The psalm of Asaf is a call to listen to his teaching, an exhortation to teach our children of the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonders that he has done. We're not to hide these deeds from our children, but to tell the coming generation, he says in verse four. First we must consider then the exhortation and its significance before we work our way through the deeds of God as recounted in this psalm. We have a responsibility to teach these deeds to the next generation. So what is the exhortation that Asaph begins with? We must tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonders he has done. Why? Why do we need to tell the coming generation of God's deeds? Quite simply, first and foremost, because God has commanded this. He commanded our fathers to teach the law and testimony that he established to their children. And the reason then for this is so that the next generation would also know that the law and testimony that God had established with his people. In other words, how are the next generation to know of God and his commandments and his statutes if the preceding generation keeps quiet? We must not hide these things from our children. God has commanded it to be told. And in turn, this generation would teach the next generation so that we should not forget the works of God, but that we would keep his commandments and not be like the stubborn, rebellious and unfaithful generation before them. And that's why we read Deuteronomy 6, that makes it very clear. We must be those who teach our children. Even if they don't want to hear. Even if they don't want to listen to what Dad says. We still teach them. We still tell them the commandments of God because this is what God has commanded us to do. And we could end there, couldn't we? We could just say, full stop, that's it. That's enough. God has commanded, that's all we need to do. The emphasis of this passage then is to teach the commandments of God which are reiterated then in Deuteronomy 5. Summarise, as love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and might in Deuteronomy 6. That is the law and testimony that is to be taught. The emphasis is on the moral law of God, obedience to the Lord's commandments, and love for God who wrote them. He has commanded that we teach them that is sufficient. But we need to say more. We need to elaborate. Because you and I have a clear responsibility to teach our children. And the responsibility, that responsibility lies on the fathers. Does that mean that those of you who are not fathers can switch off, zone out? Of course not. The word of God comes to us all. It is particularly to those of us who are fathers but it is also to those of you who know fathers, to be encouraging fathers to live up and fulfill this responsibility and this calling. It is to those of you who might become fathers. And I think as we move through and consider this responsibility that is laid upon Fathers, we'll see the need that there is to be holding those you know to be fathers to account. This is an awesome responsibility that we have as fathers to teach our children. It is our responsibility to instruct our children in the commands of God. We cannot abdicate this responsibility to anyone else. And I think this is the problem that we face in modern society. We face a society which has seen the rise of strident feminism. We see the belittling of the role of the husband and the father in the home. And we see the destruction of the fabric of our society as a result and a consequence of this. I think someone has said that the problem isn't strong women, the problem is weak men. We have a tendency as men to abdicate our responsibility too quickly. To give it up. We want an easy life, we want a life of comfort and ease and we don't want to take responsibility. But God's word commands us to take responsibility. We cannot abdicate that to the church. We cannot abdicate it to a Sunday school. We cannot abdicate it to our wives. Fathers, this is your responsibility to teach your children not to hide the great works of God from the coming generation. To put it one way, Men, you need to man up and fulfil your responsibility. But you say, well, the church, the elders, Sunday school teachers can do such a better job than me. Wrong. You are the one to teach your children. You're the one they see every day. You see, teaching our children is not just about instruction. It's not just opening the Bible and teaching them to learn the commandments and the way of God. It's more than catechising them. It's a good thing to catechise them, teaching them the things of God. It is all these things, but it's so much more, too. Because we are teaching our children in every interaction that we have with them. In everything that they see you do, in your interactions with others, you are teaching them. And what are they learning? When they hear us speak at home to our wife, what are they learning? Are they learning how God's command to a husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church works out? Yes, they are. They are learning that. And what does it look like in your home? Are you selflessly serving your wife as an example to your children, or are you short, uncommunicative, harsh? When they hear us speak about the church, what are they learning? Are they learning how much you value the teaching and the fellowship of the saints? Are they learning how much you value the ministry and how much you support the local body? Well, yes they are. And what does it look like? Are you saying how the ministry helped you this week? How it challenged you? How it encouraged you? How it convicted you? Or do you run the church down? Do you focus on what the pastor didn't say? Or how long the message was? Or were you critical of