The Beauty of Redemption

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Promontory Community Church exists to make disciples of Jesus who know, live, and share the gospel for the glory of God.

Well, good morning everyone, it is good to be here. Kids, welcome, you are joining us today and I have a very special offer. If you've been in some of our family services before, you will know, but kids, if any of you are doing coloring pages, or if you take some paper and you draw something, maybe that we're gonna talk about here during the sermon, you can bring it to Pastor Rich after the service, and he has got some prizes for you. So feel free, you guys can draw and bring something to Pastor Rich, and you guys will get a prize afterwards.

We are continuing on with our series here called Ancient Beauty in a Modern World, looking at how the Bible answers some of the questions we have in modern life, and this morning we're actually gonna be dealing with a bit of a heavy subject. We're gonna talk about depression.

I know for a family service, maybe that seems like an odd choice, but we planned it that way on purpose. Whenever they've done studies in terms of depression, especially around mental health and anxiety, the age demographic that always is the highest is whatever the youngest demographic is. One study found that in 12 to 17 year olds, nearly 20% of adolescents dealt with some form of clinical depression. In terms of adults, it was somewhere around 10%. It is increasingly common. And so this morning we want to deal with this subject because not only does the Bible address it, but actually it has one of the most beautiful pieces of hope for all who are struggling. We have the hope of redemption in front of us.

Now, let's just be really clear — the Bible never uses the word depression, that is a modern clinical word that we have used, and so oftentimes we look to previous generations and how they dealt with that. Often the advice that was heard was: keep a stiff upper lip, bury it down deep, ignore it. By and large we have come to the place where we're saying that might not be the right approach. That's probably not a great way to deal with a lot of mental health struggles. And so sometimes we equate the Bible being old with previous generations thinking that way, and we say the Bible doesn't really have anything to say about this. Today we treat depression with things like therapy and even medication, and so we say the Bible doesn't talk about those things, clearly the Bible has nothing to say. And yet over and over we're gonna find the Bible has quite a lot to say on this subject. While it may never use a word like depression, certainly it addresses it in many ways.

However, I think there are often misconceptions that come up, especially in the church. Probably the biggest misconception that I hear around depression goes something like this: if you were a real Christian, you wouldn't struggle. Usually the rationale goes something along the lines of, well, Jesus promises that there is joy for his followers, and so if you're not experiencing joy, clearly you're not really a Christian — a real Christian wouldn't struggle. I don't know how this idea has persisted, but it's not true. Sometimes this idea that you shouldn't go see a counselor because that means you're not believing enough, that you shouldn't take medication, that you should just trust God — that's not what the Bible teaches. I'm not a doctor, I'm not gonna tell you if you should take medication or not. All I can say is it's not because you didn't believe enough. The idea that if you believe enough you'll be happy is not what the Bible teaches. It's not true in scripture and it's never been true in practice.

In fact, all throughout the Bible we meet people in some of the most desperate situations. You think of Job suffering and being called righteous. You think about Elijah the prophet. If you remember the story, Elijah comes down off Mount Carmel having this huge success in his ministry — he defeats the prophets of Baal — he comes down and what happens? He gets so depressed, he just prays, "God, would you please let me die." And what does God respond to him? Does he say, "Elijah, you're just not believing enough"? No. God actually says to Elijah, eat something, drink some water and go to bed. That's God's answer to him, because that's what he needed. So often we just ignore some of these things if they don't fit our pattern.

In fact, even in church history, one of the most famous preachers in the English language was a man by the name of Charles Spurgeon, who suffered deeply with depression for the majority of his life. In one sermon he writes:

The mind can descend far lower than the body, for in the mind are bottomless pits. The flesh can only bear a certain number of wounds before it's no more, but the soul can bleed in 10,000 ways and die over and over again each hour.

That's written by a man who understands that. In another sermon he writes:

Terrors are turned upon me, they pursue my soul as the wind. I am quite out of order addressing you tonight. I feel extremely unwell, excessively heavy and exceedingly depressed.

