We'll turn with me this morning
over to Psalms. Turn with me to Psalms 140, if
you would. This Thursday, our country will
be celebrating Thanksgiving. Of course, we know all the back
story of why our country celebrates Thanksgiving, but for the children
of grace, Thanksgiving is something different. Now, we can be thankful
for some of those things, but Thanksgiving is something completely
different to the child of grace. Matter of fact, the child of
grace, Thanksgiving is an integral part of their redeemed and quickened
life, to be honest with you. When I think about thankfulness,
thanksgiving, thanks, giving thanks, as it pertains to the
child of grace, you really look at that and you say, You know,
what's so important about being thankful or about Thanksgiving?
A lot of times, you know, we rush into things and we forget
to say thank you, you know. I know that that's the case probably
with everybody. I know it is with me. Forgetting
to say thank you if somebody's done something for you or helped
you or been kind to you or, you know, things a lot of times at
work. You know, often times forget to say thank you to a customer
for being such a good customer or something like that. And we
forget to give thanks. I was thinking about Thanksgiving
and this week and how it ties to our relationship with God.
Why is Thanksgiving so prevalent? Why is giving thanks so prevalent? Whenever we look at the New Testament,
we see almost every epistle, no matter who wrote it, begins
with thanksgiving, a giving of thanks. We see throughout all
the Old Testament, there were many feasts and festivals that
God had ordained for the people for them to give thanks. And
to remember, the book of Psalms is full of thanksgiving to God. And so why is thanksgiving so
important to us as Christians? Well, I think one of the main
reasons why Thanksgiving is so important is because whenever
a person is born again and they have the Spirit of God living
in them and they've been given new life, and we've talked about
this here before, that when someone is quickened of God and given
a new birth and they become born again, It isn't a life that we
strive to accomplish by reading some things in the scriptures,
and now we set out to try to do these things. And we can check
them off our checklist, okay, well now I'm a patient person,
now I'm a long-suffering person, now I'm a loving person, now
I'm a generous person, you know, all this kind of stuff. The Christian
life is exactly that. It is life that is foreign to
us, and it's given to us in the new birth. The Bible calls it
a new creation, okay? It isn't something that was there
before and now God has lit the fire again and it's come back
to life, okay? We never had spiritual life. Adam never had spiritual life. Adam was created of the dust,
he was created of the earth earthy, a natural man, devoid of the
spirit of God and the ability to keep the law of God and to
do the things that God had commanded him to do, namely, don't eat
of this tree. And that was evident in the fact
that he ate from the tree, right? It showed that Adam had a nature
that could not do the things that God had commanded him to
do. And Adam's sin and transgressions and nature is passed on to all
of his posterity. Everyone born of Adam is born
into this world just like Adam was created, natural with no
ability to do spiritual things. However, when a person is born
again, that doesn't mean that they are born back again the
way that they was. To be born again is to be born
a second time. It's a second birth. Jesus said
you must be born again, not in a physical sense, like we were
in Adam. but in a spiritual sense. See,
at first we're born natural, but in the second birth we're
born spiritual. And that spiritual life, Corinthians
tells us, that spiritual life is something that we cannot tap
into, we cannot fathom, we cannot operate, we cannot work or use.
We cannot do that in our natural self. The natural man receives
not the things of the spirit of God for the foolishness to
him. Neither can he because they are
spiritually discerned. So even spiritual things we can't
understand unless God. brings the new birth and gives
that to us. So the person has to be born again before they
ever can believe the gospel, receive the gospel, trust in
Christ. They have to be born again first. And all of religion
has that backwards. Christianity has that backwards.
