My entire life I have been inquisitive. Even as a kid I always was asking questions. I think on family vacations I used to drive my parents and my sisters crazy because we'd get in the car and I'd start asking questions. And hours and hours I would keep asking questions. I was curious. Had a normal childhood in many respects. I was always playing sports outside, playing, riding bikes. But the curiosity side of me also caused me to ride my bike at times to the library and just sit and read books. about different things. I've just always had a natural curiosity. And when I came to faith in Christ, that natural curiosity didn't leave me, it just was refocused. I've shared my testimony many times. I grew up in a home where church was a regular part of our life. We were in church every Sunday. But I don't believe I was born again until I was 26 years old. Already married, already a young lawyer, pursuing a career, living in California. And so as a kid, a lot of my curiosity didn't necessarily extend to the Bible. I knew about the Bible. I mean, I was a kid. I had learned some stories. Some things made sense. David killed a giant with a rock. I could understand that. Noah built a big boat. I could understand that. But the point of all those stories was lost on me and much of the Bible didn't make sense to me. As a young adult, again, I always considered myself a Christian. When I went to college, I didn't think of myself as an atheist. I don't believe I was saved, but I wasn't necessarily hostile to Christianity. I even took a couple of religious classes when I was at Florida State, just because, in Old Testament and New Testament. But the Bible really never made sense. I'd even read the entire Bible once, just because I figured I was supposed to, and most of it, I was clueless. So as I was looking at life before I was saved, the Bible was something that really didn't have a place. I knew it was important. You're supposed to own one. I owned one. But in terms of its relevance to life, I knew it wasn't really relevant. I knew that because the world had changed. Science had shown all these things weren't true. Again, I grew up in church, but in the secular worldview that was all around me in life and in the educational system, and then at college, I understood that the picture painted in the Bible was an ancient time, and then we have today, which is real. When I was saved, obviously my perspective changed. As many of you have experienced, suddenly the Bible started to make a little bit of sense. Thankfully, Debbie and I attended a church where we had good Bible teachers in Sunday school and good pastor who was opening the word in the morning and the evening services and suddenly the Bible was coming alive. I had a long commute in San Diego, about an hour each way, so I would listen to Christian preachers on the radio, some that were very good and some I found out later weren't so good. But I was absorbing it and suddenly the Bible started to make sense. It was all fitting together. I started to understand that this isn't just old stuff. It made sense. There's a pattern of redemptive history that God created humans. And the Old Testament shows that even when He pulled apart a group of those humans to be His own people, they couldn't follow the law. They still sinned. And then God sent His Son to die for sinners, to make obedience possible, to make salvation possible. And the big picture is Jesus wins everything. He's the victor. But as I started looking around at the world, obviously the world doesn't buy that. And I started coming to grips with a lot of things that I had wrestled with. Again, the entire world system that I had been given was such that the Bible was irrelevant. Where do you look for answers to the problems of life? You look to science. I mean, yeah, they were having goats and sheep and all that kind of stuff back then, but now we have automobiles and planes and space travel. And communication is unbelievable, even in my lifetime. I explained to my girls, when Debbie and I were married, there was no cell phones, we didn't have computers. And in just a short time, you got toddlers that are playing with electronic devices. You want to know how to use your phone, you ask your kids. Here was the point. The world had convinced me prior to being saved that everything was new and changed. So when you read the Bible and it's talking about the people, that was outdated, unscientific stuff. That was just a bunch of people that didn't really know any better. They were wandering around the desert. They write stuff down. You can ignore that because science over the last few hundred years has shown what's truly possible. Now we understand technologies. Now we can put things under a microscope. Now we can do all kinds of brain imaging and scans. And now we understand that everything is different and the Bible was just something else. But as I came to faith as a young man, already deeply steeped in all of the scientific advances of the world, and I began to look at Scripture, all of that curiosity that I had generally certainly played out in me studying Scripture, but I started looking at the world that I had been observing for years, and I started observing it and interpreting it through the Scriptures. And as I did that, I was very surprised by something. I was struck by an observation that seemed to me not possible and yet I was convinced it was absolutely true. What surprised me was that, in one sense, nothing has ever changed. People are exactly the same now as they have always been and they're the same now as they were when this book was written, both Old and New Testament. Again, the world says otherwise. I