Faithfulness Through Generations

It is an honor and a privilege, to get to deliver the word this morning. And I do have to say that I did receive some great advice, from a couple of people. Three simple words, don't screw this up. So, I figured the, the fact that we got 6 kids out of bed this morning and we're here on time, and I feel somewhat prepared that we're, we're off to a good start, right?

So So parenting, it's, it's been described as spending the 1st 12 months of your children's lives teaching them to walk and to talk. And the next 17 years of your life trying to get them to sit down and be quiet. And, I know it's comical, right? But it's really not too far from the truth, right?

Raising the, the next generation, it's not for the faint of heart. Right, as parents, we have to set a good example. We have to provide consistent and regular correction, and we have to be diligent teachers. On top of this, we have the realization that we're entrusted with the eternal souls of tiny people that are made in the image and the likeness of God.

Not to mention that we have a limited amount of time in which to make this impact. Yeah, once our children are born, the clock starts ticking, and you can't slow it down and you can't put it in reverse. In addition to parents, our spiritual parents and our teachers, they play a pivotal role in raising the children of this church. And the, the challenges of raising the children as the next generation of solid Bible teaching, gospel believing Christians is proving to be quite difficult.

There was a Gallup poll from March of this year, and it showed that for the first time since 1938, that's when the church membership stat was first tracked, that America is below the 50% membership mark. The percentage drops from 73% to 47%. In just over 80 years. And when we look at this, what do we see, right?

We see individuals who are leaving the church. They likely never had any serious religious ties to begin with. Individuals who leave the church at a young age, they're building and creating families. That are not influenced by the church.

And ultimately, these individuals do not see their faith or community within the church as a, a necessary part of their lives or the lives of their future families. John Stonetreet is the president of the Coulson Center, and Shane Morris, he's a writer at the Coulson Center, and they said this in a, a recent commentary. They said, quote, Parents who prioritize church as a central part of their family life, a central part. Who teach their children to take Christianity seriously.

And who encouraged them to marry, marry fellow believers. They have the best chance of seeing not only their children. But also their grandchildren in the pew beside them. As a father of 6, I can say that my desire is to see my children.

Develop a faith of their own, and impart that faith to their children, and that we would be able to see generations of Christ followers in the pews beside us. Right? So how do we lay this groundwork for this type of, of faithfulness? What do we do?

And this is, this is really what we want to look at this morning, right? So if you would open your Bibles, we're gonna look at Psalm 78. Psalm 78. And I, I'll read the first eight verses and And we want to see what ASAP is, is gonna say to us, right?

ASAP has some things to say, and we wanna take that in. So let's look at Psalm 78. Starting in verse one, and I'll read. Listen, all my people to my instruction.

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength and His wondrous works that he has done.

For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should teach to their children. That the generations to come might know, even the children yet to be born. That they may arise and tell them to their children. That they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.

And not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart, and whose spirit was not faithful to God. Why don't we pray? Heavenly Father, Lord, we, we come before you and we, we need your help to understand what ASAP is telling us. And we, we have a heart and a desire for the children of Cornerstone.

And as parents and teachers and spiritual parents, Lord, we, we long to See generations of faithful children filling this church. And so I just pray that your spirit would work, that he would speak through me, and that, you would calm my nerves and, and speak to the families and the parents and teachers, and everyone that's here at this church, Lord, that we would see children, the children of Cornerstone, for years to come, praising you and worshiping you in Christ's holy and precious name we pray.

Hey man. All right.

So, the title for the message today, as you saw is Faithfulness Through Generations. And we want to look at five essentials for cultivating a heart of generational faithfulness in the children of Cornerstone. Five essentials for cultivating a heart of generational faithfulness in the children of Cornerstone. So, essential number 1, we must expose them to the wonders of God.

We must expose them to the wonders of God. So ASAP, he, he starts his instruction by commanding us to give ear, right? He, he, he, he wants us to, to, to be listening, but more than that, give ear has this, it has to do with action, right? Someone hears something, an action is expected.

The, the words are meant to stir up something in the hearer. And then he goes on, and he doesn't, he doesn't want us to miss anything. He tells us to incline our ears. Inclined, you can think of like a, if you have a garden, it's like a vine that spreads out on the ground, right?

