Spiritual Depression Pt. 6: Vain Regret

Good evening, everyone. This evening, we're going to continue with our series on spiritual depression, following the book of the same name by Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. This is the sixth part, and here's just a couple of points to review.

Psalm 42:5 as the Starting Point for Spiritual Depression

Remember, we are using Psalm 42 .5 as our reference for this entire study, which describes spiritual depression. Why are you in despair, oh my soul, and why have you become disturbed within me? Hoping God, for I shall again praise him for the help of his presence.

Remember also, one of the points that we looked at was that most Christians of all times, and in different circumstances, at some point in their life, find themselves downcast, unhappy, and in despair.

So this is not just for those who might be described as clinically depressed, which is not something that we want to study anyway, but spiritual depression, which is a very real phenomenon within the church of Jesus Christ.

Trouble in the Christian life is not a new phenomenon. All right, remember, we have studied this. One of the reasons the epistles were written was to address trouble that had snuck into the church in one form or another, all right?

And in previous chapters, we've examined the dangers of a superficial view of the Christian life. In fact, that's one of the major causes of spiritual depression is a superficial view, not understanding the principles of the kingdom.

Spiritual depression is not only harmful to the sanctification of the individual Christian, but to the church as a whole. We have seen that it hinders the testimony of the church. When you have Christians who are depressed and exhibiting signs of unhappiness and distress, et cetera, it affects the testimony of the church of Jesus Christ.

In our last session together, we examined the problem of holding onto one particular past sin, one sin that might be greater than normal and the person having trouble thinking or feeling that they have been forgiven of that sin.

It's one sin and that sin haunts the Christian which precipitates falling into spiritual depression. Now, tonight's chapter is related to the previous one, but it's quite different, all right? Martin Lloyd-Jones calls it vain regrets or missed opportunities.

And that is focusing on what could have been instead of what is or what can be with the new birth in Jesus Christ, okay? The chapter begins with a reminder of the cause of much spiritual depression. So here again is a quotation from the good doctor.

We must recognize that some of us at any rate have to plead guilty to the charge that far too often because we suffer from spiritual depression and are more or less miserable Christians, we grossly and grievously misrepresent the gospel of redeeming grace.

And that's just picking up on the point that we had talked about, that spiritual depression does affect the testimony of the church to the society at large. And also in the introduction, Dr. Jones reminds us of a very important principle that we must always keep in mind.

He says, now, all of this, of course, is due to the fact that we are confronted by a very powerful adversary. The fact is that the moment we become Christian, we become subjected to the most subtle and powerful assaults of one who is described in the Bible as the prince of peace, I'm sorry, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now rules in the children of disobedience, the God of this world, Satan, the devil.

Prince of peace, it's been Christmas time and those words just stuck in my head, but obviously Satan is not the prince of peace. Spiritual depression is often caused by the Christian who looks back at how much time he has wasted before becoming a Christian.

That is the main focus of this chapter. That's what he calls vain regrets or missed opportunities. And it's very common in the church of Jesus Christ. It's especially common among those who grew up in church or having heard the gospel and refused to respond in their early years.

The point is that looking back and seeing how much time they could have spent in the kingdom, they start suffering from these regrets and feelings of missed opportunities. They look back at their life and see what they would call wasted time.

Look at how much time I wasted when I could have been working for the kingdom. Those are the missed opportunities. And it's often accompanied by self-examination, like how could I have been so blind?

If only I had listened. If only I had listened to my parents or listened to that friend who was repeating and sharing the gospel with them. I knew better. Why was I so foolish? This is especially for somebody who grew up in the church and understood and could see the difference because they actually benefited from living within a covenant community, right?

And now sometimes these thoughts come from within us, just from our own conscience, our own self-examination. But sometimes they come from the enemy, the accuser of the brethren. Remember, Satan is very subtle and he has a lot of influence in this world and in this society.

