All right, let's begin our service,
opening our Bibles to First Timothy, chapter four. First Timothy,
fourth chapter. Now the spirit speaketh expressly
that in the latter time, some should depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking
lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot
iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats,
which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of
them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of
God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with
thanksgiving, but sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be
a good minister of Jesus Christ. nourished up in the words of
faith and of good doctrine, where unto thou hast attained, but
refuse profane and old wise fables and exercise thyself rather under
godliness for bodily exercise profits little, but godliness
is profitable and all things having promise of the life that
now is and of that which is to come. We'll end our reading there. Let's turn now to page 526. Thanks, O God, for boundless
mercy from Thy gracious throne above. Thanks for every need
provided from the fullness of Thy love. Thanks for daily toil
and labor, And for rest when shadows fall. Thanks for love of friend and
neighbor, And thy goodness unto all. Thanks for thorns as well
as roses. Thanks for weakness and for health. Thanks for clouds as well as
sunshine. Thanks for poverty and wealth. Thanks for pain as well as pleasure. All Thou sendest day by day,
And Thy Word, our dearest treasure, Shedding light upon our way. Thanks, O God, for home and fireside,
Where we share our daily bread. Thanks for hours of sweet communion,
When by Thee our souls are fed. Thanks for grace in time of sorrow,
and for joy and peace in thee. Thanks for hope today, tomorrow,
and for all eternity. Thank you ladies for helping
me get those high notes. I appreciate that. Turn to 180. We don't sing this song that
often, but it's a great song, good words, and we'll do it to
the tune Doxology 2. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Lord God, our thanks to
Thee For those who built this house
of praise Who long ago together stood To form a Christian brotherhood. Here have our children known
thy care, And raised their thoughts to thee in prayer. Here have we shared the wine,
the bread, Here have our living souls been fed. Still through the years be thou
our guide, Keep us from enmity and pride, Still help us choose
the right path. A humble and a thankful heart. Be this our common enterprise,
That truth be preached and prayer arise, That each may seek the
other's good. And live and love as Jesus would. Create in us the work, the deed,
That ours may be a living creed. ? And cause thy grace in us to
dwell ? ? Abide with us, Emmanuel ? Let's turn now to Psalm 100. Psalm 100. Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord, all ye lands, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord,
he is God. It is he that has made us and
not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep
of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving
and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless
his name for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and
his truth endureth to all generations. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our great God, Our holy, sovereign,
merciful and gracious Heavenly Father, we do come into Your
courts with thanksgiving. How we thank You that You have
made us the sheep of Your pasture. That You bought us, that You
elected a people, that You bought them with the blood of Your Son,
You sought them, You claimed them, that You made sinful men
and women such as we are to be the sheep of your pasture, to
belong to the living God. Father, we're thankful. If you
wouldn't give us one more blessing in this life, you've blessed
us beyond measure. You've given us enough to not
run out of material to thank you for all of eternity. Father,
I pray that you would give us a grateful, thankful heart. Your children desire to be obedient
children, to thank you, to trust you, to not murmur and complain
when you send the trials and the difficulties our way that
must, needs be. Father, we thank you. And we
beg your forgiveness for the many, many times we're not as
thankful as we ought to be. And as our country pauses tomorrow
in a day of thanksgiving, Father, I pray that you'd not just make
us thankful one day a year, that you'd not just make us thankful
when you blessed us so richly out of your mighty hand, but
at all times make us a thankful, grateful people. Oh, how you
blessed us and we thank you. We thank you for another opportunity
this evening to meet together and worship you, to hear your
gospel preached, to worship around your table, remembering the sacrifice
of Christ our Savior. We thank you for the many blessings
of this life, how abundantly you've blessed us. Father, give
us the right attitude with all the things that you've given
us. Give us not just a grateful attitude, but a generous attitude
to use all the many blessings that you've given us. Selfishly,
but for the good of others. Father, we thank you for our
homes, our children, our families. And Father, we pray your mercy
be upon them, be upon our homes, upon our children. How we pray,
Father, that you'd save the lost, that you would get glory to your
name and calling out your sheep. And Father, for those who are
sick and afflicted, that need you especially, we pray for them.
