In his sermon titled 'Making God Known Among Our Children,' Mike Davenport explores Psalm 78:1-8, emphasizing the importance of instructing future generations in the ways of the Lord. He argues that Asaph, the Psalmist, highlights the responsibility of parents to teach their children about God's laws, His marvelous works, and His attributes. Davenport outlines three key points: the declarations of a faithful father, the dealings of a faithful God, and the desire for faithful children. He stresses that parents should not hide these teachings, as doing so leads to destruction, but rather should instill a deep understanding of God's strength, providence, and law in their children. By doing so, Davenport believes children will set their hope in God, keeping His commandments and avoiding the rebelliousness of previous generations. The sermon calls for a multi-generational vision where each generation is equipped to teach the next, ensuring the continuity of faith and godliness.

Psalm 78. We'll be reading the first eight verses, Psalm 78, one through eight. Give ear, O my people, to my law. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable.

I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done. For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children, that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep His commandments and may not be like their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation a generation that did not set its heart aright and whose spirit was not faithful to God. Let's once again look to him in prayer. Oh Lord, this is your Word.

Your Word is forever settled in the heavens. It's as true today as it was when Asaph penned these words so many years ago. Lord, change us by this word. Lord, bless the families here in this place. For oh Lord, unless you build the house, we labor in vain who build it.

So come and establish the work of our hands. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. Charles Spurgeon seated.

Charles Spurgeon records the following from an address that was given at the meeting of the Baptist Union in 1869. This is what was said, in the early French Revolution the school boys of Bourges from 12 to 17 years of age formed themselves into a group called the Band of Hope. They wore uniform and were taught drill. On their holidays, their flag was unfurled, displaying in shining letters the sentence, tremble tyrants, we shall grow up. Without any charge of spurious enthusiasm, we may in imagination hear the shouts of confidence and courage uttered by the young Christians of the future as they say, tremble, O enemy, we are growing up for God." Well, would to God that right here in this place a band of hope would form, that we would hear shouts of confidence and courage uttered by our offspring saying, tremble, oh our enemy, we are growing up for God.

Can God do such a Can God do such a thing? Yes. Does God desire such a thing? Again, the answer is yes. Malachi 2.15 teaches us that God brings a man and a woman together in marriage because He, He seeks godly offspring.

Well, Asaph, the writer of this Psalm, understood this principle well. I would argue that it is the guiding principle behind the reason for the writing of this Psalm. He understood what God seeks, what God desires. Dear fathers and mothers, are you gripped by the reality that God is seeking a godly offspring? That this is the very reason that he placed that life into your hands.

Yea, the very reason he brought you together in marriage. It's the reason. Well, may God's desire for godly offspring be at the forefront of our thinking as we work through this text together. I would like to focus our attention on three things this morning. First, the moving declarations of a faithful father.

Second, the marvelous dealings of a faithful God. And third, the motivated desire for faithful children. So the first thing in our text is the moving declarations of a faithful father, the moving declarations of a faithful father, verses 1 through the beginning of 4. Give ear, O my people, to my law. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old which We have heard and known and our fathers have told us, we will not hide them from their children. We'll note in verse 1 that it is Asaph who was speaking here. He is not here acting as God's mouthpiece. Now when I say that, I am not insinuating that this psalm is uninspired.

Not at all. I am pointing out that Asaph is not issuing before his statement, of thus saith the Lord. Rather, Asaph is speaking, yes, under divine inspiration, but speaking for himself. He here calls the saints of God, my people. God's people are Asaph's people.

He is one with them. He is attached to them. He is unified with them. It's an indication of his affection that he had for the Lord's people. And he calls these dear saints to give ear to his law.

And note that he is not specifically calling them to give ear to God's law as though he were going to be reiterating or quoting some portion of the law already given. What he is calling them to do is to give ear to His law. Asaph will seek to summarize, reflect upon, and apply God's law. Now although our focus is on the declarations of a father, Here's the word for you children. Are you giving ear to the instruction you receive from your father, from your mother?

Are you giving ear to me, your pastor, here, speaking to you this very moment? Are you inclining your ear? You children, have you ever watched an animal, maybe on TV, maybe in real life. The animals that have ears that protrude, that stick up, have you ever watched their ears? Their ears actually turn to where they hear sound.