They say a man has to believe or come to Christ first and then
he'll be born again. and God will give him new life
or will give him life, it's completely the opposite. The Bible is very
clear that it is completely the opposite. One must be born again
to ever understand the gospel. Well, one must also be born again
to truly be thankful. Now, we can be thankful in selfish
ways, but the thanksgiving that comes in the new birth that we
receive is a thanksgiving that is closely knit and tied to understanding
our dependence upon God. The reason that we are thankful
as children of grace isn't, hey, I'm thankful because, you know,
hey, I got all these goodies. No, we are thankful because we
recognize our utter inability God's total ability, we recognize
our moment-by-moment, second-by-second dependence upon God. That everything
that we have, everything that we do, everything that we are,
everything that we experience, everything that we will be, is
all tied to depending on whatever that sovereign God has declared
from eternity. For me, I'm dependent upon that
at each moment. And so my dependency is evidence
in my thanksgiving. You will probably find, and I
may be wrong in this, but think about it, observe it, check it
out, see whether or not these things be true, but you find
a person that isn't thankful, you find a person that's not
very dependent upon God. But you find a person that finds
their dependency upon God, you will find that that person is
a thankful person. And the reason I say that is
because a person who knows that their righteousness comes from
God alone has been given a thankful heart. If you look with me in
Psalms 140, we'll see here. a declaration of scripture. This
isn't something that we strive to be. This isn't something that
we work to be. This isn't something that we
can go out and buy that stupid 10 steps to Christian maturity
book, okay? This is something that God and
God alone can do and does do in the heart of each and every
child of grace. Look at verse 13. Surely the
righteous shall give thanks unto thy name. Now, let's just stop there. There's
more to come, but let's just stop there. Surely the righteous
shall give thanks unto thy name. Now, let's just start with that
first word, surely. Okay, we're not talking about
the woman, surely. Okay. Surely. meaning this there's no way that this
is not happening okay no way that this is not happening surely
most assuredly okay you could substitute that most assuredly
know this for a fact is what the scripture is saying here
know this for a fact the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name
So the scripture here is telling us that one of the characteristics
most assuredly of a child of grace is a person who is thankful. And gives thanks. Not just to
everyday ordinary things, but specifically gives thanks to
God. Now we're living in a day and
an age where, especially in most churches, we see the preacher
getting all the thanks, the singer's getting all the thanks, the piano
player's getting all the thanks, the decorator of the church getting
all the thanks, the, you know, whatever, you know, is going
on, the caretaker, the lawn cutter, everybody is getting thanks,
but there doesn't seem to be a lot of thanksgiving to God
anymore. There seems to be a lot of pumping
up of self and our institution here on this block, but there
doesn't seem to be a lot of giving thanks unto God. It says, surely
the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name. Now, who are the
righteous? Are these the ones who every
day are making sure that they're keeping the Ten Commandments?
Are they the ones who are everyday obeying to the best of their
ability? Is that who the righteous is? See, the righteous that he's
talking about here, and that all actually, all scripture talks
about outside of Jesus Christ, okay, he's the righteous one.
But whenever the word righteous is talked about to a human, Whenever it talks about righteous,
it is never talking about your practical application of righteousness. It's not talking about your practical
obeying. Whenever you are called righteous
in scripture, you're called righteousness in a positional way. Because
the Bible is very clear, there is none righteous, no not one. So you can keep all those Ten
Commandments all you want, but by the deeds of the law, no flesh
shall be justified. You can keep those Ten Commandments
all day long, and there is always going to be mixed in with that
the deeds of the flesh, the works of the flesh, and the works of
the flesh profit nothing. Now just a side note, that even
there tells you that you can't put being born again after belief
because if you do anything before you're born again, it's at the
end of the flesh. So any believing of whatever you might believe
before being born again is a work of the flesh and is not pleasing
unto God. It is not faith. It is not belief. It is human
activity. but yet once a person is born
again, then they are given the faith of Christ. And that faith
reaches out and believes the true gospel. It believes what
Christ has done. It doesn't look to what they
do. It doesn't look and say, well, yeah, I can be saved as
long as I believe. Or yeah, I can be saved as long
as I decide to accept Jesus into my heart. That's not what the
Bible says. So the righteous is the one who
has been made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. That's
one of the reasons why we believe in particular redemption here,
why we believe that Jesus' atonement was efficacious, was effectual. It actually solidified, it actually
brought, bought, and applied something to every one of his
elect, and that is the fact that they are made righteous by his
blood. They aren't made righteous by
their choosing Him. They're not made righteous by
their deciding on Him, okay? All of us have probably sung
that song before, I've decided to follow Jesus, that's a bunch
of malarkey. Jesus decided to cause me to follow Him. Jesus
decided that I would come in the, your people shall be made
willing in the day of thy power, right? That's what we sing. The righteous are those who have
been made righteous, and that was purchased by blood, and it
was given by blood, and it was applied by blood. Jesus purchased
it. He gave it to the Father. The
Father received that offering of blood in substitution for
these people. These people, in turn, were declared
righteous because of Jesus and His work, not because someone
chose Him or believed on Him. And so they're righteous, not
because of any work that they have done in themselves, but
they are righteous because of the work Jesus did. And that
work isn't a supposed work. It isn't something that is out
there that's for the offering, okay? It isn't out there for
the taking if you just will. No, that work was applied irregardless
of anything that we do. and why we were yet sinners.