We pray you would get glory to your name and healing them and
providing a way out. Father, we pray you bless those
who are traveling right now and throughout the course of this
weekend. Give them traveling mercies as they travel to and
from their families and give them a good time together. All
these things we ask and give thanks in that great name, which
is above every name, the name of Christ our Savior. God was made flesh What a wonderful
story Made flesh for you and for me Sent by the Father the
word came in mercy mercy for you and for me Sing praise, sing praise Lift
up your voices and sing Magnify Jesus, extol God our Savior. Sing praise to Jesus, our King. All of the law Jesus honored
completely, kept it for you and for me. Perfect obedience He rendered,
it fully. Fully for you and for me. Christ was made sin for his spiritual
family. Made sin for you and for me. He was our substitute there on
Mount Calvary. Dying for you and for me. Sing praise, sing praise Lift
up your voices Magnify Jesus, extol God our
Savior. Sing praise to Jesus, our King. Risen, ascended, he entered to
glory ? Entered for you and for me ? Christ is our advocate ?
He is our safety ? Safety for you and for me Soon He is coming, our Lord who
is mighty. coming for you and for me just
to be with him oh that will be glory glory for you and for Sing praise, sing praise Lift
up your voices and sing Magnify Jesus, extol God our
Savior. Sing praise to Jesus, our King. Alright, if you would, let's
begin opening our Bibles to Philippians chapter 4. Appropriately enough, I've titled
the message this evening, the day before Thanksgiving, I've
entitled the message, Thanksgiving. I will tell you that I absolutely
love the Thanksgiving holiday. And it's not just because I love
to eat turkey Dressing and all the fixings, although I do, I
will get the warning tomorrow, you better not eat that, you're
going to get worms. My eyes started glazing over about three or four
days ago. I mean, I love it. I love it. I love that the, our
family can be together. It doesn't happen all that often,
but tomorrow my sons and daughters will all be home. We'll be around
the table, and I'll be happy if we don't have turkey, quite
honestly. I love the Thanksgiving holiday. But Thanksgiving, that's
not what I want to talk about by any stretch of the imagination.
Thanksgiving must be the most scriptural holiday we observe.
Just like Thanksgiving, I love Christmas. I mean, I love Christmas. But Christmas is not a scriptural,
spiritual holiday at all. December 25th is not the anniversary
of the Savior's birth. And as a matter of fact, the
church is never, ever instructed to celebrate the Lord's birth.
But it is a day to be thankful for. I'm thankful that the Lord
was born and that December 25th is a wonderful day. Again, be
together with family, give gifts and show your love one to another.
But it's not a scriptural holiday. Easter is considered to be a
religious holiday, but Easter Sunday is not the anniversary
of our Savior's resurrection. The date changes every year,
so it can't be the anniversary of the Savior's resurrection.
The church is instructed to celebrate the Savior's resurrection every
time the gospel is preached. In every worship service, we
celebrate the Lord's resurrection. The Lord was resurrected on Sunday,
the first day of the week. That's why we meet together on
Sunday, not Saturday, like they did in the Old Testament law.
But now Thanksgiving. And that is a scriptural holiday. The word thank in one form or
another, thanks, thanksgiving, is used 139 times in the word
of God. It has a lot to say about being
thankful. And tonight I want to look at several of those times
that that word is thanked or thanksgiving is used and see
what scripture has to say about that. What is it that scripture
tells us, God tells us, that we should be thankful for? Number
one is this, and this encompasses it all, give thanks for everything. Whatever it is you think of,
give thanks for it. Philippians chapter four, verse
four. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Let
your moderation, your kindness, your gentleness, that's what
that word means, be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, Let your request be made known unto God. This
word careful, the apostle uses here means anxious. Be careful. He doesn't say don't ever be
careful. Of course, be careful. Be careful the way you live your
life. Be careful the things that you
do and say. Be careful you don't do something
foolish. But what the apostle is telling us here is don't be
overly anxious about anything that the Lord's in control of.