And it can come in the form of someone who challenges this person and reminds you of all those wasted years. Look at all those years. If you're such a good Christian, why did look at all those wasted years that you could have been productive in the kingdom?

Legitimate Regret Versus Miserable Dejection

Another quote by Lloyd-Jones laying down this principle. He says, let me start by saying that while it is perfectly right for such people to regret the fact that they have been so slow to believe, it is quite wrong to be miserable about it.

You cannot look back across your past life without seeing things to regret. This is as it should be. But it is just there that the subtlety of this condition comes in. And we cross that fine line of distinction that lies between a legitimate regret and a wrong condition of misery and of dejection.

So what is the remedy for this type of depression without lapsing into, going further into the self-examination and wasted time, et cetera? What can we do? And the answer should come as no surprise. The underlying answer is then the main remedy is to study the scriptures.

Because the scriptures has the answer. And look at how Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 2 .11, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. It's a principle.

If you wanna defeat an enemy, you must understand how he fights. And so we know that Satan is the enemy of the church, the accuser of the brethren, all of these things. How are you going to find out how to defeat him and how to not succumb to his temptations?

You have to go to the scriptures. The scriptures is always the answer. The scriptures contain everything we need to know for life and godliness. That is a promise of scripture. There is nothing that we will face in this life that the scripture does not have the answer to.

So first of all, study the scriptures. Now there are several other reasons, well, several reasons not to dwell on the past. Some of them are, you might even categorize as more common sense, but the principles still come from scripture.

And first, it makes no sense. It's a waste of time. It changes nothing. By sitting down and dwelling on the past and regretting it and then going, oh, woe is me. It makes no sense because it's a waste of time.

And in the long run, it changes nothing. Therefore, even on a common sense level, it is a useless occupation, a useless waste of our time. Again, Jones says, we must never for a second worry about anything that cannot be affected.

Or changed by us.

It is a waste of energy. If you can do nothing about a situation, stop thinking about it. Never again look back at it, never think of it. And he makes quite good sense when he says that. Secondly, it can cause failure in the present.

Dwelling on past failures or omissions takes time and energy away from your responsibilities today. Remember what Jesus said, those who wanted to follow, let the dead bury the dead. The past is in the past.

You cannot take time and energy from today and waste it on things that you can't change in the first place anyway. We see Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul saying, brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet.

But one thing I do, and this is important, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Wasting time, spending, dwelling on past, the past where you considered wasting your time or missed opportunities will grant you nothing.

And it does nothing to aid in the advancement of the kingdom. So as the Apostle Paul says, forget what lays behind. It's all been forgiven anyway. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, even your sins of omission have been forgiven.

So press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Third, use the time you have now wisely. Instead of dwelling on past failures or omissions, use the time God has given you in the kingdom wisely.

Make the most of every opportunity. Look at what Paul says in Ephesians 5. Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. Again, how do you wisely use your time?

Make the most of it now, today, not dwelling on past omissions or past sins. Fourth, make up the past by being diligent in your labors today. Now, again, I'm not saying to make up, you can make up for what you have not done in the past.

That time is gone, but you can make up for it in the sense that if I'm not going to waste any more time, all right, and this principle is also clear from Scripture. Jesus warns about worry and anxiety for the future, but the principle applies to the past as well.

Of course, the portion of Scripture I'm talking about is Matthew chapter six. In fact, Matthew chapter six, the whole last half of it has to do with anxiety and worry and actually depression, all right, and what is the answer?

Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow and I could, without changing the context there or the meaning of it, you can put it, so don't worry about your past, don't worry about yesterday.

Each day has enough trouble of its own. In other words, you can only affect what you're doing today and that's the example of Scripture. So forget those past omissions, those past sins. We take a couple examples here, one from the apostle Paul first and in 1 Corinthians 15.

Now remember, 1 Corinthians 15 is that important chapter on the resurrection of Jesus Christ and Paul is talking about those to whom Christ appeared as proof of his resurrection and he gives a whole list, 500 at one time to Peter, et cetera, and then in verse eight, look at what he says.

