Relating Ps. 78 to the Church
Writer Author Sylvia Huffnagle
Christian Article
:
Christianity
- Fiction No
Ps: 78: 1-6: Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2: I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: 3: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. 4: We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. 5: For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: 6: That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
(This article will be a lesson in how to keep it going. Keep what going? Keep the right spirit going in individual Christians and in the church. I will also reveal the right spirit from the New Testament.
First, before one can call themselves a Christian they are to repent of their sins and their ways, turn to God and receive Him as their Father (their authority, disciplinarian and guardian) and learn of Him. They are to ask Jesus to come into their heart to be their Lord and Shepherd--that would be the one they follow and respond to.
Now the person and church made up of this kind of persons are Christians. As Christians the first thing you are to do is what it says in verses 1-6. You are to read and study God’s Word, Old and New Testament and you are to devour it--it is your spiritual food. A Christian is born again and becomes a spiritual being in an earthen body. You are to feed the spirit and starve the carnal nature--that’s the part of you that wants to do its own thing.
Rom: 12:1-2: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2: And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom: 13:13-14: Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14: But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Gal: 6:7-9: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8: For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9: And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
So first of all, God says in Ps: 78:1-6 that His people are to listen to what He says and take note of all His wonderful works and to tell it often to their children. Now we’re going to find our why.)
7-11: : That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: 8: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God. 9: The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. 10: They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; 11: And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.
(Why were we supposed to study His Word, obey His teaching, meditate on His mighty works, and talk to our children often about Him and His teachings? So that we and they would put our and their hope in Him and trust and obey Him and not be stubborn or rebellious. And so that we/they would guard our heart and remain steadfast. You see, these things don’t just happen because we became a Christian. We have a part to play in this war. In order to win, we must put on the full armor of God and stand.)
12-16: Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. 13: He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap. 14: In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. 15: He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. 16: He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
(God did all these powerful miracles to meet the needs of His people and it was not enough--they sinned even more. This is why God made a way for us to be born again of His Spirit and He gave us a new heart. The plan was for us to live our new life to please Him as we promised when we repented and for us to be led by His Spirit of love and wisdom in all our decisions and actions.)
17-26: And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness. 18: And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. 19: Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? 20: Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people? 21: Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; 22: Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: 23: Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, 24: And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. 25: Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full. 26: He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.
(They needed a new heart.)
27-32: He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: 28: And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. 29: So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire; 30: They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, 31: The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. 32: For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.
(First God was hoping the blessings would win their heart to Him, but the carnal nature is too selfish and demanding. His next move is to let the inevitable result of their selfish and wrong choices come upon them--the wrath. But that doesn’t change their heart either. The troubles that came on them and the troubles that are going on in the world today are the inevitable result of mankind choosing to do their own thing instead of what God has carefully and painstakingly laid out for them to do and taught them why they should do it.)
33-37: Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. 34: When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God. 35: And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. 36: Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. 37: For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.
38-39: But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. 39: For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
40-42: How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! 41: Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. 42: They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.
43-55: How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan: 44: And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink. 45: He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. 46: He gave also their increase unto the caterpiller, and their labour unto the locust. 47: He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost. 48: He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. 49: He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them. 50: He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence; 51: And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham: 52: But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 53: And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. 54: And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased. 55: He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56-64: Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies: 57: But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. 58: For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. 59: When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: 60: So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men; 61: And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand. 62: He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance. 63: The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage. 64: Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.
(The church needs to repent of carnal Christianity. What does it take to walk by the spirit and not by the flesh?)
Churches who walk by the spirit do this:
Matt: 5:13-16: Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14: Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15: Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matt: 5:21-30: Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23: Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 5: Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
26: Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. 27: Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29: And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30: And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
31-37: It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. 33: Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: 35: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36: Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37: But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
38-48: Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40: And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41: And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42: Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. 43: Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44: But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45: That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46: For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47: And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48: Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Matt: 6:24-34: 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. 25: Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26: Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27: Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28: And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30: Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31: Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32: (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34: Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Matt: 16:24-27: Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25: For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26: For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 27: For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Matt: 28:18-20: And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Lk: 21:34-36: And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35: For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36: Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Rom: 6:1-14: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2: God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3: Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4: Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5: For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7: For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8: Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10: For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11: Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13: Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Rom: 8:1-14: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3: For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 5: For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6: For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8: So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9: But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10: And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11: But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 12: Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13: For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom: 12:9-18: Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10: Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 11: Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12: Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; 13: Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. 14: Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15: Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16: Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 17: Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18: If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
2Cor: 15-17: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 16: Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 17: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Gal: 5:18-24: But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 19: Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20: Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21: Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23: Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24: And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Eph: 3:16-19: That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17: That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18: May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19: And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Eph: 4:17-32: This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18: Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20: But ye have not so learned Christ; 21: If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23: And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24: And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 25: Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26: Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27: Neither give place to the devil. 28: Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. 29: Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30: And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31: Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
(When we repent of giving our flesh place and are overcoming sin, flesh, and the devil as described above, the Lord will do for us what is written in the end of Ps: 78--guide us into the Promise Land and we will be endued with power from on high to walk as Jesus walked.)
Ps: 78:65-72: Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. 66: And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach. 67: Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: 68: But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved. 69: And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever. 70: He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: 71: From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. 72: So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
Sylvia Huffnagle
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