Psalm 80:3, 7, 19

Please open your Bibles to Psalm 80:1 (2X). You find the Psalms about in the middle of your Bibles. This is a Psalm of Asaph. Asaph lived around the time that David and Solomon were reigning over the united kingdom of Israel. This was a glorious time of victory over all the enemies of God, and during Solomon's reign, it was a time of peace throughout all the land. Then why is there so much despair in this Psalm? Why is it in some places so gloomy, as if the kingdom is almost destroyed? Let me make a suggestion: Was Asaph a prophet? Of course, He was a prophet! God the Holy Spirit was guiding Asaph's hand, so that the psalms that He wrote ended up in the Bible, which we call "The Word of God". It is the Word of God, because "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2Pet 1:21). It means that God the Holy Spirit moved their hands and their mouths. God was directing every word when people spake Divine revelations from God, so that what they wrote during a period of about 1500 years, ended up to be totally in harmony from beginning to end. This is the nature of God: God cannot lie. This is the nature of the Bible, having been written by One Author during those 1500 years. You don't find that at ail in human writings. That is why Asaph prophesied in this Psalm of the bad times that were coming for the OT Congregation as well as for the NT Church. God made Asaph prophesy those future hard times. The text for our sermon today is taken from three verses, Psalm 80:3,7,19, which all three sound almost identical. I will just quote one of them:

Ps 80:19 Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

The title of our sermon today is, "A Plea for Restoration of the Church". That is what this Psalm is all about. It is "A Plea for Restoration of the Church". The church has fallen in pieces, because of man's sin. This psalm is a prayer to God to repair the breeches, and to repair the centrality of the Word of God in the Church. God allowed the Church to fall down; only God can raise us up again.

#1 The Shepherd of Israel (2Pet 1:21. Psalm 80:1-2, Rom 8:32, Eph 1:4)

Ps 80:1 «To the chief Musician upon Shoshannimeduth, A Psalm of Asaph.» Give ear, O

Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest (between) the

cherubim, shine forth.

Ps 80:2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us.

The Psalm opens with an address to the Shepherd of Israel. Who is the Shepherd of Israel? We are drawn like a magnet to the 23^rd Psalm, where God says, "The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want" (2X). When we see all four letters capitalized, we know that "the LORD" stands for "Jehovah". Well, think about this now If Jehovah is my Shepherd, then I will most certainly lack nothing of all that might be of benefit to me. His providence for me, i. e. the work of His hands for me according to the wisest plan of God, is exceeding abundantly above all that we could think or ask for in this life. And if Jehovah is my personal Shepherd, then He loves me. He does not love everybody, as you know, but He loves me! It means that He will watch over me every minute of the day, and He will make sure that nothing will cross my path that could in any way be harmful to me, unless it is according to His plan.

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And if Jehovah is my Shepherd, if the Lord Jesus Christ is my Shepherd, then all my sins have been forgiven, and what more do I want? "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us ail things?" (Rom 8:32). This all is implied in the words, "The LORD is my Shepherd". Now, Psalm 80:1 opens up with, "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel". We beseech Jehovah, the Shepherd of Israel, to listen to our prayer. It means that every individual of Israel could now acknowledge, "The LORD is my Shepherd". Was this true of the nation of Israel, the physical descendants of Jacob? No! At any time in the history of the nation of Israel after they came out of Egypt, most of the people in that nation remained unsaved. No! The Israel that God has in view is the Israel of God, which consists of all the saints of the OT and the NT periods of time throughout the world. But God's dealings with the OT nation of Israel were types and pictures of how God would deal with the NT church. Therefore, in Psalm 80 the focus is first on the OT nation of Israel. We read in verse 1, "Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock". This is a surprising statement out of the mouth of Asaph, who prophesied at the time of David and Solomon, who were of the tribe of Judah. Joseph was the 11^th son of Jacob, and as you know, Joseph was his favorite son because he was the son of Rachel, whom Jacob loved more than any of his other wives. To lead Joseph like a flock means to lead all Joseph's descendants like a flock. Indeed God led all the descendants of Joseph out of Egypt but God led all the other 12 tribes out of Egypt at the same time. Why are they not mentioned? Why did God specially mention Joseph? Since Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob, he received 2 tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. The 2^nd son of Rachel before she died was Benjamin. Is it not surprising that Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin are the only tribes mentioned here in Psalm 80? And yet, entire Israel is in view, not just the Northern kingdom of Israel, because Benjamin belongs to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. And so, God applied here the principle of a SYNECDOCHE. I wrote this word on the board, so that the children will know how to spell it. A synecdoche is a figure of speech whereby a fraction is representing the whole. Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin, are representing all of Israel. But why does God only mention three tribes descending from Rachel, the favorite of Jacob? I believe God teaches us here another principle: Does God have favorites? That is indeed true. God is not a respecter of persons, but God does have favorites. The Bible says that God is not a respecter of persons, which means that God saves people from ail walks of life: rich as well as poor, from all ages: old as well as young, from all nations: Jews as well as Gentiles, from all races: blacks as well as whites. When God says that He is not a respecter of persons, it means that God does not practice any racial prejudice. But God does have favorites. His favorites are those who are called "the remnantchosen by grace", chosen out of every race, and nation, and tribe, and people, and tongue. These are His elect, which are mentioned in Eph 1:4, and in hundreds of other places throughout the Bible. In the NT time God gathers His elect in churches throughout the world. In the OT time, God gathered His elect mostly from the OT church, the congregation of Israel. They are the ones in view here. We must