Or if you have a dog, the way it, it perks its ears and tilts its head so it can hear what's going on in the, in the neighbor's yard. Right, he wants us to make sure that we're listening, but how much do we all struggle with this, right? I, I wonder if the words that I speak to my kids even penetrate their ears, let alone their hearts, right? And I know that, I know that Karen is gonna say the same thing about me, right?

It's, it's, it's, but what do we truly bend our ears to? What things are so important that we listen intently and, and how much more should we be ready to hear the things of God? Right? And this is what ASAP is calling us to do because in verse 2, he's gonna let us in on a secret.

He's gonna speak to us in a parable and dark sayings. Now, the question is, what are these? Because whatever they are, these are the things that we're not gonna hide, but we're gonna proclaim to the next generation. And it's a bit confusing for us to see the word parable here.

We think of, Christ's parables in the New Testament, the parables of the Kingdom or the prodigal son, but that's, the word here is actually the same word from where we get the Book of Proverbs, right? Or that's actually the, the most common way that it's translated. And the second is discourse. So what we see is that ASA's trying to teach us something.

He, he's gonna have a discourse with us. He, he wants to communicate wisdom for our benefit. But he's also letting us know upfront that what we're gonna hear is going to cause us to be a little perplexed. And, and this is what he means by dark sayings, right?

The, the word refers to a, a riddle or an enigma. it's something obscure. the point that ASAP's trying to make is the lesson he's going to teach, it's gonna be indirect and somewhat difficult to understand. He's not gonna come right out and give us the same direct punchy wisdom that we see in the Proverbs, but he's still going to impart wisdom that we need to teach to the generations yet to come.

Now, verse 3, it starts a transition, right? And ASAP doesn't go straight into the discourse or tell any riddles or, or anything like that. He's, he's preparing us, right? For what we're gonna hear.

He, he wants to make sure that us as the audience, that we understand what and where he's going, and, and he's helping us in that before we get to the difficult discourse that's gonna cause us to be confounded. He wants to position our thinking and set up the teaching that he's going to share. So, to keep from preempting what ASAP's gonna say, we'll leave that there and we're gonna go all the way into verse 3 and, and kinda see what he says, right? ASAP tells his readers that the, the proverbs he's gonna be, that he's gonna share, they've been passed down through generations, right?

It's It's not anything new. It's not anything different. It's something that we should all know. And on top of that, in verse 4, we see that because we know these things, We have the responsibility to teach them to our children and the generations that are coming.

this almost tells us we're not going to conceal or hide these things. ASF knows that what he's saying is difficult, but we have the responsibility as parents and spiritual parents and teachers to guide the next generation to this wisdom and teaching. So, what exactly are we teaching, we ask? Well, we can see it at the end of verse 4.

We make much of what the Lord has done and what God he is. ASAP highlights 3 things that we're to teach. Now, remember, ASAP is preparing our hearts for this, this puzzling discourse that's coming. Right?

And he wants to make sure that we're focused on the right things, namely, the wondrous works of the Lord. His strength And praise for the works that he's done. And this is gonna serve as a, a summary statement or a foundation. Of what he wants us to learn from the discourse.

No, no wonder it's a word that comes from the root word for miracle, and it, it's translated throughout scripture as wonder, marvelous, wonderful, right? And these are, these are like the jaw-dropping things that God does, to testify to the next attribute that we see, the strength of the Lord. Right? It goes hand in hand with awesome deeds or wonders.

The fact that the Lord can perform these things testifies to his might. Right? ASAP, he's telling us to point out the amazing things that the Lord has done, both in creation and in our lives to demonstrate our strength. Right, I can remember, a, a, a few years back.

We took a road trip, with our six kids. We were 3700 miles in 10 days. It's very sanctifying. And, One of our stops was Yellowstone National Park.

And we spent weeks ahead of time just preparing the kids for what they were gonna see, teaching it in science at home, and, Karen and I were able to point our kids to the strength and the wondrous works of God in creation. And then watching the geysers and seeing the hot springs and knowing that God had designed all of this. And seeing, excuse me, seeing the wildlife, and knowing that God was personally and intimately involved in everything we were seeing, just confirmed in our hearts, the wondrous works of the Lord and His strength.

Right, and all of these things should cause us to be amazed.

And shout praise to our God, and we tell these praises to our children. Right now, I, I believe this is the goal of the Psalm, right? We remember the wonders, and we remember the power of God, and we teach them to the next generation. And the natural response is that we praise the Lord.

