Dealing with Discouragement | Douglas Wilson

the text this morning is from psalm 42 verse 11 these are the words of god why art thou cast down o my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou and god for i shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my god our gracious god and father we thank you for the privilege that we have of gathering together like this to sit under your word i pray that your spirit would apply this word to our particular circumstances father i pray that this occasion will be hand-stitched by you to encourage us we pray in jesus name and amen as you uh no doubt know there are different kinds of sermons sometimes there are sermons that are applicable to just about everybody and other times there are sermons that by the topic the nature of the topic they're more of a niche sermon you know with narrow application and considering you probably looked at the title dealing with discouragement this is one of those niche sermons that only applies to a handful of you the rest of you can pray for the people who are dealing with this of course everybody deals with discouragement everybody deals with occasions when you think this is just too much this is now the utter frozen limit i don't know how i can go on another five minutes with whatever it is and uh this is a problem that appears to scale right you you have you ever seen a a two-year-old having a bad day struggling with the you know everything is going wrong absolutely everything is going wrong and in his calculus nothing could get worse he's having trouble getting these two legos apart they just won't come apart and he finally loses the bubble as we say in our and someone has to take him off and do the attitude adjustment and sad to say oftentimes the adults that are left behind after he's escorted off to his reward they think it's funny the adults think it's funny he he was so upset about that little thing that little thing well it's all a matter of perspective right it's all a matter of perspective that trouble filled his world that trouble filled it occupied his horizon just like your troubles fill your horizon your troubles are enormous and of course they're they're big enough to be enormous to you now there are two ways to keep to have perspective on your troubles and and i and i want this to be the backdrop as we uh go into the text as we consider psalm 42 there are two ways to get perspective um president uh teddy roosevelt used to do this when he was in the white house and he was he was overwhelmed with some sort of big difficulty uh he would take whoever's with him out into the backyard in the the backyard of the white house out outside and they'd look up the stars and he would pick out a star and and say how far away it was and and how many light years and what size of galaxy it was in and he after he recited all these facts about how big the the this universe is he would then say well there i think our troubles are in perspective now let's go back in and uh go to bed but notice that he's saying the the universe is really big and we're really small and that means our troubles are really small that's i think that that's a rough and ready common grace kind of way to to sometimes get perspective just like the toddler who's struggling with the legos can say you know when i'm 10 this is not going to seem like that big a deal you know i can get that kind of perspective but there's another kind of godly perspective you can see this in romans 8 18 in romans 8 18 the apostle paul says something that's really quite astonishing he says for i reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us in the first common grace sort of thing that that's so the universe is so big and my troubles are so small but paul says here your troubles are so small compared to the glory that's going to be revealed in you in other words your troubles are small for your future your your troubles are small considering the glory that is coming i'm going to return to that in a little bit now as you're dealing with discouragement you have to understand that there are two basic ways two basic ways that discouragement comes to you they can be uh discouragement can be presented to you internally and it come at it can come at you externally it can arise from within it can come at you from outside the internal occurs when for some reason we have given way to some sort of sin and the external occurs when we are buffeted by circumstances as job was but without sin so job was you know he lost all his wealth his kids were killed he had all these external circumstances he was pressed down by the external circumstances and other times you're discouraged simply because sin arose in your heart you gave way to the temptation you got into sin and then of course it's possible since you're discouraged one way you think that's not enough i need to supplement the discouragement i need to give way to the other kind so you have external uh pressures coming at you external afflictions and then you give way to internal temptations to sin so it's possible to be discouraged in both ways simultaneously so how are we to understand this how how are we to respond to temptations to discouragement as thinking christians now here's the consideration from the text psalm 42 now we've gone through psalm 42 in detail treating the whole psalm before so here i just want to consider the implications of this one verse first the psalmist presupposes that the condition of peace is