Tonight I will be speaking from
Titus chapter 1 verse 5 on one phrase, setting in order the
things that are wanting. Setting in order the things that
are lacking. I feel like the Lord gave me
something and I'm looking forward to bringing that message. But
I have a very depressing subject for this morning. I'm going to
speak on depression. Depression. Let me say a couple
of things before we begin. I will be preaching the gospel. This is not some kind of psychoanalysis. This is not the words of a psychologist
or a counselor. I'm a preacher of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The way I came up with this message
is if you attend Bible study, you know we're studying the Psalms
right now. And we're in Psalm 119, some
very important teaching. And as I was looking ahead as
to what we're going to deal with, I couldn't get away from this
passage of scripture that we just looked at, particularly
in verse 25, where David, the man after God's own heart, David,
the sweet psalmist of Israel, David, very special man. David
says, my soul cleaveth unto the dust. That's low, isn't it? My soul is joined to the dust. Look what he says in verse 28.
My soul melteth for heaviness. Now, He is speaking under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. He doesn't put on a Colgate smile
at this time. He says, my soul melts. I'm utterly discouraged. David
says, I am depressed. And I got to looking at this
and I felt the need to deal with this subject of depression. And
I'm going to do it in light of the gospel. Now, depression is
a reality. It was for David. You can see
that from his own words. It is a part of the human experience,
and believers are not exempt from this thing, of being depressed. It is a reality, and if you're
not depressed now, You will be tomorrow, to one degree or the
other. You will be. No human being is
exempt from this. It is brought on by a fallen,
sinful nature called the flesh. Now, I want you to hear this
statement, and this is a very important statement. I'm going
to back it up, and you're going to have to stay with me. But listen to
this. Depression is sin. Now, I want to repeat that. I
want you to hear exactly what I said. Depression is. Seeing. Now, what exactly is depression? Well, we generally think of getting
the blues. Everybody gets that we get the
blues, we start feeling. Sad. Dissatisfied and so on. But it becomes Worse. If that's the right way to say
that, when it becomes a feeling of helplessness and despair,
that's depression, that's when you it's one thing to have the
blues, everybody gets that. But it's another thing to feel
utterly helpless and to feel in despair. It's that feeling
that comes over you when you fear that things are not going
to get better. Now, that's when you're depressed.
when you fear that things are not going to get better. Somebody once said, an optimist
is somebody who believes we have the best of both worlds. And
a pessimist fears that's true. It's not going to get better. And that makes you feel so dark,
so bleak, So hopeless, it's a despairing outlook, and it makes you miserable
and it makes you unhappy. And David struggled with this.
David, the man after God's own heart. David, the sweet psalmist
of Israel. David struggled with this thing
of depression. And some of us do, too. Now,
what causes depression? What causes depression? You and
David asked this question. He said in Psalm 42, verse 5,
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Has your soul ever cast
down? Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? And why is thy spirit disquieted
within thee? He's asking the question, why? Well, I've already answered that
question. Sin is the cause of depression. Let me repeat that. Sin is the
cause of depression. If there were no sin, there would
be no depression, would there? Isn't that so? If there were
no sin, there would be no depression. It's the product. It's the child. It's the offspring of unbelief. In every instance, no exceptions
to that rule. If we had perfect faith, would
we be depressed? Depression is the product of
our unbelief. Which one of us has perfect faith?
