Overcoming Discouragement

Well, good morning, church. It's good to be with you and to bring forward the word of God to you.

May you receive it well and may it nourish your soul. If you please can turn to your

Bibles in 2 Corinthians chapter one. I'm going to be sharing with you a message on how to overcome discouragement, and the scripture reading is from 2

Corinthians chapter one. We'll be starting in verse three. When you have that, please do stand for the reading of God's word.

Hear you this morning, the word of the Lord. Blessed be the God and father of our

Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts us in our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings. So through Christ, we share abundantly in comfort, too.

If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.

Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the afflictions we experience in Asia, for we're so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death that but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.

He delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us on him.

We have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You must you also must help us by prayer.

So that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

These are the words of the Lord. You may be seated. Father, we do come before you this morning with many different afflictions, despair, many trials, many ups and downs.

We pray, God, that you'd grant us this comfort of which Paul spoke of.

This comfort that is acquired in and through the sufferings of Christ and are joining to the same sufferings of our

Savior. Lord, help us to see with eyes of faith and with great clarity how it is that we as feeble, weak humans, creatures of the dust may be able to overcome such great despair, such as discouragement and even depression.

And help us, Lord, to seek your face so that we may have that comfort that you have promised us in Holy Scripture.

And this peace that surpasses all understanding may be ours to guide and to protect our minds and our hearts in Christ Jesus.

In his name that we do pray. Amen. Well, beloved,

I don't know about you, but Christmas and Thanksgiving and this season to me is one of like my favorite times of the year.

It is a season of joy. But I must also admit to you that if I'm going to be completely honest with you, though I have a very idealistic version of the holidays in my mind,

I also have come to the realization that over the last several years of my life, these are actually one of the most difficult seasons of my life is also the holiday.

So while in one regard is a time of great joy for me because I love celebrating Christmas and I love celebrating the holidays and being around friends and family,

I've also come to recognize this is a very difficult time in my life as I reflect on my family situation and my upbringing and all the things that I've had to endure around this time of the year.

And I suspect that this may be also true of you. That this may while, you know, being a season of great joy can also be a season of great trial, and it's usually true in life that seasons of joy and seasons of trial go hand in hand.

And so I want to speak to your hearts this morning to encourage you, to edify you that there is hope over despair, that there is joy in the midst of this discouragement and that there's hope even in the depths of depression.

And so I want to bring us this word from from Holy Scripture, from Second Corinthians, chapter one. And again, today's message is how to overcome discouragement.

You may find yourself discouraged this morning. You may find yourself struggling, whether it's at work, whether it's at home, whether it's in our marriages, whether it's in our relationships, whether it's economically.

We may be looking for encouragement, maybe looking for hope. And hope is found only in one source.

Verse three says, Blessed be the God and father of our

Lord Jesus Christ. Get this. He is the father of mercies. He's the father of mercies.

God, the father, is not just a father of our souls. He's not just a father of creation.

He is the father or in this sense, father, meaning source of mercy itself.

Think for a moment what it means to receive mercy. You and I, as we just learned from the catechism teaching, we are all subject to the wrath of God because of our sin.

You and I are under a broken, terribly desperate state apart from Jesus Christ.

And that state is described for us in Ephesians two, that we were once dead in our trespasses and sins and that we used to all walk under the authority of the prince of the power of the air and that by nature we were objects of wrath.

You and I, by virtue of our sonship in Adam, by virtue of the sin inherited from Adam, are under the curse of God.

And yet there is one who stands above all of it, who is the source, the father of mercy.

He extends that mercy. What does mercy mean? Mercy in this context simply means to extend grace even when you don't deserve it, to extend a hand, to extend loving kindness to those who are unlovable, undesirable.

And that is what we were under Adam. We were undesirable, unlovable. We were objects of wrath.

And yet in his great love, with which he's loved us and his great mercy, he made us alive in Christ and he seated us with Christ in heavenly places.