normal he presupposes that the condition of peace is normal in this circumstance he is cast down and disquieted and he wants to know the reason why i'm discouraged i'm pressed i'm uh overwhelmed i'm disquieted and that's the thing that calls for the explanation why why are you disquieted o my soul so he wants to know the reason why this disturbance of his soul is the thing that requires explanation why are you cast down second the psalmist remonstrates with himself he remonstrates with himself he talks to himself which is a good alternative to listening to yourself he preaches to himself and it's convicting sermon and that's a good rule of thumb when you're when you're going back and forth in your head when you're going back and forth in your heart what do i mean it's always a bad idea to listen to yourself don't listen to yourself you need to talk to yourself and you need to talk to yourself standing on the word of god in other words you need to resort to scripture find the truth there and then go find yourself and have a talk talk to yourself don't listen to yourself if you're listening to yourself it's probably something like this you're just driving down the road aimlessly and the radio station in the car is just turned to whatever station it is and you're listening to whatever it is that comes on and when you're just listening to whatever whatever it is that comes on in your head it's that that channel is no good that station's no good the music is lousy the whole thing is terrible don't listen to yourself talk to yourself standing on the word of god what's the difference well when you're listening to yourself you're just sort of floating when you talk to yourself you have to come up with something to say and if you're a christian you want to go to the word to come up with something to say and then find that and then speak to yourself accordingly third the psalmist comes at the end of the verse to a pointed exhortation commanding himself to hope in god not only this but he anticipates that he will in fact obey the command for he will in the future praise god he resolves that he will obey his exhortation to himself why art thou cast down on my soul he's looking for the explanation why aren't thou disquieted within me still looking for the the explanation hope thou and god that's the command and then for i shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my god i'm going to obey the command that i give to myself as i am giving myself that talk so when we speak peace to ourselves when we speak to peace to our hearts which is what i think we're commanded to do we're supposed to ask the question and we're supposed to take the promise of god we're to speak peace to our hearts we can this is not the christian equivalent of just take yourself aside and give yourself a pep talk and the content of the pep talk doesn't matter that's not true the content of the pep talk the content of the exhortation you give has to be scriptural why is this well when we when we speak peace to our hearts we can do it in accordance with scripture or we can do it in accordance with our own pipe dreams for example in deuteronomy 29 someone who has become an idolater by turning away from the lord can can speak peace to his own heart in his own name and on his own authority in deuteronomy 29 19 it says and it come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse the book of deuteronomy contains a bunch of curses for the people who depart from the way of the lord blessings for obedience curses for disobedience this person hears the words of the curse and when he hears the words of the curse that he bless himself in his heart saying i shall have peace though i walk in the imagination of mine heart to add drunkenness to thirst this person this person is bent on sinning they've heard the curse of the lord they've seen that god looks at this particular sin god's word denounces it god promises a curse on those who follow it and this person stands up straight and says ah yes god has said that this is cursed but i am going to bless myself i am going to bless myself because i am walking in the imagination of my own heart in contrast to this narcissistic self-blessing i'm talking about a gospel-centered self-blessing a gospel-centered exhortation of you speaking to yourself so what i'm declaring here are the words of the gospel and the gospel does not does not sow cushions for sin does not sow pillows for sin god is able to promise this god is able to invite us into this because he is our salvation god doesn't promise us an impersonal substance an impersonal spiritual fluid that will somehow save us god's salvation of us is because he gives us himself god gives us himself our salvation is a triune peace how is it possible for you to speak peace to yourself well it's because your your salvation is a triune salvation your salvation is a triune peace remember that your salvation has occurred because god has included you in his triune life the gospel is triune just like the god who established the gospel so you're being invited out of discouragement and into peace out of discouragement and into peace what why how is this possible god the father has declared that the comfort of peace is to be announced to us isaiah 40 1-2 god the father announces that this peace is for you this peace is for you and this peace is for you god the father has determined peace for his children and then in ephesians 2 13 and 14 we see that christ has become our peace