The Generation to Come - Nathan Yoder

Greetings to each one in the name of Jesus Christ,

our Lord. Appreciated so much the comments that were made.

I certainly do not utter those words lightly. But I

don't know if I've ever started a sermon without it.

I think it's an important way it is for me

to simply recognize that Jesus is here, and I come

in his presence, in his will and way, representing his word.

I certainly don't come to you in my own name.

It's in the name of Jesus that we gather and

meet together. If I may make one other comment on

the devotional I appreciate so much the thoughts that were

shared that ever thought have you ever thought about the

critter that Jesus was riding on? If I understand it

right from the Book of Mark, that was a donkey,

a horse, a mule, whatever it was on which never

man sat. Now, I don't know if there's anybody here

that's ever ridden a mule or a donkey on which

never man sat or not. But I'm not a horseman.

But I you won't catch me trying it. And there's

a very specific reason I'm not that interested in going

into orbit a horse on which never man sat is

not is a force to be reckoned with, and especially

one that has a bit of age. But this donkey

on which never Man sat was brought to Jesus, and

Jesus sat on him and wrote him into Jerusalem. And

I think there's a deep similarity there that would work

as message material, which is not our subject tonight. But

I don't know if there's any mules here on which

never Man sat or not. But I make no apology

for comparing you and me in our fallen state to that.

And an untrained mule has a lot of similarities to

an untrained young man or a young woman that has chosen,

that has never been broken by the spirit of the

living God. And they're rebellious, and they're huitchi, they're hoppy,

they're unstable. There, I could use a few more descriptions.

But you bring that person to Jesus Christ and let

Jesus Christ sit on him, and suddenly we have a

calm person who is willing to carry the Master wherever

he wants to go. There's an amazing symbolism there, and

there is no higher call than that. There is no

higher call tonight then to be a broken mule on

which the Master sits and we have the opportunity to

carry his message, to carry his purposes, to carry his

will where the driver wants to go, not where I

want to go, where he wants to go. And there's

just a lot of truths there that we could consider.

Might also just mention my ponderings were touched with just

a note of sadness. Today I found out that Dale

HAIs his dear wife Suzanne, passed away. I don't know

how many of you know. Dale, a dear friend of mine,

ministered together through the years, had opportunity to cross paths,

especially after he was back from Costadica. And I think

there's a viewing visitation today in funeral tomorrow if I

remember correctly. When I was thinking of coming, somehow there was,

of course, was meditating and studying and thinking about what

the Lord would have us to preach about this week.

It's a grave responsibility for a preacher, and I'm certainly

not suggesting that I'll always get it right. But somehow

there was a there was a burden laid on my

heart to consider the factor of the fam family, the home,

and just to bring a word of exhortation and encouragement

and I wasn't sure where that would go or even if.

Having been here and in your homes and seeing the

children here and the youth that are gathered in, I

felt led to continue that thought process, and so that

that is my intent. That's the burden of the message tonight,

young fathers or all fathers. I wonder, I wonder what

your I'd like for you to imagine what your families

may look like ten years from now. I just consider

your current family situation and structure, and think of the

ages of your children and where they will be ten

years from now, and you where will you be ten

years from now? What may transpire during that time. That's

the year twenty thirty six. And now for some of you,

twenty thirty six looks like an eternity away. You know,

it's a few centuries and then some and maybe twenty

thirty six will come. For those of us that have

been around the block a few times, we know that

ten years comes and goes very quickly. Think back ten

years and again, some of you, when you think back

ten years, you were just knee high and so on.

But for many of us, we think back ten years

and we recognize that the last ten years did not

take long. Barack Obama was president, and there we I

could mention some other things that have come and gone

in the last ten years. The simple truth of the

matter is years goes very quickly. So ten years from now,

where will your family be? How will your children be?

And you and your wife? If the Lord gives you

life and breath ten years?

Wow?

Next question, I wonder if you were to turn to

a scripture chapter verse that has to do with the family,

the home, children, child training, kind of that whole package.

What scriptures would you turn to? What comes to your mind?

Don't all talk at once? Pardon proverbs?

Good?

The proverbs have many instructions as it pertains to home,

family and so on.

What other scriptures?

Okay, well, there's some that come to my mind. I

think of Psalm one hundred and twenty seven. I think

of Psalm one hundred and twenty eight Ephesian six, And

I know I had more time to give this thought

than you did Deuteronomy six. And there's one other Psalm

that should come to your mind. It's a favorite of mine.

I'd like to do somewhat of an exposition of at

least part of it tonight. I don't know that we

have time to do all. And that is Psalm seventy eight.

