“OUR FATHERS HAVE TOLD US”

Psalm 44.1

EXPOSITION:

1.   Please turn to the 44th Psalm.  When you find Psalm 44, please stand for the reading of God’s Word, beginning with the title:

To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.

¹      We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

²      How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.

³      For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.

⁴      Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.

⁵      Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.

⁶      For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.

⁷      But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.

⁸      In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever.  Selah.

 

2.   What a wonderful portion of Scripture this is.  What a blessing to the believer’s heart.  What a comfort to the soul.  And what guidance is provided for right living.

3.   What a legacy this psalmist grew up with.  What a heritage the people who recited this psalm could claim.  O, to have grown up hearing such things.  Let me read the first three verses again:

¹      We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

²      How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.

³      For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.

 

4.   My friends, it is not only beneficial to raise children with a rich sense of their heritage, but it is also most wise for those same children to rehearse back to God His great works on behalf of His people.  You young people need to begin speaking, to each other, to those who are not believers, and to God Himself, about His wonderful work on behalf of His people.

5.   Verse 4:  “Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.”  This is a very concise prayer, in which we find the psalmist’s confession, “Thou art my King, O God,” the psalmist’s plea, “command deliverances,” and the basis on which the prayer warrior lays claim to his plea, the covenant relationship he enjoys with God, which is alluded to in the final words, “for Jacob.”  “Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.”

6.   My, what a powerful prayer.  Potent.  Compact.  No flowery oratory needed here, just faith and a willingness to step out.  Kings should be expected to look out for the welfare of their subjects.  Covenants should be expected to be upheld, and God established a covenant with Jacob.  Thus, the request that God “command deliverances” is both reasonable and fitting.

7.   What is past is prologue.  What God has done for His people He can be expected to do for His people.  Keep this in mind as we read verses 5-7:

⁵      Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.

⁶      For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.

⁷      But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.

 

8.   Has God saved us from our enemies?  Has He put to shame them that hated us?  Then we can expect victory in the future . . . which can only come through His name.  Amen?  And because the victory will be the Lord’s, we need not trust in bow or sword.

9.   The victories God gave to Israel have a spiritual counterpart in our lives today.  We Christians are not to lean on the arm of flesh.  We are not to wield the sword, but the sword of the Spirit.  “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God,” Second Corinthians 10.4.

10. And the reason for this?  “. . . we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness . . . ,” Ephesians 6.12.

11. So, what should our response be to the victory we experience?  Because we do experience victory, great victory.  “. . . this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith,” First John 5.4.  How should we respond to the reality that confronts us?

12. Verse 8, of the 44th Psalm:  “In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever.  Selah.”  Sometimes we get caught up in the adverse circumstances of life and feel as though we are in the middle of a maelstrom.  But then we mentally take a step back, consider those things which cannot be seen, reflect upon the promises of the invisible God to us, and then begin to “boast all the day long, and praise thy name forever.”

13. “Pastor, how could those people the psalmist is writing about do that?  How could they boast and praise, when I find it so difficult sometimes?  And where did the breakdown come, because they did apostatize.  They did turn their backs on God, did they not?”  Yes, succeeding generations did turn away, which is why God judged them so severely.

14. What happened?  There are many answers to that question.  Verse one, however, gives us a clue as to one thing that happened.  Read that verse again with me:  “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.”

15. The psalmist wrote, “our fathers told us.”  So that we might have an unchangeable record, God gave to us His Word.  But reading is not the best vehicle for making an impression on someone; hearing is.  And the proof of that is found in Second Timothy 3.16-4.2:

¹⁶     All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

¹⁷     That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

¹      I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

²      Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

 

16. Because God’s Word is profitable, the man of God is thereby furnished with it unto all good works.  Thus, he is to preach the Word.  Why is God’s Word to be preached?  Because hearing God’s Word is the best way to receive its truth, its message, its impact.

17. Back to Psalm 44.1.  God’s Word is precious.  But the best way of influencing and affecting your children is not by coaxing them to read God’s Word, but by speaking to them.  What caused the psalmist to trust God instead of bow and sword, and to boast in God all the day long and praise His name forever?  “. . . our fathers have told us.”  To be sure, the hearers must have the ears to hear.  But what happens when our fathers do not tell us?

18. Brother Isenberger comes at this time to lead us in a song before this morning’s sermon.

 

INTRODUCTION:

1.   “. . . our fathers have told us.”  That phrase means a great deal to me because I have no recollection of ever being taught any moral principles or absolutes by my father.  It could be that my father attempted to teach me certain things without me having any memory of them, but I do not think he made any such attempt.

2.   Think about it, fellows.  A guy grows up without his father ever saying, “Son, don’t ever lie to anyone for any reason.  Lying is wrong.”  Or how about this one?  “Son, don’t take things that don’t belong to you.  That’s stealing, and it’s wrong.”  Here is one that I think boys should hear from their dads:  “Son, it’s wrong to have sex with a girl you are not married to.  To be the best husband you can be you need to be a virgin when you get married.”

