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All right, we're here in Psalm chapter 44. The name of the sermon is God's Work for His People, God's Work for His People. So in Psalm 44, let us notice here verse number one, the Bible reads, 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, How Thou didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand. And what we're going to see here in a second is that he's referring to when they entered into the promised land, how they drove out the heathen that were in the land and Joshua led the people. This is after Moses has passed away and he's not able to enter himself. And he's saying, you know what? We've heard these stories from our fathers. Now, of course, the Psalmist, you know, David is living a long time after the events that took place. But what he's saying is, I heard this from my fathers. So growing up, we heard the stories from the Bible about how we are in this land because God drove out the heathen and he put us into this land. And so turn to Joshua three, Joshua three. But you know, one lesson we can have is because he says, our fathers have told us and what he's referring to are events that his father wasn't actually there for his grandfather wasn't actually there for what he's referring to are the events found in the word of God. And he's saying they're passed down from generation to generation and generation. And here's the thing we can pass down those same stories today, right? And what he's referring to is, Hey, you know what? Our fathers, they told us these stories and growing up, we weren't hearing stories about old basketball legends or baseball legends or soccer legends. We were hearing stories about how we entered into the promised land and the miracles that God actually performed. And it's something for all of us as parents to think about because the question is, because we have all of these stories more than they had back then. We have a perfect Bible. So the question is, could our kids when they grew up say, Hey, you know what? Our father and our mother told us these stories, right? I heard the, or, you know, grandkids that you have one day, you know, I heard this from my grandparents. They talked about these stories, you know, that basically are in the word of God. Bible says here in Joshua three, verse nine. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, come hither and hear the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you and that he will, without fail, drive out from before you. Remember how it said, drive out the heathen with thy hand. So what he's referring to when he says, drive out from before you, the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Gerogashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites. So Joshua three is the exact event that he's referring to in Psalm chapter 44. So in Psalm 44, he's saying, you know what? We're going to, you know, our fathers have told us these stories how the heathen were driven out of the land, right? And what he's referring to is back to this story in Joshua chapter three, go back to Psalm 44, Psalm 44, Psalm 44. So step one for us as parents is make sure that we know the stories of the Bible because how can you pass these onto your kids if you don't really know them yourself? And then step two is actually pass these stories onto your kids, right? Now I'm not saying that there aren't other things that, you know, you can teach your kids and talk to your kids about, but the number one thing is the word of God. And I would say at a Bible believing Christian, all of the parents are at least striving to keep their kids away from the evil things, right? Because on YouTube, obviously there's a lot of wicked things that pop up on the computer, on television, all these things, the music, there's a lot of wicked stuff out there. And I would say just about every parent in a Christian home is trying on some level of degree to separate from the ungodliness, but there is the ungodly, there is the neutral, and then there is the godly. Now you couldn't really say that the neutral is a sin. I mean, there's various shows that your kids could watch various things that your kids could do that are not really sinful, right? You know, there's things that, you know, you can have family time and play various games, but, but here's the thing you've got the worst, you've got kind of the neutral and then you've got the best, which is teaching the word of God to your children. So instead of them learning about other things, it's like the number one thing you could, you could be showing them is the word of God. Now, I do think there's a time and place to show your kids things like, you know, animal shows and things they might find interesting and they can learn a lot of nice things, but if that's all you're showing them and you're never actually teaching them the word of God, you've got an improper balance because what he says in the book of Psalms is we have heard this from our fathers. And the thing is, the word of God itself has power. You could personally tell your kids about things that God has done for you in your life. And that's good, but honestly, the stories of the Bible themselves, if you read it from the Bible and explain these things, obviously the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. And it can just motivate and help those kids understand these things at a