All right. So in the psalm that we're going to be looking at today, there's actually a reference to what I see as nine different stories in the Old Testament. And they land in between these two stories. All right, so we've got the story of Moses being born, which is all the way at the beginning of the book of Exodus. And before we have the story of Saul becoming king, we've got the story of the Philistines capturing the Ark of the Covenant. Do you guys remember the story of the Philistines capturing the Ark of the Covenant? That was where the Israelites, they treated the Ark of the Covenant as if it was a magic talisman. I'm not sure what other term to use that you guys would recognize. Like a magic eight ball or whatever. It's like it could do magic for them. Right? And they took it to war thinking that, oh, just because they had it with them, they would be taken care of. But that's not what happened, was it? The Philistines actually ended up capturing it and the Israelites were miserable. All right. In between that, we've got a whole bunch of other stories. So what we're going to do today for the children's message is I'm going to have you pull a Pull a story out of my bag here, and then we're going to figure out where the story lands in time, okay? All right, so, Tierra, you're sitting up in front, and I appreciate that, so I'm going to let you be first. Pull one of the stories out. Okay? Open it up, and... Can you read it? What does it say? Can you read those words? No, you can't read it. Okay. So this is what he pulled out. God sent the angel of death on all the firstborn of Egypt. So here's my question. So I'll ask you, Tira, first. Did that angel of death, did that happen before the story of the manna coming down or after the story of manna? I'm asking Tira. Do you have a new name? Was it before or after? Before. That's right, it was before. Okay. Well, that one's no good. Well, not a very good pen. Can you see that? Can you guys see it even though it's not very good? I'll use the black one. All right. My turn. All right. Let's see, do we have any kids sitting next to an adult? Me! Me! Me! Isaiah, you're sitting next to an adult, so I'm going to let you pick one. Alright? You pick one and you have the adult read it, okay? Pick one out of there. I'll eat this eating up here nice and quiet Did you read it? God divided the Red Sea, floor of cloud and pillar of fire. Okay, do you remember that story where the Israelites got to the Red Sea and they didn't know what to do? And God divided the sea so they could walk through? And how did God lead them? The pillar of fire at night, and what was it during the day? Pillar of clouds, that's right. And who was following them? The slave drivers, yeah. Who was that, kids? Who was the slave drivers? Pharaoh and the people of Egypt, right? Okay, so where does this story land? Where on the board does it land? Sometime after Moses, sometime before the Philistines captured the Ark. Somewhere in here, where does it land? So, Ethan, where do you think? Pardon me? Sometime after Moses, is it before Mina? Between Moses and Manet, yes it is. Okay, it happened. Okay, so we've got the parting of the Red Sea right here. Okay, let's see who's being good for me today. Devin, you're being so good. I'm going to let you do it. The Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant. Okay, so we already have up there the plague of the death of the first one the angel of death But before that one which was the worst of all the plagues there were nine other plagues first the river was turned to blood and then there were all kinds of other things including flies, frogs, and all the other things that they did to Pharaoh and the people of Egypt to convince him to let them go. All right, Devin, where does this land? All the way to the top, that's right, okay. The ocean was right here, the parting of the Red Sea. Yeah, right there. All right, who's ready for kick next? Really? Only Jannie wants to. All right, well, you're so well involved, go for it. Here we go. God cursed the walls of Jericho to fall. Cause the walls of Jericho to fall remember that that the Israelites they were Marching around they were marching around the walls Seven times and then after the seventh time they did a they were first they were doing it all quiet And then after the seventh time they started real loud, and then what happened? All the walls came falling down right By the way who was the one person out of Jericho that got saved do you remember I? The one person up, Eden, Rahab and her family, that's right. Okay, Jannie, where does that story land on this board? Next to Moses. What? Next to, no, there's no more room up next to Moses. You're down, it's gotta be down here somewhere. Right here. I didn't know your name was Jannie. No, no. Yeah, my name is Jordan. Alright, I'll make it real easy for you. Is it before mana or after the mana? After. After is correct, yes. After the mana, okay. Yay! Okay, any other volunteers? Andrew! God sent quail for meat. Okay, you remember that story Andrew? Right, so the people were all grumbling because they were sick of the manna. By the way, do you know what manna means? Anybody know what the manna means? What is it? That's what the name means, manna. You know that God can do all kinds of things, even things that we don't even know about. Sometimes when we need something, we don't even know what the answer is that we need, but God knows the answer. And sometimes He can even make it a miraculous thing that we've never even heard of before. And so then you've got something like manna. All right, so God sent the quail because they were complaining about the manna. The manna that was food from heaven, food of angels. And they weren't satisfied. They were unhappy. They said, oh, we want meat. And so God said, fine, you want meat, I'll send you meat. So he sends a whole bunch of quail into the camp. And all they got to do is put their hands out and pull it down. But no sooner than they had their food going into their mouth and they're getting sick on it. Kind of a sad story. But nevertheless, Andrew, does that story happen before the manna or after the manna? After the manna. After the manna is correct. That's right. Ah, now you can put it in your pocket. Alright, let's see, I've got two more. Any volunteers? Volunteers? Okay. Well, Ethan, you already had one. Somebody else? Moby, is that a hand? That was two hands. Moby really wants to do it. Alright, Moby. Thank you for volunteering. All the stories of the Book of Judges. So now in the psalm that we're going to be looking at today, it doesn't specify any specific story in the Book of Judges, but it does refer to them. And what happened in the Book of Judges constantly? You remember this? Now all of you heard my stories because you were pretty much all there on Friday youth