by his own blood christ is our peace and then why would the father not give to us what he determined to give to us and which the son purchased for us and then third the spirit of the lord came down upon christ so that he might comfort those who mourn that he might bind up the brokenhearted as it says in luke 4 18. because christ died the executor of his testament is the spirit remember then when you're struggling with discouragement that the father son and spirit all together are engaged on your behalf god the father has spoken peace over you the son has purchased peace for you 2 000 years ago on the cross and the holy spirit is present in this room now applying that peace that was determined by by the father purchased by the son applying that peace to you and your circumstance now so it's a triune peace and as a triune peace when christians resort to it they are fully protected so why do we get discouraged where does this discouragement come from one reason why christians get discouraged in their attempts to live the christian life is that they're attempting to run the race with cords around their feet and with a 150 pound backpack on as he the this is the image from hebrews 12 1. if you're going to run the race get rid of the entangling sin get rid of the weight that so easily ties you up weighs you down so the way out of that kind of discouragement in sin is repentance that kind of discouragement is discouragement that arises from within and the way out is repentance discouragement in such cases is disciplinary and god's hand is heavy upon you for a reason make sure to repent of the sin all the way down to the foundations and secondly make sure that you repent of the right sin don't go snipe hunting in your conscience many christians say oh if i go if i encounter trouble it's because of sin and then the trouble happens and so they start just naming things randomly uh trying to get god to lay off if i'd but that's not confession that's not because you ought not to confess as sin anything unless you see it as sin unless it it's very clearly plainly sin to you here's what i did and this is what the word of god says if you can't just name something that you did uh maybe is it this is it this is it this the holy spirit is not whispering in your ear you're getting warmer you're getting warmer you're getting colder you it's you're not playing that kind of game it's not a game if you know that it's a sin confess this is a sin if it if you don't know then ask god to reveal to you what the problem is so as you set yourself to con confess your sin honestly before god first john 1 9 if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness make sure that you review your virtues as you are running an inventory not all of your virtues are actually virtues let me say that again not all of your virtues are actually virtues and this could easily be the case with some of the sins that are gum on your shoe that keep tripping you up you think that's a virtue you think you think that you're being firm with the kids and you're being harsh with the kids you think that you're being a disciplinarian and you're not being a disciplinarian you think that you're being patient and when you're being lazy that's the sort of thing you call you give it a virtuous name what you need to do is ask ask god to convict you of any sin that he wants to bring to mind and you are and you don't when you open the books like this and invite the holy spirit in you're not saying and lord would you please examine search me try me see if there be any wicked way in me you're inviting him into your house and you're inviting him to go through all the drawers and all the closets and then when you say lord come into my house and go through all the closets and then you find that you positioned yourself in front of one of the closets like this that that's a danger sign that's an indication that you know that something back behind you is not so hot not so good so what you want to do is ask god to reveal to you anything that is tripping you up anything that is discouraging you so if the discouragement is coming up from within if it's sin then you should and you see the sin confess it as sin if you don't see the sin yet but you suspect that there's something there ask god to reveal it so this is another room there are two kinds of sin two kinds of prayers that we hesitate to pray one prayer that we hesitate to pray is the prayer that we think we're afraid to pray it because we think that god will say no so you don't pray for a new ferrari you don't pray for a new lamborghini you don't you don't because i kind of know the answer to the prayer already i'm afraid to pray because i'm afraid that god will not give me the 10 tons of ice cream that i requested and the freezers to hold them in god you're afraid that god's not going to answer your prayer because you're afraid that he's going to say no but there's another kind of prayer that we hesitate to pray because we're afraid he's going to say yes lord please reveal to me anything that i'm doing that's driving my family crazy lord please reveal to me anything that keeps coming up in my life that keeps discouraging me and i assiduously look the other way i always look for it i always hunt for it in the wrong places we hesitate to pray that prayer because we're afraid that god might say sure sure i'll i'll show this to you have a seat you have a have a pad of paper and a pencil you can write these down no i didn't