Alright, let's turn to Ephesians
chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. We're meeting tonight on a Tuesday
night. Because Thursday is Thanksgiving,
when we normally meet. So you can spend time with your
families on Thanksgiving Day. So I thought it might be appropriate
to speak on the subject of giving thanks. Giving thanks. I want to show you three things
to remember as you give thanks to God. Ephesians 5 verse 20. Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Believers give thanks unto God,
who is our Father. That's an amazing thing in itself,
that we can call God our Father. But the believer gives thanks
for all things, for all things, unto God our Father, in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank God for all things.
We give Him thanks always, not just on a particular day, but
always for all things. We don't have anything of ourselves. Nothing at all comes of us. We
like to think it does, but it doesn't. We don't have anything
wherein we can congratulate ourselves and pat ourselves on the back
and say, Thank you. We don't have anything. When
Adam disobeyed, he died, and death passed upon all men, and
all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The
only thing that a dead sinner has ever brought forth is sin,
which is an abomination to God. And the only thing that a sinner
saved by grace has ever brought forth has been that which God
Himself has brought forth by His grace through that sinner.
So that none, not a sinner and not a sinner saved by grace has
any room whatsoever to say, to thank ourselves for anything
whatsoever. But believers give thanks always
for all things unto God and our Father. The reason why is because
everything that we have is a gift of God. Everything we have has
been given to us as a gift from God our Father. John answered and said, A man
can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. A man
can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. Whenever
Paul was speaking to the Corinthian church, they were puffed up one
boasting of one preacher, and one boasting of the other preacher,
and some saying, I'm of Christ, and this and that. And Paul said
this, he said, let no man glory in men. He said, for all things
are yours. And he said, everyone who ministers
the truth to you is given to you by God. They're nobody. They
didn't do anything. They didn't have any truth until
God gave it to them. whether it's Paul or Apollos
or Cephas, and then he said, or whether it's the world, that's
been given to you, or whether it's life, that's been given,
or death. Do we thank God for the trials
and the sickness and the sorrow? We get in the mindset of praying
and asking God to give, give, give. What about thanking, thanking,
thanking? what he's already given, including
death, including death, all things. And he said this, things present
and things to come. Everything that is happening
in this world, the present may seem like it's not a present
at all, like it's not a gift at all. It may not seem that
way. The economy may be bad, but God will make the economy
bad for his people. The economy may be good, but
God will make it good for His people. All things present and
all things to come. Paul said, all are yours in the
year of Christ and Christ is God's. Whenever somebody asks
us to offer thanks, we have a lot to be thankful for, don't we?
But we have something even greater than these things. Chiefly, Colossians
1.12. Let's look over there. Colossians
chapter 1. Chiefly, the believer gives thanks
for God's unspeakable gift. what He's done for us in His
Son. God the Father has made us meet in His Son, Christ Jesus. Look at Colossians 1.12, giving
thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. What does it mean to
be made meet, to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light? It's an inheritance given. It's
where saints already glorified in glory with Him are in light,
in His glorious light. It's to be made meet. It's to
be made fit to be a partaker with Him. And He says, give thanks
unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light. What God has accomplished
for His children in His Son so that there remains nothing else
for the believer to do to enter into God's presence right this
moment. Into the presence of holy God
right this moment. That's what it is to be made
meet, fit to be a partaker of the inheritance. What do we have
by this? What has God done in His Son
to give us this fitness, to give the believer this meekness? We
have been delivered and translated. Look at Colossians 1.13. Who
hath delivered us from the power of darkness. Now if you're delivered
from something, that means you're out of it. You're completely
delivered from it. He has, this is what God has
done. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and hath
translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. We're no longer
in darkness and we now are in the kingdom of His dear Son.