And last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared to me also. Notice what he says, he was the last of the apostles. He says, for I am the least of the apostles and not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church.

If anybody had the right, if I could use that word, to be spiritually depressed because of vain regrets, it was Paul. He was not fit to, he describes himself as not being fit to be called an apostle, why?

Because he was a persecutor of the church, he was a murderer, he was an antichrist, okay? But what does he do? He continues, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. So in other words, what Paul is saying there is, he says, I'm putting behind me all those things from the past.

I've been forgiven of those and we know that because look what he says next. And his grace toward me did not prove vain. The grace of God will never prove vain. He translated Paul into the kingdom of his dear son, and then now look at what Paul says, and this goes with that last point.

But I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God within me. Notice how Paul takes the focus completely off himself. He says, yes, I am going to labor harder than anybody else in the kingdom, but that's not what's gonna account for me, what is the grace of God within him.

And that's such an important point. So Paul was not one who suffered from spiritual depression. And notice the attitude of this apostle concerning his status in the kingdom. He only considered himself the least, but he was content with that.

Still looking at the apostle Paul, he was the last of the apostles to be called. He recognized his past sins. He was a persecutor of the church, and yet what did he do with this realization? He labored more than anyone else, and he was useful to the kingdom.

Can anyone deny the usefulness of the apostle Paul? Just, well, you can't read the New Testament without seeing his fingerprint all over it. Then we have the parable of the venue workers. All right, now this is a very familiar parable.

I'll read just the beginning of it. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his venue. When he had agreed with the laborers for denarius for the day, he sent them into his venue.

Then he went out at the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And to those, he said, you also go into the venue, and whatever is right, I will give you, and so they went. And again, he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did the same thing.

And about the 11th hour, he went out and found others standing around and said to them, why have you been standing here idle all day long? They said to him, because no one hired us. He said to them, you go into the venue too.

Now, you know the rest of the story. And this for so many different purposes. But all the workers received the same wages regardless of the time that they came into the venue. Now, there are several very specific lessons from the parable and even more applications.

And I'm not saying that the application that I'm using here is the primary one for this parable, but I'm just gonna use it for a demonstration, all right? Remember, the scriptures contain everything we need to know for life and godliness.

And one application from the parable is simply this. And this is a quote from Martin Lloyd-Jones. It's not the time of your entry into the kingdom that matters, but the fact that you are in the kingdom.

That is the thing that matters. How foolish it is to mourn the fact that we were not in earlier and to allow that to rob us of the things we might be enjoying now. And again, I'm not gonna get into the right of the way the vineyard owner to get the wages that he desired because it was his land, et cetera.

I mean, all of that is very, very true. But here, I think this is a pretty good application of it. Doesn't matter what time you go into the kingdom, all right? That's God's providence anyway. It's in his province when you are saved.

And he goes on, but we must go even further. I suggest that this particular manifestation of spiritual depression is due to the fact that this person is still morbidly and sinfully preoccupied with self.

I said just now that we have to be brutal with this condition, and it has to be said that the real trouble with these people is still self. Now, notice what the good doctor is saying. You have to be brutal.

You have to be very blunt with this because the person is still focused on themselves. And when a person is focused on themselves, that means that they do not fully understand grace. There's still a preoccupation of self.

And he says, ah, yes, but why are they morbidly preoccupied with themselves? The answer is that they are not sufficiently occupied with him. It is our failure to know him and his ways as we should know them.

That is the real trouble. If we only spend more of our time in looking at him, we should soon forget ourselves. Now, notice this goes right back to how we began the lesson in the first place, and that was that the remedy for this is to study the scriptures because that's how you come to know Jesus Christ.

Let me put it to you this way. It's not the quantity of time. It's the quality of time in the kingdom. And now, if I was there in person, I'd be taking questions so you can give them to one of your other elders, and I'm sure they would be happy to answer whatever questions you have.

God bless and good night.