ReformationUnderway

Several years ago, I read a book by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones named Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure. (In our age of widespread use of psychiatric drugs to combat depression, the title of this book is somewhat unfortunate. If you have a conditioned impulse to react with doubt when you see the word depression, disengage that impulse when you approach the subject of Lloyd-Jones’ book. That is not what this book is about, and it was originally published in 1965, long before the day Prozac and similar drugs became so common in our culture.) I remember being somewhat surprised by the way the first chapter of Lloyd-Jones’ book ended. Let me give you the sense of it:

I suggest that the main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? … The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. … The essence of this matter is to understand that this self of ours, this other man within us, has got to be handled. Do not listen to him; turn on him; speak to him; condemn him; upbraid him; exhort him; encourage him; remind him of what you know, instead of listening placidly to him and allowing him to drag you down and depress you. (pp. 20-21)

Does that surprise you like it did me? Here is the beloved preacher declaring that one of the big causes of spiritual depression is that we listen to ourselves instead of talking to ourselves. That is, we allow ourselves to be influenced by thoughts and accusations that come either from our own mind or from the accuser, rather than purposefully speaking truth to ourselves. The difference may appear somewhat subtle, but it is an important distinction. It is a distinction between passivity and pro-activity.

There is a short phrase in the Lloyd-Jones quote above that must not be missed if you are to profit from the discipline of talking to yourself rather than listening to yourself. It is this: “remind him of what you know.” In other words, simply talking to yourself is not going to be sufficient if the things you are talking to yourself about are the latest episode of The Simpsons or what you remember about the last time you played your favorite video game. No, you must speak Truth to yourself. Also, don’t fall into the trap of believing that this practice is only of value to those who are spiritually “depressed.” Not only is the constant application of truth to your life the cure for this malady, it is also the preventive practice, that which will protect your spirit from error.

I was reminded of this idea of Lloyd-Jones’ when I picked up a book by another author last week. The author is Jerry Bridges, and the book is The Gospel for Real Life. This book has been out since 2002, but I had never looked at it until last week. I have been a Christian for more than 20 years, and God has given me the grace to grow in faith and knowledge in ways that I do not deserve. Even so, I have found the simple clarity of this book to be very useful in my own life. In short, right after the Word of God itself, I would recommend that you read this book to sharpen your understanding of the Gospel of Christ. The sermons you preach to yourself will almost certainly be better sermons if you will do this.

Let me whet your appetite with an excerpt from chapter four, which deals with God’s justice.

Though God’s justice is often delayed, it is nonetheless certain.

God’s justice is also inflexible. Justice may be defined as rendering to everyone according to one’s due. Justice means we get exactly what we deserve - nothing more, nothing less. In our human system of justice a tension often exists between justice and mercy. Sometimes one prevails at the expense of the other. But there is no tension with God. Justice always prevails. God’s justice must be satisfied; otherwise His moral government would be undermined.

God does not exalt His mercy at the expense of His justice. And in order to maintain His justice, all sin without exception must be punished. Contrary to popular opinion, with God there is no such thing as mere forgiveness. There is only justice. … Yet this is what most people expect God to do. They think that God will somehow relax His inflexible justice and pardon all of us by mere sovereign prerogative. But God, by the perfection of His nature, cannot do that. God cannot exalt one of His glorious attributes, such as mercy, at the expense of another attribute - in this case His justice. Justice must be satisfied. What is the solution, then, to our own personal dilemma? What are we to expect when we stand before God’s bar of judgement?

The answer to our dilemma lies in the cross. Through His death on the cross Jesus fully satisfied the justice of God on our behalf. … Through His representative union with us, Jesus assumed our obligation to perfectly obey the Law of God and obeyed it to the letter. Through that same union Jesus assumed our liability for not obeying the Law and paid that liability to the utmost. He fully and completely satisfied the justice of God on our behalf as our substitute.

Therefore everyone who has trusted in Christ as Savior can say, “God’s justice toward me is satisfied.” … As believers we must keep in mind that Christ has satisfied the justice of God on our behalf. Never again should we fear the retributive justice of God. … One morning in my private devotions I was reflecting on my sin, which for some reason seemed particularly painful to me that day. In my discouragement I blurted out, “God, You would be perfectly just in sending me to hell.” Immediately on the heel of those words, though, came this thought: “No, You wouldn’t, because Jesus satisfied Your justice for me. … At the cross there is no tension between justice and mercy; instead, they meet in full harmony. Justice suffers no violence and mercy has full expression.

If the Truth as declared by Bridges in that passage did not stir you to worship your Savior again as you read it, then I would suggest you question yourself as to whether you know the saving Gospel of the Lord Jesus. His work on the cross, in all its fullness, should always move us to worship. And it you always want to be worshipping, you should always be preaching the Truth to yourself.

I can’t recommend this book by Bridges too highly. It is a brilliantly useful and usefully concise statement of Gospel Truth that every believer would do well to have preached to them every day.