Go with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 118. Psalm 118, as I just mentioned
to you, it was so good being with the
brethren in Crossville. I enjoyed being with Brother
Donnie and being with Brother David. It was encouraging. It was very encouraging and it
was a real blessing. But one feeling that really stood
out to me was the conference made me feel thankful. I was
talking to Brother David about that. It made me feel so thankful. I had a moment where I just I
was able to enter into how thankful I was to know the gospel. And I'm just gonna be honest
with you, those are rare moments. You know what I mean? It's a
shame. But we take knowing the gospel
so for granted. We just put it in the Rolodex
somewhere. And I'm speaking to my own shame.
But the Lord let me, I guess it's because we hadn't, I've
been a couple of places, but we haven't seen any congregations
in a while. But the Lord gave me a moment.
I was sitting there listening to Brother David preach, and
on Saturday night I was second. And I had a moment where it just
hit me that I am so thankful that the Lord has allowed me
the privilege of declaring the Word of His Gospel, because we're
all in this together. We're all one. We're all one
body, just like I have one body here with hands that do and feet
that do and ears that do and a mouth that does. And We're
all one. And I was personally just so
grateful that the Lord has given me the privilege to, on behalf
of all of us, I'm not really preaching to you. I am, but I'm
just speaking on behalf of all of us. The Lord could select
any of us to come up here and speak on his behalf. And I'm
just thankful. This is a real privilege. And
it's one that I take for granted. to my shame. But I was very thankful to be
counted among God's people. That's something to be thankful
for. We have a true hope of glory. We have a true hope of glory,
and it's something to be thankful for. And if we really stop and think
about it, that ought to be, that emotion ought to be the overwhelming
emotion of a child of God in everything. In everything. More than every other emotion
that we experience. Thankfulness. We have sorrow. I'm constantly bringing songs
to Psalms to help us through it. We have sorrow. We experienced
depression. We experienced weakness. We experienced fear. Thank God. We also experienced joy at times
and peace at times and love and all those things. I
wouldn't want to be without any of those other emotions. You
know, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We weep
with those who do weep. If I see one of you weeping,
I want to weep with you. I don't want to be without that
emotion. I sure don't want to be without joy and peace and
love and all those things, but Every one of those emotions that
a believer experiences can be, and it should be, tempered with
thankfulness. Even in deep sorrow, we can still
be thankful, and I pray the Lord will help us to be. I pray the
Lord will help us to be. I've told you before this story. There was a preacher a long time
ago named Josh Gravitt. And back in the, I believe it
was the 30s. I don't think it was the 20s.
I think it was the 1930s. He was traveling home from a
meeting with a very young, another preacher, young preacher at the
time named A.D. Muse. And they were driving in
a Model T Ford and the front tire blew out and the car flipped
and Josh Gravitt was thrown from the car. and just beat all to
pieces. He had broken ribs and a punctured
lung and all kinds of things. But the car landed upside down
and A.D. Mews crawled out of the car,
opened the door upside down and crawled out of the car and he
saw Josh laying in the weeds and he crawled over to him and
he said, Brother Josh, are you hurt bad? And he lay in there
in his pain and shock, he said, Archie, God is sovereign and
we'll be thankful. He said, even in this, we can
be thankful. We can be thankful. Well, because
Psalm 92 says, it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.
