DEPENDENCE ON GOD

A. L. McKay

Proverbs 3: 5, 6; Luke 3: 21, 22; 4: 1–14; John 10: 1–5, 27–29; 20: 11–20; 2 Timothy 2: 15–19; 4: 9–12

What is in mind is to say something initially about the Lord Jesus as the One who was dependent. The first scripture read really confirmed what I had in mind, “Confide in Jehovah with all thy heart, and lean not unto thine own intelligence; in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will make plain thy paths”. It is a wonderful thing, that when the Lord Jesus was here, God had a Man who was dependent. What the writer of the Proverbs had in mind was that his hearers, and those who would read the word, would be dependent on God. The days have always been difficult for believers, but in this day in which we live, things are much more complicated, and the way is more difficult. But it is a wonderful thing to contemplate the way that has been opened up to us, it says, “in all thy ways acknowledge him”. I think it is foreign to the natural man to turn to God at every stage. There was a time when possibly Adam at the beginning was dependent, but very quickly the enemy got in. We say, in the preaching, that Satan injected sin into man, that he injected disobedience into man, and that he injected the desire to go up. I think we could also say that what he injected into man right at the beginning is the desire to be independent of God. I think we would all know something of that. There are times in every believer’s life when they are dependent, but likewise we know what it is to be independent, but that was not so with the Lord Jesus.

It is always good to begin with Him. When we begin with the Lord Jesus we are beginning with perfection. There were good men in the Old Testament and we could not leave out John the baptist in that regard, because he belonged to that dispensation. Good men, to a large extent dependent, but with the Lord Jesus there was perfection in every way. That is why I read in Luke 3, where it says, “And it came to pass, all the people having been baptised, and Jesus having been baptised and praying”, how marvellous that is. Think of who the Lord Jesus was, what it was for those who were watching, what it was for God. What did it mean for the Father to look down and see this blessed Man fully and wholly dependent on Him?

The psalmist says, “thou didst make me trust, upon my mother’s breasts”, Psalm 22: 9. Think of the Lord Jesus beginning even from that stage. Later, it says typically, “He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed”, Isaiah 50: 4. Think of what God had in the Lord Jesus, One whom He could rely on. It says of David’s mighty men at one point near the end of Samuel, “These are the names of the mighty men whom David had”, 2 Samuel 23: 8. David had them, they were not only great men or great soldiers, but David had them. So we can say of the Lord Jesus that God looked down on a dependent Man, a Man who was baptised and praying. We know that Luke’s gospel presents the Lord Jesus as being a praying Man, a dependent Man, characteristically. In Luke 5 we read about Peter arriving at his own sinfulness and he falls at Jesus’ knees, reminding us of those knees of Jesus as He knelt in prayer. It says, “the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove upon him”. No parted tongues as of fire here, no need of fire, the Spirit was able to descend upon Him, and a voice came out of heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”. And then it says that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit; what a dependent Man the Lord Jesus was as the hymn writer says,

‘Holy vessel of God’s pleasure

In His service day by day;

Nothing but His will Thy measure

All along that suff’ring way’. (Hymn 30)

Then He was tempted of the devil forty days. We have been reminded that forty days is a testing time for a man, forty years a testing time for a nation. The children of Israel were in the wilderness forty years; here the Lord Jesus was in the wilderness tempted forty days by the devil. Now the devil came to Him and said, “If thou be Son of God, speak to this stone, that it become bread”. We would wonder at this, because we know the power the Lord Jesus had, performed wonderful miracles, yet here He is, a dependent Man, not prepared to accommodate in any way the subtle movements of Satan. Later He said “the ruler of the world comes, and in me he has nothing”, John 14: 30. But here He is tested as to the simple matter of food and yet He does not give way to Satan. He says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”. We can say the Scriptures are the word of God. How wonderful it is that the word of God can come to us at any time in the way of a prophetic touch. That is how we govern our paths, that is how we proceed, “in all thy ways acknowledge him”. How easy it is, we might say, to depend on what benefits we may have by way of our own intelligence, but how wonderfully the Lord Jesus sets out this example for us.