Christ died for us. That death was applied to us
while we were yet sinners. That death was accounted as our
righteousness while we were yet sinners. It was imputed unto
us before the foundation of the world, before we ever even fell
in Adam. That righteousness was laid to our account. And though
even we came in through Adam and we sinned and we transgressed
and we have the nature of Adam, yet God did not impute those
sins to us, but had reconciled us to himself by what? are choosing? No, by the blood
of Christ. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. What world? Well, the world of
those to whom he redeemed, the world of those who he had elected
before the foundation of the world and set his love upon and
gave to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ, the faithful son purchased
their salvation. That's why the angels declared,
you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people,
not might. There's not one person that's
gonna be in hell that blood was shed for. Otherwise Jesus was
not to save. So it says here, surely the righteous. So who are the righteous? The
ones for whom Christ died. Not because they've worked to
be righteous, Okay, we get confused on this sometimes, especially
in the Old Testament when we talk about upright, the word
upright, Adam was made upright, Noah was an upright man, Noah
was a righteous man, all these things, Job was righteous and
upright. We think that God has declared
them to be righteous because they were obedient. because they
were law keepers. That's not why they were made
righteous or called righteous. Whenever Noah was called, he
said, he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It wasn't because
God looked down and said, oh, Noah, you're doing so well in
your walk with me. I'm gonna show grace to you.
No, it wasn't that. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. That grace came when Noah was worthless. and
a sinner, and God gave him grace. Noah found that grace in God's
eyes. God didn't have to give it to
Noah, just like he didn't give it to everyone else that he destroyed,
but he gave it to Noah. And so the righteous are those
who have been purchased by blood, those whom have been united with
Christ Jesus, those who have the imputed righteousness of
Jesus Christ. So if that's you today, if that's
you, surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name. Now,
here's the word that we all like, shall. There's a book out here on the
table that Brother Larry brought in. We've actually had this book
out here before in another printing. But Brother Larry brought it.
Another brother is printing this thing out. And it's talking about
being a hard-shell Baptist. We're considered to be hard-shell
Baptists. People don't really realize where
that word comes from. That word hard shell actually
come from the old Baptist being called hard shalls because they
believed in the shalls of scripture. When Jesus was said, he shall
save his people from their sin, they took the Bible's word for
that. It wasn't a maybe so. Okay, whenever Jesus said, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and all those who
come to me I will in no wise cast out, we believe that that
shall is what it means. They're gonna come. It isn't
a maybe so. All, every one, last one, no
one to be lost shall come to me, that the Father has given
me. So that's where that word hard shall comes. So whenever
scripture here declares, surely the righteous shall give thanks,
I believe that that's a statement of fact. This is the character,
the attitude, this is the attribute, if you would, of those who are
born again. They are people who give thanks.
Surely the righteous shall give thanks. What are we giving thanks
to? Unto thy name. Now we've studied this out before
in times past. Whenever we talk about thy name,
unto thy name, we know that the name of God is the name of God. is basically revealing all that
God is. God has many names. Matter of
fact, in scripture, you can go through and see many names that
God gives of himself, that he tells us is his name. And whenever
you look and see each one of those words, Jehovah, Shammah,
and all those things, Those names have meanings because they are
attached to God's character, God's attributes. They are names
that are given to bring out a certain attribute of God, okay? But whenever God give Noah his
proper name, he said, I am that I am. And that word I am that
I am encompassed everything, whether God was almighty, whether
God was merciful, whether God was unchanging, whether God was
patient, kind, love, whatever God was, I am encapsulates all
that. But not only does it encapsulate
all the attributes of God whenever you say I am, it also shows forth
God's sovereignty. I am that I am. I'm not what
you make me to be. I'm not what someone created
me to be. I'm not what I'm persuaded to
be. No, I am that I am. That speaks loudly of God's sovereignty. Screens God's sovereignty. Nobody
is gonna affect me is going to come from the outside and have
any persuasion to make me something other than what I am. And what
I am determines everything. Nothing determines what I do,
and what I do determines everything. I am that I am. See, we kind
of let those words roll off our lips, but it's so full of theological
meaning, so full of redemptive meaning, so full of sovereignty. Matter of fact, so full of sovereignty
that God, whenever He revealed that name, I am that I am, He
told Moses, He said, And this is the memorial that I want you
to keep for all generations unto me. He wants to be known not
as love, not as holy, not as this or that. He wants to be
known as sovereign. I am that I am. I will be who
I will be. I will do what I will do. And
so when we speak of the name of God, we're not only speaking
of all of his characteristics, but we're speaking of his authority. Whenever Jesus said, go in my
name to the church, he's meaning go in my authority. I have all
authority given to me in heaven and on earth. And because I have authority,
I'm sending you. I'm proclaiming you and you're
going. And so the name has to do with
his authority. It has to do with all that he
is and his characteristics. And so whenever we as the people
of God give thanks to God, surely the righteous shall give thanks
unto thy name. So are we thankful? for God's
sovereignty. A lot of people like to balk
at that, you know. They don't like God's sovereignty.
