I hope that as I preach the Word it will fall on good soil today.
Illus: I heard of a preacher who was preaching a three-point sermon on the Second Coming of Christ, and he would close each of the main points of the sermon by saying, “HE IS COMING, READY OR NOT!”
When he got to the third point he got so excited he got on the edge of the pulpit and screamed, “HE IS COMING, READY OR NOT!” In the excitement of driving the point home, he fell off the platform into a woman’s lap. He apologized to her, but she said, “Preacher, you do not need to feel bad. You warned me three times you were coming if I was ready or not, I just did not believe it would happen.”
As I preach some of the things today on the GREAT DEPRESSION, I will try not to get too excited. I do want to talk to you about this GREAT DEPRESSION we are having.
I am not talking about the FINANCIAL CRISIS THAT STRUCK THIS COUNTRY YEARS AGO. I am talking about the EMOTIONAL CRISIS THAT WE ARE FACING IN THIS COUNTRY NOW. All over this nation we have people who are living in a GREAT DEPRESSION!
• The churches in America are filled with Christians who are legal dope addicts, because they are trying to cope with their emotions.
• Their medicine cabinets are filled with all kinds of legal prescriptions that the doctors have prescribed for them.
These people remind me of the woman that came to the Lord in Mark 5. She had visited many physicians trying to get help for her condition, but the Bible says she steadily grew worse.
Illus: The “many physicians” remind me of the three physicians that worked at a mental hospital.
These three physicians decided to choose three patients to be given a test to see if they were ready to be set free. They bring three men down to the pool area in a local recreation center. The pool is empty and they want to see if they'll jump. The doctors bring the men to the top of the 30 foot diving board and decide to proceed with the test.
• The first guy is dragged to the edge of the diving board and the doctors tell him to jump. The man jumps and falls 30 feet to the bottom of the empty pool to break both of his legs.
• The second man is then dragged to the edge of the diving board and is told to jump. He jumps and falls 30 feet to the bottom of the pool and breaks both of his arms.
• The last man is dragged to the edge of the diving board and is told to jump. He says “No.” Amazed, the doctors congratulate him and tell him he's free to go. Before he leaves, one curious doctor asks, "What made you decide not to jump?" The man replied, "I can't swim."
But listen, this woman didn’t have an imaginary problem; she was a sick woman that desperately needed help. Look at the scriptures concerning this woman. In verse 24, we read, “And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.”
Look at Mark 5:25-34, we read, “And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.”
This dear woman had tried every physician she knew to try, but the Word of God says she steadily got worse. The reason she never got any help could be for a number of reasons. Maybe:
• She went to a lot of bad physicians
• She had an incurable disease
But she tried all that she knew to try and spent all that she had, yet she continued to grow worse.
WHY DIDN’T SHE GET THE HELP SHE NEEDED? The Bible makes it clear that she never got the help she needed because she was looking for help in the wrong place.
She finally looked to the Lord. She heard the Lord Jesus was coming her way. She knew the crowd around him made it almost impossible for her to get to him. But she had faith that if she could just touch the hem of his garment she would be healed. And somehow, she managed to get through the crowd and touch his garment, and the Bible says that immediately the Lord stopped and said, “Who touched me?” And one of the disciples said in verse 31, “Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?”
But the Lord was not saying who touched me physically, He was saying who touched me SPIRITUALLY.
WHY DID HE ASK? The moment she touched Him, He felt the healing virtue flow from Him to her. You see, you can have a church full of people and they will walk away empty.
• But if you have one soul that will reach out and touch the Lord by faith, he will leave with his needs met.
• But the point I want to make most of all is that she did not get the help she needed until she placed her faith in the Lord Jesus
We have many today who are running from physician to physician, and they are filling up their medicine cabinets, and they are walking around like ZOMBIES that do not even know they are in the world.
They are not getting better, they are getting worse, and you do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. We have a GREAT DEPRESSION today that is bringing great misery to millions. THEY ARE IN BAD SHAPE!
Illus: Psychiatry students were in class one day when their professor said, "What we’re going to talk about today are the emotional extremes that many mentally disturbed people go through.”
• He asked one student, “What’s the opposite of joy?" The student said, "Sadness."