It says, “And the devil, leading him up into a high mountain, shewed him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a moment of time”. How preposterous that the devil should say this to the Creator of the world! He showed Him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a moment of time. I used to wonder why it says “in a moment of time”, but I remember reading in ministry by Mr. A. J. Gardiner, his comment as to this “moment of time” that it was the only time of exposure that this world could stand before the eyes of the Lord Jesus. Yet the devil presumed to show the Lord Jesus all these kingdoms and say, “I will give thee all this power, and their glory, for it is given up to me ... If therefore thou wilt do homage before me, all of it shall be thine”. The Lord Jesus replied, “Thou shalt do homage to the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve “. Perhaps even a little bit of pride arising in man, the enemy would take advantage of that, but the Lord Jesus could say, “in me he has nothing”. The Lord Jesus was not overcome by the enemy’s activities although He was exposed to them; he shows us the way through.

Finally, this matter which I find most solemn, because in this last incident, the devil could even quote scripture. Someone said that Satan knows the Scriptures better than we do, he is able to quote them, and he would twist them, and use them to his own advantage. He would even try to use them to stumble the Lord Jesus and he would use them to stumble saints. But the Lord Jesus answers “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God”. How solemn that the enemy would do that, he would actually tempt God. Then it says, “And the devil, having completed every temptation, departed from him for a time”. It does not say he departed for ever, he departed “for a time”. He returned, and he tempted the Lord Jesus again. What a time that was for the Lord Jesus, Where was He going? What was He doing? He went to the mount of Olives to pray and the enemy came and tempted Him in a way that far surpassed the temptations here. Think of how it says, his sweat became as great drops of blood”, Luke 22: 44. There He was, suffering in that way, suffering at the hands of the enemy, but He did not deviate from obedience to the will of God. The devil actually tempted the Lord Jesus, but, being such a Man, a wholly dependent Man, He was not overcome by the temptation.

In John 10 the Lord Jesus has a company, and what He is looking for is a company of dependent persons. This would be where you and I come in. The man in John 9 had come to a practical exercise. We may well wonder why so much scripture is devoted sometimes to one man. Elsewhere we are told that there were multitudes healed but here it is one man. I think it is to show by example where the Lord acts and the sort of material that is secured. I just call attention to this man, that he is excommunicated. He goes through certain exercise and he has to go through it alone, and what we find is that he is cast out of the synagogue. Jesus heard they had cast him out and came to him. So sometimes we have to pass through exercises alone, and we have to find what it is not to have human support to rely on; the support of others, perhaps the support of our families, and perhaps even the support of our parents. As another has said, we have to know where we are and why we are there. So, here was a man who was very young in the faith; the Lord Jesus comes to him, and presents Himself to him as an Object of worship. And the man has no questions. Already he had said, “One thing I know, that, being blind before, now I see” (John 9: 25). He is a man who knows things and is able to answer for himself.

Jesus takes him on and brings him into the flock, and, as another has said, ‘The goat in John 9 becomes the sheep in John 10.’ A goat in scripture usually represents what is alone, representing separation in some way, but the flock of sheep represents the saints as together. But then, if there is a flock, there is a shepherd; that is a wonderful thing that the sheep has now to depend on the shepherd, and there never was a Shepherd like the Lord Jesus. He says, “He that enters not in by the door to the fold of the sheep, but mounts up elsewhere, he is a thief and a robber”. I think we all know something of the way the thief and the robber operate. It is solemn to think it is possible for that to be in the Christian circle, but the Lord Jesus could say, “he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out”. Can we all say that we form part of this flock, His own sheep? How wonderful that is, it is a beautiful expression, His own sheep. He says later, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”. It goes on to say, “no one shall seize them out of my hand” and “no one can seize out of the hand of my Father”. Well, that is confirmation to us, how we can depend on the Lord Jesus.

We all know something of what it is just to draw back a bit, resist a little bit, but the Lord Jesus, in His gracious way, would say “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest”, Matthew 11: 28. The Lord Jesus would love to draw us near to Himself. What a wonderful relationship we have, and it is available to us all, to know what it is to depend wholly on the Lord Jesus.

