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with me in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 15. According to our custom we should have been in Philippians tonight, but Pastor Porter is preaching next Sunday evening and the following Sunday evening, so we'll finish up the book of Philippians in the new year and then God willing turn our attention to the pastoral epistle, specifically 1 Timothy.

Tonight I'm going to preach a sermon that I did a couple of years ago at about this time in Christmas. Probably people will wonder why depression as a subject for a Christmas sermon, because it being the happiest time of the year for many people, it's also a miserable time of the year for a lot of other people.

And we've had a heavy emphasis on distress and trial and difficulty in Psalms 3 and 4. And then when we looked at Asaph in Psalm 73, he obviously was of a melancholic spirit. And so melancholy is the older version of the word depression. Not specifically speaking about clinical depression, I am not a doctor, I am not giving anybody a prescription on how to get well, but simply some biblical thoughts with reference to depression.

So I want to look first at the reality of it, and then secondly, some strategies for dealing with it, whether it's in ourselves or whether it's in others that we know and love. Timothy Rogers wrote a book called Trouble of Mind and the Disease of Melancholy, and he says in the preface that these are several advices to the relatives and friends of melancholy people. He says, look upon your distressed friends as being under one of the worst distempers they can have in this miserable life. Melancholy seizes on the brain and spirits and incapacitates them for thought or action. It confounds and disturbs all their thoughts and unavoidably fills them with anguish and vexation of which there is no resemblance in any other distemper unless it is that of a raging fever. I think that's a pretty good description of the particular malady in view.

As well, I'm not only going to go through some of the Proverbs and other passages in the Old Testament and New Testament, but there is a wonderful essay by Charles Haddon Spurgeon called The Minister's Fainting Fits. And as you might guess, it's directed specifically to ministers, but I think there's a general application for all of God's suffering saints. He gives various reasons as to why people fall into that melancholy or depression as we call it presently. And outside of the Bible, it's probably one of the most helpful things I've read on the subject. And then there's another little book by a fellow named Zach Eswin, and he's a modern author, he's a pastor, went through a great tragedy in his own personal life, and it caused him to go to the scriptures, and it caused him to go to Spurgeon. So he wrote a little paperback book called Spurgeon's Sorrows. And again, if this is a propensity or a tendency for you, if the constant darkness and rain and weather affects you negatively in December, then these might be some helpful remedies or helpful things for your soul as you go through these several months.

So I wanna just read Proverbs 15, 13 and then we'll pray and then we'll look at this along with other passages.

So Proverbs 15, 13, a merry heart makes a cheerful countenance. But by sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken.

Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we come now to a very serious subject and one that the Bible does not shy away from addressing. We pray that your spirit would guide us. We pray that you would help us to deal with the distress, to deal with the affliction, to deal with those times when we are feeling down. We know that on the one hand, this is biblical, this is the reality. On the other hand, we pray that you would strengthen our faith, our confidence in the Most High, and that we would glorify and honor you, even in the midst of the trials, even in the midst of the afflictions. Forgive us again for our sins, guide us by your Spirit, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Well, as we see this particular passage, and many of the passages in Proverbs are going to go back and forth to because they're parallel statements. You give a good thing and then a bad thing. The good thing, verse 13a, a merry heart makes a cheerful countenance. Good thing. But then 13b, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. So we'll have cause. to go back and forth to several of these proverbs. 

But with reference to the reality of depression, the presence of it, not just in the proverbs as they address them specifically, or addresses the issue specifically, you've got Elijah under the broom tree in 1 Kings chapter 19. Elijah had just witnessed a great blessing from God. In fact, Lloyd-Jones in his book, Spiritual Depression, which is another good one, by the way, and I think Spurgeon mentions this as well, is that ministers oftentimes are prone to depression after seasons of great blessing. 