And this father of mercies extends his mercy to you today. I'm not sure exactly what you may be facing in life this morning, but be assured of this, that there is one who is extending mercy to you in your circumstance.

Mercy. And mercy is what we need. Oftentimes in this world, what we think we want is justice.

Notice the pleas and the cries of the world today. They're all asking, demanding for justice, justice in the courts, justice in the public sphere, justice in the corporations, justice in politics.

And yet I would submit to you that what we actually need is not justice, but rather mercy.

Because if we all truly received justice. Who could stand?

Who would be able to stand before the Lord if we were all to demand his justice?

Because his justice would say we are guilty. We are under his wrath.

We are undeserving. And yet it is only when we are met with mercy that we can see the loving kindness and grace of God.

His mercy leads us to comfort. And that's what will truly comfort us in this world is not the pleas and cries for justice, but rather for his mercy, which is why when even our savior was on the cross and he could hear the words and the cheering and jeers of his opponents who were mocking him, who were flogging him.

And yet, as he cries on the cross, he says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

His cry was not one for justice, but instead for mercy. Are you crying out to God this morning for his mercy?

Are you crying out for his justice? And to cry out for his justice is not a bad thing, because even we see in Scripture that that is entirely appropriate to do so under given circumstances.

In fact, in heaven right now, there are souls gathered under the altar who are crying out aloud right now. Until when, oh sovereign

Lord, holy and true, will you hold back your judgments? There's a plea for judgment.

There's a plea for justice. And yet what I would submit to you, though, this morning is to overcome discouragement, to overcome despair.

We must seek first mercy. Because it's through mercy that we find comfort, because he is the father, the

God and father of our Lord. Jesus Christ is the father of mercies, and he's the God of all comfort.

If you're following along in today's teaching, I want you to write this in the Lord Yahweh is the father of mercies and he's the

God of all comfort, which means that he is himself the source from which we receive our comfort.

He's the source of all comfort. He's the source of all mercy. It all flows from him in his undivided being.

Now, one thing I want to address as well this morning, I think, yes, God is the God of mercy. Yes, God is a

God of comfort. But beware of the idol of comfort. As Americans, we tend to worship comfort.

There's often time and even in Christianity in the church today, evangelicalism at large, we seem to worship comfort as our

God instead of the God of all comfort. What do I mean by that? What does that look like? Well, how often is it that in church or religious settings that we often do not like to feel challenged?

Right. There are times in which a person may even consider leaving a church because of the challenges that they've been receiving from the pulpit.

Oftentimes, Christians in America want to be coddled and want to be comforted with smooth speech and talk.

But instead, what ought to be declared from the pulpit will ought to be declared amongst

Christians is the truth, regardless of how that makes you feel.

Truth should not be subject to your emotions or to your sense of comfort.

So beware that you not worship comfort itself, but rather that you worship and serve the God of all comfort.

Because true comfort is not to be comfortable in your sin, not to be comfortable in your circumstances, but rather to know that your comfort comes from the source of all comfort, from the source of all mercy,

God himself. This is what it means to know and have and receive true comfort.

Verse four says who God comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

The comfort that we receive as believers, as Christians, from the source of all comfort is not meant for us just to hold and hide and to put under a basket, but instead, the comfort that we receive from God is meant to overflow into the lives of others.

It's to overflow into your neighbor, to overflow into your congregation, to overflow into your marriage, to overflow at your workplace, to overflow wherever it is that you carry life in.

Comfort overflows, similar to the imagery that we see in Psalm 23. The Lord is our shepherd.

I shall not want. He leads us beside still waters. He gives us this cup and this cup overflows with the goodness and loving kindness of God.

To be comforted by God means that he gives us not just enough comfort to get by, but enough for it to overflow into the lives of others.

Isn't that a beautiful thing? That not only does God gives us enough so that we can get by, but he gives us more than we can ask or comprehend so that we may be able to fill the cup of others.

