have. He knows us and is compassionate towards us.
This verb “answer” has the idea of a completed action that has ongoing, unfolding results. Living water(comment later on in Gospel)
He says I am the Lord, the God of Israel. The Lord God is reminding His people of His covenant relationship to His people. HE has covenanted to not leave them or forsake them. Even in the midst of rebellion, in the midst of Israel worshipping other idols and gods, the Lord God said He will leave a remnant that will be loyal to Him. I, the Lord God, will provide for them in their time of need. 65:24: “Before they pray, I will answer.” God’s willingness and ability to help are contrasted to the idols, which are incapable of responding to the desperate cries of their worshipers:
2. I will NOT abandon
Think about this verse! How rich, how beautiful is the sound that comes from this verse. God, the one who holds all the power in the universe, WILL not abandon them! He will not. God’s word is always true, this is not a false promise, or a false hope, this is the sure word of God saying, I will NOT abandon you. How amazing is this promise seeing that it is spoken during a time of Israel’s rebellion and backsliding. He is too good, too kind, too patient to us. His commitment to not abandoning His people was even to the point of giving His Son Jesus on the cross for your sin and for mine. If He did not spare His own Son for us will He not with Him graciously give us all things? Even in the midst of rebellion, in the midst of Israel worshipping other idols and gods, the Lord God said He will leave a remnant a people that will be loyal to Him. Even in our darkest moments, if you are in Christ, you are not abandoned.
3. I will open rivers
On Barren Heights and springs in the middle of the plains. Barren heights were notable for being barren, hence the name. So in a place that has a reputation, that is known for being barren the Lord will open up rivers.
4. I will turn deserts into pools
And dry land into springs. A land notable for being dry. Where there has been barrenness, where there has been dryness, where there has been nothing but desert, I WILL OPEN RIVERS POOLS AND SPRINGS!
BIG PICTURE. God’s answer isn’t just a little for our neediness, for our thirst. Have you ever been to a really expensive restaurant? You’re really hungry, and you order some food, and they come out with this little tiny plate? Little forks, and this small amount of food? You’re like let’s just go to 7-11. That’s the opposite here. God’s answer doesn’t just meet our need, but goes beyond that. Pools, and springs, open up rivers! It’s not the leaky bucket we talked about earlier, but an ongoing, continuous river, pool, fountain.
5. I will plant cedars in wilderness.
6. I will put juniper trees in the desert.
What the Lord is declaring that in a place that should not have the ability to bear fruit, He will cause that place to move from death to life, from fruitlessness to fruitfulness.
This is the work and power of God.”he will make waters to flow on the tops of mountains, and fountains in valleys, and pools in deserts, we know that all this is contrary to the order of nature. From death to life and from sterility to fertility.
God is the cause the initiator, the author of all this work.
OVERALL
“SO THAT ALL MAY SEE AND KNOW CONSIDER UNDERSTAND THAT THE HAND OF THE LORD HAS DONE THIS.
“see”. God’s answer will not just be a message to be proclaimed but an act to behold(the cross and resurrection) The work of God, is a full work that meets the full need of a human. Our senses, know, consider, understand(our reason and our faith)
God has no need of outward and natural means for aiding his Church, but has at his command secret and wonderful methods, by which he can relieve their necessities, contrary to all hope and outward appearance. When no means of relief are seen, we quickly fall into despair,. but the Prophet states that at that time especially they ought to trust, because at that time the Lord has more abundant opportunities of displaying his power, when men perceive no ways or methods, and everything appears to be utterly desperate.
“So that all may see know consider and understand that the hand of the Lord has done this.” This is what we want. For God to do something among us that says, no man did this, no person, no group did this, this was the supernatural work of a living, Almighty God!
One pastor commented that in Israel’s history ‘the more secular a place the more supernatural the ministry became(Daniel, Esther, book of Acts miracles outside the church). So we are here in a secular place, in a needy place, and we need to desperately be a people of prayer, praying for the supernatural power of God.
Walking around the desert dying of thirst and seeing this beautiful pool of water, but not running to it and diving head first in! We need to dive deep into the grace of God, that is what He is calling us to here in this text.
Denying our hunger and thirst will keep us blind from the provision and work of God.
We are at our best church when we recognize apart from the power of God, apart from the power of the Holy Spirit and the work of Christ we are poor and needy. Our lack His power. When we recognize that apart from Christ we can do nothing.
SO WHAT?
SO WHAT?
So what that Isaiah is saying that God will do all of this what does this mean for you and for me?
It means 2 things.
1)CityLight that means if we want to see a renewal in our hearts and in this city and this nation it means that God’s answer to our great need, is HIS GREAT POWER.
“Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water; and you without silver, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without silver and without cost! Why do you spend silver on what is not food, and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.
唉！口渴的人哪！你們都就近水來吧。 沒有銀錢的，你們也要來，買了就吃。 你們要來，買酒和奶， 不用銀子，也不用付代價。 你們為甚麼用銀子去買那不是食物的呢？ 為甚麼用你們勞碌得來的去買那不能使人飽足的呢？ 你們要留心聽我的話，就可以吃美物， 使你們的心靈享受肥甘。
Calling you and I to come to the One who brings life, who is the only one who can meet our needs, quench our thirst, fill our hunger by His grace and His love.