mean to pray that c.s lewis talks about the fellow who was praying on his knees one time and he got up hastily for fear that his prayer was going to be answered that's the kind of thing we sometimes do but there's another kind of discouragement and that's discouragement that comes from outside don't make the mistake of thinking that hard circumstances mean that you must have sinned this was the error of job's failed comforters job 2 11 and it was the error of the disciples concerning the man born blind in john 9 2 and 3. the disciples saw the man born blind and they said well clearly either this man sinned or his parents sinned because bad things don't happen to people who didn't sin so you they say who who sinned this man or his parents and jesus said neither jesus said you were wrong in your guests job's comforters were assuming that all these terrible disasters came down upon job because he had sinned well it was not true at the same time there are times when it is true god is not mocked and a man reaps what he sows so in galatians 6 god is not mocked and if you plant this crop you're going to get whatever crop you plant that's what you're going to harvest right so sometimes it is the case that the the harvest that you're gathering is the result of sin but not automatically which which is why you need to check and why you need to check honestly and openly so at the very least every trial that comes at you from outside presents a temptation to murmur an invitation to think that the god of the universe has bungled matters when it comes to your case but god does all things perfectly well romans 8 28 this means that whatever circumstance you're in whatever affliction it is whatever it is that is tempting you to be discouraged that circumstance is not bigger than god that circumstance is perfectly suited to you to your situation god either wants to reveal a particular sin to you that keeps tripping you up so that you can repent and deal with it and get at it or he wants to toughen you up you didn't sin at all there's no sin involved it's simply affliction from outside and we we are tempted to say god why why does the sandpaper have to be so rough well it's because he wants the wood to be smooth that's why why does the sandpaper have to be rough well we if we had our druthers what would what would we come up with we'd great finished carpenters bunch of sinners center finished carpenters what would we do we'd have smooth sandpaper and rough furniture right we'd have we we want the sandpaper smooth and the wood rough god says no it's the other way the sandpaper's rough so that the wood might be smooth what would you say if um there's two kinds of discipline there's corrective discipline that's the kind of discipline that happens when someone sins when someone rebels or disobeys then discipline happens but there's another kind of discipline that's not corrective at all nobody did anything wrong when this kind of discipline is applied if let's say you're at some basketball practice and your coach is having you run suicides again and again and then again and finally the team asks you to be the spokesman to go talk to coach coach what did we do wrong what do we do wrong why are we having suicides one suicide after why are you doing this what what did we do wrong you went out for the basketball team that's what you did this is what this is what training for basketball is like this is you we didn't you didn't sin i'm not making you run suicides because you sinned i'm making your own suicides because this is how you get ready for the game so there's two kinds of discipline there's corrective discipline and then there's proactive discipline discipline that prepares you for life so a father might spank his son for disobeying his mother a father might also ask his son to go out in the backyard with him and split and stack a quart of wood and it's hard work doing the splitting the the cord of wood splitting the wood and stacking it's hard work but what's he doing did the sun do anything wrong no nothing at all the father's instilling a work ethic so that he won't do something wrong in the future so he knows what to do in the future so both of these both of these uh circumstances are in the hand of god to to fit to your circumstance perfectly so it doesn't matter if you're affliction if you're trouble if the thing that makes you want want to give up if the thing is pressing on you to just surrender it might be a medical diagnosis it might be a medical worry it might be a financial threat it might be what if we might be a loved one who's strayed is away from the faith it might be a an harassable spouse it might be someone who is just making your life difficult whatever it is whatever it is god has it perfectly in control so in again in romans 8 all things work together for good for them that love god and are the called according to his purpose as it says in verse 28 and then verse 18 just 10 verses earlier i'll read this again for i reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us god has the intention of bringing you to glory god has the stated purpose of bringing you to glory and the kind it's the kind of glory that is going that overwhelms any possibility of comparison to whatever affliction you're currently going through so you're going through something that's really tough it's really tough giving your resources giving your circumstances giving your loved ones giving giving everything this is really tough and i'm