young age, right? So Psalm 44 verse two, how thou didst strive out the heathen with thy hand, how thou didst strive out and implantest them, how thou didst afflict the people and cast them out. Now the story that's being referred to in Joshua chapter three, this is basically a David versus Goliath situation. Now I do believe that the 12 spies or the 10 spies, I should say, because Joshua and Caleb didn't say this kind of exaggerate a little bit when they're like, where's like grasshoppers in their eyes, right? I think they're going way overboard to try to get what they want. But here's the thing, make no mistake about it. If you were to look at this in a logical situation, they were lost, right? I mean, when they were, if they knew they were going to win, they wouldn't have been afraid. If they had more people and bigger and stronger people and better weapons, they'd be like, yeah, let's go. We're going to win. But they looked at that battle and said, we're not going to win this in our flesh. And looking at that, that's what caused them to be afraid. So when you teach your kids this story, what they're learning about is overcoming an obstacle that logically they just can't see a way around. And this can help motivate these kids at a young age who are trying to learn to go soul winning and read the Bible and do mighty things. And they might look at it as an obstacle that they cannot overcome, but realize with men, these things are impossible, but with God, all things are possible. And if we teach that to our kids at a young age, at a young age, it can give them the boldness and courage to accomplish those things. It said, how they'll did a strive at the heathen with thy hand and plantest them. So what he's referring to is that he planted them in the promised land. Now, when you plant something into the ground, as long as you plant it deep in general, it's going to stay there unless it gets rooted out, right? Unless it gets pulled out. And what he's saying is when I put you in the promised land, it was meant to be permanent. Now it didn't end up being permanent and we understand that, but God's plan was that it would be permanent. He said, I'm going to plant you. And he made a covenant with them, which we're going to see in this chapter where if the people didn't mess it up, they were going to stay there, right? Because he had planted them. You know, the Bible speaks about being planted in the house of God. God wants you to get in church and stay and be involved and be stable, right? In the promised land, it wasn't something like, well, I led you out of Egypt. You're in this land, but wait a minute. If your enemy attacks you, you might lose the land. It was meant to be a permanent thing where God would place his people and protect his people. But there were certain requirements they had to do, which they end up messing up. Then it says, how about did us afflict the people and cast them out, referring to afflicting the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, and the Girishites. Verse three, for they got not the land and possession by their own sword, neither did their own arms save them, but thy right hand and thine arm in the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favor onto them. And what the psalmist is saying is they didn't end up in the promised land because they were better fighters or they were stronger or do things in their own power. The reason why they went to the promised land is because God's the one who led them in. God's the one who helped them win that battle. And it shows you with God, all things are possible, right? God's the one who won that victory for them. You know, you can think of many things in our lives such as, you know, soul winning is a great example. And you know what, obviously when you first go soul winning, you need to memorize the verses. You need to have a basic structured plan and know how to explain things. But you know, after you have some experience, it's not really about anything that you do. It's really about two things. It's what God does, which he does all the time as you go soul winning. And then whether or not they're willing to believe because they have free will. But it's not really about what you do. You go out and then God helps you win that victory. But it's not the power of your words. It's God's words. I did not invent and neither did you the example of a gift. Because here's the thing. If we were saved, but there were no examples in the Bible of what to tell people, we would be sitting down and trying to figure out, okay, what have you tried? What have I tried? What works the best? What percentage of the time does it work? But the thing is, we don't have to do that. You know, God already set things in motion in the Bible. You have examples like born again, gift, drinking of water, opening a door, eating a slice of bread, and they all serve their purpose. Not that you have to use them all in one conversation, but God gives us examples and what to say and what to do. It's not like, well, you know, I'm saved and okay, how do I explain this? Right? I mean, God has actually given us examples and showed us what to do, right? And so it's really about what God is doing. It's not really what we do because God's the one who has the example of gift. We read it and we explain it. And a gift is something that's pretty easy. I mean, a child can understand what a