• He asked another student, “What’s the opposite of depression?" She said, "Elation."
• He asked a young man from Texas, “What’s the opposite of woe?" "Well, now," the Texan replied, "I suppose the opposite of woe, would be giddy-up."
We have many folks laying around depressed these days, and they are having a hard time just getting up.
• There is such a thing as our body getting out of balance chemically. If we go to a physician that is smart enough, he can prescribe something that will get our body back into balance again.
• I have a feeling today that most of the depression we are seeing in this country is because people are focusing in on the wrong thing.
Illus: Remember when Peter walked on the water? As long as he kept his eyes on the Lord he was fine, but when he got his eyes on his surroundings, he soon became a sinking man.
We have to deal with the problem if we want help from the Lord.
Illus: We have an obesity problem in this nation. Many are saying it is because they have a gland problem. Listen, it is not a GLAND PROBLEM; it is a MOUTH PROBLEM.
They will go down to Ryan’s Steak house and eat enough to fill a 900-pound pig. They wash that down with a half dozen diet cokes, then go home and eat a snack before they go to bed.
If it is a chemical imbalance that is bringing on a depression, we need to find a good doctor that can help us. If it is a sin problem, you can take every pill in the country and it will not help you. You will be like the woman in Mark that steadily got worse.
The drug companies are doing everything they can to get us hooked on their drugs.
Illus: Reader’s Digest ran an advertisement for Paxil, an anti-depressant (Reader’s Digest, 2/03). It began with these words; “Do you have…
• Depressed Moods
• Loss of Interest
• Sleep Problems
• Difficulty Concentrating
• Agitation
• Restlessness
“If you’ve experienced some of these symptoms nearly every day, for at least two weeks, a chemical imbalance could be to blame. And life can feel difficult ALL DAY."
Listen, let’s be honest, most of us will admit we have experienced all these symptoms at some time. To read this advertisement, you would conclude we all are living in a GREAT DEPRESSION, and we better head to the doctor as fast we can and get our prescription before they run out.
The drug companies in America are getting richer and the people of this nation are getting poorer when it comes to health problems.
Let me repeat; Depression can be a very real problem. But after about 40 years of working with Christians and non-Christians, I believe that one of the biggest problems is that people are looking in the wrong place for help. They are trying to live their life without God, and God is showing them they are making a mess of things in the process.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
Illus: A preacher told his congregation he wanted everyone to go home and think about something they wanted him to preach the next night. They all arrived, and he asked this young man that looked like a hippy, with tattoos all over his body, “Young man, what do you want me to preach about tonight?” He said, “I want you to preach about pills!” The preacher thought for a minute and said, “There are all kinds of pills:
• There are purple pills
• There are green pills
• There are yellow pills
• There are short pills
• There are long pills
• There are skinny pills
• There are fat pills
But he said, Tonight, I want to preach to you about the GOS-PILL.”
I believe preachers across this nation, without apology, should stand up in the pulpits and say to the medical profession, “We have tried it your way and you have turned this society into a bunch of walking ‘Zombies.’ What you are doing is not working. People are not getting better with your drugs, they are getting worse!”
I have never seen a person that had any kind of problem, turn to the Lord Jesus with all their heart, and not get the help they needed. Preachers across America need to stand up and proclaim that what the WORLD NEEDS NOW IS THE “GOSPILL” OF CHRIST JESUS!
The Word of God gives us -
I. A BIBLE EXAMPLE
Elijah ranks as one of the greatest men in the Old Testament, yet we find this great man of God became so depressed he wished he were dead.
In 1 Kings 19, we see that Elijah experienced some of the classic symptoms of a GREAT DEPRESSION!
• In 1 Kings 19:3, he experienced fear - “…he arose, and went for his life…”
• In 1 Kings 19:4, he experienced suicidal tendencies – “…he requested for himself that he might die;… It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life;…”
• In 1 Kings 19:5, he experienced excessive tiredness – “…he lay and slept under a juniper tree,…”
• In 1 Kings 19:10, he experienced feelings of rejection – “And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
Depressed people can be on the mountaintop one day and in the valley the next. I would remind you that only a few days before this GREAT DEPRESSION …
• Elijah had preached one of the greatest sermons of his life
• Elijah confronted 400 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel and exposed them as the false prophets they really were
• Because of Elijah’s faith, God literally sent fire down out of heaven to consume the sacrifice he’d placed on the altar.
