Good evening, everybody. A lot of people aren't here, so we're just going to relax. I am not going to get through 72 verses of Psalm 78, so I hope that what I do say will be of edification. The interesting thing is, not even thinking about it, just some time ago, I had narrated Psalm 78, and I knew it was the next psalm that Pastor Wilson was going to teach. I actually said, I kind of envy you because I thought it could be very, very instructive, and he offered for me to teach it. What's interesting in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 6, it says, These things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And when you read a psalm with this kind of a historical narrative, it's a different kind of a psalm. A lot of psalms could be turned into prayer. Oh Lord, you know, Psalm 55 and so on, and you're praying it. This is more of a horizontal look. If you take 1 Corinthians 10.6 and you put it over this, you say, how can we be warned by this psalm? But as I was studying this, what really hit me, and it was partially because of the trial I went through last week, which really took its toll on me emotionally, and it was a time of self-examination, and I'm reading this and I felt like I don't want to come here with all of these warnings and take Hebrews 3, for example, verse 7 to 19 and just hold this over you to get everybody anxious and that. What really hit me was the fact that we are in a better of it. When I see that this is a history of Israel, And it's a very depressing story to contemplate this, and I see that God has put his law within our hearts, and I'm addressing people that are not recalcitrant, they are not backslid, and they are not chasing idols. The thing that makes us to differ from another 1 Corinthians 4 verse 7 is the grace of the New Covenant, and that's how I kind of want to approach that. Of course there are warnings in here, there are things that we need to take heed to, but I'm saying this as a first application as we look at these verses, just to thank God that He has put within our heart a disposition that does not desire to apostatize from Him. And it can be divided in basically three different parts from verse 1 through verse 8 would be part 1, and then verse 8 through 64 is a historical narrative. And then the rest of the psalm is the application and the good news about what would come in the future, and as best as I could tell the history, it appears that this came at a time when the Ark of the Covenant was moved from Shiloh in Israel to Jerusalem, the city of David. What you gather from this is that there is a historical narrative of why God in a way had abandoned Israel, and now his attention was on Judah. The Psalms, a historical narrative of the great mercies of God that he had bestowed on Israel, the great sins in which were committed that aroused the anger of God, and the many displays of God's displeasure that they had been under for their sins. However, what is the biggest surprise here that should really cause us to rejoice is that though these things happen again, again and again and again, yet God was merciful and his wrath was not total against him. They provoked him and he returned it with mercies." So it's called the contemplation of Asaph. The author Asaph was a great singer and musician of in the days of Solomon and David. Psalm 78 is called a historical psalm, but it is actually the longest, most verses of any psalm outside of Psalm 119. Its instruction is also a warning so that this history will not be repeated. So in verse 2 it says, incline your ears, put your ears to this. Let me have your attention and cline your ears to the word of my mouth. And you know, you understand the historical context. They didn't have books. And to have scrolls would have been very expensive. So the way of instruction was by parables, by illustrations, something to cause people to not forget what was being communicated. And an example of this is, if I was to ask somebody here, could you recite all of the verses of our national anthem? Maybe you couldn't, but sometimes when our national anthem is sung in a song, as it commonly is before sporting events, the words come to you in that way. So in Psalm 78, 1-4, the author calls out for the attention of God's people. Give ear, O my people, to my law. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old." That phrase should be familiar because it's repeated by our Lord in Matthew 13 when He speaks of the reason why He was speaking in parables. Though things which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us, we will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done. O my people, to my law, Psalm 78 is a wisdom psalm written to instruct God's people. The message is the goodness and kindness of God to His stubborn and rebellious people, a recalcitrant people. In verses 5 to 8, the purpose is to instruct the present generation not to repeat the sins of the previous generation. And they, in turn, would commit these things to their children. In fact, five generations appear to be addressed, the fathers, their children, the generation to come after them and their children and their children's children. They were not to lose sight of their history throughout all their generations. Now, in Psalm, the second section verses beginning with verse 9, there's a preview and an overview of losing a spiritual battle because it says the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turn back in the day of battle. Well, historically, we