The sermon, titled 'Open Your Mouth,' emphasizes the primary calling of Christian men as husbands and fathers, and the importance of teaching and discipling future generations with the Word of God. It draws from Psalm 78 and 2 Timothy, highlighting the role of Scripture in equipping believers for good works and maturity. The sermon stresses the need for multi-generational faithfulness, urging fathers to teach their children about God’s faithfulness, mercy, and the pitfalls of past generations. Asaph is presented as a model for teaching, using historical accounts as parables to pass wisdom across generations. The sermon outlines key themes from Psalm 78, including God's faithfulness, the importance of remembering His works, and learning from the errors of past generations. It concludes with a call to daily Bible teaching in the home, aiming to impart not just knowledge about God, but a deep, personal relationship with Him.

So the way that I spend my hours changed pretty dramatically about six months ago. Very different work week now than in early March. But in one way things haven't changed at all. My primary calling is not how I used to spend my hours before that time, it's not how I spend my hours of the work day now. My primary calling is as a husband and a father, and maybe even more so now as we look at the qualifications for an elder or someone who would stand before the congregation and preach.

What your marriage is like, what you're like as a father is right at the top so that if you're not functioning well in this category, you completely disqualify yourself for the other category. And it's the same for every man in the room. No matter what you're doing vocationally whether you're a preacher or a missionary or a dishwasher or a CEO or a janitor Your primary calling, the thing that, assuming you're a Christian, the primary thing that ought to be flowing out of that is to be a blessing to your wife and to your children. To take the ways that God has blessed you through His mercy. The things that He's shown you.

The mercies that He's poured out upon you. And to take those things that you've been taught and then to teach them. To take the mercies that you've been given and to give them freely you've received. Freely, freely give. And this is what Psalm 78 is all about.

We have Asaph here. And he's calling us to open our mouths. This is what he says in the opening verses of this psalm. I will open my mouth in a parable, and he's calling us. He's setting a pattern before us, and he's calling us to follow his pattern, that we would open our mouths as well.

And when we do open our mouths, what would we say? And Paul directs us really to what Asaph is also directing us to in 2 Timothy 3, 14 through 17. Paul says this to Timothy. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." In the first chapter of 2 Timothy, Paul introduces us to Timothy's grandmother, Lois, and then to his mother Eunice.

And these were godly women who poured the Holy Scriptures into Timothy. And then Paul is pointing back to them and saying, and from childhood you've known the Holy Scriptures. And so this serves as a great New Testament introduction to an Old Testament psalm. Asaph in Psalm 78 is exhorting fathers to use the Word of God as a mighty tool for the training and equipping of their children, but not just their children, but also for their children's children, and for their children's children's children. Paul in 2 Timothy 3 says that the Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Jesus, And that they're profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

And then he gives us the result of all that. This is what the Word of God is for. For maturity and for usefulness. It says that you may be complete. In other words, that you may be brought to maturity.

Not staying where you are, but advancing. That your progress would be evidence to all, right? This is what we're desiring, is that we would be brought along. This is what God uses. He uses the Word of God to bring us along, to bring us to maturity.

And then for usefulness, he says, thoroughly equipped for every good work. From the foundations of the earth, good works have been prepared for us that we might walk in them. And the Word of God makes us thoroughly equipped. It makes us ready. It makes us useful for them.

So Asaph is taking this precious gift, this revealed word of God, all the thoughts of God, all the intents of God, all the laws of God that are to make us mature and to make us useful for God. And He gives them to us to bless us, but not that they would end with us, that they would also be transmitted to our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren. Isn't this what we want? Isn't this what we want for our children? Don't we want our grandchildren to know the greatness of the Lord, the mightiness of his mercy towards the people that he redeems through the work of the cross?

And this is what Psalm 78, This is the vision that Psalm 78 puts before us. This Psalm is not about learning fatherhood techniques that make home life more neat and tidy. It's not about that. It is about this quest for fathers to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. So that we might be yielded and allowing His Word to do something mighty, not just in our own hearts, but in the hearts of our children and the succeeding generations.

So that we'd be brought to faith, they're able to make you wise unto salvation, And this would result in maturity and usefulness, that we'd be making progress, that we'd be useful for the Lord. Let's pray. Oh God, as we approach the text today, we desire to be accurate. We desire to think rightly about it. But we don't want to be restricted to being technical about your word.

We really desire for a piercing of the heart, that these things would be pressed deeply into our souls, that we'd be helped, that we'd not just be smarter about Psalm 78 at the end, but that God you would impart this to us. Really impart it. So that the wisdom that is here would be applied wisdom. That it would help us. Oh Father, we're so dull to learn these things.