They like their independence. We like our free will. We just
want to do what we want to do and be able to do, go where we
want to go, choose our own destiny. You know, most of the time we
don't think about it because we live an everyday life, you know. We
got up, came down here to the meeting house. My plans is after
everything's done today at some point I'm gonna pack up a bag
and I'm gonna head to Little Rock tonight and I've got a couple
machines to fix tomorrow and then hopefully the rest of the
week I'm not gonna do anything. That's kinda my will, that's
what I wanna do. And that's my plan. It wasn't my plan to leave
today or to go tomorrow. That got changed. See, my will
only goes so far as God's decree. And so, to think that I can't
even control the everyday things around me, what makes me think
that I can control my destiny? Something that I can't see. Something
that I'm not even worthy to determine, something that I'm not worthy
to purchase myself, but yet I think that my decision trumps God's
sovereignty. And no, my friends, it's not
God in His sovereignty has given us. Because soon as God in His
sovereignty allows you, then God has divested Himself of His
sovereignty. And God says, I will not share
my glory with any man. And we just read that God's glory
is about His name. God's glory is about His sovereignty. God's glory is about Him being
the one who not only calls the shots day by day, but has determined
everything that is ever going to happen and has happened and
will happen in all of humanity and in all of creation. We set
on our front porches and all the wind started coming in. As
a matter of fact, it was last Sunday after we left here, my
kids went out and raked the front yard. Of course, you guys have
seen our house. We've got a lot of trees around
our house. They raked all the leaves in the front yard. Main
reason is we knew granny was coming and we've got some, we've
got some concrete in the driveway that's not level and then coming
up our steps has got some bad spots so she don't stumble and
fall. So we, kids raked all the leaves. I mean, there wasn't a leaf in
the grass. You can't see the grass today. All the leaves are
blown down. Well, anyway, we was watching
all these leaves blowing out of the trees when the winds come
in a couple of days ago, and it was like rain. You could just
see the leaves in the front of the window of the house falling
down. Every one of those leaves fell
at the exact pinpoint second that God decreed from all eternity.
And every one of them, whenever they fell from that tree at that
exact point of time, they flip-flopped the exact amount of times and
in the exact amount of ways that God determined that they would
flop. And when they landed, they landed in the exact spot, in
the exact position, next to the exact leaf that God had determined.
You say, well, that's crazy, Mike. God ain't that detailed
about that. You know, he said that every
hair on your head was numbered. that every bird he feeds, he
knows how many grains of sand is on the seashore. He knows
how many stars are in the sky and has named them. So you don't
think God is detailed? You remember when we went back
and talked about sovereignty and the natural things and God's
providence and the natural things, and we talked about how the clouds,
God controls all the clouds and controls the rain, every drop
of rain that falls, every one of those things. And then we
sometimes, like Job, want to jump up in God's face and say,
if you'll just hear me, you'll understand my case. And God said,
where were you? when I laid the foundations of
the world. And at the end of all that, Job knew, he said,
I have spoken in ignorance. And brethren, that's what's happened
in a lot of places around this country and around the world,
is there are preachers and professing Christians who speak in ignorance
when they speak that we have been given the choice to determine
our destiny. They speak in ignorance. Some
of them are good-hearted people, but they speak in ignorance.
