Telling the Coming Generation (Psalm 78:1-8)

Good morning! Please open your Bibles to Psalm 78.

I was browsing Facebook Marketplace yesterday and came across an ad in the Prattville/Millbrook Yard Sale group.

It read: “Due to the closing of our church, we have about 45 framed prints of famous paintings of Bible scenes and people, ranging in size from 8.5 x 11 to very large. Asking $15–$50.”

At first, I didn’t think much about it — mainly because I’m not in the market for prints of Bible art.

But then I paused. I started wondering: what’s the story behind this church closing?

This is one of our neighbors — right here in the buckle of the Bible Belt.

It’s not like Prattville is some hotbed of iniquity where everyone’s turned away from Jesus. So what happened?

I did a little digging. According to a 2021 LifeWay study, between 4,000 and 6,000 churches close their doors every year in the U.S.

Some close because of leadership failures or financial mismanagement. Others close because the neighborhood changed and they didn’t change with it.

But many — maybe even most — close for one painfully simple reason: One generation forgot to tell the next generation about Jesus.

The Bible warns us about this. Judges 2:10 says:

“And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that He had done for Israel.”

If you’ve read Judges, you know — it’s basically a 400-year-long dumpster fire of God’s people drifting away from Him. And it all started with a single generation of silence.

This morning, I want to talk about our greatest obligation to the next generation: To pass on the truth of the gospel.

Because the truth is, it only takes one generation of silence… one generation of parents not telling the stories of our faith… for those stories to disappear completely.

Psalm 78 is one of the longest chapters in the Bible — 72 verses — and it tells the sweeping history of Israel: from the Exodus, through the wilderness, all the way to King David.

We’re not going to read all 72 verses this morning. But we are going to look closely at the first eight.

And in them, we’ll see four sacred obligations we have to those who come after us:

Teach the Scriptures (vv. 1–2)

Tell the Stories (vv. 3–5)

(lead them to) Trust the Savior (vv. 6–7)

Turn from Sin (v. 8)

Let’s read these verses together. If you’re physically able, would you please stand to honor the reading of God’s Word?

[READ, PRAY]

Teach them the Scriptures (v. 1-2)

Psalm 78 opens by saying it’s a maskil of Asaph. We’ll talk more about who Asaph was in a few minutes. But first — what’s a maskil? A maskil is a teaching psalm — the kind that’s meant not just to stir your heart, but to shape your understanding.

“Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!” (Psalm 78:1)

This is an ancient Hebrew way of saying: Lean in. Pay close attention.

This isn’t a throwaway line — it’s a summons. The psalmist is sounding the alarm:

“What I’m about to say matters for your children, your grandchildren, and your legacy of faith.”

That word “teaching” is the Hebrew word Torah. You’ve probably heard that word before. “Torah” is what the Jews call the first five books of the Bible. It’s also called “the law.” It means God’s instruction — not just law in a legal sense, but a way of life revealed by God for His people.

So it’s not just “thoughts I jotted in my journal” or “chicken soup for the soul.” This is covenant instruction — passed down from God, not invented by man.

Moms, dads if we are called to pass on torah to our kids, what has to be about ourselves? That’s right: we have to know it ourselves.

We need to be able to say with confidence, “Son, daughter — this isn’t just my opinion. This is Torah.” And for us to be able to say that with confidence, we have to know it ourselves, don’t we?

So when you are in church, have your Bible open. Use the listening guide. Take notes. When you come to church, at the bare minimum you should be carrying three things: a Bible, a pen, and a highlighter. Last week at the Man Church event we went to, Rick Burgess said this: If you want to really learn Scripture, the dullest pencil is more effective than the sharpest memory.

I want to challenge you with this, moms and dads: If church is the only place where your kids are receiving “covenant instruction,” that isn’t enough. Passing on “torah” can’t happen in just one hour a week at church.

Let me give you a statistic: 66% of kids who grew up in church walk away from church between the ages of 18-22. Let’s break that down.

Most people today consider “active church membership” to mean showing up twice a month.

That’s 26 Sundays a year. But it’s not really 26 full hours of Bible teaching, is it? Once the roll is taken, snacks are passed out, and everyone settles in… maybe you have 30 minutes of real instruction.

That’s 13 hours of Bible learning a year. Thirteen.

Now ask yourself — how many hours of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Bluey, or Paw Patrol are your kids getting? I’m just naming the shows my grandson is currently obsessed with. But you get the point.

Here’s what I’m saying: If church is the only place your child hears God’s Word, you’re giving them a spiritual diet of 13 hours a year — and hoping it’s enough to counter 2700 hours of streaming.

I once talked to a woman who said she grew up in a deeply Christian home. Her parents were at church every Sunday, every Wednesday, every revival service. But you know what she told me? “We never talked about faith at home.”

There were Bibles in the home, but they never opened them together. They prayed at dinner — but never shared what God was doing in their lives.

And when she left home? She left the church too.

Not because her parents were bad people. Not because they didn’t believe. But because…she had no evidence that it mattered.

So our first sacred obligation is to teach the Scriptures. Here’s the second one:

2. Tell the stories.

Verse 2

“I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old.” (Psalm 78:2)

Let’s pause there — because I love that phrase:

“Dark sayings of old.” It sounds a little spooky.

This isn’t about something creepy or occult. The Hebrew word is ḥîdôt — riddles. Parables. Another way to understand a “dark saying” is that it is “Truth with layers.” The kind of wisdom that isn’t easy or obvious. You’ve got to wrestle with it. Let it haunt you a little before it reveals its shape.