don't really have a battle specifically that is being talked about, so is it a spiritual battle, but they needed to go forward and a sign of their defection and their lack of a proper disposition towards God is in the day of battle, they went back. The psalmist's description armed with bows fits well with their aggressiveness as portrayed in the book of Judges, Judges 8 verses 1 to 3. You really can get a historical overview of the demeanor of the Israelite people in Judges chapter 2 after the death of Joshua. Immediately after Joshua died, the next generation acted as if they had not received any such instruction of God. They were being armed. The idea in this phrase is that they had the means for maintaining their independence and connection with the other tribes or as a part of the nation, but they refused to cooperate with their brethren. When it talks about Ephraim, sometimes it isn't just talking about that tribe of the twelve sons of Israel, but it's actually talking about the ten tribes in the northern kingdom, and Ephraim being the largest tribe is really a description of the ten tribes. So when God addresses Ephraim, or a prophet does, he's actually referring, and in this context, to the ten northern tribes. They refused to walk in his law, and they did not remember his mighty acts and wonders. Disobedience and ignorance among God's people were examples of being turned back in the day of battle. Now, it's amazing to think of a people that had been so led by God, and yet they continued to forget. But it is kept in mind that this forgetfulness was willful and not just a lack of remembering. We know that this is something we all can be liable to, but with them it was complete, and it showed, if you understand this, because many of them were overthrown in the wilderness, that many of the people in the Old Testament that were called the people of God were not joined to Him in heart. They had a profession, but they did not have that disposition as David and other good men in the Old Testament have to follow the Lord. They were a stubborn and rebellious people. In Psalm 78, now 12 to 16, God brought Israel out of Egypt through the sea and gave the people water in the wilderness. Marvelous things it said He did in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused him to pass through, for example, and he made the waters to stand up like a heap. In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire, and he split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink and abundance like the depths. He also brought streams out of the rock and caused the waters to run down like rivers. Marvelous, miraculous things he did in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt. So Asaph brought to remembrance how God helped his people as described in the first part of the book of Exodus through a series of miraculous plagues and demonstrations in Exodus of God's mighty power. And Pharaoh was compelled to let Israel go from slavery and the people left rewarded with riches from the Egyptians, and that's in Exodus 5 through 13. And he divided the sea and caused them to pass through. As Pharaoh's armies pursued Israel, God miraculously brought the people through the sea on dry ground as God made the water stand up like a heap. Exodus 14. In the daytime also, he led them with a cloud and all the night with a light of fire. When the Israelites came into the wilderness of Sinai, God assured them and guided them with two different demonstrations of his presence, the cloud by day and the fire by night, Exodus 40 verses 36 to 38. Number two, in Psalm 78, 17 to 20, Israel was obstinate. and stubborn, and their reply to God's wonderful works was not what you expect. At first there was thanksgiving, at first there was wonder, but it was short-lived, and they sinned the more against Him. By rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness, it says, and they tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their fancy. Yes, they spoke against God, they said, So remember, God gives them these signs of his kindness to them, and instead of being thankful, they tested him by saying, well, he has done that, but can he prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, he struck the rock so that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed. And their response is, but can he give bread also? Can he provide meat for his people? But they sinned more against them. God repeatedly did marvelous and miraculous things for Israel in taking the people out of Egypt and preserving them in the wilderness. Yet Israel's response was to sin even more and to rebel against the Most High. Secondly, they tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their lustful desires. God provided Israel's needs in the wilderness, but sometimes the people demanded more. He gave them manna, but they soon wanted The food of their extravagance, as in Numbers 11.4-10, Numbers 11.18-23, and Numbers 11.31-34, this put the Lord God to the test. And number three, they asked, can God prepare a table in the wilderness? With these words, they spoke against God. They tested him instead of responding to his provisions with thankfulness. They expressed their spite by asking, well he has done this, but can he do that? Voicing their lack of faith in his power and absence of trust in his care. They didn't believe that God could give them a banquet in the wilderness. And next they said, can he give bread also? Can he provide meat for his