Some of them are deceived, self-deceived. Some of them are providentially
deceived people. But deceived nonetheless, they
are deceived. Because God is the one whose
name is gonna be given thanks to. See, at the end of the day,
when we come before the Lord, if everything was left up to
you to have faith in Christ, to choose Christ, to come to
Christ, to walk the aisle, to come down to the altar, to sing
a few hymns, to go through a baptistry, to join a membership of a church,
to do, you know, hopscotch out on the church parking lot, kiss
the ring, bow to Mary, cross your heart hope to die stick
a needle in your eye whatever it is that man has made to be
the entrance for salvation the bible says there is salvation
found in no other name except christ and he has been given
power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as has
been given to him now that's what scripture says And so we
are deceived when we think that salvation or anything else in
our life is by our own choosing, is by our own control. And so
at the end of the day, when we come before God and we're standing
there, how did you come? Well, I chose you. Didn't you say, choose you to
stay whom you will serve? I did say that, but that's not
what that meant. That's not what I wrote. That's
not what I intended in that passage of scripture that I left for
you to learn about. That's not what it was all about.
Whenever we stand there, do we say, well, I'm here today because
I, and you fill in the blank. If that's, the answer that's
gonna be given, then what's gonna be coming out of the lips of
God right after that, hypothetically we're talking about, I don't
know how it's all gonna play out, but using scripture. You
say, I'm here because I trusted you, I came to you, I believed
in you, I worshiped you, I loved you, I worked for you, I obeyed
you, I was baptized into you, I was this, I was that. If those
are the words that come out of your lips, the next phrase that
comes out of the lips of Almighty God will be, depart from me,
ye workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. because the only ones
who have gained entrance into God's kingdom and into God's
presence for all eternity are those who have been saved by
Christ. Those whom did not choose me,
I have sent you to people that does not want you, who does not
know about you, who did not care about you, that's who is gonna
be there. the ones who didn't, but God
saved. Now that doesn't mean that we
don't believe. That doesn't mean that we don't have faith. Brethren, our
giving thanks, genuine thanks, is tied in our dependence to
Him. But if we're not dependent upon Him for our salvation, the
most important thing in one's life, if we're not dependent
upon God alone for saving, and we have to add whatever condition
to that, then how are we ever gonna be dependent on things
that we have in our hands? As a father, if I'm not dependent
on God for my salvation, you think I'm gonna be dependent
on God about raising my family? As a worker at work, if I'm not
dependent upon God alone for my salvation, you think I'm gonna
be at work, I mean, dependent upon
Him? No, the most important thing in all of my life would be my
eternal destiny, and if I don't trust Him alone and know that
I have not participated or given anything to merit this, I've
not done anything that you've conditioned and said, if you'll
do this, I'll do that, If I am in total dependence upon Him
for that, you know what, it'll be a lot easier for me to depend
upon God to be the one who works out things between the marriage,
between children, between work, between finances, between life
in general, whatever it might be. And it will show, my dependence
will show in giving thanks. Give me thanks to him. Surely
the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name, unto thy authority,
unto thy character for who you are. We shall give thanks to
you. Why? because you've given us
a bountiful supply of everything. Brethren, it's great to be thankful
for all those things. I'm thankful that the Lord has
given me five children and a great wife and a great family. I'm
thankful that he's given us a church. I'm thankful for all those things.
That bounty is great. But am I thankful that God is
who he is? Am I thankful that God is a determining God, a decreeing
God, a sovereign God? When it comes down to saying
that God has chosen these for salvation, but it's not these,
am I okay with that? Can I give thanks to God for
being a God who does choose some vessels for honor and some vessels
for dishonor? See, that's where the dross kind
of starts coming to the top, okay? We begin to see our impurities
coming out whenever we are challenged with the aspect of, is God really
God to us? Is God who He says He is to us? If God says, I am the God who
does this, this, this, and this, Are we okay with that? If the
scripture reveals God as one who says, Jacob have I loved
and Esau have I hated, if the scripture reveals that I have
loved thee with an everlasting love, my beloved, but turns around
and says that he hates all workers of iniquity, can we give thanks
unto his name for that? And I know this is hard, something
that no one ever wants to really think about, but can I say, Lord,
if you save one of my loved ones, or if you don't, glory be your
name. See, is God just God whenever
it's convenient for us? Or have we been given a new nature
to say, those who know thy name, put their trust in thee. He says, surely the righteous
shall give thanks unto thy name. The upright shall dwell in thy
presence. Now, again, this word upright
is just, again, talking about a positional place that we have
with God, just like righteous, okay? It's talking about the
same person. The upright, and there's the
word again, shall dwell. It almost reminds me of a phrase
that Jesus used. He said, if you abide in me and
I in you, you will bear much fruit. Abiding. How much effort does it take
to abide? Nothing, right? The branch doesn't strain to
stay in the vine. In fact, it doesn't do anything. It's just there. It doesn't do
anything to produce fruit. I've used this illustration before.