And because Colossians 3 says, let the peace of God rule in
your hearts to the which also you are called in one body and
be ye thankful. And because 1 Thessalonians 5
says, in everything give thanks. I wish I could remember that
in everything that comes to me. I wish I could in everything
Give thanks. Give thanks. Because it is truly
so good and so beautiful. The scripture says comely all
the time. That means beautiful. And because
it is so right for a child of God to give thanks. Because of
that, I have five reasons to give thanks. I've titled this
message, Five Reasons to Give Thanks. And I pray that the Lord
will make this more than an outline to us. This is an outline, but
I pray the Lord will make it more than an outline. And let
us be thankful for these things. All right, five reasons to give
thanks. Here's the first one. Psalm 118 verse one says, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord
for he is good. He is good. Now let's see if we can enter
into this. I say that a lot of times, but
I really entered into this. The Lord let me really enter
into this, I believe for the first time. There is a sovereign over us who has absolute control of us. I mean, absolute control. You know, people hear about God's
sovereignty and they say, well, I don't like that. That makes
me a puppet on a string. I love that. And that's exactly
what I am. I'm a puppet on his string. There is a sovereign over us,
controlling everything about us. And he can do with us whatever
he's pleased to do with us. We are completely at the mercy
of how He treats us. We are at the mercy of His will. We have no say in our harm or
our well-being. We don't have any say in it. We are at the mercy of a higher
and greater than us. And thank God, The one that we're
in the hands of is not the adversary who is stronger than us. People
foolishly, foolishly speak of him flippantly. Well, I'll tell
you what I'm going to do. Don't do that. He is stronger
than us. Peter said, trust me, trust me. You're not going to do anything
with him. He's stronger than us. And He only means evil for
us. He is set out, single and out,
evil and harm. He is working everything that
He can do to bring bondage and condemnation to us. Thank God,
He is in the hands of the same God we're in the hands of. The God who came to this earth
to bring good tidings of good. Thank God, our sovereign God,
the one who is in control is good. Thank God he's on top. Thank God he's the highest. This
is something to be thankful for. The scripture says he went about
doing good. That's what he did. So Psalm
118 verse one says, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is
good. He's good. Hold your place right
here and turn over to Luke chapter 12. Luke 12, verse 32. I love this. It says, fear not
little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give
you the kingdom. Is that not reason to give thanks? It's your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. Look with me at Philippians chapter
one. Verse six, it says, being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. That's what
he does because that's what he is. A good work from a good Lord. Look at Philippians 2 verse 13. For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and do of His good pleasure." His good pleasure. So that's the first reason that
we have to be thankful. The Lord who is our God, and
has sovereignly ordered everything concerning us is good. He is so good to us. He's so
kind to us. He has worked all things together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Good. All right, so go back to
Psalm 118. Here's the second reason. Verse one says, oh, give thanks
unto the Lord for He is good because His mercy endureth forever. Thank God for mercy. Thank God
for mercy. Verse two says, let Israel now
say that His mercy endureth forever. Let the house of Aaron now say
that His mercy endureth forever. Let them now that fear the Lord
say that his mercy endureth forever. In Psalm 51, David said, have
mercy upon me. He said, according to the multitude
of thy tender mercies. Jeremiah said, brand new every
morning. This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. His compassions fail not. They're new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. And
David said, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies,
blot out my transgressions, cover my sin in your blood. As a figure of speech, we'll
say, Can you believe what He did? Well, can you? Can you believe? Has He given
you faith to believe what He has done? Has He given us faith
to believe that He has covered our sin in His own blood? Has God revealed to us what mercy
really is? and what mercy in Christ really
means. If he has, we'll be a thankful
people. Go to Colossians 2, this is what
it means. While you're turning there, I'll
tell you that Ephesians 2 says, but God, who is rich in mercy,
For His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, He quickened us together with Christ. And this
is what that means. He quickened us together with
Christ. Here's what it means. Colossians 2 verse 13. And you,
being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath He quickened together with Christ? having forgiven you all
trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the
way, nailing it to His cross." In having spoiled principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them, and I love how the last two words, if you have a center
margin, it says, in Himself. Triumphing over them in Himself. That was His mercy to us, and
it's a real reason to be thankful. All right, reason number three,
go back to Psalms. This time, 119, Psalm 119. Psalm
119, verse 62, it says, at midnight, I will rise to give thanks unto
thee because of thy righteous judgments. He said, I will be thankful because
you are holy. I'll be thankful because you're
holy. Our God is holy. And what that means is he can
only do right. He is controlling our every step and it's right. It is only right. His righteous judgment is His
holiness. Holiness is purity and it's spotlessness. Therefore shall not the judge
of the earth do right. Perfect. He is ordering everything
concerning us and none of it is wrong. None of it. Do you ever wonder is, you know, say to yourself,
is this how my life is supposed to be going? You ever wonder
that? I mean, is this right? Here's
the answer. Yes. If you're a child of God,
for a child of God, the things, the circumstances that all of
God's people go through, yes, it's right. It's right. Everything, every piece of it
is perfectly happening for the purpose of bringing mercy and
good to God's people. And in that we can give thanks.