And then when we learn them, we're so tentative about applying the truth that you've given to us. And so we pray now, God, that we wouldn't just know about God. And that we wouldn't just teach our children to know about you, but that we would know you and that we would teach them to know you. That we would be in your presence and that the generations coming after us would be in your presence, bowed down before you. Help us through your word, God, in Jesus' name, amen.

When I first began to study this passage, I found I was generally ignorant about the author. But as you do a little bit of digging in, you find out he's a really significant character. Asaph is the author. And he wrote 12 Psalms. He wrote Psalm 50.

And then he wrote Psalms 73 through 83. So this is of the 150 Psalms, he wrote about 8% of them. He wrote 12 of them. And of all those Psalms, only Psalm 119 is longer. So this is, Psalm 78 is a really hefty deposit.

Asaph himself was from the tribe of Levi. He was a Levi. And David appointed him to minister before the ark of the Lord. And his appointment by David is recorded in 1 Chronicles 16. And so I'm going to read 1 Chronicles 16, verses 4 and 5, and then I'm going to skip to verse 37.

Here's what is recorded. And he and David appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the Lord God of Israel. Asaph the chief, and then there's a list of seven other names. So there are eight men appointed to commemorate God, to praise Him, to thank Him, to be continually before the ark of the Lord. And Asaph is made the chief of these men.

And then skipping down to verse 37, it says, so David left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark regularly as every day's work required. So Asaph, here's this man, he is given as part of his everyday work to minister before the Lord. It was actually his job to be before the Ark of the Lord, the representation of the presence of God, and to just be thankful before it to commemorate. What a job. Don't you want this job to just be before the presence of the Lord and have it be your job just to be thankful before it and to praise him and to commemorate the works of God.

Fast forward about 300 years. Asaph was appointed by David, and then this is about 1, 000 BC. So 300 years later, about 700 BC, Hezekiah, after a long period of falling away from God, after a long period of apostasy, Hezekiah becomes the king of Judah. And God is working through him and reform comes to the people of God. And he actually restores temple worship again.

And Here's what 2 Chronicles 29 verse 30 says. Moreover, King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing the praise to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads in worship. So after this long time of apostasy, God brings revival, and they're singing praises before the Lord. And what are they singing?

They're singing the songs of David. They're singing the songs of Asaph. So this deposit that we're considering a part of has been really important in the life of God's people. As God's people recognize the value of the Psalms, and They use them to praise the Lord. Asaph has been a significant part of that.

So our exposition of Psalm 78, of course, is not going to be verse by verse, because let's see, there are 72 verses. But we will go verse by verse through the part that that Oliver read and then through the rest of it there are some themes that just pop out through the rest of the psalm and So I'm going to distill out of all those other verses five things that you see emerge as prominent themes in the rest of the Psalm. In verse one, we have an exhortation from Asaph. And he says, Give ear. Listen to me.

And this reads just like a proverb. The writers of the proverbs are always calling for our attention. That's exactly what Asaph is doing here. He is calling for our intention because he has something of great value to impart, something that if we miss, we'll be harmed by it. And if we acquire it, we'll be blessed by it.

So Asaph isn't ashamed to tell us to drop what we're doing and to listen to him. And so he begins with this exhortation. Give ear. Give me your ear. Listen to me.

I have important things. I have pivotal instructions to give to you. And then in verse 2 he says, I will open my mouth. I'll open my mouth. Asaph is putting himself forward as a teacher.

And he is setting a pattern that we would put ourselves forward as fathers, as teachers. And this may be the great takeaway from the chapter. Modern evangelical men have become great repositories of treasure. Great repositories. We read great scriptures.

We hear great sermons. We digest great books. And then they just stay there. They just go into the Gullah and there they are. Day after day, week after week, we're blessed by them as if that was the endpoint of God for giving us His word.

That we would just be blessed and it would end there. No! So Asaph is calling us to something very different than what we see in modern evangelical life where the man of God has just become a library, a repository for truth. Never dispensing, always digesting, always bringing it in, but never then using it to bless as we've been called by God to do. And Asaph is setting a different pattern than what we see in modern life and he's calling us to it.

In verse 2 and 3, when Asaph says that he's speaking in a parable, he's communicating that he's going to use these historical accounts from our fathers to teach our children the things that they need to know. He's going to reach back in the past to see what God has done through history so that the future generation will know God. And He's calling us to do likewise. And This is exactly what the authors of scripture consistently tell us to do. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul says this, in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 6, now these things became our examples.

And he's been talking about the people passing through the Red Sea and he's talking about Old Testament accounts and he adds up a couple of them and then he says now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And then in first Corinthians 10 if you skip down to verses 11 and 12 Paul says, now all these things happen to them as examples and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." So Asaph, what Asaph is doing in Psalm 78, Paul does exactly the same thing in 1 Corinthians 10. And the point of these things is so that we who are proud, because we think that we stand, would learn to walk circumspectly. Would see all the pitfalls that the people of God have hit through the ages that have derailed them from the faithfulness of God and we would be caused to consider our ways because of God's history with His people.