So in 1 Kings 18, Elijah calls down from God the fire of Yahweh to consume his sacrifice. It's a great victory. The day ends with the slaying of the false prophets of Baal. And on the heels of that, you've got Elijah under the broom tree in 1 Kings 19 praying that God will take him. I don't think he's having some sort of a crisis moment. I think he's grieved and vexed by the condition of Old Covenant Israel. It's not some personal crisis that the prophet is engaged in, but rather it is the external circumstances that he must face being a prophet in the midst of a faithless age. In other words, God Most High is real, but these people want to worship and bow down to Baal. 

You've got the prophet Jeremiah, certainly a melancholic spirit based on the various circumstances and difficulties he went through. I doubt any of us witnessing the fall of Jerusalem in 586 would be upright or rather positive and bubbly every step of the way. You've got Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations basically expressing his woe, expressing his pain, expressing his heartache with reference to the fall of the city. 

You've got Job. Job definitely understood what it was to have a melancholic spirit based on the various circumstances that he faced. You've got Jesus, described for us as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. You've got snapshots in the New Testament about the Apostle Paul. Of course he was depressed from time to time. Of course there would be a downcast spirit. Of course there's hardship and it affects you at a real personal level. 

Consider the psalmist in Psalm 88, verse 6, specifically, you have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths. Spurgeon, in that article I mentioned, says the mind can descend, actually this is his commentary on Psalm 88, the mind can descend far lower than the body, for there are bottomless pits. The flesh can bear only a certain number of wounds and no more, but the soul can bleed in 10,000 ways and die over and over again each hour. Again, it sounds grim, but so does Psalm 88. It sounds grim, but so does Psalms 3 and 4. It sounds grim, but so does the experience of the prophet Jeremiah lamenting over the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple.

Brethren, there are trials, there are distresses, there are hardships, there are difficulties in the Christian life, and we're not disembodied spirits. As embodied spirits, those things have an effect upon us and can produce or promoting us a sorrowful disposition or a melancholic response.

So in terms of Proverbs, go back to chapter 12, specifically at verse 25, the reality of depression, the reality of a melancholic spirit. Proverbs 12.25, anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word, makes it glad.

Again, we'll visit that latter part later on in the sermon, but that first part, notice, anxiety in the heart of man causes depression. It's a recognition of a reality, of a truth. I mean, you can't live in this world and think that everything is only ever upbeat and positive. In fact, as you've heard me argue before, I think there's a doctrine of bad days in the Bible, and I think we should embrace that. I think there's a doctrine of bad seasons. I don't mean bad where you're out sinning and robbing banks, but yeah, there's gonna be sorrow, there's gonna be hardship, there's gonna be difficulty.

There's gonna be Psalm 42 and 43 moments in the lives of God's people when they say, why are you downcast, oh my soul? That is King David speaking to his own soul. A man after God's own heart is nevertheless talking to himself and saying, why are you downcast? He gives himself the remedy then, hope thou in God. That's the biblical response always.

Sorrow, melancholy, hardship, affliction, trial, distress. What should it do? It shouldn't chase you away from God, it should push you further closer to God. That's the biblical remedy in essence or in Psalm.

Notice as well the reality of heart bitterness, chapter 14, verse 10. The heart knows its own bitterness, and a stranger does not share its joy. The heart knows its own bitterness.

Again, this is one of those maladies, too. It's probably easier to have a broken arm or a broken leg, because everybody can see that. I don't know what's the matter. I'm just down. I'm sorrowful. I lack peace. I lack comfort. I can't just knuckle under. Be happy. Be happy.

Later I'm going to give bad advice that I've both given and heard. Bad advice that I've both given and heard. Just be happy. Just smile. What do you mean just be happy and smile? Don't you think if I thought I could be happy and smile, I'd be happy and I'd smile? The heart knows its own bitterness. Oftentimes, others do not.

