11 August 2024 // Psalm 78
SCRIPTURAL APPLICATION: Psalm78
SERMON REVIEW:
A Call to Listen – vs. 1-3
A Call to Pass the Torch – vs. 4-6
God’s Work –
God’s Word -
A Call to Arise – vs. 6-8
A Call to Follow Through – vs. 9-12
Life Application: (John Phillips)
I was born in South Wales. At the turn of the century spiritual revival swept through the mining villages. Whole communities turned to God. The face of society was changed. Tavern keepers went bankrupt, prisons were virtually emptied, life in the mines, harsh and tough though it undoubtedly was, was made more pleasant by a new spirit of kindness and godliness amongst the miners. But there was no father-to-son chain reaction. As a result, one travels up and down those same Welsh villages today and sees little evidence that this was a land once bathed in Holy Ghost revival. Indeed, socialism and communism are far more in evidence in Wales today than the gospel. One analyst says: “The young have ‘gone left’ in Britain because there is no longer anything to believe in—not Christianity, not the empire, not the old institutions” (Time, February 16, 1981, p. 38). The same is true of the United States, which has also raised a generation or two ignorant of the Bible and intolerant of the country’s rich spiritual past.
What happens to a nation which fails to pass on its spiritual heritage to its children? “The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in His law; and forgat His works, and His wonders that He had shewed them.”[1]
QUESTIONS:
1. What did the message teach me about God/Jesus/Holy Spirit?
2. What did the message teach me about the human condition?
3. Is there anything I need to confess, repent, or be grateful for, because of this passage?
4. How do I need help in believing and applying this scripture to my life?
5. How can I encourage others with this passage?
Digging Deeper:
1. If You Do Indoctrinate Your Children (78:4–7)
Of all the attitudes a parent can adopt, the worst surely is to say, as so many do: “I am not going to force religion on my children. I am going to let them make up their own minds when they are old enough.” So in the meantime, during their impressionable years, the world forces its views upon them; godless teachers and companions mold and fashion their tender minds and hearts. God holds parents accountable for the spiritual instruction of their children.
“We will not hide them [the revelations God has made concerning Himself] from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord … He commanded our fathers, that they should make them [the Lord’s testimonies and laws] known to their children: that the generation to come might know them … who should arise and declare them to their children.” The father is to teach the son, the son is to teach the grandson, the grandson is to teach the great-grandson; truth is to be handed on diligently from generation to generation.
God recognizes no generation gap. The gap is bridged, age after age, by the diligent teaching of the Word of God. The result? “That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of GOD, but keep His commandments.” What God wants is a spiritual chain reaction. Truth my father held will become truth I hold, truth I hold will become truth my sons hold. But it is not truth I hold just because my father held it. It is truth I hold because it is true. It is truth I hold because it is the truth; I recognize it as the truth, and I pass it on as the truth. God has commanded this kind of instruction, and He will bless it.
2. If You Don’t Indoctrinate Your Children (78:8–11)
There was a breakdown in this line of communication in Israel and, as a result, chaos set in. The psalmist insists on biblical teaching of children so that they “might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation.” He cites the example of Ephraim who, because he no longer had a vital, dynamic faith, grounded in a historical revelation, “turned back in the day of battle.” Defeat and disgrace came upon this tribe because it no longer had a dynamic, historical faith in the living God. Failure to pass on vital spiritual truth resulted in disintegration of national character. The same principle is at work in society today.[2]
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. How does Psalm 78 emphasize the importance of remembering and passing down historical spiritual lessons?
2. Reflect on the cyclical pattern of rebellion and forgiveness portrayed in Psalm 78. How does it apply to your life?
3. What can we learn from the repeated failures of the Israelites and their relationship with God?
4. In what ways does Psalm 78 show the interplay of divine justice and mercy?
5. How does God's selection of David, despite the Israelites' disobedience, speak to His character?
6. Why do you think the Israelites continued to sin despite witnessing God's miracles?
PRAYER:
[1] John Phillips, Exploring Psalms 1–88: An Expository Commentary, vol. 1, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Ps 78:8–11.
[2] John Phillips, Exploring Psalms 1–88: An Expository Commentary, vol. 1, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Ps 78:4–11.
