great. Your will be done, my God and Father, as in heaven, so on earth. My heart is drawn to self-exalting, help me seek your kingdom first. As Jesus walked So I shall walk held by your same unchanging love. Be still, my soul. Oh, lift your voice and pray. Father, not my will, but yours be done. How in that garden he persisted I may never fully know The fearful weight of true obedience It was held by him alone What wondrous faith to bear that cross, To bear my sin, what wondrous love! My hope was sure when there my Savior prayed, Father, not my will, but Yours be done. When I am lost, when I am broken, in the night of fear and doubt, still I will trust in my good Father. Yes, to one great King I bow as Jesus rose, so I shall rise in ransomed glory at the throne my heart restored with all your saints I sing father not your will but mine be done As we go forth, our God and Father, lead us daily in the fight, that all the world might see your glory. And in this name we overcome, for you shall see us safely home. Now as your church, we lift our voice and pray, Father, not my will, but yours be done. And in this name we overcome, for you shall see us safely home. Now at your church, we lift our voice and pray, Father, not my will, but yours be done. Father, not my will, but yours be done. Father, not my will, but yours be done. Great. You may be seated. I'm going to switch over to this. That's mine. So I do want to say thank you, of course, of course, to having me back. It was good to be with you last year. It hardly seems like a year. We were talking about that, my wife and I, on the way over. And by the way, this is my wife, Yvette, over here sitting with Nikki. And we did serve for a few years over at Berean together, the Sturm family and the Andrews family. And it was great times together. And I just love your pastor to death. He is just a wonderful, wonderful expositor of the word is the first thing that comes to mind, but also a good friend. And you all know all of those things. So take the Word of God that you have with you and turn to Psalm 78. Psalm 78. It is a privilege to share the Word of God with you. And more than that, if you don't know, if you've never prepared a sermon, it's a privilege to walk alongside the text as it begins to minister to you. And one of the things that the pastor always is afraid of is saying nothing at all from all the things that you found in the text. And then the other thing is saying too much of all the things that you found in the text, so much so that you don't remember a thing. that I said when you leave, and this is the constant fear. And of course, I don't do this often, so it's even worse because I don't get a lot of practice to get that balance. I'm usually up there just doing the songs, and I love to preach, and I love the fact that your pastor has invited me to do this. And so let's get right into it. I'm aware of our time tonight, and we'll let you go to have your wonderful meeting. I only slightly say that in jest. Psalm 78. It is a long psalm. So we're going to only read the first eight verses. And then as we look at the first eight verses, we must talk about what's in the rest of the psalm. But if I read all of the psalm tonight, I would not be asked back. So Psalm 78. 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 our children, 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." Those laws, those commands, the testimony in Jacob. 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 then here is one of the main points tonight, 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 pray. Dear Heavenly Father, what an awesome privilege it is tonight to come and preach your word. And what a great passage. I always wanna thank my brother, Bill, for giving me this passage and the privilege that it is. I thank you for what it's done in my own life, and Lord, I pray that in just a few short minutes, I will be able to communicate the truth that will radically change our life if we let it. And we ask these things in your wonderful name, amen. Maybe you remember, because as I look out, we seem to be about the same age, OK? Being a little generous with some of you. There was a little campaign, an ad campaign when I was a child. And it was something like this. It was for orange juice. And it was orange juice, it's not just for breakfast anymore. Does anybody remember that or am I alone? OK. I'm maybe dating myself, or maybe I just watch too much TV or something. Which is kind of funny, because we didn't actually have a TV in our house until I was much older. So I'm going to steal that just a little bit, and I'm going to just change it just a little bit. And I understand that on Sunday mornings, you might be going through some of the stuff Moses wrote, has written, that the Spirit wrote through Moses. And so I'm gonna change this just a little bit, and I'm gonna say God's mighty acts, not just for Moses anymore. And so let's look at what we have in the scripture. The first thing I want you to notice as we read is that this is a psalm, it says of Asaph. It says at the top, a contemplation of Asaph, and that the author tells us directly what his intention is in his introduction. Okay? And so what we see is he says, So this is an instructional psalm. In fact, 72 verses, it's the history of the children of Israel and they're dealing with the God of the universe. Or you could say it the other way around, the history of the God of the universe dealing with His people, the children of Israel. The first thing I want you to know, and I've only got four things to know tonight, four points. The first one is God's greatness is for all generations. If you're writing down the points, that's the first one. God's greatness is for