Hymn 284
Psalms
48 is about knowing Zion the city of God and the city of the Great King. Psalms
48:12-13, “Walk about Zion, and go round about her, tell the towers thereof.
Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the
generation following.” Judges 2:10, “And also all that generation were
gathered unto their fathers; and there arose another generation after them,
which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel.”
This is one of the saddest verses in the Bible. They knew the form, but not the
spirit of serving God. Many years ago, Willie Smiley was worried that the third
and fourth generations might know all the form and traditions of serving God,
but lack the fear, spirit and love required to truly have a personal
relationship with God.
We
have a responsibility in our day and generation to give clear directions for
the generations to come. Psalms 78:2-7, “I will open my mouth in a parable,
I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known, and our
fathers have told us. 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. 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; that the generation to come might know them, even the
children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their
children; that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of
God, but keep His commandments.” There are four generations mentioned: our
father, our generation, our children, and children to come. Each generation is like
a link in a chain. We are linked with those before us and those following us.
We can also compare it to a brick wall. A brick wall requires a solid
foundation. Christ as the chief cornerstone provides the sure foundation. Each
row of bricks is like a generation and we are attached to two other
generations — the generation before and the generation following. Each brick has
6 sides. The bottom side attached to the preceding generation and the top to
following generation. The two ends are attached to others of our generation.
There are two other sides, one side that is seen by all and another side that
is seen only by God. For the wall to be strong, it must all be in alignment with
the Chief Corner stone. What happens if our run (generation) gets out of line?
Are we concerned that we are safe for the coming generation to build upon?
Exodus
12:25-27, “And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the
LORD will give you, according as He hath promised, that ye shall keep this
service. And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, 'What
mean ye by this service?' That ye shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s
passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when
He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.' And the people bowed the head
and worshipped.” Egypt is a type of the world and we need to pass on our
testimony of when we left the world for the Promised Land. There are two
avenues to God’s heart — hearing and seeing. The same avenues speak to us.
My
testimony begins with my ancestors. In 1896, Aunt Dora Holland was searching for
salvation. She heard God’s servants speaking in a Methodist Church and made her
choice for truth. She spent five years in the ministry in Ireland then in 1905
she came to the Canadian Prairies. In 1908, she and Ruby Long came to Emo, Ontario
where the rest of my family had immigrated. Uncle Harry Holland was the first
to profess and was followed by my mother and then, one by one, the whole family
chose truth.
Exodus
16:32, “And Moses said, 'This is the thing which the LORD commandeth: fill an
omer of it to be kept for your generations that they may see the bread
wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the
land of Egypt.'” What had sustained them was to be kept for a remembrance.
Numbers 11:7-9, “And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as
the colour of bdellium. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground
it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it
and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon
the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.” It is important to let your
children and grandchildren know what is most important to you — what fed me in
the desert. On Saturday night, it is good to look back and ask, “What fed me
this week?” The bread of heaven is necessary food.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7, “And
these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart 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.” Share with the next generation. Teach
children 24 hour a day for 7 days a week. They need to learn to love what God
loves and hate what God hates. The cry of a baby during meeting is like a New
Year's resolution — made to be carried out. My parents had a practice that all was
to be in order and there was one and a half hour’s quiet time before the
meeting.
Joshua
4:8-9, “And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up
twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua,
according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried
them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.
And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the
feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood, and they are
there unto this day.” These were hidden and an unhidden memorials. Crossing
the Red Sea was a type of baptism. Crossing the Jordan River was leaving a
wilderness behind. A hidden memorial is between God and us. I remember well a
pole-building at Bakersfield convention where God began to deal with me about
the ministry. My reasoning was, “I can’t sing,” “I can’t spell.” The mailbox
where I mailed my letter offering for the ministry is a hidden memorial for me.
We should share our memorials with our children and grandchildren.
Joshua
22:24-27, “And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying,
'In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, "What have
ye to do with the LORD God of Israel?" For the LORD hath made Jordan a border
between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part
in the LORD: so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the
LORD. Therefore we said, 'Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt
offering, nor for sacrifice but that it may be a witness between us, and you,
and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the LORD before
him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace
offerings;' that your children may not say to our children in time to come, 'Ye
have no part in the LORD.'” Two and a half Tribes wanted their inheritance
on the east side of Jordan. The altar was a witness that they were part of
Israel — not separated. There was a family in Arizona that took a lunch to eat in
the car and drove two and a half hours to get to the gospel meeting. Their
explanation was, “We want our children in gospel meetings and in fellowship
with other professing young people.” Not separated.
* This was Sydney’s second to last convention message