• Then, a few hours later, God sent a downpour of rain on a land that hadn’t had rain for 3 years.
We find it hard to believe that a man could be so greatly used of God, and only a few days later he is crippled by fear, hopelessness and despair.
When it comes to depression, we have A BIBLE EXAMPLE. God’s Word also gives us-
II. A BIBLE SOLUTION
It is essential that we look at how God deals with Elijah in this condition, if we want to help others that we love that are in this condition.
NOTICE GOD’S TENDERNESS
Eph. 4:32, we read, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another…”
Have you ever been in the hospital and come into contact with a doctor or a nurse that had no bedside manners? A patient may have just had surgery and they are in pain, and the nurse comes in and handles them roughly. Some people do not know how to be kind.
Some doctors have that kind of bedside manners. Some nurses are just as bad.
God knew exactly how to deal with Elijah. You see…
• Long before psychiatry was ever thought of…
• Long before healing could be bought in little purple pills…
• Long before we had clinics and psychiatrists and psychologists…
…God healed a man of depression and it was not an isolated instance. And what God did for Elijah, He can do for you and me.
We see GOD’S TENDERNESS.
I want you to notice what God did to heal Elijah. In answer to Elijah’s prayer to die, God just lets him sleep. Then God’s angel feeds him and lets him sleep some more.
Look at what God did for Elijah!
(1) GOD SENT HIM TO CHURCH
God sent him to Mt. Horeb, the Mt. of God. Church is one of the best places to deal with Depression. When Church is done right it’s the place where we listen to each other and help one another. “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
Illus: In 1999, Duke University conducted a study of nearly 4000 older adults. One of their conclusions: "Attendance at a house of worship is related to lower rates of depression and anxiety."
Church doesn’t stop with being in a house of worship. Time alone with God in prayer and Bible Study is a powerful anti-depressant.
(2) GOD HAD ELIJAH TELL HIM WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS
In 1 Kings 19:13, we read, “…there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?” God didn’t ask this question just once, He asked Elijah that same question two separate times.
Didn’t God know? Of course He knew; He’d sent Elijah to this mountain. But Elijah needed to vocalize what was wrong in his life. Elijah needed to explain what HE thought the problem was. Once Elijah verbalized his belief of what was wrong, then…
(3) GOD DEALT WITH THE FALSE BELIEFS, THE FALSE IDEAS THAT WERE FUELING ELIJAH’S DEPRESSION
Jesus said, “The truth shall set you free.” Why is that? Our lives are built around what we think is true about life. If the foundations of that reasoning are based on wrong information or impressions, the result can be devastating.
Elijah’s reply to God revealed what Elijah had wrong. ELIJAH DIDN’T THINK THAT GOD WAS DOING ANYTHING.
In 1 Kings 19:14, Elijah replied to God, "And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."
Hidden in the midst of that statement was this implied accusation: "I’ve been beating my head against the wall serving you Lord. And everything seems to just be falling apart around me… What have you been doing God???”
God corrects Elijah’s thinking. He tells Elijah that he is not the only one left.
In 1 Kings 19:18 God tells Elijah “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him."
Illus: When our allied troops were making their way across Europe to face Hitler’s forces, they came across a bombed out building that had this inscription scrawled on a basement wall:
• "I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining.
• I believe in love even when it is not shown.
• And I believe in God even when He doesn’t speak."
When a person is depressed, they don’t think God is doing much of anything. They have no hope, no confidence, and they don’t easily see God. A person in depression needs to realize that – just like Elijah – God IS working in their lives… even when they can’t see Him.
(4) GOD GAVE ELIJAH SOMETHING TO DO
When God finished His counseling session with Elijah, Elijah was still in his complaining mood, but God basically told him to get back to work. God had a job for him to do.
Conclusion:
Psychiatrists and psychologists and little pink pills can do wonderful things sometimes for people suffering from depression… but for real healing it’s hard to beat God!
I. A BIBLE EXAMPLE
II. A BIBLE SOLUTION