gift is, right? Turn to Numbers 13. Numbers 13. And let's see the story that they're referring to or the story of going back when they refused to enter the promised land, I should say. Numbers 13, verse one, and the Lord's speaking to Moses, saying, Send now men that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers shall you send a man, every one a ruler among them. So you had 12 spies, right? What you end up having is two spies end up being good. Joshua and Caleb and the other 10 end up getting scared and backing down. And you know what? I don't think that none of those 10 were saved. You know, I would assume most, if not all, were saved. But just because you're saved doesn't mean you're going to do what you're supposed to do, right? Go to verse number 25. And they returned from searching of the land after 40 days, and they went and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, onto the wilderness of Paran to Kadesh and brought back word onto them and onto all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him and said, We came onto the land, whether they'll send us us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey. And this is the fruit of it, right? I'll be honest with you. This is one of those stories in the Bible. I have trouble understanding. I have trouble understanding the decision that these people made. I mean, they don't say that the land is bad. They say, You're right. It is everything that God said. Now, here's the reason why I have trouble understanding this story. Because you're in the wilderness. If you don't go into the promised land, the alternative is not better. It's not like, Man, I've got a really nice house, and I've got to step out in faith into this promised land. It's like you're in the wilderness, right? It doesn't make sense to me. It's just like, it's not like you're still in Egypt, and he's telling you this. You're literally in the wilderness. It's kind of like, if you don't go in, what are you gonna do? It doesn't make any sense. But you know what I would say is, when people get scared, it's like they act crazy. When they have the spirit of fear, I mean, the Bible speaks about having a sound mind and not having a spirit of fear. And when people are afraid, and what happens is they do not have a sound mind. They act crazy. Think about King Saul in the Bible. He acts insane. It's like, what are you doing? At one time, he tries to kill his son. I mean, he's originally mad at David because he doesn't want David to take the throne. Then he gets so mad at his son that he, out of a moment of anger, tries to kill him. And it's like, you know, he throws a javelin at him. It's like, what are you doing? This whole thing is because you want him to become the king. And now you're just not even thinking, right? You know, I think of the story in the Bible with the four lepers. And what they say is, why sit we here until we die? Basically, if we stay here, we're going to die. If we go, we're going to probably die. But it's better just to take a chance and see what happens. And for these 12 spies, I really don't get it because I see stories in the Bible where I could see myself making the same mistakes. I really can't see myself making that mistake unless I'm acting crazy because it's kind of like, why sit we here in the wilderness? We might as well take a chance, right? And so they get afraid though, and they even admit the land is great. I mean, it's got the fruit, a land flowing with milk and honey, just like God said. Then it says in verse 28, Nevertheless, the people that be strong that dwell in the land and the cities are walled and very great. And moreover, we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the coast of Jordan. This is a group of people that experienced the 10 plagues of Egypt, right? Miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle. These are people that lose their faith and they're pinned in. And then there's the parting of the Red Sea, one of the greatest miracles in the Bible. And then Egypt comes in after them, or at least a large number of the people from Egypt, and they just get drowned. They experienced that. They saw that. They knew about that. And yet here they are a short time later, and it's just like, well, we can't win this battle, even though they've already won bigger battles with bigger obstacles. And what this shows you is that we need a daily renewal of the word of God in our lives. You could experience the biggest miracle that the world has to offer, but if you're not getting a daily renewal, it's kind of like out of sight out of mind. You kind of forget about it because if you were to stop right now and think about all the great things you've experienced, out soul winning and things that God has done for you in your life, it's like, man, I've seen a lot of things. That's kind of like out of sight out of mind. You kind of forget about it, right? You know? And so we need a daily renewal of the word of God in our lives. Otherwise, it doesn't matter what miracles we experience. Everything is just going to kind of fade out eventually. Verse 30, And Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We're not able to go against this people, for they're stronger than we. It's like, what's your point? So they're stronger. I mean, God said, You're gonna win the battle, right? Verse 32, And they brought up an evil report of the land, which