Now, the, the next generation of children, they, they need to hear this praise. make no mistake, every day, our children are hearing plenty of other things that are quote unquote, praiseworthy. And that's taking away from the awesomeness of our God. And if we don't spend the time telling them the praises of God, We can rest assured that others are stealing that time from us.

So we must sing these praises to the children of Cornerstone daily. And we need to shout these things from the housetops. The psalmist is telling us, remember and look. For the marvelous, wonderful things the Lord has done.

Recognize his might and power. And make sure to sing these praises loudly before your children and the children of the Cornerstone family. Those children are the church of the future. That's the cornerstone of tomorrow.

And we're going to reap from them what we sow into them. So, we see that in order to cultivate a heart of generational faithfulness, we must expose our children to the wonders of God. But Aesop doesn't stop there. He continues into verse 5, and we'll take a look at our next essential.

2, we must teach them to focus on what God has done. And what our response should be. We must teach them to focus on what God has done and what our response. Should be ASAP, he ties in the last thought with a conjunction.

You see that 4. He established, right? And so in other words, we will not conceal the amazing and marvelous things of the Lord, but we will teach them to our children since, or because we have a law prescribed by the Lord. What does it mean that the Lord established a testimony in a law?

And, and why are we commanded to teach this to our children? we just finished talking about the amazing, magnificent things of the Lord, and now we move to the law. Here's what I think's going on. The testimony of the Lord is described in Exodus chapter 31 verse 18.

It says this, and God gave to Moses, when he had made an end of speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of the stone, tables of stone written with the finger of God. So, we have the 10 commandments stated as the testimony of God. How did the 10 Commandments start? All right, before you answer, I didn't hear anybody, but it's a trick question anyway.

All right, so in Exodus 20, when, when God gives the 10 Commandments, this is what he says in verse 2. He says, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. So the testimony that the Lord gives doesn't start with a list of God's demands, but a reminder of his grace and power in the lives of his people. So, with that in mind, you can look back at Psalm 78 verse 5, and what we see is that ASAP is reminding us that we should not be thinking only about the things of God, or excuse me, only about the things that God has required us to do.

We need to be thinking about the things that God has done on our behalf and what our response should be. So, the question then is how do we live this out? I believe that Deuteronomy 6, it's a very practical example. So we can look at Deuteronomy 6:4, and I'll read that.

Deuteronomy 6:4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart, and 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 frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Man, that's practical. Right, the first thing that we have is the greatest commandment. Love the Lord your God with all of your being.

And then what we see is that the works and the testimony of the Lord shall be on our heart. That's the things that Moses has commanded. So this has to be something that's first affected us as parents or teachers or spiritual parents. This has to be something that we not only know but love.

how can we teach children in any capacity if we aren't truly transformed by the subject? think back to school, right? How many of you have ever had a class at any grade level that was such a burden and not because, the subject itself was boring or, or unimportant, but because the teacher was indifferent or unenthusiastic. But I can remember trying to teach my children about sediment and erosion, right, to no avail.

So, one morning, we took a walk and, and I brought along some material, and we made a real life example on the side of a hill, right? They could see it happening before their eyes. They could look at the hill, they could see the effects right there before them, and they'll still talk about that lesson today, right? It was real.

So if the teacher can't deliver the subject in a way that shows they're excited or if they're not personally invested and influenced. Then there's no hope for the teaching. And Moses tells us what this looks like. You see, the parents and teachers who are convinced and changed in their hearts aren't gonna be able to keep from talking about this at every point of the day.

As the next generation begins to grow, it's the responsibility of the older generation to implant the lasting influences in their lives. Now I hesitate to say teach because what we see in the Psalm and in Deuteronomy is not just teaching. teaching is, is something that's quickly forgotten. But what's not forgotten.

Is the lasting impact of a life lived with passion. So, I love football, and despite the fact that I've been confused with Ben Roethlisberger, I will always love the Denver Broncos. And anybody that has any that are any, any team that's playing the Raiders. But, but what, seriously, but where does this come from, right?

It, it, it comes from my father, right? He's always been a Broncos fan, and that passion has influenced me and, and my passion is influencing my children, so we ask ourselves. What passions will our children imitate? What passions come through when we teach the children of Cornerstone?

And I, I, I found an alliteration from John Stone Street helpful in working through this. we can look at the rhythms of life that shape our families in the questions of the three L's. OK, what are our loves? What are our loyalties?