3.   Now, I know that some people think that kids should be allowed to make up their own minds about what is right and what is wrong.  But since children are already inclined toward evil, responsible parents will give it their best to try and counter their children’s natural evil tendencies.

4.   Still other people think that such lessons of life are best taught by mothers, or should only be taught by moms.  And while mothers should do their best to inculcate values into the lives of their children from the time they are delivered, since “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world,” much is made in the Bible of the leadership role fathers should have in the lives of their children.

5.   For example, in First Thessalonians 2.10-12, Paul writes,

¹⁰     Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:

¹¹     As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,

¹²     That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

 

6.   It is quite obvious that the apostle Paul envisioned a father’s role to be important in the lives of his children.  As well, notice that what Paul did which paralleled a father’s role in the lives of his kids, exhorting, comforting, and charging, are all things a father does verbally.  In other words, this is a dad speaking to his children and exhorting them, comforting them, and charging them.  “. . . our fathers have told us.”

7.   Was Paul being innovative here, or was he expanding on a concept already found in God’s Word?  Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 6.  Let’s read the entire chapter:

¹      Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:

²      That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

³      Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

⁴      Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

⁵      And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

⁶      And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

⁷      And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

⁸      And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

⁹      And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

¹⁰     And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,

¹¹     And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;

¹²     Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

¹³     Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

¹⁴     Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;

¹⁵     (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.

¹⁶     Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.

¹⁷     Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.

¹⁸     And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,

¹⁹     To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.

²⁰     And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?

²¹     Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:

²²     And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:

²³     And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.

²⁴     And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.

²⁵     And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

 

8.   It is very clear, from this passage, that God intended for children to be thoroughly trained by their parents.  But who is primarily responsible for this training?  Proverbs 1.8 reads, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.”  It appears from that verse that over the course of a child’s life the father is to be the most significant instructor of children, with the mother being the first teacher of her children and then sustaining a complimentary role as the father’s influence increases.

9.   Since mothers spend vastly more time with their children from the time of their birth, it appears that as the child grows up the father’s role is supposed to gradually become more and more prominent, with both sons and daughters.  So, who is the primary teacher and instructor of children?  Solomon described the father as the instructor.  Paul described the father as the exhorter, as the comforter, and as the one who charges his children.  “. . . our fathers have told us.”

10. I wonder, What would happen to boys who tend toward effeminacy if their fathers took a strong hand at instructing them?  I wonder, What would happen to boys who tend toward violence if their fathers take a stronger hand at instructing them?  I wonder, What would happen to girls who veer off if their fathers had taken a stronger hand at instructing them?

11. To be sure, some dads are so harsh with their children that they provoke them to wrath by bearing down so hard on them that they feel suffocated by their dad’s demands, and wonder if they can ever say or do anything that will please dad.^[1]  But more often it is a dad who is so absent, or so disconnected if he is at home, that almost everything is left to mom.

12. But assuming a balanced and loving father, with the judgment to recognize when he is leaning too hard on his son or daughter, what lessons should be taught by a dad?  When a child grows up and reminisces about the lessons his father taught him, what will he say?  What will she remember?  “. . . our fathers have told us.”  What did the father tell them?

13. You who are fathers, and grandfathers, and fathers to be, taking Deuteronomy chapter 6 as our guide, let me show you where to start in your instruction to your children and grandchildren:

 

1A.   First, THE FEAR OF THE LORD

Deuteronomy 6.2:  “That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God”

Deuteronomy 6.13:  “Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God”

1B.    How important can it be that a father teach his children to fear God?  Children are born fools, are they not?  Proverbs 22.15 declares, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.”  Every child is born a fool.  And Proverbs 24.9 explains that “The thought of foolishness is sin.”

2B.    So, each man’s child is a fool, was born a fool, and will remain a fool . . . until he begins to fear God.  Proverbs 9.10 tells us that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”  Therefore, what benefit a man imparts to his sons and daughters who is himself wise enough to train his children to fear God.

3B.    “The fear of the LORD is clean,” according to Psalm 19.9.  The fear of the LORD can be taught to a child, according to Psalm 34.11.  And God’s biggest complaint against the wicked is that there is no fear of God before their eyes, Psalm 36.1.

4B.    How wonderful is that father who is wise enough to teach his children to fear God.  And how foolish is the man who is so ignorant, who is so distracted, who is so selfish, that he does not fear God enough to have the wisdom to teach His own children the fear of the LORD.

 

2A.   Next, THE UNIQUENESS OF THE LORD

Deuteronomy 6.4:  “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD”

Deuteronomy 6.14-15:  “Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you)”

 

Matthew 6.24:     “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.  Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

 

1B.    A father is supposed to train his children that there is only one God, and that who you bow to, who you serve, where your allegiance is found, shows who your God really is.

2B.    Few in our country worship false gods these days, unless you consider those who are Mormons, or those who are Buddhists, or those who moslems, or those who are Hindus, or those who are too greedy to tithe to God, who worship money.  I guess many people do worship other gods after all.