In John 20 it is a similar setting in certain ways. We are not now speaking about goats or sheep, we are speaking about a sister, Mary of Magdala. She had gone through similar exercises to the man in John 9 and she knew what it was to be alone. When the Lord Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you” (John 14: 18). Mary sets that out very well. There is nothing in scripture to suggest that she had any other means of support, she knew what it was to depend on the Lord Jesus. “Mary stood at the tomb weeping without”. The Lord had gone, the Lord was in death, that was the end—

these were the thoughts in Mary’s heart, it was the absolute end. He who had become everything to her was taken away and now she had nothing. Do we ever have these thoughts, dear brethren, that everything has gone, everything taken away from us, we have no means of support, nothing left but despair, nothing left for us but the grave? Oh, dear brethren, the Lord Jesus would come in and still our hearts. He says to her, “Mary”. What a wonderful way the Lord Jesus has of dealing with persons. Before that He says, “Woman, why dost thou weep? Whom seekest thou?” The Lord asks questions in His own gracious way.

Then we find that the disciples are all together on the first day of the week and the doors shut through fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood in the midst and says to them, “Peace be to you”. Then it says, “The disciples rejoiced therefore, having seen the Lord”. In each of these scriptures I find it more testing because you have the Lord Jesus presented to us as the dependent Man; and then you have the saints linked on with the Lord Jesus, the Shepherd of the sheep and they are dependent on Him; then we find the disciples here together and again they are dependent. They were moving in a right way and it says “the doors shut where the disciples were, through fear of the Jews”. These disciples were not only dependent on the Lord Jesus but they were independent of the world.

That is another wonderful thing, how the believer is not dependent on the world, whether the evil world, or whether it is the religious world. The true believer can be independent of it. It is possible to find our way through completely independent of anything that anyone can do to bring us into bondage, because it says in Galatians, “our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, so that he should deliver us out of the present evil world”, Galatians 1: 4. I used to think that referred to the world of attractions, the world of evil, the world where Satan attracts men in his awful systems, and it is, but I remember being quite taken aback when a brother referred to it as the religious world. It stumbled me a little because at that time I was going through certain exercises myself, and I felt I would have to come to a judgment of certain things in relation to the world, but this brother said the religious world. But now I can see that the religious world to the believer can be as much danger, in fact it may be more subtle, because it is the world that the enemy can use to attack what is most precious to Christ.

Here they were, gathered together, on the first day of the week and Jesus came and stood in the midst. What a wonderful answer to all the anxieties and sorrows, fears and doubts that filled the hearts of these brethren! Think of the distress, all the tears that had been shed, think of these beloved saints drifting away on the way to Emmaus, but what a wonderful answer this is, “Jesus came and stood in the midst, and says to them, Peace be to you”. There is no peace outside, no peace in the world; men in authority in the governments of the world doing their utmost to bring in peace and they cannot do it, but we know what it is to have peace.

Not the kind of peace that men are looking for, you might say, a temporary halt to hostilities, but that is not the kind of peace that the Lord Jesus brings in. He says, “I give my peace to you: not as the world gives do I give to you”, John 14: 27. Think of the peace that the Lord Jesus could bring into our souls from heaven. Well, these things are available to us as we are dependent on Him, and independent of what is outside; to know the blessed, intimate relationship that we can have as being gathered together. The enemy would seek to spoil it, he would seek to pollute or dilute it, but we can know what it is to cling to this blessed fact, as coming together, that the Lord Jesus comes and He says, “Peace be to you”.

Well, I read in Timothy and a lot had happened in between these scriptures. The disciples moved on at the beginning of Acts and they were not only independent of the world but they were superior to it. How could it possibly be? The Lord of glory was cast out and crucified. You might say, a simple act by the Romans, and the onlookers could say how quickly and easily it was done. It was said prophetically, “When will he die, and his name perish?” Psalm 41: 5. How wonderful it is that the Lord Jesus arose from the dead and He gave strength and power to those who continued. And there were those who came in by their word, it says they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers”, Acts 2: 42. So things continued and things are continuing to the present day. A great event happened when Saul of Tarsus was converted. Think of the ministry that came in through Paul, particularly as to the assembly and the gospel; what glorious unfolding of truth came in through him. Think of the greatest truths being available for men and yet departure came in.