Now, what's the Lord in control of? Everything. Then we should
be anxious for nothing. Now, this is what the Apostle
is telling us here. There are things you're concerned
with, things that you need, things that are on your heart. Whatever
those things are, you take them to the Lord in prayer. Whatever
it is you need, you take those things to the Lord in prayer.
And while you're making your request known to God, you be
sure to do it with thanksgiving for everything. I mean, how can
we ask God for what we need? We don't give him thanks for
everything he's given us in the past. How can we ask God for
new mercies without thanking him for all the past mercies?
Give thanks for everything. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18, the
apostle Paul says, in everything give thanks. For this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. This is God's will for his
people. Do we give thanks? for everything,
everything. What we think is good and what
we think is bad. Now, I know that there are many
things it's easy to be thankful for, and there are things that
are impossible for this flesh to be thankful for. But you know,
often, those things that we think are bad, often, later on we see,
that was the best thing for me. Later on we see, I really learned
something there. The Lord taught me something
I wouldn't have learned another way. Many times we're forced
to wait, aren't we? We call on the Lord, we get no
answer, we have to wait. Is that always bad? It's always
bad. Let's ask our brother Joseph
one day what he thought about that. All that time he spent
being sold into slavery down there in the prison house, and
in a day, he was king of the world. What about Hannah? Oh, for this child, I pray. Long
time. She's barren, wasn't she? And
the Lord gave her Samuel. What about David? David was anointed
by Samuel. I mean, the prophet Samuel was
somebody in Israel. This is God's prophet. He came
to David's house one day and anointed David as king. And he
spent years being miserable, being chased by Saul, being hated
by people, you know, And in a day, he became king of history, sat
on the throne. And I bet our brothers and our
sister there could tell us, that was good. It was good for me
to wait. The Lord taught me something
and he blessed me. The songwriter, what we just sang, do you remember
it? Thanks for thorns as well as
roses. Thanks for weakness and for health. Thanks for clouds
as well as sunshine. Thanks for poverty and wealth.
Thanks for pain as well as pleasure. All, all thou sendest day by
day. Give thanks for all things. Give
thanks for, and I'll tell you this, and we're giving thanks
for all things. We have trials come our way. And I don't know, I don't know,
I don't know that the Lord expects us to be thankful for the pain. Well, in that time, how can I
be thankful for all things? Well, I'll tell you what we can
be thankful for. A child of God can be thankful for. My father
sent this. My father sent this. I can be
thankful for that. Even if I can't be thankful for
the pain, I can be thankful. My father sent this. Give thanks
for all things. For the spiritual blessing, every
spiritual blessing, because they all come from God, don't they?
Give thanks for Christ our Savior. Give thanks. Whatever situation
you're in, if you're a child of God, you give thanks for salvation
in Him, for righteousness in Him, for the forgiveness of sin
in His blood, peace with God through His blood. Give thanks
for the spiritual life that God's given you. You once were dead. Give thanks that God's given
you ears to hear and eyes to see. You once were blind, weren't
you? Deaf? Give thanks that God hears
your prayers for Christ's sake. What a blessing that God Almighty
would hear our prayers. Isn't that something? Give thanks
for God's mercy, His grace, His electing grace. God would choose
me? Oh my goodness, how can I not
be thankful? Give thanks for His calling grace,
His sustaining grace, His keeping grace. Give thanks for God's
Word. Give thanks that God's given
us a place to worship. God gave us all those things,
didn't He? All how much we have to be thankful for. And for our
temporal blessings, give thanks for your family, your friends,
your home, your job, your health. Give thanks for the free country
in which we live. Give thanks for all things. Because God works all things
together for good. To them that love God, to them
are they called according to His purpose. Since that's true,
I can be thankful for all things. All right, number two. We won't
look at all these scriptures, but I do want you to look at
this one. 2 Samuel chapter 22. 2 Samuel 22. This is just what I told you
about David talking about when God made him king of Israel. He's looking back now over his
life. He's drawing close to the end.