the hymns or the songs or the music that were or weren't used? What about your attitude in going to church? Is the friendly smile that you wear when you get to the door the same as the expression that you leave your home with? Did you leave with eager anticipation at the ministry and fellowship you're about to receive and participate in? Are you teaching your children that attending church is a wonderful privilege or a wearisome chore? God has commanded us not to give up meeting together. Do you reinforce this command? When they hear you speak about other people, what are they learning? How much you respect and how much you love your neighbour? Or that it's OK to criticise? When they see you respond to pressure? We've had a bad day at work. What are they learning about our submission to authority when the boss has made our life difficult? What are they learning about God's commands in relation to responding to trials? Are you showing your children what it means to count it all joy under trials of many kinds? when they see our priorities, the way we spend our time, what are we teaching them? How are we training them to redeem the time that we're given? Is it well spent or is it spent slumped in front of the TV? We could go on with a range of scenarios. The point is that we must be careful exactly what we teach our children because we are teaching our children in every interaction that we have with them. So therefore we must teach them not only the commandments themselves but we must show them what it looks like to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and might. We're not to hide the commandments from our children. That is what the psalmist is beginning with. This is the exhortation. Don't hide the commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Don't hide that. under the stress of society, under the stress and pressure of your job, under your character flaws or traits. Don't hide these things from your children. Show them what it looks like. Show them what the grace of God looks like. Confess your sin against them. Seek their forgiveness when you've been unreasonable and exasperating and unjustly angry. Tell them that you're a sinner. Tell them though that Jesus saves even the chief of sinners. Don't teach your children that being a Christian is pretending to be perfect because you're not perfect and no Christian is. Make sure that they're in no doubt, that they understand that you and they are sinners who stand before a holy God to whom an account must be given of the life that you're living. And that as such, you and they must repent of that sin and personally trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross. That he alone is the way, the truth, and the life. Don't teach them to be hypocrites. Teach them to love the Lord Jesus by showing them what that looks like. Inconsistent, godly, biblical living. Doing this will be a commendation then of the Christian life. So they should set their hope in God. So that's the exhortation. That is an amplification of the exhortation, perhaps of what Asaf intends in terms of not hiding the commandments from the coming generation. But it's important that we understand the full spectrum of what it means to teach our children the commands and the ways of God, and the full nature of this opening exhortation as it applies to us today. You can see what a responsibility it is that is laid on fathers. You can see then that we fathers need your help. We need your prayers. We need your exhortation, your encouragement. We need your rebuke. We need your challenge. We need to be held to account because we do such a pitiful job of this. The fathers in this congregation need the prayers of this congregation. That's the exhortation. Fathers, teach your children. The second component then as we work our way through this psalm is what are the deeds of the Lord that are to be recounted? How do we flesh out the commands of God and the deeds of God then? The deeds of the Lord are what is to be recounted here. We must learn from the past. We must learn from past sins in our own life, as well as learning from the history recorded in the Bible. Romans 15 verse 4 says, For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. That reiterates verse 7 of this psalm. So that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. We must learn from Israel's failures to avoid repeating them and we must teach this to our children. Well what are the deeds then of the law that are reviewed here? How do they instruct us today? How do we avoid this simply becoming a history lesson? This section begins then with the Ephraimites in verse 9. So the Ephraimites armed with the bow turned back on the day of battle we're told. This event is not elsewhere presented, recorded in scripture, the day when Ephraim turned back on the day of battle. Why Ephraim and why this event? Why is the psalmist focusing on this event? The psalm concludes with the reminder that God rejected Ephraim as the tribe out of which his king should come. It would not be Ephraim but it would be Judah. in spite of the prominence of Ephraim. This is the half-tribe of Joseph, remember, who was so prominent in Egypt. The tribe was the largest, the most prominent at the time of the conquest of the Promised Land. But by now, Psalm 78, when Asaph is writing, Judah has eclipsed them. God has rejected the tent of Joseph, the tabernacle was initially at Shiloh, in Ephraim's territory. But it was then removed from Shiloh to Jerusalem, which is in Judah's territory. That is why the historical review begins with Ephraim. In other words, it is standing as a warning to us. Faithlessness, sin, brings consequences and it brings judgement. Well what was Ephraim's problem? Ephraim's problem was forgetfulness. Verse 