So when the psalmist says he’s about to utter “dark sayings,” He’s saying:

“I’m going to tell you the hard parts of the story.”

Not just the miracles. Not just the victories. But also:

The rebellion.

The forgetfulness.

The mercy that came anyway.

These “dark sayings” of Scripture are the messy stuff:

The unanswered prayers.

The wilderness wanderings.

The “how could they forget what God just did?” moments.

Because the truth is:

David killed Goliath…but he also killed one of his most loyal soldiers to cover up his affair with Bathsheba.

the walls of Jericho fell… but one man’s disobedience brought judgment on the entire nation.

God delivered His people from Egypt… but that whole generation died in the wilderness because of their unbelief.

Psalm 78 demands that we pass on the full story to the next generation. Not just the highlight reel.

Look again at verse 4: “We will not hide these things from our children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders he has done. “

Psalm 78 is the longest historical Psalm in the Bible. It summarizes some of the most important and foundational stories in the life of God’s people.

God’s giving of the law (v. 10)

God’s parting of the Red Sea (vv. 13, 53;

God’s guidance through the wilderness (v. 14)

God’s provision of water and food (vv. 15–16, 23–29)

God’s judgment against sin (vv. 30–31;

God’s mercy toward his people (vv. 38–39)

God’s signs and wonders against Egypt (vv. 44–51; Exod 7–11)

God’s victory over Israel’s enemies and provision of land (v. 55; Joshua) God’s rejection of his sinful people (vv. 59–64; 1 Sam 4)

God’s choosing of David as king (vv. 67–72; 1 Sam 16:1–13; 2 Sam 7)

Teach the Scripture. Tell The Stories

Here is our third sacred obligation:

Lead them to…

3. Trust the Savior

There’s a reason we teach. It’s not just to fill our kids’ heads with Bible facts or prepare them for church trivia night.

Psalm 78:6–7 gives us the goal of our instruction:

“That the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.”

The end goal of Christian instruction isn’t just knowledge. It’s hope. And that hope leads to obedience. There is a sacred sequence in verse 7:

First, they set their hope in God.

Then, they remember what He’s done.

And finally, they keep His commands.

Hope in God, Remember what he’s done, do what He says.

That’s the sacred sequence. Hope → Memory → Obedience.

And when that sequence breaks down—when one generation stops remembering or stops telling—sin creeps in.

And that brings us to our fourth sacred obligation: Lead the next generation to

4. Turn from Sin

Verse 8 is so strong:

“And that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.”

Teaching the Scriptures is not just about information. It’s about breaking cycles.

Psalm 78 is as much a record of our faithlessness as it is God’s faithfulness. Like we said, it doesn’t just record Israel’s triumphs, but also its transgressions. Not just the blessings, but the betrayals. Not just the glory, but the grief.

Let me close with sharing what’s between the lines of Psalm 78. It’s a good story. It’s a success story. And it helps us understand why all this matters:

The superscription of Psalm 78 tells us it is a “maskil” of Asaph. A maskil is a teaching Psalm, meant to instruct or give wisdom. Psalm 78 is one of 12 Psalms credited to Asaph.

“So who was this man Asaph? Picture this: after years of the ark of the covenant being in Philistine hands, King David is finally bringing it back to Jerusalem. The people are singing, dancing, shouting with joy. And David appoints a man named Asaph to lead the worship. Not just play music — but to teach the people through worship.” We read about this in

1 Chronicles 16:4–7 ESV

4 Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. 5 Asaph was the chief . . . Asaph was to sound the cymbals, 6 and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God. 7 Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the Lord by Asaph and his brothers.

About 500 years after David brought the ark to Jerusalem, the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem, burned the temple, and the Ark disappeared. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were carried off to Babylon, where they were stayed in exile for seventy years.

Now, you’d think by the time Jerusalem had been destroyed, and the people scattered, and generations had passed in exile — that the songs of Asaph would’ve been forgotten.

But I want to point out something to you from the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah, along with Ezra, tells the story of the exiles return to Jerusalem. In chapter 7, you have this mind-numbing list of the returning exiles— the family name and the number from each family. It’s one of those lists you almost always skip when you’re reading the Bible.

But, tucked away in this list is Nehemiah 7:44

Nehemiah 7:44 ESV

44 The singers: the sons of Asaph, 148.

So put it all together: I just want to point out to you that in 1000 BC, a worship leader named Asaph wrote some songs, including Psalm 78, to mark the occasion of the ark returning to Jerusalem. He wanted his sons and daughters, and their sons and daughters, and their sons and daughters, and their sons and daughters to love God as much as he did.

Five Hundred Years Later, 148 of his descendants return to Jerusalem, singing the songs of Asaph!!!!!!

Church, if the Lord tarries and our descendants are still around in 500 years, shouldn’t it be our greatest hope that they will still be telling the stories of our faith?

Now let’s make it really practical. In just a couple of weeks, our new church year starts. We promote in Sunday school. And we need your help [talk about the needs in sunday school and missions classes]

There’s a place for you in building the next generation.” “If you're a grandparent, you can leave a spiritual legacy. If you're single, you can disciple a teenager. If you're not comfortable teaching, you can still pray, serve, give.

Teach the Scriptures. Teach Torah, not just your own opinions.

Tell the Stories. All the stories of Scripture. AW Tozer: Nothing Less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.

Lead them to Trust Jesus: Hope in God, Remember what he’s done, do what He says.

Turn from Sin. Live a life of repentance.