In verses four and five the multi-generational purpose of all this unfolds. And it's that the next generation would know God. His praises, His strengths, and His works. This is what you see in verses 4 and 5. It's not a single generational vision.

It's a multi-generational vision. And it's that these three things would be known. The praises of God. The things that make him worthy of all praise and honor, his strength, his ability to do anything that he wants to do, any time that he wants to do it, and his wondrous works. This rich account after rich account about God being mighty on behalf of his people.

God rescuing his people. God pouring out mercy on his people. These are the things that have been given to us as a deposit to help us, but not only to help us, to help our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren. Here's the thing with the next generation. It's like little orphan Annie in tomorrow.

It's always a day. It's only a day away, right? When the next generation gets here, it's no longer the next generation. And then there's another next generation. And so a Christian man and a Christian woman should look out on the horizon and say, That's when my work is done.

Because when your children get here, it is time to disciple them and it's time to start thinking about your grandchildren. Now, we're pouring a lot of our time and energy into discipling our children. And that's good. We ought to be doing that. God is commanding us to do that.

So there's no censure for that. But we should also begin the thought process of training our children of what their job will be with an eye to our grandchildren, with an eye to their grandchildren. And God is wanting to teach us to think that way. And that's, ASAP sets this vision before us, And this is a persistent theme in Scripture, that it's not just our generation, or even the next generation, but we're thinking down. We're thinking downstream, and a long ways downstream.

Here's what John Calvin says. What we have been taught by our ancestors... Let's start that again. We'll do it in English this time. What we have been taught by our ancestors, we should endeavor to transmit to their children.

By this means, all pretense of ignorance is removed. For it was the will of God that these things should be published from age to age without interruption, so that being transmitted from father to child in each family, they might reach even the last family of man. The end for which this was to be done is shown, that they might celebrate the praises of Jehovah in the wonderful works which he hath done. The foundation of this is the worth of God. That's what all this is resting on, is that God is worthy.

And that as his people study his works that they would say he's worthy not just for me to love and adore him but for me to tell my children how can my children live in this world without knowing the greatness of our God How can their children be born and live in this world without knowing the greatness of our God? I must tell it to them. I must teach it to them. To the extent that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength. How could we live a day without thinking about our children and them worshiping God, and our grandchildren, and them worshiping God?

In verse 5 and 6, we see that the multi-generational purpose has been commanded by God, which He commanded our fathers and now by extension is commanding us. Now let's count the generations here in verses 5 and 6. Look at verses 5 and 6. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and he appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, first generation, that they should make them known to their children second generation, that the generation to come might know him third generation, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, four generations Asaph gives us here. So Asaph is looking way downstream, and he's giving us a pattern to follow that we would look way downstream.

And when we apply this to ourselves, when we apply these four generations to ourselves, ASAP is teaching us to look to our great grandchildren. So God has given us this deposit, and we're that generation, and it applies to our children, and our grandchildren, and our great grandchildren. ASAP is teaching us to look way downstream and to think way downstream and to plan way downstream And the foundation and footing for all this is just simply the greatness of God. So we'll never be without the foundation and footing for what we need to go downstream for generations. Because God is infinitely great.

And so we have the surest footing for all of this. Isaiah 59, 21. As for me, says the Lord, this is my covenant with them, my spirit who is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants descendants, says the Lord, from this time and forevermore. We can find place after place after place in the scripture, where God is talking about us and our descendants and our descendants' descendants. This is the desire of God.

God wants to teach us to think this way. So the message is this, if you only teach your children to know God then the job is unfinished. You have not done your duty before God if you only teach your children to know Him. God has something much bigger. God has something much more glorious for you than just teaching your children the ways of God.

And this is not a burden, this is a blessing. That we would have our two eyes see our grandchildren serving the Lord with all their hearts. Imagine. Imagine the satisfaction of having known the mercies of God, seeing your grandchildren walking in humility, walking in repentance before God Almighty. Oh, may God give our eyes that sight before we die.

So I need to be telling my children, absolutely, That is the matter at hand, training our children. But this is a train the trainer program. Have you ever gone to one of those classes? So you sign up for the class on whatever the topic is. And it's a three-day class and it's $500.

But then in the catalog you notice there's another class that's offered and it's three days too. Same amount of instructional hours, but it's a train the trainer program It's like $3, 000 you think wait a minute. It's the same topic. It's The same amount of instruction hours. How can this one be 500 and this be?

3, 000 It's because the value is increased when it's trained the trainer. When they teach you how to go back to your company and teach all of your coworkers, the value goes up. So same topic, same amount of instruction hours, but six times the value. And we should think that way as well. God is teaching us to understand the value of the multi-generational thinking, of training the trainer.

