We live in a world that’s full of discouragement. We live in a world that’s full of depression. I googled some basic things: “Depression is one of the greatest problems and killers of our time. Depressive disorders affect approximately 19 million American adults. Depression will be the second largest killer after heart disease by 2020. “Studies show that depression is a contributory factor even to coronary disease, which is the first. Studies have shown that these are the people who tend to be most depressed:” Listen to this. Who are the people who are most depressed? “Persons 45 to 64, women, blacks, Hispanics, non-Hispanics…” It’s like, isn’t that everybody? “Persons with less than a high school education, those previously married, individuals unable to work or unemployed. Persons without health insurance coverage. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in college students.” It’s like if you don’t have an education, you’re susceptible. If you do have one, you are. “44% of American college students reported feeling symptoms of depression. Preschoolers are the fastest growing market for antidepressants. The rate of increase of depression among children is an astounding 23% per year.”
Why? Brethren, why all the depression? Why all the discouragement in this world? Why? What’s going on? Why no hope? Well, of course they have no hope! Listen, just live your life in sin with a conscience that’s defiled, and Scripture says eternity written on your heart. You know what? Romans 1 assumes every man, woman, and child has an idea about the existence of God. We know God exists. We know we’re living in sin. Our conscience is defiled. Eternity is written on our heart. We’ve got some idea that death is foreboding.
What does the world say? Come drink our kind of beer and get happy. Of course college students are depressed! You know why? Nobody’s giving any sound answers! I can remember one time, I think one of you showed it to me, I saw a YouTube video. Some guy dying… And some woman, some kind of psychologist was in there, and she’s trying to make him feel good. And he just bursts out and told her to shut up. And he said, “Look, I’m dying. I’ve lived a wicked life, I’m full of sin. All this stuff you have to say doesn’t help.” That’s why there’s so much depression in this world. Because people are dealing with the real problems and they’re not given real answers.
There’s no hope in this world, because that’s exactly what Scripture says. When you’re separated from Christ, you’re alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, you’re strangers to the covenant of promise, which is the promise made to Abraham, you’re strangers to it, well, you have no hope! You’re without God in the world! Of course, you’re hopeless! Do you think money helps soothe the conscience? Do you think beer helps? For a little bit maybe, but then you wake up. None of it helps. It just leaves us more empty, more despairing, more troubled.
Then you’ve got all these college students out there. We can’t even hardly get on the college students. They don’t want us to go in there with the truth. We’ve got the message to set them free. We’ve got the message to give them hope. But they don’t even want that kind of message there. You come carrying a Bible, they get all freaked out on the college campuses today. We can’t hardly stay on one college campus in this city. Of course, 44% of them feel like they’re depressed, and a lot of them want to commit suicide. There’s no answers.
Brethren, we’ve got the answer here. Here’s where the hope is. Here’s where the strong encouragement is. There is a God who will save to the uttermost all those that come to Him through Jesus Christ, and find an anchor for their soul there. He deals with it. The answers for every problem mankind has is answered in this Book. Every one of them. There are solid answers. There are good answers.
