From Generation to Generation

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. The word of announcement, if there are mothers and you need to take care of children, the whole service is in the family room in the back. That would be helpful to you.

At this time, I would like to introduce my friend, Mark Robinson. He is one of the professors at our seminary. He teaches Introduction to Reformed Theology. Just a very erudite and wonderful man. I love to talk with Mark, and it's going to be a treat to hear him preach for us this morning. So, Mark, thank you.

I would invite you to turn with me in your copy of God's Word to 78th Psalm. Psalm 78 found on page 521 in the Pew Bibles. And I would be quick again to express my appreciation for the opportunity to rejoice with you, to celebrate God's wonderful works here. This is my second time visiting, so I feel like kind of a distant cousin who shows up for family gatherings every once in a while, but it's good to be back with you and to rejoice on this wonderful occasion. And, of course, we want to always set these kinds of things, as you have been doing all weekend in all service, set times like this and remembrances like this in the larger context of what the Lord is doing, in the larger space and context of His purposes for His church. I think Psalm 78 does a very good job of that, of setting this kind of remembrance and memorial over time in the larger scope of what God is up to with his people in the world.

So let me read just a few sections from Psalm 70. I'll read verses 1-8 where Asaph kind of lays out what his purpose is and then he goes through this long historical account. I'll read verses 32-39 And then that final stroke, 65-72, the promise of David, the Davidic kingship. So verses 1-8, and hopefully none of you will get whiplash, 1-8, 32-39, and then down to that very last stroke, 65-72, Psalm 78.

And of course this is God's Word, may we have ears to hear this, eyes to see it, hearts that are responsive to it this morning. Psalm 78. 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 their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord and His might and the wonders that He has done. He has 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. Verse 32.

In spite of all this, they still sinned. Despite his wonders, they did not believe. So he made their days vanish like a breath, then their years in terror. When He killed them, they sought 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. Then the Lord awoke as 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 a 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. upright heart. He shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand. So Father, take now the words of my mouth and the collective meditations of our hearts. Make them acceptable in your sight. Oh Lord, our rock, our Redeemer. In the name of the Word made flesh, Jesus. Amen.

So Psalm 78 is The second longest psalm, right behind, of course, Psalm 119. And we're told in the very beginning in the inscription that it's a mass scale, which is to say, likely, if it's not some liturgical reference, it's a reference to the fact that this is to be instruction, that this is taught. And of course, it's instruction in the form of a long history lesson, a long review of the church from the wilderness, from Zion, all the way to the establishing of Zion, Jerusalem under David. It's a review of the church of Israel.

And of course it's part of our inspired song book. They probably sang this. They sang definitely most of the songs. And we know that things learned in song are remembered long. So they were supposed to know this history inside and out, and be instructed in it. Of course, the large lesson here is the same as it is for most historical passages, Psalms or narrative passages, covenant succession.

It's a demonstration of God's faithfulness over and over particularly in the face of Israel's failures. His faithfulness in the face of their continued failures. When you read the history of Israel, when you read Holy Scripture's account of the life and the history of Israel, There's a quote, a summary quote from a theologian named Graham Gransworthy that comes to mind when you read it. He said, the inescapable truth is that the grace of God continues to shine upon a people whose major claim to fame is the suicidal ability to break the covenant. That's what they're defined by. Their faithlessness is a characteristic mark. But of course that's in the face, and that's under the reality of God's continuing faithfulness with His people.

Now there's also a more focused point, and you see it in verse 7 here. A focus point of this instruction, of this history lesson, according to verse 7, is this. Why are they recounting this? Why are they supposed to continually tell this? Why is it written so many times for us? Verse 7 tells us, so that they should set their hope in God. and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments. What's a particular focus point of this history?

That God's people might trust and rely on Him, and hope in Him, and recognize that He who has been our help in ages past is indeed our hope for years to come. This is so that they might hope in God. And the Apostle Paul tells us this too, when he's recounting Israel's secret history to the Romans. He 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's the big point. And let's look at the shape of that hope in this passage. And when we talk about hope, you know, one of the great theological virtues, right? Faith, hope, and love. So we distinguish it. And when we distinguish it, when we talk about hope, we're talking about this confidence that God will indeed fulfill His promises to His people, and specifically through Jesus Christ. that He will complete and do what He has said He will do for His people through Jesus. Look at how this psalm, let me make just a couple observations about how this psalm actually does that. How it helps us think in terms of the Pope. Well, the first one is really obvious and we've been talking about it.

