Study Guide for Lloyd-Jones’s “Spiritual Depression”
Today, I am delighted to learn that Granted Ministries has brought into print a hard-cover edition of Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ classic, Spiritual Depression, which also includes audio messages. In addition, GM provides a FREE study guide. Here’s what the publisher says about this unique resource:
“It is our opinion that Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure is one of the finest Christian books that has been written. We have brought this edition into print ourselves in order to make it available in hardback, together with an MP3 audio disc containing the messages which generally made up the book. If you are unfamiliar with Martyn Lloyd-Jones, this book is a very good introduction to him. Because we have published the book ourselves, we refer you to the ‘Publisher’s Description’ tab in order to see what we think. We commend it to every Christian who is at least a few years into their Christian walk. But we especially urge every pastor or counselor to read the book again and again. This is the kind of book that can completely transform your ministry and your understanding of the application of Scripture.
The audio disc is graciously provided by the Martyn Lloyd-Jones Recordings Trust. They describe its contents in this way: “The Spiritual Depression sermons are featured in a book as well as on this MP3 disc, but there are differences between the two! The book Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure was published in 1965 and contains 21 sermons, 7 of which do not appear on this disc. In particular, there are no audio recordings available on the 2nd and 3rd sermons in the series: ‘The True Foundation’ and ‘Men as Trees Walking’. However, the 24 audio recordings on this disc include ten sermons that are not covered in this book (emphasis added). Unfortunately, this has led to a clash in reference numbers. Sermons 13-21 do not match chapters 13-21 in the book.” Also, the recordings are very old, so just a few of them are of less than today’s quality standards.
It should be stated that while written by a former medical doctor the book does not really deal with the medical treatment of depression (and Lloyd-Jones doesn’t claim that). There are certainly rare occasions when the symptoms of depression can be so difficult that medicines should be used to help peel away the surface problems, clearing the way to deal with the deeper issues. There are also other physical causes of depression, as Lloyd-Jones points out in his book, which perhaps at times should be dealt with in a medicinal way. Never, however, should the primacy of the life-giving truths of Scripture be laid aside to take up other methods.”
The study guide focuses mainly on helping the reader to recall what he has read, though it also includes some questions regarding implications and applications. This is not a physical item available for purchase, but a FREE download. Here’s the link to the PDF study guide. Save the file to your computer, and print as many copies as you like for your own use or for your study group.