all generations. God's greatness then we could say is generational. God's power, his compassion, his historical acts are to be believed and known by all who would be his people. You cannot claim to be a believer and not care about what God has done. It's foundational to your own faith. And as I said, I've heard that you've been working through the books of Exodus, right? Is that what you're doing? Or is your harmonizing with Exodus? In the morning, working through Exodus. And you might be tempted when you hear about the plagues to say, so what? Why do I care about the children of Israel in Egypt? But can you notice for me in this Psalm how strongly this is worded? At the beginning, he says, pay attention, incline your ear. He doesn't give us a way of escape. He commands us to listen. He's going to use words like instruction, law, and commands many, many times in just these eight verses. We can't get around it. He makes a bold claim about the importance of this song or this poem or this historical narrative. I hope it's not hysterical. It's historical narrative. I love the NET translators give it this heading, a well-written song by Asaph. Okay, this would win the Dove Awards if they had them back then. I will utter dark sayings of old, not dark in theme, but insightful and deep, worth thinking about, worth spending a good chunk of your time and your life on it. Why? because they reveal who God is and what He is like and what He has done. I will open my mouth in a parable, he says. This is not to be confused necessarily with the parables of Jesus because we know with the parables of Jesus, it says in the scripture that he began to speak in parables so that the folks couldn't understand. But that doesn't make any sense because our author is saying, tell these to the children so they do understand. So what is this parable? Well, it seems to be, it seems to be, it's like a riddle. It's like wisdom. It's like a proverb. In fact, the word there for parable is translated, the word mashal is translated many times proverb. So these dark sayings, once again, the NET says it like this, I'm gonna sing a song that imparts wisdom. And I mentioned to you that I like to sing songs of theology that teach us that when we leave, you know, I never thought about it that way before. that take the scripture and make it rememberable. And this is what's going on in this psalm. This is exactly what's happening here. So my question, my first question for you tonight to prompt you, to provoke you to think is, do you care? And of course, I see folks coming on a Sunday night to hear the word of God, so I know the answer, but I can't assume it, I must ask it anyway. Did you come tonight for some wisdom? Do you want to know what God says about himself? The psalmist takes the first eight verses to lay out this purpose, namely to instruct each generation that comes along, each generation of human beings about God's mighty acts, and actually the sad report of the way humans in the past have interacted with him, the previous generation's unwillingness to faithfully obey him. That is, in fact, why we're going to focus on just these first eight verses tonight. And that, and like I said, if I preached all 72, I would not be asked back. And I think we got a good thing going. I don't want to mess that up. Here at the beginning, he reminds us that, or perhaps the singers that are gonna do this, if it was indeed a song, we're not sure. We never know about these psalms, poems, songs, just nice sayings. But he reminds us they've been commanded to continue to send the message down the generations. God's message is not intended to die with the next generation. In fact, I am not stretching this text in any way to say that this psalm tonight is for us. Are we not the generations of his people living many, many years later after this was written? So why do you think this is? And why do I say God's mighty acts are generational? Well, think about this. Think about the things you've been studying on Sunday morning. The events of the escape from Egypt were not witnessed by the folks that Asaph is writing to. Think about that. Let that sink in. The events The mighty acts of God are never witnessed by every generation. In fact, they're witnessed by very few. But we live in a culture that wants to show me something fantastic. Right? Running up and down the aisles, band going. Folks, that's not what we see here. We see a need to tell the generation that didn't see crossing across on the Red Sea. We see the need to remind them about the judgment of God because they don't see it in their life. They don't see frogs and hail and things. So it's important that we teach our children this. So therefore we can clearly understand it must be generational. The writer feels so important that we address this. He cannot be lazy or dismissive about his importance, and neither should we be. It's not like teaching your son how to replace the brake pads, or your daughter how to root for Michigan basketball. Or your favorite food, or well, you fill in the activity or thing that your family all knows about you, that granddad loves this, grandmother loves this. It's not just one thing to be learned in life. It's THE thing to be learned in life. Verse 7 tells us why. Verse 7 tells us why. Look what it says. That they may set their hope in God. That they may set their hope in God. Do we not live in a time when we see all those around us setting their hope in everything but God? How relevant this psalm is to us tonight. We have to pause and I want to just stop right here. If you don't hear anything else tonight, if I run out of time, this is the most important thing. You need to find a way to set your children's hope in God. And your children's