people? Repeatedly God showed Israel that he could do all this and more. The people asked these skeptical questions all the while digesting the provision of manna in their stomach, so he's blessing them in their have the fruit of it in their very beings and murmuring with their tongues while the food was being digested in their stomach. In Psalm 78, 21 to 25, God's anger with the unbelief and mistrust of Israel. Remember, if you count up the number of times that it said that Israel murmured against God, God was patient. It was after the 10th. time. Therefore the Lord heard this and was furious." Now what do we call this, and Bryce you're welcome to answer this, when we attribute human passions to God? Yeah, anthropopathic statement. And it's easy to realize, well, God doesn't really have emotions or confession says as much, but still language is used to have some kind of an effect on the people that are hearing this. We don't want to press it so much, what we call the divine simplicity on the things that these things don't have their proper effect. in them that are hearing them. It is said that men ate angels' food, and he sent them food to the full. Therefore the Lord heard this and was furious. God blessed and provided for Israel, and he escaped from Egypt and into the wilderness. Israel responded with complaining and unbelief. God did not ignore this. He heard it, and His wrath went forth. against him for their sin against him now in psalm 78 26 to 31 descending of quails for meat he caused an east wind to blow in the heavens and by his power he brought in the south wind he also rained meat on them like the dust. And the picture is that the quail came down in such abundance, it is to remind you of the deluge that came and the rain and the flood. That's how abundantly they were supplied for. And by his power he brought in the south wind, he also rained meat, on them like the dust, feathered foul like the sands of the seas, and he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwelling, so they ate and were filled. For he gave them their own desire, they were not deprived of their craving. In verse 30, they were not yet, though, estranged from their lust. Literally, they were not made strangers, too. That is, in regard to their lusts or desires, they were not in the condition of foreigners or aliens. They were not separated from them. The word lust here means their desires and wishes. They had the ascendancy. But while their food was still in their mouths, and this was the last straw. Actually, in the Hebrew, the idea is that while the food was in their teeth and the wrath of God came upon them, while it was between their teeth, before they had even chewed it, before it was swallowed down, while they were rolling the sweet morsel under their tongues and were gorging themselves with it, destruction came upon them. The wrath of God came against them and slew the stoutest of them and struck down the choice men of Israel. Israel. So it says he also rained meat on them like the dust. Numbers 11 31 to 33 describes how God sent quail to Israel when they complained about the manna. He literally let them fall in the midst of their camp because of their murmuring, bringing the meat they craved to them. In verse 27 he rained flesh upon them as dust. The flesh of quails, Numbers 11 31. The word rained, as I said, means that they seem to come upon them like a plentiful shower, but they wanted more. Nothing was enough. That's how they were. They were so unthankful. They were murmuring in the midst of God's abundance to them. The goodness of God is said in Romans 2 that it should lead men to repentance, but it doesn't always lead persons to repentance. Mercies, the mercies of God, unless they are sanctified, often prove snares and temptations to sin yet more and more. Nothing short of the grace of God will bring persons to repentance for sin. Now that this should happen, an unconverted man, as it is written in Romans 2, should not make us wonder, but that this should happen with the people who God was in covenant with who were The people that called themselves by their name is astonishing. In Psalm 78, 32 to 39, a merciful response was given to their great sin. In spite of all this, they still sinned and did not believe in his wondrous works. Therefore, their days he consumed in vanity. or futility. In verse 33, therefore, their days did he consume in vanity. They were not immediately cut off by the hand of God, though some of them were, but the greatest part spent their time for about thirty-eight years together in fruitless marches to and fro in the wilderness. This is God's judgment upon them. They were not, that generation, allowed to enter into the promised land, where they were gradually wasted and consumed, and it says that their carcasses fell in the wilderness. And they spent their years in fear. But when he slew them, some of them, despised particularly, or when he threatened to slay them or was about to do it, then they sought him. Oh, you have some hope. They seem to be seeking God now. But they returned and sought earnestly for God. They remembered that God was a rock and the Most High God their Redeemer. Nevertheless, they flattered Him with their mouths. They prayed to Him. They only drew an eye to Him with their mouths and pleased Him with their lips. They showed much love to Him and His ways and ordinances by this, but their hearts were not with them. But after their lust, they made fine speeches and fair promises, but their