It lays out God's work over the generations. We're a historical process. It's a historical process. Look at verse 5. 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, their children yet unborn, and arise and tell it to their children. The work of growing in hope and of God keeping His promise is, of course, generational.

Even centuries long. The church is almost two centuries old. I don't know anything that old. I'm in a denomination where most churches aren't even two years old, a lot of the city churches, right? But God does say he works in this process of the church from generation to generation over many centuries, and we see at least three generations mentioned here.

Maybe four, depends on how you count, right? You see, this generation's being spoken to, let's call them parents, and they're to tell what God has done to their children, and then those children are supposed to grow up and tell it to their children. And then there might be a fourth in there. Right? So let's go grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren.

The church lives and serves God, and this kind of says a lot of different things. One of the things it says is that we serve now with an eye toward those not yet born. You plant seeds for a tree, the fruit of which, in the shade, you will not enjoy yourself. Because God's work is over a long period of time.

We take the long view. It's cinematic, not a Polaroid shot. When you look at a Polaroid shot, if it gets you, you know, and you're not in good pose, you're going to say, ah, you don't want that picture. Well, you've got to think of it in terms of the movie. God's work over a long period of time.

You can be very disappointed. It could be like in Psalm 73. You can be very disappointed if you look at any moment in that history. You guys think, oh such a terrible parent. You're looking at just that difficult period of early child rearing. Or just a little period later. Or your own life.

Or the church in any particular season. If you look at history, if you look at God's work like a Polaroid shot, it can incline you to disappointment. Because we're called to take a larger, cinematic... God is writing a long story of the church. It's over generations. It's over even centuries. And it is specifically involving parents, children, grandchildren.

The church, it's beautiful to see the church span the various age groups, age diversity, right? But what would it be in a church that's got all 25-year-olds, right? Or, you know, the average age In my denomination, the PCA, they like to think about all these kinds of sociological things. The average age is 55 years old. 55 is a good age. I don't think you want a whole denomination with just 55. You want seniors, younger folks, little kids, and there's all the various kinds of roles that are entailed in that, right?

Young children are to keep learning, so to be taught and instructed in the Word by their parents, by adults, faithful adults. Parents are keeping the Word faithfully and passing it on, right? Passing it on to their little children, their little covenantal sponges, right? Soaking up the Word and teaching. And of course, for the hoary heads, there's still a lot to do.

You don't get to retire. from hope, from trust. I love how the psalmist says in Psalm 92, the righteous still bear fruit in old age. They're ever full of sap and grain, regardless of whether or not you feel that way. And the psalmist says in Psalm 71, so even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation.

Your power to all those to come. This is a multi-generational effort over generations. And it's beautiful to behold and to see. I used to be a, well I probably still am, but a naive childless single guy who in church wanted a quiet sanctuary. Then I learned the truth of passages like this. And that I feel uncomfortable if I don't hear babies out of whose mouths God has ordained praise. Because it reflects that God is still at work.

Raising up a generation when you hear babies cry, so let the babies cry. Because God is working over a long range, multiple generations, from generation to generation, including generations not yet born. or to be thinking with a view and serving and living and being faithful with a view to those who will enjoy the fruits of the church's faithful witness.

When you study the history of the first few centuries of the church, there's a sociologist who studied this named Rodney Stark about the rise of Christianity. How did Christianity become so big so fast? about year 100, he estimates about 8,000 Christians to the year 400. Just three centuries later, it was 56% of the areas of the Roman Empire. So more than half of people professed to be believers. How did that happen? And he lays out reasons and causes of that.

One of them he lays out is he said, Christians were an incredibly fertile bunch in a time where infanticide was open and legal, especially for little girls. There's letters where fathers wrote, they were away for battle or something, wrote to his wife who was pregnant and said, if it's a boy, keep him. If it's a girl, discard her. Christians were extremely fertile, so they out-birthed pagans.