You don't go out to any of these fruit trees or vegetable vines
or whatever, and you see that old vine out there, it's straining
to push out some cherries, or straining to push out an apple.
No, that fruit just all of a sudden begins to flourish out of a branch
that is alive because the root has life in it. See, abiding
isn't us striving to stay in Christ. I know that's what's
taught in a lot of Arminian circles is that we have to stay abiding. This is something that, and listen,
I've went down the rows of Christian bookstores and seen all the self-help
books on how to abide in Christ. Listen, abiding in Christ isn't
nothing that we can do on our own. It's a demeanor, it's a
attitude that is given to us in the new birth. We are given
as children of God. It all comes back to the facts
of who we are, okay? Not what we are told to try to
be, it's the facts of who we are. It is the life that is given
to us. And the life that is given to
us is a life that abides. And here the upright shall dwell
or abide in thy presence. See, that's tied to what he just
said before. We shall give thanks unto thy
name. Why? He's the one that has the authority. He's the one
that has determined all things. He's the one who is most worthy.
He is holy and righteous. He is perfect. He is good. He is love. He is pure, pure
everything. That is his attribute. And so
we give thanks unto thy name and thus, Here it is, that Thanksgiving
comes, why? Because we are abiding, because
we dwell, because we live a life, have been given a heart desire to stay there. I'm gonna stay, not looking to
the left, not looking to the right, not looking to myself,
I'm gonna stay right here looking to you. Now let me ask all you
guys, we've mentioned this before, We talk about predestination
a lot around here. We talk about election a lot
around here. We talk about sovereignty a lot around here. And to some,
that's not tasteful to them. It's not something that they
like to eat on a lot, okay? But we've talked about here how
whenever we begin to see how the scriptures have taught this
through every page, How that actually didn't make us more
concerned or more sad, but it actually brought more relief
to us. To know that, wait a minute,
it doesn't depend upon my performance? You mean I'm not, not licentious,
I'm not telling you to go out and live the way, any way you
want, that's okay. I'm just saying, if you're like me, my love isn't
like it ought to be some days. My trust in Christ, to be all
that I need isn't right every day. My obedience, it definitely
isn't what it ought to be every day. See, the fact remains is we in
the flesh still sin. We still have an inability in
the flesh to do anything Godward. And whenever that flesh rears
its head and it shows how unable we are to do the things of God
and to be spiritual people. then we're reminded over and
over and over of our failures. And listen, you can become very
despondent. You can become very depressed.
