I have been reading "Spiritual Depression" by D.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I'm into the 2nd
chapter. The first chapter made a first address of the problem by looking at
Psalm 43:5 where the writer of the Psalm questions himself: "Why art thou
cast down, O my Soul?" The essence of this statement and the application
to our lives is 'Do we speak to ourselves? Do we allow ourselves and/or our
self talk to say things about ourselves that are not true. We must first learn to speak to ourselves
rather than let ourselves speak to us. We must be handled.
In the 2nd chapter, Lloyd-Jones states that before going
further we must first understand that man is a sinner, incapable of saving
himself. Jesus completely fulfilled the Law on this earth. As a sinner, man's sins must be punished.
But, as a sinner man has no hope of justifying himself on his own. By Jesus
fulfilling the Law he satisfied the Law. Jesus kept the law. Jesus obeyed it. And Jesus bore the penalty of it by his death
on the cross and then resurrection.
Our response is to see our need. We are to confess our need
that we can not save ourselves because we are sinners first. And sinners can't
save themselves. If we confess it, God will give us His own Son's
righteousness. God imputes God's
righteousness to us when we declare to God that we need it. Then God declares
us as righteous. He declares us to be righteous in Him.
This is what it means to be justified by faith.
In his discourse and explanation, Lloyd-Jones makes the
comment that men and women often believe they are not good enough. He states
that individuals are often not ready to be called a Christian because of a
belief that they are not yet good enough.
Lloyd-Jones is stating that people are still ingrained with the belief
that before coming to Christ we must be good enough. This sermon of his was delivered in the early
1960's in London
In my conversations with people, the overriding sentiment I
hear from people now is instead, "I'm good enough." And by being good enough they already think
they have Christ or they think being "good enough" is the means in
which they win the After-Life Lottery. I see this as I take people through the
10 commandments and often they respond that they really haven't done anything
wrong or if they have they are not unlike anyone else.
It is an interesting dichotomy.
I think the secret here is the clear presentation of the
Gospel to people and the repetitive presentation of the Gospel to people.
People need to hear that one sin makes them imperfect and that God can only
accept the complete fulfillment of the Law and not just a partial fulfillment.
A partial fulfillment would then give rise to boasting. Many churches today and
beliefs state that they are the true church and in so doing they put forth the
idea that allegiance or alignment to a church renders acceptance by God. But,
this is not complete allegiance to Christ. This is partial. "You have to
rest exclusively upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect work."
Anything else, is partial.
In the words of the hymn:
I dare not trust my sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesu's Name.
