Spiritual depression - Lloyd-Jones - XIX - Chapter 19

Required reading

Spiritual Depression by D. M. Lloyd-Jones (available from Amazon) - Read Chapter 19, 'The peace of God'.

My summary
Now Lloyd-Jones looks at the spiritual depression that comes through an over anxiousness of the heart.

Three principles are drawn regarding this type of depression:
(i) do not be over anxious;
(ii) avoid anxiousness by prayer, supplication and thanksgiving;
(iii) hold onto the promise that God will then give you peace.

What grabbed me
Lloyd-Jones has a number of times in the book pointed out that spiritual depression actually hinders the advancement of the gospel.  Today's reading has another great quote on this subject: 'That is obviously something of very great importance not only for our peace and comfort but also, and especially at a time like this, from the whole standpoint of our Christian witness.  People today tell us that they are realists and practical.  They say that they are not interested in doctrine, and not interested to listen very much to what we say, but if they see a body of people who seem to have something that enables them to triumph over life, they become interested at once.  This is so because they are unhappy, and frustrated and uncertain, and fearful.  If, when in that condition themselves, they see people who seem to have peace and calm and quiet, then they are ready to look at them and listen to them.  So that from the standpoint of our own personal happiness and our maintenance of the joy of the Lord, and also from the standpoint of our witness and our testimony in these difficult days, it behoves us to consider very carefully what the apostle has to say in these masterly statement about the way to deal with the tyranny of circumstances and conditions.'  Deal with your spiritual depression and gospel opportunities may begin to abound.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.

Spiritual depression - Lloyd-Jones - XVIII - Chapter 18

Required reading

Spiritual Depression by D. M. Lloyd-Jones (available from Amazon) - Read Chapter 18, 'In God's gymnasium'.

My summary
Today's reading continues from yesterday's and is another examination of how chastisement can lead to spiritual depression.

Firstly Lloyd-Jones outlines wrong ways of reacting to chastisement:
(i) despising the chastisement;
(ii) being discouraged;
(iii) becoming bitter.

Then he outlines the right ways of reacting to chastisement:
(i) behave as sons/adults and not as infants;
(ii) bring intelligence to the scriptures;
(iii) exercise in God's gymnasium by examining yourself for sin, confessing the sin and then doing positive exercises.

What grabbed me
Lloyd-Jones did a nice comparison of Christians and non-Christians in today's reading: 'In a sense that is the one great difference between the non-Christian and the Christian.  When anything goes wrong in the life of the non-Christian what has he to fall back upon?  He has nothing but worldly wisdom and the way in which the world reacts, and that does not help.  The Christian, however, is in an entirely different position.  He has the Bible, and he should at once take any circumstance and put it right into this context.  The Christian does not react to events as the world does.  He asks: "What do the Scriptures say about this?"' 

I really don't know how non-Christians are able to go through life not knowing with any certainty what they should be doing.  It is so refreshing to be able to depend upon the Bible for wisdom that time and time again proves to be exactly right, even though at first it may not seem to be.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.

Spiritual depression - Lloyd-Jones - XVII - Chapter 17

Required reading

Spiritual Depression by D. M. Lloyd-Jones (available from Amazon) - Read Chapter 17, 'Chastening'.

My summary
Now Lloyd-Jones looks at how to treat spiritual depression that is caused through chastening.

Chastisement is a training done to a child, and for the Christian can come through:
(i) a loss of material (e.g. finances);
(ii) a loss of health;
(iii) persecution;
(iv) death;
(v) a withdrawal of God's face.

The reasons God chastises us are because:
(i) he loves us;
(ii) he wants to sanctify us from problems such as pride, worldliness, self-confidence and self-satisfaction.

What grabbed me
At the beginning of the chapter Lloyd-Jones makes the comment: 'God's great concern for us primarily is not our happiness but our holiness.'  Now I think I understand where he is coming from - chastisement doesn't usually make us happy, but it does make us holy.  But I'm not sure I would have made the above statement.  As someone raised on the Westminster Catechism I have always understood that God's great concern for us is that we would glorify him and be happy in him.  While chastisement may be painful at the time, I do think that it is to actually make us happier later on.  If God did not sanctify us through chastisement we may be happier for a time, but eventually we would be very unhappy.  So God is primarily concerned for our happiness, isn't he?

What do you think?  Am I picking at straws here?  Let me know in the comments section.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.

Redemption accomplished and applied - Murray - III - Chapter 3

Still taking a break once a week to join in with the Challies reading group. 

Required reading

Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray (available from Amazon) - Read Chapter 3, 'The perfection of the atonement'. 

My summary
In today's reading Murray answers the common notion that Christians need to make some sort of atonement for their sins on top of what Christ did. 

Murray makes a strong case that Christ's atonement was perfect because it:
(i) Has historic objectivity - it is a work that 'antedates any and every recognition or response on the part of those who are its beneficiaries';
(ii) Was final - 'The atonement is a completed work, never repeated and unrepeatable' (on this point Murray draws a nice distinction between Christ's offering and his subsequent intercessory work as the high priest);
(iii) Was unique - we cannot replicate it - 'But it is never proposed that this emulation on our part [following his example in suffering] is to extend to the work of expiation, propitiation, reconciliation and redemption which he accomplished.';
(iv) Has intrinsic efficacy - the atonement did not simply take a half-hearted stab at paying for sin and then the gracious Father accepted what was offered - 'He did not make a token payment which God accepts in place of the whole.  Our debts are not cancelled; they are liquidated. 

What grabbed me
I particularly enjoyed the opening paragraph which clearly stated what it means to add our good works to the work of Christ on the cross: 'If we once allow the notion of human satisfaction to intrude itself in our construction of justification or sanctification then we have polluted the river the streams whereof make glad the city of God.  And the gravest perversion that it entails is that it robs the Redeemer of the glory of his once-fo-all accomplishment.'  What a disgrace it is upon the human race to ever try and add good works to Christ's work as though somehow the Holy God is insufficient.  