Anybody here? Now, in general, sin and unbelief
is the cause of depression. You see that. In general, sin
and unbelief is the cause of depression. That's why it's a
sin. When I'm depressed, it's sin. When you're depressed, it's
see it's the product of the simple nature. It's brought on by unbelief. But let's be even more particular
in examining the causes of depression, I'm going to look at Psalm 119
verses 25 to 32 as to how David dealt with this thing of depression
in light of the gospel. But let's examine the causes
of depression. Depression that unhappy, miserable,
blue feeling that reaches its worst point when it becomes despair
and a totally bleak outlook. Maybe some of you have never
experienced that, where you just feel total despair. Some of you have. And you know what a horrible
feeling it is. As a matter of fact, I've only gone through
that one time where I felt despair. I will take physical pain and
suffering over that any day. That's the worst thing I've ever
gone through when I felt that way. Now, what is it that causes
depression? I've got several things. I've
thought about this. Depression can, first of all, be brought
on by circumstances. There are circumstances that
are so wretched. So terrible. There are things
that happen that are so very trying and difficult that it
brings on depression. And before you get too hard on
that person sitting beside you that's depressed, you don't know
what they're going through. And it probably is the fact that
if you were going through what they were going through, you'd
react worse than they did. You may be just totally overwhelmed
with it. Circumstances, difficult circumstances,
difficult trials. can bring on depression. Circumstances can be so disappointing. People can be so disappointing
and you get depressed. So circumstances can bring on
depression. But here there's other things
that bring on depression. Here's something that brings
on depression. Think about this guilt. Guilt. Feeling guilty People spend millions
of dollars on counseling and psychologists to tell them you're
not guilty. Isn't that what is behind modern
psychology? You're not guilty. It's not your
fault. You don't have a reason to feel
guilty. I never will forget, I read a book one time, a couple
of years ago, entitled Blame It on the Brain, and it was dealing
with different reasons as to what happens to people, why they
become depressed, and so on. This was great. I read this one
chapter on head injuries. And in head injuries, real head
injuries, it can change your personality. It can make you
more aggressive and so on. And there's something to that. And I've had
some head injuries. I've got to shut my brain right
now. I've fallen out of a barn before on my head. I've been
knocked unconscious three times. And I remember reading that book
and it was talking about how this can change your personality
and so on. And I remember I thought, it's
not my fault. I felt so good. I felt so cleansed. It's not my fault. I bit the
hook, didn't I? I bit the hook. I thought this
is what what I call. Oh, it's not your fault. Guilt
brings depression. Here's something else that brings
depression. A low self-image. Feelings of
inferiority, and I'm talking about feeling inferior to other
people, I'm not talking about a true conviction of sin before
God, you feel inferior to other people. There's a fellow once
who was just struggling with these
feelings of inferiority, but I need to go see a doctor about
this. And he went to the doctor and told him about all the problems
he was having. So I'm afraid I got an inferiority
complex. So the doctor put him through a barrage of tests and
so on. And he went through it for a
couple of days. And at the end of the time, the doctor said,
well, I've got some good news and bad news. Here's the good
news. You don't have an inferiority complex. You are inferior. That's the
bad news. What a doctor. But the point
I want to make, though, is a low self-image in that sense. Feeling
inferior to other people. That brings on depression. It
really does. It brings on depression. It brings
people low. Let me say this. I want to say
this particularly to you with children. Develop a healthy sense
of self-esteem in your children. And I'm not talking about pride
before God, self-righteousness, and so on. I'm not talking about
that at all. But the way to establish a healthy self-image in your
kids is not by telling them how wonderful they are. Oh, you're
wonderful. You're wonderful. You're wonderful.
Oh, you're just the greatest thing ever. You know all that's
going to do? That's going to make them irresponsible, and it's going to make them think
the world owes them a living. Oh, I'm wonderful. Bring it on. Give
it to me. No, don't do that. Give them things they can do
to achieve it. Give them something that they can do and complete,
and that's what's going to develop a healthy self-image. Achieving
at something, doing well, I mean, the simplest task. You know,
last night, it's kind of funny, last night, we're doing kind
of a construction project at our house, and I tore out all
this drywall and everything, and I was just so overwhelmed
with this big pile of broken up drywall, and I got the garbage
bags, and I cleaned it. I thought, there's no way I'll
ever get this mess cleaned up. I finally got it cleaned up. I felt so
good about myself. A sense of achievement. I did
something. I did it right. I mean, it worked.
You know, I mean, you know that. There you go, man, there's something
I'm good for. But the point I'm trying to make
is a low feelings of inferiority compared with other people. It
brings on depression. Here's the next thing that brings
on depression, a lack of discipline. A lack of discipline will create
depression, intemperance. No self-control. Out of control.
Out of control. And it creates habits like overeating
and lack of exercise, lack of discipline. And someone says,
well, I don't have time for you today. Yeah, you do. You've got
time to do anything you want to do. Now, there's no question about that.
Everybody's got time to do anything they want to do, but a lack of
discipline, a lack of control. And this is even more true spiritually.
Improper diet. What's our diet? The Word of
God. and improper diet spiritually. You need plenty of rest. If you
don't have enough rest, you get depressed. Well, what if you're
not resting in Christ? You reckon you get depressed? Oh, you'll
get miserable not resting in Christ. Lack of exercise, lack
of spiritual discipline, lack of spiritual effort in seeking
the Lord diligently. That's going to bring on depression.
You know, I can say to some of you, no wonder you're depressed.
You don't eat. You certainly don't eat much.
