Overcoming Spiritual Depression Through Grace and Justification

I have selected the following 12 quotes from the transcript, each adhering to the specified rules:

- "Now we are considering this condition not merely because it's a very sad and a very pathetic thing that any Christian should be in this condition but still more because in view of the times in which we are living it behoves each one of us who claims the name of Christ to represent him in such a way that others will be attracted to him and not be repelled from him as they look at us and observe our life and our walk." [00:01:04]

- "The fact is that there are Christian people those who are truly Christian who who are in difficulties for various reasons and it is in order to help them particularly that we are concerned about this matter now you can't read these new testament Epistles without seeing the truth of what I've just been saying if simply to believe and to accept salvation is everything well then these new testament Epistles would never have been needed in a sense you wouldn't need the church at all people would just thus be saved and they' go on Happily for the rest of their lives as Christian but here I say is abundant evidence that that isn't the case these people believe they' become Christians and yet it's necessary for the Apostle Paul and Peter and John and others to write letters to them why well they were in trouble in various ways they were unhappy for various reasons they were not enjoying their Christian Life some of them were even tempted to look back at the life out of which they' hadd been saved." [00:04:55]

- "The moment we become Christian we become very special objects of the attention of the devil as he besieged and attacked our Lord he does the same to all our Lord's people count it all joy therefore says James my brethren when he fall into diverse Temptations or trials that's the way that your faith is proved and not only is your faith tested but in a sense it's a proof that you have faith it is because we belong to him that the devil will do his utmost to disturb us and to upset us he cannot Rob us of our Salvation thank God but while he cannot Rob us of our Salvation he can make us miserable he can put his limits in an external sense Upon Our en of the faith and that is precisely what he does and that is why we have all this teaching and instruction in these new testament Epistles." [00:07:09]

- "Now I would say that in my experience in the ministry extending now over some 27 years there is nothing commoner than that I imagine that I've had to deal with people more over this particular thing than anything else it's constantly reappearing now at First Sight again some of you may wonder and query whether such people are Christians at all but you're quite wrong there are Christians you ask them to State the Christian faith and they can state it perfectly they seem to be quite clear in a sense about the doctrine of justification by faith I mean by that that at any rate they see very clearly that they can never put themselves right they're not relying upon their own lives or their own activities or anything that they can ever do they're fully aware of their complete helplessness and their entire dependence upon the grace of God in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ they quite clear about it they can testify to that and they have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ what of you say what's the matter with them well their condition is this though they they seem to be quite clear about that and though I say they can speak as Christians they nevertheless are unhappy and they're unhappy about something in their own past life." [00:09:03]

- "The essential cause as with most of these several conditions is the Devil Himself but here there is also a subsidiary cause and this this is the thing I want to emphasize this morning the important subsidiary cause here and the one that again the devil obviously implies is that this condition is almost entirely due to an ignorance of Doctrine and ignorance of Doctrine failure to understand the New Testament doctrine of salvation clearly that's the thing to which I now want to advert because this is the very essence of the treatment of this condition now let me put this bluntly and plainly in order that I may emphasize it even at the risk of being misunderstood there is a sense in which the one thing that these people who are in this condition must not do is to pray to be delivered from it that's what they always do of course and that's what they've always been doing when they come seeking help and advice they've just been praying to be delivered from this here is one of those points at which the Christian innocense must stop praying and begin thinking." [00:15:44]