Now it's your turn

Go over to http://www.challies.com/ and post your thoughts.

Spiritual depression - Lloyd-Jones - XVI - Chapter 16

Required reading

Spiritual Depression by D. M. Lloyd-Jones (available from Amazon) - Read Chapter 16, 'Trials'.

My summary
Now Lloyd-Jones deals with how trials (suffering) leads to spiritual depression.

The way to face such trials and to conquer your spiritual depression is by:
(i) understanding why the suffering occurs (e.g. for your good, for chastisement, to prepare you for something);
(ii) understanding how precious is your faith that it needs to be refined through suffering;
(iii) remembering that it is only for a season;
(iv) reminding yourself of the things in which you greatly rejoice.  

What grabbed me
The section on how faith is like gold and needs to be refined by fire was a good reminder: 'There are differences in the quality of faith.  Faith is many sided.  There is generally at the beginning a good deal of admixture in what we call our faith; there is a good deal of the flesh we are not aware of.  And as we begin to learn these things, and as we go on with te process, God puts us through His testing times.  He tests us by trials as if by fire in order that the things which do not belong to the essence of faith may fall off.'  Do you want 24 carat faith?  Then you must be prepared to suffer in the refining fire.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.

Spiritual depression - Lloyd-Jones - XV - Chapter 15

Required reading

Spiritual Depression by D. M. Lloyd-Jones (available from Amazon) - Read Chapter 15, 'Discipline'.

My summary
Now Lloyd-Jones looks at the person who is spiritually depressed through a lack of discipline.  This lack of discipline arises from:
(i) a wrong view of faith - that as long as you have faith all is well;
(ii) sheer laziness.

The treatment for this type of spiritual depression is taken from 2 Peter 1:5-7:
(i) to have diligence;
(ii) supplement your faith with virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity.

What grabbed me
Lloyd-Jones made such an important point about how certain tasks must be given priority before others: 'If we agree about the importance of claiming time and of ordering our daily lives we must insist at all costs that certain things must be done.  In other words if I really believe that the Bible is more important to me than the daily newspaper, I must read my Bible before I read the newspaper.  Whatever I may leave undone, I must see to it that this is done.  My prayer time must be insisted upon, I must have my time for meditation; whatever else is not done, I must do these things.'  If Christians took this seriously and changed the word 'newspaper' for 'television', wouldn't that revolutionise Christianity in the Western world?  We admit that the Bible is more important than television, but sadly don't show this in our day to day lives.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.

Spiritual depression - Lloyd-Jones - XIV - Chapter 14

Required reading

Spiritual Depression by D. M. Lloyd-Jones (available from Amazon) - Read Chapter 14, 'Weary in well doing'.

My summary
Today Lloyd-Jones looks at how there often comes a plateau in the spiritual life where the Christian becomes weary of doing well. 

To get through this form of spiritual depression, firstly you:
(i) do NOT consider the suggestion that comes to you from all directions to give up;
(ii) do NOT resign yourself to the temptation to weariness;
(iii) do NOT use artificial stimulants (e.g. alcohol, drugs and even spiritual programs).

The second thing is to do is examine yourself:
(i) for the cause of the weariness;
(ii) for the motive of your service;
(iii) for whether something wrongly kept you going before now.

Then to cure the condition:
(i) recognise that there are phases in the Christian life;
(ii) remember what you are doing is 'well-doing' - to call it dreary is insulting to God;
(iii) remember that this life is a preparatory one;
(iv) consider the Master for whom you work.

What grabbed me
The section on not using shiny new programs as stimulants to solve spiritual depression was very good: 'I have seen people in the church dealing with this general spiritual weariness in that very way.  They work up some kind of excitement or they adopt new methods.  They say that they must rouse themselves out of this, so they put on some new programme.  Have you not seen it sometimes in the advertisements outside church buildings?  Can you not think of certain churches that are always putting out some fresh announcements or finding some new attraction?  Such churches are obviously living on artificial stimulants and it is all being done with this idea in mind.  The pastor or some other responsible person has said: "We are just in a rut, we are becoming rather dead.  What can we do about it?  Well, let's do this, or that.  It will provide work and activity, it will be a new interest".  Now that sort of thinking in the spiritual life and in the life of the Church is comparable to one thing only on the natural level, and that is to the man who takes to drink or drugs in order to give himself some excitement or to work himself up.'  Christians may not drink alcohol or do drugs, but how many are pumping themselves with programs trying to stimulate themselves out of depression?

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.

Spiritual depression - Lloyd-Jones -XIII - Chapter 13

Required reading

Spiritual Depression by D. M. Lloyd-Jones (available from Amazon) - Read Chapter 13, 'False teaching'.

My notes and thoughts
Today's chapter is an examination of how false teaching causes spiritual depression.  Lloyd-Jones uses Galatians as his case study.

Firstly Lloyd-Jones says that false teaching comes in two forms:
(i) Blatant denial of the truth;
(ii) Not so much a denial of the faith but a teaching which suggests something else is required in addition to what we have already believed.

The second form is the one that Lloyd-Jones is dealing with today and was the problem in Galatia.  For example people wanted to add something to the apostolic authority, add something to Christ and add something to the doctrine of faith alone.

I thought it was helpful how Lloyd-Jones commented that you cannot judge a message by experience and results: 'Let us be quite clear about that.  If you judge only in terms of experience and results you will find that every cult and heresy the world or the Church has ever known will be able to justify itself.'  I'm always tempted to judge something by the results it brings.  But must always remember that what matters is faithfulness to Scripture.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.