He was very well acquainted with what this looks like. The people of God have always known what it feels like to suffer under the weight of a depressed spirit — not simply to feel sadness, but almost to stop feeling anything entirely. To feel that deadening weight in your own heart that threatens to suffocate, where it feels like there might be joy out there, but it certainly isn't something you get to participate in. You can watch others but never enjoy it yourself. It feels like a fog that surrounds you, that simply follows you and there is no escape.

Hear me, I know all too well how haunting, how heavy it feels. Some of you know I take Mondays as my day off, and that's mostly because I can't work on Monday. I struggle on Mondays. They are brutally difficult — whether it's things running through my head of things I said or should have said or didn't say, or whether it's just inexplicable. So often my own experience mirrors those who've come before.

But hear me, please do not swing the pendulum too far the other way. On the one hand, we cannot say that if you are a believer, you will never struggle. But you also can't swing it so far and say that if you are a believer, there's no real help. Because actually the Bible has so much hope in it. For those who are suffering, for those who are going through that dark valley of the soul, the Bible has so much hope for us. And so this morning what I want us to see is the beauty of what the gospel holds out in front of us. The beauty of the gospel is that Jesus says it is for the poor in spirit.

This morning we're gonna open our Bibles to a prayer. If you have a Bible with you, please find your way to Psalm 102. This is a psalm, but it is also a prayer that is given for when we are afflicted. It's our tradition to stand as we read God's word. If you're able to, would you stand with me?

Psalm 102. This is God's word.

A prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.

Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you! Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call.

For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh. I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.

All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink, because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down. My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.

But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations. You will arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come. For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust. Nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory. For the Lord builds up Zion; he appears in his glory; he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.

Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord: that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem his praise, when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days. "O my God," I say, "take me not away in the midst of my days— you whose years endure throughout all generations!"

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.

Thus far the reading of God's word, you may be seated.

This psalm begins right at the very beginning by telling us that this is a prayer — a prayer for someone who is afflicted and is faint. They are exhausted and tired. Noticeably, we're not told who wrote this psalm, or even really necessarily all the details of when. I think that's intentional because this is meant to be a prayer for all of God's people, for all time. This is not just restricted to one person and their personal experience, it's for all of us. This is meant to be the prayer we pray as we are suffering.

While the Bible doesn't use a word necessarily like depression, I'm gonna argue this is a perfect description of it. This psalm is written to be a prayer to recite, to pray when you are depressed. And so this morning what I want us to do is not simply understand what is written, but to realize the incredible, beautiful hope that we have in these lowest of moments. God does not actually leave us alone, but meets us with the hope of redemption. There is hope in the midst of depression and the Bible has these beautiful answers for us.

This is a psalm that teaches us we can be praying in our sorrow, that we can remember God's eternal promises, and to remind us that redemption is still coming. So let's walk through this psalm and see how we respond.

The first thing we're called to is simply to be praying in our sorrow. Look back at verse one. The writer says, "Hear my prayer, O Lord, let my cry come to you." If you're familiar with the book of Psalms, you will have heard these words before — they're often used whenever someone is feeling distant from God, feeling like God is just nowhere near. They can't feel his presence, and they are crying out. Even right away we're reminded that when it feels like that, our response is not to run away or ignore or say God clearly isn't real, but actually to lean further into God. We're not called to come to God and say we're a perfect person with everything together, but to cry out, "God, I need your help."

In verse 2, he continues: "Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress, incline your ear to me, answer me speedily in the day when I call." Over and over, he's just pleading with God to hear him, to answer him. I'm gonna argue every person will feel that way at one point or another — like nothing is happening, like God isn't listening, like nothing is there. I think the Holy Spirit inspiring these words to be written is intended to show us that those moments may come, but our response is to cry out to God again and again. We are called to come to God in prayer.