And what are our liturgies, your habits, your rituals, or what you do without really thinking about it, right? Our loves, our loyalties, and our liturgies. So, if you were to ask me, what do I love more? My iPhone or my family?

It seems like a pretty no brainer answer, right? Of course, it's my family. But on how many occasions will I allow my phone to interrupt the time that I spend with my family? You see, we learn what our loyalties are based on our everyday liturgies or practices.

Right, the everyday rhythms of life we practice. These are what determines what gets our time, and finally what gets our devotion. The everyday rhythms of life we practice, these are what determine what gets our time, and ultimately what gets our devotion. So, in order to cultivate a heart of generational faithfulness, we expose our children to the wonders of God and we teach them to focus.

On what God has done and What our response should be. So now we're going to look at essential number 3. We must point them to God, our source of hope. If we want to cultivate a heart of generational faithfulness, we must point them to God, our source of hope.

And this is really where the rubber meets the road, right? This is where ASAP gets to the purpose clause. And here's where we really begin to understand the why of the whole thing, right? Now, remember, ASAP is still setting us up for this, this discourse, this riddle, right?

And, and he wants us to understand the importance Behind what he's going to tell us. And to know that teaching it to the children of Cornerstone is critical. So why don't we look at verse 6 and 7, and, and I'll read it for us, verse 6 and 7. That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children.

That they should put their confidence in God. And not forget the works of God. But keep his commandments. It's always been the job of the current generation.

Excuse me, to tell the next generation and for the next generation and on and on it goes. Our prayer is the, the teaching generation is that through our teaching, the work of the Spirit, and, and the work of the Spirit, we will see this threefold court of faith, that we can see in these verses. We see the intimate knowledge of the Lord, we see a per personal confidence or hope, and we see obedience to his will. The intimate knowledge of the Lord, personal confidence.

In obedience to his will. So one of the goals we have as parents is to help our children develop an intimate knowledge of God. And while it's right for us to desire that our children develop a love for God above knowledge, we cannot sacrifice true knowledge of God. not merely an intellectual knowledge, but a, a deep understanding through personally related evidence of God's amazing works in their life and throughout history.

And this is what exactly what ASA's going to get into. Right? We have the record of God's wonder and His faithfulness to His people, right? That's to them in verse 6, right?

That they would arise and tell them to their children. And this knowledge is what will allow subsequent generations of Cornerstone to stand in the face of trials and not take a detour in their faith. Their love for God is grounded in who he is, what he's done. And what he promises to do for his children.

Now, on top of this, we desire the children of Cornerstone to have a, a personal confidence or, or hope that is secure in God. you can see this in verse 7. It says, put their confidence in God. Now, the, the word for put, it can have to do with, with building a nest or a, a habitation, right?

And that's the meaning we see in Numbers 24, and it, it speaks of the Kenai people's dwelling place, enduring, being set. Same word, in the cliffs. this is the setting of hope. That we want the children of Cornerstone to have.

Placing their hope In the true rock our fortress and strong tower. you could say it this way, we desire the children of Cornerstone. To have a deep personal, intimate knowledge of God. So that they will construct a dwelling of confidence in the certainty of God, who he is.

What he's done And what he promises to do. A deep, personal, intimate knowledge of God, so that our children will construct a dwelling of confidence in the certainty of God, who he is, What he's done And what he promises to do. And the third strand in the court of faith that we see is this obedience to God's to the will of God. And, and ASAP ties obedience in with remembering the works of God.

He says in verse 7, he says, not forget the works of God. But keep his commandments. So ASAP connects our remembrance of the works of God to our ability to keep his commandments. In other words, if we don't remember his works, we won't be able to keep his commandments.

If we do not have the love of God, His strength and wondrous deeds in our memory. We're not going to have the will of God in our actions. And this type of connection is, is common in this Psalm, right? We can just look at a couple of examples quickly.

In verse 4, we saw that he tied the works that he's done to testimony and law, we see in verse 7, to not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments. In verse 10, it stated in reverse, they did not keep the covenant of God. They forgot his deeds and miracles. Verse 32, in spite of this, they still sinned.

They did not believe in his wondrous works, and in verse 41, Again and again they tempted God. In verse 42, they did not remember his power. So ASAP, he's gonna spend more than 60 verses demonstrating how important it is that we remember what the Lord has done. this is the theme of the psalm.