This is why as Christians, it's so important that when we are in trials, when we are going through great difficulty, that we don't just contain these things to ourselves, but rather that we speak and testify of our trials and tribulations so that when comfort comes, we can receive it with joy and then we can also extend that comfort to others in similar circumstances.

One of the things I don't want us to do as a church is to hide our struggles.

You may be here today and and you may be struggling, but but I would never know.

Because you put up such a good exterior. Some of us do a really good job of having it all together, even when we don't have it all together.

Some of us are able to put a very good facade up of our lives.

And yet, brethren, it is in the brokenness of our lives that Christ demonstrates his mercy, his kindness and his comfort more fully.

So don't be ashamed of your trials. Don't be ashamed of what you're going through in life, whether it's a good or bad or high or low, whatever it is that you go through in life is meant to be shared amongst the burden of the brothers and sisters of the church.

It is for us to carry alongside with you so that when you celebrate, we celebrate alongside you.

When you when you when you cry, we cry alongside you. When you are struggling, we struggle alongside you.

This is what it means when we call each other brother or sister.

We are truly a family and family carries must carry the burdens of one another.

This is our obligation as children of God. And also so that we may be able to comfort those in any affliction with the same comfort with which we ourselves have received and have been comforted by God.

Verse five shares us a very uncomfortable truth, but I want you to recognize this and what the

Apostle Paul writes in verse five. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings.

So through Christ, we share abundantly in comfort, too. I don't know what you were expecting.

As you begin to read those words, for as we share abundantly. Oh, I like that word abundant. I really do love that word because I'd rather have an abundance rather than the opposite, which is not having abundance.

It's not having enough. And abundance means you have not just enough, but more than enough.

And so I like that idea. I like having more food in the fridge than I need.

I like having more money in the bank than I need. There's a lot of things I would rather have more of than less of.

And so I'm getting excited for as we share abundantly. Yes, I want abundance. But abundance in what?

In Christ's sufferings. Oh, I'm not sure about that one.

I have to share abundantly in Christ's sufferings. Think about that for a moment.

What are the things that Christ suffered? He was rejected by his family, rejected by his own hometown.

He was spat on, despised, beaten, bruised, falsely accused, brought before trial, then hoisted upon a

Roman cross next to two thieves. The things that he suffered, I have to share in that.

Not only do I have to share in it, but I have to share in it abundantly to receive more of it, to be overflowing in that suffering.

I don't know what you're talking about, Paul. I'm not sure I like where you're going with this. But why?

What's the why here? For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too.

What a concept, what a truth Paul is bringing forward here in this text that we are to share abundantly in Christ's sufferings.

Write that in there if you haven't already. And the truth that Paul is telling us here is that biblical

Christianity has never sold a suffering less life.

That's not Christianity. A Christianity that tells you that God only wants to abundantly bless you and give you wealth, health, riches and glory and all these good things in life is an incomplete.

And in fact, because of because of it being incomplete, it is a false Christianity.

A Christianity that does not share in Christ's sufferings is no Christianity at all.

To be a Christian, little Christ, follower of Christ, disciple of Christ means that we walk and we share in the same footsteps and sufferings as our

Savior, including suffering. So can I tell you something? I know the message today is how to overcome discouragement.

But can I tell you the truth? You will suffer. You'll suffer.

All of us. Maybe you're in it right now. Maybe you're suffering. Maybe you're suffering because of sin.

Maybe you're suffering because of circumstances outside of your ability or power or circumstances. Whatever the reason, whatever the case, suffering is part of the package if you're a

Christian. Now, it's not unique. Only the Christian, because the truth is every person will suffer.

Christian, non -Christian, Buddhist, Muslims, atheists, agnostics. Everyone will suffer, even regardless of your bank account.

Rich people suffer, poor people suffer, everyone suffers. The point in life is not whether or not we should suffer, but how it is that we encounter sufferings in this life.

And as Christians, we encounter our sufferings in Jesus. So we suffer in Jesus, with Jesus, for Jesus.