And look what he says here. 2 Samuel 22 verse 47. The Lord liveth and blessed be
my rock and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.
It's God that avengeth me and that bringeth down the people
under me. and that bringeth me forth from mine enemies. Thou
also have lifted me up on high above them that rose up against
me. Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore, I
will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will
sing praises unto thy name. He is the tower of salvation
for his king, and show mercy to his anointed, unto David and
his seed forevermore. Therefore, I will give thanks
unto thee, O Lord. Every believer can look back
over our life like David is here at the end and see the trials
that the Lord sent our way. And then we can see how the Lord
delivered us, how the Lord comforted us in those times, how he never
did leave us nor forsake us. Now, did you notice when David
looked back over the course of his life, what is the thing he
was most thankful for, the thing he mentioned first? It's the
rock of his salvation. That God is the rock of his salvation. Yes, David was raised up to sit
upon the throne. David was delivered from Saul.
And every believer will not be like David in that sense. We're
going to sit on a throne on this earth. But every believer can
say with David, God saved me from my sin. He's the rock of
my salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ took the
sin of his people away from He took it away from them so it
can't harm them anymore. And He put it away with His precious
blood. And now that sin, that sin that
is ever before you, that sin you cannot quit, still can't
damn you. Because Christ has been condemned
for you as your substitute. If the Father condemned Christ,
He'll never condemn you. That would be unjust. Now, that
sin, you don't have a sin nature that can keep you from believing
God. You do have a sin nature, but the new nature reigns. Now
you believe God, and that old man can't stop you. That old
man can't stop you from loving God, from following Christ. God's
lifted you from the dunghill of your sin and set you among
princes at His table. Made you one of His sons and
one of His daughters. Oh, give thanks for God's salvation.
Thirdly, give thanks for God's holiness. Psalm 30 verse four
says, sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks
at the remembrance of his holiness. Holiness. Now holiness is the
opposite of you and me. All we are is sin, but God is
holy, the opposite of us. And scripture speaks about God's
holiness being his beauty. Now you'd think God's holiness
would be against us. It's opposed to sinful men and
women like we are. But you know, it's God's holiness
that guarantees the salvation of his people. God's holy. God cannot accept any sin. He
can't accept even a taint of sin. So he can't accept us as
we are, can he? So you know what God did? God
made his people holy. God imputes the righteousness
of Christ, his people, because Christ made them holy. So not
only can God accept his people, he must accept his people because
they're holy. Now give thanks for God's holiness.
That's the only way God can accept you. And he'll never take it
back. God punished Christ for the sin
of his people fully. And that sin debt is paid in
full. And now God will never cast out
his people because of their sin. If he did, that would be unholy,
wouldn't it? No, God's never going to be unholy.
So the salvation of God's elect is guaranteed because of God's
holiness. Give thanks. Fourthly, give thanks
for God's loving kindness and his faithfulness. Psalm 92 verse
one says, it's a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. and
sing praises unto thy name, O Most High, to show forth thy lovingkindness
and thy faithfulness, or thy lovingkindness in the morning
and thy faithfulness every night." Now, give thanks because it's
good for us. David says it's good for us to
give thanks. Giving thanks reminds us how
many things we have to be thankful for. You know, we start grumbling
and murmuring and complaining. Good thing for us to do is start
giving thanks. Pretty soon we'll be reminded how many things we
had to be thankful for. Giving thanks reminds us how
good God's been to us. It reminds us how dependent we
are upon him. It's good for us to give thanks. It's good for
us to give thanks for God's loving kindness. God's loving kindness
is his tender love. It's a tender love that he shows
to his people. Now I sure should give thanks
for God's love to me, because I know I've never done anything
to deserve it, but He loves me in Christ anyway. I should be
thankful. I am thankful that God has the capacity in His nature
to love sinners like me. I'd be thankful for that. And
give thanks for God's faithfulness. God has never, one time, been
unfaithful to His people, ever. He's kept every promise of mercy.