night when I was telling these stories over the last year. But you'll remember that in the book of Judges, they forgot about God, and God brought them trouble, and they remembered God, they asked for God's help, God helped them, and then they forgot about God, and so God sent them trouble, and then God got them out of the trouble, and they kept going the cycle back and forth and back and forth. Okay, do you guys remember that, what was happening in those books? Okay, Samson and Gideon and all of those stories. Alright. Did that happen before the manna, or after the Jericho? Moby. No, what's your second guess? It's either there or there. It's not there, so where is it? There. That's right. Oh, you're ready to take the easiest one. Okay. God split the rock and water gushed out. Remember that story where they got on the other side of the Red Sea, they finally went through and of course it's all desert there so they started getting real thirsty. And they were getting kind of bitter about it, right? They were kind of unhappy and complaining to God. And then God said, well, I'll take care of you. God provided for them. And how did he do it? Do you remember? What was the method that Moses used to bring out the water from the rock? No, he took the staff. He had a staff and he and he hit it He hit the rock with the staff and the water just came out. Okay, so MJ does that come after the parting of the Red Sea or before the manna? Okay, so let me ask you this question you guys I How many of you heard most of these stories? Who did you hear them from? You! Uncle Josh! That's true, yeah. I shared a lot of those stories with you. It's important that the adults share the stories of the Bible with the children. Let me ask you this. Are all these stories true or are they just fun stories? They're absolutely true. But just because they're true, does that mean that there's nothing to learn from them? Can we learn stuff from these stories? Yes, we sure can. Absolutely. Now, all those stories, they happen to the Israelites. So do those stories belong only to the Jews? Are they only for the Jews to have as part of their culture? Or is it also part of our culture? Do we get to enjoy those stories for ourselves? It's for everyone, that's right. All of the stories of the Bible in Ephesians, let me find that verse. Ephesians chapter two. So Paul is talking to Ephesians, he said, at one time, you guys were all Gentiles and you were separate from the Jews. You were different. You were not part of Christ. You were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. So everybody who wasn't a Jew had no hope and did not have God. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, that's us, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. How did we get, how did we come near? Through the blood of Christ. That's right. And he made the two one so that, let me go down a little bit further to find the spot. So, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. This is all stories from the prophets. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. So all of the stories in the Old Testament are yours, just as much as they were for the Jews. All right. Turn in your Bibles to Psalm 78, please. Page 488 in the Pew Bibles. 78. This is the second largest psalm in the Bible. I'm going to read the whole thing. Which one is the longest psalm? Who knows what the longest psalm is? 119. Chapter 78. Now pay attention, you should be noticing that all of these stories are here in this Psalm. Psalm 78, a mascal of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from the children, but tell them to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and His might and the wonders that He has done. He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise, and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments. and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God." 9. The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle. They did not keep God's covenant, but refused to walk according to His law. They forgot His works and the wonders that He had shown them. In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoam. He divided the sea, and let them pass through it, and made the water stand like a heap. In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down like rivers. Yet They sinned still more against Him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God, saying, Can God spread a table in the wilderness? He struck the rock, so the water gushed out, and streams overflowed. Can He also give bread to provide meat for His people? Therefore when the Lord heard, He was full of wrath. 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. Yet He commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven, and He rained down on them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven. Man ate the bread of the angels. He sent them food in abundance. He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by His power He let out the south wind. He rained meat on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas. He let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. And they ate, and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved. But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths, the anger of God rose against them, and He killed the strongest of them, and laid low the young men of Israel. In spite of all this, they still sinned. Despite His wonders, they did not believe. So He made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror. When He killed them, they saw Him. They repented and sought God earnestly. They remembered that God was their Rock, the Most High God, their Redeemer, but they flattered Him with their mouths. They lied to Him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast toward Him. They were not faithful to His covenant. Yet He, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them. He restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again. How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert. They tested God again and again, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power, or the day when He redeemed them from the foe, when He performed His signs in Egypt and His marvels in the fields of Zoan. He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams. He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. He gave their crops to the destroying locust, and the fruit of their labor to the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost. He gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts. He let loose on them His burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels. He made a path for His anger. He did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague. He struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength, and the tents of Ham. Then