And we will then be comforted by Jesus. He's the source.

The God and father of mercies and the God of all comfort will will grant us his source in Jesus for comfort.

For as we share abundantly in Christ's suffering, so through Christ, we share abundantly in comfort, too.

You'll suffer. But beloved, the difference between the Christian suffering and the worldly suffering is that we get to meet our sufferings with the comfort that God gives and the comfort that he provides through the cross of Jesus Christ.

The same cross that he suffered, the same cross that he bore our sins on, the same cross by which we are now saved through faith in him and his shed blood.

Is the same object. It's the same source of the comfort that we receive because Christ died for sinners.

He died for you and for me. And that brings such comfort that my

God, the one who created all things, who sustains all things by the word of his might, the same

God who became man in the person of Jesus Christ, who suffered and bled for me, that this

God would die for me, for you. That enough ought to be the consolation of our soul.

That enough, that should be enough for us to know that there's a sure hope and anchor, that though my life may be miserable,

I'm not ahead at life. I'm not where I want to be. I'm not progressing the way I want to progress, regardless of the circumstances.

The truth that Christ died for me ought to be enough.

It is a comfort. It is a truth. And again, many in this world, especially in this country, have been misled into a false

Christianity that sold health, wealth, and prosperity, which is why so many so -called

Christians fall into the trap of discouragement and disillusionment when they get sick, when they lose a job, when they lose someone close to them to death, because they reason this.

If God loved me, why would he let this happen to me?

If God loved me, why are these bad things happening?

And brethren, the truth is, you and I, if we received justice, would receive far worse than whatever a lot is in life.

Yet, the question should not be raised, if God loved me, why? Because that's the natural tendency of man.

As soon as something bad happens, we ask the immediate question is, why, why, why?

Why me? Why that person? And we do so at the peril of not seeing the blessing that trials, sufferings, even disappointment can bring forward into our lives.

The Christian should not be thinking, why? But instead, why not?

Or what is it that God is accomplishing in this trial, in this suffering, in this moment?

What does God want to produce in me? Notice that the Apostle Paul, as we're gonna examine a little bit later, he goes on to talk about how he despise of life itself.

This is a man who served Christ, who had received revelation like no one can believe.

And yet, how does his life end? If you looked at it from a worldly perspective, his life ends in tragedy.

This man has been shipwrecked, has been abandoned, beaten, bruised, left for dead, and then ultimately martyred under the

Roman Empire. Is that the outcome that you're looking forward to in life?

No, but no one lived a more victorious life apart from Christ than the

Apostle Paul. What a victorious life it was to suffer for Christ.

Brethren, suffering for the cause of the gospel, suffering for doing what is right, suffering for the account of Christ is a victorious life.

It's victory, it's not defeat. Discouragement cannot overcome the crown of life that is produced in us when we suffer on Christ's account.

And that is why, again, he says in verse five that we must share abundantly in Christ's sufferings because it's in his sufferings that we find victory.

And it's in his comfort that we find life and the abundant life that Christ promises us in scripture.

It says in verse six, if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.

And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.

I want you to write this in. Affliction leads to salvation. Obviously, it was

Christ's affliction, it was his sufferings, it was his work on the cross that brings us salvation, not our own.

We do not get to suffer in a penal way of atoning for our own sins.

We cannot account for our own sins. We cannot be punished enough for our own sins. This is why God has ordained there to be a place called hell.

And hell is a place in which the penalty of your sin, the penalty for your rebellion is paid and poured out for all eternity.

Only Christ, the eternal God -man, the eternal second person of the

Trinity can atone for sin. And yet there is this sacred tension in ministry.

Mystery, it says in verse six, if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are afflicted.

You see, affliction produces something marvelous. Affliction means to be put under pressure.

And it's usually the things that are put under pressure that produce the most beautiful things. Think of diamonds, for instance.

