Open your Bibles, if you would,
to 1 Thessalonians 5. We'll read one verse, which is
verse 18. In 1 Thessalonians 5, the name
of the message is give thanks. In 1 Thessalonians 5.18, the
scripture says this, in everything give thanks, for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. You know, we who are the
people of God, we have great cause to thank God for as many
blessings which he's bestowed upon us in Christ and through
Christ. And we have many causes, many reasons to give thanks to
our great God today and tomorrow and however many days he gives
us upon this earth. And we know that in glory we'll
be giving him thanks for eternity for his great work of redemption,
which he's done for his people. Today we're gonna look at three
reasons for the redeemed of the Lord to give thanks to our great
God. And we who are the born-again, blood-washed believers who trust
in Christ, by faith are content with Christ and with his wise
and good providence that occurs in our lives. We don't always
understand what's happening in our lives, but we're content
and we rest in the fact that our God is absolutely sovereign.
And when we're content, we tend to be thankful. We tend to be
thankful in all things and for all things, knowing that all
things are of God. Paul wrote this to the Philippian
believers in chapter four, verses six to seven. He said, be careful
for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the
peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Let's read our text again. It
says, in everything, 1 Thessalonians 5, 18, in everything give thanks
for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you. Beloved
of God, we should rejoice and give thanks. We give thanks whether
we're in prosperity or whether we're in adversity. No matter
what the situation we find ourselves in, we should give thanks. and let us pray always, living
in an attitude of prayer, even when we have no particular need
or request. Now, for the believer, we always
have needs, spiritual needs, don't we? We struggle against
sin all the time. But I'm talking about a pressing
need in our life. Even when we don't have a pressing
need in our lives, let us pray to our great God and let us praise
Him with thanksgiving for the great things He's done for us.
Remember what the Lord said to the gathering demoniac? He said,
go and tell the people the great things that God has done for
you. And those great things that God has done for us, redemption,
election, justification before God, sanctification in Christ,
they will cause us to be thankful when we think about them and
when we talk about them. And think of this too, the natural
man, the natural man is not always thankful, just like we're not
always thankful. But the natural man sees no value
in Christ, no value in eternal redemption, no need for forgiveness
of sins because they don't believe they're sinners. And think upon
this, the opposite of thanksgiving is to be ungrateful, ungrateful. And for the believer, salvation
in Christ and the righteousness of Christ is priceless. It's
priceless for us. And we who are the redeemed of
the Lord marvel that God has saved us, that he saved us by
his grace, that he saved us, that the Lord Jesus Christ, whose
God in the flesh became a man, God in the flesh became a man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he saved us from our sins. That's
absolutely incredible. So ask yourself this, beloved
God, how can I complain when I'm an heir of God and a joint
heir with Christ? Oh, the flesh, the flesh, the
flesh. I'm going to let us give us three reasons for constant
thanksgiving to God. If God will enable us to ever
to think upon these things, we're never lack for reasons to give
him thanks, no matter what our outward circumstances may be.
The first reason for the redeemed Lord to be thankful is this,
electing love, electing love. In 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 and
14, listen to this. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning, when's the beginning? In eternity.
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. Where unto he called you by our
gospel, that's the gospel of salvation through Christ alone,
by his perfect sin atoning work alone, to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So Let us give thanks to God
for his electing love. If you're a believer, a child
of God by faith in Christ, it's because God loved you from eternity
with an everlasting love and that he chose you as the object
of his grace and determined to save you before the world began. And then he separated us Right? By the Holy Spirit's regenerating
power from the rest of mankind. And he did all this in his sovereign
predestination. Our faith in Christ is not a
result of our free will. It's a result of God's sovereign
will. It's a result of his sovereign
will. God did not choose us because he knew we would choose Christ
because none of us would ever seek him. None of us would ever
choose Christ in our natural state. Because the scripture
declares, before you get mad at the preacher, the scripture
declares, there's none that seeks after God. That's none. I did not seek after God before
he saved me, did you? No, God sought us. In the pictures in Luke chapter
15 of the lost sheep, the lost sheep just looking around, he
lost in the wilderness. And the shepherd comes and finds
him. That's what he's done for every one of his born-again,
blood-washed people, because we're his elect, because he redeemed
us at Calvary's cross. Oh my, there's none that seeks
after God. And Christ is God incarnated
in the flesh, so that means there's none by nature By birth, nature,
and choice, who seeks after Christ? Because he's God. My, oh, my. But he comes and finds us, right?