mean, we're evolved. We've advanced. No longer are we superstitious. No longer are we tied to these old views. We know better now. We've got science that helps us. But as I looked at everything, I realized the truth of an ancient text of Scripture, in Ecclesiastes chapter 1, verses 9 and 10, says this, that which has been is that which will be. And that which has been done is that which will be done, so there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, see this, it is new? Already it has existed for ages which were before us." Now why is any of that relevant? Because we're going to be looking at a text of Scripture this morning where we need to remember that. Because the Bible is going to identify a problem that is going to be easy for me to show is universal. But the Bible also provides a solution to that problem that flies in the face of what the modern scientific theories say is needed. And so as we look into the Scripture, I'm going to be trying to comfort and exhort and encourage you that the Bible knows what it's talking about. It may have been written 2,000 years ago, but there's nothing new under the sun. The human heart has not changed. So it's not going to surprise you. Everybody's already opened up to Hebrews. The frame of reference is Hebrews chapter 12, verse 3. The last time I taught, I was able to teach the first two verses of this. And let me just give a quick backdrop, because verses 1 and 2 tie in directly to verse 3. The book of Hebrews is written as a whole to encourage believers, Jesus is all you need. There were people that were going through hardships, they were tempted to look elsewhere, and the writer of Hebrews is saying, no, there is salvation nowhere else. Your hope is in Jesus Christ. The original recipients were tempted to look back at the temple that I believe was still standing, and the animal sacrifices, and the entire first 10 chapters are, Jesus is all you need. His one-time death completely satisfied the payment of sin. There's nothing else. Don't turn away from Jesus. But life is hard and it's challenging. And so the writer of Hebrews, it was hard and challenging then even as it is now, the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 11 listed a great number of men and women who had by faith overcome the odds. Some of them are heroes of the faith, some of them we don't even know their name. But the point of Hebrews chapter 11 is that they could do it by faith, and it's supposed to encourage believers like us. And Hebrews chapter 12 is the application of Hebrews chapter 11. They lived by faith, they're an example for you, now what are you supposed to do with it? Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 says this, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. So the picture being painted is that the Christian life is an endurance race. Again, I preached on this previously. It's a long distance run. This isn't a sprint. This is hard work. And we're supposed to prepare ourselves for the work. Not everything that keeps us from focusing on the Lord is sin. Put those things aside. And if we have sin, put it aside and go towards the prize. What's the prize? It's Jesus. Verse 2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And the idea here is that the runner in a race has his eye fixed on the end. And that's what we're supposed to do. So these men and women of chapter 11, by faith we're able to do great things. We're supposed to follow their example as we run what the Bible paints as our life as an endurance race. We're not racing against each other. We're all, as God's children, getting to the finish line. Faith is the critical idea in all of this. Faith requires a believer to trust God even when we can't see. God calls us to run a race and He calls us to run it and we don't know what's on our course. Hebrews 11, 1 makes clear, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. And faith isn't optional for a follower of God. Hebrews 11, 6, and without faith it is impossible to please Him. So these men and women who are examples of faith are supposed to encourage us as we're running this long-distance race. As we fix our eyes on Jesus, we keep pressing forward. We're not looking at the scenery. We're not looking at other people. We're looking at Jesus. But here's the issue, and this is where we come to our text today. Because Hebrews 12, 3 is still a part of that imagery of running a race. If you don't go to heaven immediately after you're saved, life is hard. It's a challenge. The people who received this letter originally understood that. They had suffered. I won't read it, but in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 32 to 34, it talks about their great sufferings. They understood what it was to endure, and yet some of them were tempted to give up. They had suffered in the past and done well in the past, but there was a part of them that said, you know, I've had enough. I'm ready to be done. The pain, the hardships, they were tiring. And if as a believer you've endured pain and hardships, you understand that it gets discouraging. It is tiring. It becomes wearisome. It's one thing for a challenge that lasts a couple of hours, but when the hours become days, and the days become weeks, which become months, and for some people which become years, it's easy to get discouraged, to get depressed. It's very tiring to always be tired. If you've ever been in the midst of a prolonged trial, you understand what I'm talking about. It makes you weary. It can be discouraging. And often because of the way we view the world, it can be lonely. Because we think it's only happening to us. We look around and everybody else is smiling on Sunday. They look happy. It must just be me. If that's your experience now or if it's ever been your experience, our text this morning is written to you. It's to deal with those who may be tempted to discouragement. And if you've never been tempted to be discouraged as a believer, I congratulate you on your newfound faith. I assume you got saved this week. And I'll tell you that it's coming. So follow along with me. I'm not going to read just verse 3, I'm going to go back to verse 1, but our focus this morning is on Hebrews 12, 3. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such hostilities by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." This is about discouragement. So I have a simple two-part outline, I use an outline just for teaching purposes, but this morning we're going to see two truths for fighting the battle against discouragement. Two truths for fighting the battle against discouragement. And I'm going to take things a little bit out of order, but you'll, I think, understand what I'm doing. And I think you'll see why I'm covering the flow of thought as I am. The first truth for fighting the battle against discouragement is this. God's children are not immune from discouragement. God's children are not immune from discouragement. For consider him who has endured such hostilities by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." This is one of those times where Scripture tells you exactly why you're being commanded to do something. When we cover point two, I'm going to cover the first part of this verse. It's an imperative command though, it's not a suggestion. This is a command of God to show you how, as running this long distance endurance race, you get to the end. And He's telling you to do this so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Paints a graphic picture. Grow weary just has the idea of getting very tired out by work. If you've ever worked hard physically doing something, you can understand that your body is just spent. No energy left. Lose heart has to do with the idea of your spirit and your soul. You're just downcast. You're so tired, you've lost your resolve. You don't think you can go on. I don't think it's coincidental. Peter used these terms to describe what shouldn't occur, and there's an ancient writer that used those terms to describe what it's like for a runner at the end of one of those long distance races. Just collapsed. Done. They can't get up. Their body is exhausted. Once in a while you'll see that in a clip of an Olympic race where somebody has just left it all there and they're face down on the track. They can't move. That's sort of the imagery here. You're so tired that for you, you want the race to be over. So it's not hard to see where my point comes from. Because we're being warned and given something that we can do so that we will not grow weary and lose heart. Christians not supposed to do that, but we wouldn't be warned about something if it wasn't possible for it to occur. Now that may seem intuitive to you, but depending on your background, in some Christian circles that's not intuitive. I've been in environments where no one would ever say that they've ever been tempted to be discouraged. No one wants to show their weakness. I mean, the Bible makes it clear. We're the recipients of the greatest free gift ever given. There's now no condemnation for us. What do we have to be discouraged about? We're going to heaven. So if you've come from those circles, there are some people that would deny that a Christian could ever even battle with death, but the scripture says otherwise. I mean, I remember, there's a lot of hymns I sang when I was a little kid that I didn't understand. And then when you get older and you learn more about the Bible, then you, unfortunately, you start theologically dissecting every verse of every hymn. But there's a hymn I remember singing growing up, and I'm not criticizing the hymn per se, I'm just talking about the mindset that can exist in certain circles. I won't sing the verse, but it says, At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away, it was there by faith I received my sight. And I praise the Lord for that. What's the last part? And now I am happy all the day. Well, hold on a second. What if I'm not? But Christians can almost run away from reality because they want that song to be true. I want to be happy. I know I should be happy. And yet if you feel burdened and weighed down, you can be disoriented. Here's the bottom line and why I even emphasize this. You don't protect yourself from dangers that you don't think are real. When I was a kid, we never locked our door. Why? Never occurred to us anybody would come in the house. Who would do that? Guess what? I lock my door every night now. The world is different in that regard. Here's the point. We take steps to protect ourselves against risks that we understand are real. I want you to understand discouragement and depression is real and can affect even Christians. I mean, the Bible makes that abundantly clear. The Psalms in many places speak of that heart anguish. For example, Psalm 6 6, I am weary with my sighing. Every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with tears. That's discouragement. Psalm 69 verses 2 and 3, I have sunk in deep mire and there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters and a flood overflows me. I am weary with my crying, my throat is parched, my eyes fail while I wait for my God. This is a danger for us. We have to be alert to it. If it wasn't a danger, Paul wouldn't have said in Galatians 6, 9, Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. He knew you could lose heart. He