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Tell the Coming Generations: The Cultivation of Sacred Memory of and Future Hope in God

March 1, 2020 Preacher: Series: Tell the Coming Generations: The Cultivation of Sacred Memory of and Future Hope in God

Scripture: Psalm 78:1–8

Key Truth: We are to help the coming generations cultivate their sacred memory of the glorious deeds of the Lord and future hope in God’s faithfulness.  

 


Introduction: 

 

How did the saints from previous generations help you to cultivate your sacred memory of the glorious deeds of the Lord and future hope in God’s faithfulness?

 

 

The Cultivation of the Coming Generations’ Sacred Memory of God: 

Psalm 78:1-4

“Now I suppose that there are very few of the faculties of our nature which we more seldom try to regulate by Christian principles than that great power which we have of looking backwards. Did you ever reflect that you are responsible for what you remember, and for how you remember it, and that you are bound to train and educate your memory, not merely in the sense of cultivating it as a means of carrying intellectual treasures, but for a religious purpose? The one thing that all parts of our nature need is God, and that is as true about our power of remembrance as it is about any other part of our being. The past is then hallowed, noble, and yields its highest results and most blessed fruits for us when we link it closely with Him, and see in it not only, nor so much, the play of our own faculties, whether we blame or approve ourselves, as rather see in it the great field in which God has brought Himself near to our experience, and has been regulating and shaping all that has befallen us. The one thing which will consecrate memory, deliver it from its errors and abuses, raise it to its highest and noblest power, is that it should be in touch with God, and that the past should be regarded by each of us as it is, in deed and in truth, one long record of what God has done for us.”

Alexander MacLaren,
Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Book of Psalms

 

What are some ways that you are helping the coming generations cultivate their sacred memory of the Lord’s glorious deeds?

 

 

The Cultivation of the Coming Generations’ Hope in God’s Faithfulness: 

Psalm 78:5-8

“Through it all there is a lesson to be learned: when Israel is faithless, God is faithful. He judges sin, yet His mercy triumphs. Therefore, we must be like those who take God at His Word and not be among the unbelieving, rebellious fathers who died in the wilderness….This psalm provides a hermeneutical principle for biblical interpretation. There is a moral order to history as God reveals Himself in judgment and redemption. This is what we must learn and pass on to our children.”

Donald M. Williams, The Preacher’s Commentary: Psalms 73-150

 

What are some ways that you are helping the future generations cultivate a future hope in God’s faithfulness?
What are some ways that you are revealing our generation’s key mistakes and areas of unfaithfulness for the life of the coming generations?

 

 

Application: 

Psalm 78:1-8 teaches us that we are to help the coming generations cultivate their:
-sacred memory of the glorious deeds of the Lord
-future hope in God’s faithfulness despite the unfaithfulness of past generations

 

 

Benediction:

Ephesians 3:14-21