not trying to minimize it it really is tough giving that given that situation but ten thousand years from now when when we've been there ten thousand years bright shining is the sun you trying to remember that difficulty trying to conjure it up in your mind and feel all the weight of it then the way you feel it now it'd be like you trying to remember a hiccup from seven years ago one hiccup you can't compare it they they're not worthy to be compared and this is because god's intention for you is glory why does he run us through this discouragement mill because he is interested in glory his own glory and glory reflected of his glory reflected by us so when christians sin or when they struggle with affliction there is an accuser of the brethren up in heaven who accuses them there but thanks be to god we have an advocate there in heaven on our behalf christ is our attorney in heaven defending us before the father if anyone sins we have an advocate with the father we are told in first john but the devil does not just accuse you in the heavenly courts he also accuses you to you he doesn't just accuse you before the bar of heaven he comes to you and accuses you to you what kind of christian do you think you are the worst kind of christian and i'm the devil and i know i've seen about i've seen some raggedy looking christians but you take the cake what kind of christian do you think you are we have an advocate on earth as well as an advocate in heaven john 14 16 the same word describes the office of both the son and the spirit advocate defense attorney so jesus christ is our defense attorney in heaven he intercedes for his people and the holy spirit is an advocate on earth whether you stand accused in heaven or on earth you have a court assigned defender there's no reason to be discouraged you have a court assigned defender and this court assigned defender the spirit or the son they are god right the i'm the competent neither the son nor the spirit have ever lost a case now how could how could they get me off you might wonder i'm guilty how could a holy god get a guilty sinner off but they successfully defend sinners like you and like me because they never ever argue from your virtues or vices or my virtues or vices they don't argue from our character they don't argue from our character at all their case presupposes our guilt they always plead the blood of christ shed on earth and then they plead the blood of christ sprinkled on the altar of heaven so why can i not be accused here on earth because jesus died here why can i not be accused in heaven because the blood of jesus was applied there that's that's it that's gospel that means that you have no ground for discouragement no basis for discouragement have you sinned your sin is forgiven are you being beat up by circumstance god has apportioned it perfectly with perf all seeing wisdom knowing what it was going to take to get you to the finish line god knows what it's going to take to have you turn out the way he wants you to turn out that's what he's up to so as you consider these things i want you to i want you to take a few pictures with you these are pictures of your piece first distinguish the money in your bank account and the money in your wallet there is your basic foundational wealth and then there's the money that you have on on you you have all your assets on the one hand and you have the money you have on you let's say you've got two bucks on you if you are mugged and the thief takes your wallet with the two bucks in it that thief can only take what you have on your person they cannot take what's in your bank account they cannot get into your bank account which is in heaven that bank account is not on you set your mind on things above your treasure is in heaven set your mind there they can't get at that in a similar way a hard day and a hard day is that thief the hard day is that mugger a hard day can only disturb that day's peace and you shouldn't let him do that you see that you that that thief that mugger can only take that day's piece you shouldn't let him do that because you should remember where your treasure actually is you have a fundamental peace that a rainy day cannot touch that's in romans 5 1. what would you think of a millionaire who had two bucks on him and he got robbed and he went home crying to his wife and she said but they took two dollars and the two dollars was mine i tell you that was my money and she said honey you've got millions why are you you've got millions well i got i have millions because i care about two dollars yes and a little bit too much and i've been praying for an opportunity to talk to you about that but this is the illustration stands the the thieves can't take certain things they can't take certain things so distinguish the money in your wallet from the money you have distinguish the wealth on you from the wealth that you have you are a child of god and a tough day can't touch that you're a child of god and it doesn't matter how tough the day is that can't be touched second distinguish peace in the seed and peace in the flower distinguish peace in the seed and peace in the flower often peace in the seed looks like trouble when you were first converted for example you were now troubled over things that never bothered you before don't be troubled over that kind of trouble when you when there's an there is an initial disruption when there is difficulty sometimes that difficulty is the only way to get you to the harvest