children hope in God. And I don't want to be the preacher that comes and tells you the good news, the bad news, and gives you no way to do that. And so, we are going to look at some things that will help. You see, each daughter of a current believer parent needs to set their hope in God. Each son of a granddad who believes in God's mighty acts needs to set his hope in God. It's not that your grandmother set her hope in God. It's not that your dad set his hope in God. Not that Moses did. Not Aaron. Not the Levites. Not the elders do. Not the pastors do. In fact, the text goes out of its way for 60 plus more verses to describe how that just didn't work out. It didn't happen. It's generational. It can be gone in one lifetime. It's personal. Each individual must learn to set their hope in God. These acts in the worship and adoration of the God who performs them are never intended to die with the generation that sees them. God never plans generations of unbelievers. He celebrates when men turn to Him, Genesis 4, and kill them off when they don't, Exodus. If God was okay with being forgotten, why would He command His people over and over to tell the next generation? And more importantly, in the fullness of time, why would He speak with the greatest of clarity in the language of His Son, Hebrews chapter 1? This psalm is just another reminder and a long list of reminders to keep God's name of His promise and His commands. Secondly, God's plan is family and the plan for the family is educational. God's mighty acts are generational. God's plan is family, and the plan for the family is educational. Look how many times in this passage he says something about giving instruction, or listening, or telling. Commands is listed. That you're even commanded, one of the commands is to tell everybody about the commands. Okay? This is ultimate homeschool, people. This is where God should be learned, at home. And if you're not doing that, where are they gonna find that? It's not gonna be in these schools. It's gotta be in your school. And dad, mom, if you haven't done it well, it's not too late. Just pick up the banner and start running. How do I know this plan? Malachi 2.15 tells me. It's easy for me to remember this verse because I have a grandson named Malachi. and he is my offspring. So here's the interesting thing that we learn in Malachi 2.14. God takes them to task for divorcing or marrying foreign wives and treating the wife of their youth, the wife of their covenant, treacherously. And it's really interesting why God is so upset with that. You know what he says? He said, my spirit, God, I, my spirit entered with you and your wife into a covenant. We became one. And what was I looking for? He says, godly offspring. I am not stretching it in any way, shape, or form to tell you the purpose of God putting families on this earth is so that His greatness will be remembered in the next generation. In fact, that is the purpose. God gives parents this job. God wants you to raise godly children. Now, we can stop here, and this would be a wonderful message. A good reminder, yes, we came to the house of the Lord and we got something. But I'm afraid it really wouldn't live up to the hype that he talks about at the beginning. I'm going to utter a dark saying of old and a parable. So what is he looking for? What are we supposed to see? You see, the worship leader Asaph promised us some deep truth, a good nugget, a song worthy of the Dove Awards, and in order to begin to get our heads around it, we need to know what lies in the rest of the psalm. But as I said, I don't have the time to tell you anything but a quick and brief overview, and I want us to look at three verses, and then we'll be done. We see that in the rest of this historical psalm, an accounting, a recounting of the very specific history of the relationship between God and his people. This is critical for us to understand. We're going to see something amazing and it's going to be fantastic. In fact, guaranteed are your money back. He goes all the way back to Egypt, calling them sons of Ephraim, son of Joseph, back to Egypt with the very first blessing. Think about this, folks. The very first blessing that God gave the children of Israel was the ability to outnumber their captors. What eventually moved Pharaoh, besides God, we know that Pharaoh moved God, it was this fear of the number of the children of Israel. That's what moved them to increase their work. Over and over we went as Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh. This was a constant reminder. But if we don't think about it as a blessing. God gave the Israelites the ability to outnumber. What am I saying? He gave them the ability to have big families. And this was important, to have children. He recounts to them their generation forgot God, their grandparents, that generation that saw those plagues. They forgot God. We find that out later in this passage. They forgot God's amazing work and deliverance from Egypt, turning the water to blood, flies, frogs, locusts, hail, and even killing the firstborn. He divided the waters. He led them in the wilderness. He gave them water in a land that didn't have water. He gave them food when they didn't grow or farm it. He cooled them in a hot climate with winds. He, in verse 54 of this chapter, led them to the border. And if you've got time later on, read this verse. It's amazing. It's worth a whole other sermon. He led them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand has purchased. God, as your realtor and your banker, not bad. Why are you telling us this, Asaph? Is it alone that God is good? Check, check, we get it. No, unfortunately, there's just a little bit more. You see, in between all of the mighty acts of God is woven a frightful record of his people and their disobedience and unbelief. So I want you to look at verse 40. We've got two verses to look at, five minutes to do it. Right, brother? We're good. 