1. Psalm 78 is the first and the longest of the historical psalms. Psalm 119 is longer, but Psalm 78 is the longest of the historical psalms.
2. The great British Baptist pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon said this about Psalm 78, "It is not a mere recapitulation of important events in Israel's history, but is intended to be viewed as a parable setting forth the conduct and experience of believers in all ages."
3. Note Spurgeon said Psalm 78 should be understood as a "parable" (cf. 78:2). There are important lessons here for us.
4. Another preacher put it this way: "The past is the great interpreter of the present, and the great safeguard of the future (John Phillips).
5. We are told that this psalm is "Maschil ("instruction") of Asaph." Asaph was the chief of sacred music under King David. He was also a prophet (seer) and a psalmist (cf. I Chronicles 16:5; 25:1, 2).
6. Psalm 78 is instructive. It is the "Maschil ("instruction") of Asaph." We come to Sunday School and to church to be instructed in the Word of God, and Psalm 78 contains valuable instructions.
7. For example, verse 41 says the Israelites "turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel."
8. The Bible has many warnings about limiting God. For example, referring to the unbelief of the people of Nazareth, Matthew 13:58 says Jesus "did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (cf. II Kings 13:14-19).
9. Their unbelief was so startling that Mark 6:6 says, "And he marvelled because of their unbelief." Unbelief limits God (Psalm 78:41).
10. Not only are sinners guilty of this, but even Christians can limit God by their unbelief.
11. In Matthew 17:19, the disciples to Jesus, and said, "Why could not we cast him (an unclean spirit) out?" Our Lord told them, "Because of your unbelief" (Matthew 17:20).
12. Albert Barnes said the Israelites thought that "there were things to be done which God had not the ability to perform." This is unbelief.
13. Christians often limit God by their prayerlessness. "Ye have not, because ye ask not" (James 4:2).
14. Our Lord rebuked His disciples for their "unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen" (Mark 16:14).

I. LIMITING GOD BY BACKSLIDING (78:41).

1. Psalm 78:41 says, "Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel." They tempted God by turning back. Men tempt God when they doubt His power or doubt His ability to provide.
2. When the Israelites pitched in Rephidim, they saw there was no water for them to drink. Exodus 17:2 says, "Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?"
3. The children of Israel were questioning God and doubting God and they were tempting God; i.e., they were testing His patience (cf. Psalm 78:17-23).
4. The people were so backslidden they murmured and complained and said, "Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt" (Numbers 14:3, 4).
5. One of the saddest things for a pastor to see is watching backslidden Christians go back to the world. The apostle Paul said, "For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world" (II Tim. 4:10).
6. Some church members backslide so badly that they often behave as badly as wicked sinners!
7. Some church members backslide so badly that they plunge recklessly into sin and wickedness. Second Peter 2:22 says, "But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."
8. Peter is quoting Proverbs 26:11, "As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly."
9. It is disgusting to see a dog licking up his own vomit, but it is even worse to see a professed Christian hanging out with drunkards and whoremongers.
10. Some backsliders do not fall completely into the gutter. But sometimes they will quit a good church and start attending services in a worldly, wishy-washy church with rock music, weak preaching, and no Bible standards.
11. Many of these backsliders are bitter and confused, and it is wise to avoid them. The Bible says, "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Romans 16:17).
12. Psalm 78:9 says, "The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle." We are in a battle, but our battle is not with bows and arrows, and swords and spears.
13. The apostle Paul said, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph. 6:12). Ours is a spiritual battle.
14. Our adversary is Satan, and he has a large army of demons assisting him. The Bible says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5:8).
15. What makes a man want to backslide? Often the problem is he is too full of himself. Proverbs 14:14 says, "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself." Many fall through stubbornness and pride.
16. Some Christians have a bent toward backsliding. Hosea 11:7 says, "And my people are bent to backsliding."
17. But there is hope for the backslider. God says, "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings" (Jer. 3:22).
18. God says in Hosea 14:4, "I will heal their backsliding."
19. Christian, do not turn back! Hebrews 10:38 says, "But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."
20. Hebrews 10:39 says, "But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."
21. Christian, do not turn back! Make up your mind you are going to go forward for Christ, not backwards.
22. People miss out on the blessings of God when they backslide. They actually limit God (Psalm 78:41).

II. LIMITING GOD BY DISOBEDIENCE (78:10).

1. "Covenant" (78:10) is a good Bible word. The word is found 292 times in our King James Bible. It basically means an "agreement or a pledge."
2. Every time I baptize a new member into our church, I ask the same two questions. First, I ask them if they have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour.
3. After they answer in the affirmative, I ask them if they are now going to follow Him the rest of their lives the best they know how.
4. After they answer that second question in the affirmative, I baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
5. Here is the problem -- some of the people who said, yes, they were going to follow the Lord the rest of their lives the best they know how are now out in the world -- deep in sin and far from God.
6. They wander off into a far country, and there they waste their substance with riotous living. They are slopping around the devil's pigpen eating husks with the swine.
7. "They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law" (Psalm 78:10). Many church members today refuse to do right.