- "Now I think this is wonderful you notice what the Apostle says what he claims here is that in a sense the Lord Jesus Christ saved him in order to set up a Model A model in what respect well a model for these very people who feel that their particular sin t or another puts a limit upon the grace and the mercy of God the apostles argument is this that his one case alone is sufficient proof once and forever that we must never reason along that life in other words here are people who believe that sins sins can be graded oh yes they say there are certain sins I understand that perfectly all right but this they draw a distinction they grade sins they classify them some are forgivable some apparently are not and so on now the Apostle says that he and his own case is more than sufficient to deal with that type of argument he says whatever you may have been whatever you may have done whatever your particular sin is think of me think of what I was a blaspheme a persecutor injurious could anything be worse he hated the very name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth he did his utmost to exterminate his followers he massacred them he went down to Damascus breathing out threatenings and tce to him in that condition was a blashe there it is now says the Apostle I'm a sort of model I'm a test case if you like and whatever you are put yourself up against me and then see where you stand that's the first thing you do you just think of all that and you say well if he obtained Mercy if he could be forgiven well I must begin to think again about this sin that's in my life or this thing that's troubling that's the first argument but you notice the Apostle doesn't stop there and we mustn't stop there because in a sense we must not differentiate between sin and sin on the surface the Apostle seems to be doing that doesn't he he says that Christ Jesus came into the world to save Sinners of whom I am chief as if to say well now there are big Sinners and lesser Sinners and small Sinners but he didn't say that he didn't mean that he couldn't possibly mean that it would be contradicting his essential Doctrine he does mean this he does mean that in a sense the nearer a man gets to God the greater he sees his sin there is a sense in which every man should save himself if he's a true Christian I am the chief of Sinner it is when a man sees the Blackness and the plague of his own soul that he says I am the chief of Sinners nobody could be worse than this it's only a Christian who can say that the men of the world will never say it he's always on the defensive and always proving what a good man he is but the Christian sees and realizes his sinfulness in a sense he means that but I think he means something more than that as I've just been saying he does seem to suggest that in one way these sins against the person of Christ are the sin of sin in other words he puts it like this he said I did it ignorantly in unbelief but by putting it like that of course he demolishes these gradations in sin looked at from one angle his sin was the worst sin conceivable but from another angle it's the same as all sins because there's only one sin finally and that's unbelief now that's the great New Testament Doctrine at this point and it is the thing that these people have to grasp above everything else that we mustn't think in terms of particular sins but always in terms of our relationship to God how we all tend to go astray at that point that is why we tend to think that some conversions are more remarkable than other conversions but they're not all conversions are exactly the same but we put up people to speak with their traumatic unusual conversion my dear friend it takes as much the grace of God to save the most respectable person in the world as it does to save the vest person in the world it was the same grace of God that saved Paul the blasphemer and the persecutor and the injurious as the mildest politest quietest Pharisee that has ever been saved nothing but the grace of God can save anybody and it takes the same Grace to save all but you see we don't think like that do we no you see we think some conversions are more striking and remarkable than other so we parade them we put them in the front window of the shop as it were why well because we're wrong in our Doctrine my friend we differentiate between sin and sin we think some sins are more heinous than others but they're not all sin is the same it all comes back to relationship to God it's all matter of unbelief now there are many striking examples of this in the scripture the point at which a man like Joseph showed his spiritual insight and understanding supremely I think was this when tempted by parer's wife he said how then can I do this great wickedness and then against God what troubled Joseph was not merely the act itself not merely the wrongness to potifa but if I do this he said I'll be sinning against God now that's true spiritual thinking you see he didn't merely think of the thing itself not merely the ACT not merely the sin that's what we tend to do what made sin sin to Joseph was that it involved his relationship to God if I do that I'll be sinning against God David saw the same thing of course the murderer and the adulterer that he was this is what troubles him against thee the only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight he wasn't minimizing the wrong he' done to others he knew all about it but that isn't the terrible thing it isn't the acent of itself it's my relationship to God it's my Rebellion against God that's sin and the moment you begin to think of it like that you forget particular sins you forget that one seems to be worse than another no no it was my unbelief says Paul that was the TR not the particular actions very well then I say we can put it like this that it is indeed our relationship to the law that matters and you know the New Testament has some very striking teaching about this I wonder whether you ever observed the lists that Paul