But it wasn't just kind of internal to the church that their growth happened. They also rescued discarded babies and children. They would go find those places where infanticide happened, and take the children, and raise them, and adopt them into their own homes and family. So not only did they make a lot of babies, they rescued babies.

And you do that for three centuries in a pagan context that has very low views of human dignity and discards babies and low birth rates. You do that for three centuries and you grow. And the Lord added to his church such that they were the biggest faith in the Roman Empire.

So this is the work of generations, parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren. It is a historical process that God uses. But it's also, look at the actual process of this, actually how it works. It was a historical process It was a difficult historical process, too, when you break it down. We read verse 7, we look at verse 7 again, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments. And the way that happened was actually very, very, very intense.

You can read, of course, in Deuteronomy chapter 6, exactly this process of teaching the generations to come. You will notice there in Deuteronomy 6 that the children, particularly those who came out of the Exodus, were to get God's commandments and testimonies into them by talking about them with their parents from the time they rose in the morning to when they lay down at night. When they were sitting, walking around, getting up, lying down, they put it on their wrist, and on their foreheads, the phylacteries, they put it on the door post, the entrance post, so that when you went in and out, you saw the commandments of God. They were there.

When you entered the gates, and this is so intense. that Moses says, you know, now when your children ask you, those children tend to be pretty inquisitive, why are we doing all of this? Why are we always talking about the commandments? Why are they on our hands? Why are they on our foreheads? Why are we seeing it everywhere? Why do we do this? I tend to take that question to be kind of the annoyance of having to do something so much. not just a desire for mere information. Why do we do this? What does this mean?

And Moses says, the fathers, you're supposed to say, because we were slaves in Egypt and God freed us and gave us all this truth to love, to follow Him, lest we become slaves again. Because God redeemed us out of slavery. And we need to remember Him and love Him and serve Him. And more specifically, according to verse 7, like we said, so that they should set their hope in God, so that they would trust Him and believe Him.

So this is hard. It's not a simple thing where by osmosis we just kind of just begin to just trust and to obey and to love the Lord. There's a lot of effort involved and hard work and growing up into this kind of hope. We have to give ourselves to it. We have to constantly have God's truth set before us. We're a forgetful people. Why do we every seven days gathering together? Because we get amnesia. We need to remember the Lord. and rest and trust in Him, and be reminded of it, like Luther said, and have the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ beaten to our heads, repeatedly, and give ourselves over to this process.

This isn't just catechism, this is oral instruction. The word catechism literally means that instructed, be instructed, orally, spoken, spoken instruction. And as we do that, of course, as we catechize, as we did some this morning, as we take in the Word of God and we take in the truth and the body of divinity, it's like, you know, that becomes like the kind of wood that the Holy Spirit can light and kind of create warm piety. Right?

The wood doesn't do anything itself, but it is necessary and it helps when there's a spark. to generate heat, it becomes the fuel. That's how catechism works. And so it's not just it ended in itself, it's to be used by the spirit who opens up the heart, who makes us new. And that's exactly what the biggest hindrance is to the Israelites and why they failed. Why did they fail when they had the oracles of God?

When they had the perfect father? Right? So take hope, fathers, mothers. Israel had the perfect father and they rebelled. Why specifically did they rebel? Why did not having the oracles of God given to them directly, God leading them and providing for them in mercy and judgment. Read through Psalm 78 later. His being merciful to His people, delivering them out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, freeing them, by judging them, loving them, and giving them loving chastisement.

Why did none of that seem to sit with the people as a whole? Well, we're told, verse 8, And they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation, when were they stubborn? They were a generation whose heart was not steadfast. Whose spirit was not faithful to God. Then verse 37. Their heart was not steadfast toward Him. They were not faithful to His covenant. The reason All that blessing, all that external blessing, didn't take, as it were, for the majority, was because their hearts were not steadfast, or not firmly resolved, not centrally focused.

We might say, as we heard earlier, double-minded. Not fixed. Occupied with other things. The treasure and central desire. What they really, really, really wanted. Wasn't the Lord who was leading them. He was not the central governing passion and affection. of their soul. But I'm used to divided minds and double-minded.