So Paul, here in second Timothy, says, “Strive diligently to present thyself approved to God, a workman that has not to be ashamed, cutting in a straight line the word of truth. But profane, vain babblings shun, for they will advance to greater impiety, and their word will spread as a gangrene; of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; men who as to the truth have gone astray”. These are very solemn scriptures, dear brethren, when we think of what was available to the saints in those days, what was available in the Lord Jesus. Think of the gift of the Holy Spirit, available to the saints to maintain them in power, and yet departure came in.

Paul had to say of certain persons that they had turned away from him, and he had to say of one man that he had forsaken him. How Paul felt that. How solemn these things are, the way the enemy would move to spoil that which is most precious to the heart of Christ. These were men who as to the truth had gone astray; persons moving independently of God. You might say moving independently of the truth, moving independently of Paul. It has often been said, ‘lose Paul, lose all’. What could we have, dear brethren, if we gave up Paul’s ministry? But there were those who turned away from it, he says, “all who are in Asia ... have turned away from me”, 2 Timothy 1: 15. And he speaks of these men who as to the truth have gone astray. “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53: 6), the prophet says. It is natural for sheep to go astray and it is the shepherd’s job to bring them back. But then he goes on to say, “we have turned every one to his own way”. That is solemn, men who as to the truth have gone astray. It speaks elsewhere about persons who had made shipwreck as to faith. I do not know if the brethren here have seen a shipwreck but it is a most solemn thing to witness—a ship fast on the rocks being pounded by incoming tides, and within a short time there is nothing left except a twisted broken hull. A ship may land upon the rocks in the course of a voyage because it is perhaps only one degree off course; but it lands on the rocks or somewhere it should not be.

In chapter 4 Paul says, “Use diligence to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me”. In Philemon Paul mentions Demas as a fellow-workman. Then in Colossians, he mentions other men and simply says “and Demas”. It would appear that at that time Paul began to have doubts about Demas. When we come to second Timothy Demas had forsaken him, having loved the present age. What aspect of the world he loved I do not know, but it comes home to each one of us. In the temptations the Lord Jesus was subjected to He was not influenced by any of them; but Demas was influenced by the present age, and it is possible for us to be diverted by it. The word of God is operative and sharper than any two-edged sword. We have often been reminded of Ehud who had the sword with two edges, and the first edge was for himself. So, there is little point in standing here speaking unless I take it home first to myself.

One can only say, how vulnerable and weak one is, but I feel the need to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit, and on the Lord Jesus, and on the word of truth, the word of scripture, and seek to be preserved with those who are close to Paul. Barnabas lost his way, at least for a time, but we know it has been said that he was recovered. Even Barnabas, an apostle, was temporarily deflected. He did not give up Christ, he did not give up God, he did not give up the gospel, but for a time he lost the thing that was most precious to him, that was the company of Paul.

Paul goes on to speak about others, “Luke alone is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thyself, for he is serviceable to me for ministry. But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus”. What do we know of Tychicus? Again, I can only say what I have read in other scriptures where he is mentioned. He is first mentioned in Acts 20 in that group of seven men who go with Paul (Acts 20: 4), then he is mentioned in Colossians 4, in that beautiful reference, “Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-bondman in the Lord, will make known to you all that concerns me” (Acts 20: 7). As these days grew darker, I think Paul was made more conscious of the support of the brethren and he was able to depend on them. Think of that! Paul, the great apostle, able to depend on the brethren. Prisca and Aquila are mentioned later, and the house of Onesiphorus (2 Timothy 4: 19). He had said earlier of Onesiphorus, “he has often refreshed me, and has not been ashamed of my chain; but being in Rome sought me very diligently, and found me”, 2 Timothy 1: 16, 17. These were men and women that the apostle could depend on.

Well, this would leave the question for each one of us to answer. How dependent am I? What would be my answer in relation to this scripture in Proverbs? “Confide in Jehovah with all thy heart, and lean not unto thine own intelligence; in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will make plain thy paths”. I remember hearing about an old brother who had had a long history with the Lord, and he said, ‘I have come to it at the end of my life that I cannot even cross the road without speaking to the Lord about it first’. How simple that is, but that is how the believer is to live and that would be the answer to a lot of difficulties. So often we might seek to fall back on our own thoughts, our own intelligence, but let us be dependent persons. May the Lord bless the word.

Address at Melbourne
12 March 2005