Now, when we're made willing, when we're made willing, we choose
Christ, don't we? But we only choose Christ because
God chose us in Christ before time began and caused us to come
to Christ. Oh my, in the time of his great
love, listen to this, Psalm 65 verse 4, blessed is the man whom
thou choosest. Blessed is the man or woman who
God chooses, and listen to this, and causes to approach unto thee,
that he may dwell in thy courts, and we shall be satisfied with
the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Oh, we're
so thankful that God chose us, we're so thankful that God saved
us, aren't we beloved? We who are the redeemed of the
Lord, because we know we never would have chosen him. So praise
God. Let us give thanks for God's
electing love. The second reason for the redeemed
to be thankful, the redeemed to be thankful, is the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. Let all the redeemed, all the
ones redeemed by Christ's precious blood give thanks to God for
the unspeakable gift of his sovereign love, which is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul wrote this. In 2 Corinthians
9 15 he said, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
It means words cannot describe who Christ is. Words cannot even
come close to describing Christ. He's God in the flesh. Oh how
our hearts love him. Oh how the redeemed of the Lord
love him. Only because he first loved us. Only because we're
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And God the Father, do
you know he gave his son before the worlds were in a covenant
of grace? He gave us to his son. Oh my. And he sent his son, he gave
his son to come to this world in incarnation to become a man,
to live as our representative. Oh, and the father gave his son
to die as our substitute under the sentence of his own justice. And the God of all grace gave
us His Son to live and reign within us in regeneration. So
having given us His dear Son, our Heavenly Father has given
us all things in His Son, because all spiritual blessings are in
Christ. There's no redemption outside
of Christ, there's no justification outside of Christ, there's no
sanctification outside of Christ, there's no salvation outside
of Christ. It's all wrapped up in Him. Oh, therefore, truly
for the believer, the believer on Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the gift of God's love, which is unspeakable. Oh my, the last
reason, the third reason for the redeemed to be thankful is
divine providence. divine providence, let all who
know him give thanks to God for his wise, sovereign, and good
providence. Our text says, in everything
give thanks. Here's a wonderful reason, because
everything comes from God for your eternal good and your spiritual
good. Isn't that wonderful? Romans
8, 28 says, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. In everything give thanks. Our text says, because
whatever it is that you now experience, this is the will of God in Christ
concerning you and concerning me. Oh, my. Whatever we experience, our Father
sends it. Therefore, it is good. So let
we who are the redeemed in everything give thanks. Oh, may God give
us grace to be thankful to Christ. to God for his unspeakable gift,
which is the Lord Jesus Christ, and for his great salvation wrought
out by him and planned and purposed by our great God. And may we
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ give thanks to God for
his electing love, his redeeming blood, his regenerating power,
his justifying grace, his forgiving mercy, and his covenant faithfulness,
beloved. Oh, we have so much to be thankful
for as God's people. purchased by the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, regenerated by God the Holy Spirit, born
again. Oh my, let us give thanks to
God and acknowledge to our families and friends that we are what
we are by the grace of God. Because if we are saved, it is
God who saved us, beloved. Let us give thanks to God because
if we are righteous, he made us righteous. And if we are sanctified,
it is he who has sanctified us. And if we preserve in the faith,
it is because we are kept by his almighty power. Thanks be
to God for his mercy, grace, showing the sinners in and through
Christ Jesus alone. Amen and amen.