He's kept every promise of grace. He's been faithful to his people
and never left his people, even though we would be unfaithful
and leave God at the drop of a hat. He's never been unfaithful
to his people. He will never leave nor forsake
his people. Wherever you go, they'll never
forsake you. Give thanks. It would be one thing to go into
the valley, the dark, troubling valley of trial. It'd be one
thing like the apostles to go out into that stormy sea and
think your ship's going down when you're alone. It's another
matter altogether if the Lord's faithful and He goes with you. Give thanks. Fifthly, give thanks
for God's righteous judgments. Psalm 119, verse 62, says, at
midnight, I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy
righteous judgments. Again, that's something that
the sinful mind thinks, wait a minute, God's righteous judgments?
If God judges me righteously as I am in his flesh, I'm gonna
be damned. So give thanks for God's righteous judgments? Yes,
give thanks for God's righteous judgments. Because God in His
wisdom made it right for Him to show mercy to His people.
That's right for Him to do it. See, the Father made it right
for His Son to be put to death by Him making His Son sin for
His people. And since that sin's gone, it's
been put away by the sacrifice of Christ, now it's right for
God to be merciful to His people. It's a righteous judgment. Well,
then He's always going to be merciful to His people. He'll
never be unmerciful to them, will He? God will always be merciful
to His people because it's only right. In the book of, don't
turn here, let me turn to it quickly, Colossians chapter one. In verse 12, Paul says, giving
thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet, made us fit
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. That's
a righteous judgment that God made it right. his people to
be joint heirs with his son, to receive in inheritance everything
that Christ receives from the father. That's a righteous judgment.
Give thanks for God's righteous judgment. Then verse six or the sixth thing,
give thanks for God's mercy. Psalm 136, Mike, he knew my title
this evening and chose this to read in the study this evening.
That psalm, it may be my favorite psalm, it begins, O give thanks
unto the Lord for His good, for His mercy forever. And 26 times
in one psalm, at the end of every verse, the psalmist writes, His
mercy forever. Even somebody like me gets the
hint after 26 times. God's mercy's forever. O give
thanks for God's mercy. And we should be thankful. We
can't do anything to deserve God's mercy, can we? No. Why is God merciful to His people?
Because God's mercy forever. Because God's mercy is eternal. It doesn't have a beginning and
it doesn't have an ending. God has always seen His people
in mercy. Before God created anything.
Before man was created and Adam put in the garden. But long before
Adam ever sinned and fell, God already saw his people in mercy. He's never seen them in wrath. He's always seen them in mercy. And that's a mighty good thing.
Because you and I can't do anything to deserve God's mercy. We can't
do anything to earn salvation. We can't do anything to make
us lovable so God will love us. We can't do something to earn
God's favor. No. The only reason God would be
merciful to sinners like you and me and save us is His mercy
forever. His mercy is eternal. It doesn't
have a beginning and it doesn't have an ending. And this is something I say repeatedly
because I cannot get over this. And I hope none of us can. God
is merciful to His people. He's merciful to sinners because
it's a righteous judgment. is God not giving us what we
do deserve. God's merciful to sinners. He
doesn't give them what they deserve by their sin. Do you know why?
He's got to do something with that sin. His wrath's got to
be poured on that sin somehow. Something's got to be done with
it. God does not give his people what they deserve because he
gave Christ our substitute everything our sin deserves. God gave his
darling son everything I deserve because of my sin. So he'd be
merciful to me and justice. Give thanks for God's mercy.