hearts and their mouths did not agree. They spoke with a double heart, is the idea, thinking and endeavoring to deceive the Lord, as a word here used indicates. Then they lied to him with their tongue. They made promises which they did not even intend to keep. For their heart was not steadfast with them. Focus on that for a moment. For their heart was not steadfast with them. And these are the things that we want to thank God that he has made us to differ. The reason why our hearts are disposed to Him, we are inclined to Him because the new covenant gave us the ability in our union with Christ to obey Him and not to depart from Him. They had a mere profession made by the lips while their heart remained, nor were they unfaithful, nor were they faithful in His covenant, but He being full of compassion, yeah, that's what's so amazing. forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time he turned his anger away. He did it repeatedly. There were frequent times on their journey for doing this, and he did it. And he did not stir up all of his wrath. Literally, he did not excite or arouse all his anger. His anger was stayed, or mitigated, and they were allowed still to live on. Now in verses 40 to 55, it's talking about from Egypt to Canaan, Israel's failure to remember the power of God, how often they provoked Him in the wilderness, where they were not only at His mercy, having nothing to help themselves with, but had many unique mercies given upon them, and yet were continually committing such sins against God as provoked the eyes of His glory. Ten times, as I said, it is mentioned that they tempted Him, that they murmured against Him, and they grieved Him in the desert. Again and again they tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. What does it mean they limited Him? It's not like they were able to do anything to His omnipotence, but they limited Him in what they thought God was capable of doing. The idea is that they set a limit to the power of God. They fancied or alleged And this is a thing often done practically even by the professed people of God, that there was a boundary in respect to God's power, which he could not pass, or that there were things to be done which God did not have the ability to perform. They questioned this. They saw these miracles and that they questioned God's omnipotence. It's an amazing thing. They did not remember His power, verse 42. They did not remember His hand, His gracious interposition, some manifestations of His power. They forgot that power had been exercised, which showed that He was omnipotent, that there was no limit to His ability to aid them. Their unbelief limited it. It reminds you of when it is said of our Lord's ministry that there was a place that He could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. But he still redeemed them from the enemy. The time when he rescued them, the power then manifested was sufficient to defend and deliver them and any new dangers that could befall them from affliction. When he worked his science in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zohan, turned their rivers into blood. So this is a recounting of the plagues that were upon Egypt. Now in Psalm 78, 56 to 64, it talks about the terrible tragedy at Shiloh. Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies, but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow, and they tempted and provoked him. They tested the patience of God and triggered him to anger after they were peacefully settled in the promised land. And a good description of this, as I said before, is in Judges chapter 2, verses 10 to 13. And the object is to show that it was the character of the people that they were prone to depart from God. Thank God now we are prone to follow after God, that when we fall short of it, we are like the description of Paul in Romans 7, 14 to 25. When he is prone to depart, he says, that which I would, I do not, but the evil that I hate, that I do. He's mourning about it. He's groaning about it. The Israelites, oh, they did not care. They provoked them to anger with their high places and moved them to jealousy with their carved images. When God heard this, he was furious and greatly abhorred Israel. It's an amazing idea. In Judges 2, 10-13, I'll read that. After all that generation were gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them, and Joshua is taken off of the scene. And another generation comes, and this is a sad testimony, this is a commentary on that people. They didn't know the Lord, nor the work which He had done in the past for Israel. The children of Israel did that which was evil in the Lord's sight, and served the Baals. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them, and they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreth. And then I'll end with Psalm 78, 65 to 66, God's triumph after Shiloh. perpetual reproach. He woke as from sleep. When the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, they placed it as a trophy in the temple of their pagan god, Dagon, even while the symbol of his presence was captive in a pagan temple. Even then, God demonstrated his glory. You remember what happened to Dagon, where they found him the next And the psalm ends with comfort that still God was going to continue to be faithful to them. But you read this story, and you know that we are in a better covenant than is spoken of in Hebrews, and you say, oh Lord, amazing grace. And with that, I'll stop if anybody wants to comment.