gives in the fifth chapter of the epistle to the Galatians when he talks about the works of the flesh it's most interesting listen now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness yes we're all clear about them har Idol certainly witchcraft obviously ah but suddenly hatred hatred but I thought that sin only applied to certain people who were adultery and unclean and per perverts and so on not at all hatred variance emulation wrath right seditions heresies you know how he mixes them up envyings envyings murders yes not only actually but in mind and in heart drunkenness reings and such like what a l and our Lord had said the same thing when he reminded us that it is out of the heart that come evil thoughts and next murders he puts them together you see not only certain big sins but every sin any sin anything that's suggestive of a wrong relationship to God a lawlessness a Breaking of the law well James again has put this once and for all in his epistle in the second chapter and in the 10th verse where he puts his like this whosoever says James shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all so you see we're all on the same level and if ever you begin to think of the devil gets you to think that your sin is different reply to him it doesn't matter say what a man breaks in respect of the law if a man breaks in one point he is guilty of all and that one point I'm guilty of all the law SS everybody else so that doesn't matter it's the law that matters that's God's way of looking at sin my friends so don't let the devil mislead you and delude you it is law our relationship to the law of God our relationship to the person to God himself that's the thing that matters oh let us cease to think in terms of particular sins because if we do we'll fall into one of two groups we will say because we've not been guilty of certain sins we're all right and we've never been Sinners at all or else will say ah I did that particular thing and surely that must make a difference stop thinking in terms of sins consider your relationship to God I did it ignorantly in unbelief very well that's the second argument but let's go on to a third argument the trouble with these people in a sense is that they don't believe the scriptures you hadn't thought of that had you my friend you were saying oh of course the thing that's wrong about me is that terrible sin I committed let me tell you this morning in the name of God that that is not your trouble your trouble is that you're guilty of the sin of unbelief you don't believe the word of God now you may feel that you're humble perhaps because you're troubled about that sin you're not it's mock modesty you're IGN you're ignorant of the scripture you don't believe what God tells you I'm referring of course to the first Epistle of John in the first chapter where we read this if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all un that's a categorical statement made by God through his servant by the Holy Spirit there is no limit to it there is no qualification to it there is no differentiation between sin and sin I can't see any qualification at all what whatever your sin is if any man's sin it's as wide as that doesn't matter what it is doesn't matter what it was if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and if you don't believe that and if you go on dwelling on that sin you don't believe it I say you're not accepting the word of God and that's your sin you're not God at his word you don't believe him when he tells you well what I always say to these people I put in this form do you remember what happened to Peter once Peter had gone up to the top of a house to rest and there he suddenly went into a Tren and he saw a great sheet coming down from heaven with all sorts of for footed beasts and animals and insects and so on in it and of I said to him rise Peter slay and eat and Peter replied saying that he couldn't do this that nothing common or unclean had ever past his lips but the thing happened three times rise Peter slay and eat no my lord for nothing common or unclean have I eaten at any time and you remember what happened to him the voice of God from Heaven came to him again and said what God Earth cleansed that call not thou conon do you realize what you're doing said the voice of God to him you're punctilious you're standing on the law nothing common or unclean but I have commanded you to rise to slay and to eat what God has cleansed that call not thou colum and that is what I would say at this moment to anybody who may have been held in oppression and depression by the devil for a number of years over some particular sin in your past life I don't care what it is nor what form it's taken what I say to you in the name of God is this what God has cleansed by the blood of his only begotten son all not thou common or unclean the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin and all unrighteousness believe the word of God my friend don't pray frantically to be delivered from this thing believe God's word don't ask him for a message he's given it you believe it your prayer is a mockery at that point but let's go on the next trouble I would indicate about these people is that they don't seem to realize fully what our Lord really did on the cross on calvary's hill Oh yes they believe in his sacrificial atoning death but they don't work it out they don't think it out they haven't fully grasped the doctrine they've got enough to save them let's be clear about that I'm speaking about Christians yes but they're depressed because they don't realize what it is and it's this the angel announced at the very beginning that he should save his people from their sins I don't see in Brackets after that all sins except this one sin that you've committed he shall save his people from their sin all this to Peter saying it who his own self bear our sin in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we are healed there is no qualification there is no limit or indeed listen