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remember that God's language to individuals is different from His language to the OT church or to the NT church. To individuals God says, "You are mine, I hold you in My hand, you shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck you out of My hand". But to a church God says, "Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent". In other words, God says, "Shape up, or else i will ship you out". Or to say it again in other words: God's favor rests upon those churches and congregations that remain faithful to the Word of God. Thus, God's favor on churches is conditional. And even though we realize that God's grace is responsible for the obedience of the people, God acts as if we are responsible. We must keep this in mind when we look now at the following verses in Psalm 80, where we read,

· Turn Us Again, O God (Psalm 80:3-7, Num 6:24-26)

Ps 80:3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Ps 80:4 O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

Ps 80:5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.

Ps 80:6 Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.

Ps 80:7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

"Turn us again". What does this mean? It means, we are beseeching God to bestow His favor on the church as He has done in the past. For example, when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, even the unsaved heathen could see God's protecting hand on Israel. When God brought the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, even the unsaved Canaanites could see that God favored Israel. When God put David on the throne of Israel, even the unsaved Philistines could see that the Lord favored David, and thus the Cherethites, a Philistine tribe, became his bodyguard. When the Lord Jesus Christ went back to heaven and the Holy Spirit was poured out, even the unsaved rulers of the Roman Empire could see that the church grew by leaps and bounds and was unstoppable. When the Reformation started about 500 years ago, it lit an entire continent on fire, and in those countries where the Bible ruled another Roman Empire was kicked out. Ail these are examples of God's favor bestowed on the people of the church. Not that they deserved those favors, but God turned the hearts of the people, their zeal for God and for His people made them very bold, and God caused His face to shine on the church. What does it mean for God to "cause His face to shine"? Do you remember the Doxology from Num 6:24-26? "The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace". And when the Lord gives us peace it means peace with God, which means that He has saved us. That is why the 2^nd half of verses 3 and 7 says, "cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved". If you compare verses 3 and 7 you see that verse 7 expresses the same theme a little stronger. Verse 3 says, "O God", and verse 7 says, "O God of hosts", which means, "O God of the armies". This is not referring to the armies of Israel, but to the armies of heaven.

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We are beseeching God to come to our aid in reviving the church, and to come with all His might and with all the armies of heaven, to turn the hearts of people around, so that the church may again flourish as it has done in the past. This is our plea for the church. Has the church fallen in disrepair these days? Absolutely yes! The Bible is no longer the authority in most churches. In most churches women are in authority. In most churches, God may no longer be sovereign. In most churches God may only be loving, and nothing else. In most churches, God is the servant of mankind. In most churches people are allowed to divorce one another and to divorce from God, but God is not allowed to divorce them. In most churches God is a like a loving grandfather who nervously watches how everything unfolds on this earth and who is powerless to do anything about it. This all started when the churches began to doubt the authority of the Word of God, like Eve did in the Garden of Eden. Let us learn from this Psalm, which, in the following verses, has been written in the form of a parable.

#2. A Vine (Psalm 80:8-11, Luke 16:31)

Ps 80:8 U Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen (Can), and planted it.

Ps 80:9 Thou preparedst room before it. and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.

Ps 80:10-11 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea (Med. S.) and her branches unto the river (Euph. R.)