Reason number four, go with me to second Thessalonians chapter
two. 2 Thessalonians 2, look with me
at verse 13, it says, But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. We thank God for electing
a people. Oh, we thank God for choosing
to call brethren to himself. Brethren who can live together
and dwell together and fellowship together with one heart and one
mind and one soul and one body. David said, behold how good and
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. I thank God for you. I try to
tell you that as much as I can. And if the Lord will let me,
I'd love to tell you more. I thank God for you. I sincerely
do. Brethren, beloved of God, I thank
God for being good to us. I thank God for being merciful
to us. I thank God for making all of
our wrong right. You know, we're a bunch of people
who are wrong. in the flesh. If God would take
His restraining hand off of us, it'd be wrong, wrong, wrong,
wrong, wrong. Everything would be wrong. But
God in His goodness and mercy has put His hand on us as His
people and made things right in Christ, in Him. And I thank God for it. I thank
God for bringing us together. I thank God that He called me
to come here. And I thank God that He called
you to come here, whether you were already here or you moved
here or whatever happened. I just thank God for bringing
us together. Thank God He chose us and saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Thank God He
has a particular people and thank God He's made us to be a part
of them. I'm so glad to be a part of His particular people. So
glad. One more for tonight, all right?
We have infinite reasons to be thankful. One more for this message. Go to Revelation 11. Revelation 11, verse 15, And the seventh angel
sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and
of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever. and the four
and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats fell upon
their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give thee thanks,
O Lord God Almighty, which art and wast and art to come, because
Thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. They said, we give thee thanks
because thou has taken to thee thy great power and has reigned. Oh Lord God almighty. We give thanks because he is
who he is. He has done what he has done.
He has done it for who He has done it for and He has reigned. We give thanks because every
promise He's made to us, He is able to perform it because He
reigns. He reigns and He's going to get
the glory for it. And here's a little illustration
of that. Considering His goodness, His
mercy, His favor, His righteous judgments toward us, considering
His sovereignty and His ability, His power to do whatever He wants
to do for us. Just listen to this. I found
this, and I don't know who wrote it. This is copied, but see if
you enjoy this, okay? See if you think our God is good
and see if you think he reigns. See what this creates in you.
Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was he going
to do with those people? They had to be fed and feeding two or 3 million
people requires a lot of food. According to the quartermaster
general in the army, it is reported that Moses would have to have
had 1,500 tons of food each day. Do you know that to bring that
much food each day, two freight trains each a mile long would
be required? Besides, you must remember, they
were out in the desert, so they would have to have wood to use
in cooking the food. This would take 4,000 tons of
wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long, for just one
day. And just think, they were 40
years in transit. And oh yes, they would have to
have water. If they only had enough to drink,
and wash a few dishes, it would take 11 million gallons each
day. And a freight train with tank
cars 1,800 miles long just to bring the water. And then another
thing, they had to get across the Red Sea at night. Now, if
they went on a narrow path, double file, The line would be 800 miles
long and would require 35 days and nights to get through. So there had to be a space in
the Red Sea three miles wide so that they could walk 5,000
abreast to get over in one night. But then there is another problem.
Each time they camped at the end of the day, a campground
two thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island was required
for a total of 750 square miles long. Think of it, this space
just for nightly camping. Do you think Moses figured all
this out before he left Egypt? I think not. Moses believed God. God took care of these things
for him. Now, do you think God has any
problem taking care of all your needs? Does that not make you
thankful? Does that not cause us to see
the Lord is good and the Lord is able? The Lord is sovereign. He has been good to us. He's
been merciful to us. He has done right with us. He
has chosen us. And He has and He will sovereignly
reign over us and provide for us. And because of that, we're
thankful. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for
He's good, because His mercy endureth forever. All right,
let's stand together.