Here's what it is. It's to have redemption and forgiveness. Look at verse 14. It ended, verse
13, saying, His dear Son, that is the Son of His love, and it
says, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. Not we will have, we have. Those that Christ has died for
have redemption through His blood. We have forgiveness of sin. It's to be brought into peace
with God, reconciled to God. We have peace and reconciliation. Colossians 1 20. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross, he made peace by his blood on Calvary's
tree. He made peace for everyone that
God gave him, everyone whom the spirit brings to life, He made
peace for us. He made peace for us with God. You hear men say, I'm going to
make my peace with God. God already made His peace for
His people. And He made His peace in His
Son for us. Having made peace through the
blood of His cross by Him, to reconcile all things unto himself. By him I say whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. The only sense in which
there is not peace and reconciliation wrought yet that remains to be
wrought is that God has some people who are yet in darkness
that he's going to make to see you've been reconciled and I
have made peace for you. And when he does that, they will
be reconciled unto God. I was trying to think of something
that could illustrate reconciliation. The word means to be brought
into harmony. And I was thinking of this. Sarah,
when you come over, especially to my house, and you pick up
my guitar, it's usually way out of tune because it just sits
there. And it has to be reconciled before
you can play on it. It's got to be reconciled. That
means all the strings have got to be brought into the proper,
be brought to the proper tuning that each one has to be brought
to. They got to be tuned and brought in to harmony. That's
what has to happen. That's what it is God has done
in His Son. He's brought all His people into
harmony with Him. The only thing that remains to
be done is for Him to let those for whom He's done it in on it. Let them know He's done it already.
We've been and we shall be presented perfect to God by Christ because
He has washed us from all iniquity. Look at Colossians 1.22. In the
body of His flesh through death, He is to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Christ right now
But for the Father, the reason we have an advocate with the
Father is because Christ Jesus Himself presents every one of
His children. Though we may have sinned, though
we may have done that which is shameful and dishonoring, He's
going to bring us to confess it. He's going to bring us to
correct us from it. He's going to bring us to confess,
Lord, I've sinned. Cleanse me. And the reason we
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, is
because right now, in His Son, we are presented to the Father,
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. And that's how He shall present
His bride as a chaste virgin to Himself. Holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in His sight. You know what matters to me?
In His sight. That's what matters to me. Whatever
is in His sight is how it is. That's exactly how it is. However
He sees it, that's how it is in all reality. That's how I
want to be seen, in His sight. So that, here's what it means
to be made meat. Colossians 2, 8. He says, Beware
lest any spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. After the tradition
of men, after the elements or rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ. Beware lest anybody try to turn
you from Christ. For in him dwelleth, now mark
this word, all the fullness. You see that word fullness? In
Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Do you think you could add anything
else to that? Do you think you could add anything
else to all the fullness of the Godhead in Christ Jesus? That's full, isn't it? It don't
get any more full than that. And ye are complete in Him. That
word complete is the very same word. You are absolutely fullness
in Christ Jesus, who is the head of all principality and power. I'll tell you another place the
same exact word is used. Remember on Sunday when we saw
that the Lord said, don't think that I came to destroy the law
and the prophets, meaning I didn't come to set it aside, I didn't
come to abolish it, I didn't come to And he didn't mean by
that that I haven't set it aside so that it's still in power on
my people. He didn't mean that. He meant
this. I did not come to destroy it, but I came to fulfill it. That word fulfill is the same
word, fullness, complete. I didn't come to set it aside,
the law or the prophets. I came to completely feel full
everything that was written in the Law and the Prophets. And
just as He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, His people
are absolutely, thoroughly, completely full in Christ Jesus. That's
what it is to be fit. I gave you this illustration
Sunday and I'll give it to you again. If you fill that cup absolutely
full, so that you cannot add anything else to it, that's what
it is to be full filled. Filled full. You can't add anything
else to that cup. Well, Christ Jesus has completed
everything that is required for his children to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in his marvelous light and glory. He's done everything, and there's
nothing else to be done. All right, so what do we do,
therefore? Look back up at Colossians 2, 6. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, How did we receive Him? He sent the Gospel
to us. He made it effectual in our heart.
He made us new. He made us to behold that we're
complete in Him, we're full in Him. He's done everything for
us. And He says, now follow Me. Now
how did you receive Him? You received Him freely. You
received Him by His grace. You received Him in truth. You
received Him according to his power by which he's given us
everything that pertains to life and godliness. As you have received
him, therefore, walk in him freely, not by constraint, by his grace,
depending upon his power in truth, hearing, receiving, walking in
the truth, rooted and built up in him, and established in the
faith as you have been taught, abounding therein, with Thanksgiving. Alright, let's look back now
at our text in Ephesians 5. There's something else it tells
here. We give thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father. Here's the second thing. We give
thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we come to God, to thank
God for what He's done for us. We have access to God the same
way we have this fitness with God. And it's by the Lord Jesus
Christ. By His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you remember whenever Jacob
came to, when he came to receive the blessing from his father?