So we're not just teaching our children to know God. We're teaching them how to teach their children to know God. And the value goes way up when we do that. We're training the trainer. It's not enough just to impart the knowledge of God to our children.

We have to be teaching them along the way that it is their duty to teach their children and how they ought to teach their duty, both an example, but also we should teach them how to teach. Verse 7. The whole of Psalm 78 revolves around verse 7. It is the hinge point, it is the apex of the entire Psalm. It tells us the end game for all this.

That they may set their hope in God. That our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren may set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments. Let's be crystal clear. Faith, saving faith is at the center of Psalm 78. It's about saving faith.

That they may set their hope in God. Not head knowledge, not first in Bible drill, but that they may actually set their hope in God. Not give intellectual assent to things that are true about God, but that they might know God. Not knowing about God, but knowing God. Not good behavior and moral purity, but knowing God.

They're not the same thing. They're not the same thing. And we ought to have Bible knowledge. We do want to impart that to our children. We do want our children to know how to behave.

So this is obviously not a condemnation of a neat and tidy home. But A neat and tidy home is the fruit of it, not the central objective. This must be the goal of our instruction, that they may set their hope in God. This is the end of all that we're working towards. And then verse 8 says this, and may not be like their fathers.

And may not be like their fathers. So on the one hand, we're teaching the history of God. We're looking back through all of God's works in and through His people, and we're teaching about God. We're teaching about His greatness. We're teaching about His goodness.

We're teaching about his faithfulness, his wrath, his discipline, his mercy, what God has done and is doing. And we teach these things so that our children may have confidence in him. And in knowing what God has done in His people through the past, that they might believe that He'll do it in our generation, and for their children, and for their children's children. An entire generation has de-clawed and de-fanged God. They have before their eyes a God that is not the God of the Bible because this has been neglected.

Because the deeds of God in history, which have been given to us as an example to us, have not been studied and loved. And so there's a different God that's being worshiped. So on one hand, we're teaching about God. And on the other hand, we're teaching about our Father. The teaching about God is about All things beautiful.

All things wonderful. This is our God. And then the teaching about our Father is about so many things that are neither good, nor wonderful, nor beautiful. We're teaching about how they provoked God, our fathers provoked God. We're teaching about how they gave Him lip service.

About how they talked, they chattered on and on about how they honored Him, but their hearts were far from Him. We're teaching about how our fathers grumbled against God in unbelief, about how they disdained His provision when He was providing for them, then they wanted something else, about how they abandoned Him to follow their idols. They left the one true God to serve things made by the hands of men. We teach them so that our children might avoid the terrible sins of our fathers, that they'll see all the pits that have been fallen in by God's people. There is great value in negative examples, and we should not neglect them.

So we're teaching about God, and we're teaching about our fathers, so that they'll know about God, they'll know who God is, and that they'll know who man is. And it'll cause them to be wise. Here's a quick summary of verses one through eight, what we've just been talking about. Five points. If you have your note page, this is kind of where we tie into the note page.

These are the five things at the top of the notes page. We are exhorted to listen. ASAP is giving us really important instruction. So we're exhorted to listen. This is important instruction.

Number two, this is a history lesson with the purpose that all generations might know about God and thereby put their faith in Him. Number three, passing on this history isn't a suggestion, it is a commandment. God is commanding us to do this. Number four, passing on this history lesson isn't enough. Our calling is to train the trainer, verses five and six.

And lastly, obedience here helps to keep us and our children from the sins of our fathers. So Asaph has opened his mouth and he's calling us to open our mouths and when we open our mouths what is it that we should say? So this is going to take a minute, but we're going to read through the rest of the psalm. And then I want to pluck out five themes from the rest. So I'm going to give you the cliff notes of the five themes.

Be on the lookout for them as we read through the Psalm, and then we'll develop these five things. Number one, don't forget. Don't forget. Number two, God has been faithful. Number three, Learn from the sins of our fathers.

Number four, God judges his enemies and disciplines those he loves. And number five, God is full of mercy. Hopefully, as we read through the Psalm, you just recognize, oh, there it is, there it is, there it is, repeatedly. Because I believe these are the prominent themes. So Psalm 78 will begin in verse 9.

The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God. They refused to walk in His law and forgot His works and his wonders that he had shown them. Marvelous things he did in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through, and he made the waters stand up like a heap.

In the daytime also, he led them with the cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink in abundance like the depths. He also brought streams out of the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers. But they sinned even more against Him and rebelled against the Most High in the wilderness. And they tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their fancy.

Yes, they spoke against God and said, can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, He struck the rock so that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Can he provide meat for his people? Therefore the Lord heard this and was furious.