they had searched on the Children of Israel, saying, The land which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof. I don't know what that means. Whenever I read that, I'm kind of like, what are they even trying to say? Eateth up the inhabitants? It's not like there's literally going to be earthquakes. It's going to eat them up. I mean, it sounds like they're saying there's just it's going to be like a dry land, but they just showed that the milk and honey and the fruit. So it's kind of like, what are you trying to say? You're contradicting yourself. You just said it's a great land and now you say it's going to eat up the inhabitants. Like people go there and they just die. It's like that kind of goes against what you just said, right? And all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the Giants, the sons of Anak, which come with the Giants, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. And so we were in their sight. A grasshopper to a human. I mean, I don't care how big, I don't know how big the biggest grasshopper is, you know, it's like, you know, this big, maybe. That's nothing compared to a human. Now, don't misunderstand me. If I saw a grasshopper that big, I might get afraid if it starts jumping around, but it's like it's nothing compared to the size of a human. I mean, how tall were these Giants? Are these Giants 500 feet tall? Right? And so they're obviously exaggerating a great deal. And I'm not saying they're completely being false. I mean, yeah, the people are probably bigger. People are probably stronger. I mean, if you are, if you are fleeing from Egypt and you're going into a country that's established in a land that's established. Yeah, they're going to have weapons. They're going to have all those things and you might not because if you're traveling, you might not be able to bring everything. You might not have ever been able to make that. But of course, it was always something by faith that God is going to provide for you. Go to Psalm 44. Psalm 44. And of course, this is one example of a story that you can tell your kids about. And I mean, there's a lot of great applications, right? This is something you've probably heard preached a million times in churches because there's so much great information in here. Just how they're entering a land that yeah, they're not as strong. They're not as big. All of these miracles, you know, the plagues of Egypt. I mean, you know, here's the thing, you know, growing up today, kids play a lot of games with like magic and you know, whatever. And it's like that is nothing compared to the 10 plagues. I mean, literally it's like turning the water to blood. And that was just round one, right? It's like all those plagues that you see. I mean, darkness upon the land. Something would be terrifying, right? It's like Mount Pinatubo part two, but it just lasted longer, right? You know, darkness everywhere. The death of the firstborn, right? The story of Passover. I mean, in these stories, they can impact your kids. Now, I do personally believe that although Bible programs are not perfect, they can be a good supplement where they see kind of a loose reality of what took place. And you can actually explain those stories so they can kind of have a visual of this. But these stories are more exciting and more interesting than what the world has to offer, right? Psalm 44 verse 4. Thou are my king, O God. Command deliverances for Jacob. Through thee we will push down our enemies. Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. What he's saying there in verse six is it's not my own power. It doesn't matter if you're the greatest swordsman or the greatest, you know, shooter of arrows that there is. It's like that's not going to save you from the enemy. It's God being on your side. Verse seven. Thou has saved us from our enemies and has put them to shame that hated us. In God we boast all the day long and praise thy name forever, Selah. Verse nine. But thou hast cast off and put us to shame and goest not forth with our armies. So he's referencing the things that have taken place. But he's also saying now it's kind of like they're in trouble with God and God is not actually helping them in the battle. He said thou hast cast off and put us to shame and goest not forth with our armies. There does seem to be some symbolism in this chapter about the future where they're going to be completely rejected as a people in the Promised Land. And obviously when it comes to prophetic passages, it gets kind of confusing how much is for the present day, how much is for the future. What he seems to be saying is the fact that they're having trouble in the present day, but it seems to be like a foreshadowing of what's going to take place in the future. Verse number 10. Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy and they which hate us spoil for themselves. When it says spoil for themselves, taking the spoil of the enemies. So basically, you know, they're taking all the supplies from them is what he's saying. Verse 11. Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat and hast scattered us among the heathen. Thou sellest thy people for naught and dost not increase thy wealth by their price. Thou makest us as an approach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people. My confusion is continually before thee and the shame my face hath covered me. All this has come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way. Now, when he says in verse 17, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant, what covenant is he referring to? Well, he was talking about entering the promised land. And so when they entered the promised land, this was under a covenant or in agreement with God. Okay? And people try to think of salvation being eternal life and saying it lasts forever. And then they try to apply that to the promised land and say, well, wait a minute. If God said, I'm going to give this to you and he gives it to you, then that means it's forever no matter what. But it was never forever no matter what. It was a covenant or as an agreement. So you think of, for example, when you move into an apartment and there's certain things that are written and you sign your name where it's like, I will pay, you know, 8,000 pesos per month. And it's like, pay the electric bill, pay the water bill. And there's usually like 25 points of all these things that you don't read where basically if you act rebellious and destroy the house, you're getting kicked out. When it comes to entering the promised land, God said basically, I'll give you this land. I'll plant you here. It's going to be yours. But there is an agreement. There is a covenant. And this covenant was based on obedience. Where God said, if you're obedient, then you're going to stay here forever. If not, you're going to be booted out. Now turn to Exodus 16. Okay. Exodus 16. And what he said is, our heart is not turned back, neither of our steps declined from Thy way. And I don't think he's looking back to the past because they had certainly departed from God in the past. Here's an example in Exodus 16 verse 1. This is a great example of the grass is always greener on the other side. Because everybody was happy to be outside of Egypt. Nobody wanted to be there. Now they're out of Egypt and then they're immediately complaining when things aren't going well. Verse 4. And the Bible says in Numbers 11 verse 1, And the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses. And when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Tabarab because the fire of the Lord burned among them. And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a-lusting. And the children of Israel also wept again and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely. The cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic. But now our soul has dried away. There is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes. And they're complaining once again about the food that they're getting. So certainly before they entered the Promised Land, they were very rebellious. Now obviously when David is living, they're not at the point where they're rejected yet either. But that will of course one day come as well. Now here's the thing. Why is it that they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years? And go back to Psalm 44. Psalm 44. They wandered in the wilderness because they lacked faith. And another way you can look at it is they were disobedient. They did not enter the Promised Land immediately because they weren't being obedient to what God said. So a lack of obedience prevented them from going to the Promised Land. And then basically as they're going in, Moses warned them. Joshua warned them. I mean pretty much every book in the Old Testament, there's that warning where it's like, hey, if you're disobedient, you could be removed. Now here's the thing. When it comes to salvation, the reason why disobedience doesn't make it end is we were given a gift. The agreement that God made with us about eternal life was not something that was based on a condition that we have to keep. The gift of God is eternal life. But it was different with entering the Promised Land. There was a covenant where God said, you must obey what I said. And if you obey what I said, here's all the blessings. And He said, I'm going to give you peace on every side. I'm going to bless the land. You're going to be successful. Then He says, here's what takes place if you don't obey. And then basically every single army is going to drive you out and you're going to have all these cursings and these diseases and all these things. And so it's all throughout the Old Testament. It's based on obedience. And then of course, you know, why it's so strange that people debate about this is because they end up getting removed from the land. Why did they get removed from the land? Disobedience. They're living in sin. Right? There's essentially two things that they were expected to do. Number one, obey God's commandments. And number two, be the one to evangelize the world, to be the fig tree that produced figs. Remember when Jesus cursed the fig tree because there was no figs? It's like, why did He do that? Because He's trying to show Israel that you were meant to evangelize, produce fruits. There's all those parables in the Bible that speak about it. So they got a 70-year timeout for being disobedient. Then they get back into the Promised Land as we saw when we went through the Book of Ezra. And then all of a sudden, they got worse. And eventually they killed the Lord Jesus Christ. And then of course, they got dispossessed from the land. They went back to the land the first time. So they enter the first time once they're obedient. They get kicked out for 70 years. And then