to the words of the Apostle Paul when he says that Heath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin they were all put there everyone there is no limit there's nothing left all the sins of his people people are there every one of them indeed he said it himself didn't he on the cross he said it is finished absolutely finished in what sense is it finished in this sense that not only all the sins committed in the past were dealt with there all the sins that would ever be committed were also dealt with there it is one sacrifice once and forever he never have to go back to the cross again he did it all there all the sins were dealt with there finally completely everything nothing was left undone it is finished and what we remind one another of as we take the bread and the wine is that completed and finished work there is nothing left undone there is no query or qualification about particular sins all sins of those who believe on him he has died for and is born their punishment every one of them has been dealt with and God has blotted them out as a thick Cloud sins you may ever forg ever commit have already been dealt with there so when you go to him it's the blood of Jesus Christ that's going to cleanse you so I go on to the next step which is this that we really must be clear about justification my friends I've dealt with this in a sense I'm simply reminding you of it in this way let us remember that our justif ific ation means not only that our sins are forgiven but that we have been declared to be righteous by God himself not merely righteous at that moment when we believed but permanently righteous for justification means this that we are given by God the positive righteousness of his own son the Lord Jesus Christ that's what justification means it doesn't merely mean that God says your sins are forgiven no no he clothes us with the righteousness of Jesus Christ he says you are righteous I see you not as a sinner but as a righteous child of my own I see you in Christ covered by his Holiness and righteousness and when God does that to us he does it once and forever you are hidden you stand in the righteousness of Christ before God and I say it with reverence and the authority of his word God sees your sins no more he sees the righteousness of Christ upon lay hold of that the last thing I mention is this it all comes to this ultimately doesn't it that it's a failure to realize our Union with Christ I told you at the beginning the trouble was ignorance of Doctrine people seem to think that Christianity just means being told that your sins are forgiven my dear friends that's only the mere beginning that's merely the first step what's it mean essentially well essentially salvation means Union with Christ one with Christ as we were one with Adam we are now one with Christ crucified with Christ I am crucified with Christ I have been I was it has happened all that's happened to him has happened to me I am in him I'm one with with him read the sixth chapter of the epistle to the Romans again I have been crucified with Christ I have died with Christ I have been buried with Christ I have risen with Christ I am seated in the Heavenly places in Christ and with Christ that's the teaching of the scripture you're not your own the old man has been crucified and all that belong to him his sins his lusts his everything they've all been dealt with he's dead buried with Christ risen with Christ reckon yourselves therefore to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ Our Lord my friends let me sum it up in this way therefore you and I and to me this is one of the greatest discoveries in the Christian Life I shall never forget the release that realizing this for the first time brought to me you and I must never look at our past lives we must never look at any sin in our past life in such a way except it should lead us to praise God and to magnify his grace as Paul did I challenge you with that if you look at your past or anything in your past and are depressed by it you're failing miserably as a Christian that doesn't mean that I say you should look at your Pest and say nothing no no you must do it as Paul did I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but does he stop at that does he sit in his corner and say I'm unworthy to be a preacher of the Gospel no he says the exact opposite I thank Christ Jesus our lord who ha enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry when Paul looks at that past he doesn't sit down in a corner and say I'm unfit to preach I'm not worthy to be a Christian alas I la I'm such a vile man I've done such terrible things not at all what it does to Paul is to make him praise God he magnifies the grace listen and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus that's the way to look at your past so if you look at your past and just depressed it means you're listening to the devil but if you look at that past and say yes unfortunately it was true I was blinded by the God of this world I did it in ignorance and unbelief but thank God his grace was more abundant and abounding it was more than sufficient and his love and mercy Came Upon me in such a way it's all forgiven and I'm a new man then it's all right that's the way I say to look at the best and if we don't do that I'm almost tempted to say that we deserve to be miserable why believe the devil instead of believing God rise up out of it my friend and realize the truth about yourself as in Christ and one with him and that all the past whatever it may be has gone and has been blotted out once and forever let us remember that it is sin to doubt God's word it is sin to allow the pest which God has dealt with to Rob us of our joy and our usefulness in the present and in the future I end with the words flattered from Heaven to the doubt ful hesitant Apostle Peter what God hath cleansed that call not thou rejoice in this wondrous grace and mercy that has blooded out your sin and made you a child of God Amen." [00:19:01]