10 to 16. They did not keep God's covenant. They refused to walk according to his law and they forgot his works. They'd forgotten the wonders that they'd seen. The wonders in the land of Egypt. The division of the sea, the Red Sea. The leading of the people with a pillar of cloud by day and fire at night. giving them water from the rock, sustaining life in the wilderness. They've forgotten that. The psalm later makes it clear that this wasn't just Ephraim's problem. It applied to all of Israel. But it seems that Ephraim's sin was compounded by this otherwise unrecorded incident when they refused to fight. Although armed, Verse 9 says the Ephraimites armed with the bow turned back. It wasn't that they weren't equipped to fight and turned back, they were armed but they turned back. In other words, they forsook their brothers. This was a cowardly and a selfish act. The next stanza, enter verse 17. The psalmist continues recounting the faithlessness of Ephraim. And also, verse 21, of Israel. A fire was kindled against Jacob, his anger rose against Israel because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power. In other words, it's not just Ephraim's problem, it is also Israel's problem. They rebelled against God. They sinned still more. As if what was already recounted wasn't enough, they rebelled against God, testing Him in their hearts, speaking against Him. In summary, verse 22 says they did not believe in God. They did not trust His saving power. The people were dissatisfied with what God had done. They wanted more and they thought that the reason they didn't get more The reason they didn't get what they wanted was because God couldn't deliver. They put God to the test and in doing so directly contravened the laws teaching in Deuteronomy 6 verse 16. You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. As you tested him in Mass. They had failed to remember the Lord's commands. This is in spite of having manna rained down upon them, described as the bread of angels, food in abundance, as well as quail, the meat they craved, verse 29. They ate and they were all filled, and their complaint was, can God spread a table in the wilderness? They were craving the cucumbers and the onions of Egypt, along with the life that they had lived there. conveniently forgetting their enslavement and bondage to their Egyptian masters. The result of this rebellion, they failed to believe in God, they failed to trust his saving power. The result was their death under the just anger of God, verse 31. He killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel. who had provided them with all things necessary for life, the food, the food, water, in the middle of the wilderness, in the middle of desert, nothing to eat, nothing to drink, but God has provided and he has sustained this people, but they've forgotten. It's not enough. I want more, more, all the time more. And they brought the judgment of God upon them. He killed the strongest of them. That's interesting, isn't it? Because this isn't the weeding out of the weak. This isn't survival of the fittest. Not God removing the weaker stock from Israel, from the camp and the gene pool. This was evidently the judgment of God. The strongest of them died. The young men, the virile youth of Israel died under the judgment of God. Status in this world, strength in this world, youth in this world count for nothing. God judges the people for their sin. It's the same today. who disbelieve him when he calls men and women and children to repentance, to come to trust his Son for eternal life, to trust in his provision for life, the true bread of heaven, the bread of life that he has provided, that we have spiritual life forever. He has provided, you see, salvation for us in Christ and in Christ alone. He has displayed his saving power to us at Calvary. And if you don't believe him, if you want more, it's not enough for you. You don't trust his saving power. You will perish under the judgment of God who will rise up against you in your rebellion and call you to account when you leave this life. Into verse 32 and you can sense the incredulity in spite of all this. So God's anger has risen up against him. He's killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel in spite of this judgment. They still sinned, despite his wonders. They did not believe. You can sense the incredulity of Asaf here. All their wonders, God's provision, God's punishment, they still sinned. They still did not believe. And the result was more judgments. Their days vanished like a breath, verse 33. And their years in terror. This probably refers to the promise to Israel that this unbelieving generation that came out of Egypt would not enter the Promised Land because they refused to believe that God could give them the land. Remember that's The reason why they didn't go through into the promised land, they were in the wilderness for 40 years, they didn't trust God to deliver them, their enemies, into their hands. They looked at the Ammonites, they looked at the Ammonites there, the giants as they saw them in the land. Oh, well, we can't fight these. Oh, no, no, we're not strong enough. Because they were trusting in themselves. They disbelieved God. because they refused to believe that God could give them the land. And so they were destined to die in the wilderness, except for Caleb and Joshua, whose faith had not wavered. This is what we see today. People don't cry out in repentance in disasters. What do people do when there's a natural disaster? When people face their own disasters, they lose members of the family in accidents and car crashes or sickness. They don't cry out in repentance and being struck by the shortness and brevity of life. They blame God. Oh, where was God? Why didn't