Here we are taking a step back in history to the glory days when God brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. The nation of Israel is compared here to a vine, which God removed from an unkindly soil in Egypt, to the happier regions of the land of Canaan. Why a vine? God uses the metaphor of a vine, because a vine is a plant that is weak and lowly, needing support when it is supported, it may become wild and overtaking other plants by its excessive growth. And when it is restrained by the pruning knife and is fertilized, it is capable of producing much fruit, most valuable fruit. But if It is barren it is the most unprofitable of all plants or trees and only fit for the fire. In all these aspects the vine is a fitting description of the church, both the OT church as well as the NT church. Here God compares the nation of Israel as a vine that is brought out of Egypt. This was a time of glory for the congregation of Israel under Moses and under Joshua. This was a time when Almighty God made His presence known in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. This was a time when God miraculously fed the entire nation every morning with manna from heaven, and He gave them water to drink out of a Rock. This was a time when in every battle God gave them victory over their enemies This was a time when their clothes did not wear out, and their shoes did not wear out. This was a time when God was present within the camp of Israel as shown by the Ark of the Covenant and by many signs and wonders which He wrought in their midst. Yes, these were the glory days. If there was ever a time when people could receive faith by seeing miracles, this was the time. But God's program of salvation is not through outward signs and wonders. "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead". (Luke 16:31).

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Salvation comes by faith, and not by sight. God demonstrated this in Heb 3, declaring that most of the children of Israel who came out of Egypt remained in unbelief, which means that they remained unsaved and will stand on the Last Day before God's Judgment throne. God demonstrated this in Isa 5 where God used the parable of a vineyard representing the House of Israel, and where God compares the vine with the house of Judah. God planted the choicest vine, but it did not bear good fruit. God used the vine in parables given in Ezek 15, 17, 19. The Lord Jesus used a vine in a parable in John 15, and He used a vineyard in a parable given in Matt 21. And thus, the metaphor of a vine is used in the Bible often to represent both the OT church as well as the NT church. But in all these parables, except the one in John 15, the vine is a degenerate vine. God planted the choicest vine, but left to its own nature the vine degenerates into a worthless, fruitless weed, that is only good to kindle a fire. That was the condition of the nation of Israel and that is also the condition of people in the NT church. This is inherent in human nature. We all came into the world with such a nature that we will gravitate to sin whenever God's loosens the grip of His hand. And thus the vine

· Was Broken Down (Psalm 80:12-14)

Ps 80:12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do

pluck her?

Ps 80:13-14 The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;

Who broke it down? God did. Do not claim that Satan has destroyed the church. Satan can only do those things that God allows him to do. Even though he is wicked to the core, Satan still remains God's servant because, if he wants to do what God did not plan, God would stop him at the beginning of his evil work. And since the evil works of Satan are all within the plan of God, and since Satan is a spirit who must carry out his evil works through human bodies, it stands to reason that all the unsaved are also firmly under God's control. Therefore, ail the unsaved are servants of God in the sense that they can only do what God has planned in the beginning. For example, all acts of terrorism like that on 9/11/01, were an integral part of God's plan from before the foundation of the world. God is not surprised by any actions of man, because God cannot learn new things from the actions of man. God is perfect in all His knowledge of all that has come to pass and all that will come to pass. And thus, when we read in verse 12 that God has broken down the hedges He had built around His choicest vine, it means that God has withdrawn His hand of protection from His church and God allowed her to degenerate into a fruitless vine. Why did God break down her hedges, or her walls? We do not know. But because God showed us this picture, we have been warned that this could happen to us as well. God described first how He lifted up this vine and bestowed on her much honor, but because she degenerated to a fruitless vine, God allowed her to be plundered by all who pass by. God allowed her to be plundered by the boar out of the wood. The boar is a male wild swine. It is untamed and