it's the only way to get you to the flower in full bloom so peace in the seed and peace in the flower is often different and then third distinguish peace from a distance peace from a distance where you can only see the dancing and consequently everybody looks crazy and then peace up close when you can hear the music when you get up close you can hear the music and you know why they're dancing before you can hear the music it just looks pretty erratic right depending on the dance some dances are more erratic than others so what you want to do is you get up close you can see you can you can see and understand everything that's involved so last the peace of god is a guardian and offense the peace of god is to protect you and guard you to keep you encouraged the peace of god is guardian and offense and it does not and it does not encircle your vices or sins god's not trying to protect those rather your hearts and minds are protected by the peace of god which passes all understanding in philippians 4 7 and that is because christ is your peace so don't think that your job is to have your heart and mind serve as the shield and the peace of god is this guttering little flickering candle inside and you've got to guard your hearts and minds are out here guarding the peace of god paul says in philippians 4 it's the other way paul says the peace of god which passes understanding will guard your hearts and minds the peace of god is the shield the peace of god is the armor you are the protected you don't with your choices in your heart and mind you don't protect the peace of god the peace of god protects you and it passes understanding paul argues basically it's invisible armor everything is going everything is going sideways on you and the your co-workers friends to say how can you be at peace when all these things are happening they don't see the armor the peace of god passes understanding they they can't see the armor they just see the things bouncing off you don't get discouraged by that you don't get discouraged by the next thing you don't get discouraged by the thing after that why because god knows what he's doing god is a perfect savior god is a perfect advocate god is a perfect lord he knows how to govern your circumstances he knows how to bring you to the place where he wants you you are predestined to christlikeness so if the name of christ is on you then be encouraged if the name of christ is on you you are right on schedule if the name of christ is on you god is doing what he wills with you and you might as well go along quietly right you might say well why is it such a turmoil for me then because you're resisting it right you're resisting it stop fighting he's god he he's your lord surrender the whole thing lay the whole thing down and go with him quietly our father and gracious god we thank you for your kindness to us we thank you for all you give to us we thank you for your spirit the fact that the son is our advocate the spirit is our advocate here on earth we return our thanks to you now asking you to teach and encourage and strengthen us and we pray the words back to you that jesus taught us to pray saying when we partake of the supper we should pay close attention to the obvious stick with me here this is a table with a meal spread upon it there's a tendency in our evangelical piety to in practice completely overlook this glaringly obvious aspect of what we do amongst our evangelical ranks there are some who in an effort to obey the call to examine yourself and to worthily take the supper have done some renovations to the furniture of this sacrament they put the command to examine oneself into practice by acting as if the lord's supper is like a crust of bread being slid under the cell door to a prisoner in solitary confinement instead of a table around which god's elect children gather to commune with him and each other they turn this into an icy corridor of 6x6 cells of introspective piety the lord summons us here for a joyful feast with more than plenty for all who he calls he doesn't send us to our rooms to think long and hard about how badly we've behaved and only get dinner if we are able to attain the properly morose disposition our father wants us to pull in our seats around this table facing him and each other to enjoy the manifold ways he has brought us saved us sustained us and nourished us with beaming faces we fellowship around this table reflecting christ's light back to him in praise and towards each other in faithful encouragement introspection however thinks that the proper thing to look at during the lord's supper is the blank concrete of the walls of our atrophied pietism in faith we look at christ as we look at this bread and wine and in faith we look at each other and see christ's bride so come in faith and welcome to jesus christ the exhortation is straightforward and simple it doesn't matter who you are doesn't matter where you came from doesn't matter what you've done it doesn't matter how much money you have it doesn't matter what your social status is if you have the name of christ on you be encouraged if the name of christ is on you be encouraged now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power it works in us to him be glory in the church by christ jesus to all generations forever and ever amen you

Channel: Christ Church

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Length: 37min 32sec (2252 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 21 2021