I don't know how true it is. I've been told that horses, you know, horses have eyes on the sides of their head. They have incredible vision without turning their head. But I'm told that you can tell where they're looking by where their ears go. That's where their attention is.

Wherever they hear sound. They incline their ears to where the sound's coming from. Do you incline your ear? See, it's kind of the reverse of a horse. Parents usually, we can't see your ears moving a certain direction.

We look at your eyes and when you're looking over here and over there we know you're not listening. But you can also be locked in with your eyes and still not inclining your ear. I want you to hear what your parents are telling you. I want you to hear what I'm telling you this morning. It's important.

It's important. Now we must understand that what Asaph is giving these people, he's calling it his law but it's binding in nature. As William Plummer states in his commentary, because they were right words, solemn words, words of truth and soberness, the words of God. Asaph claims eager attention to these words. Now the Bible is not a stranger to such language.

In the book of Proverbs, It was read earlier in Proverbs chapter 3. Solomon often refers to the instruction and commands of a father and the law of the mother. In several places the Apostle Paul refers to the gospel as my gospel. It's my gospel. Dear dad, dear mom, You have a law.

You have a law. Do you realize that? There's a law in your house. Even if you're a single parent, even though there may be no father in the house or maybe a mother, there is something that governs what you do and what you allow. There is teaching that is being handed down to your children.

What sort of law is it? What is at the root of the laws in your household? Is it consistent with the law of God, with Scripture? Does That law which controls what you do and what you allow, does that law demonstrate the principles of godliness and order? Can I ask it this way?

Is that law in your house built on the first principle that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and understanding. Now having stated the importance of receiving his law, his instruction, Asaph was well aware that it would be a sin for him to remain silent. He had a duty, a duty to God and a duty also to God's people. Therefore he declared, I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old.

Now, the word parable is an interesting word. The Hebrew word comes from a root word in the verb form that indicates ruling or reigning, exercising dominion, governing. Dark sayings of old is an interesting description as well. The Hebrew root word indicates to tie in a knot. Solomon refers to these same dark sayings in Proverbs 1, 6, when amidst his revealed reasons for writing the Proverbs, he declares to understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles.

Our phrase dark sayings here, it's riddles there in Proverbs 1. But I would have you focus on the fact that these riddles, dark sayings, are attributed to the wise. They are indeed words of the wise. I think we should understand Asaph to be declaring that he will utter the words of the wise in such a way as to untangle seeming mysteries so that truth can run free. In other words, he is sticking to the old sayings but trying to bring fresh things to bear, better understanding of them.

And these truths that he is bringing to greater light are intended to reign and govern in the lives of those who receive them. Listen to this beautiful description of our Savior that Isaiah sets before us in Isaiah 50. The Lord God has given, this is Christ speaking, the Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to Him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the Lord God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious nor did I turn away." You see, Christ inclined His ear to the words of His Father, and thereby gained the wisdom needed to direct His spiritual children.

Indeed, the gospel writer Matthew attributes these very verses here in Psalm 78 to Christ in Matthew 13, 34, and 35. Moms and dads, are you filled with such urgency? Do you see this as your duty? Are you opening your mouth before your children? And this applies to many of us in the church.

We've said it before, right? Sometimes people come from broken homes. Or maybe you're here today and you're single. God puts you in the midst of this family so that you can direct your attention to those younger and point them to Jesus Christ to open your mouth open your mouth and speak truth to them. And men, excuses for how you're wired Or excuses of the kind of dad maybe that you had growing up.

They don't hold water. They don't hold water. Excuses for how busy you are. They fall on deaf ears. God has given you the command.

Obey. Obey. Now this requires a couple of things from us. First, as parents we must make sure the law in our home is worthy of ruling and reigning. And if it is then second we should make sure that it is being followed and respected.

This is our duty, parents. Now I know that some of you are saying, possibly in your hearts right now, oh my kids know all that stuff. They're good. They received it when they were young. They hear it each week from the pulpit here, and they are reading their Bible in good books.

I don't feel the need is as great as it once was. My friend Asaph here reminds us in this text that we are not to rest on what has already been transmitted. It's not enough. We've heard, we've known, I will open my mouth. These are things, says Asaph, which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us.