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lives in the wilderness of this world. Who does that boar represent? Historically this boar may represent the nations of Assyria and Babylon who wasted the northern kingdom of Israel and subsequently the Southern kingdom of Judah at God's command. But let not the Christian church imagine that these things relate only to her eldest sister, the OT congregation. Out of all the incidents and events that occurred, during the 1400 years that God was writing the OT, He chose those events that would be of use to the NT church. We must take these warnings seriously, and use them in the doctrines that we develop from the Bible. We have received greater mercies and more excellent gifts than the OT congregation. Therefore, we should be excited in greater thankfulness and more excellent virtues than they of the OT congregation. If the NT church sins in the same example of unbelief as the OT church has done, unbelief in certain portions of the Word of God, then we should expect to see the favor of heaven withdrawn, and the secular government, instead of supporting the church, shall be used by God to crush the church. Then her discipline will disappear, her unity will be broken, her doctrines will be perverted, her worship will be deformed, her practice will be corrupted, her possessions will be alienated, and her revenues will be seized. Until, at the command of God, some antichristian power will be loosed to execute upon the church the vengeance of God for her crimes. That is why we must pray for the church, because we can see that the NT church is treading in the footsteps of her eldest sister, the OT congregation. Therefore, it comes at no surprise that we see in verse 14 of this Psalm the hinge, turning from the OT time to the NT time. The saints are beseeching God to "look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine". God did that. God sent His only begotten Son. The Lord Jesus Christ came down and visited this vine, the nation of Israel. He visited:

#3. The Vineyard (Psalm 80:15. Matt 2.1:43)

Ps 80:15 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and (~~the~~ ~~bra~~nch) (the Son) whom thou

madest strong for thyself.

God has lifted a vine out of Egypt, and planted it in the land of Canaan, The Lord Jesus visited the vineyard that He has planted. Then He told a parable of the vineyard to the Pharisees of His days and Jesus concluded this parable in Matt 21:43, "Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. How did God implement this decision? After Pentecost in the 1^st century AD, God lifted His elect out of the Jews and out of the Gentiles and planted them in various churches throughout the Roman Empire. This is the NT vineyard, which God's right hand has planted. Christ is the Vine and we are the branches. Psalm 80:15 speaks about the Lord Jesus Christ. In your KJ Bible, you read in this verse "the branch". But the Hebrew word is not a branch at all. The Hebrew word is "Ben", which always means "Son". The 2^nd half of verse 15 should read, "And the Son whom Thou madest strong for Thyself. It is beyond any doubt that this verse speaks about the Son of God whom God made strong for His own

purposes. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ need to be made strong? God the Son took up residence in

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the body of the Son of Mary, who became Jesus, the Carpenter of Nazareth. He was fully God and fully man. As God, He did not need to be made strong, but as man, He needed to be made very strong, because He was our Redeemer, our Substitute before the Judgment Throne of God. There He had to bear the guilt of the sins of many. There He was condemned to suffer the equivalent of the penalty that was due to our sins. That penalty is an eternity in Hell. That is why the Lord Jesus had to suffer the equivalent of an eternity in Hell. No mere human being could endure such great suffering without being consumed in the process. But the Lord Jesus could endure that, because He was God. And this is how the righteousness of God was satisfied: the penalty for our sins was fully paid. This penalty was not paid for every human being on this earth, because not every human being is going to enter the courts of heaven. Only a Remnant will be saved. And therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ did not suffer the equivalent of an eternity in Hell for those who themselves go to Hell. Christ paid on the cross for the sins of all those whom the Father has given Him, the elect. The elect are those whom the Father has chosen to salvation before the foundation of the world. And because Christ paid for the sins of the elect, they will believe this Gospel when they hear it. God the Holy Spirit will make them "Born Again", to make sure that they believe it. Turning back to Psalm 80. we notice that both verses 15 and 17 speak about the Lord Jesus Christ. How is it then that verse 16 is wedged within this context as referring to the vineyard being burned with fire? Is that so? Was the vineyard

· Burned With Fire? (Psalm 80:16-17, Isa 53:8)

Ps 80:16 (#Js) burned with fire, (£4$) cut down. They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

We can see that the words "It is" are printed in italics. It means that the KJ translators have inserted these words as a suggestion. We can just as well insert the words "He is", so that this verse also fits the context. The 1^st half of verse 16 will then read as follows: "He is burned with fire, He is cut down". This refers to the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. While He hung on the cross, He suffered the equivalent of the burning fires of Hell. Was He also cut down? We read in Isa 53:8. "he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken". Does this refer to the physical death of the Lord Jesus Christ? Not likely. Before He died the Lord Jesus said, "it is finished" and from that moment on, He was no longer struck for any transgressions. This was the end of His suffering for our sins. Then He said, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit", and then He died. But He did not die while He was paying for our sins. His body went into the grave and His Spirit went into heaven to be in fellowship with the Father. But when we look at Psalm 80:16 we see a sudden shift in focus to others. "They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance". Who are they? They are the enemies of Christ. At the cross the Lord Jesus Christ was judged, and we were judged also in Him, because the Bible says, "we were crucified with Christ". All the elect were judged with Christ and in Christ. But all the reprobate were also judged for their sins. The fact that Christ passed them by, the fact that their sins were absent from Christ's atonement, means that they also were judged, but the

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sentence will be handed out in the future, on the Last Day. Paraphrased we can say, "They, the enemies of Christ, shall perish, they shall suffer the 2^nd death, at their rebuke from the Lord Jesus Christ at His appearing on the Last Day". And then God repeats the statement made in verse 15,

Ps 80:17, Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the Son of man whom thou madest

strong for thyself.