Ye call Me Master and obey Me not.
Ye call Me Light and see Me not.
Ye call Me Way and walk not.
Ye call Me Life and desire Me not.
Ye call Me Wise and follow Me not.
Ye call Me Fair and love Me not.
Ye call Me Rich and ask Me not.
Ye call Me Eternal and seek Me not.
Ye call Me Gracious and trust Me not.
Ye call Me Noble and serve Me not.
Ye call Me Mighty and honor me not.
Ye call Me Just and fear Me not.
If I condemn you, blame Me not.
        — Inscription in the cathedral in Lubeck

8. Let us not limit God by our disobedience. During WWI, the Australian government asked Great Britain what they could do to help. Great Britain replied, "There is one thing you can do to help us -- build us ships; we need ships!"
9. But the Australians did not build the ships. They ignored Great Britain's request and they decided to plant seed and send food instead.
10. Grain was gathered, put into sacks, and brought down to the docks to wait for ships to pick it up. But the ships never came because Great Britain needed ships.
11. So the ships never came and eventually mice got into the food, and then the mice spread all over into the towns and villages and cities. These mice carried diseases with them, and many people got sick, some were blinded, and some died.
12. All because Australia disobeyed the order to build ships.
13. Let us not limit God by our disobedience!

III. LIMITING GOD BY FORGETFULNESS (78:11).

1. Psalm 78:11 says, "And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them" (cf. 78:42).
2. But verse 7 says, "That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments."
3. There are many warnings in the Bible about forgetting God.
4. Deuteronomy 4:9 says, "Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons."
5. Notice the importance of teaching the Word of God to our children and grandchildren (Deut. 4:9; cf. Psalm 78:4).
6. I have read much about revival, and one thing I have noted is that they eventually die out because the next generation has not followed in the ways of God.
7. The elders of Israel said to Samuel, "Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways" (I Samuel 8:5).
8. The children of Ephraim (representing all of Israel) "forgat his works" (78:9-11).
9. A few years ago, a survey was taken that revealed “that over half of the teenagers could not name even one of the four gospels. In multiple choice questions, some decided that the epistles were the wives of the apostles, that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife and that Moses was the father of Jesus” (Haddon Robinson).
10. A preacher said, "We spend thousands of dollars strengthening and straightening children’s teeth, but we stand by as they develop crooked hearts and twisted lives. We purchase the latest volumes on child care so we can raise children by the book, but we have concentrated on the wrong book!" (Haddon Robinson)
11. Deuteronomy 4:23 says, "Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget..."
12. Deuteronomy 6:12 says, "Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."
13. Deuteronomy 8:11 says, "Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God." There are many warnings like this in the book of Deuteronomy. Let us not limit God by our forgetfulness.
14. Psalm 9:17 says, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God" (cf. Psalm 78:31, 32).
15. Someone has wisely said there are three gradations of sin -- neglecting God, rejecting God, and forgetting God.
16. Some here today are guilty of neglecting God.
17. Some here today are guilty of rejecting God.
18. Some here today are guilty of forgetting God.
19. Forgetfulness indicates carelessness and ingratitude.
20. And it has been said that forgetfulness is a sign of contempt. And forgetfulness springs from unbelief (Ps. 78:22; cf. Deut. 32:15-18).
21. Daniel Defoe (1660 –1731) was an English trader, writer, journalist, and spy, famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe. He also wrote a book entitled, A Journal of the Plague Year, a fictionalized account of one man's experiences of the year 1665, in which the Great Plague struck the city of London.
22. Referring to those who survived the Great Plague, Defoe wrote, "For the generality of the people, it might too justly be said of them as was said of the children of Israel after their being delivered from the host of Pharaoh, when they passed the Red Sea, and looked back and saw the Egyptians overwhelmed in the water: viz., that they sang His praise, but they soon forgot His works."

CONCLUSION:

1. The Thanksgiving holiday reminds us once again not to forget God. Thanksgiving reminds us of the need to remember all of the mercies of God, and the blessings of God, and the goodness of God.
2. It is also a time to repent and get right with God. The Thanksgiving proclamation in 1676 referred to God’s “sore displeasure against us for our sins.”
3. In 1789, George Washington urged that we “unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
4. President John Adams in 1798 recommended that religious congregations “acknowledge before God the manifold sins and transgressions with which we are justly chargeable as individuals and as a nation.”
5. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln said that God had dealt “with us in anger for our sins.” He recommended “humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience.”
6. But we do not hear our leaders talk like that these days.
7. America has gotten away from talking about sin and judgment and repentance. Today our leaders do not talk about repenting for "our national perverseness and disobedience.”
8. In fact, the last few Thanksgiving Proclamations did not even mention God!
9. Last year's Thanksgiving Proclamation said, "This tradition reminds us that no matter what our background or beliefs, no matter who we are or who we love, at our core we are first and foremost Americans."
10. This was obviously a reference to sodomites. Let us pray for revival for America. It is not too late but time is running out.
11. We were reminded at our missions conference -- our Lord said, "The night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4).