when they get right with God, they're allowed back in. Right? Then they get removed again. They kill the Lord Jesus, which that was the final straw. There was no turning back at that point with God's agreement to give them a land. But here's the thing. Even if you think there's a chance to return, in the Book of Ezra, you see them getting right with God. Cyrus makes this decree because the people get right with God. Now, people try to claim that, well, 70 years ago, you know, the political leaders made this agreement to give them back the Promised Land. But there's one major thing missing. They didn't get right with God. And here's the thing. In today's world, post-resurrection of Jesus, you cannot get right with God without getting saved. And what percentage of the nation of Israel today is saved? Not only is the percentage extraordinarily low, but the religion itself blasphemes Jesus Christ. So when you just look at the examples we have in the Bible, they aren't allowed to enter in because of disobedience. When they finally become obedient, they're allowed to enter in. They get removed due to disobedience. They're allowed to go back when they get obedient. They get right with God. Even earlier in the Bible, you look at stories like the book of Judges. It's like, you know, the people turn from God, and then they pray to God, and then they get right with God, and back and forth, back and forth, right? Then they got removed. They killed the Lord Jesus Christ. They get scattered amongst the world. What possible reason would God have to bring them back when they're still wicked, they still don't believe on Jesus? And that was the last straw, as it were, anyway, when they killed the Lord Jesus Christ, right? It doesn't make any sense, right? And so, the psalmist David is speaking about not turning from the covenant, and here's the thing, they were going to stay in that land if they kept the covenant. Now, here's the thing, you cannot fully blame the people because it was a covenant that was not going to last. You say, why Brother Stuckey was the covenant not going to last? It wasn't going to last because it was based on the godliness of human beings. And that's something that is always going to fail. And that is also a picture of how the law just isn't going to cut it. Because man can't keep their end of the bargain. There's nothing wrong with the covenant. The reason why it did not work is not because of God, it's because of man. Because man couldn't keep the covenant. Same thing with the law, I mean, the law is good. But the law does not work in terms of salvation because we can't keep the covenant, right? So there's a lot of great symbolism all throughout the Bible on these various different things. But the covenant he's referring to is the fact we enter the promised land and we get to stay there as long as we obey what God says. Verse 19. Though they are sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death, if we have forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange God, shall not God search this out? For he knoweth the secrets of the heart. And verse 21 is a verse that you could use to show the omniscience of God, that God is all-knowing. It says, he knoweth the secrets of the heart. So of course, you know, sometimes somebody might say, hey, you know what, I have a secret, right? But the Bible says the secrets of the heart. So this is not something that's a secret that's being whispered or passed around between people, but saying on the inside of your heart, God knows what's on the inside that nobody else is aware of. Verse 22. Arise for our help and redeem us for thy mercy's sake. And I do believe that he's speaking toward the future, but also in our personal lives, if things are not going our way because of our own sin and our own mistakes, what we need to do is pray to God. Ask for mercy. Ask for forgiveness. Right, you know, on just a daily basis, something very simple we can and should do is just say to God, you know what, God, I've sinned against you today. I've messed up. Forgive me. Help me to do better. And just daily get right with God before you go to sleep at night. And so this is a great Psalm. There's a lot of great information and kind of the takeaway that I get from this chapter is really right at the beginning there where it talks about how our fathers have taught these things. And of course, as a father in this room or as a mother in this room, we have to ask ourselves, are we doing a good job with that? I will admit I could do a better job of teaching my kids the stories of the Word of God because obviously, you know what, life gets busy. There's distractions. There's other things in life. But you know what, if we want our kids to grow up and be people that love God and serve God and do great mighty things, they need to hear about the great mighty things that have been done. And so because they need to realize it's not in my own power, but I'm doing things by the power of God, by being right with God, and God is the one giving me the ability to overcome and accomplish these things. Let's close the Word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and ask you to help us to apply this term into our lives and ask you to help us to teach the Word of God to our children, God, and help all of us just to serve you and love you, God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.