Then seventh, give thanks. The salvation is of the Lord.
Jonah said, I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving.
I'll pay that which I vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. I'm
thankful that salvation is of the Lord, because if salvation
is left up to me, I'd be damned. If it was made up to me to make
a decision to accept it, I'd be damned because I have a nature
that cannot and will not come to Christ. If it was up to me
to keep it, I'd be damned. I'd fail. Salvation is of the
Lord from its beginning to its ending. And I'm thankful. Salvation
is of the Lord and God's election of a people. If God didn't choose
a people, nobody would ever choose to be saved on God's terms. God
had to choose a people to save. Salvation is of the Lord and
it's purchase. Salvation can only be bought
with the blood of God. The blood of God's Son. God's
Son became a man so he had blood to shed. Perfect, pure blood
to shed as payment for the sin of his people. That's the only
way salvation can be purchased. The blood of God. Salvation is
of the Lord in its application. Only God, the Holy Spirit, can
apply the blood of Christ to the sinner's heart. And when
He does, He gives that sinner life and faith in Christ. Like I said, if salvation was
left up to our decision, we'd go to hell and we'd never come
to Christ that we might be saved. But when God, the Holy Spirit,
applies the blood of Christ to our heart, He gives us a new
nature and we can't not come. That's why it's called irresistible
grace. When Christ reveals himself to
us, it's irresistible. We rise. I was reading earlier
today about the Lord passing by Matthew. There he sat a publican,
a chief. He's skimming off the top, cheaping
people, cooking the books, you know. There he sits, collecting
taxes. And the Lord walks by and says, Matthew, follow me.
And he kept on walking. He didn't look back to see if
Matthew was going to follow. Could Matthew not have followed? Could
Matthew have just stayed? No, he couldn't, could he? When
the master says, follow me, you'll come, you'll come. I'm thankful. Salvation is of the Lord in its
sustaining power. Only the Lord can keep his people
saved. Only the Lord can keep his people
from leaving them by holding them in his hand and no man can
pluck them out of his hand. No enemy can pluck you out of
his hand and you can't jump out. Salvation is of the Lord and
sustaining power. Aren't you thankful? Then give
thanks that Almighty God reveals Christ to the hearts of the simple. The Lord Jesus gave thanks for
that. Matthew 11 verse 25. At that
time, Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, Because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes, unto
the simple. Now, no one is smart enough to
figure out God. Nobody's smart enough to figure
out a way of salvation. And the reason for that is we're
born spiritually blind, so we can't see Christ. We can't see
the way of salvation. We're born spiritually dead,
so we cannot believe on Him. And God reveals Christ to the
hearts of the simple. The simple. The simple who have
no ability to do anything whatsoever to understand the ABCs. God makes those people to believe
on Christ and He saves them. God gives the simple, those who
can't understand anything, He gives them wisdom to understand
how it is that God saves sinners. He gives them a heart to love
it and a mind to understand it. Now I know God saves sinners
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way He can do
it. That's the only way God can save a sinner like me and still
be God, still be just. Oh, let's give thanks that God
has revealed Christ to us. We're the simple. I hold everybody
here tonight know that you are the simple. I am the simple.
If we know God, the only way we do is He's revealed Christ
to our hearts. Isn't that right? Oh, give thanks.
Then give thanks before you sit down with your family to have
a meal. Matthew 15 verse 36. He took the seven loaves and
the fishes and gave thanks. He break them and gave them to
his disciples and the disciples to the multitude. Now I know
the Lord here is performing a miracle and that is that he creates matter,
he's feeding his people. I understand the miracle. But
he also gave us an example here, something we shouldn't pass over.