If you have a broken arm, if you have a black eye, everybody knows why you've got a bandage there. When you've got a broken spirit, nobody sees it. You can't sort of quantify it. And so people just are kind of perplexed that you're always kind of a negative Nelly. Well, dispositionally, some of us might be negative Nellies, but there might actually be a soul or a heart bitterness that others just don't see.

Notice as well in 1413, even in laughter, the heart may sorrow and the end of mirth may be grief. Even outward circumstances being good, I mean, everything at least externally seems to be good. Why are you downcast? I mean, your wife is happy, your kids are happy, you got a good job, you got good income, you got sunny days. What's your problem? Well, again, even though outward circumstances might be conducive to happiness, even in laughter the heart may sorrow and the end of mirth may be grief. Notice as well in 1513, a merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by a sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken.

So you see, the Bible doesn't shrink back from rightly identifying the human condition. As I mentioned twice today, probably in the confession study and in the morning sermon, the Bible faces our lives head on. It doesn't fake it, it doesn't pretend, it doesn't say, you know, here's a magic wand, everything's gonna be okay. No, it doesn't do that. There's hard times, there's downcast souls, there's trouble, there's melancholy. There's effects upon us as human beings that render us in a state of sorrow and misery and pain.

Notice in 1515, all the days of the afflicted are evil, but he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast. Notice that first part, all the days of the afflicted are evil. In other words, this continues, it's persistent at times. Notice then as well, the reality that a broken spirit actually affects the body. 1722, we call this psychosomatic. That doesn't mean it's fake. That doesn't mean it's pseudosomatic, it means it's psychosomatic. There's this head-body or mind-body sort of impact.

Notice in 1722, a merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. Gill says the joy or grief of the mind, those passions of the soul, have a very great influence upon the body, either for its good or hurt. You can go back to Psalm 38 and see something of this, and obviously this is the effect of David's sin, but nevertheless it had a psychosomatic effect upon him. It had a body influence upon him when he kept silent about his sin.

Notice in Psalm 38 verse 3, nor any health in my bones because of my iniquities. For my iniquities have gone over my head like a heavy burden. They are too heavy for me. My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness. I am troubled. I am bowed down greatly. I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are full of inflammation. There is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and severely broken. I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.

Brethren, this is a reality. This man kept silent about his sin, and as a result, there would be melancholy. As a result, there would be sorrow. As a result, there would be depression. And as a result, there would be this pain physically associated with his rebellion against the living and true God.

As well, the difficulty of persisting with a broken spirit. Notice in Proverbs 18.14. I mean, perseverance on the best of days is tough, isn't it? Being faithful to the Lord God Most High and the best of days is a challenge for us with remaining corruption, but when we're depressed, when we're melancholic, when we've got issues, notice in 1814, the spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit? The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?

Again, it's not an arm. An arm's going to heal. The leg's going to heal. The eye is going to turn from black to white again. It's going to heal. But as Solomon rightly asked, who can bear a broken spirit? And then note 24.10, the propensity to faint in the day of adversity. Proverbs 24, verse 10. Excuse me, Proverbs 24.10, if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. You faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Now I love what Matthew Henry comments in relationship to this text, because you can read that and go, man, I'm really messed up. I'm fainting in the day of adversity. That's just not good. I'm a wretch. Okay, listen to Matthew Henry. This is a commentary on Job 4, 1 to 6. He says, it is true, if thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength, thy grace is small, Proverbs 24, 10, but it does not therefore follow that thou hast no grace, no strength at all. A man's character is not to be taken from a single act. Never forget that. Never forget that. A man is not defined by one act. A man by God's grace is defined by his faith or position in our Lord Jesus Christ.