Take carbon and pressed and pushed under long stress and period of time produces these beautiful things that we wear as jewelry.

Same is true of our affliction. When we are put under pressure, it produces something of great worth and value.

It produces a salvation that does not disappoint. Salvation is freely given to us through faith in Jesus Christ.

Yet, be sure not to make the mistake of thinking that because it is free, that it is cheap.

Nothing costs more than the salvation that God purchased through Jesus Christ.

God purchased his church with his own blood, with his own blood. There's no greater cost than the cost that God paid for our salvation.

And yet, it is in affliction, it is in trials, it is in suffering that we see our salvation more beautifully manifested in the

Christian life. It is for your comfort and salvation. And it says if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.

So affliction leads to salvation and comfort, namely, suffering on account for Christ.

And why is this so important? Why don't you write that in there, if you haven't already. Affliction leads to salvation and comfort, namely, suffering on account for Christ, which gives us our testimony.

Our testimonies are all the more beautiful, all the more God -glorifying when we encounter sufferings in life.

And it's suffering, it's in suffering, affliction, and trials that that beautiful testimony, that diamond that's being made under pressure is able to bring forth praises and glory to God.

And it's in our sufferings that our salvation is made more complete. Not through our individual sufferings, necessarily, but through the sufferings that we share in Christ.

It's his sufferings that we get to share in. Verse six tells us this truth as well.

Verse seven, actually, our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

I just love his optimism. Notice his optimism here. He says, our hope for you is unshaken.

As I'm telling you this message, I'm a little worried for us. I'm a little nervous.

One being because I know I fall short of this, and when I encounter trials, when I encounter sufferings,

I don't always have it all together. I don't always encounter it with as much grace and power as the

Apostle Paul would have, or as he commands us to here. I fall short of that.

I know you will too. But Paul's optimism is that he believes, even in the midst of trials, even in the midst of persecution, even in the midst of affliction, he says, our hope for you is unshaken.

That gives me confidence. I'm like, well, Paul, if you believe in us, then maybe I should start believing in us a little bit more too.

Because if our hope is truly in Christ, truly then, what can shake it?

And it's those whose faith are not in Christ, they're the ones that are, when life circumstances hit, when the waves and the trials of life come at us, that we get knocked off the boat.

And that's when we lose sight of things. Part of the test, part of the beauty of being a true

Christian, is that when suffering comes, we meet it in Jesus.

That we are left, not necessarily unbruised or unbattered, but that ultimately we are unshaken because we belong to a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Amen. Did I hear you say amen? Amen. Like we belong to a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

We belong to a savior who can't be shaken. We belong, we have received a hope that can't be shaken.

The world is shaken every two seconds or something. There's always a scandal.

There's always a problem. There's always something happening that shakes our confidence, either in our institutions, either in our families, either in our finances, and yet we belong to a kingdom that can't be shaken, a king that will not be shaken, and a king who will not let you be shaken.

Isn't that good news? This is how we begin to undo the effects of discouragement, of despair, of depression, as understanding and relying on God as the source and hope for our lives.

He will not be shaken yet. It is when we meet him and we share in his sufferings that we share also in his comfort.

So let me tell you this, as Christians, don't be afraid of suffering. Don't be afraid of it.

And don't run from it either. Maybe needless suffering, sure, we should run from that, or suffering that is a result of our own stupidity or sin.

Those are things to run from. But when you see an opportunity to suffer on account of Christ, to do that which is right and holy, don't run from that, but embrace it, because on the other side of obedience is always blessing.

It's blessing. If you obey God and you do what he requires and you do what

God has called you to do in scripture, he'll bless you. He'll never not bless you.

But understand that the way that the world considers blessings and what we consider blessings may be two different things.

Maybe one person would see your life and your state and say, well, how is that a blessing? You suffered, you had to go through all these bad things, and how could that possibly be good?

No, it's because, oh, because there's great good being produced in the midst of that suffering. God is at work in the midst of my suffering.