Lord, let the power of Thy hand rest upon the Son of Man who sits at Thy right hand. Let Him be strong and rebuke the enemy so that the church will come alive again. Lord:

#4. Quicken Us. make us alive! (Psalm 80:18, Matt 24:9-12,18:17)

Ps 80:18, So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

Lord, we want to serve You. Give us zeal and fervor to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Make us on fire for Christ and we will not go back to our old sins. We will call upon Your name and spread Your Word throughout all the world. If it is possible in any way, let the church come alive again. We realize that it is not always possible to expect a revival of the church. If the end of time draws close, we will see a general decline in people's interest in spiritual things. The Lord Jesus spoke about this in:

Mat 24:9-10 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

They shall try to silence the Gospel that goes out of churches that are still faithful to the Word of God. This is how they shall afflict us and effectively kill us: They shall muzzle the faithful churches because we still speak about homosexuals, instead of gays. We still abhor fornication, instead of calling it a relationship. We still identify sexual perversion, instead of calling it love. We want to live separate from the world, whereas the world calls it intolerance. They shall accuse us of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, when we do not tolerate additional messages from God, such as speaking in tongues. They shall accuse us of spreading hate literature when we distribute tracts with verses from the Bible. That is why we shall be hated of ail nations, because we adhere to the words of Scripture. Then many shall be offended and shall hate us and try to hurt us through legal maneuvers. And all these things are the fruits of false prophets, who shall deceive many. They shall afflict us in various ways, but remember that afflictions are necessary for our growth, and afflictions work for glory. But who brings on the afflictions? "Woe unto the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" (Matt 18:7) It is necessary that afflictions come, and as we are approaching the end of time, afflictions will become more intense and more numerous, but remember what the Lord Jesus said: "because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Because iniquity against God shall be multiplied, the love of many for God shall grow cold.

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Some of us cannot imagine that it could get worse. Churches go apostate one after another, and people continue to attend such churches, not knowing where else to go. Seminaries continue to crank out pastors who are not fit for their job. Homosexuals continue to invade church offices. And so, the plea to quicken us, to revive the church through the Word of God is sincere. This is the only revival that we genuinely can call a revival. It must be through the Word of God, because "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God". Pray that God will bring us such a revival in this church,

And We Shall Be Saved (Psalm 80:3,7.19. Rev 19:7-9)

Pray that we shall be saved from the avalanche of apostacy sweeping the world. Pray that our church shall hold strong in the storm of lies and deception. If we in this church shall strengthen our faith through a more intense study of the Word of God, then we shall know that this came to pass because God caused His face to shine upon us. You remember that the beginning of this Psalm starts out softly and gently. As we progressed through this Psalm the tone became more desperate, and the pleading became more vigorous. Toward the end, it has become a cry for rescue from our Redeemer, and instead of a worldwide revival, we are willing to settle for a local revival. It is a plea for the restoration of our church, a plea for God to turn us again as in the days of the Reformation. Even though we have a very small congregation, we have already experienced two schisms in the past 9 years. This is incredible and it tells us what a turbulent time we live in. This tells us that we are in great need of prayers for our church. Our prayer begins in verse 3 of this Psalm,

Ps 80:3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

In verse 7, our prayer intensifies. There we read,

Ps 80:7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

In verse 19 our prayer is most intense when we pray,

Ps 80:19 Turn us again, O Jehovah Elohim of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

This address, "Jehovah Elohim of hosts" occurs only 20 times in the entire Bible. Lord, cause Thy face to shine upon us, and we shall be saved. We shall be saved because God wants it. We do not lose sight of our goal. Our focus is to meet Jesus in the air on the Last Day. What a glorious day that will be. It will be a day of fellowship with Christ. It will be a day when the marriage feast may begin.

Re 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

Re 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Re 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

AMEN. Let us turn to the Lord in prayer.

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