You can become very worried and anxious. You can all the time
be in dismay because you don't know, have I done enough for
Jesus? Am I doing enough for Jesus? Was that prayer that I
prayed really, really what I had on my heart? I mean, did that
really come from my heart or was I led to Jesus? See, the prayer of a person that
comes to Christ isn't one that you have to lead them in. That
Pharisee and that sinner that was there praying, that prayer
that that sinner prayed, be merciful on me, a sinner, the Pharisees
and Sadducees and all the other Adducees didn't lead that man
to Christ. Christ drew that man to himself
and revealed his inability and God's holiness and ability. And that man did all that he
knew to do is threw himself on the mercy of God, because if
God has all power, if God has all say-so, if God can save and
gives grace, then I'm a sinner and I'm in need of it, and can
you give it to me? So he didn't have to be led,
God brought him. But see, we who are children
of grace, that's where we are brought to live every day. But yet I find a lot of Christians,
quote unquote Christians out there, that think that as life
goes along that we just get better and better and better and we
have less need as we go along. We don't sin as much as, see
I don't sin nowhere as near as I used to sin. I mean, I know Larry knows all
about this coming from what he grew up or came through several
years ago in the unity movement. But, you know, even among Baptist
evangelical people, there's this notion that we have a progressive,
sanctification of getting more holy. If we read our Bible, if
we go to church, if we listen to the preaching, if we pray,
if we take the Lord's Supper, if we get baptized, if we, you
know, if we obey everything that the Lord tells us to do, then
day by day, we begin to get more holy and more holy and more holy. Jesus said, be ye holy for I
am holy, right? But that isn't telling you to
go out and try to do all this, and that you'll find the end
of that, and then I'll count it right, okay? Because none
of us are going to be holy. See, when we say holy and we
say righteous, we basically mean the same thing. And there is
none righteous. So what's it mean here? What
does it mean here to stay in the presence of God? Because
whenever I sin, sometimes the last place I wanna be is in the
presence of God and I wanna run and hide. I wanna get away. I don't wanna think about God. And I think if you're honest
with yourself, you've probably been in that situation. You know
whenever you're rebellious in the heart and you just don't
feel, you don't wanna come to church. You don't want to talk
to anybody from church. You don't want to do nothing.
You want to just run and hide from God. But you find that it don't take
long and something is drawing you back, drawing you back, drawing
you back into his presence. Something is bringing you back
to his presence. The upright shall dwell in thy
presence. Why? Because we know that that's
the only place that we can find consolation. We know that that's
the only place that we can find comfort. That's because we know
that that's the only place where there's forgiveness. There's
redemption. There's acceptance and reconciliation
is in the presence of God. See, if I leave and say, well,
I'm just going to have to turn my back on all that and go out
and now strive hard to do it myself, Again, despondency, fatigue, fatigue, I'm worn out
for Jesus. Now, whenever we sit at the feet
of Jesus and we dwell in his presence, we're reminded over
and over again now, whether this is true or not, this is for a
conversation later, whenever we see God, Whenever we see Christ
on the throne, when everything's all over, if his hands are still
gonna have the nail prints, if his side's still gonna be riven,
all these things, you know, I don't know, to be honest with you.
If there's scripture there, show me the scripture and I'll be
glad to believe it. I don't know, I don't know, and it may be.
Makes for good songs, I know, but I don't know. But if it is
true, We're gonna be sitting at His
feet, seeing that. But I did know one thing, He
will be known as the Lamb, worthy as the Lamb. There will be something
about His work of redemption as the sacrifice for us that
will be reminding us for all eternity who He is and what He
did. Now again, I'm trying to make
full circle here where I started off at. If we pray, thy will
be done on earth as it is in heaven. If it's in heaven that
we not only extol him for being the creator, for being the redeemer,
and for being sovereign, then why not here find ourselves coming
into his presence and gazing upon the fact that he is creator,
that he is redeemer, and that he is sovereign, and let that
be our consolation. And in doing so, our heart will
naturally, or should I say supernaturally, abound in Thanksgiving. See,
Thanksgiving comes from the heart, and the heart is motivated or
moved by, as we've talked about the last few weeks, at what it
worships. Do we worship the Creator, Redeemer,
and Sovereign, or do we worship this lowly little Jesus who's
knocking on the door? Your heart, can I please come
in? Or the one who comes in and says, Come unto me all you who
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And all
those who I say come to, they shall come, because all that
have been given to me shall come to me." Now that's the Jesus
that has been given power and authority. That's who I want
to sit on. Now, let me kind of make this
in a little bit better illustration. For me to be thankful, I have
to find in something or someone that drives me to say, apart
from what you've done, I wouldn't have what I have. That's the
basis of thankfulness. So if I go to a God who I have
commanded him, I have pushed him into a corner, I have kept
the covenant and so he is bound to keep his end. If I come to
a God who there are terms between us and that he cannot act unless
I do this or he cannot perform because he has set a boundary
upon himself that he can't do unless there is a condition.