He's at work in the midst of my trials, and he's producing something of great worth. And brethren, that is your testimony.

That is your testimony. Your testimony is of great worth, and it is being developed by trials, by persecution, by discouragement, by depression, by all these things.

And it is so powerful, in fact, that we see in the very last book of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, we see that it is through the church's testimony that we overcome.

By the word of their testimony, we overcome the ails of this world and of the devil himself.

Brethren, this is the testimony that Jesus Christ is king, that he reigns, and he reigns over your life, he reigns over your finances, he reigns over your marriage, he reigns over every aspect of life.

Therefore, because he reigns, I can live with the assurance and the comfort that he gives through his spirit.

But run to him. Run to Christ. Run to his sufferings, and run to his comfort.

Verse eight, Paul says, "'For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, "'of the affliction we experience in Asia.

"'For we were so utterly burdened "'by our strength that we despaired of life itself.'"

There's the Paul I know. That's the Paul I know. Someone who isn't afraid to be real with his emotions.

Someone who isn't afraid to speak truly around the circumstances of his life.

He could have said something other and said, well, things were kind of tough and rough in Asia, and we barely got by, but by the grace of God, kind of the

Christianese. But he says, no, what we encountered was so bad, we didn't even want to live anymore.

That's how bad it was. Our sufferings, the things we encountered, were so bad that we despaired, we despised of life itself.

You see, if that was one of us, we'd be thinking, okay, let's call the hotline right now because this person's in distress.

But no, Paul's saying, I have gone through this. Great pain, great peril, great distress, and was burdened beyond even our own strength.

So the question I have for you this morning is this, will God ever give you more than you can handle?

Well, let me just answer it then. Here's the truth, beloved. We often hear this often, right?

God will never give you more than what you can handle. It's not true, it's not true.

Notice what Paul says here again. He says, we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength.

Paul's saying, we couldn't withstand this. It was beyond our strength, it was beyond our capability, it was beyond our power.

We could not bear this. We couldn't do it on our own strength.

Let me read you this great quote from Henry Blackaby. He asked the question as well, will

God ever ask you to do something that you're not able to do? Answer is yes, all the time.

And it must be that way for God's glory and kingdom. If we function according to our ability alone, we get the glory.

If we function according to the power of the spirit within us, God gets the glory. He wants to reveal himself to a watching world.

That's Henry Blackaby's quote. Phenomenal quote, reminding us, will God ever give us circumstances that are beyond our ability?

Will God ever ask you to do something that you're not able to do? And the answer is yes. And it must be that way for his glory.

Because if we could do it on our own strength, then we get the glory. But if we can do that which only

God can provide in us to do, he gets the glory. And God will always grant you the comfort that he promises, even in the midst of trial and tribulation.

Even when you can't function, even when you can't do it on your own strength, he gives you the power to do so, and abundantly more.

Again, Paul says that we were so utterly burdened, beyond our strength, that we despaired of life itself.

And so the answer to the question is yes. So that we can rely on God, and not ourselves.

That's exactly what Paul goes on to say in verse nine. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.

You wanna know how to overcome discouragement? You wanna know how to overcome despair? You wanna know how to overcome depression?

Beloved, here's the answer. The answer is you will not be able to do any of those things on your own strength, on your own willpower, on your own intelligence, on your own skill, on your own mannerisms or way of life.

You will not have that which is necessary to overcome discouragement based upon your own power.

And there are times in life where God will bring you to such a place of desperation, that you may even despise of life itself.

And it is to point you to the source, to the father of mercy and comfort, so that you rely not on yourselves, where you become your own self -reliant

God, or you become your own idol, or you think you are the one who has it all together, and you have all the answers.

No, you do not. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. He'll meet you of mercy, and he'll meet you of comfort.

It is only in Christ that you will find true hope over discouragement, and victory over peril and despair itself.

Indeed, we put our faith on one who is able to raise the dead. That's where our hope is.