You don't feed on the Word of God the way you should. No wonder
you're depressed. What do you think? What do you
expect? That brings on depression. Here's something else that brings
on depression, being a control freak. What do I mean by that? When we want to control people,
we want to control them because we want them to do what we want
them to do. And we get depressed when they don't do what we want
them to do. You know, you can't change anybody.
You can't change anybody. People do what they want to do.
That's what they're doing. And you can't change anybody. And
when we're a control freak, we want to change them so they'll
please us. And we get depressed when they don't do what we want
them to do. Selfishness. Here's depression. Selfishness. Self-centeredness
always brings depression. When it's all about me, and if
everybody doesn't jump on my bandwagon, I get depressed. I
start feeling isolated. I start feeling alone. I start
feeling separated and cut off because everybody's not living
to serve me, is what it comes right down to. That's where these
feelings come from. In depression, it's selfishness. A bad environment can bring on
depression. You know, I've heard of light
therapy. You've read about that. You know, sometimes when people
are depressed, they need to be around a bunch of light and so
on. And maybe there's something to it, because I know this. If
I'm in an environment where the only light is the light of a
color TV, I get depressed. You know, I mean, just that whole
environment, it can bring on depression. No purpose brings
on depression. Nothing to do, as it were. You
might call it laziness or lack of purpose. or slothfulness. You know, there's always plenty
to do, and whenever somebody doesn't have anything to do, that's just laziness. There's
plenty of ways to serve others. And when I have nothing to do,
you find me a depressed person quite often, I'll show you an
idle person, someone who doesn't have anything to do, no purpose.
Here's something that causes depression, the person with the
victim mentality. a victim mentality. What do I
mean by that? Well, you're always a victim.
Nothing's ever your fault. It's somebody else's fault. You
were just a victim. You were just a victim. It's my upbringing's
fault. It's my environment's fault.
It's the government's fault. It's my mom and dad's fault.
It's my genetics' fault. I am a victim. I'm a victim. And whenever you're a victim,
you're always going to get depressed. You know, that's just part of
it. And there is, listen to this.
There is such a thing as a chemical imbalance. Now that's real. There
is such a thing as a chemical imbalance that will aid in this
thing of depression and can cause intense, deep depression. I know
that's so. Because I remember, I've told
you about this many times before, but I changed medications when
I was on chemotherapy and all that kind of stuff. I remember
one time I took it upon myself to change my own medication.
I knew better than the doctor did, always do. And I changed
it, and I remember I went into a hole that was unbelievable.
I wanted to kill myself. I was so depressed, and I wanted
to kill myself. And I was afraid to get in the
car. I thought if I do, I'll go out and just purposely run it
into a telephone pole. I mean, it was so bleak. One little chemical
got out of whack. and I turned into a basket case.
And I went to the doctor to talk to him about it and he said,
well, did you change your medication? I said, yeah. He said, well,
what'd you do that for? I said, I don't know, you know, but I did. And
I changed my medication and I got back to normal the next day.
But that proves to me that there is such a thing as a chemical
imbalance and people can get something out of whack and it
can just change their outlook on everything. You know, even
if you feel bad physically, you get depressed, When I had the
flu a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to die. You know, I mean, oh,
kill me. I can't stay in this, you know.
You're depressed. You know, there are things that
cause depression. Depression is a reality. Sin is behind every one of these
things. Even in the chemical imbalances, yeah, and I can say
that with full conviction, because when I was going through that,
the feelings of unbelief, The hard thoughts toward God, the
vile thoughts toward God that dominated my thinking. Yes, sin
was involved in that. You see, you can never separate
anything from a sinful nature, can you? You can never separate
anything from a sinful nature. Now, depression is a reality. David said, the man after God's
own heart. Anybody got any doubt that David was a believer? No
doubt about it, David was a believer. And David said, my soul cleaveth
under the dust. He said, My soul melted for heaviness. Depression is sin is caused by
sin and depression is the child, the offspring of unbelief. Somebody
says, OK, I see what you're saying. And deep down, I know it. So
what am I supposed to do about it? What am I supposed to do
about it? Remember, this is not. Counseling,
this is not psychology, this is the gospel. And we're going
to understand how this is dealt with in light of the gospel.