SERMON REVIEW:
A Call to Listen – vs. 1-3
A Call to Pass the Torch – vs. 4-6
God’s Work –
God’s Word -
A Call to Arise – vs. 6-8
A Call to Follow Through – vs. 9-12
Life Application: (John Phillips)
I was born in South Wales. At the turn of the century spiritual revival swept through the mining villages. Whole communities turned to God. The face of society was changed. Tavern keepers went bankrupt, prisons were virtually emptied, life in the mines, harsh and tough though it undoubtedly was, was made more pleasant by a new spirit of kindness and godliness amongst the miners. But there was no father-to-son chain reaction. As a result, one travels up and down those same Welsh villages today and sees little evidence that this was a land once bathed in Holy Ghost revival. Indeed, socialism and communism are far more in evidence in Wales today than the gospel. One analyst says: “The young have ‘gone left’ in Britain because there is no longer anything to believe in—not Christianity, not the empire, not the old institutions” (Time, February 16, 1981, p. 38). The same is true of the United States, which has also raised a generation or two ignorant of the Bible and intolerant of the country’s rich spiritual past.
What happens to a nation which fails to pass on its spiritual heritage to its children? “The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in His law; and forgat His works, and His wonders that He had shewed them.”[1]
QUESTIONS:
1. What did the message teach me about God/Jesus/Holy Spirit?
2. What did the message teach me about the human condition?
3. Is there anything I need to confess, repent, or be grateful for, because of this passage?
4. How do I need help in believing and applying this scripture to my life?
5. How can I encourage others with this passage?
Digging Deeper:
1. If You Do Indoctrinate Your Children (78:4–7)
Of all the attitudes a parent can adopt, the worst surely is to say, as so many do: “I am not going to force religion on my children. I am going to let them make up their own minds when they are old enough.” So in the meantime, during their impressionable years, the world forces its views upon them; godless teachers and companions mold and fashion their tender minds and hearts. God holds parents accountable for the spiritual instruction of their children.
“We will not hide them [the revelations God has made concerning Himself] from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord … He commanded our fathers, that they should make them [the Lord’s testimonies and laws] known to their children: that the generation to come might know them … who should arise and declare them to their children.” The father is to teach the son, the son is to teach the grandson, the grandson is to teach the great-grandson; truth is to be handed on diligently from generation to generation.
God recognizes no generation gap. The gap is bridged, age after age, by the diligent teaching of the Word of God. The result? “That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of GOD, but keep His commandments.” What God wants is a spiritual chain reaction. Truth my father held will become truth I hold, truth I hold will become truth my sons hold. But it is not truth I hold just because my father held it. It is truth I hold because it is true. It is truth I hold because it is the truth; I recognize it as the truth, and I pass it on as the truth. God has commanded this kind of instruction, and He will bless it.
2. If You Don’t Indoctrinate Your Children (78:8–11)
There was a breakdown in this line of communication in Israel and, as a result, chaos set in. The psalmist insists on biblical teaching of children so that they “might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation.” He cites the example of Ephraim who, because he no longer had a vital, dynamic faith, grounded in a historical revelation, “turned back in the day of battle.” Defeat and disgrace came upon this tribe because it no longer had a dynamic, historical faith in the living God. Failure to pass on vital spiritual truth resulted in disintegration of national character. The same principle is at work in society today.[2]
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. How does Psalm 78 emphasize the importance of remembering and passing down historical spiritual lessons?
2. Reflect on the cyclical pattern of rebellion and forgiveness portrayed in Psalm 78. How does it apply to your life?
3. What can we learn from the repeated failures of the Israelites and their relationship with God?
4. In what ways does Psalm 78 show the interplay of divine justice and mercy?
5. How does God's selection of David, despite the Israelites' disobedience, speak to His character?
6. Why do you think the Israelites continued to sin despite witnessing God's miracles?
PRAYER:
[1] John Phillips, Exploring Psalms 1–88: An Expository Commentary, vol. 1, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Ps 78:8–11.
[2] John Phillips, Exploring Psalms 1–88: An Expository Commentary, vol. 1, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Ps 78:4–11.