3B.    I wonder how many fathers sit their kids down and address the issue of God, Who He is, how unique He is, that beside Him there is no other.^[2]  This issue was important enough to the apostle Paul that he mentioned that there is only one God three times in his letters.^[3]  God mentions it 8 times in Isaiah.

4B.    If God is, and if only God is, then there is no such thing as luck, there is no such thing as chance.  Thus, evolution cannot be true if God is.  Man is not an animal, if God is.  And if God is, then man lives not for himself, but for God.

5B.    O, how important it is for a man to speak to his son of God, to talk to his daughter about God, to show that there is only one God, Creator of heaven and earth and all that herein is.  It is true that God is invisible.^[4]  But a dad should show his children where God’s fingerprints are, where God’s intelligence in creation can be seen, especially where His impression on the nature of man is seen.

 

3A.   Third, LOVE FOR THE LORD

Deuteronomy 6.5:      “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”

 

1B.    Jesus labeled this “the first and great commandment.”^[5]  If God is altogether lovely, if His attributes are superlative to the n^th degree, if He is the epitome of everything that is right and good and holy, then how can this first and great commandment be considered harsh or in any way severe?

2B.    Only the self-centered egotist would think it distressing to love God, to adore Him, to extoll His virtues and praise His name.  For anyone who can see beyond himself, it is reasonable to see that God deserves to be loved because God is love.^[6]

3B.    So, how does a dad teach his child to love God?  By example.  And what example shows forth the love of God?  Obedience.  “And this is love, that we walk after his commandments,” Second John 6.

4B.    So you see, Deuteronomy 6.2-3, where we read their statements, “to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life,” and “Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it,” are really directives to obey God.  And when God is obeyed God is loved.

5B.    I wonder what it would have been like to have been raised in a home where dad said he loved God.  Far better, I wonder what it would have been like to have been raised in a home where dad was conscientious about obeying God.

6B.    What a gift a father gives his children who says he loves God, who shows by his obedience that he loves God, and who longs for his children to love God, as well.

 

4A.   Finally, REHEARSE GOD’S WORK IN TIMES OF OLD

²⁰     And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?

²¹     Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:

²²     And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:

²³     And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.

²⁴     And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.

²⁵     And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

 

1B.    I think we have two applications of this pattern:  Not only should we be careful to rehearse again and again the wonderful works of God that are recorded in Scripture, but we should also rehearse to our children the wonderful works of God in our own lives and in the lives of our ancestors.

2B.    I would love to have stories to tell of God’s work in my dad’s life, but there are no such stories to tell.  C R Rigali’s mom will bury her dad tomorrow.  The memorial service was yesterday.  How thrilling it is to C R to be able to recount the stories to his own children of his grandfather’s testimony and faithfulness to the house of God, the songs that he wrote, and other reflections of God’s work in his life.

3B.    How wonderful it is for Gary Isenberger to relate incidents of his father’s lifetime of faithfulness to God, and Janice’s legacy of a widowed mother who raised two daughters.  Jackie Glover has the memories of her own dad’s commitment to the Lord before his home going.

4B.    I want to leave that kind of legacy for my daughter.  I want her to be able to tell her husband and children someday, and perhaps even her grandchildren, not of how wonderful a dad she had . . .but of how wonderful a God her daddy served, and how gloriously God showed Himself from time to time in her dad’s life and ministry.

 

CONCLUSION:

1.   Church kids are harder typically to reach for Christ than non-church kids.  Want to know why?  There are a number of reasons, but one reason has to do with the unfaithfulness of most church kid’s fathers.  Dad, are you one whose kids are hard to reach for that reason, because they cannot say, “O God, our fathers have told us”?

2.   What a tragedy it is when young people get together and banter and argue and bicker with one another, because no one in the crowd can say, “O God, our fathers have told us,” or because no one in the crowd will say “our fathers have told us.”  Want your friends to get saved?  Talk to the other kids about what “our fathers have told us” about God.  What a joy and delight it is to those who can say, and who do say, “O God, our fathers have told us.”

3.   If you are a grandfather, or a father, commit yourself now to teaching your children and grandchildren to fear God, to cherish the uniqueness of God, to love God, and to do so by recounting the great works of God in the Bible and in your own life.  Give those young ones a legacy, so they can say, “our fathers have told us.”

4.   You who are not yet fathers, begin to think now what kind of a man you are going to be then.  Are you going to be some silly fool who lives only to try and impress other people?  Or will you walk with God now, so that your own fear of God, your own love of God, your own appreciation of God’s uniqueness, will leave such an imprint upon you that, when you have your own kids, you can recount to them the wonderful work of God in the Bible, and in your own life?

5.   In First Corinthians 16.13, Paul told the Corinthians, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”  How can we expect our children to quit themselves like men if the men in their lives are not manly, are not spiritual warriors, are not steadfast?  But that is not enough, is it?  Such men must then speak to their sons and daughters.

6.   “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us.”  Men, boys, be that kind of a man.  Be the kind of man whose children will say, “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us.”  Do you think the children of such men will not get converted to Jesus Christ and be godly men themselves someday?  I do.  Be that kind of father to your children.

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