That's where we lay our anchor. It's in Christ who raises the dead. And if Christ truly can raise the dead, and if our greatest enemy is in fact death, what is it then that we ought to fear?

Then we can see more closely with greater eyes of faith what it is that is written in Romans chapter eight, when

Paul says that there is not life, nor death, nor angels, nor demons, nor height, nor depth, nor anything in creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our

Lord. Why? Because nothing, not even death itself, can separate us from Christ's love.

I want you to know today, if you're struggling with discouragement, you're struggling with anxiety or anything in life,

Christ loves you. Christ loves you. Now, I'm not telling you that in a nice, even, jelly way where, oh,

God loves everyone. No, God doesn't love everyone the same. That's the truth of scripture.

There are those in whom the wrath of God abideth even now as we speak, and yet he loves you, his elect, his people.

He loves you. He died for you. He was raised again for you so that he who raised him from the dead will also raise us up with him on that final day.

So whatever trial, even if we're facing the adversity of death itself, can separate us from his tremendous and beautiful and unfailing love and his mercy and the comfort with which he has given us.

In order to overcome discouragement, beloved, in order to overcome disappointment, depression, we must move forward, move past self -reliance.

And I believe truly that one of the issues and one of the sins, I'm actually gonna call it a sin, the sin of self -reliance is what keeps us back from fully trusting in Christ because we wanna be able to do it.

We want the credit. We wanna be able to say, I picked myself up from my own bootstraps and I figured it out and I was able to do

X, Y, and Z, and that's all the great social media testimonies out there, right, of people who've gone from rags to riches and how they did it.

And how short -lived will be their treasures because the treasures that they've accumulated for themselves upon their own self -reliance, their own self -strength, their own self -governance will not produce fruit onto eternal life.

But instead, we must move past self -reliance and move toward reliance upon Christ, reliance upon Christ because if we rely upon ourselves, we get the glory, we rely upon Christ, he gets the glory.

And self -reliance points us inward while reliance upon Christ points outward.

It's a difference between one who is prideful and one who is thankful. One who is looking inwardly thinks he has all the answers and the power to be able to accomplish that, which he can do, and he gets the glory, but the one who points to Christ as the answer has the posture of humility and thankfulness to being a recipient of the love and mercy and comfort with which he's given us.

In the Christian life, we must point upward, not inward.

In the Christian life, God is the one who gets the glory for defeating, overcoming our depression, our discouragement, not ourselves.

We don't get the glory for that, God does. And notice how

Paul goes on to close this thought here in verse 10 and 11. He says, he,

God, delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us.

On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. I love that.

I think of the story in Daniel of the three Hebrews, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, and as they are brought before this tribunal of Nebuchadnezzar because they failed to fall down in false worship to worship the idol and the image of the king, and they're brought forward before this furnace, and the answer and appeal that the

Israelites made, the three Hebrews made at this junction of the story was that we know

God can deliver us. He will deliver us, but even if he doesn't.

Beloved, I want that to be your posture. I want that to be your heart when you encounter trials of different kinds.

He can, he will, but even if he doesn't, he's still worthy, he's still good, he's still merciful, and he still gives us his comfort.

That's the true heart of a Christian is to know that God is the deliverer.

He has delivered, he will deliver, but even if he allows me to go down in death, he's still worthy.

Job says it this way, that though he slay me, yet shall his praise be on my lips.

Even if God were to smite me, he's still good, he's still the

God of mercy, he's still the God of comfort, and if he strikes me down, what comfort

I shall have in the moments to come. Eternal life and bliss with him forever.

Beloved, trust in Christ, run to him, God has delivered his people, he can deliver his people, and he will deliver his people from the perils of discouragement, for it is in him that we have set our hope.

He closes by saying in verse 11, for you also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

You wanna know how to overcome discouragement? Prayer. It is in prayer that you will find the power and the comfort that God gives.

We often do not emphasize the power of prayer enough. We do not emphasize the grace and the alignment that happens when we pray, when our hearts can be aligned to Christ.