The psalmist then begins to describe all of his plight. In verse 3 he says, "My days pass away like smoke, my bones burn like a furnace, my heart is struck down like grass and is withered. I forget to eat my bread." I'm gonna argue this is probably the perfect description of what depression feels like. My whole day was just a haze — it just went by. My whole body hurts all over, just for no particular reason. My bones themselves are hurting. It feels like my heart is just dead inside my chest, and I forgot to eat anything. This is exactly what the psalmist is going through, and he brings this before God in almost brutal honesty. "God, here are all the problems that are going on."

He keeps going. In verse 5 he says, "Because of my loud groaning, my bones cling to my flesh. I'm like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places. I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. I eat ashes like bread, mingle tears with my drink." He says: I cannot sleep, I cannot even go talk to anyone because people are making fun of me, mocking me, using my name as a curse. All I do all day is just wallow in my ashes, crying into my water. The psalmist is pouring all of this out before God.

And the Holy Spirit inspiring this to be written is the invitation for us to pray this way as well — to come before God. He says, "Because of your indignation and anger, you have taken me up and thrown me down. My days are like an evening shadow, I wither away like grass" — like the last shadow before it gets consumed by the darkness. He says, "That's what my life feels like because, God, you have taken me up and slammed me back down."

Here's where you might say, hold on — is he blaming God for what's going on? Well in one sense he's not actually blaming God. He's recognizing that God, you're the one in control. God, you are sovereign over all things and even this is still part of what you can do. The psalmist is pouring out, "God, this is how I am feeling." And yet the question we should ask is: is God angry? Should we view any trial, depression, or challenge we go through as God being angry at us?

From this passage, and especially in light of Jesus, we're gonna see the answer is no. For everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ — that is, who has repented of their sins and placed their faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus — the answer to the question "Is God mad at me?" is no. What Jesus did on the cross was take the entire wrath of God against our sins, and he bore it on the cross. There is no anger, there is no resentment left that God has towards any who would trust in him. We cannot say when we are facing trials that it's because God is so angry at us. For all who trust in Jesus, we can be sure of his love. God may discipline us as a loving parent, he may stretch us and even refine us, but not out of his anger — so that we would know him, trust him, and glorify him more. God actually measures every ounce of suffering we face, and it will only go as far as his good purposes allow.

This is the whole reason why the psalmist is praying to God — he knows that he can come before God, that he can trust in his promises. But we need to hear that invitation. We can place our trust in Jesus. We can actually come before God because he cares for us, because in Jesus he actually knows what we experience. Hebrews 4 tells us:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus actually knows what it feels like to struggle, to go through even deep sorrow of the soul. Jesus was not immune to this, he did not have an easy path through life. Isaiah 53 describes Jesus this way:

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Why should you pray in the midst of your sorrow and despair? Because Jesus knows what it feels like. He actually understands you when you cry out and say, "This is what it feels like" — Jesus knows what it is like. Jesus not only went through physical pain on the cross, but the emotional pressure and stress that was on him was far more than we can imagine. Luke writes that before he goes to the cross, he was praying:

Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

In his agony he was so beyond what he himself could bear that he needed angels out of heaven just to support him in that moment. Whether or not he was actually sweating blood or simply sweating so profusely, Jesus was in agony. He was so overwhelmed that he had to pour himself out before God. So whether we're following the example of our Savior or the pattern set for us by the psalmist, we need to recognize that the deeper our sorrow, the more we need to pour ourselves out in prayer before God.

I know when you are actually depressed, that feels like something you just cannot do. You think, "I don't have the strength, I don't have the focus of my mind to even form thoughts, and now you're telling me I need to be praying more." Hear me, I have good news for you, because the Bible tells us God will even help us in that. For all who trust in Jesus Christ, Romans 8 tells us:

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

The promise of God is that for all who trust in Jesus, the Holy Spirit himself will pray on our behalf when we are so weak that we cannot even come to God in prayer. I know in my weakest moments I can hardly do it, and yet the Holy Spirit will pray for me. The beautiful hope that the Bible has is not only that we can approach God, but that he will strengthen us, that the Holy Spirit will pray on our behalf, and that he surrounds us with others.