he led out his people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid. But the sea overwhelmed their enemies, and he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won. He drove out nations before them. He appointed them for a possession, and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. Yet they tested, and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not keep His testimonies, but turned away, and acted treacherously like their fathers. They twisted like a deceitful bow, for they provoked Him to anger with their high places. They moved Him to jealousy with their idols. When God heard, He was full of wrath, and He utterly rejected Israel." Think about that. Verse 60, He forsook His dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where He dwelt among mankind, and delivered His power to captivity, His glory to the hand of the foe. By the way, that's the story of the Philistines capturing the ark is what he's referring to there. Verse 62, He gave His people over to the sword, and vented His wrath on His heritage. Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no marriage sown. Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation." Verse 65, "'Then the Lord awoke, passed from sleep, like a strong man, shouting because of wine. And He put His adversaries to rout, He put them to everlasting shame. He rejected the tent of Joseph, He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but He chose the tribe of Judah. Mount Zion, which he loves. He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever. He chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds. From following the nursing ewes, he brought him to shepherd Jacob, his people, Israel, his inheritance. With upright heart, he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand." Amen. Praise the Lord for such a great repeat of all those great stories. So it happens, Josh referred to Psalm 84 and I had put together my prayer based on Psalm 84. So apparently God wants us to be paying attention to that. So as we pray, keep in mind, I'm taking it pretty much straight from Psalm 84. Let's pray and ask God's blessing. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! Our souls long, yes, faint for your courts, O Lord. Our hearts and flesh sing for joy to you, the living God. Even a sparrow finds a home and a swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, our King and our God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are committed to coming to the place of your worship. As they go through the valley of tears, they make it a place of springs. The early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength. Each one appears before you in Zion. O Lord, God of hosts, hear our prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob. Behold, you are our shield, O God. Look on the face of your Messiah, for a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. We would rather be doorkeepers in the house of our God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For you, Lord God, are a sun and shield. You bestow favor and honor. No good thing do you withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you. This in the name of our Messiah, your Son, our Lord Jesus. Amen. Teach the next generation Verses 1 through 8 in this psalm exhorts us, demands that we teach the next generation. If we as a church were to choose a particular psalm to say this is the official psalm of the church, I would say this would be or should be the official psalm of the church. Teach the next generation. That's exactly what we're trying to do. You know what happened in the Judges, right at the beginning of the book, we find out in Judges 2 verse 10, it says, after that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, so that was the generation of Joshua and all the men that were with him, Joshua and Caleb and all the guys that went into the land and were conquering a bunch of the Canaanites, it says, After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord, nor what He had done for Israel. Can you imagine that? All those things that God had done for Israel, all these stories, and they didn't know any of those stories. How wrong is that? So the psalmist says, listen up. You need to pay attention to these stories. In fact, he starts with us. Before we even start teaching the next generation, he says to us, give ear, O my people, to my teaching. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. Start with listening to me. He's the prophet. He's the one that's speaking God's words. He says, listen up. I've got something to say. Listen to me. And then he goes on to say, after you've listened to me, now take that message to the next generation. And then he says to the next generation, now take that message to the next generation. So what's your guys' job right now? Jannie, what's your job right now? Yeah, but what I just said, MJ, what do you think? Give what? That's right. You're right. Give what to the next generation? God's Word. Amen. Thank you. Okay. So your job right now is to listen to us giving it to you, so that you are ready to give it to the next generation. Are you planning on having kids? Maybe? Even if you don't have kids, it doesn't matter. Look at me. Are any of you my biological kids? No. And yet, am I giving the next generation God's Word? You are that next generation. So you will be able to do that yourselves at some day. You will be the next leaders that are going to pass on the story. And I want you to do that. I'm praying that you will do that. Now, as I said before, during the earlier message, I said, these are really true stories. It really happened in history. They're not fake. It's really God's true actions that he did. And they were really man's true actions that they did. We learn a lot from it. There's spiritual lessons to get from that. In fact, in Romans 15, four, it says, for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through the endurance taught in the scripture and the encouragement they provide, we might have hope. You see that? How do we get hope? We get hope by learning these stories and seeing how God acts and what his intentions were. Second Timothy 3, 16 and 17 is a good verse to memorize. It says, all scripture is God-brief and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly equipped for every good work. At the time that that verse was written, all the scripture that he was talking about were all the Old Testament stories. The New Testament scriptures weren't put together yet. So all the Old Testament stories are profitable for doctrine, for teaching, reproof, all of that. He gets into saying this also. He says, teach the commands. It's not just teach the stories, teach the commands. Why? He has a bunch of reasons why we need to teach these things. Well, first in verse 6 he says, in