And here he points to the faithfulness of their fathers. Now some of you here are recipients of such faithfulness and praise God, praise God. I've been by God's grace a recipient as ASAP. Well thank God for my father. But there are some among us, and for you that's not your testimony.

Maybe you're a first-generation Christian, and you may be thinking, I've not been the recipient of such generational blessing. If that's you, rather than reflecting on whether you yourself have been Asaph the receiver, I would have you focus on whether you will be Asaph the Declarer. Okay? You see, even if you are not the recipient of such a spiritual inheritance handed down to you from your father and or your mother, you do have the responsibility of handing it down to the next generation. God forbid that your children, that your grandchildren will be able to rise one day and say what you say now, that they have not been the recipient of such blessing.

Rather may they declare that they have heard and known that their father and their mother have told them." Noting his duty made even greater by the fact that he himself had been the blessed recipient of truth and wisdom, Asaph declares, we will not hide them from their children. One Hebrew lexicon indicates that this word hide appears to have had the signification of covering over and was partly transferred to the idea of denying and partly to the idea of smearing over. A study of the word further reveals that it even carries with it the idea of destruction in conjunction with that covering. Asaph is declaring that a failure to transmit the things of God to the next generation is akin to covering up and smearing over. A covering up and smearing over which brings with it not just loss but destruction.

Destruction that will be the lot, the inheritance of the generation to follow. Well, Asaph is doing what in this text? He is merely doing what we have already considered from Ephesians 6 and Deuteronomy 6. He is merely doing what each of us as heads of our households have been commanded to do, parents we ourselves have been given ears to hear and tongues to speak. Plummer emphatically states the law required a careful, a careful and frequent recital of divine doings and teaching by the aged to the young.

Well, having considered first the moving declarations of a faithful father, consider with me secondly from this text the marvelous dealings of a faithful God. The marvelous dealings of a faithful God. Verses 4 and 5. We will not hide them from their children telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which He commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children." What is at the heart of the moving declarations of this faithful Father?

It was this, the marvelous dealings of a faithful God. You see, the faithfulness of our Father in heaven demands our faithfulness. We are to be faithful to declare His faithfulness and his marvelous dealings with us. Now, Asaph directs our attention to three things. There are three things that are our duty to proclaim to the generation to come.

The praises of the Lord, the strength of the Lord as demonstrated in His wonderful works, and the law of the Lord." Now what's entailed in this list? Well first, the praises of the Lord. I think the attributes and the being of God are here in view. The praise of Him simply for who He is, who He has declared Himself to be. Did we not note this in our consideration of the scriptural context of the giving of the Ten Commandments?

God Himself descended upon the mountain. The people were to be sanctified three whole days before having dealings with this God. At the mere presence of God there was fire and smoke and thundering and lightning, the sound of a trumpet. It caused great fear in the people, but Moses declared unto them, Do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, so that you may not sin. And then before he utters even the first word there on that mountain, he declares that he is Jehovah, the great I am.

But second, we also have here God's strength and his wonderful works that he has done. The providence of God is here in view. Again, the context of Exodus 19 and 20 declares the strength of God in bringing the nation out of Egypt and delivering them when they were on the very verge of destruction. It was God who had done it, and he did it by his own strength. Asaph goes on in this song to declare God's covenant faithfulness to the nation how he over and over and over again had mercy on them on this undeserving people.

And the third thing Asaph draws our attention to is the law of God, the law of God. This law was no small matter of insignificance. God Himself established it. He appointed it. The very fact that it had come directly from God would be binding enough, But add to the fact that God commanded that fathers should make this law known to their children.

Makes it even more binding. These three things, God's attributes as being, His providence, and His law, these three things, says Asaph, will not remain hidden. They will be made known. They will be declared. Now, I remind you of the exhortations we have already been confronted with.

You fathers, bring your children up in the training and admonition of the Lord. You shall teach these things diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. The marvelous doings of our faithful God must be declared to our children. Moms and dads, as you were exhorted recently just a couple weeks ago in the afternoon time, these things must be first and foremost in regard to your interactions and your instruction to your children. Whether you're able to home school or not, these are to be first and foremost.

And do not assume that your work is done because you've told them once. Spurgeon gives the following illustration. I think it'll stick. In planting beans, the old practice was to put three beans in each hole. One for the worm, one for the crow, and one to live and produce the crop.