So if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is weak. Yeah, build your strength, exercise your strength, get more Bible in you, get more public worship in you, get more prayer in you, all that to be sure, but don't conclude you're not necessarily saved. If you're of a sorrowful disposition, if you're of a melancholic spirit, you're in good company. The brethren in the scripture that I just cited are all there. Look at the history of the church. We were talking today over lunch, or at lunch, about William Cooper. If you know anything about that hymn writer, man, he had some melancholy about him. He's the man that wrote There is a Fountain Filled with Blood, Drawn from Emmanuel's Veins. He wrote several of the hymns that we sang. He had a melancholic spirit. Like, the kind of melancholic spirit, you're like, dude, wow, you should get some hands-on pastoring, which he did. John Newton was a faithful friend. John Newton encouraged William Cooper at a particular time and season in life, let's write hymns. What a good remedy for a man struggling in melancholy. Let's write hymns. What a good friend John Newton was. What a beautiful human being. To take that kind of love and concern and show it to this William Cooper.

But brethren, it is a reality. And then the reality of just a heavy heart. Notice in 2520. Like one who takes away a garment in cold weather, and like vinegar on soda, is one who sings songs to a heavy heart. So you see, Solomon recognizes the heavy heartedness that sometimes settles in to the people of God, by trials, by difficulties, by hardship, by affliction. That this is not, you know, a made-up thing.

The reality of depression. As I said, it's difficult because it's not a broken arm or a broken leg that everybody can see. It's a broken heart or a broken spirit that nobody can see except you and God. And I would suggest the reality of depression for some of the people of God. Don't go from here saying, you know, I've never really been depressed like that. What's wrong with me? Don't argue that way. I think dispositionally, some tend to have that melancholic spirit about them more than others. Asaph certainly reminds me of somebody. Cooper certainly reminds me of somebody that had that.

But the reality is, is that God's people at times, and more often than not, may suffer from depression. And I would suggest that the reality of the depression is not in and of itself sinful. It's not a sin to be downcast. David says, why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him with the help of his countenance. He's not recording and celebrating his sin. He's acknowledging his weakness. He's acknowledging his sorrow. He's acknowledging his malady. He's doing exactly what he says elsewhere in the Psalms for us to do, cast our burdens upon God because he cares for us.

Or consider Isaiah 53.3, I already mentioned it. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We do not predicate sinfulness of our Lord Jesus because it was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. So, it may be a result of our sin, it may be a consequence of some sin, as it was for David, Psalm 38, but it's not necessarily a sin, right? You can't treat somebody depressed as if they're a filthy, vile sinner that needs to repent of being depressed. They might be a filthy, vile sinner that needs to repent of something, but not over sorrowfulness and melancholy. That's not legit, brethren. 

Now, as we move on, we see the reality of it, the causes of it, and they're manifold. I mean, physical problems. You lose a leg. I would imagine there's going to be a time of depression when you lose a leg. You lose an eye. You're going to have a season of sorrow, chronic illness. Disease, all these things can affect a person. Again, we're not disembodied spirits. We're not angels floating ethereally, strumming harps with our angel wings. That's just not reality. The physical toll of life in this world can oftentimes have a spiritual impact, and we are fools not to recognize that. That's what Solomon is conveying in so many ways in the book of Proverbs. 

psychological causes, the fact that some are just wired a little bit that way. In fact, listen to Spurgeon in his Minister's Fainting Fits. Sorry, but when I read Spurgeon, I can cry and laugh all at the same time. He says, as to mental maladies, is any man altogether sane? Are we not all a little off balance? Yes, absolutely, positively, we're all a little off balance. Some tend to balance or be off balance in a melancholic direction, in a sorrowful disposition. 

As well, the difficult circumstances of life. I mentioned Elijah, 1 Kings chapter 19. Great victory, chapter 18, fire from on high coming down to consume the sacrifice, the death to the prophets of Baal. Beautiful, wonderful victory. That didn't deal with the Jezebel and Ahab problem. That didn't rectify the covenant unfaithfulness of the Israelites. So what happens? He's sorrowful. He's despondent. He's depressed. It hurts. Again, the Apostle Paul, all the things that he suffered, it had an effect upon him. Again, in Zach Eswine's book, he mentions desertion by family member or friend, bereavement, poverty of basic needs, disappointment and defeat. There's a whole host of things that can impact us in a particular way to send us down this road of sorrow. It's myriad. There's multitudes of ways. 