order that the next generation would know them. If we don't teach it to you, you don't know them. Also in verse 6, it says, in order that you can teach it to the next generation. If we don't teach it to you, you can't teach it to the next guys. In verse 7, it says that they would put their trust in God. Boy, and that is our prayer over every other prayer, that every single one of you would put your trust in God. So many of you have already been baptized and expressed your trust in God. I'm so pleased with that. We are so blessed to have you have done that. But that's the goal in telling the stories and giving you God's commandments. And then in verse seven it says that they would not forget his deeds. You need to remember what he's done. And then it says in verse seven that they would keep his commands, not only remember what he did, not only remember what he commanded, but do his commandments, right? And in order that they would not be like their ancestors. Now there's the big thing. And this is where he jumps off for the rest of the song. And we don't want you to be, as we're telling you all these stories, and especially a lot of these stories that are right here on the board here that we talked about, over and over again, those ancestors made bad choices. They said bad things, they did bad things. And because they did that, God brought punishment on them. And we don't want that for you. And so to avoid that, we teach you. Now it's interesting, look what it says right there at the beginning of verse 4. We will not hide from them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds. We will not hide them from their children. What does he mean by that? Well, I think what he's saying is, we're not going to hold back the bad parts of the story. We're not going to just tell you all the exciting stuff and all the happy things. We're not going to hide from you all the bad things, because those bad things teach us something, too. In fact, we see in this whole passage a constant back and forth. Right? In verses nine through 11, we see that the people of Israel, and he says Ephraim, but he means by Ephraim, they are representatives of all of Israel. Ephraim was the biggest of the northern tribes. He says, so all of Ephraim was unfaithful and they forgot stuff from God. Right off the bat, they're forgetful and unfaithful. And then, but God, in verses 12 through 17, is doing miraculous signs. Then in verses 17 through 20, they have a total lack of faith. And then in verses 21 through 31, God gives them grace, but He also gives them His wrath and His punishment, His discipline. You would think they would learn from that. But in verse 32, we find out that Israel again is unfaithful. And then in verse 33, God again punishes them. And then verses 34-35, well, they sound like they're repentant. They sound like they're coming back to God. But then we find out in 36-37 that it's all hypocrisy. They're being hypocrites. So then, verse 38 and 39, it sounds like God is being merciful and gracious again, which He always is. But, once again, In verses 40 through 43, Israel again repeats their faithlessness. Finally, again in 44 through 51, God's wrath comes against them, but it also goes against their enemies. It's getting into the stories of what happened in Egypt. And then in verses 52 through 55, God provides for his people. I think, let's make sure I'm thinking right about what part that is. Right, so he provides for his people again. He's being gracious to them. And then verses 56 through 58, are they then faithful to him? Are they remembering everything that God did? No, once again, they're faithless. And then verses 59 through 64, God's wrath and punishment against his people again. Back and forth, you see that? God does gracious, merciful things for them. And they just forget it. God does gracious and merciful things for them, and they are faithless. God does gracious and merciful things to them, and they forget Him. God gives them their wrath, and it's their punishment, and they forget Him. I mean, it's just back and forth, back and forth. It's like, this is so sad, really? So it's important that we teach you even the bad stuff. You need to know that, because we learn from that. I'll tell you one thing that I learned, when I read these stories of the Israelites constantly blowing it, constantly going back and forth with God, that God is gracious with me. When God describes Himself to Moses, He puts it this way, I am the Lord, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And that's what we see when we read this, that constant blowing it, God is slow to anger. He's still gracious and merciful. And that steadfast love, that's His covenant love. That's Him saying, you are going to be My people. I have made a covenant. I have decided you're going to be My people. And that is His steadfast love, that He keeps on treating His people as His covenant people. And He does the same with us. If you are God's, if you have been saved by Jesus Christ, then you also are His covenant person. And you can still blow it, and then come back to God, and blow it again, and then come back to God. And you know what? He is still gracious. He's still slow to anger. He's still merciful. So these are important for us to learn. If you're alive, it's not too late to repent and tell God, I'm sorry, I want to do the right thing and turn back to Him. Well, that's not the only thing we learn from these stories. We also learn all about God, don't we? Look again at verse 4. It says this, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders that He has done." I did a count on Psalm 78. How many different glorious deeds and mighty things and wonderful things did he do here? If you count them all separately, I came up with 30 different things. And that's just in this section of time. Now imagine if you've got from Genesis all the way to Revelation, that list would be huge, right? I think so. I know so. God has so many things that he has done that is worthy of his praise. How about the last 2,000 years? Since the Bible was done, when they finished writing the Bible, did God stop working and doing things that he's worthy of praise for? Oh, He still does things. He's done things for us, right? We have even this last Thursday for a Bible study, when we did our prayer time, remember we were concentrating on thanking God for all the good stuff that He's done. He's still working in our lives. He's still answering prayer, isn't He? What a great and wonderful God. And so we tell these stories to remind us of what He's done. so that we would put our trust in this God. So, right? Isn't that what it said in verse seven? It said, so that they should set their hope in God. If we know who God is and what he does and know all of his attributes, that's what we're going to do. We're going to put our trust in