In teaching children, we must give line upon line, precept upon precept, repeating the truth which we would inculcate till it becomes impossible for the child to forget it. We may well give the lesson once, expecting the child's frail memory to lose it, twice reckoning that the devil like an evil bird will steal it thrice, hoping that it will take root downward and bring forth fruit upward to the glory of God. My dear Christian parent, will you hide these things from your child and from your children. Do not forget the idea of destruction that is attached to that word hiding, nor forget what the Bible teaches us that destruction is only one generation removed. Everything God's people have today, everything that you have, that you've been given by God, everything can be lost in the very next generation.

The Book of Judges ends with the writers inspired narrative of that time period. In those days, everyone did what was right in his own eyes." How did that come about? After all, the book of Joshua ended with such hope? The people declaring to Joshua, the Lord our God we will serve and His voice we will obey. We'll note the difference in the ending of Joshua and the beginning of Judges.

Just not even a page over. The ending of Joshua chapter 24-31. Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua who had known all the works of the Lord which he had done for Israel." It's important. They had known all the works of the Lord, which He had done for Israel." That's why they served the Lord. Contrast that with the beginning of Judges 2 verse 10, when all of that generation that had known and served had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them, who did not know the Lord, nor the work which he had done for Israel.

That's why when you get to the end of judges, you find the inspired narrative that everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Dear parent, do not minimize your God-given duty and responsibility. You know, our brother Jeff Pollard preached a powerful message a couple of years ago at our conference to comfort those who may find an Esau in the house, a child who despises the rich inheritance handed down from the parents. Well, it's one thing for a child to reject that inheritance, but God forbid that we as parents make that bowl of lentil stew the inheritance that we leave for our children. We can't guarantee that our children will come to know Christ, But God forbid that we don't set Christ before them in all of His beauty, in all that He is, and rather give them the things of the world to entertain them.

If they reject Christ, let the blood be upon their hands. But let's not trade that rich inheritance for a bowl of lentil stew. Are your children well versed in the attributes of God, in His providential ways and in His law? If not, why not? May God grant us grace to make known to the rising generation the marvelous dealings of our faithful Father in heaven.

Now third and finally consider with me from our text the motivated desire for faithful children. The motivated desire for faithful children. Verses 6 through 8. That the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments and may not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright and whose spirit was not faithful to God." What moved Asaph to write this psalm to declare these truths? What was the motivating desire behind these moving declarations of a faithful father concerning the marvelous dealings of a faithful God.

Well, the desire motivating ASAP reflects the heart of God that we looked at back at the start, a godly seed. Faithful children. Dear ones, our vision, our goals, our desires must go way beyond ourselves. We live in a culture that doesn't care about the generation that's coming after us. They don't care.

Well, that actually doesn't care about the generation that went before either. You see, this is a narcissistic culture. Everything revolves around us. We cannot allow ourselves to be conformed to the world's thinking. The Bible commands us to think well beyond our generation, to children who would be born, and not just to those children, but the children of those children.

The multi-generational vision of Asaph is the multi-generational vision of God, and this vision must be ours as well. If we fail to either have this vision or if we have this vision and fail to act upon it. To fail in either of these two areas is to encourage and to even entice the generations to follow to do whatever is right in their own eyes." Are we so blind to see even the culture around us? Are we not surrounded by a culture that just follows the dictates of its own heart, that runs around saying, what's truth? Shall we encourage our children to do the same?

To hide these things from our children is to place them on a path of destruction. And rather than do anything in our power to prevent them from going down that path. We furnish the transportation. We buy the ticket and give them money for spending. Our instruction must be such that our children do more than just learn.

Our goal should be that they be equipped to instruct their children to come And then those children equipped to arise and instruct the children coming after them. We're not just preparing students. We're preparing teachers. That's the vision. They don't just know it well enough for themselves, they know it well enough to give to their children and their children after them.

That's the vision here. Our vision, I'm afraid, is way too small, brethren. I think it's way too small. God's ways and thoughts are so much higher than our own. Now I've described the desire of ASAP for faithful children as a, it's a motivated desire.