So a fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up against Israel because they did not believe in God and did not trust in his salvation. Yet he had commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven, had rained down manna on them to eat, and given them the bread of heaven. Men ate angels' food. He sent them food to the full. He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens, and by His power He brought in the south wind.

He also rained meat on them like the dust, feathered fowl like the sand of the seas. And He let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. So they ate and were filled, For he gave them their own desire. They were not deprived of their craving. But while their food was still in their mouths, the wrath of God came against them and slew the stoutest of them and struck down the choice men of Israel.

In spite of this, they still sinned and did not believe in his wondrous works. Therefore their days he consumed in futility and their years in fear. When He slew them, then they sought Him, and they returned and sought earnestly for God. Then they remembered that God was their Rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer. Nevertheless, they flattered him with their mouth, and they lied to him with their tongue.

For their heart was not steadfast with him, nor were they faithful in his covenant. But he being full of compassion forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time he turned his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again. How often they provoked him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert.

Yes, again and again they tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power the day when he redeemed them from the enemy, when he worked his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zohan, turned their rivers into blood and their streams that they could not drink. He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs which destroyed them. He also gave their crops to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost.

He also gave up their cattle to the hail and their flocks to fiery lightning. He cast on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble by sending angels of destruction among them. He made a path for his anger. He did not spare their soul from death, that gave their life over to the plague and destroyed all the first born in Egypt, the first of their strength in the tents of Ham. But he made his own people go forth like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

And he led them on safely so that they did not fear. But the sea overwhelmed their enemies. And he brought them to his holy border, this mountain which his right hand had acquired. He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them an inheritance by survey, and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God, and did not keep his testimonies, but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers.

They were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked him to anger with their high places and moved him to jealousy with their carved images. When God heard this, he was furious and greatly abhorred Israel, so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had placed among them, and delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemy's hand. He also gave over his people to the sword and was furious with his inheritance. The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens were not given in marriage.

Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation. Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty man who shouts because of wine. And he beat back his enemies. He put them to perpetual reproach. Moreover, he rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved.

And he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he has established forever. He also chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds, from following the ewes that had young he brought him, to shepherd Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of His hands. The first thing that we see just right off the bat is that we are not to forget. Don't forget.

In verses 9 through 11, it says this, The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God. They refused to walk in his law and forgot his works and his wonders which he had shown them. Now this is speaking specifically of an account in 1 Samuel 4. And in 1 Samuel 4 verse 10 it says that the Philistines attack Shiloh where the Ark of the Covenant is.

And Shiloh is a city in Ephraim. And Ephraim, who ought to have defended the Ark of God to the last man, it says that every man fled to his tent. And the Ark of God is taken by the Philistines. And this is judgment. And he would let his presence, the sign of his presence, be taken by the ungodly Philistines and removed from Israel.

Because when the Philistines came against them, they forgot what God had already done in Egypt. They forgot that God had already delivered them more mightily than the day upon them required. And so instead of standing and fighting for the ark of God, every man fled to his tent. Verses 40 through 42 says this, How often they provoked him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert. Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

Then it says this, They did not remember his power. They did not remember his power. They did not remember his power. The day when he redeemed them from the enemy. The people of Israel rebelled against God again and again and again and again.

And it tells us here why, because they forgot. They forgot that God is mighty to save on behalf of the people who will trust in him. Psalm 78 stands as a monument to how easy it is to forget the things that God has already done for us. That our past is just so full of the mighty deliverances of God. And that if we'll just remember what God has already done, we'll have strength to stand today.

One commentator lists 10 clear times when Israel tested God in their first two years in the wilderness, 10 times, clear times when they test God. They're less than two years removed from walking through on dry ground with the waters heaped up on both sides of them. From seeing the plagues that God brought upon Egypt, and yet immediately within two years, they're testing him again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again because they've forgotten what God has already done for them. Psalm 78, it sounds so much like Deuteronomy 6, doesn't it? Moses and Asaph are giving us the antidote to this deadly thing called forgetfulness.

They're telling us, watch out for forgetfulness and here's what you do about it. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them 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 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." This is why. This is why we teach them all through the day. This is why we're writing it on the doorposts of our house, that we're putting the remembrance of God between our eyes, because the day of adversity is coming.

And when it comes, will we, through repetition, remember what God has already done to be mighty on our behalf? Matthew Henry says this. It's so beautiful. There are some days made remarkable by signal deliverances, which ought never to be forgotten, for the remembrance of them would encourage us in our greatest straits. We've been given all these accounts of God's faithfulness.

And it's so that we would be encouraged when we're in our greatest straits. It's so that when testing comes, we'll just be able to look and see. Mighty God goes to war on behalf of His people. And we won't forget, and we'll stand strong in that day because we can see a thousand times where God's people have been tested, but God has been faithful. Which brings us to number two, God has been faithful.