God present this? And they shake their puny little fists and blame God for all of their unhappiness. Yet in verse 34, the psalmist records that finally, at last, when God has killed them, they sought him, the remainder sought him. They repented, they sought God earnestly. And they remembered who God is. They remembered that God was their rock, verse 35, the most high God, their redeemer, the one who had redeemed them from slavery in Egypt. Perhaps this relates to the generation that was about to enter the Promised Land. Because that generation then, about to enter the Promised Land, affirmed to Joshua that they would follow the Lord. Turn to Joshua 24. And we'll see this affirmation in verse 14. Now, therefore, fear the Lord, says Joshua, saying, Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord. Then the people answered, For it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery and who did these those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord for he is our God. There's an earnest. Earnestness here, isn't there? This generation, they remembered that God was their rock, the most high God, their Redeemer. But, verse 36, but they flattered him with their mouths. They lied to him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast towards him. They were not faithful to his covenant. The lesson we learn is that earnestness is not enough. It is not enough to be earnest. Mere flattery and deceit. There's no change of heart. The tears they cried were crocodile tears. They weren't genuine. They might have appeared earnest, but the reality was quite different. Their hearts were not steadfast towards God, nor faithful to His covenant. There was no honest acknowledgement of their sin. There was no appeal to God's grace. They were just keeping up appearances. They wanted to keep up with Joshua. Does that describe you? Are you here to steep up appearances? Do you say all the right things, when in reality your heart is far from God? We need to examine ourselves, don't we? Because you see, in spite of Israel's flattery, verse 38 speaks of God's compassion and atonement. He restrained his anger, often. and did not stir up all his wrath, which would surely have destroyed them in a moment. God rather remembered that they were but flesh, verse 39, a mere wind, a mere breath. We see here the mercy and the grace of a forgiving God. And this is how God deals with us. He doesn't treat us as our sin deserves. He's restrained his anger. He's atoned for our iniquity. And he has done so by spending his wrath on his son at Calvary. His anger is turned aside by Jesus in that act of propitiation where he drained the cup of wrath to its dregs so that we would experience none of it. His blood was shed so that our sin would be atoned for. And in return for our sin that was imputed to him at the cross, As we were reminded this morning, we have his perfect righteousness, his robe of righteousness, a garment of salvation. And so we are reconciled as sinners with a holy God and we are not destroyed. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and he holds out the free offer of the gospel. Today, God's mercy is calling you to a genuine repentance. He's not calling you to flatter him. He's calling you to repent. Believe upon him. Trust in his saving power. Put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Why will you die? And yet, as this psalm continues, this is what some in Israel continue to do. Verse 42, they rebelled against God. They grieved him in the desert. They provoked the Holy One of Israel. They forgot his power, which is further recounted in verses 43 to 45, again returning to the miracles in Egypt. And those verses go through and recount the plagues then, verses 45 through to 51. And then the leading again of his people out of the wilderness, through the sea, which overwhelmed their enemies, brought them into the promised land. the glorious deeds of the Lord and his might and the wonders that he has done. Bringing these people out of the wilderness into the promised land, driving out the nations and giving Israel the possessions, then settling the tribes of Israel in their tents, verse 55. So we see in these verses the power of God, His glorious works, the deliverance of His people out of slavery, display of might in Egypt, through the Red Sea, leading them in safety into the Promised Land. But what's Israel's response? They're in the Promised Land. Verse 56, yet they tested, rebelled against the Most High God. did not keep his testimonies, turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers. No better than the generation that died in the wilderness. They'd learned nothing. They even committed idolatry in the land. That's the story of judges. Rebellion after rebellion after rebellion, interspersed with a superficial repentance, raising up of a judge. But Israel had no king in those days, and each man did as he saw fit. They would quickly return to their old ways once they had been delivered from the oppression. of their enemies. Their hearts were not steadfast towards God. As one commentator has pointed out, this psalm has recounted miracles, the plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, provision, manna from heaven, water from the rock, quail, judgment, killing of Israel's strongest for their sin, mercy, atoning for their iniquity, withholding the full measure of his anger. But in spite of all of this, Rebellion and unbelief continues and goes on. Why? Because they did not remember God's power. Because they had forgotten God's redemption. They had forgotten what God had done for them. Have you forgotten what God has done for you? If you forget God's power to save and redeem from sin and its enslavement, the end result will be the shipwreck of your pretended faith. If you forget what your redemption costs, which is the lifeblood of God's Son, Jesus Christ, you will not trust God in times of trials and temptation, and you will cease to love him who came to seek and to save that which was lost. How can we be forgetful of the Lord who has forgiven us and saved us? Is it possible? Look at your life. Have you attained perfection? Why not? Because you've forgotten in some measure God's power to save and the full cost of redeeming love and you have yielded to that old nature once again. In fact, time after time after time we yield again to that old nature and we are just like Israel. You see, if we read this passage and think, oh, that's Israel, that doesn't apply to me. We think we're somehow superior, we're somehow better, then we've not understood our hearts. We need to see in Israel's rebellion and forgetfulness a mirror of our own lives. You see, we have forgotten in some measure the power of God to save us, the full cost of his redeeming love yielding to that old nature. when we don't need to yield to it any longer because Christ has destroyed the power of sin in the believer's life. That's what Romans 5 and 6 is all about. But of course Romans 5 and 6 is followed by Romans 7 which reminds us of that power of sin that remains. We all then have a measure of Israel's unbelief We all have a measure of Israel's unfaithfulness remaining in us. And we will do until we pass from this life into eternity. And the events that are accounted in this psalm then, which we'll be teaching our children, picture our salvation. We're redeemed from slavery to sin. We're miraculously regenerated. We're recipients of abundant provision. We have all we need for life and godliness. We know and experience the discipline of God as he deals with our ongoing heart condition, that heart which remains deceitful. And we receive mercy upon mercy. His mercies are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Oh God, my father. But unlike Israel's ongoing rebellion in the promised land, When we cross the Jordan into our inheritance, we shall be freed from all sin. We shall be perfected and we shall go to be with our God forever. But the lesson that we learn is that we must not live in a settled forgetfulness of God's power, of God's provision, of God's judgment, of God's mercy. We do forget, we all of us forget. At some stage we forget, we're forgetful, aren't we? Because we slip and we fall, we sin, we fall short. But by the grace of our God he restores us and we are brought back to our senses. We all sin but we must not be content with that. We must not be in a settled rebellion and forgetfulness of our God. Because to live in such a settled forgetfulness is to show that we were never saved. Which is the message elsewhere in scripture of 1 John. We cannot continue in sin. Yes, we will continue to sin until we die. But we must not be settled in that sinful nature, in that sinful condition. We must not be satisfied with that condition. It mustn't be our settled habit. We must daily, indeed more frequently, come confessing our sin before our gracious and our merciful and our loving God. because we have an advocate at the right hand of our Father, even the Lord Jesus Christ. If you continue unrepentant, you face the judgment of God. That's the message of this psalm. If you continue rebelling, if you continue forgetful, you face the judgement of God who was full of wrath and utterly rejected Israel. He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh and accordingly he forsook Joseph's tent and he turned this rebellious people over to destruction. Verses 59-64 of this psalm. Until finally restoring just one tribe, Judah, and raising up David, which is described then in the last part of this psalm, verses 65 to 72. An act of restoration means there is hope for all who would repent because this act of restoration displays to us the mercy of God and it was through David that Messiah came, the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Son of David. Note the contrast though with what was said of the strong in Israel who were killed in their rebellion. David's pedigree then, when he was anointed, was not as a mighty warrior. He was a shepherd boy. He was despised by his family. But God made him great. God took him from the sheepfolds to shepherd his people. God opposes the proud. but he exalts the humble and gives the humble grace. What's the remedy? What's the remedy to this unfaithful disbelief and forgetfulness, putting the Lord to the test with treacherous dealings, rebellion, and settled idolatry? In humility, remember what God has done. Remember his power. Remember his mercy. Remember Remember his judgment. Remember his holy hatred of sin. Remember his gracious provision of all things needful in your life. Remember his son. Remember his redemption. Remember his grace. Remember his love. Remember his atonement. Remember his propitiation. Remember the forgiveness of sins that comes through the shedding of his blood. Remember his promises. I will never leave you nor forsake you. I am with you to the end of the age. Remember His commandments. Remember to love Him with all your heart and your mind and your soul and your strength, for He has so signally loved you, believer in Christ. Learn from the mistakes that Israel made. Don't return to sinning. Serve your Saviour. And fathers, this is what you are to teach your children. teach them about the powerful, holy, majestic, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, faithful God whom we serve by the power of his spirit and in his son and may our children see him formed in us more clearly day by day so that they too would set their hope in God and not forget his wonderful and powerful and gracious work.