Because let me tell you this, also, the gospel is the most
emotionally healthy thing in the world. There's nothing more
emotionally healthy than the gospel. So let's see how David
dealt with this. Look in verse 25 of our text. Psalm 119, verse
25. David says, My soul cleaveth
unto the dust. Now that's low. He felt low down. My soul cleaveth to the dust. Now, when you're like that, you
can't pick yourself up by the bootstraps. Believe God! My soul cleaveth
to the dust. Well, get up out of this! I can't. I can't. I can't. My soul cleaveth
to the dust. Look over in Psalm 130. Hold
your fingers in. Look in Psalm 130. Verse 1, Out of the depths have I cried
unto thee, O Lord. I didn't climb out of the depths
first and then start crying. No, the only place I can really
cry is from the depths. Out of the depths. I can't get
myself out of this hole. I can't pull myself up by the
brute straps. Now, if you're like this, there's
only one thing you can do. Cry to the Lord. out of the day. Have I cried. Oh Lord. And look what David
says in verse 25 of our text my soul cleaveth under the dust
quickened down me he's going to be the only one who can do
anything for him. If I'm depressed you can't help
me I mean you can say good stuff but you can't help me I can't
help you there's only one person that can help this one who is
truly like this. That's the Lord Himself. He says,
quicken thou me according to thy word. Give me life according
to your word. Now, if you're dead, how dependent
are you upon the Lord to give you life? It's not 99% dependent,
is it? It's 100% totally dependent upon
Him. Quicken me, give me life according
to your word. Now, when you feel dead, I can't
see Christ. I can't hear the gospel. I can't
hear his voice. I can't feel his embrace. I can't
smell the sweet savor of his aroma. I can't taste that he's
gracious. I'm dead. Quicken me. Give me life according to thy
word. And if you're in the depths,
that's your prayer. Quicken me. Give me life according
to your word, according to your gospel. Give me life. Raise me from the dead to be
able to see Christ, to hear the gospel, to feel His embrace,
to smell His savor. Quicken thou me according to
thy word. Now look in verse 26. David says,
I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me. How does he
deal with this? Well, first, he says, quicken
now me according to word, but next he deals with confession
of sin. Confession of sin, I have declared
my ways. This is an acknowledgment of
guilt and an acknowledgment of responsibility. You know, I've
always seen that people who are depressed when I'm depressed,
when you're depressed, We always have a hard time dealing with
personal responsibility in this thing. It's somebody else's fault. No, it's my fault. It's my fault. And there must be an acknowledgment
of personal guilt. You know, people who have trouble
with what we call the doctrines of grace, election and limited
atonement and so on. Well, the only reason you have
trouble with that is because you don't really believe you're
guilty. If you're guilty before God, if you're sinful before
God, it's your only hope. It's not bad news, it's good
news. You're not going to have any trouble with the doctrines
of grace if you ever confess your sin before God. A real sinner
finds his hope in that. The only hope I have is that
salvation is of the Lord. Now, in this thing of depression,
there's always a problem with acknowledging guilt. It's somebody
else's fault. But here's how David handles
this. He says, I've declared my ways. You know, there's nothing
more soul-cleansing than to confess your sin before God. I'm not
talking about before men, but I'm talking about before God,
where you take side with God against yourself. You agree with
what God says. Whatever He says is right. Guilty. That's my plea before God. I
plead guilty as charged. No excuses. No extenuating circumstances,
not somebody else's fault. It's my fault. Guilty, guilty,
guilty before God. David says, I've acknowledged
my ways. And I'll tell you what, before
this confession comes, we're going to stay down, aren't we?
But how, if we confess our sins, 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just, according to the gospel, to forgive
us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, what does David do in dealing
with this thing of cleaving to the dust? He says, My soul cleaves
unto the dust, quicken thou me according to thy word. I've declared
my ways. There's the confession of sin,
and thou hurtest me. And he won't depart from this.
Look what he says next. He says, teach me thy statutes. Now the word statutes is actually
decrees. Decrees, divine appointments. Now salvation comes by the decree
of God. It doesn't come because I will
it, it comes because He willed it. Salvation by His statutes
means salvation by grace, by sovereign grace. Sovereign grace.
I'm saved because He willed my salvation for Christ's sake.
Not because I worked, because He worked. It has nothing to
do with me. Now, what is more encouraging
than that? Is it encouraging to you that salvation is all
of grace and doesn't have anything to do with your works? Teach
me your statutes, both in your decrees in salvation and your
decrees in providence. Everything that happens, He's
in control of. And He caused it, and it's for
my good and His glory. That's what Scripture says. Romans
8, 28 says we know that all things work together for good. All things. work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Oh, how encouraging that is. David says, teach me your statutes. Teach them to me. I want to be
taught by him. And then he says in verse 27,
make me to understand the way of thy precepts. Make me to understand the way
of your law that shows me your guilt. Make me to understand
the way of your gospel that I might rest utterly and entirely in
your son. Make me to understand. I can't
unless you make me to understand. You know, this is not something
you can figure out. You cannot, through diligence, study, figure
this thing out. You're totally dependent. I'm
totally dependent upon revelation. I don't come to God thinking,
well, I'm going to get this thing figured out. Lord, teach me.
Make me to understand the way of thy precepts. Look what he
says next. So shall I talk of thy wondrous
works. A depressed person is always
thinking of his own works. And I guarantee you, you'll get
depressed if you're thinking about your own works. Everything
about you. If you feel good about it, you're blind when it comes
right down to it. I mean, a depressed person is
always thinking about his own works. What is it that encourages
a believer thinking about the Lord's works? He says, if you
make me to understand the way of God, priesthood, what am I
going to be talking about? I'm going to be talking about thy
wonderful works, his wonderful works of salvation, his achievements
on the cross. That's what encourages a believer.
You know, you can't look to Christ and be depressed at the same
time. When you're depressed, I guarantee,
I know this from experience, you're not really actively looking
to Christ at that time. I mean, your new nature is, I
realize that, but your old nature is just over. You're not looking
to Christ. You look to Christ, you won't
be depressed, because you'll know he's in control of everything.
He says, make me to understand thy precepts, so shall I talk
of thy wondrous works. Verse 28, he repeats his depression. My soul melts. for heaviness, strengthen thou me according
unto thy word." Now listen to this. He says, my soul melts
for heaviness, strengthen me according to your word. Depression
is caused by not doing what you're supposed to do according to the
word of God. And you know that's so. Depression is caused by not
doing what you're supposed to be doing according to the Word
of God. Now, what's strengthening about?
Strengthening is about being given the strength to do, the
power to do. Now, whatever it is I'm called
upon to do, is it to believe on Christ? Give me the strength
to do it. Is it to repent? Give me the strength to do it.
Is it to rest? Give me the strength to do it.
Is it to deny myself, take up my cross daily and follow Him?
Give me the strength to do it. Whatever it is that I'm called
upon to do, give me the strength to do it and understand this
all that God requires you to do. He will give you the strength
to do it. He's promised that in his word. Everything he requires
of you. He's going to give you the strength
to do it. Does he require faith? Sure he does. There's no salvation
apart from faith. He'll give you that faith. Repentance on
down the line, love what he'll give you the strength to do it.
Now, he says, my soul melts for heaven is strengthened down.
Give me the grace to do according unto thy word, according to that
gospel. Now, look what he says in verse
twenty nine. And this is such an important, important verse. I thought that passage was so
appropriate that Mark read out of Ephesians removed from me. The way of life. First, give me the grace to quit
lying to myself. You know, isn't it amazing that
we have the capacity to lie to ourselves and make ourselves
believe the lie that we told ourselves? I think that's amazing,
but every one of us has that capacity. Remove from me the
way of lying to myself. Remove from me the way of lying,
the lie of the false gospel, the lie of salvation by works.
Remove that from me and give me grace to just look to Christ.
Remove from me from being a liar. Remove me. This is part of depression,
being in the way of lying. Remove from me the way of lying.
And look what he says next. And grant me thy law graciously. And here's what I need. I need
for him to grant me, to graciously bestow upon me, to give me. Not
something I've got to buy, but something that's just given to
me freely. Grant me thy law. Christ's obedience to the law,
grant it to me. Take the perfect righteousness
of Christ, His law-keeping, and grant it to me. Graciously bestow
it upon me. I need grace. I need the grace
of God for His righteousness to be charged to my account.
I need the grace to do whatever He calls upon me to do. Grant
me, graciously bestow upon me Thy law, Thy precept, everything
in Your Word, graciously. Oh, how I need grace. How I need
great remember grace is God giving you what you don't deserve. Don't
you want God to give me what you don't deserve? Oh my, I need
that. Grant me by law graciously. Look what he says in verse 30.
He says I've chosen the way of truth. Forget that victim mentality. Forget that victim mentality.
He says I've chosen The way of truth, the way of his gospel. I know the only reason I've chosen,
because he's enabled me to, I realize that, but I've chosen the way
of truth. Give me the truth. Do you want the truth? Do you
want the truth? The truth concerning who God
is, who you are, and how he saves, who salvation is. And this is
something that every believer does. He chooses the way of truth. Give me the truth, whatever it
says about me, no matter how hard it is to swallow. Give me
the truth. He says, I've chosen the way
of truth. Thy judgments have I laid before me. The judgments,
what are his judgments? The judgments accomplished on
the cross. That's what I'm looking to. I'm looking to his judgments.
That's what I laid before me. I've chosen the way of truth.
And his judgments, what was accomplished on Calvary Street, that's what's
ahead of me. I'm not looking in any other direction. By His
grace, I'm only looking to what Christ did. I'm looking to His
judgments. That's what's before me. I'm not looking at the road
before me trying to figure out how I'm going to walk along it.
No. Judgments accomplished. Salvation's
accomplished by what Christ did on the cross. And I've laid His
judgments before me. Verse 31. He says, I've stuck. Unto thy testimonies. I'm not listening to the voice
of men, I'm not listening to my own. Someone says, trust your own
heart, scripture says he trusts his own heart to fool. Don't
listen to your own voice, don't listen to your natural reasonings.
He said, I'm stuck, I'm glued to what you say in your word,
not man's word. But that testimony, and this
is a determination, oh, by the grace of God, I just want to
listen to what God says in his word. Don't let me say what God says. I'm stuck to that testimony. Oh, Lord. Put me not to shame,
let me be found in Christ, put me not to shame. Verse 32. David says, I will run. I'm not just going to stumble
along. I will run the way of thy commandments,
thy gospel. I will run the way of thy commandments,
thy word, when thou shalt enlarge my heart. Now, understand this. Here's an understanding of grace.
David's not at this time looking for an excuse to not run in the
way of his commandments. He wants to run in the way of
God's commandments. But notice this. He is aware
of the fact that he will only do so as God enables him. I will run in the way of thy
commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart and enable me
to do so. There's an understanding there
of grace. Do you understand that the only
way that you can run in his commandments is as he enables you to? and
enlarges your heart and that'll be encouraging to you know if
you really believe that you know what you're going to do you can
say more to mark my heart. Give me the grace to run. In
the way of your commandments. It's confidence in his grace
now. Including. The press. Press. Understand it's sin. And we'll
make no progress in dealing with this until this is acknowledged.
It is sin. It's the child of unbelief. And
it's certainly a part of the human experience. It's brought
on by circumstances. Some of the things that have
happened to people, it's hard to tell how I deal with them.
the horrible things that happen to people. It's brought on by
circumstances. It's brought on by guilt. The guilt of sin. It's brought
on by low self-image. It's brought on by a lack of
discipline. It's brought on by being a control
freak. It's brought on by selfishness.
self-centeredness, self-pokedness, self-righteousness, self-serving,
self-promoting, self. No, self's a bad thing. It's
brought on by selfishness. It's brought on by a bad environment.
It's brought on by having no purpose. It's brought on by a
victim mentality. And it can certainly be brought
on also by physical problems. There's no question about that.
Well, what is the remedy? the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What's the remedy? Looking to Christ. That's so
simple. Yeah, it is, isn't it? It is. May God give us grace
Even right now, to actually rely upon Christ, to rely upon who
He is, and what He did, as enough. Not just the minimum, but everything
in salvation. To rely upon Him, knowing that
what He did makes you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight.
Believing that, that'll help us with this thing of depression. Now, that's not why we believe.
I don't believe in order to not be depressed. But there are salutary
effects. There are great effects. There
are helpful effects in looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, in
believing his word, in believing his truth, in believing his gospel. Let's pray together. Lord, I ask in Christ's blessed
name, that name of our beloved son, that you would give each
person in this room the grace to look to our dear son. Bless
this message for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Let's
sing, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face. and the things of earth will
grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Let's
stand and sing. What page is that on, Paul? Oh,
soul, are you weary and troubled? Excuse me? 204. We'll stand and
sing. Paul, if you'll lead us in that. O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you
see. There's light for a look at the
Savior. and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow
strangely dim. In the light of His glory and
grace. Through death into life everlasting,
He passed and we followed Him there. Over us then no more hath dominion,
For more than conquerors we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look
full in his wonderful face, And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim In the light of his glory and grace His word
shall not fail you, he promised Believe him and all will be well
Then go to a world that is dying. Nation to tell. Turn your eyes. upon Jesus, look full in his
wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely
dim in the light of his glory and grace.