He came in the name of another. Remember that? Isaac said, who
are you? He said, I'm Esau. He said, let me feel of your
garments. He had on Esau's garments. He
even felt like Esau. He smelled like Esau. He came
completely in the name of another, and he received the blessing.
Even to thank our God, we come in the name of another. We come
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have, He said, I'm
the door. That's what He said. He said,
I'm the way. We have boldness to enter the holiest by the blood
of Jesus. For through Him, we both, Jew
or Gentile, have access by one Spirit unto the Father, by Him.
All right, let's look at these three names that we come in. We come in the name of our Lord.
When we own Jesus to be our Lord, We're confessing to God that
we're in agreement with God the Father. He's given Him all power
in heaven and earth. The word Lord means supremacy.
And we're confessing when we call Him Lord. We're confessing
to God that we're thankful that He is indeed supreme over us. We bow, we surrender cheerfully
in submission under the rule and dominion of Jesus Christ. And this is glorifying to the
Father. Look over Philippians 2. Philippians 2. Philippians 2.9. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth. Now somebody
might say, well that's why I pray in the name of Jesus. But the
word doesn't end there. Look at verse 11. and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. He's made him Lord, and he is
Lord, and he's the Lord over his people. We don't call the
president by his first name, do we? We call him Mr. President
or President whomever it is, because we're owning by that
that our government is in his hands. He's our president. Well, that's what this name is.
Believers are glorifying God the Father, confessing that Jesus
Christ is Lord. He's my king. He's my governor.
He's my head. My government is in His hand.
That's what I'm confessing. And I want to remind you of something
else. Look back at 1 Corinthians 12. Now, there's a lot of folks
who can use the name Lord and say it in a prayer when they're
praying to Him. But this is not just saying this
with the mouth when you're praying to Him, though we do that. This
is a heart matter. This is something that He has
done in the heart. You could be saying that He's
Lord and saying, speaking of that Jesus who died for everybody
and wants to save everybody whose blood never really affectionately
justified anybody. and use the name Lord, but who
that is you're praying to, you're calling him by saying all those
things about him. You're calling him anathema.
That would be calling him accursed. And a man can't do that who's
speaking by the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 12, 3, Wherefore
I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit
of God calleth Jesus accursed. They don't call him anathema.
They speak of him as he's revealed in his word. And also, this is
the case, that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by
the Holy Ghost. This is a matter of a heart made
new. This is a matter of submission. You see, it's not just a question
when a man preaches something that's not true or says something
that is not so about the Lord Jesus. It's not just a matter
of he disagrees with my doctrine or my doctrine disagrees with
his. It's a matter of the heart. It's a matter of the Lord having
dominion in that man. I wouldn't trust him with my
kids in a private place. He can't be trusted with the
gospel. He can't be trusted with anything. Period. Nothing. Nothing. All right, Jesus. We pray in the name of the Lord
Jesus. When we pray in the name Jesus,
Lord Jesus, We're confessing and thanking the Father that
that man of Nazareth, that man who died on a cross, that one
this world thinks is simply a man, we're confessing that that man,
Christ Jesus our Lord, is the one who completely, thoroughly
purged us and put away all our sin. He is our Savior. That's what we're saying by that
name. I want you to turn to Acts 4. Let me show you that, Acts
4. His name is Jesus, for He shall save His people from their
sins. Look at Acts 4 and look at verse
10. When they came and asked Peter
who it was and whose name it was that this impotent man had
been made whole, Peter said this to them, and I want you to understand
what Peter's doing here. We talk about folks who speak
out of both sides of their mouth. Whenever Peter is speaking here,
he could have said things that would have made this as non-offensive
as he possibly could to those he was speaking to. And what
they were offended by is that Jesus of Nazareth made himself
to be God, that he said, I am God. And when Peter answers them
here in Acts 4.10, he says, Be it known unto you all and to
all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth. whom ye crucified, whom God raised
from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you
whole. This is the stone which is set
at naught of you builders. You make him out to be nothing.