Before you sit down to eat, give thanks. Jay and I got married,
and we were young, 22 years old, but from day one, we'd sit down. When she and I were first married,
was it $25 a week is that we had for groceries? And that didn't
buy, I mean, that didn't buy too much. We had a lot of frozen
banquet dinners, that little turkey round, Jay, and kind of
see through them. But you know, here just the two
of us in this little, From day one, we bow together as a family,
just the two of us, and pray. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, thank
you. What our mothers tell us is true. They're starving people out there
in the world. And if we're not one of them, we should give thanks. And I tell you, it's good for
a family. It's good. If you're a young, married couple,
don't even wait to have children, especially if you do it when
you have children, but start right now. It's good for a family to
bow before God's throne together. Our hearts bowed, our heads bowed,
bowed at His throne, recognizing He's our King. All right, tenth,
give thanks that the Lord would come incarnate. Luke 2, verse
38 says, and she coming in that instant, gave thanks likewise
unto the Lord, and spake of Him, this newborn babe, she spake
of Him to all that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Is there
anybody in Ashland looking for redemption like there was in
Jerusalem? Is there? Let me tell you about Him. It's
all in Him. It's in this one who came incarnate. Now I know we're going to hear
a lot about the birth of Christ over the course of the next month,
and I understand that religion has done a lot of things that
are offensive by it, you know, everything they've done with
the birth of Christ. I understand they love the helpless
babe in a manger. They don't love the Savior on
a cross. They don't love the Savior risen from the tomb. They
don't love the sovereign Savior seated on the throne. They love
that babe in a manger because they feel like that babe in a
manger is in their hands, dependent upon them. I understand all But
let's not become what Brother Henry called a Christian Scrooge.
Let's be sure, oh let's be sure, to give thanks. Christ came in
the flesh. I know it wasn't December 25th,
but Christ came in the flesh, and I'm thankful. If He hadn't
come in the flesh, we'd have no representative who could make
us righteous. I'm thankful He was born. If
Christ didn't come incarnate, If He didn't come as our representative,
you know what that means? That means you and I have to
stand on our own before God. I don't want that. I'm glad Christ
was born. If Christ hadn't come incarnate,
if God hadn't become a man, we'd have no land. We'd have no land. We were at the cemetery yesterday. Jan asked me, you know, was there
anything, people put stuff on their tombstones, you know, something
profound? I thought about that since you
asked me, and I think this is what it would be. Isaac asked his father Abraham,
where's the lamb? Where's the lamb? If Christ didn't
come incarnate, we wouldn't have one. We wouldn't have a substitute.
Oh, I'm thankful that Christ came in the flesh. That leads
me to the next thing. Give thanks for the unspeakable
gift of God's Son. 2 Corinthians 9 verse 15 says,
thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. That makes the job of a preacher
hard, doesn't it? I was supposed to get up here and say something.
This is an unspeakable gift. Human language can't tell how
wonderful the Lord Jesus Christ really is. You can't put into
words what the gift of Christ, Christ in you, the hope of glory,
that He'd love you, that He'd come to save you, that He'd shed
His blood for you, that He'd give His cheeks and His back
to the smiters for you, for the likes of us. We'll spend a lifetime trying
to talk about that. We'll spend eternity doing the same thing.
Well, let's make much. of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know
we can't more than scratch the surface, but let's make much
of it. Let his name be preeminent in everything we do. Oh, what
a gift. Then give thanks, twelfthly,
for God's election of a people to save. Second Thessalonians
2 verse 13 says, We're 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. I'm thankful that from the beginning
God chose, he elected a people to save. Nobody would be saved
if he didn't. Not one person ever. Nobody would
ever choose to be saved on God's terms if God hadn't chosen them
first. Christ came incarnate and he
suffered and died. You know why? To save the people
God elected. That's why He came, to save the
people that the Father gave Him to save. And the Holy Spirit
comes, and He blesses the preached word, and He gives life. You
know why He does that? So He can give life to everybody
the Father elected. The Son died before. That's exactly
right. There would be no salvation without God's election of a people. Salvation all springs from the
fountainhead of God's election of a people. I'm thankful, aren't
you? And then I tell you from the heart, I
thank God for you. I thank God for you. I thank
God for this congregation. I would not choose to serve anywhere
but here. I would not choose to be anyone's
servant. I'm your servant for Christ's
sake. I wouldn't choose to do it anywhere but here if I could.