knew you could grow weary. But something struck me as I was thinking through this passage. And I want to encourage you because this is something that I've experienced in other environments. You might even believe, and you might even say, okay, it's clear, yes, some people can be discouraged. I'll give you some credit. I mean, I've seen it. Some people are depressed. But that's just the weak people. I mean, those are just the people on the fringes. Real Christians that are really following the Lord, that's not a danger for them. One of the greatest and most powerful men that ever lived experienced deep, deep depression. The prophet Elijah was a great man. He never even died on the earth, was taken straight into heaven. In the Old Testament, you see him work astonishing miracles. At one point, calling down fire from heaven and destroying the prophets of Baal. This man had God behind him. I think it's interesting, when Jesus went up on the Mount of Transfiguration, two people came to Him. Elijah is in heaven right now. Two people came to Him. It was Moses and Elijah. So understand, Elijah was a heavyweight. He was a true follower of God. But there was a time where he was ready to give up. He had been threatened. by the wicked Jezebel, was married to King Ahab, and he was running for his life, and all he had done was obey the Lord. In 1 Kings chapter 19, beginning at verse 9, we read this, Then he came there to a cave and lodged there. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? He said, I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away. If I can paraphrase what occurred, Elijah, a great and powerful man, to God enabled to do amazing things. He in essence was saying, I did everything you wanted me to do God. I've tried with all my heart to live the life you called me to live and at the end of the day I have heartache. And they're trying to kill me. They killed everybody else, it's just me. Elijah had grown weary and he had lost heart. It was bad. I started at verse 9, but if you went back to verse 4, 1 Kings 19 verse 4, it says this, But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree, and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough. Now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my father's. God, I can't keep going. Kill me. It was a dark time. The discouragement was profound. Even the great man Elijah had grown weary. He had lost heart. And while you might not have been to the point of saying, Lord, take my life, there have been many of us who have said, Lord, can I go to heaven today, please? Because I don't want to wake up tomorrow. That's often what running this marathon Christian life is like. It's hard. And if we're not careful, even great people like Elijah can lose heart, then rest assured it could happen to lesser people like us. Such that we could even find ourselves tempted to say what Elijah said, it's enough. So be on the alert. Be prepared. Don't think this is something that just happens to those weak people. Don't be caught off guard. And if you experience weariness and you are discouraged, it's not proof that you're not a believer. It's not proof that God doesn't love you. It simply means you're dealing with one of the struggles of Scripture and for a moment it's gotten the better of you. But there's hope. So this is a real danger. God's children are not immune from discouragement. But the second truth flows from this text. The second truth for fighting the battle against discouragement is this. God's Word provides the answer for discouragement. God's Word provides the answer for discouragement. As I've been preparing this message, more so than I can recall in a long time, I've almost been fearful of preaching this. Not because I'm fearful of the truth. I thank the Lord for the truth. I'm fearful of my inability to accurately communicate the hope that is found in these words. I want you to understand that growing weary and losing heart is not inevitable. And even if you're there, you can get out of it if you follow God's plan. So what's God's answer for discouragement? Look at verse 3. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself. For consider him This is the biblical plan. This is how you avoid winding up in the desert like Elijah, where you're going, it's enough Lord, I can't do it. For consider him, the word for is obviously tying into that race imagery. The writer understood that in that long race, some people Even if they've run well for a while, they're ready to stop, and He wants them to keep going. So He says, 4. Consider Him. Consider is the imperative command. Thus saith the Lord. This is not optional. Ties directly into the preceding verse. Fixing our eyes on Jesus. You see, this is all going together. The writer is saying, To avoid these issues of discouragement, the key is Jesus. If you want to be able to keep going, consider Jesus. The writer of Hebrews over and over is making Jesus everything. That's why the book was written. Some people were wondering, is Jesus enough? Absolutely. Amen. The writer says He is. And that's what the whole book is. Establishing. Hebrews 10, 10-12 emphatically makes it clear Jesus has done all that ever needs for our salvation. By this will we've been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. But it wasn't just that Jesus saved you, Jesus provides what you need to live and endure even when things are hard. The word translated, consider, conveys the idea of really dwelling on something, of really contemplating something, of thinking deeply on something. We must think on, we must really ponder Jesus' life and example. We have to force our minds to think on the correct things. Philippians 4.8 is a familiar verse to many of you. If you came in my office, that file cabinet sitting across from my desk that I see, Philippians 4.8 is there. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." Jesus fits right there. There's a reason that I see it. Because it's not for the people that come in from my office, it's for me. Consider Jesus. And writing to people who may be going through hardships, who may be dealing with unfairness, he draws attention to Jesus' suffering. Consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself. Simply stating the reality of what Jesus endured on the earth. He suffered at the hands of wicked people. He was treated unfairly. He was treated unjustly. He didn't deserve anything he received. Peter summarized the transaction, 1 Peter 3.18, For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God. We understand we deserve things. He didn't. He suffered anyway. I won't read all these verses, but 1 Peter 2, 21-23 talks about Jesus being reviled. He suffered. Their focus is that He didn't fight back. The actual accounts of Jesus as He was being prepared to be killed are gruesome. Again, I won't read it all. John 19, 1-3 is a partial account. Jesus was scourged, the crown of thorns cutting into His head. And they were slapping Him in the face. Matthew 27, 28-30, another account. He was stripped of His clothes and He was mocked. And they spit on Him. They took a reed and they were beating Him in the head. And yet Jesus never deviated from pursuing God's will. He finished the race that God set in front of him. That's what we are called to do. So we consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself. His life was unfair. So we can't use the unfairness directed at us as an excuse to stop. So the prescription is consider Him. How do we combat discouragement? How do we fight and prevent ourselves from becoming weary? How do we avoid losing heart? We must consider Jesus, think deeply about Him, about what He endured, how He responded. Again, things have happened to you that are unfair. We live in a fallen world. Some of you are enduring trials that aren't your fault, and yet there's no end in sight. Don't mishear me. That's wrong. I feel bad for you. That's unfair. You're right. But that's part of living in a fallen world. And whatever you're enduring, Jesus was enduring worse. So you draw to Him. You think about Him. You go. and fill your mind with Jesus. Now, let me keep going and try and build this. I don't want to lose the focus, because I'm going to say something in a moment that's not contradicting what I'm about to say, but let me just also say this. The only objective truth that you'll ever find out about Jesus is here. If you want to consider Jesus, you have to read your Bible. It breaks my heart. I've counseled a lot of people who were discouraged and down. And quite often it's like, well, how is your daily time in the Word? I can't do that right now. You've got to be in the Word of God. This is where you remind yourself of what Jesus did. How do you know about his birth and being born to a virgin and that fulfilling Old Testament prophecy from the Bible? How do you know about what he was able to do in his preaching of repentance? It's in the Bible. How do you know about his sinless life? How do you know about his example in the face of unfair treatment? If you want to dwell on Jesus, you can't avoid reading the Scripture. So let me exhort and encourage, if you're not battling discouragement, if life is good, praise the Lord, stay in the Word. So that you will not grow weary and lose heart. And if you are down and discouraged, this is the road map to get out. You need this book. Yet I think the idea of consider Jesus goes beyond just reading the Bible. Reading the Bible is essential. You have to. If you're not reading the Bible on a regular basis, you're setting yourself up to grow weary and lose heart whether you realize it or not. But let me suggest this to you. And I'll try and establish it from the scriptures because you don't just need my opinion on things. I think for you to truly consider Jesus in fulfillment of this command, you have to be in church. You have to be interacting with other believers. You know, it was one thing when Jesus was on the earth. I won't read it, but John chapter 20 verses 27 to 29, if you remember, Thomas wasn't there when the other disciples had seen Jesus, and he said, I won't believe unless I can touch him. Jesus basically appeared and said, touch me. And Thomas didn't need to touch to say, my Lord and my God. And Jesus said this, because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see and yet believe. That's us. We don't literally see Jesus. Thomas could walk by sight, you and I have to walk by faith. And part of the blessing we have in Jesus' absence is His bride, the church. It's not accidental that the writer of Hebrews explains that believers can't, without sinning, stop coming to church. Hebrews chapter 10, 23-25. It says this, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful. Praise the Lord for that. Verse 24, and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. That means each one of us is supposed to be trying to stir up every other one of us so that we're all continuing to fulfill what God's called us to do. Verse 25, not forsaking Our assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day drawing near. Part of how you fight the battle against discouragement is by considering Jesus, but also interacting with His people who were designed and supposed to be gathering to encourage one another. If you are weary and you're losing heart, the temptation is to pull away from