Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: Matthew 11:28 to 30. Jesus says this: "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Greg: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us another message from a series entitled "Where Do You Turn?" Let's listen in as JP gives part two of responding to depression.

JP Jones: Isaiah chapter 57, verse 15 says this: "For this is what the high and lofty one says, he who lives forever, whose name is holy. I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite." The Hebrew word contrite is a word that is translated more often than not in the Hebrew Scriptures as crushed. That is the way it is translated twice in Isaiah chapter 53, talking about Jesus Christ, the suffering servant who paid for our sin in that passage in Isaiah 53, which is a messianic passage.

Those of us guys who were at the men's Bible study this past week, we heard the story of Eitan, the missionary from Israel that we all heard last week. He shared his story with us at the men's study and he shared how that chapter, Isaiah 53, was the chapter that transformed his grandfather during the Holocaust. Having read that, he believed in Yeshua as his Messiah. In Isaiah 53, it speaks about Jesus, that he was crushed for our iniquities.

God says in Isaiah chapter 57 that he is the high and lofty one. God's transcendent. That is the term that we use in theology to describe that truth about God. He is bigger and better than we can imagine. He isn't in any of our boxes. He doesn't fit into any of our categories. God is unique, transcendent, above and beyond creation. But he is also immanent. He is present. He is within creation. He is personal. He is the high and lofty one. He is holy. But he says he actually lives not only in a high and lofty place, but with those who are low and crushed.

Do you feel crushed? Have there been some things that have happened in your life that just make you feel crushed? God says, "I live with people like that. I dwell with people like that. I'm at home with people like that. I am available to people who feel crushed by life, by Satan, by people—maybe they even feel crushed by me, but I'm with them." And God says, "I commit myself to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite." There is hope. God says, "I will revive your spirit. I will revive your heart." Not only am I with you, but I'm available to transform you and to meet you and to do something new and fresh in your life to bring revival to your soul and to your heart.

Jesus says this in Matthew chapter 11. This is all answering a question: does God care? The obvious answer is yes, but we need to be seeing what God says when he says yes, that he cares. Matthew 11:28 to 30. Jesus says this: "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Jesus took an everyday example that his audience could understand because it was an agricultural economy. The way that they prepared the fields and got everything ready for the planting was that they had a mule or a donkey or an ox, and they put a yoke on it and they plowed and prepared the soil. The yoke was made of wood, more often than not, and it would align the team together. The custom of the day was to take an experienced ox who was trained to just follow the path and then yoke a young ox with it.

That yoke would kind of commit them and cement them and bond them together. Then the older, more experienced ox would lead out and because of the yoke, the younger one would be forced to follow in the same path and to experience the same journey. Jesus says, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and you will find rest for your souls. Take my yoke upon you, for I am gentle and I am humble. Come to me. You will find rest for your souls because my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

This is the invitation that Jesus gives to everyone who feels depressed. In fact, it is the invitation that Jesus gives to every person, but he says, "If you're weary and heavy laden." So in a unique way, this is an invitation to someone who is feeling crushed, burdened, depressed, down, or sad. "Come to me," Jesus said, "and you will find rest for your soul." I'm not sure when I started doing this. I might have done this from the very first worship service. I know I've been doing it for a couple of years, and we've only been around for about two and a half years.

Every Sunday morning, when I drive up the hill, make the turn, and come up the hill, I ask for God's blessing on Coast Bible, the church across the street. I pray for our worship services once again. And I pray and claim Matthew 11. I pray that today, Lord, whatever burdens that are on people's hearts and lives, they'd be able to cast them upon you, they'd take your yoke, and they'd find rest for their souls. That every person that comes to Crossline this morning would find rest for their souls. I prayed that again this morning as I drove up here. That is the promise of Jesus.

The question is: does God care about our depression? Yes, he does. He loves us. He is for us. No one can be against him. He dwells not only in a high and lofty place, but with the lowly and the contrite, the crushed. And he is committed to revive us. Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon yourself. My load is easy. My burden is light. You will find rest for your souls." God cares. He cares.