him. Well, what are some of these attributes that we learn? Well, this is what I came up with in verses 12 through 16. I see that he is a miracle worker. He's a guide and a provider. What was there? That was where he takes them through the Red Sea, right? That was a miracle. That was God guiding them when they thought there was no way of being guided. And that was him providing a way out for them. If you look at verses 21 through 31, We see his wrath. We see the way he not only provides for the people, he gives them food. I'm talking about the story of the manna and the quail. He gives them the food that they so desperately wanted and actually needed, but even that very provision that he gave them was an expression of his wrath because they right away got sick on that quail meat. So God is righteously angry, he's righteously wrathful and at the same time he graciously provides and at the same time he's still compassionate. Wrath and compassion in the same God. It's both punishment and discipline. Verse 33, what did we learn from God there? So he made their days vanish like a breath and their years in terror. He's somebody to be feared. The New Testament says, don't be afraid of man who can only kill the body, but be afraid of God who can kill both the body and soul in hell. He is a person to be feared. What else do we learn in this passage? Well, in verses 38 through 39, I think we see that He's a merciful God, He's forgiving, He's slow to anger, and He's relenting and restraining. He's holding back. He has the right to destroy these people. They are such awful people. fair of Him, if He would completely annihilate them and send them to hell. But that's not what He does, is it? What does it say there in verses 38-39? He's compassionate, He atones for their iniquity, He restrains His anger, He holds back His anger, and He doesn't stir up the wrath that He could if He wanted to. Look at verses 44-51, what do we learn about God there? This is the nine plagues, right? The first nine plagues. God was the creator of the world. But does that mean that once the world was in motion, He can't control it anymore? Well, no, not at all. He was able to completely change things to do exactly what He wants, right? He is in control of the whole world. He's not just the creator. He's got power over it. He's got power over life and death. Verse 52 through 55, what do we learn about this God? Well, We see that he's a guide. We see that he constantly leads and he does it throughout the years, right? It wasn't just while they were coming out of Egypt, but he led them for 40 years in the desert. Then he leads them through the whole conquest of Canaan. And then he leads them through all of the issues with the judges. He didn't stop leading them just because he rescued them out of Egypt. No, he kept on leading them. That's the kind of guy he is. What do we see in 59 through 64? Here's kind of a big word. We see his forbearance. That means he puts up with a lot. He just puts up with it. Yeah, his compassion is incredible. Even though we owe Him so much duty and so much perfection, we need to owe Him. He understands that we're broken people. We're dust that was made into skin. Go to Psalm 103. In Psalm 103, towards the end, it says, It's the same idea. We're temporary. Maybe we'll survive 80 years, maybe we'll get to 90 years, but that's it. That's a nothing. He's saying, once we live, we die, and that's it, you're never going to see us again. That's what he's saying. Oh, it's the wicked. Everybody. Yeah, he's not talking about our eternal souls. He's talking about our mortal flesh. Oh, because he's saying the flesh, and when the past isn't coming, our flesh is nothing. Yeah, we're here for a little while, and then we're gone. I kind of want to go over that, because I saw that, and I didn't understand it. You read my mind on it. All right, so finally, in verses 65 through 72, we see that God is sovereign over His enemies, and He's sovereign over His choices. He chooses who's going to be His Messiah. We see His love and His grace, that it supersedes His righteous anger. What if he didn't have love and grace and he only had wrath? We would all be in trouble, wouldn't we? Or what if it was on a balance? It's like, well, which one should be stronger? He's got love and grace and he's got wrath. And let's say wrath is a little bit stronger than the love and grace. Well, then we would all be destroyed. But no, he does it the other way around. His love and grace covers his wrath and he finds a way for us. Well, what about man? Do we discover anything about man in this? Oh boy, do we. In verses 9-11, we see that he's disobedient, he's forgetful, he's got a lack of faith. In verses 17-20, we discover that man is rebellious. In verse 32, he's unbelieving. In verse 36-37, he's a hypocrite. In verses 40-43, he's repeatedly testing and angering God. In verses 56-58, we see he's disobedient, disloyal, faithless, unreliable, and he's an idol worshiper. of all the things, that's what's really astounding. You just witnessed everything that God did for you, the one real God, and you decide you're going to go make a golden calf and say, oh, that's the God that got us out of Egypt. Wow. Are you any different? Are you better than those guys? No. I'm not. I'm just as sinful as they were, at least without Christ I am. Jeremiah 17.9 says, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? We're so bad we can't even figure out how bad we are. Isaiah 64.6 says, All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. We all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind, our sins sweep us away. Imagine that. The best thing you can do, in God's sight, outside of Jesus, the best thing you can do is like a nasty, gross rag. In God's sight. And of course we all know Romans 3.23 which says what? for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3.23. Come on, I know you all know this because we're working this at church, at Friday youth night. Together again, Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So is there anybody that did Romans 3.23 yet? Okay, so, Did some sin and fall short, or did all sin? All sin. So are we any better than the Israelites? No. No, we're not. Nobody's better than anybody else. Okay, so if that God was there and He was getting angry with the Israelites in the Old Testament stories because of their sin, does He have a right to get angry with us because of our sin? Yes. Yes, He is the same. But that God was gracious to the Israelites. Is that same God gracious to us? Romans 5.8 says this, but God demonstrates His love to us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God is still gracious. It's the same God. Everything about Him is still true. So we teach the true history. We teach God's character. We teach man's character. Both of them are very important. We find a lot about it in the Bible. All about it in the Bible. But we also need to teach the next generation to be careful, to watch out. We need to warn you guys. There's something to be warned about. Don't fall into the same pit that the ancestors did. Verse 8 says to teach you because of this. What does it say? I'll be helping them look in the right one. That they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. We want to warn you not to be like those guys were. Back in Deuteronomy chapter six, God gave very specific instructions to all these people that he got out of Egypt. They're about to go into the promised land, And he says this to them, this is in Deuteronomy chapter 6. Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules, that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son, and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart." Here we go. "'You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as front lens between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.'" Do you think it was important to God that we teach our kids? Yes, it was. Very important. Because we want to warn you, because if you don't do it, if you don't do the things that he says, there are going to be curses. There's promises, if you do what he says, there's promises, you're going to live long in the land that he gives you. But if you don't do them, you're going to have all kinds of problems. He's going to kill you. Ultimately, Joshua, at the end of his life, got all the people together and said, look, I don't know what you guys are gonna do, but as for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord. And in that process, he reminded them, you gotta keep all of these commandments because all the promises that God promises, He's gonna keep them. But all of the curses, if you don't, He'll keep those too. All the threats, He's gonna keep. So, With all these stories, did they experience God's curses? Well, they sure did. In verse 9, we find out that they lost their battle. Back again in chapter 78 of Psalm. We see in verse 9 that they lost their battle. We see in verses 30 through 31 that God killed them. He even killed them as He's providing for them with the quail. We see that in verse 33, He ended their days in futility, and their years in terror, so He made them afraid, and made it so that everything they were doing was worthless. We see in verses 59-61 that when God heard them, He was furious, He rejected Israel completely. We've got to teach you guys, so that doesn't happen to you. Do you want God to reject you completely? No. No, that would be awful. And again in verses 62-64, He actually had them killed. Well, this is Old Testament stuff, right? This is not New Testament stuff, right? God's not like that anymore, is He? Does He still have that kind of wrath? Does He still do that kind of punishment? What do you think? Is He the same God or not? He is the same God. Does He still punish? Yes, He does. 2 Peter 2, we were looking at that yesterday in the men's meeting. In 2 Peter 2, being warned about false teachers and we find out that they completely forgot all the stories. But we also find out that all those stories, they are a warning to us. Let me see here. So the first story is, God did not spare the angels when they sinned. So he says, if God didn't spare the angels, so when Satan got all his other angels together with him and rebelled against God, did God spare them? No, he did not. We learned about that in the Bible and no, God did not spare them. He sent them into gloomy darkness and chained them up. Did God cause the flood to happen during Noah's time? That was a punishment, right? If God was willing to do that, remember that. What about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah? When they were so wicked that God sent down the sulfur, the brimstone, to burn up that place and kill all those people? That was God's punishment too, right? And here's Peter, he's saying, if God does this, and God does that, and He does the other thing, do you think He's not going to still do that? He puts it this way, He says in verse 9, If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desires of the flesh, and despise authority. Well, was it only Peter that says we've got to pay attention to those old stories? No. Hebrews 10, verses 26-31, it says this, If we deliberately keep on sinning, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy, on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? And again, he's referring back to history. He says this, for we know him who said, it is mine to avenge, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. All right, so that's Peter. That's the writer of the Hebrews. Is that it in the New Testament, referring back to the Old Testament? No. 1 Corinthians 10, practically the whole book, or the whole chapter, I mean. First Corinthians chapter 10, he reminds them at the beginning that, you know, our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the Red Sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and they all had the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink. What do you think he's referring to? Spiritual food was the manna, spiritual drink was the water from the rock. That's what he's referring to. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness." Right? So he's going right back to these very stories, and he's saying, don't forget about this. Why? Why is he doing that? Verse six, now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. We must not indulge in immorality as some of them did. and 23,000 following a single day. And it goes on from there. You see, Paul also, so you've got Peter, you've got Paul, you've got the writer of the Hebrews, they're all saying, look, these stories in the Old Testament, they're important for us, they teach us something. Hebrews 3 and 4 also gets into that, but I wanna read this from Hebrews 3, verse 12. See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. but encourage one another daily, as long as it is called a day, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." And that was in response to reminding them of what the Israelites did in the Old Testament. So let us therefore make every, this is in chapter four, verse 11. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest. He's talking about the rest. Remember that Joshua was gonna bring the people into the land of Canaan. God had promised the people that you're going to have a land of rest. The land of Canaan is your place of rest. But the writer of the Hebrews is saying, they didn't really get rest. That really wasn't the rest that they were looking for. We're looking for something a little bit more eternal, a lot more eternal. He says, don't fall away like they did. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, meaning enter heaven, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. Remember, they got all the way to the land of Canaan, And they sent out 12 spies. Those 12 spies went out, and 10 spies came back. Do you remember this story? What happened with those 10 spies? Two spies were good, 10 spies were bad. What did the 10 bad spies do? They were scared. They came back and they said, oh, we can't do it. We can't take this land. Those are giants. They're too big for us. And the other two were Joshua and Caleb. And Joshua and Caleb said, what are you talking about? We've got God on our side. We can do this. But no, it was those 10 that They convinced everybody else, we can't do this. And so what God did do, He held them back for 40 years. They were stuck in the wilderness. They could have been in the land of Canaan four decades earlier, if they would have just listened to Joshua and Caleb. I'm trying to be Joshua and Caleb to you. Trust this God. Don't be listening to the 10 spies. Well, we've got a problem, don't we? And that is that we're all sinners, like we talked about before. We're all just as bad as those Israelites were. In fact, there's a quote that is often attributed to Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein is considered to be one of the smartest guys who ever. And people think that he said this quote, but actually he wasn't the one that said it. It was somebody else. It was written by some author somewhere. But this is what they think he said. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. What do we see with those knucklehead Israelites? Over and over again, they're rejecting God, they're forgetting God, they're being unfaithful, they're saying, no, God can't do it. Even though they see God do it every time, the insanity of not believing! Crazy! And we see it all through the Old Testament. We see it in the history of Psalm 78, right? They worshiped the golden calf, they went to the high places, they ended up worshiping the gods of the Canaanites. Eventually... They get all the way sent into exile in Babylon, because they were worshiping the Ashtaroth and the Baals. Again, it's stupid idol worship. The insanity of repeating that, going back and saying, well, no, it wasn't Jehovah that saved us. It's not Jehovah that can help us. It's not Jehovah that's our God. Our God is going to be Baal. Our God is going to be the Ashtaroth. Our God is going to be the gods of the Canaanites. Our God is going to be the golden calf. Over and over again, they end up in exile over that. Worship is a problem. They're worshipping the wrong person. They come back from exile, and they still don't get it right. After 70 years in exile in Babylon, they come back and they fail to worship properly. And then here comes Jesus. Are they worshipping good now? They're trying to be careful. Oh, we don't want to go into exile again, so we're going to be doing everything just right. No, they're still worshipping wrong, because the leaders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, they're worshipping money. They're worshipping self, they're worshipping power. Idol worship is still a problem and it's still a problem today. It's insanity to keep going back to that instead of to God. Here's some insanity that keeps on coming up in Hawaii. Are you being taught in the public schools the true history that's helpful? Or are you being taught just a part of the history? Are they holding back from you the true history? Are they teaching you all about the you know, the evil white man who came and took all their lands away, and are they teaching you about the good gods of Pele and all of that other stuff, and you know, you ought to know about this stuff. Are they teaching you that? Or are they giving you the right perspective? Are they teaching you... No, at one point, the white man came with the gospel, and 90% of the state, what is now a state, but the land, 90% of that became Christians. Why? Because It was terrible under Pele and the other gods. It was terrible under the Kapu system. But they hold that back. And it's the insanity of failing to teach the truth, the whole truth. And then all it's going to do is bring the next generation down. It's not going to bring them up. Well, what about this? We're being called to teach. And the Bible says in this chapter, it says, fathers teach your children. Children teach the next generation. What if your fathers don't teach you? Is that an excuse then? If your dad was not a good teacher and did not teach you all of God's word like he should have, is that an excuse then, well, I don't have to to the next generation? No, you're not off the hook. And besides that, in a sense, I'm kind of like a spiritual father to you because I'm up here bringing it to you, right? Josh is a spiritual father. Abram is a spiritual father. TC is a spiritual father. When we're bringing you God's word, you're still getting it. End the cycle. Make sure that you guys teach the next generation. It's your responsibility. But it's important. Not only for the parents to teach and for the adults to teach you guys, but it's also important for you guys to listen. You've got to be listening, otherwise you can't be the next teachers. It's an interesting verse here in Malachi 4, 5 through 6. See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of the children to their parents, or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction. Why is it so important for children to love the parents and parents to love their children? Is that what he's talking about? I mean, that's kind of a normal thing. Even in the secular world, even non-Christians love their kids and kids love their parents. No, I think what he's talking about is that the children are listening to what the parents have to teach and the parents are teaching the children what they're supposed to be teaching. The insanity is when we do the wrong thing over and over again and expect something different. But what about God? Was he insane? All right? But isn't God doing the same thing? He keeps on doing the same thing over and over again. They keep on doing the wrong thing, and God has to keep on being compassionate and gracious, and then He's got to give them some punishment and some discipline, and they do it again. It's like a constant cycle. Was God being insane? Well, no, He's not, because God had a plan all along. Right all the way at the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 3, God had a plan. He had set in motion, said, there's going to be some day A seed of the woman who is going to crush the head of Satan. He already had that plan. And I think all of the stories in the Old Testament show us that we need that seed. We need that seed every single time. The plague's come, we need that seed. The parting of the Red Sea, we need that seed. It's not enough. They got across the land, but then they had problems again. Satan wasn't crushed yet. All of these things happened. Satan's not crushed yet. We needed that seed. Something else had to happen. And so the end of this Psalm, I think, is us looking forward to that seed of the woman. the Messiah that's gonna come. And it's a picture, the end of that Psalm is a picture of Jesus coming eventually. Because look at, let's take a look at that again. Go to Psalm 78, verse 69. I don't know, I have a different Bible. 