Brothers and sisters, it is through prayer that we find the power to overcome depression, discouragement, or disappointment.

But I wanna leave you with this. Acronyms are usually pretty fun, right? So I'm gonna give you an acronym to run with, and it's

RUN. And so when depression, when discouragement, when disappointment or peril enter into our lives,

I want you to run. I want you to run. Now you may be asking, what do you mean by that,

Pastor? Are you telling me to run from my problems? Are you telling me to run from discouragement? What does that even mean?

What does that look like? I want you to run, number one, the R. I want you to rely on God.

I want you to write that in there. Rely on God. Not self -reliance, but a

God -reliance. This is the answer to overcoming despair. This is the answer to overcoming discouragement.

Rely not on ourselves, but on God and on Christ who raises the dead. So you must rely on God.

The U, we must also unite with believers. The scripture says in Hebrews 10, verse 24 to 25, that not to grow in the custom, as many have, to fail to come together for our

Christian meetings, for our Christian worship, but rather to draw near to each other, as the day draws near, so we may incite one another to good and fine works.

We must unite with believers. If we're not uniting with believers, if we're not worshiping, if we're not coming together, if we're not being open and honest about our lives and our circumstances of each other, how is it then that we can carry each other's burdens?

How is it then that we can pray for one another if we don't know what we're praying for? We must unite with believers, not just being in attendance, but actually uniting and being a part of the fellowship by being involved in each other's lives.

This is why I think we have probably the best church in Silicon Valley, is because we are a small, knit community of believers who know

God, who know each other, and who love God and who love each other. It's because we have this sense of community here, and we love each other, and we know each other, and we're involved in each other's lives.

May that grow to more greater degrees of glory for the fame of Jesus Christ. And the last part, for the end, never cease praying.

It is these three things that will help us overcome discouragement, relying on God, uniting with believers, and never cease to pray.

It is when we have this alignment of reliance upon Christ, uniting with believers in Christian worship, and praying without ceasing, that we find the power to overcome despair, peril, and depression.

Beloved, if you have not come to this great God of comfort, to this

God who has extended his mercy to you through Jesus Christ, may you do so today.

Before you can run from despair, you must run to Jesus. And he has invited you even now to come unto him, all you who are weary, with heavy burdens, heavy laden, and I will give you rest, is his promise.

For my yoke is easy, he said, and my burden is light. Christ stands ready to offer you only that which he can offer, mercy, comfort, eternal life.

What scripture commands us all to do, men, women, and children, is to repent of our sins, to trust in the

Savior, and to walk away, run from sin, and run to the cross of Calvary.

May you receive this word, may you run to Jesus, who alone can cure our discouragement.

Let us pray. Bountiful, merciful God of all comfort, we do come before you in the name that is above every name, even the name of Jesus, the name which brings us our comfort, our joy, our solace, our peace, even our great

Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Lord, we do come before you asking, Lord, that you would bless and anoint your people this morning.

We know, Lord, that many of us go through many trials and tribulations, whether they be economic, emotional, spiritual, physical.

We know, Lord, that you alone hold the keys of death and of life. And we ask,

God, that you'd grant your people peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding, that they may guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

Lord, help us to rely not upon ourselves. Help us not to rely upon the things of this world or the riches of this world, which are fleeting.

They're here one moment and gone the next. But help us, Lord, to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who is the author, perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the scorn and the shame of the cross, and yet purchased for us an eternal salvation that no man can take.

Lord, help us to recognize the truth, that we belong to a king and a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Therefore, we can say with great confidence, the Lord is my helper. What can man do to me?

Lord, help us to have eyes of faith and of clarity, to know and receive the things that you've laid before us this morning.

And help us to walk with confidence in the days and weeks to come, knowing that you're the God who overcomes all of our peril and discouragement, and you've granted us all that we need for life and godliness, in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory, both now and forevermore.