What should I do when I feel depressed? In just a few minutes that we have remaining, let me give you just a very quick response. This isn't to minimize the feeling. This is not to say that some of us should not pursue medical help. We should. Get a physical, talk to a doctor, and see if there is something biochemical going on. It is not saying we shouldn't see professional Christian help as therapists. We should. In fact, I'm going to encourage you about a specific resource if you feel that is your need. But whether our feeling is one of just the blues or of serious depression, there are some positive responses that we ought to be following based on God's Word.

Second Corinthians 10:3 to 5. "Where do I turn when I feel depressed?" This is what it says: "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Whatever the cause of your depression or of one's depression, where it rages is in the thought life.

There is a barrage of negative thoughts, unbelieving thoughts, doubting thoughts, and worry-filled thoughts, which trigger emotions, which lead to actions. Yesterday, I was on a mission after I went to my daughter's soccer game. I came home and I was on a mission working in my yard. I shared with you if you've been around Crossline for a longer period of time, last summer I had to basically redo my whole backyard because of crabgrass. Just killed it. And so it was a major task.

Several people, as I shared that story, said, "You know, there is something you can get, this pre-emergent chemical that you can put in your grass and it will stop crabgrass from ever germinating in the first place." I took your advice. I did it several times, put it all over. But crabgrass has a way of getting into our lives. And I noticed this past week, there was a place on my front yard, not large, but there was some crabgrass starting to grow again, even though I did all that. So now I needed to do a spot attack.

I went to Home Depot and I got this high-powered crabgrass killer. I didn't want to kill all the grass, but I wanted to kill the crabgrass. I was like a mad scientist mixing these chemicals. I noticed something because this is toxic stuff. I had a large water pail and filled it up with water and I started to pour in the crabgrass killer and it was like there was a response. There was a chemical response. There was vapor coming off, and it was like fizzing and popping and it had a very obnoxious odor. The more stuff I poured in there, the more the response. I was trying to get this thing potent so I could kill the crabgrass.

It is amazing. Thoughts—negative thoughts, unbelieving thoughts, and depressive thoughts—are like toxic chemicals to our emotions. It produces a toxic response. And so God's Word says, "Bring every thought captive to the lordship of Christ." Bring every thought captive to the lordship of Christ. It is a mental-spiritual discipline because Romans chapter 8 says the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. Every day in the mind, we either walk in death or we walk in life and peace. It all depends on where we put our thoughts.

The first response to depression is to bring our thoughts under the lordship of Christ. Matthew chapter 26, we have an interesting passage in the life of Jesus. Listen to what it says, Matthew 26:36 to 39. This is Jesus facing death and the stress and trauma of that in the Garden of Gethsemane. "Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane and he said to them, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.' He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled."

He began to be sorrowful and troubled. This is Jesus. This is Jesus who stepped out of eternity with a mission to reconcile the world. This is Jesus who knew he was going back to the Father for all eternity. This is Jesus who was the sovereign King of the universe, but who became a fully perfect man. In light of what he was going through, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. He said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me." And going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

I think we have an example here in Jesus Christ of what to do when we feel depressed. Not only do we bring every thought captive to Christ's lordship, here is a second thing. Now don't get hung up on the fact that these guys failed in their mission. Look at what Jesus did. We need to invite a few trusted friends to encourage us and hold us accountable. Peter and James and John, they failed through. They didn't do what Jesus asked them to do, but he asked them to do it.

We shouldn't be going through life alone. We shouldn't be going through negative feelings alone. We shouldn't be going through our struggles alone. We shouldn't go through whatever level of depression that we feel alone. We need to invite some trusted friends to be with us, to encourage us, and to hold us accountable. That is what Jesus did, and he was the Son of God. Hebrews chapter 3 says, "See to it that no one develops an evil unbelieving heart and falling away from the living God, but encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today, lest any of you develop an evil unbelieving heart."