And I don't know if I when I say Psalm

seventy eight, if that rings a bell or right away.

There's things that come to your mind about Psalm seventy eight.

Perhaps it will after tonight. It's a beautiful song. The

there's many things that come to mind as I look

at Psalm seventy eight. I am there's I don't know

if I should call them disclaimers or not. As an

interesting challenge for a preacher to preach on specific subjects

and portions of Scripture that have to do with things

that are pretty practical within the church, because somebody may, well,

look at my family, look at me as a father,

my wife is mother, and wonder do you think you're perfect?

No, we're not. I'm sorry.

I cannot hold up our example as a perfect example.

Our home certainly was not that.

But in spite of those short comings lack, it is

the calling of a preacher to hold forth the Word

of God as it pertains to subjects, even challenging subjects.

And certainly this is that I have been in settings

and I'm sure you have to where it's obvious that

something was lost from one generation to the next. And

sometimes it's graphic. We're at a funeral and there's a

parent that has passed away, and it's obvious that there

are children that are not following in the footsteps of

mother and father. And what especially grieves me is there

are times, and I've seen this personally, where there are

children who obviously have gone a different direction and their

mother or father that is being buried, and they stand

and they give tribute, and they laud and they honor

and they praise their parents for the example they were

and the teaching they gave and how godly they were.

But they're obviously not walking in those same steps, And

I ask myself, what are they thinking? How can they

do that? How can we honor you know, parents who

have gone before? And those are those are things that

I think about. And I also ponder the thing that

there are times when parents make choices that we question,

we wonder at, and it's not long until the children

make additional choices beyond that. And I watch that and

I say, now, the parents are going to make it,

if you please. I don't like that word. I'm not

sure what a better word is but they've been taught,

they've been instructed, they have personally, you know, chosen a

way of truth, and then they veer off track. And

yet I feel like they they have the teaching in

the backbone, they're going to make it. But what about

the next generation? Don't they care? What are they what

are they thinking when they make those choices? Because the

next generation continues on making choices until there is a

there's no semblance of godliness there. And so these are

these are heavy subjects. And again I don't profess to

have all the answers to that at all, but I

do want to look into the Word of God and

and just book at some of these principles. In Psalm

seventy eight, he gives us a window into the heart

of God as it pertains to generations. And I took

my title from verse four. There's a phrase in verse four,

the generation to come, and that is that's where my

burden is tonight, that's where my heart is for the

generation to come. There's one there's an older generation that

is sitting here, and there's a generation to come that

is sitting here. And of course there's all there's there's

ages and stages in between that.

But let's read the first.

In fact, I'd love to take the time to read

this whole Psalm. It's only seventy two verses. I don't

think I will take the time to read the whole psalm,

but follow along as we read at least the first

section of this Psalm, Psalm seventy. He says, give ear, o,

my people, to my law. Incline your ears to the

words of my mouth. Listen up, he says, 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 hide them

from their children, showing to the generation to come the

praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful

works that he hath done. For he established a testimony

in Jacob and appointed a law on Israel, which he

commanded our fathers that they should make them known to

their children, that the generation to come might know them,

even the children which should be born, who should arise

and declare them to their children, that they might set

their hope in God, and not forget the works of God,

but keep his commandments, and might not be as their

fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set

not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast

with God. The children of Ephram, being armed and carrying bows,

turned back in the day of battle. They kept not

the covenant of God. They refused to walk in his laws.

They forgot his works and his wonders. That he had

showed them. Marvelous things did he in the sight of

their fathers. In the land of Egypt, in the field

of Zwn. He divided the sea. He caused them to

pass through. He made the waters to stand as a

heap in the daytime. Also he led them with a cloud,

and all the night with the light of a fire.

He cleaved the rocks in the wilderness and gave them

drink as out of the great depths. He brought streams

also out of the rock, and caused waters to run

down like rivers. But they sinned yet more against Him.

By provoking the most high on the wilderness, they tempted God,

and in their hearts by asking meat for their lust. Yea,

they spake against God, and said, can God furnish a

table in the wilderness? Behold, he smoke out the rock

that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can

he give us bread?

Also? Can he provide flesh for his people?

Therefore the Lord heard this and was wroth. So a

fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up

against Israel, because they believed not in God. They trusted

not in his salvation. Though he had commanded the clouds

from above and opened the doors of heaven, He rained

down manna upon them to eat, and had given them

of the corn of heaven. Man did eat Angel's food.

He sent them meat to the full. I'm going to

stop reading there again, Like I said, we could read

on with the example. I'm intrigued that they had angel food.