And then spiritual causes. Turn back to Proverbs 13, verse 12. Proverbs 13, verse 12. It seems to me there's some saints that are never happy in this world. And by that, I don't mean they have a discontented spirit. I mean by that, they're ready for the world to come. Proverbs 13, 12. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. We've got a hope in heaven. The deferral of it can at times make the heart sick. We're strangers in this present evil age. 

Now, if you're not as affected by this, don't argue yourself out of the cane. Well, you know, I kind of like my life, my house is nice, my wife. I'm not suggesting you're evil. But there seem to be some saints, hope deferred makes the heart sick. They just have a natural inclination to sorrow and melancholy because they're ready to go to heaven. They're ready to translate. They're ready to be in the presence of Emmanuel. Now, I would suggest they probably need to smile once or twice here while they're on their way to Emmanuel's land, but nevertheless, hope deferred makes the heart sick.

But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life, the practice of sin. See, brethren, if you're sorrowful and melancholic because you're unrepentant, you need to repent. It really is that simple. If you can trace back to your heart disposition of sorrow, sadness, and bitterness, and you know that it's because you've committed adultery, because you've been unfaithful online, because you're a thief, because you're a liar, because you've got some breach in terms of the Ten Commandments, repent. That's always the immediate response is to repent, stop sinning against God.

Again, Psalm 38. When I kept silent about my sin, what happened? My bones hurt. My loins were inflamed. I was not comfortable keeping silent about my sin. So if your sin or your depression or your melancholic spirit is connected to your sin, I don't want to overplay this, but that's a simple remedy. Stop sinning. Stop committing adultery. Stop looking at garbage on the internet. Stop stealing. Stop lying. Stop cheating. Stop it. Repent. Forsake your sin and listen to Solomon in 28.13. He who covers his transgression will not prosper. Whoever confesses and forsakes it will find what? Mercy. Beautiful. God gives mercy. God gives forgiveness. If we confess our sins, 1 John 1.9, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So if your sorrow is connected to your sin, repent of your sin. That's the easiest part of the sermon here. Just stop sinning.

And then the attack of the devil. He doesn't cause it, but he can certainly exploit it. Listen to Truman on Luther. Truman making an observation on Martin Luther. Luther certainly regards the cultivation of despair as one of the primary tasks of the devil. Huh. Is Luther in the ballpark on that? Absolutely. Luther certainly regards the cultivation of despair as one of the primary tasks of the devil. What happens in despair? Usually, if your despair is like my despair, my despair sends me to me. Oh, how bad my life is. Oh, how full of sorrows I am. And I'm being, you know, melodramatic here. Where else would the devil want us to look but at our hearts and our lives and not Christ? I think Luther's on to something. One of his tasks is to promote despair, to promote this not looking to Jesus mindset. I think he's on the ball with that.

So the reality of depression, hopefully we see that, the presence of and causes for. Now, strategies for dealing with it. Again, I'm not a doctor. I'm just giving you some, what I think is good biblical horse sense. And I'm leaning on a doctor, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. He was a famous preacher in the 1900s and he had been, he's not Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones because he was a doctor of theology, he was a medical doctor. He was a renowned medical doctor and then left being a medical doctor to become a preacher. And you know, people would say, what a sacrifice, wow, you gave up all that. And his attitude was, I gave up nothing. There's no greater privilege in the world than standing before men declaring the whole counsel of God. But as a medical doctor, when people would come to his office and they would, you know, speak of a spiritual malady or a spiritual difficulty, he'd always ask them about their physical life. Why? Because we're not disembodied spirits. We're not angels strumming our harps in the ethereal clouds with our wings. We are real, live, blood and flesh human beings that get tired, that get hungry and that have a need to walk around once in a while. 