It's designed to teach us. But more than that, it's designed so that we would teach others. So that they would remember and obey. I believe the other thing that we see in this song is that we must be intentional about markers and reminders of God's amazing works and faithfulness.

how often do we miss opportunities to sing praises to our children about God? But, our family, in the 14 years that we've been here, our family has been blessed by the families of this church more times than I can count. And it, it's been easy for me to see the Lord's hand at work, through these families. My children are not always as aware.

And Karen and I can, and, and unfortunately, we have easily let these moments pass without singing the praises of, of God to our kids, right? Or, or when the kids are arguing over who gets what seat in the car, we can make a point to bring up how blessed we are to have this car and how God provided it through our church family. Or we can ignore it and allow anger and, and bitterness to take over. Right?

By singing these praises and highlighting the works of God, we're, we're teaching our children to develop what Spurgeon calls the divine art of holy memory. We seek to implant the seeds of faith through the words we speak to them, and the memories we create. And another way we do this is through family worship, right? We take time to go through a book or a passage or, or a creed as a family, right?

We welcome questions from the children, which is, honestly, one of the things that I love most about children's church, right? It's the, the kids do listen intently. They are very astute and they ask some amazing questions. And, it, it gives me the opportunity to share the wondrous works of God and His strength.

And, not to mention that it does keep me on my toes. But, so as we lead our children to put their confidence in the Lord and remind them of his faithfulness, the result is that they will keep his commandments. As we're enraptured with who God is and what he's done. Our obedience will flow from a heart that is filled with love for God.

And we understand that children will fail, even as we fail, right? And scripture tells us that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, and, and our job is to drive it from them. And we know that the Lord disciplines those He loves, and, and so we do the same. And this is done through the rod as we see in Proverbs 13 and 22, as well as Hebrews 12 and others, but we also use our own lives as an example.

We're, we're providing on the job training for our children. So we've seen that in order to cultivate generational faithfulness in the children of Cornerstone, we must expose them to the wonders of God. We must teach them to focus on what God has done and what our response should be. And we must point them to God.

Our source of hope. Why don't we continue into essential number 4, to cultivate a heart of generational faithfulness in the children of Cornerstone. We see that we must tell the stories of man's sinfulness and God's faithfulness. We must tell the stories of man's sinfulness and God's faithfulness.

So verse 8, it, it serves as the, the last verse in this foundation that ASaph is laying. He's, he's shepherding us into this discourse, and the, the final guidance that he gives us is that we need to learn that we do not want the next generation to be like the one before it. The desire is that the next generation would be better than the previous generations. So ASaph spends the last verse laying the groundwork to point out what we do not want the generation to be like.

And he contrast it with what we saw in verses 6 and 7. So, instead of being stubborn and rebellious, we want a generation that has knowledge and is obedient. Instead of having an unprepared heart and being faithless, we want a generation that is confident and secure in the Lord. So we've read through these verses and, and now our minds are oriented in the right direction.

ASAP has, he's laid this foundation. And he's ready to begin his instruction. And, and I apologize ahead of time. We're, we're not gonna be able to cover every verse in this Psalm, and it's certainly worthy of that time.

but I, I do wanna encourage all of you to read the Psalm this week, right? We'll read through it, but I want you to take the time to go through it. And my hope is that we can walk today, walk away today with a, a better understanding of what ASAP wants to teach us and, and that we can take these lessons into our, our own lives and the lives of the children of Cornerstone. But I want to encourage all of you, please spend some time going through what ASAP is teaching us.

Let the wonders of God's grace and patience run through your mind this week. OK. So verse 9 through the end of the chapter, it serves as the, the parable or as we discussed back in, in 0.1 the proverb. We also know that what ASAP is gonna say, it's a bit of a conundrum.

And what makes this section such a riddle is the fact that we continue to see the people of God the people of God rebel and lose faith in God, and we're left scratching our heads wondering, how can this be? All the while, God is incredibly patient and returns in grace over and over again. And we're left wondering why on earth would he do this? But that's exactly what we need to teach us.

That's been ASaph's goal all along. Right? He lays out Israel's history from Egypt to David, not necessarily in chronological order. And the Psalm can be broken up into five sections, and there's this cyclical nature.

In each of the lessons, right? Each section with the exception of the first, starts with ASAP pointing out the insanity of the father's return to sin. And within, within each section, ASAP also highlights God's faithfulness. In spite of the sin of his people.

In fact, ASAP spends almost twice as many verses talking about the amazing things that God has done. As opposed to the amount of verses spent on the failures of Israel. Another thing that ASAP does is he constantly calls us back to the words that he used in the introduction. The reason that he spent 8 verses preparing us is so that we would see what he's talking about in the parable.

He doesn't want us to get lost in the narrative. Right? He wants us to see the wondrous works and the power of God, and yet the rebellion and, and faithlessness of the people. 14 times ASaph will use the same words he used in verses 1 to 8, or a word that's very similar.

For example, the word wonder or similar word is used 3 other times, rebellious pops up 3 times. We also see the word for faithful in verse 8 show up 3 times. And the other theme that we see run throughout the parable is the fact that ASAP does not want us to forget. But rather remember.

We saw back in verse 7, that our obedience is connected to our memory. And throughout the instruction, ASAP is seeking to remind us. And then we see the word forget or remember 4 more times. So, With those things in mind, I want to read through it.

So you're ready? from verse 9 through the end of verse 69. So, why don't we all stand. I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. It's like 60 verses. I'm, I'm glad you laughed because Kara gave me that joke like this morning. Oh, you should add that in there.

OK. OK. No, but seriously, so keep the foundation of verse 8 in your thinking, the things that we've talked about, and I'm just gonna read through it, and we're just gonna to try to get a big picture of what ASAP is saying. So we're gonna start at verse 9.

And we're going to read through to the end of verse 69. The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, yet they turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law. They forgot his deeds and his miracles that he had shown them.

He wrought wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through, and he made the waters stand up like a heap. Then he led them with a cloud by day and all the night with the light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness, and he gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.

He brought forth streams also from the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers. Yet they still continued to sin against him, to rebel against the Most High God, the Most High in the desert, and in their heart they put God to the test, test by asking for food according to their desire. Then they spoke against God. They say, can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

Behold, he struck the rock so that water's gush gushed out and streams were overflowing. Can he give bread also? Will he provide meat for his people? Therefore, the Lord heard and was full of wrath, and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also mounted against Israel, because they did not believe in God and did not trust in his salvation.

Yet he, God, commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven. He rained down manna upon them to eat and gave them food from heaven. Man did eat the bread of angels. He sent them food in abundance.

He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power, he directed the south wind. When he rained the meat upon them, like the dust, even winged fowl like the sand of the seas, then he let them fall in the midst of their camp, round about their dwellings. So they ate and were filled, and their desire he gave to them. Before they had satisfied their desire, while their food was in their mouths, the anger of God rose against them and killed some of their stoutest ones and subdued the choice men of Israel.

In spite of all this, they still sinned and did not believe in his wonderful works. So he brought their days to an end in futility and their years in sudden terror. When he killed them, then they sought him and returned and searched diligently for God. And they remembered that God was their rock and the Most High God, their redeemer, but they deceived him with their mouth and lied to him with their tongue, for their heart was not steadfast toward him, nor were they faithful in his covenant.

But he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. And often he restrained his anger and did not arouse all his wrath. Thus he remembered that they were but flesh and a wind that passes and does not return. How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert.

Again and again they tempted God and pained the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power. The day when he redeemed them from the adversary, when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the field of Zoan, and turned their rivers to blood and their streams, they could not drink. He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them and frogs, which destroyed them.

He gave also their crops to the grasshopper and the product of their labor to the locusts. He destroyed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore trees with frost. He gave over their cattle also to hailstones and their herds to the to bolts of lightning. He sent upon them his burning anger, fury, and indignation and trouble.

A band of destroying angels, he leveled a path for his anger. He did not spare their soul from death, but gave over their life to the plague and smote all the first born in Egypt, the first issue of their virility in the tents of Ham. But he led forth his own people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them safely so that they did not fear.

But the sea engulfed their enemies. So he brought them to his holy land, to his hill country, which his right hand had gained. He also drove out the nations before them and apportioned for them for an inheritance by measurement, and he made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies.

But they turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers. They turned aside like a treacherous bow, for they provoked him with their high places and aroused him and aroused his jealousy with their graven images. When God heard, he was filled with wrath and greatly abhorred Israel, so that he abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh and gave up his strength to captivity and his glory into the hand of the adversary. He also delivered his people to the sword.

And was filled with wrath at his inheritance. Fire devoured his young men and his virgins had no wedding songs. His priests fell by the sword, and his widows could not weep. Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep like a warrior overcome by wine.

He drove his adversaries backward. He put on them an everlasting approach. He also rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah. Mount Zion, which he loved, and he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth, which he has founded forever.

She has parents and teachers. We have the opportunity of using our own lives, our own stories as a living, breathing, teaching opportunity. As a father, I, I can say with certainty that my prayer for my children is that they will be light years ahead of me in their walk. I don't want them to have the same struggles I, I had and still have.

And I want their love and knowledge of God to be far above my own. Right, but as, as parents and teachers, we live our lives before our children, and they can see our failures and the way in which we repent and seek forgiveness. The way we rely on the Lord and, and through that reliance, how we work out our own salvation. Right, the moments when our anger rises up, usually right after disciplining our children for their anger.

At the moments when we find ourselves speaking about someone in our child's presence or the many misplaced words we speak while quote unquote disciplining our children. These are the opportunities for us to repent. In their presence. And seek their forgiveness as well.

These are those gospel opportunities that we, we have to take advantage of. As we teach and we show our children that that even daddy needs a savior. Right? And even mommy needs to be forgiven.

There's no memory more powerful than your children seeing you come before them. Asking them and our Lord for forgiveness. No memory more powerful than when your children see you come before them and ask them and our Lord for forgiveness. Let us seek to create reminders and memories of God's goodness and faithfulness to our children.

So, we've seen that in order to cultivate generational faithfulness in the children of Cornerstone, we must expose them to the wonders of God. We must teach them what God has done and what our response should be, and we must point them to God, our source of hope. And we tell them the stories of man's sinfulness. And God's faithfulness.

So let's take a look at the 5th and, and final essential, essential to cultivate a heart of, of generational faithfulness. Number 5, we must point them to the Good Shepherd. We must point them to the Good Shepherd. So let's read this passage together, starting at verse 70 through to the end of the chapter.

Verse 70, it says this. He also chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds. From the care of the ewes with suckling lambs, he brought him to shepherd Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them with his skillful hands.

So the Psalm, it builds to a crescendo at this point, right? The failures of Israel's past have mounted higher, and, and the grace of God is even higher. And the Psalm culminates with, with David, the great shepherd king, right? In, in 1 Samuel 16, we see David anointed king after Saul had been rejected, right?

So, Samuel goes to Jesse and Jesse brings over all his sons and, and, and Samuel looks on Eliab, the firstborn of Jesse, and And he sees everything he needs to know, right? He says, surely the Lord's anointed is before me. you can see it, right? Samuel sees this tall, handsome, strapping young man.

We all know the story. The Lord responds, do not look on his appearance or the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

And David was a man after God's own heart, and it's, it's obvious from this Psalm that David was sovereignly chosen. You can see in verse 70, right? You can see that God's the subject of the, the choosing, the taking, and the bringing. In other words, David winding up as the shepherd of God's people is the Lord's doing, and it's according to his purposes.

But we also see that David shepherded the people of Israel according to the integrity of his heart. That is to say, with honesty and devotion. And he also guided them with his skillful hands. You skillful is often translated understanding, right?

And what a contrast between the, the rebellious generation in verse 8, and the culmination of God's grace up to this point in David. A generation that did not prepare its heart to a man that served in integrity with his whole heart. A generation that was stubborn and rebellious with no comprehension of what God desired for them. To a man that showed the depths of understanding in everything he put his hands to.

But the question before us now is how do we respond to David's sin, right? The psalm doesn't tell us. It ends on a high note, right? It's, it's almost like a fulfillment of the, of the, the, the Davidic covenant that we see in, in, in 2 Samuel.

But we do know David's history. We know of his adultery and his murder, and right, and we can put ourselves in ASAP's place, right? We can, we can feel the sorrow when he pen, after penning these words, this, that was inspired by scripture. That that is inspired scripture and breathed out by God, right?

And we, we can cry his tears. what, what must he have felt thinking about this, right? The hope that Aesaph had in the kingdom and the reign of David. But these sins, they call us to look at the greatest display of God's grace in all of history, right?

They call us to look forward to the greater David, the good shepherd, the one whose throne and kingdom is established forever. God saw fit to anoint a man after his own heart, flawed or otherwise, but that's just the beginning. From David's promised line, we have one who will shepherd his people with perfect integrity of his whole heart and with supremely skillful hands. Ultimately, we have the hope, the eternal hope of the Good Shepherd.

And we can see the shepherd in Isaiah 40. Listen to the compassion and emotion of our savior. Isaiah 40:11, at the end it says this, he will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms.

He will carry them in his bosom. And gently lead those that are with young. This is parents and teachers is, is what we must be pointing the children of Cornerstone to on a daily basis. In John 10, we see Jesus as a good shepherd, and his sheep know his voice, and they follow him, and they will go in and out and they'll find pasture.

We see that through the Good Shepherd we have life and that more abundantly. With the good shepherd, there's security, right? While a hired hand may run, when the wolves come, the good shepherd will not leave his sheep. In fact, our Lord tells us that not only will he not leave his sheep, he will lay down his life for his sheep.

And just to make sure that we get it, he tells us 5 times. Why does he do this? Because he loves his sheep. Jesus tells us that he knows his sheep and his sheep know him.

this is the intimate knowledge that speaks of the deep love relationship that we have with our Lord, and he with us. The sin in this passage is, this is something that we use to show our children that there must be something better. We cannot put our hope in a man, even a man after God's own heart. God is the hero.

And nowhere is the heroic work more clear than in the sending of his own son. The greater David, the good shepherd, the one. The one that we can put our hope in. And this is what Paul tells the Jews in Antioch in Acts 13, he says of David, God has brought forth a savior, Jesus, as he promised.

So In closing, let's recall the five essentials for cultivating the heart of. Generational faithfulness in the children of Cornerstone that ASAP has laid before us. Number one, we know that if we want to cultivate a heart of generational faithfulness in the children of Cornerstone, we must expose them to the wonders of God. We must expose them to the wonders of God.

Number 2, we must teach them. To focus on what God has done and what our response should be. Number 3, we must point them to God, our source of hope. Number 4, we must tell them the stories of man's sinfulness and God's faithfulness.

And number 5, we must point them to the Good Shepherd. So this instruction is, is for the, for all of us. It's for the body of Christ as a whole. Obviously, parents have a, the most significant impact on a child's life, but all of us are charged with the responsibility to invest in the lives of the children of Cornerstone.

We all have an opportunity to shape the lives of every child in this church. God doesn't drop a new Bible, or a new revelation from heaven every subsequent generation. God's design is that they learn it from the preceding generations. I think John Piper said it well when he said that the spirit comes down vertically.

Where the truth of God is imparted horizontally. But in order to impart the truth horizontally, we must delight in the truth inwardly. Our delight must be in the Lord, and we must be infatuated with Him. If we do not have this mindset, we're imparting half truths at best.

Now I must hasten to add that we can't have this delight if we're not part of God's family. We must be washed with the blood of Christ and part of the family of God, and, and I plead with anybody here who has not embraced Christ for salvation, that they would do that even now. We also must trust in the sovereignty of God and the lives of our children. Whether parents or spiritual parents or teachers, we, we know the struggle of, of seeing children stray or never come to faith, right?

This is one of my fears as a parent. I, I'm raising eternal souls, and they're prone to wander. And yet I, I can realize that. Even the best father, our Heavenly Father, has rebellious children.

I'm one of them. But I also know that there's no limit to God's grace. It reaches to the worst of sinners. And finally, I can preach to myself that with man.

Salvation is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God. And lastly, but certainly not least, we wanna make sure that we continue fervently in prayer. And this includes with our children in our classes and in our closets, right?

this has been something that I've found extremely rewarding in my own life because our children want this time. It has an impact even if we don't see it or realize it. And beyond that, we can have confidence that our, our Heavenly Father will hear our prayers. And that he in no way Grows weary of the prayers for the salvation and growth of our children.

So, let's pray for the hearts that know God. Remember his works and are obedient to Christ, that they would be multiplied in our God exalting families and in this God exalting church. So that the generations to come. Might know the Lord, even those not yet born.

Why don't we pray? Heavenly Father, we. We thank you for your word. We thank you for ASAP and his heart.

For the future generations. And, and Lord, we just pray for a heart. The desires to teach and to impart the, the wondrous works and the strength and the knowledge of God to, to the next generations. And Lord, we desire to see our children.

Our grandchildren, our great grandchildren sitting in the pews beside us at church. So, take this word, Lord, that's gone forth and motivate us, transform us. That we would go forward and, and invest in the future generations of Cornerstone. We pray this in Christ's holy name.

Amen.