Hear me, we need one another. If you're going through this, you need to tell other people. This is why the church is so vital to our lives. Listen to 2 Corinthians, where Paul says:

For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn — fighting without and fear within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.

I love that description: "God who comforts the downcast." And how did he comfort them? By sending them Titus. Titus showed up to support Paul and the others who were with him. Titus came and strengthened them, encouraged them, and reminded them of God's promises. We need to be Titus for one another. We need to look around at those in this church, those around us that God has placed, and be that comfort for one another — because we're also gonna need Titus in our own life. The very blessing of God through one another is how God calls us to function as a church. Seek to be Titus, because we'll also need Titus.

Pray in your sorrow, because in Jesus we know God loves us — because he sends his Holy Spirit to pray for us and he surrounds us with believers who support and encourage and comfort us. Do not go through this in silence or alone. Pray in your sorrow.

But even that is not the end of the comfort that God has. Look back at our passage now, verse 12, and here the psalm seems to take almost a drastic turn. We read: "But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations." After spending several verses describing all of his sorrow, this seems like a bit of a left turn. But if you're familiar with the Psalms, you'll know this is a pattern that's often used — after pouring out their heart before God, the psalmist will remind himself of something of God's majesty, of his goodness.

Here we're called to remember God's eternal promises. The psalmist focuses on the fact that God is eternal, that he is enthroned forever, and this becomes his reason for hope throughout the rest of the psalm. If God is eternal, it means he has not forgotten his promises. If God is eternal, it means he has not forgotten or changed his mind. He is the same yesterday as he is today.

In fact, this is his reason for hope. He says in verse 13: "You will arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her, the appointed time has come, for your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust. Nations will fear the name of the Lord and the kings of the earth will fear your glory. For the Lord builds up Zion; he appears in his glory." We're not exactly sure when this is written, but certainly it would fit within the time of the exile — when Jerusalem was literally destroyed. And yet God had promised them that he would rebuild, that he would bring them back into the land, and so the psalmist is saying, "In my sorrow I can still cling to the promise that God has made, that he will be faithful." Why? Because God is eternal. He doesn't forget his promises, he doesn't change his mind. The unchanging, eternal God is the reason I can cling to his promises.

This is where we can place our hope in our darkest moments as well, because God is eternal, I can trust his promises today. Just listen to how many of the promises of the Bible depend on this fact. Look at the next psalm, Psalm 103:

As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field, for the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children.

Why can we place our trust in the unchanging steadfast love of God? Because God is from everlasting to everlasting. God is not like us — he is eternal, he does not grow tired or change. Listen to Malachi 3:

For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Malachi reminds them: do you know the reason why we're still here? Because God doesn't change his mind. God has determined to be merciful — that's what we can depend on. Or listen to James in the New Testament:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Why can we depend on God providing? Because he does not change. So often in our darkest moments, we start thinking to ourselves, "But yesterday was better. Before — it was so good earlier on in my life, back then, but now things have changed." And we need to realize God has not. Our emotions can sway all over the place, but God and his promises do not change. He is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, and so every one of the promises that we have of God are true today as they were yesterday. The promise of God's love, of his mercy, of his provision, of his forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ — it is not the promise we got yesterday, it is the promise we hold to today.

Even in our darkest moments, God is eternal. He does not change. This is why the psalmist can say in verse 17, "He regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer." Here's the answer to the question he began with: will God hear my prayer? Yes, because God doesn't change. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

This is why he says in verse 18, "Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord." That, by the way, is us. We are the generation yet to be created. It is our call to praise God. We can trust his promises. We can praise God for what he has done in the past because that is who God is today.

Verse 19 says that "he looked down from his holy height; from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die." He might have the literal chains of the exile in mind, but this is what God does for us in Jesus Christ. Out of heaven, God looked down and saw us prisoners in our own sin, suffering under the weight of a sinful world, condemned to die. That was us, and God sent Jesus Christ to stand in our place, to receive that death so that any who would trust in him would live — so that we would have a reason to rejoice even in our darkest of moments. That is the God who meets us today. The same promise of forgiveness of sins is for all who would believe, and because God is eternal, we have a reason to rejoice.