That's how much I love you. I thank God. for the faith that
He's given you. I thank God. The Apostle Paul
said in Romans 1 verse 8, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for
you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
I want to do this without bragging on you because if we start resting
on our laurels, you know what you'll do? You rest on your laurels,
you'll crush them. So I don't want to do that. But
I do, I thank God every day for the faith He's given you. I pray
every day. that God would save his people
and give them faith. I thank God he's given you faith. I thank God for the faithfulness
that he's given you. I don't know, you're just used
to faithful? God did that, I'm thankful. The
Apostle Paul said and told the church at Philippi, I thank my
God upon every remembrance of you. And that's why I feel about
you. Every time I remember, I thank
God. Paul told the church at Thessalonica, we're bound to
thank God always for you, brethren, as it's meat. It's right for
me to give thanks for you all because your faith grows exceedingly.
And the charity, the love every one of you have toward each other
abounded. And I'm thankful. I've been a
recipient of that. I'm a recipient of your love and your care. I
thank God for you. I thank God for His grace to
you. In 1 Corinthians 1 verse 4, Paul said, I thank my God
always in your behalf for the grace of God which is given to
you by Jesus Christ. Just like I said a minute ago
about faith, I pray every single day. This is the way I start
every day. Praying for you. I go through
in my mind's eye every single person, every single family.
That's why it's good y'all sit in the same place, because I
can remember. I don't miss anybody. Praying for God's grace to you.
the ones that have not yet come to Christ. Oh, God save. Oh,
God be gracious to. Well, this is where I open the
surface. How can we ask God for grace? We don't thank him for
his past grace. I've been so gracious to this
congregation. And I'm thankful. I'm thankful.
The end. Fourteenth. If I told you I had
14 points before I started, you all would have been scared. But
I kept this brief. I'm thankful. God's people will
never be defeated. Boy, at times it feels like the
battle's lost in my heart and in yours. Listen to God's Word. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 57. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us the
victory. We can never lose our salvation
in Christ because of our sin and our weakness. because of
who the captain of our salvation is. He always giveth us the victory. And then lastly, what has brought
us to this place tonight, I'm thankful for the sacrifice of
Christ. This is a mighty good way for
us to close this service and to begin our Thanksgiving holiday,
begin what is termed the holiday season, the sacrifice of Christ. Matthew 26, verse 27. And he
took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying,
Drink ye all of it. This is my blood. This is my
blood. Oh, I'm thankful to be able to
drink the wine that the Savior commanded us to drink and to
do it together with me and remember his sacrifice for his people.
Aren't you thankful for that? All right. Eric, if you would,
you may come and distribute the bread. The Apostle Paul gave the church
at Corinth our instructions for the Lord's table. He said, for
I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you.
But the Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed,
took bread. And when He had given thanks, He'd break it and said,
Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me. Daniel, would you give thanks
for the bread? Heavenly Father, we're so, so
thankful that Christ became man and took on a body of human flesh
and that you broke that body for our sin. Lord, pray that we would ever
be mindful of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Cause
us to give thanks in all things we pray. After the same manner also, he
took the cup, but he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament
of my blood. This do ye as often as you drink
it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till
he come. Eric, would you give thanks for
the blood? Thank you. Thank you. I hope that this has been a blessing
to you and I pray that the Lord bless you all tomorrow as you
meet with your families and enjoy a good meal together and fellowship
together and pray the Lord's continued blessing upon us. Mike,
you have a song for us. Stand and sing 212. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. So precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other health I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see. For my cleansing this I plea. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Third verse, third verse. Nothing
can for sin atone. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other bounds I know. This is all my hope and peace. This is all my righteousness. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus.