Six Ways Jesus Fought Depression

And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. (Matthew 26:37)

The Bible gives us an amazing glimpse into the soul of Jesus the night before he was crucified. Watch and learn from the way Jesus fought his strategic battle against despondency or depression.

He chose some close friends to be with him. “Taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee” (Matthew 26:37).

He opened his soul to them. He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matthew 26:38).

He asked for their intercession and partnership in the battle. “Remain here, and watch with me” (Matthew 26:38).

He poured out his heart to his Father in prayer. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39).

He rested his soul in the sovereign wisdom of God. “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).

He fixed his eye on the glorious future grace that awaited him on the other side of the cross. “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

When something drops into your life that seems to threaten your future, remember this: The first shock waves of the bomb in your heart, like the ones Jesus felt in Gethsemane, are not sin. The real danger is yielding to them. Giving in. Putting up no spiritual fight. And the root of that sinful surrender is unbelief — a failure to fight for faith in future grace. A failure to cherish all that God promises to be for us in Jesus.

In Gethsemane Jesus shows us another way. Not painless, and not passive. Follow him. Find your trusted spiritual friends. Open your soul to them. Ask them to watch with you and pray. Pour out your soul to the Father. Rest in the sovereign wisdom of God. And fix your eyes on the joy set before you in the precious and magnificent promises of God.

John Piper

What would God rather do?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. Jeremiah 18:7-8

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

In this passage, God is not just talking about the nation Israel. He’s talking about nations in general. God says, “When I get ready to judge a nation, if that nation will repent, then I will turn from the judgment that I had determined to send upon that nation.” 

Let me tell you something about the great heart of our God: God is a God of righteousness, judgment, and justice, but God had rather show mercy than send judgment. 

America is ripe for judgment. However, God says, “When I get ready to judge a nation, if that nation will repent, then I will turn from judgment and show mercy.” We are in the eleventh hour, the clock is about to strike midnight, and we need to pray, “Oh God, hold back Your hand of judgment upon America. 

“If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

ACTION POINT:

A church steeple is supposed to point us to God. Have you ever noticed that the closer the steeple gets to the top, the smaller it gets? The closer we get to God, the more we realize how insignificant and sinful we are. This is not a time for finger-pointing in America. This is a time for repentance of personal sin. I’m talking about the people in the pew. The Bible says the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

I'm Sorry

Definition of sorry:

Feeling regret, repentant 

Giving forgiveness should follow the statement of sorry!

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.  - Isaiah 53:4-5

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.  - Isaiah 53:11-12

I'm sorry!

How often do we hear these words?

Maybe someone hurt your feelings, someone stepped on your toe, an illness you are going thru, or someone is expressing sorrow for the state you are in, such as the loss of a loved one or your job.

These are more than mere words. 

They are life, when spoken in repentance of your sin, to Christ Jesus.

We are forgiven in Christ!

to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' - Acts 26:18

And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.' - Acts 22:16

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. - 1 Peter 2:10

24 for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 

25 but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you.  - 1 Peter 1:24-25

The Temptation of Man

Temptation is not sin.

It is only when you yield to it, that sin enters in.

Temptation will always be with us.

Let us run toward God.

This test must be given!

We must win to glorify God!

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. - 1 Corinthians 10:13-14

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. - Hebrews 4:15-16

4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,

5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge-

6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you-

7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. - 1 Corinthians 1:4-9

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. - Hebrews 2:18

Recognize temptation in your life.

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. - 1 Corinthians 10:12

Pride and arrogance will lead you down the path to sin.

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.  - Proverbs 16:18

Request help in advance of temptation.

Pray for wisdom!

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  - Matthew 6:13

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." - Matthew 26:41

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Retreat from certain kinds of sin.

Be a coward!

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. - 1 Corinthians 10:14

Retreat from immorality.

18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. - 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. - 2 Timothy 2:22

7 And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with me."

8 But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. - Genesis 39:7-8

Retreat from greed.

10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. - 1 Timothy 6:10-11

Remove any means of sin from your life.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. - Romans 13:14

Set yourself for victory!

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.  - Proverbs 13:20

Resolve to live on the high road.

Be Christ filled for the day of temptation.

Be strong in the Lord!

Sin crushes! 

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. - 2 Corinthians 4:16

Thanks Pastor Jeremiah!

Saving Faith Loves Forgiveness

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

Saving faith is not merely believing that you are forgiven. Saving faith looks at the horror of sin, and then looks at the holiness of God, and apprehends spiritually that God’s forgiveness is unspeakably glorious, beautiful. We don’t just receive it; we admire it. We are satisfied with our new friendship with such a great, forgiving God.

Faith in God’s forgiveness does not merely mean a persuasion that I am off the hook. It means savoring the truth that a forgiving God is the most precious reality in the universe. Saving faith cherishes being forgiven by God, and from there rises to cherishing the God who forgives — and all that he is for us in Jesus. This experience has a tremendous effect on our becoming forgiving people.

The great act of purchasing our forgiveness is past — the cross of Christ. By this backward look, we learn of the grace in which we will ever stand (Romans 5:2). We learn that we are now, and always will be, loved and accepted. We learn that the living God is a forgiving God.

But the great act of experiencing our forgiveness goes on forever into the future. Our joyful fellowship with the great God who forgives lasts forever. Therefore, freedom for forgiveness, flowing from this all-satisfying fellowship with the forgiving God, lasts as long as we do.

I have learned that it is possible to go on holding a grudge if your faith simply means you have looked back to the cross and concluded that you are off the hook. That’s why I have been forced to go deeper into what true faith is — not just a relief that I’m off the hook, but also a profound satisfaction with all that God is for me in Jesus. This faith looks back not merely to discover that we are off the hook, but also to see and savor the kind of God who offers us a future of endless reconciled tomorrows in fellowship with him. Satisfied fellowship with such a forgiving God is crucial for our being forgiving people.

John Piper 

Am I accountable for my nation’s sins?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments. Daniel 9:5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Reading Daniel’s prayer in this verse, you might find yourself asking, “Did Daniel do all that—committed iniquity, done wickedly, rebelled and departed?” No. Daniel simply included himself in his prayer for his nation.

Daniel was one of the mostly godly men in the Old Testament. Daniel is one of only two men (the other being Joseph) about whom the Old Testament says not one word to indicate they ever displeased God. So why is Daniel saying this? Because he was identifying with the sin of his people and lifting them up before the Lord in great humility.  

Does God hold me accountable for the abortion in America? Yes! Does God hold me accountable for the pornography? Yes! For the drug addiction, alcoholism, materialism, humanism? Yes, He does. Friend, if the church had done what she ought to have done, and if we would do what we ought to do, these problems would be healed. And while we may not commit these sins, they are still our sins. Verse 20 of this same chapter makes it so clear: “While I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel….”

Now, people who don’t know God aren’t going to confess the sin of this nation. Like Daniel, we must set our face and pray with reflection and repentance, confessing our sin and the sin of America. Only sin that is confessed is forgiven.

ACTION POINT:

Have you ever set your face to prayer? So much of our prayer, I hate to say, is casual prayer, prayer that comes with almost a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. We must set our face before God with fasting and determination.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

When Another Christian Hurts You

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

What is the basis of our not holding grudges against Christian brothers and sisters who repent?

Our moral indignation because of a terrible offense done against us does not evaporate just because the offender is a Christian. In fact, we may feel even more betrayed. And a simple, “I’m sorry” will often seem utterly disproportionate to the painfulness and ugliness of the offense.

But in this case we are dealing with fellow Christians and the promise of God’s wrath against our offender does not apply, because there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). “God has not destined [Christians] for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9). It looks like they are going to get away with it!

Where shall we turn to assure ourselves that justice will be done — that Christianity is not a mockery of the seriousness of sin?

The answer is that we look to the cross of Christ. All the wrongs that have been done against us by genuine believers were avenged in the death of Jesus. This is implied in the simple but staggering fact that all the sins of all God’s people were laid on Jesus. “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6; 1 Peter 2:24).

The suffering of Christ was the real punishment and recompense of God on every hurt you have ever received from a fellow Christian. Therefore, Christianity does not make light of sin. It does not add insult to our injury.

On the contrary, it takes the sins against us so seriously that, to make them right, God gave his own Son to suffer more than we could ever make anyone suffer for what they have done to us. If we go on holding a grudge against a fellow believer, we are saying in effect that the cross of Christ was not a sufficient recompense for the sins of God’s people. This is an insult to Christ and his cross you do not want to give.

John Piper