So for the depressed, I would encourage you with reference to the physical ABCs, rest, diet, exercise. Well, that's just sounding like, you know, psycho babble. Turn to 1 Kings 19. I already mentioned Elijah and his malady or his melancholic spirit. Let's see how the Lord God Most High remedied this. Let's see how God ministered to his servant, the prophet Elijah. 

So notice in 19.4, he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree and he prayed that he might die and said, it is enough now, Lord, take my life for I am no better than my father's. Again, I want you to know that he is not having a crisis of a personal nature. He is sickened by the unfaithfulness of old covenant Israel. He is sickened by it, and he says so on several, well, look at 10, verse 10. I've been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life. 

I get it why he's sorrowful. I get it why he's despondent. I get it why he's melancholy. He's living amongst a bunch of covenant-breaking wretches. And it hurts his heart. So back to verse 5. So he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. So he arose and ate and drank, and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God. 

Turn over to Mark's gospel, Mark chapter 6. Mark chapter 6. Now, I am conscious that in our community, and rightly so, There's a strong commitment to the Protestant work ethic. Beautiful. Fourth Commandment, we love it. Not just the Sabbath resting part, but the six days you shall labor and do all your work. That's good. Protestant work ethic, beautiful, fantastic, great heritage. But if you're gonna work yourself into despondency, sorrow, despair, and the place where you're sitting under a broom tree asking God to take you, you might need to schedule in some rest, just maybe. 

Look at Mark 6, verse 31. Well, verse 30, then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And he said to them, come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. Isn't that beautiful? Rest a while. There's that scene in Joshua when Achan steals the loot. I mean, he's terrible, right? He steals all that, he covets it, he finds it, takes it, puts it in his tent. What does God say when He identifies the sinner? He tells Joshua, show up in the morning and we'll adjudicate it. We wouldn't do that. I wouldn't. Okay, 9 p.m., we gotta deal with it. God says, well, show up in the morning and we'll... 

Brethren, the world does not depend upon us never having rest. The apostles themselves were bidden by the Lord Jesus to come apart and and rest a while. 

Listen to Spurgeon with his comments on the minister's fainting fits. The master knows better than to exhaust his servants and quench the light of Israel. Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength. He goes on to say, it is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall do more by doing less. He says elsewhere, on, on, on forever without recreation may suit spirits emancipated from this heavy clay. But while we are in this tabernacle, we must every now and then cry halt and serve the Lord by holy inaction and consecrated leisure. Let no tender conscience doubt the lawfulness of going out of a harness for a while, but learn from the experience of others the necessity and duty of taking timely rest.

That's what God does with Elijah. Here's some food, get some rest, you got a long journey, get healthy. So the physical ABCs. The possible need for medical attention, I'm not suggesting, I'm not a doctor, and I'm not suggesting I am, and I am suggesting there might be a need for medical attention. I think there's a problem. Depression is only physical, only brain connected, or depression is only spiritual. Oftentimes it's a combination of both. And pastors don't have the ability to deal with certain things. I mean, know your limitations, know the limitations of the people you speak to.

Spurgeon again says, it would not be wise to live by a supposed faith and cast off the physician and his medicines any more than to discharge the butcher and the tailor and expect to be fed by faith. So the physical ABCs, and it shouldn't be a shock to anybody. I mean, you should rest well, you should exercise, and you should eat properly. I don't need to be a doctor to be able to say that, because that's general revelation. That's light of nature. That's just built into us. As creature, we have to take care of the body. How do we take care of the body? We get sleep, we eat good food, and we exercise. And by good food, I don't necessarily mean good tasting food. Though the healthy stuff is good tasting.