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. How oft, can you hear the author's plea? It's like when you're dealing with your children. How many times have I warned you about that, this or that? And it's not like the good one, like, you know, how many times I told you to put your socks away. Something devastating in their life. We warned you over and over and over, child. And still you thought you should partake. And now you're living with the horrible consequences thereof. It's the pleading of the passage. Do you hear it? They provoked him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert. You're shocked. I can see it. This makes no sense. If I had a God like that who provided stuff from the sky I didn't have to care for and I didn't have to farm and he brought me and he gave me water out of rocks in a climate where there wasn't water, I would treat him like... Would we? Would we? So we've seen that God's mighty acts are generational. We've seen that his plan is family and it's educational. Now we see that despite all he has done, that disobedience is irrational or unbelievable. We don't have to stay here long. That's all we need to say about it. It makes no sense. So what is this proverb? What is this dark saying? Well, the dark saying is, why? Why am I like this? Why are the people of God like this? When God does such mighty acts, why are they like this? Now, I promised you something good for your faithful attendance tonight. So here it is. A lot of order, but this is the way they wrote it. I'm sorry. Look at verse number 38. You're not supposed to do this. 40 and then 38. But I did not pen this book. Look at 38. But he being full of compassion, what does it say? Forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. What? Yes, many a time he turned his anger away and did not stir them up, all his wrath. For he remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passeth away and does not come again. But he, God, being full of compassion, forgave them their iniquity and destroyed them not. Yea, many a time turned his anger away. What is this great parable tonight? Do you want a dark saying? Here it is. God's compassion and restraint is sensational. It's sensational. Now we hear that word all the time. And I got to tell you, it doesn't live up to that word. But what I'm going to tell you does. We're wrapping it up. Ask the question of the text with me and we'll be done. Are you ready for the question? Do you see the great parable, the wisdom truth, the thing that defies logic and stretches our capacity to understand? Do you hear it calling from deep within your soul? Why? Why God? Now, I'm not talking about why do bad things happen to good people or why are there starving children in Africa, but why God? Are your people so unfaithful? It hurts. After everything you've done, it's depressing. What have you gotten us into tonight, preacher? Have you brought us to the edge just to look out at the promised land? Just to say, you can't go in. It's depressing, that is, until you ask the next question, and that is the most humbling of all questions, the question that brings us hope and life, purpose and meaning, and it is this. Why? Why, God, are you like that? So faithful, compassionate, and forgiving when I am not. When your people abandon you and they are ungrateful, why do you not pour out the full measure of your wrath? You certainly are able. No one would blame you. This, friend, is the question of life that you need to teach your children and you, in fact, need to pursue. Why? The answer comes storming back. Who is like our God? And it comes rushing back. No one. No one is like our God. Why? Because He made the mountains? Why? Because He can topple armies? Why? Because He brings nations up and tears them down? No. Because He can hold back His own wrath on flesh. And hold back His own wrath on this flesh that deserves to be destroyed. on the creature who despises his blessing. God's restraint is sensational. It's the greatest report you're going to hear. It's the most important lesson we teach our children if we don't want them going down the same miserable path. Mark it down. Please circle it in your Bible, verse number 38. You're going to circle two things. You see the phrase many a time, circle it. often, many a time, then go down to that little world all and circle that too. And if that wasn't good enough, I want you to look at verse number 70. Verse number 70. God's gift to the Israelites. He also chose David, his servant, took him from the sheepfolds, from following the ewes that had young. He brought them to shepherd Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance. And this is so good. Look at this. Verse number 72. So he, David, shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart and the skillfulness of his hands. Look, folks, David was great. And for a time he made Jerusalem the finest place to live for the people of God. But we all know how that story ended. But one day on a hill called Calvary, God the Father used that little word one more time, but this time in an unusual and an unbelievable twist, he placed all of his wrath on his own son, for his people. Not on me, that would make sense. But no, he put it on Jesus. For those who would be heirs, we have a shepherd with a heart beyond David's integrity. Do you see it now? Do you hear it now? The great question which must be stirred up from generation to generation, do you see why we must? Skillful hands of Jesus. The skillful hands of Christ our Lord. Let's pray.