I could develop an evil unbelieving heart. You could develop an evil unbelieving heart. Stress, temptation, pressure, life circumstances, biochemical imbalance, spiritual battle—who knows? The upshot is if I try to do it alone, I'm going to become deceived and stuck in my own stuff. I need people, and so do you. Here is a third thing from the life of Jesus. I need to honestly talk with God in prayer. Jesus invited the disciples to be with him, he went into the garden, and he got down and prayed. And it was an honest prayer.

This wasn't some "Oh holy, transcendent, omnipresent God, I pray to you, the one who created the universe and holds all things by the word of your power." I don't know exactly what Jesus said. We have a quotation here, we don't have the full prayer, but be honest. Tell it like it is. Say what you really feel. Cry out for God's help. Fourthly, surrender your will to God's will. Jesus said, "If it is possible, take this from me, but not my will, your will be done." Give it up. Give it up, surrender to God. That is what Jesus did.

Here is one last encouragement, specific game plan. Second Corinthians 1:3 to 5 says this: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." Blessed be God who comforts us, who has compassion on us, who cares about us, and who reaches us in our time of need when we really need it.

He gives it to us not only to heal us, but so that we can give it away to others. So that we can reach out to others. So that we can give other people the compassion and mercy that God has given to us. So as I'm bringing every thought under Christ's lordship, and I'm inviting others to join with me, and I'm praying honestly to God, and I'm surrendering my will to God, and I'm receiving from God his provision and grace and mercy, I need to reach out and minister to others. I need to get my eyes off myself and reach out to other people.

I'm not giving you a guaranteed five-point whammy and you won't feel depressed anymore, but I know these are things we need to do. Where do we turn? We need to turn to Jesus because he is the one who said, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Greg: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just $5. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That is 949-916-0250.

For your gift of $25 or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath. Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. Where do you turn when you face depression? Every person on earth has been depressed at one point or another. Some of us are clinically depressed, and we need the medical care of a doctor. Others of us are spiritually and emotionally depressed. We need the encouragement of friends and the grace of God in our lives. The Bible says that God knows exactly everything about our lives. He has a plan for our lives. It is a plan for good. He has a grace that is sufficient for all of our struggles.

There is a God who wants to walk with us even through the valley of the shadow of death. We need to hold on to these truths as the people of God. We need to turn to God and ask him for his gracious help. Jesus said, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and you will find rest for your souls." In the Hebrew Scriptures, Isaiah chapter 57, God says this, speaking to his people Israel: "And it will be said, 'Build up, prepare the road, remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.'"

"For this is what the high and lofty one says, he who lives forever whose name is holy. I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me, the breath of man that I have created. I have been the one who has seen his ways, but I will still heal him. I will guide him and restore him and comfort him, creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace, peace to those who are far and to those who are near, says the Lord, and I will heal him."

God's promise to his people is that he will heal us. God's promise is that he knows us and cares for us and even though he is the high and lofty one, the one who no one is worthy to be in their presence, but he is the one who dwells with us. He is the one who cares about us. He is the one who is with the lowly and the contrite. When we turn to God, God turns to us. When we cry out to God, he hears us. When we ask for God's help and grace, he gives us mercy and grace in our time of need.

The Apostle Paul said, "I'm going to boast about my weaknesses and my struggles and my conflicts and my heartache because when I'm weak, I'm strong because God's power is perfected in me and God's grace is sufficient for me." Did you know that God's grace is sufficient for you? Did you know that God's power is seeking to be perfected in your weakness? Paul put it this way in Second Corinthians chapter 4: "We always carry about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Death is at work within us, but life is at work within you."

There is an interesting biblical principle: before you can have a resurrection, you have to have a death. Oftentimes the depression that we feel in life is that death principle. But what God promises is resurrection out of death when we turn to him and when we cry out to him for his grace and mercy. Where do you turn when you're depressed? The answer is Jesus Christ and his sustaining grace. If that is what you're desiring, I invite you to pray with me right now. Lord Jesus, give me your grace. Give me your resurrection life. Minister your healing to me right now. In Jesus' name, amen.

Greg: We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you'll find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.