But the spiritual ABCs as well, the means of grace that God has ordained for our well-being, the means of grace that God has ordained for our health and strength. If somebody wasn't eating properly and somebody wasn't exercising and somebody wasn't resting, it'd be obvious why perhaps they had a physical malady. Well, I think it's as obvious when somebody spiritually isn't exercising, when they're not reading their Bibles, when they're not praying, when they're missing more church than they're actually coming to. It's not surprising you've got soul sorrow because you're not doing anything to correct it. You're not going to the source, you're not going to the fount, you're not going to the one who alone can give you the help.

I would suggest as well with reference to dealing with it, the recognition that you may never be cured. I know that's a tough pill to swallow. And again, I'm not a doctor. Go find that out from a doctor. But you can manage and deal. But sometimes, if you're brain chemistry, if you're an ASAP, you're not going to be the life of the party. It's just an impossibility. God in regeneration, we're new creatures, but we don't become new identities. I don't go from Debbie the downer to party animal, life of the show. It just doesn't happen. So it might be the case that you're not cured, but it may be the case that you need to learn how to manage it, you need to learn to eat properly, you need to learn to exercise, you need to learn to rest, and you need to learn to read your Bible and pray and never miss church. Managing might be the best that you can do, but that's a great boon if you've got that disposition.

And then finally, dealing with those depressed. And again, I've got this here as someone who has both given and received bad advice. I acknowledge that. If you talked to me 20 years ago, 10 years ago, two months ago, yesterday, I probably gave you bad advice. I understand that.

My position on advice is this. If you come to my office and you ask me, what is justification? I will tell you declaratively, justification is an act of God's free grace wherein He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. I will then go to Romans, I will go to Galatians, and I will show you beyond a shadow of a doubt that that's what the Bible teaches on justification.

If you ask my advice on something, I usually try to qualify it. This is not my area of expertise. This is not my area of competence. This is not my area of knowledge. But if you ask the simple question, here's a simple response. You can take that advice or you can not take that advice. That's perfectly acceptable.

But with reference to advice, when it comes to dealing with depressed people, is the denial of their depression. You're not helping them. Man, I'm really struggling. What are you struggling about? You got a great job, you got a great family, you got a great this, you got a great that.

One of the particular things that Spurgeon addresses in the causes for depression is the, let me just find it here, the causeless depression. He goes through a list. Here's, you know, a high is often followed by a low. 1 Kings 18, 1 Kings 19. You know, lots of work and no rest can produce that sorrowful spirit or melancholic spirit. So there's a whole lot. The last one he deals with, causeless depression. We're down and we just don't know why. If I lost an arm and I was depressed, I'd at least know why I'm depressed. If my eye was gouged out and then I was melancholic, I'd know why I was melancholic. But no cause? Then it's, you're kind of suspicious of yourself. Like, what's the matter with you? Why are you down?

So Spurgeon addresses this, and he says, if those who laugh at such melancholy, specifically causeless depression, did but feel the grief of it one hour, their laughter would be sobered into compassion. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it ain't there. Isn't that what Solomon says? The heart knows its own bitterness. Not everybody else.

I would suggest as well the minimizing of depression. Oh, you know what? We all go through that. You'll get over it. That's just to invalidate whatever it is they're going through.

As well, Proverbs 25.20. You can turn there. We already saw it. But notice in 2520, like one who takes away a garment in cold weather, and like vinegar on soda, is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.

Are you going to be the guy, seriously, that comes to the freezing person, sitting out in the rain, if you're in Chilliwack? Sitting out in the snow, if you're in Dryden, Ontario? Say, let me just go ahead and take that coat. You're going to be that guy? Seriously, you're gonna be the guy that takes the coat from the freezing person. Or like vinegar on soda. You wanna ruin the soda? Just dump a little vinegar on it, but you know, you do you.

Is one who sings songs to a heavy heart. Brethren, this was the problem with Job's friends. They're singing songs to a heavy heart. Let's just buck up, Job. Come on, everything's great. You're just overreacting here. You need to get with the program. He didn't appreciate that. God the Lord didn't appreciate that. It was Elihu that at least spoke words of wisdom.