church. Why? Because you don't feel like you fit in. I mean, they're all smiling and singing the songs. They're sharing praises and I just feel horrific. If you feel like that's what's going on, Satan's trying to deceive you. You need to be here. You can't consider Jesus on your own. You consider Jesus as part of the family of God in the midst of those that He's called to gather to encourage one another. And beyond that, believers walking in obedience are living out the life of Christ which helps us consider Christ. What do I mean? Paul said this in Galatians 2.20. I've got to build this with a few scriptures together. Galatians 2.20, Paul said this, I have been crucified with Christ And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. That's supposed to be every one of our testimonies. Christ lives in me. Christ lives in you, if you know Jesus. I think that's why Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 11 1, Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. Part of the way you draw encouragement is by gathering together with other people. You should be looking to strong people in the faith in your church leaders and follow their example. Hebrews 13, 7 says, Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. So there is a sense in which you consider Jesus by observing and modeling the obedience and faithfulness of other believers in the church. Christ lives in them and when you see Christ-like behavior flowing from them, it helps you to consider Jesus. Romans 8, 29 says, For those who before knew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. I think the picture painted by Scripture is that when you need comfort in times of darkness and discouragement, God uses other people conformed to the image of His Son to bring you comfort. Paul stated this explicitly in a real life context in 2 Corinthians 7, 6. Speaking of his own experience, Paul said, but God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus. So let me sort of reset the table and take a breath. And give you some pastoral encouragement and exhortation. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." We all want to finish the race. That's what this is all about. Don't give up. Don't succumb to doubt and darkness. Keep pressing forward. So if you're not weary, if you haven't lost heart, I praise the Lord for you. And if you're running the race well, I say, praise God, keep going. But understand this, you're not enjoying this time of peace in your heart and in your soul and encouragement because you're lucky. You're enjoying that because God in His wisdom has shown you His grace and given you the ability to follow Him. Praise Him for that. Protect what God has given you. You consider Jesus. You stay in His Word. You continue to exhort yourself from the encouragement of Scripture and you come to church. And you be an example, but you also follow other godly examples of those conformed to the image of God's Son. And if everything I've said today you're just thinking, I feel bad for those people that have to deal with this, Proverbs 16, 18 has a warning. Pride goes before destruction. And a haughty spirit before stumbling. You consider Jesus so that you don't grow weary and lose heart. But if you are weary, if you have lost heart, or if you're headed down that dark path, I want you to hear me. You don't have to remain that way. You can experience again the joy of the Lord. Now, I want to first be clear. There are genuine medical conditions. There are genuine neurological things that can happen. And in those circumstances, there's nothing wrong with seeking out the services of a medical professional. But that's not what most people battling discouragement are dealing with. Most people are just living life and it's got the better of them. And their thinking's gotten out of control and they've gone into places they shouldn't go with their minds and they need help. I want to help you. I want to encourage you. You may wonder if you're ever going to see the light again. I can tell you, you have the ability to have joy even now. Galatians 5, 22, first part of 23, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. If you're indwelt by the Spirit of God, joy is possible. There's hope. But let me take it a step further, and I want to be very careful. Simply staying in the darkness, and staying weary and losing heart and just being content with that is not an option. The Bible commands us to rejoice. Philippians 4.4, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. It's not God's will for you to forever perpetually be down. God provides a solution for you. This is where I struggle because I'm not trying to make you feel bad about feeling bad. But I want to be helpful. I want to encourage you. There's hope and there's a way to get out of this. And yet the society in which we live, because they have an enlightened view that completely changes the nature of man, they say, wait a minute, you're just bound for this. I see the headlines, depression is growing more and more in America. More people are going into treatment. Society says, you don't really have a choice. This is outside of your control. The Scripture says something else. Again, I'm not talking about those people with legitimate medical issues. God in His own sovereignty has allowed some things like that to happen. That's hard. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm just talking about the normal everyday life and you just feel overwhelmed. That's not what God wants for you. He doesn't want you to stay in the darkness. He wants to help you and that's why He's provided this church. That's why He's provided His Word. Considering Jesus isn't a magical incantation where you just quote some verses or whatever. It's immersing your mind in the reality of God's world. First with Scripture, but then through the encouragement of one another. That's why He's provided you church leaders. That's why He's provided you brothers and sisters in Christ. That's why He's provided this place for you to assemble together to draw some encouragement. We want as your leaders to help you. I trust that everybody in the church wants to help you. So let me encourage you. Turn to God for your help. Jesus has provided all you need. Be in church even when time is hard. Draw comfort from the fact that God loves His children. I think the depression and discouragement that is becoming an epidemic in our society is being used by Satan to destroy people. He's prowling around like a lion, looking for someone to devour. And I think in this day and age, He does that for some people with this. Satan wants you to give up. He wants to say, God's forgotten you. There's no hope for you. All the other Christians are embarrassed by you. Just curl up and be done. That's a lie. That's not true. God hasn't forgotten you. John chapter 10 verse 27 to 30 provides some wonderful words of hope. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give eternal life to them and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one. And if you think that somehow your discouragement can separate you from God's Scripture, it makes it clear that's not true. Romans chapter 8, I stopped at verse 18, beginning in verse 37 to verse 39, But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us, for I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you're struggling in darkness, understand you're safe in God's hands. He'll never leave you, nor forsake you. He hasn't forgotten about you. He still loves you. He's given you eternal life and He's gonna see you through. For time's sake, I won't read it, but encourage yourself with Paul's words, 2 Corinthians 4, 16 to 18. Your troubles are real, you have to live life, but they're temporary. In eternity, they'll all be nothing. Let me give you one final exhortation, and I have to make it quickly. I don't think most people would argue with anything I said biblically. But there are a lot of people that would look at what I would say and say, that's hopelessly naive. Yeah, that's what the Bible says, but come on, Joe. Some would think I have an endured hardship, but let me assure you, I have. I understand the struggle. What I see is our society has recreated a scenario from a long time ago. I'm going to have to summarize it, but sometime on your own, read 2 Kings chapter 5. It's the account of a man named Naaman. He was a great military man. He was highly respected, yet he had leprosy. And the king of his land had heard that there was somebody in Israel who might be able to heal him. And so this man with leprosy came and he wound up finding himself in front of the prophet Elisha. Elisha succeeded Elijah and Elisha was powerful in his own right. And this man came to Elisha because he wanted to be cured and Elisha said, Actually, Elisha didn't even say it to him. He sent a messenger and told him, go wash in the Jordan seven times and you'll be clean. And it says that Naaman was furious. He was mad. Because he wanted something big. He wanted something razzmatazz. He wanted something dazzling. And his own servants had to come up to him and said to him, my father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more than when He tells you, wash and be clean? I think that's a picture in some ways of what happens and what believers struggle with nowadays. Because the Bible provides simple solutions to some of our intractable problems and yet we want a complicated solution. It must take a lot more than this. The Bible is sufficient. It's enough. The church and other believers have been given to you with the Scriptures. That's enough. Please understand, if you're in darkness, don't suffer silently. Come and let us help you be restored. We have a biblical counseling ministry at our church that far too few people avail themselves of. With men and women that would sit and they want to help you. They want to show you from the Scriptures how to consider Jesus. Take advantage of it. You have eleven elders over this church. We want to help you. Come talk to us. And if we tell you to do something simple, like wash yourself in the truth of the Word, don't be angry. Trust God's provision for your healing. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for the heavy hearts that may be hearing my voice. Lord, the world is hard. We're to run a race with endurance. We're to finish the race. But Lord, the burdens are heavy. I thank You, Lord, that You've provided a way for us to not grow weary and lose heart. I pray that today will be a time of healing for those who are hurting. That today perhaps might be the start of traveling out of darkness back into the light. Lord, I pray that today any brothers and sisters who are hurting will turn to You through Your Word and through Your Church to begin the healing process. And Lord, if there are any that don't know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, their great issue is not discouragement. Their great issue is separation from a holy God. And I pray, Lord, that today You would help them to realize that Jesus died for sinners. First and foremost, they should place their faith in the atoning work of Jesus, who died and paid the penalty for sins of all who would ever believe. Lord, open blind eyes and draw sinners to Yourself today. Lord, we love You. We thank You for Your Word and we thank You for Your Church. In Jesus' name, Amen.