God has been faithful. In verses 12 through 16, it speaks of God's providing Israel's miraculous escape through the Red Sea. They walked right through on dry ground. And it talks about water flowing from the rock. That when they didn't have what they need, God just did the impossible so that they would have what they need.

In verses 23 through 25, It recounts the manna raining down from heaven. It says they ate angels' food. They're out there in the desert. They have no way to provide for themselves. So just walk outside your tent and pick up what you need to eat.

This is how God treats his people when they're in need and they'll trust in him. Verses 43-45 talks about how God judged their oppressors. It talks about armies of flies and armies of frogs that He'll send upon the people who oppress His people. And how He drove out the nations before them. Every nation that was driven out of the promised land was a mightier nation than Israel was.

They were better equipped. They were more ready for war than Israel was. And yet nation after nation after nation after nation is pushed out of that land because of God's faithfulness. It was just God's faithfulness. So Asaph puts that in front of our eyes to see that when God is with you, who can stand against you?

In verses 68 through 72 it speaks about the choosing of the tribe of Judah and his dwelling place and the raising up a mighty shepherd, who will shepherd the people according to the integrity of his heart and the skillfulness of his hands. So when the people of God have lack, One of the things he does for them is he raises up people to care for them. He raises up people who he has established in the integrity of their heart. Not because they're good people, but because he's mighty in the people that he raises up to care for his people. And he gives them skillfulness in their shepherding so that his people will be well cared for.

God has been faithful to his people in every turn. And the Old Testament history bears it out. And Asaph is heaping up the reminders that God is faithful. Number three, learn from the sins of our fathers. Learn from the sins of our fathers.

In verse eight, Asaph pleads that we would listen and not be like our fathers. So we ask, in what way should we not be like our fathers? Here's a list of 11 things that Asaph puts into Psalm 78 that are negative examples. Don't try to keep up. I'm going to do it in rapid fire.

You'll never keep up. But you could go through and just pick these out. There's no rocket science here. It's just reading the Psalm and noting. So if you want to do it later, you can pick out probably more than I'll mention here.

Number one, they were stubborn and rebellious. We shouldn't be stubborn and rebellious. Number two, they did not set their heart aright. This is the King James, how it says it. They didn't set their heart aright.

And whose spirit was not faithful to God, verse 8. They weren't fixed on God. Why does it say whose spirit was not faithful to God? Because as you read through, you find out that there was nothing wrong with what they were saying, only what they were doing. They were talking a good game, but not playing a good game.

They acted like they repented, but they were only sorry that they were being disciplined by God. So they would only turn back for a little while until the pain had been removed and then they would go back to their ways. Number three, they forgot God's history of faithfulness towards them, verses 11 and 42. Number four, they ignored God's goodness. God had been so good to them and yet it seemed to never be enough.

This is what you see over and over again in this Psalm. Never enough. We want something different than what God has provided for us. Number five, they put God to test in their hearts by asking for things according to their own desire. In verse 18, it says, the food of their fancy.

They had food enough. They had food to the full, the psalm says. But they wanted the food of their fancy. Number six, they spoke against God in unbelief. Number seven, they ignored God's discipline.

God was disciplining them to lead them to repentance, and they ignored it. Number eight, they lied to God, giving him lip service. Look at verses 36 and 37. Number nine, they grieved God with the persistence of their rebellion. We see these words, how often they provoked Him, and again and again they tempted God in verses 40 and 41.

Number 10, they tested and provoked the Most High God. They tested and provoked the Most High God. Our children have to know what madness that is. We have to teach our children the insanity of rebelling against the Most High God. And that phrase is used three or four times within Psalm 78.

He's called not just God, but the Most High God, as if Asaph is just driving home the point. Do you see the insanity of fighting against the Most High God? Who does that? And yet, there's a history of doing that. And Asaph is just laying bare the madness of rising up against a most high god.

Number 11, they provoked God by giving away his glory to idols. Here's What we should notice from all this? Psalm 78 reads in circles. It reads in circles. It's this pattern developing where you say, did I just read this?

And it's like you missed a column and have gone back and you're just reading the same thing again but it's it's a variation on a theme it's just coming coming right back around again as you read it and this is something we need our to help our children understand that God's people have been subject to cycles. They've been subject to cycles. The Christian life is subject to cycles And we must give our children eyes to see it so that they recognize where they are in the cycle. And so that they can adjust accordingly. Here's the cycle.

And you see this about three or four times in Psalm 78. God does something spectacular for His people out of His loving kindness. He shows up and does a miracle on behalf of His people. And then things are really good for a while. The people are basking in what God has done for them.

And so, there's a level, there's a measure of faithfulness and rejoicing in what God has done. And then the next step in the cycle. People forget. They get drowsy. They grow fat and kick.