It's a motivated desire. Why do I call it such? Well, I think we have motivations right here in this text. The first motivating factor I will mention is the actually the unfaithfulness of a previous generation. Asaph's desire is here expressed that those whom he is instructing and their children after them will not be like that wilderness generation, the forefathers of the Hebrew nation.

Asaph describes them as a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright and whose spirit was not faithful to God. A generation that is either not instructed or if having been instructed rejects that instruction becomes just like this stubborn and rebellious generation. This motivates Asaph to open his mouth in a parable and utter dark sayings of old. But there's more than this negative motivation. There are positive motivations as well here in our text.

There are positive motivations as well, And we see them right here in our text. Look with me at verses 7 and 8, that they may set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments. These are those things. The hope that parents can have in the often undertaken operation of the Holy Spirit is a motivation to Asaph. Now note, this isn't a vending machine where you put the money in, you press the button, and the product comes out.

But God doesn't leave us as a hopeless people. The hope parents can have in the often undertaken operation of the Holy Spirit is the motivation to ASAP. I would remind you that just as there were three things that ASAP would have us as parents focus on in our instruction, there are three hopeful anticipations that are actually tied to the aspects of that teaching. Verse 4, Tell your children the praises of Almighty God. Why?

And with what hope and desire? Verse 7, that those children may know that God in order that they may set their hope in Him? Verse 4, tell your children of the strength of the Lord as demonstrated in His wonderful works. Why? And with what hope and desire?

Verse 7, that they may not forget the works of God. Verse 5, tell your children the majesty and the beauty of the law of God. Why? And with what hope and desire? Verse 7, that they might keep his commandments and as a result might be loved by the Father and enjoy in greater measure the manifestation of Christ unto them even as Jesus declares in John 14 21.

Dear ones, this is why we open our mouths in instruction. This is why family worship each and every day of the week is crucial. This is why we plead with our children to incline their ears and to hear and to give us their hearts. And this is why we must do these things. God is seeking a godly offspring.

Seeking a godly offspring. You dear children, as we close I just I want to speak a word to you. Can you look at me? I want to see your eyeballs looking into mine. You are not too young to hope in the Lord.

You're not too young to hope in the Lord. You're not too young to hope in the Lord. You're not too young to set your heart aright. You're not too young to be faithful to God. When Christ was here on earth, he declared that he wanted little children to come near to him.

He wanted them to come near. Jesus is not a savior of just mommies and daddies. He's a savior of children too. Yes, He's a savior of children. Jesus saves little children and actually says that the kingdom of God is made up even of children like you.

Listen to these wonderful words of J.C. Ryle regarding Jesus and his welcoming of children. These words should encourage every parent in the room to fulfill their God-given duty, and they should encourage every young person, every young child to put their hope in Christ. Quote, the Lord Jesus cares tenderly for the souls of little children. Young as they are, they are not beneath his thoughts and attention.

That mighty heart of his has room for the baby in its cradle as well as for the king on his throne. Let us draw encouragement to attempt great things in the religious instruction of our children. Let us begin from their very earliest years to deal with them as having souls to be lost or saved. And let us strive to bring them to Christ. Let us make them acquainted with the Bible as soon as they can understand anything, let us pray with them and pray for them and teach them to pray for themselves.

We may rest assured that Jesus looks with pleasure on such endeavors and is ready to bless them. We may rest assured that such endeavors are not in vain. The seed sown in infancy is often found after many days." Well may God raise up a godly band of hope here in this place, young soldiers of Jesus Christ that have set their hope in Christ and who are unlike the men in Ephraim that we go on to read of in verse 9, who turned back in the day of battle, who did not keep the covenant of their God, who refused to walk in His law and forgot His works and his wonders that he had shown them. Rather, may the next generation in our midst unashamedly declare with confidence and courage, tremble, O enemy, we are growing up for God. Amen.

Let us pray. Oh our God, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. You are the faithful one. Our rock, our refuge, our fortress, our defense. And we cry out like Moses, oh God, Show your glory to our children.

Establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, oh Lord, establish the work of our hands. Lord, we can't save our children, but we want them all to know and love the one whom we know and love. And we thank you that you so often work in families. Do so, oh Lord, to your glory, to you all the glory.

God, make us to be faithful. Make us to be faithful, expecting Nothing except Your faithfulness to us, and to Your Word, and to Your will, and Your ways. We Thank you.