489. Verse 69 says, he built his sanctuary like the heavens, like the high heavens, like the earth which he has founded forever. First of all, what's he talking about there? He's building the temple. What is the temple? The temple is the place of God's presence. It is God with them, right? That's where they could meet directly with God, a place they could go to with God. Immediately after that, it says, he chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds. And following the nursing ewes, he brought him to shepherd Jacob, his people, Israel, his inheritance. With upright heart, he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand. God did not maintain that insanity. No, He had a different plan and He changed that plan after all of that craziness that happens up until up through verse 66, 65 actually, because then He comes back and He routs the enemies. But what is it that He does? He brings Himself to the people and He brings His Messiah, His anointed one, At that time, it was David, and David was a picture of the permanent one. He was a picture of what was gonna be eternal. You see, David was anointed. He was anointed by God. We know that story from Samuel going to him and looking at all the other brothers and choosing David, and then he poured the oil on there. But he wasn't only anointed with that oil. Remember, the Holy Spirit came upon him. You guys heard that story too. Remember this about David? He was a man after God's own heart. How about this? He was connected to the temple. It was David who brought the tabernacle to the center of the nation. He brought that tabernacle into Jerusalem and David was the one that put all the plans together for his son Solomon to build the actual big temple. He was completely connected to that temple. It was an important part of David's reign. David was a representative of the people. As goes the king, so goes the people. If you have a good king, things go well for the country. You got a bad king, things go poorly. We see that over and over again in the Old Testament, don't we? Every time those nasty kings came up, things terrible happened to the country. You get a good king come up, and guess what? Great things happen. King was a representative of the people. As goes the king, so goes the people. Well, what about eternally? See, this was a picture of that eternal plan. This is a picture of that greater, true Messiah. He was also anointed, wasn't he? He was anointed with the Holy Spirit. Remember the story of the dove coming down on Christ? The picture of the Holy Spirit coming down on him? But he was anointed more than just a king. He was way beyond David. He was prophet. He was priest. And he was a king. better than David. He's not only connected to the temple, he was the temple. He was God with us. He was the temple in person to everybody and he still is. Is Jesus a man after God's own heart? Yes, he was. Did he represent the people? He sure did. Sure did. He went to the cross on our behalf and represented us there and took the death for us. And as the king goes, so goes the people. Is that true in Jesus? Yes, it is. When Jesus died and we get baptized, we die with Jesus, right? We're dying to our old self. so that we can be resurrected and like Jesus was resurrected, we're resurrected into Christ. So just as Jesus died, we died. Just as Jesus was resurrected, we were resurrected. Just as Jesus lived a holy life, we're called to live a holy life. As goes the King, so goes the people. And as Jesus goes up into glory, so we will go up into glory. But don't forget the warnings. You reject this anointed one, You're going to have all the same problems that we saw in Psalm 78. You're going to lose your battles. The very things that, you know, sometimes we... I want this or I want that and God sometimes gives you those things and those very things that you ask for will be the things that God uses to bring you punishment. Because you are not looking to the spiritual things, but you're looking for the physical things and you have rejected God. Or how about this, God will end your days in futility and your years in terror. Remember, fear God, don't fear man. And if you're not fearing God, believe me, he's gonna make you afraid of him. If you reject the anointed one, if you reject Jesus Christ, then God will reject you completely and he will have you eternally killed. So we learn all of history. We learn it because we learn so much about God, we learn it so that we, are warned. We learn it so that we can change how we live. But we learn it because all of this history that's here, it does something. It points us to Jesus. In Luke 24, 27 and 44, Jesus tells us that all of the law and all of the prophets and all of the Psalms are all about Him. Even all of the New Testament points back to Jesus, as well as the Old Testament pointing to him. One way or another, just like the story of David is a picture of Jesus, and we have all these pictures of Jesus throughout the Old Testament, in the New Testament, they all look back to him and tell us all about him. And every generation's gotta be taught about him. Every generation. Now I want to remind you of one more thing, and that's what I preached about the last time I was here. From the last two verses of James, I was talking about instrumentality. Right? We are instruments to bring people back to God. And that's what this is about, isn't it? This is about the parents and the adults being the instruments of God to bring the children to Him. You're God's instruments, still. Now let's pray. Father in heaven, what a blessing to be called your children, to know you as our perfect loving Abba Father. Though we may fail as parents, you never fail to teach us, to discipline us, to encourage us, and to bring us to maturity in Christ. Thank you for your mercy and grace. Thank you for being slow to anger and giving us your steadfast covenantal love. Please grant us success in ministering your truths to the next generation. Please grant that every child in this place of worship today would hear, believe and live in the gospel and may they become the teachers of the generation that follows them. May Jesus Christ be magnified and praised among us now and forevermore. Amen. Well, we haven't done this in a while, but we have an opportunity for questions or comments. There's an adult who's got a question.