And then there's this next step. They provoke God a little bit at first and then more and more. And then there's this the next step in the cycle that God must discipline them. He must either leave His people to their own devices to drift off forever, or He must come and bring discipline to bring them back to Himself. And then the next step in the cycle that he has mercy on them and he restores them to his favor and Unfortunately the history of Israel says the cycle starts all over again when he's restored them.

He's done something Miraculous to save them from the disciplines that he's had to bring upon them. And it starts all over again. Our children need to understand that this is the history of Israel. So that they can see what's happening in their life. They can see when they're beginning to grow cold, beginning to presume upon God, beginning to drift away from God, and they'll awaken to the reality of what's happening.

If our children don't understand the cycles that are present in the history of Israel, then they won't be asking themselves, where am I in this cycle? Am I in a time of spiritual prosperity where I'm beginning to grow drowsy, grow cold towards the Lord? And I'm beginning to presume upon God. And if these things will be before their eyes, they'll begin to identify where they are, so that they can adjust. Psalm 32 says this, verse 8 and 9.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you. God is desiring a people who he can guide with his eye. Have you ever watched really skillful parents do that?

They'll be in the middle of something. You'll be interacting with them. And they're parenting with their eyes. They're looking at their children. And they're having a parental effect.

They're guiding them with their eye. And in Psalm 32, that's set in contrast to a beast that you have to lead around by the nose. And Psalm 78 says, so often God's people have been a people that have to be led around by the nose, but what he desires is that he could parent us with his eye. The glance of God would be enough to send us in a new direction, because we're watching him, trustfully, our eyes upon him. And so when his gaze shifts, we take notice.

We take action. This is what God desires of his people. So we have all this list, this list of 11 negative examples. I say don't memorize the list, and don't buy a book, and don't make an acronym to remember this thing. Teaching the Bible when we're in our houses, when we're on the road, when we lie down, when we wake up.

We don't need an acronym. We just need a consistent pattern of opening the word of God and reading what God has done for his people through the centuries. That's all we need. And it will be like Psalm 1. We'll be like a tree planted by streams of water.

That tree has no unmet needs. Its leaf never withers. It's always bearing fruit in season. Because when we need to be rebuked, we'll be rebuked if we're in the Word of God every day. When we need to be encouraged, we'll be encouraged.

Everything that we need, we'll be having a consistent ongoing supply of. And we'll be like that tree planted right next to the stream. Number four, God judges his enemies and disciplines those he loves. And by the way, it can be really difficult to tell which is which sometimes. God judges his enemies and he disciplines those he loves.

In verses 17 through 20, the Israelites have been given manna, but they're despising the manna. And they ask for something better. Asaph calls it the food of their fancy. Manna's not fancy enough. Thanks for the provision, but no thanks.

We're tired of manna. Verses 21 and 22, therefore the Lord heard this and was furious. That phrase is said three times in the chapter, that God was furious. So a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel because they did not believe in God and did not trust in his salvation. The people grumbled against God, And God always hears it when we grumble.

And it always makes him furious. And he gave them what they were grumbling for as their discipline. You want meat? In comes the meat. And they're piled high in meat.

And it becomes actually the object of their judgment. And many, many were killed. It wasn't that they sought God when they were hungry. We ought to seek God when we need provision. It's that they had provision, but they weren't content with it.

It was a great sin against a generous father, and God disciplined them for it. Verses 32 and 33 says, In spite of this they still sinned and did not believe in His wondrous works. Therefore their days He consumed in futility and their years in fear. You must teach your children about the forty years in the wilderness. Where the people of God spent their years in futility.

Now there are some examples of futility in the Bible, but I don't know of anything that matches the 40 years in the wilderness, where they're just idling, waiting for everyone to die off so that then they can go on to the next thing. Talk about futility. Teach your children that if they do not honor God, If they rise up in their hearts against God, they'll be set aside to futility. And tell them about the 40 years in the wilderness when the people were just waiting to die. Verses 59 through 64.

We see God removing His presence from His people, with the symbol of his presence being the Ark of the Lord, and the Ark being taken from Shiloh by the Philistines. In verse 62 it says that God gave his people over to the sword. His providential protection is removed, and there's a slaughter of 30, 000 people. And it describes what those days were like. Weddings are suspended.

Weddings are suspended because the judgment of God has come upon them. And so the things that make life pleasant are done away with. And God's priests are killed and their widows don't even have the opportunity to mourn. There's not even the time to mourn the dead. And the ark of the Lord would never again return to Ephraim.

They fled in the day of adversity. They would never again be the home to the presence of God. Number five, God is full of mercy. If we teach them these first four things from Psalm 78, and we neglect number five, all is undone. God is the great character of Psalm 78, not the people of God.

The people of God are part of the story, but God is the central character of the story. And what we see over and over again is His mercy towards those who don't deserve mercy. And our children need to know that. Verses 38 and 39. But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them.

