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Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

How Jesus Overcame Depression

Well, today we're going to be looking at a Psalm, Psalm 80.

And I wanted to talk about this last week, but I had chosen to talk about Psalm 81.

So I invite you to open your Bibles to Psalm 80.

And we've been studying Psalms that have some connection with the exodus of Scripture.

So every time we see an exit sign at a restaurant or in a building, we'll know what to talk about.

And I've started many Bible studies just by talking about the exit sign in a building and saying, you know why that sign is there?

And of course, they look at me kind of weird, but this ubiquitous story throughout the scriptures of how God got his people out of bondage, out of slavery, out of captivity, is basically you got to understand this story or you're not going to understand the Bible.

And there are many Psalms that go along with it.

Of course, the Psalms were in a song book.

And how many sections were in the song book?

We're going to have to bring you into leadership.

So 5, and what are those songs to go along with?

The 5 books of the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

So it's kind of like the playlist of the Bible.

And so these songs go along with the stories and There are a number of Psalms that we've looked at Psalm 105, Psalm 106 Psalm 77, Psalm 78, Psalm 81 and now Psalm 80 that have allusions to the Exodus.

And I've entitled our message today, How Jesus Overcame Depression.

Because this Psalm, Psalm 80, actually ends up being a messianic psalm, which means it points toward the Messiah or the Anointed 1, that being Jesus.

And that will reveal itself as we study today.

So let's bow our heads and ask God to bless us as we open His Word.

Father in Heaven, we're thankful today that we can open Your Word.

We don't take that lightly, and we ask that Your Holy Spirit would be here with us as we study today.

It has 2 word pictures that really are directly related not only to Israel but to Christ Himself.

And the first 1 is of the Shepherd of Israel.

Give here, O shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth.

So it starts out with this picture of a shepherd of Israel.

And in the New Testament Jesus says, I am the Good Shepherd.

So both in the Old and New Testament we have this picture of how God led Joseph to Egypt and then in the Old Testament He led him out of Egypt, his descendants.

And the descendants are mentioned right there in verse 2.

You who dwell between the cherubim shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.

And of course, Ephraim and Manasseh were the sons of Joseph, and Benjamin was the brother of Joseph.

And so it's like saying, you know, you led them into Egypt, and you will lead the descendants out of Egypt.

And they actually, Ephraim, Benjamin, Manasseh, were at the very back of the camp and their tents were at the back of the sanctuary and they literally were led out of Egypt and then they established themselves as tribes there in Jerusalem.

Then we have another metaphor or another word picture here of the vine dresser, the vine and the vine dresser.

You brought, you have brought a vine out of Egypt.

You have cast out the nations and planted it." This is not just like he snipped off a vine with some clippers and took it with him.

No, this is the nation of Israel that was planted in Egypt for a time, but then to be transplanted back into the land of promise.

You prune your vine and you transplant it.

In the New Testament, of course, the same picture is given of Christ as the vine dresser in John chapter 15.

The vineyard which your right hand has planted, the branch that you made strong for yourself.

And so he brought his vine out of Egypt, he planted it In Canaan, it flourished as a result.

So this is the picture we see in Psalm 80 of the shepherd and of the vinedresser.

How did the sheep do and how did the vine do?

How many of you have ever taken care of sheep?

And how many of you know that they become wayward?

I was over in Bracknell, England 1 day, and I was watching some sheep right near Newbold College.

And the first little sheep, I don't know if you call them that, but 1 of the sheep stuck his nose through a little hedge and it had thorns on the hedge and stuff but he just went through it, it hurt him, he was kind of squealing.

But he went through and lost a bunch of hair in the process.

Anyway, so lost a bunch of hair in the process.

And the second sheep went right through the same place.

And the next 1 went through and pretty soon the entire little Flock of sheep was out in the street in the middle of the street and they all like sheep had gone astray They had turned unto their own way and the shepherd came and tried to corral them back in it was quite a job because they were all over the place.

And as they go astray, it's not that He does not want to lead them and guide them, but they are following their own path and their own way.

And it says in verse 4, O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?

You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them in tears to drink in a great measure.

You made a strife to our neighbors and our enemies laugh among themselves.

They went off the plantation, you might say, and they begin to cry, and they were rebuked, it says in verse 16 as well, look at verse 16, by his countenance.

They Perish at the rebuke of your countenance.

So the sheep had gone astray, but what about the vine?

How many of you have ever had plants that you meant to take care of, but you didn't and they became unruly.

This was a perennial problem in our home because camp meeting was right at the time when the garden was growing the most rapidly.

And we'd come home and it was just a huge mess.

Israel became unruly and as a result of their unruliness he removes the protective hedges that says there in verse 12, you who have broken down her hedges, and then as a result of that, strangers come in and plucked its fruit and were taking advantage of this.

Ultimately what happened to it, verse 13, a boar out of the woods uproots it, and the wild beast of the field devours it.

So here you have this unruly vine, And it goes from bad to worse, and finally, verse 16, it is burned with fire, and it is cut down.

So, the sheep become wayward, the vine becomes unruly.

And have you ever in your life become unruly and wayward?

So as a result then, what does Israel do?

Look at this, it's 1 of the most amazing parts of this Psalm.

They cry, the verse 1, to Him who dwells between the cherubim.

In other words, where is it that God dwells?

The Most High, in the most holy place of the temple between those 2 angels, between the cherubim.

And they cry to him, and it's a three-fold cry.

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How Jesus Overcame Depression

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