Where do we see His power perfectly revealed? In the person and work of Christ!
For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ,
因為 神本性的一切豐盛，都有形有體地住在基督裡面，
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
因為 神樂意使所有的豐盛都住在愛子裡面，並且藉著他在十字架上所流的血成就了和平，使萬有，無論是地上天上的，都藉著他與 神和好了。
Remember that word “answer” we talked about before God’s completed action that has ongoing, unfolding results? It’s the Gospel! It’s Jesus. Jesus for us, and Jesus now living in us! He doesn’t only send a prophet, He doesn’t just send a book, He sends Himself. Not only in the Son, but also through the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
Ghandi, Lao tsu, Buddha they all say to us, look I can show you the way to find water, but only in Christ, does the LIVING WATER HIMSELF come to us, even when there is no hope we can find the way!
2) Total Dependence. The second thing this means for us, is that God’s decisive act, His answer, the completed action that has ongoing unfolding results, which is ultimately the Gospel, is the only thing we can depend on. CityLight Church,I want to say, I want us all to know and believe that total dependence upon the Holy Spirit is not optional. Several weeks ago in prayer the Lord confronted me, with this verse.
Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing—if in fact it was for nothing? So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard—
你們是這樣的無知嗎？你們既然靠著聖靈開始，現在還要靠著肉體成全嗎？你們受了這麼多的苦，都是白受的嗎？恐怕真是白受的了。那麼， 神賜聖靈給你們，又在你們中間行神蹟，是因為你們行律法，還是因為你們信所聽見的福音呢？
Having begun in the Spirit are we now trying to complete our work in the flesh? The context is justification but Paul also mentions the activity and power of God in their midst, and His point is this, do you really think that all that God is doing among you, is because of your work? And do you think you can keep it going ,perfect it through your own power? I had to repent before the Lord. Because I think anytime you start something new, you recognize your need for God right? Whether be newly married, just had your first child, new job, new school, new church, you know you need His power. But then you begin to move to this place where He begins to work and all of the sudden you think it’s actually your power doing the work, and you start to depend on Him less and less and look to yourself. However, Paul says that is foolishness to do that.It begins by the Spirit of God, is sustained by the Spirit of God, and sanctification(this church) is brought to completion by the Spirit of God.
I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
我深信那在你們中間開始了美好工作的，到了基督耶穌的日子，必成全這工作。
The Spirit of God has begun this work, will sustain this work, and will bring this work to completion.
“If you want God's grace, all you need is need, all you need is nothing.” Timothy Keller
Total dependence. In the history of God’s people it is moments like we are in right now that many times God’s power and revival, renewal occurred. But we must see our neediness before Him, and recognize without Him we can do nothing!
It’s like the tide of the ocean. To the human eye the ocean is receding and going back and back, but we know that behind the receding the wave is growing in power, churning in hiddenness ready to return with force and power. God is always working on the behalf of His people.
我是葡萄樹，你們是枝子。住在我裡面的，我也住在他裡面，他就結出很多果子；因為離開了我，你們就不能作甚麼。
I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
Total dependence. Because it is about the Holy Spirit everyone in Christ gets to be a part. Not about one person, one gift, but the whole body, glorifying the name of Jesus. I’ve heard several of you say that in this season, that seems difficult, God is preparing you from something. Yes God is preparing YOU for something because He is preparing US(His church) for something. Every single one of you have a part.
Story of preaching in tongues. There is a man that I know personally, who was on a trip in South America. He was preaching at a revival(renewal), they had been praying for months and years for this place, when all of the sudden as he was preaching, in English, the translator just sat down. He looked over and said “Hey what are you doing?” The man replied “Every word you are speaking is in perfect fluent Spanish.” So many people got saved that day. Total Dependence, God’s power. Why? SO That all may see and know that God is the one doing the work.
There was a man who preached over and over again in a tribe in Africa for 25 years, and the one day the whole village came to Christ, responding to his message, and then began planting churches and reaching other villages for Christ. This is the power of God, the living water that satisfies.
Here’s the thing church, as people are looking for water, we are meant to be the place where they find it. It’s a horrible thing when you are thirsty to go to a place and realize there isn’t any water there. Would that NOT be true of the church in Taiwan. We are meant to be the place where all people could come and find the living water,Jesus.
You can’t create a plan that makes this happen, You can’t create a formula to make this happen. It must be centered around prayer. God Himself and His presence.Church, let’s run to the one who creates springs in deserts, plants trees in the wilderness, and sends His Son an Gives us His Spirit.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Number 1. Where in your heart are you thirsty and needy? Are you coming to the One who has already provided for you? If you have never come to Christ in faith as God’s ultimate answer, would you do that today?
Number 2. Where in your life do you have wilderness and hard ground that you need the Spirit of God to come and bring life? How are we believing that we can accomplish in our flesh what God has begun by His Spirit.
Number 3. As we look at the Great Need here in Linkou, in Taiwan, and in the world, do each of us believe that we all have a part to play as we all depend upon the Great Power of God?
So that all may know, love, and follow Jesus in all of life.(CityLight Mission Statement)