Yes, many a time he turned his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again. Psalm 78 is such a heavy read about unfaithfulness and about judgment. And yet, and yet, many times God turned away his anger. He was full of mercy.

In spite of, When you read this, it's very frustrating. When you read this, Psalm 78, you're waiting for God to bring down the hammer. Bring down the hammer. This people is a people that deserves to be destroyed. And we neglect the personal application of that.

And yet we see God so full of mercy. And the Psalm ends this way. And here's the punch line. The Psalm ends beginning in verse 68. But he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved.

And he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth, which he has established forever. He also chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds, from following the ewes that had young, he brought him. To shepherd Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. And yes, this is talking about David.

Interesting to see this from the Psalm of Asaph about this king who had appointed him. But David's just a type. David's just the first here in the line of Judah who would be a shepherd for his people. Psalm 23 is not about David. John 10 is not about David.

It's about the substance. David is just the shadow. Jesus Christ is the substance. If the history of God's goodness and greatness towards His people at the time of Asaph should have been the standard for the teaching of the children and the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren. How much more, now that we have the substance and not the shadow, we have Jesus Christ, our great shepherd of the sheep.

So much more of redemptive history we now have at our fingertips than even what Asaph was commending to the people of God in his time. And may Jesus Christ be the pinnacle of that. May our instructions end like Psalm 78 ends with a king, with a shepherd that would be raised up from the tribe of Judah to shepherd from the integrity of his heart with the skillfulness of his hands. May all our instructions be pointing to the substance. The shadow is beautiful.

We should teach the shadow. There's so much benefit in the shadow, but the substance is Jesus Christ. There are two applications. They're very simple. They're very quick.

Teach the Bible to your children every day. Teach the Bible. No matter what it costs, If it costs you your career, give up your career. If it costs you your home, give up your home. No matter what it costs, teach the Bible to your children every day.

In a way that is not teaching them about God, but is bringing them to know God. Heaven forbid that The teaching of the scriptures in our home should be an intellectual exercise. As if the mercies of God had not been poured out upon us, but we just have facts to impart. In Missionary Patriarch, the autobiography of John G. Paton, Paton speaks of the labors that his father had put forth to teach John G.

Paton and all of his siblings the things of God through the catechism. And he talks about how precious that is to him. But he talks about his other friends who'd also had the catechism taught to them and how they thought so differently about it. Here's what he says. It has been amazing to me, it has been an amazing thing to me occasionally to meet with men who blamed this catechizing for giving them a distaste to religion.

Everyone in all our circle thinks and feels exactly the opposite. It laid the solid rock foundations of our religious life. After years have given to these questions and their answers a deeper or a modified meaning, but none of us have ever once even dreamed of wishing that we had been otherwise trained. Of course, if the parents are not devout, sincere, and affectionate, if the whole affair on both sides is task work, or worse, hypocritical and false, results must be very different indeed. I fear that at the end of all our labors, our teaching of the things of God would have been task work.

And the hypocrisy that we're modeling in our homes would invalidate all of our labors. John G. Paton saw it with his eyes. And if we think that at the end, we'll not see any of that, we're naive. And it's worthwhile to ask ourselves, could this be us?

At the end of 20 years of labor, 25 years of labor, 30 years of labor, but not the labor that it should have been, Could we find that the whole thing has been task work? And what was intended to be a benefit to our children has given them a distaste for the things of God. John G. Paton saw this. And saw this.

As much as we're able, we're to give our children God Himself. Not things about God, but God Himself. May God give us the spirit of Jeremiah who says this in Jeremiah 20 verse 9, but if I say, I will not remember Him or speak any more in His name, then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones and I am weary of holding it in and I cannot endure it. May we have this spirit that burns inside of us. That if we try to be repositories only of the things of God, that it would burn in our bones and that we'd be weary of holding it in and unable to endure it.

The second application is train your children to teach the Bible to their children every day. The first was teach the Bible to your children every day. The second is train your children to teach the Bible to their children every day. Think downstream. Set your gaze beyond just your children, and Maybe even beyond your grandchildren, but set your gaze downstream.

Let's pray. Father, Psalm 78 is such a rich testimony of how faithful you've been to an unfaithful people. And God, we see in our own personal histories that we're a microcosm of that. How often we have drifted. And how faithful you've been to call us back.

Oh, thank you, God. God, we pray that you would help us in the duty that you've given to us. We feel so insufficient for these things. And yet we know that you had never intended that we would do these on our own, but that we would be joined with you to do them. Oh, God, make us faithful to this work.

May the good shepherd, The subject of Psalm 23, the subject of John 10. Always be at the forefront of our instruction so that our people see Jesus Christ. He's lifted up in our homes. May it be so in Jesus' name, amen.