And remember, we're made to love God. Augustine's quote, you have made us for yourself. And our hearts are restless, not steadfast, not fixed. Restless until they find rest in you. And what's the central call and command to us? To love God with our whole heart. And a heart, of course, being what makes us tick. Central of our desires and all that we long for. And their hearts, why were they so rebellious? Double-minded hearts.

Do you know what that's like? Do you know what it's like to struggle? To feel tossed? Right? That was the church in the wilderness. It hurts. You know, the scary thing is, it's so easy and it's so easy to have an institution with even life and presence of people, but they might as well be corpses. Right? Where lips are singing, hands are serving, but hearts are not steadfast. Very easy.

I pray Sharon would never become that kind of church, where in 175 years, if people were here, They'd be full of people with new hearts, circumcised hearts, that are steadfast, that are committed, because they've been made new. They've been changed. Not just acting out of behavior modification and what you grow up with, but from the depths loving God, finding deep contentment in Him. and true rest and soul satisfaction and not settling for lesser things, not the trinkets and morsels of the world, but for God Himself. Pray that the next 175 years would be that. And what does it take, of course? We're told here in verse 38, right? There's hard work, but we need the heart work. How does that heart work happen? It's holy work. Verse 38, we're told. So they were being rebellious again.

And here's what God says. 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. The picture is Israelites were being Israelites, were being humans, were being sons of Adam.

They were faithless. And there's all these different kinds of ways they demonstrated that. And yet, we're told God was faithful to provide the remedy and solution for their rebellion, for their stony heart. for their heart that wasn't steadfast, that wasn't fixed. In the face of their faithlessness, He was faithful to provide the way, Christ. The one who's pointed to through the sacrificial system. The one they were to look to in faith. In their faithlessness, He had good news.

Your sin can be atoned for. I provided a way to deal with the problem of sin and iniquity. The gospel was provided. God in His mercy and compassion, even in the face of rebellious sons of Adam, daughters of Eve, and their faithlessness all through His own leading, And even beyond, this psalm ends with the establishment of David and Judah becoming the central group and tribe from which Christ would come. And then we know Judah rejected their king. They rejected him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. And that was the very mechanism and means that God used to atone for sin. It's the gospel. It's the good news of Jesus Christ.

That is the solution to all this rebellion and faithlessness. And it's our solution today. I don't know what your life is right now or what it's been, but I know that God has provided a way in Christ and calls all men everywhere to believe, to repent, and to believe. And He gives a new heart. He takes the heart of stone and makes it a heart of flesh that beats in rhythm with Him, that loves Him more than anything else, and changes us, and turns us into faithful Israelites. That's the solution.

God in His mercy and compassion. Indeed, His justice will be done. Not all Israel will be saved or will be saved. Not all people. Christ sees the travail of his soul and he's satisfied. He will get his elect from all the nations of the world. He will have the church he envisioned from eternity past and the counsels of God. He will have that group. And this is the way he accomplishes it.

Closing Prayer

Through the atoning work of Jesus Christ. We have to have our sin put away. We have to have our guilt put away. God has provided a way to do that. May he help us. Let's pray together. Father, we're thankful for your word. We are so thankful that you have not left us without hope. We would be of all men most miserable. So thank you for the truth that you have indeed, in Jesus, provided atonement for iniquity. And that we don't have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We don't have to just grovel around in faithlessness.

That you, being kind and compassionate and merciful and giving us time, have provided the way and shown us the way in Jesus. So Father, would you open all of our hearts to whatever we need to be open for. May you by your Spirit change us, transform us. Make us willing on the day of your invitation and mercy.

Thank you that you've been faithful through the generations and will continue to be so. That you will have your people throughout all generations. at the end of history in the glorious grand community of your elect ones in new creation who will sing around the throne to the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. Worthy is He. So Father we rejoice and thank you that indeed you have left yourself a faithful people in the world, a remnant. There's always a group of people that you have set apart.

We're thankful for your witness through Sharon RP. May you continue to bless and lead and renew and revitalize hearts and draw people to Christ through the ministry here. Thank you for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.