Verse 21 says, "That they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord and in Jerusalem his praise, when peoples gather together and kingdoms to worship the Lord." Praise and rejoicing is the result. When we remember his eternal promises, we can worship our God.

And hear me — that's where I feel like the psalm should have ended. Wouldn't that be such a great ending? We started so low in the depths and we remembered the heights of the amazing promises of God. And then the psalmist keeps going:

He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days. "O my God," I say, "take me not away in the midst of my days — you whose years endure throughout all generations."

Right as things were crescendoing into this amazing ending and the glory of God, it's as if the psalmist is just pulled back down into despair. We think, what just happened? It was looking so good. In one sense, I think this is one of the reasons I love this psalm so much — because that's exactly what it feels like to go through depression. You get these moments of clarity where you think, "Yeah, finally I can breathe again, I've got my head above water," only for it to sink down once more. Things don't go in a straight line. It's not that we get one moment of revelation and then we're good for the rest of our lives — no, it's a struggle. Because we still live in a sinful world, we still suffer under the broken, imperfect bodies and minds that we have. If we trust in Jesus, it's not as if we'll never struggle again.

But here is where I think we have our greatest hope: redemption is still coming. Look back at verse 25:

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.

Again, this is based on the fact that God is eternal — more eternal than even the world that we stand on. God is more sure. So when we trust in him, we are secure. But did you notice there's a promise there? He says, "You will change them" — that is, the heavens and the earth. God will one day transform this earth. These verses are quoted exactly, word for word, in Hebrews chapter 1 — you can go look it up afterwards — talking about Jesus. Jesus is the eternal God who created the heavens and the earth, and he is the one who will make all things new.

This is the promise that we have in Jesus Christ — that this is not the end, but rather there is a new heavens and a new earth, where there is no more sin, no more brokenness, and no more pain. Revelation tells us:

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

There is coming a day when all of this shall be made new — sin no more, depression will have lifted. We have this sure, fixed promise: Jesus, the eternal God, will make all things new. I know it's so easy to think to yourself in the midst of your depression, "This will be the case forever," but it is not true. Depression is not eternal — God is, and he will one day remake this world. We may struggle on this side of eternity, but it is not forever.

We have this incredible hope that one day God will raise us to new life. We have a hope for the future, but we also have a hope for today, because God raises the dead. Perhaps the one verse that runs in my mind when I am struggling most comes from 2 Corinthians, where Paul writes:

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

Here is our greatest hope: God raises the dead. Though my heart may die within me, God raises the dead. Though my strength may fail me, God raises the dead. Though it may feel as though there is nothing left to hold on to, God raises the dead.

Brothers and sisters, there is so much we have to hope for in Jesus Christ. The same God who raised Jesus from the dead is the eternal God who hears our prayers and is faithful to his word. No matter how dead you may feel, God raises the dead. Redemption is still coming.

We have an incredible hope that is found in Jesus Christ, and the beauty of the gospel is that it gives us hope in the face of all our trials. We can come before God and pour out our hearts and lives before him, knowing that in Jesus he loves us and cares for us. We can lean on one another, knowing the Holy Spirit is interceding for us. We can trust that God's eternal promises do not change — that though our heart may be all over the map, God is not. We can remember that in Jesus we have a hope in front of us, a hope for our darkest days. God raises the dead.

Let's pray together. Our heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the hope that we have in you. Thank you for the hope that we have in the resurrection, Lord — that one day all of the pain, the sorrow, the strife, the sin of this life will be taken away, where we shall live with you, with the eternal God, in the joy of knowing you. Father, you are the God who raises the dead. We have a hope that no matter what we are going through, Lord, we can rest on your promises. Father, I pray you would watch over us. Lord, comfort us in our distress. Give us the strength to come before you as we care for one another. May we reflect the goodness that you have poured out on our lives. We ask all of this in your name. Amen.