I don't know if it was angel food cake, but

they had angel food there the corn of heaven they

rained out. God provided for them in an incredible ways. Now,

thinking back over, just I'm going to be picking out

Versus throughout this psalm and just looking at it. But

I have three ideas that I'd like to explore tonight.

The first one is a generational vision, a generational vision.

The second one is clues to generational apostasy? How can

that happen? He addresses some things in here that I

want to look at. And three, ending on a more

positive note, I want to look at some building blocks

of generational transmission, or how these things transmit the whole idea.

In our first point here of a generational vision, I

don't know if you noticed it or not, but the

word generation is used over and over again in just

the scripture we read here. In verse four, he talked

about the generation to come. Verse six, he talked about

the generation to come verse eight, not like the rebellious generation,

a generation that's set, not their hard or right. I

began looking at some of the scriptures, just paging through

the Bible and looking at generation that verse that word

is used. I forget what it was one hundred and

sixty eight times or something. In fact, it's over two

hundred times. They Starting in Genesis, we read about the

generations of Noah. We read about the generations of Tira

that included Abraham and Lot. In Judges too, we read

about the generations that were gathered to their fathers, and

another generation arose, which did what was.

Right in their own eyes.

In Psalm forty eight, we might look at this Sunday morning,

but he says mark ye well herb Bulwarks in Psalm

forty eight, speaking of the church consider her palaces, that

you may tell it to the generation following, the generations

to come, a song that we sing. I will sing

of the mercies of the Lord forever with my mouth,

while I make known thy faithfulness to all what generations.

And there's many more scriptures that we could look at.

In fact one Peter two, verse nine says he are

a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation,

peculiar people, and so on generation. The idea when I

look at this here, I see a window into the

heart of God for our families, His will for us.

His plan is that generation after generation after generation there

would be truth transmitted from one generation to the next,

that the next generation would arise and accept, and not

only just accept, but that these truths would become part

and parcel of their own life, that they themselves would

choose to follow, and the principles and truths would become

a part of their life, and that they would pass

them on to their to their children. I see a

beautiful picture of this in verse four five six seven.

In there did you notice it? As we read across it?

There's at least four generations mentioned there, depending on how

we read it, there's five. Notice it with me. In

verse five, he says he established a testimony in Jacob

and appointed a law on Israel, which he commanded our fathers.

There's generation number one, our fathers, and he says that

they're going to make them known to their children. That's us,

that's the second generation. So the fathers are going to

make these truths known to their children verse six, that

the generation to come might know them, even the children

which should be born there we have the third generation,

the grandchildren, if you please, which who should arise and

declare them to their children? The fourth generation? Fathers, do

you have a vision for four generations of children? Do

you have a vision? Are you living your life and

teaching your children in such a way that you have

a strong premonition that at least four generations from now.

There will be truth.

They'll look back at great great Grandpa and you fill

in your name and they'll say, he was a man

of God, and where he is there, I am the

same truth that he loved. I love now I know

there's there's there are changes, okay, And change to me

is not a frightening thing.

If it's if it's a.

Change to be transformed more and more into the image

of God. Now when worldliness has its impact, now that's

another story. But even then, I am not blind to

the fact or ignorant of the way that there are

truths interpreted from one generation to the next, which there

may be slight differences, but there are foundational principles. There

are truths that are non negotiables. When we air from that,

when we deviate from that, we turn on the wrong track,

we take exits off of the narrow way, and those

things should be clear in our mind. But the vision

that is here, I believe this is God's will for

our families. That one generation declares these truths to the next,

and he mentions four or five. We could easily split

there in verse six. The generation to come might know them.

That could be one generation, even the children which should

be born. If we split it there, we have five generations.

Do you have a four generation? A five generation vision?

When you are buttering your children's toast, when you are

taking them to school, when you are helping them choose

their clothes, when you are directing their hairstyles, are you

do you have a four generation idea in the back

of your mind as you are teaching and instructing them.

You should have it is a a it's imperative. It's

not just here in Psalm seventy eight. We can look

at the example of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph,

and we could even follow that lineage further, where there

was a faithful lineage over several generations. Paul told Timothy

and Timothy chapter two and verse one, he says, thou, therefore,

my son, be strong in the grace that is in

Christ Jesus, and the things which thou hast heard of

me first generation among many witnesses, he said the same,

commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to

teach others. Also there we have it in church leadership,

and Paul says, I have taught you you commit it

to faithful men, faithful men who will be able to

teach others. Also there again we have four generations that

are mentioned there. There's the second point. As we look

across this chapter, this Psalm, it's obvious that there are

things that didn't go as planned as God would have

had them. Notice what happened in verse eight, verse eight.

We have a recipe for a catastrophe instead of following

the principles. In verse five, six and seven, it says

these fathers were a stubborn and rebellious generation. They were

a generation that set not their heart aright, and there's

spirit was not steadfast with God.

Now, if you.

Want a recipe for a catastrophe, there you have it.

That's a recipe for a generation that will drift away

into oblivion in one generation. Right there, you've got it.

Let's look a little closer at these things. I notice

here that he says they were They were stubborn, and

they were rebellious. Another way of saying stubborn. Deuteronomy thirty

one and Exodus thirty two. He says, the Lord said,

unto Moses, I've seen this people, and behold, it is

a stiff neck people. And it's the kind of thing

that a chiropractor's not going to fix. Sometimes we do

that home. We have stiff necks, right, But a chiropractor's

not going to fix this kind of stiff neck. And

I don't know if there's people here tonight with stiff

necks or not, but stiff neck has the idea, it's

my way. They are unbending, they are unyielding. Well, there's

an aspect of truth where that's a positive, I suppose.

But here he talks about stubbornness, stubbornness, and usually when

we think about stubbornness, we're talking about a two year

old or a ten year old. You know, children that

refuse to submit to authority. They're stubborn, right, But he's

not talking about two or ten year olds here. Did

you notice it? He said they might not be as

their father's a stubborn generation. And that is a that

is a that's a that's a problem. The whole idea

of rebellion in the in a child, or rebellion by itself,

is simply the lifting up of my will against the

will of my authority. That's what rebellion is. And fathers,

if your child does that, you say do it and

they say no.

That's rebellion.

Now, of course, there can be misunderstandings and we need

grace and whatnot.

But the point of.

Rebellion is where an authority gives a directive and the

subordinate says, I.

Like my way better. That's rebellion.

But again, the lesson that stops me in my tracks

here is he wasn't talking about two year olds. He

was talking about mothers and fathers that were rebellious who

somehow chose their own way and lifted up their way

instead of taking God's way. He mentions the children of Ephraim.

He mentions how they turned back even when they were armed.

There's red flags all over this psalm. Notice in verse ten,

it says they kept not the covenant of God. They

refused to walk in his law. Verse eleven it says

they forgot His works, and it goes on to mention

a number of the amazing things that God had done

for them. In forty two he also talks about forgetting Well,

maybe look at that a little bit later, look at

verse twenty two. In verse twenty two, he identifies another problem,

and he says, because they believed not in God. They

believe not in God. They trusted not his own in

his salvation. As I think of that, there were talking

about faith. They that's what belief is. So instead of

having faith that God knew what he was doing, there

was unbelief. They believe not. And as I don't know

if we should take time for this or not, I'd

like to, though, turn to Hebrews chapter three. I think

unbelief is a is a critical issue in this discussion

of a generation. Again we're looking at the older generation.

But in Hebrews chapter three, he gives an object lesson

of why the children of Israel were unable to enter

the Promised Land when they approached the when they approached

the borders, and he gives us, in fact, to steal

the thunder. Look at verse nineteen. The reason they couldn't

enter the Promised Land is because of unbelief. And I

think that this is a key factor in us not

being effective in passing on the truths of God to

the next generation.

Is unbelief in.

Her own heart? Well, why would unbelief be there? Well,

this whole chapter Hebrews chapter three is about unbelief. We

could look verse seven and maybe just a few verses there.

He says, Wherefore, as the Holy goes seth today, if

ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. As

in the provocation back in the wilderness. Jump down to

verse twelve. He says, take heed, brethren, lest there be

in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, and

any of you, any of us, in departing from the

Living God, and then he gives some remedies for it.

He says, exhort one another daily, while it is called today,

lest any of you should be hardened through the deceitfulness

of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ. If

we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.

While it is said today, if you will hear his voice,

harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, For some,

when they had heard, did provoke. However, not all that

came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was

he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that

had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, and to

whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest?

But to them that believed not, that believe not. Do

you see that they didn't believe properly, And so we

see they could not enter because of unbelief. I think

it's an oversimplification to say that all of our problems,

our sins, are due to unbelief, but it comes really

close when you what unbelief truly is is the what

we've been talking about, where God gives a directive, whatever

it may be, and I choose not to obey. What

I am saying by that, and I almost shudder to

even say what I'm going to say. But what I'm

what we are saying when we disobey and take our

own way. So here we have the will of God

and the command of God. But when I disobey, I

lift my will against that, and I say, God, I'm sorry,

you don't know what you're talking about. I know better.

I'm doing my way because it is better than your way.

That's a horrible thing to say, but that's what rebellion is.

That's what unbelief is.

Unbelief is lifting my will against the will of God.

And so when we think of it, that is a

it's a root issue.

In our in our life. It's the kind of thing

we have to deal with. Notice some of the things

that he says here about that. He says in verse

twelve that unbelief is a heart problem. It's a heart.

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you

an evil heart of unbelief. And he also says, of

course that it is evil. That's right there as a

description too, and indeed it is. It's a wicked thing.

Verse eight, he notices that unbelief leads to hardness of heart.

He says, harden not your hearts, because unbelief when a

person does that, and it's easy to see it in

the heart of a child. When a child is rebellious

and lives in that, their hearts become hardened to authority

rather than soft and pliable. It goes the other way,

and so it leads to hardness of heart, and it

also leads to apostasy. If you notice that. In verse twelve,

he says, in departing from the Living God, when a

heart has unbelief in it, or rebellion, we don't like

to use the word rebellion. That sounds so heavy and

so harsh. We'd rather unbelief.

I can live with.

You know, it's the same thing unbelief.

He says. A heart of unbelief.

Will lead us away from God num verse ten. I

notice there Jesus is grieved with that generation. Jesus is grief.

God is grieved with the issue of unbelief. And we

notice in verse eleven and in verse nineteen that unbelief

has eternal consequences.

They could not.

Enter because of unbelief, and brothers and sisters, we won't either,

Not only will we be ineffective in transmitting our convictions

and the truths of God's word to the next generation.

We won't make it ourselves if we have unbelief. You know,

we could ask I was going to ask ourselves and

talk about the issue of what is unbelief. There's a

very interesting grammat construction. It's simply belief with a un

in front of it, and that's not. The United Nations

simply means not. And so when either we're involved with

something or we're uninvolved, so it just simply means not.

And when we have belief, we have faith in God.

When there is unbelief, it means not having faith in God.

It's that simple, and it's.

A big deal.

In scripture, God talks often about the problem of unbelief.

Let's move on to the positive side as I think

of building blocks of transmission of truth to the next generation.

Psalm seventy eight also, of course has many possibilities in that,

but maybe just a few overview statements. I believe that

if we are going to transmit truth effectively to the

generation to come, it will come from stronghold homes. Of course,

from good homes. Now I didn't say perfect, I don't

know how many of you came from perfect homes.

I didn't.

Our home was not perfect, and I know yours isn't either.

Life's like that. We live in a fallen world. We

make mistakes, and it's there's just no way around that.

But may our homes have men who are humble and

strong and godly and willing to submit willingly to God

and to the Church, to the authority that.

Is over them.

May our homes have godly women who are strong and

submissive and loving and willingly submit to God and to

their husbands. It is a it's a beautiful thing when

we have those kinds of homes. Verse four in Psalm

seventy eight says showing to the generation to come. That

word showing has the eyes idea of declaring to the

generation to come, of indelibly imprinting on the generation to come.

That's what it means to do that. Now, that brings

an interesting thing thought to my mind. And we asked

the questions sometimes which is more active in our home?

Is it caught or is it taught. There's a little

cliche that says more is caught than taught.

Is that true? Again?

Me interesting to have some open discussion on that in

your home is more caught than taught. Well, I'm not

going to I don't know if I can answer that accurately,

but I am going to do this. I think it's

one of these situations that's just like this, which is

more important.

The answer is yes, the for starters.

Both of them are happening. Okay, both of them are happening,

whether you want them to or not. Now, in some

homes the one is maybe more exercised, perhaps just my

observation from experience. And I am a teacher, and I

tried to teach our children the right way, but I

would dare guess that there was still substantially more caught

than taught. And when the dust settles, I wonder if

it's not that our children more follow example of their

parents than they do the precepts of their parents. Now

that's not to minimize to minimize the other. Both of

them must be active and effective. But follow me to

a few verses. One Corinthians eleven to one. First Corinthians

eleven to one has a Paul makes a profound statement

regarding this subject. It's a short verse, but he simply

told the Corinthians, be ye, followers of me, fathers, can

you say that to your children?

Do as I do?

Now he qualifies that, and he says, as I follow Christ,

and even as I also, he says, be ye followers

of me, even as I also am of Christ. And

indeed we want that qualification, don't we In.

Our own homes.

We don't want our children to follow when we make mistakes,

even though that impact is there. But we want a

We want them to follow us as we follow Christ.

Another verse that talks about following an example one Timothy,

chapter four and verse twelve. One Timothy four and verse twelve.

And this one's especially relevant, perhaps for the younger parents, fathers,

and mothers that are here tonight. I give this as

a challenge to you. He says, Let no man despise

thy youth. Young fathers, young mothers. You don't have much experience.

Don't let anyone despise your youthfulness in that training program.

Let no man despise thy youth. But be thou an example.

It's the idea of caught is all over this. Be

thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation,

in charity, in spirit, in faith and purity, And as

we think of being an example of word. Be an

example of choice of word. Be an example of tone

of voice. Be an example of when you speak and

when you are quiet. Be an example in word, be

an example in conversation. That simply means our conduct, our

walk of life, our way of life. Live in such

a way that when your children follow you, that they

will be walking in ways of truth and right. And

that's particularly important when it is stressful. It's easy to

walk nice when you come to church, right, But what

happens when there's a disagreement? What happens when there is

a bad business deal? What happens? How do you respond

when somebody takes advantage of you? What do you do

when the flower pot is tipped over? And we could

go on with situations. The way we respond in stressful

situations is perhaps how our children will follow us. In conversation,

he says, be an example in charity, in what I love?

What is important in life? Be an example in spirit?

Is our spirit christ like? Is it generous? Does it

have the fruit of the spirit? Be an example in spirit.

Be an example of faith. Do you have an unshakable

confidence in God, especially in the difficult times of life?

Be an example of faith be an example in purity

of mind, an example of purity and thought and action.

And perhaps the summary thought could come from Titus two seven,

where he says, in all things, showing thyself a pattern

of good works, in doctrines, showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, and

so on, an example. Because and I've already said, somebody

made that thought to me that it's a possibility that

more is caught than taught. And I said, I'm glad

for that. There are not enough days in a week

or hours in a day to teach everything that must

be taught. Perhaps they can learn from example, and in

fact they do. To be sure the caught is ever

going on. Paul talked to Timothy and he says he

commented on the example that he had, and he says

that his grandmother Lois had faith, and the mother Eunice.

And he said, I'm persuaded in the also there we

have three generations, from Lois to Eunice to Timothy. It

was caught, it was taught, it was passed on to

the next generation for three generations. Now I'm well aware

that God has no grandchildren. Each one of us must

choose personally to follow the Lord it's our opportunity and

responsibility as parents to bring our children to that point

where they too commit and submit their their lives to

Jesus Christ. Let's pick up on a few more things

from from Psalm eighty seven back to I mean Psalm

seventy eight, back to that portion. There's just some rich

things here that I would like to point out. Verse

seven I find just so instructive, he says there verse seven,

after he gives this window into the four generations, he

said that these generations might set their hope in God

and number two not forget the works of God and

number three but keep his commandments, and this would be

these would be messages all their own. But just think

of the idea of leading our children to a place.

You know, when they start off life, Dad hung the moon.

You know, Mom can do anything. And that's the way

it should be. But there comes a time when that

allegiance waivers, perhaps and there needs to be instruction given.

May it be such that that allegiance He says that

the goal is that their hope is turned toward and

set on God, not necessarily on us. And praise Jesus

if it can be that way. People today set their

hope in their health. They set their hope in their wealth,

They set their hope in their smarts, They set their

hope in their abilities, They set their hope in all

kinds of things. But he says, the answer, one of

the keys of transmission is that they.

Set their hope in God.

That they recognize that God is their only hope, that

this is where it's at. You know, I can if

I walk away from God, I've walked away from everything

that is important, that they might set their hope in God.

Hope is such a powerful thing, and the opposite is

also true. The songwriter says, My hope is built on

nothing less than Jesus' blood and his righteousness.

I dare not trust.

Anything else, even the sweetest frame, but Holly, lean on

Jesus' name. Let's go on to the second one, he says,

And not forget the works of God. Not forget the

works of God. Do your children know.

The works of God?

Have you reviewed them often enough that they will never

forget them, that even when they have questions in their minds,

that they will remember them? You know, I'm old enough

to know that my forget are some times works better

than it should. And memory is something that can fade.

And yet there are things that I think I will

ever remember. I will remember things about my wife. I

remember things about my father and mother. I remember that

day fifty nine years ago when I knelt and committed

my life to Jesus Christ. We remember those things, and

God gives us the ability too. And the lessons of

history are so important. Notice what he says here. He

says the what are we to remember? What are we

to show to the next generation. Well, he reiterates that

in a number of places we will not hide these

things from our children, showing to the generation to come.

And then he mentions a number of things, the praises

of the Lord, the strength of the Lord, the wonderful

works of the Lord that he hath done, and on

down through here he mentions, you know how the sea

was parted, and how God provided water for them, and

how he provided manna for them. He said, rehearse these

things over and over again, to the point that the

children the generation to come will never forget them, bind

them upon their heart. In fact, I'd like to turn

just briefly to some I mean to Deuteronomy chapter six.

Will you turn there with me? I sometimes call this

the education chapter, but it's much more than that. Deuteronomy

is six is such a rich portion in teaching our children.

And there's a couple of things I need to point

out in this portion as we as we look at

transmitting truth to the next generation.

If we look at verse.

Five and following, I know we talked about this the

first night. It just a bit, but I want to

just highlight a few things. There are a number of

personal pronouns in here that one time caught my attention.

I grabbed my highlighter and started to highlight the personal

pronouns and Deuteronomy is six. Usually when we think of

transmitting truth to the next generation, our focus is on them.

How can we be effective in impacting them, How can

we transmit truth so they remember it?

And so on?

Well, these are good questions. But look at verse five,

and he's not talking. This is all about teaching the children.

But verse five says, and thou shalt love the Lord

thy God. That's us, that's moms and dads. He's talking

to the adults first, and he says, thou shalt love

the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with

all thy soul, and with all thy might personal, very personal.

You should underline those words, highlight them in your Bible.

Verse six, these words which I command THEE this day

shall be in your child's heart.

Didn't say that.

It said they shall be in your heart, indelibly impressed

upon our heart till it transforms us. That's what he's

talking about. Verse seven. There's a few there, and thou

shalt teach them. So the responsibility comes to us if

we'd look at Deuteronomy four. In fact, page back, just

a page to Deuteronomy four and look at verse nine,

very similar thought idea there in the teaching program, he says,

only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently,

lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen,

unless eighty part from thy heart all the days of

thy life. But teach them thy sons and thy son's sons.

But the emphasis over and over again is he said,

these truths must somehow grip us and change us, and

melt our heart and turn our heart toward God before

we are in any position to teach those things to

the next generation. I had a number of verses jotted down.

I don't have time to go over them, but the

principle there is that it must first change us before

we can transmit effectively to the next generation. Now back

to chapter six and then the next verses. There's a

couple of words that start with con that have impressed

themselves upon me as I was pondering this, maybe it'll

ring a bell with you verse six and seven. I mean,

starting with verse seven, he says, and thou shalt teach

them diligently unto thy children. That's teaching consistently, and shalt

talk of them. When thou sittest in thine house, that's

teaching conversationally. And when thou walkest by the way, that's

teaching constantly. And when thou liest down and risest up,

that's teaching consecutively. Thou shalt bind them for a sign

up on thy hand. That's teaching concretely. And they shall

be as frontlets between thine eyes. That's teaching conscientiously. And

thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house

and on thy gates. That's teaching conspicuously. And so there's

you know, as you as you look at thee at

the method all of you for teaching, it's graphic. It's amazing.

The way the the extent he goes to to teach

us how to transmit these things to the next generation.

How do we do that?

I'd like to you know, as I think of school children,

I saw some light units in your in your officer,

on your desks when I visited school the other morning.

Many of your school books have a section in it

and it's called we remember. You notice that you know

about the we remember in your books? What are those

things for? It's to review what happened yesterday and the

day before and last week and so on. And as

we review, we remember, right, And that's what we need

to do with our in our teaching. I'd like to

just share a few words of encouragement in your teaching

program at home. Be intentional with your teaching program, and

one of the places that that should be happening in

your homes. I don't know what your culture is here,

but I hope you have some active way of having

family worship. I find this a waning thing, a thing

that's diminishing in many circles.

We are so busy. Dad's off to work.

And Junior needs to be at work by six and

here and there, you know, we have schedules to meet,

and I understand that, and it's challenging. The so different

from where I grew up. We had a dairy farm.

We'd go out in the morning early milk the cows

and come in and eat a big breakfast of a

number of eggs and other commodities.

Dad would get the Bible out.

And it was family worship, and it really didn't matter

if there was hay to cut or oats to combine,

or hogs to take to market. That part of the

day was blocked out for family worship. And it happened

just about three hundred and sixty five days of the year.

And I admire that. I appreciate that it was. It

was active, and I find that to be. It was

challenging in our own home, to be sure, but by

the grace of God, we had it regularly. As a family.

We draw near to God. As a family, we remember

the works of God and fathers be inspirational and intentional.

With that, there's so many things to teach. You can

teach using Bible stories, and even the routine Bible stories

can live when you use them as in instructing your children,

so that can be a possibility. Regular scripture reading devotional guides.

I'd like to encourage you to capitalize on yesterday's sermon.

That was one thing that we did routinely Monday morning

was review of what happened yesterday at church and children

were expected. They took notes and we discussed the scripture.

We did not discuss the preacher. We didn't have baked deacon,

but rather what were the things that were taught and

how does it apply to our life. How can we

take the truths of the sermon yesterday and make this

relevant in our family experience. There's current issues that deserve.

To be looked at.

What's the significance of a funeral, what's the significance of

yesterday's wedding, or whatever the case may be. There's a

new baby in the community, that's a great thing to

talk about for family worship. A child is sick, they're

in the hospital, whatever the case may be. There's current

events those can enter into family worship. What's happening over

Let's pray for the people in Ukraine and in Israel

and in Iran. What should be our attitude toward world

events that are happening. Our Saturday morning at our house

was pretty crazy. We would start the morning, long before breakfast,

because we went to a farmer's market, and so it's

not so good to have family worship at three or

four in the morning, and so when are we going

to have that? We had it Saturday night. Well, we

found out that by Saturday night sometimes it was kind

of hard to keep everybody's eyes focused on things to remember,

and so we started singing for our Saturday night worship

time as a family, and that's all we would do.

We had a family hymn sing Saturday night, and I

did that in a variety of ways. We literally sang

through songbooks, and when we were done singing through one songbook,

I made the investment and bought another set of songbooks

and we'd start singing through those, and we learned the

new songs for the most part, and enjoyed the old ones.

And we used very varied ways.

Of working with that, so that not all the we

didn't always sing all the Christmas songs in a pack,

you know, we spread things out and so on.

But it was enjoyable.

And to this day, when the children come home when

it's Saturday night it's time to sing, they recall that.

And I know for a fact that a number of

them have picked up on that and in their own

families on Saturday night it's sing night and we talk

about the hymns and so on. It's a beautiful thing.

Prayer is important, be intentional with teaching children to pray

at home and in a family and before they retire,

and not just those times of prayer, but that prayer

becomes a way of life. And he talks about the

wonderful works, making known to the generation to come, the

wonderful works of God. And the third point that he

had there was to keep his commandments. The whole subject

of obedience, and that's another whole principle. We're not going

to take time to go into that, but Jesus calls

us to obey. Obedience is actually an act of worship.

Obedience is better than sacrifice. From the Book of Samuel,

Obedience to God proves our love. Jesus pointed that out

obedience to God demonstrates faith. Obedience is such a fundamental

thing in the training up of our children and in

the transmitting of truth to the next generation.

As I wrap this up, I'd.

Like to simply encourage the fathers and mother and the

would be fathers and mothers of the future. Let us

show to the generations to come, to the generation to

come in our homes the praises of the Lord, his

strength and his wonderful works that he hath done, that

they might set their hope in God and not forget

the works of God, but rather keep his commandments. And

may the Lord bless you as you do that in

your homes, and train up your children, that the next

generation might know these things and pass them on to

the next generation. Let's stand for prayer m our Father,

which aren't in heaven. That word Father takes on new

meaning as we ponder the incredible privilege that we have

to be your children. We thank you for loving us,

and we thank you for disciplining us. We thank you

for drawing us to yourself. We're so thankful that we

can be in your family. We are unworthy. We know

that we are imperfect. We don't always get it right.

But Lord, we love you. We desire to follow you,

we desire to walk with you, and we desire, by

your grace to pass on your wonderful works to the

next generation, that the generation to come might know them

and pass them on yet to future generations. Oh God,

I pray for the fathers and mothers that are here tonight,

and as they consider their children and pass these truths on,

pray that you would burden them, that you would fill

them with your spirit, give them vision for not just

ten years, but maybe ten generations, that they would teach

and train that in succeeding generations there would be children

and grandchildren that would look back on great Grandma, great Grandpa,

and maybe maybe a number of greats. There many generations

of people who know you due to the training and

the teaching, the showing forth the wonderful works of God.

We dedicate these people to You and pray for an

effective transmission of truth ongoing and now. Father, May you

dismiss us with your peace and blessing. May these truths

energize us, fill us with a desire to simply walk

in your ways. I pray Lord for protection from the

enemy of our soul. May he not have access to word,

even words even on hard places. I pray they would

not be snatched away before they can bear fruit. Dismiss

us with your peace and blessing in Jesus name.

Amen.