Romans 12.15, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. It's not rejoice with those who weep and weep with those who rejoice. That's bad advice. That's bad things. Don't do that to somebody. As well, telling the anxious man, as I already said earlier, don't worry. Just be happy. Just dig down deep. You can do it. And you know what's another thing? Take this for what it's worth. The person depressed doesn't need to hear how nobody knows depression the way you do.

In other words, you come to me and you say to me, Pastor Butler, I'm just so depressed. Ah, nobody knows depression like I do. I've been in the trenches, I've been downcast, I've been Davidic in my suffering. What does that do to that person? Theirs doesn't matter. Theirs doesn't even factor in. You wanna hurt your brothers and sisters? Do that to them. Oh no, no, you don't know what suffering is, only I do. Again, you wanna be the guy that rips the coat off the freezing person outside? You wanna sing songs to a heavy soul? I hope the answer's no, brethren, it's rhetorical. I'm guessing no, I wanna be an encouragement and a help and a beloved friend to my brethren.

And then the final one here, again, these are negative, is telling the depressed man what he needs to do. You know what you need to do. You need to this, that, and the other. I guarantee you the depressed man knows that. He knows it. But you see, he's in the bottom of the hole. The first order of business is getting out of the hole and then doing this, that, and the other. Does that make sense? You're yelling down at the bottom of the hole saying, you need to get a better job, you need to be nicer to your wife, you need to be kinder to your kids. You're telling the guy what he already knows and likely is that which cast him into the hole. That's his problem. So let's get you out of the hole, champ. Let's get you into some food, into some rest. And once you're in a stable position, go love your wife, go get a better job. You see how that works?

We can sometimes be Job's counselors without Not really realizing it. In the positive ways, recognize that prayer for them is necessary. Recognize that there are situations that you can't help them in. I mean, you can pray for them, you can encourage them, but man, sometimes people need more help than you or I can give, and it's not wrong to acknowledge that and say, you know what, brother? You know what, sister? It might be good for you to go talk to somebody else in this regard. That's okay, that's legit. That's perfectly acceptable.

The recognition that rest and recovery needs to come before reconstruction or revolution. Get yourself sorted out, get stable, get you out of the hole, and then go find another job. Then put it back in the hole with that. Go find another job. The recognition that a little encouragement goes a long way. Proverbs 12, 25, a good word makes it glad. 1624, pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. Proverbs 25, 11, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. 2 Corinthians 1, 3 to 4, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any way, are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 

So brethren, just some thoughts, just some encouragement, and just hopefully some help so that we can understand that if we go through these things, we're not a pariah, we're not a leper, we're in the company of some good solid men and women, and that there is help, there is hope, there is remedy, there is encouragement in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

What we have in the gospel is most blessed. I just want to read one final quote from Spurgeon. He says, 

be not dismayed by soul trouble. Even if the enemy's foot be on your neck, expect to rise and overthrow him. Cast the burden of the present along with the sin of the past and the fear of the future upon the Lord, who forsaketh not his saints. Live by the day, I by the hour. Put no trust in frames and feelings. Care more for a grain of faith than a ton of excitement. Trust in God alone and lean not on the reeds of human help. And he says, any simpleton can follow the narrow path in the light. Faith's rare wisdom enables us to march on in the dark with infallible accuracy, since she places her hand in that of her great guide. 

Amen. May God help us, may God encourage us, and may God strengthen us in our own lives and in any counsel that we give forthwith to any of our brothers and sisters. 

Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it does not shrink back from declaring to us the human condition, that it addresses it, that it treats it honestly, and that it sets forth that blessed remedy, the provision of God most high in the person of the Son of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. We thank you for these resources. We thank you for your comfort. We thank you for your encouragement and your aid. And may you look with favor upon each one in this local congregation, especially those going through a season of downcastness. May they hope in God. May they find joy in the Savior. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.