If I come to that, how am I to be fully thankful to God? And why would I dwell in the
presence of one who is at the beck and call or command or restrictions
of his creation? See, not only will I not want
to dwell in his presence because I have an arrogant, proudful
heart who says like, Job, hey, I can do this on my own. If he'll just hear my case, he'll
understand. And if I'd be in that position, why
would I be thankful, as it says here, unto his name? Because, you know, I mean, I
did have part in this, by the way. I accepted you if it's about
salvation. I'm the one that worked hard
at work, that's why I have a job. I'm the one who raised this family,
that's why my kids are the way that they are. I'm the one who built this church
because I'm a preacher that goes out and passes out chaps. I'm the one who brought all these
people to the Lord because I was a great evangelist. You see how it's easy to not
be thankful and not dwell in his presence when we don't recognize
him as the creator and the sovereign who redeemed us? Surely the righteous shall give
thanks unto thy name, the upright shall dwell in thy presence. I pray that we are found there
today. found giving thanks unto God
for all that he's done, for all that he is, and for all that
he will be doing forever and ever. While he declared it long ago,
His providence is still carrying it out today. And we have a whole
eternity ahead of us of things that God has determined and decreed
that we have yet to experience. And so there are a lot of things
ahead of us to give thanks and to understand that He is controlling
all things. And so dwelling in His presence
is the best place to be to experience those things. and good things. Anybody got any comments or anything
that you'd like to mention? I'd like to read this because
it kind of reinforces what you said. Let the words of my mouth
and the meditations of my heart be focused on thee. For I know
in myself there's nothing good and met. So with my words and
my thoughts, may I ever thankful be and express to the world what
you mean to me. For I had no hope before your
Holy Spirit breathed your breath of life into this dead man and
made me free. Oh, what suffering you went through
when you died upon the cross. Separated from your father so
my soul wouldn't suffer loss. Thanksgiving and praise I must
forever proclaim. and honor and worship your majestic
holy name. Why you showed mercy and grace
to the likes of me is a wonder in itself, quite a mystery. An
undeserving wretch, worthy of only hell, but with unbounding
love for which I cannot tell, gave your son for me on the rugged
tree to assure eternal life for a sinner like me. Thank you for
paying the ultimate sacrifice and giving this sinner everlasting
life. We're gonna talk a little bit
more about Thanksgiving in the next few weeks to come And I
meant to get to a few more verses than I did today, but the intro
kind of I became the outro, so we'll pick this up Lord willing
next Lord's Day, so let's bow and have a word of prayer. Father,
again we thank you so much for Jesus Christ. We thank you for
this time that we have together to worship you and to sing praises
unto your name, to fellowship with your people. to hear the
Word of God proclaiming the everlasting kingship of Christ and His work
and His substitutionary death for us. And Lord, we are grateful
for all that have been included in that number, for whom He died. And Lord, we're also Thankful
for the songs and the words of encouragement and the hope that
we see in the scriptures for that soon coming day, whenever
you shall return to receive us to yourself. in person. And Lord, we do long for those
days. Our bodies grow weak and our minds fail and life becomes
a struggle and this world, Father, has become so evil and so corrupt
here in our country and just so much turmoil. But we know
that none of these things are happening apart from your providence,
apart from your sovereign work and decree. Father, we know that
you are in control of all things and that these things are only
the things that are taking place so that your people might see
your work and to know who you are and to bring judgment upon
the wicked. But Father, we pray with Scripture
to come quickly. Lord, we long to be with you.
We long to be in front of you, worshiping you for eternity.
We long to be rid of this sinful, wretched body that we have that
is cursed. And Lord, we just look forward
to the day that we receive that perfect body that will house
that new creation that you've given to us by grace. Lord, I
thank you for these brothers and sisters, and I thank you
for the testimony of Christ in each one of them. Lord, I thank
you for the way that you have brought us together. and continue
to teach us and show us your grace and your mercy, to reveal
your son in the word, to correct us when we're wrong, to reprove
us and rebuke us and correct us in the things that we understand
and know, and then to, each and every day, to grow us in the
grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. And Father, Lord, I pray
now that you just might be with us as we gather around the table
to fellowship one with another. I thank you for the food that
we're about to eat. Lord, we pray that you'd bless
it to the nourishment of our bodies. We thank you for these
ladies. who've prepared these things and the service and the
work that they do to provide for us each and every week as
we meet together for lunch. Lord, we love them and we thank
you for sending them to us. And Lord, we just ask that you'll
be with us now and that you might be honored and glorified even
in our time of fellowship and that you might be with us as
we leave this place today. That everything we do and say
might bring honor and glory to you and that we might be a testimony
of Jesus Christ and his wonderful grace. For it's in his name that
we pray, amen.