in everything you say about him, but he has become the head of
the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. His name is Jesus, for
he shall save his people from their sin." And Peter said, in
no uncertain terms, that man, that one of Nazareth, is Jesus
the Christ. Now that second, that last word,
our Lord Jesus Christ, when we call Him Christ, we're doing
what Peter was doing there as well. We're saying that We're
giving thanks to the Father in the name of Christ our Lord Jesus,
thanking the Father and confessing to Him, believing that Jesus
is the Son of God. He is God the Son. He is Jesus man and God the Son,
the Christ. The Christ means God the Father
chose him and anointed him the Messiah. And he came forth and
he is the Christ. So this name Lord, we're saying
he's our sovereign. He has complete dominion of us. We're submitted to him. He's
Jesus. He's the man that came from Nazareth,
who went to the cross and put away our sins, and he is Christ,
God's own Son, whom he anointed and sent forth the Messiah, who
is our salvation." The Pharisees kept on saying, Christ to come,
and when the Lord would say, whom say ye, who do you, what
do you say about Christ? And I have no doubt in my mind
that when they answered him, they weren't thinking of the
man standing right in front of them. They were thinking of what
their ideal was of when the Christ would come. And they said, he
asked them, who is he? And they said, he's the son of
David. But you know what Peter said when Peter asked him? Peter
said, we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the
son of the living God. That's who we believe you are.
So we give thanks unto the Father always for all things in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's able, this one we pray in
His name. No sinner can come any other
way but in Him. Period. This one is able to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for him. Now I have one more point,
and this one I want you to turn to Hebrews 13, 15. And you may think this is a repeat of the second point, but
it's not. I want you to see this. Hebrews
13, 15. By Him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit
of our lips giving thanks to His name. Giving thanks to His
name. What does that mean? Everything
that God gives, everything God has given, And everything the
sinner, saved by His grace, praises God for and thanks God for are
declared by His name. Everything we've been given and
everything we thank God for are declared in His name. In His name. Everything is so
when we praise him and when we give thanks to him We're really
giving thanks not only in his name, but we're giving thanks
to his name What is his name? I? Won't have you turn to these
I'll tell you where they are so you can look them up if you
want to read them later but in Genesis 22 14 when the Lord told
Abraham to go offer up his only begotten son Isaac only one that
he ever referred to as an only begotten son because he completely
disregarded Ishmael altogether, just like he disregarded Adam
and all in him and regards his son only. And when Abraham was
offering up Isaac and had him there and was about to offer
him up, the Lord stopped him and he looked around and there
was a ram caught in the thicket. crowned with thorns, caught,
they couldn't be set free because he was the one that had to die
in Isaac and Abraham's place. And Abraham declared, the Lord
will provide. Jehovah Jireh. Provide means
Jireh. The Lord will provide. That's
his name. Now, that's what it is to, when
we pray in the name of the Lord, We praise, give praise to His
name. He is the Lord, Jehovah-Jireh,
that has provided. In Exodus 15, 25 and 26, that
was the place where they came to the waters that were bitter.
And the Lord made the water sweet so they could drink them. The
bitterness of this gospel is due to our flesh. God has got
to do something in us to make the gospel sweet to us, to make
us understand and know and delight in what God has done for us.
And He does that for His people. And when He does that, The Great
Physician said, I did not come to heal that which is sick. The
righteous, I came to heal that which is sick. He is the Great
Physician. And that day when the Lord did
that, He said, I am the Lord that healeth thee. I am the Lord
that raitheth thee. Jehovah raitha. The Great Physician. The Lord who healed us. We're
giving praise to His name. In Exodus 17, 15, whenever Moses
was fighting and he kept, when he would hold the rod up, you
remember, Joshua went out and defeated Amalek. When the rod
would be let down, Amalek would prevail. And when he got finished,
Moses built a monument there and he said, I am the Lord, your
banner. Banner means Nisi, Jehovah Nisi,
the Lord your banner. He's the rallying point that
his brethren, we hear his voice just like you see a flag and
soldiers on a field rally to it. We follow him, we fight in
this warfare under his banner and he's the banner. He's the
one who wins the battle, Jehovah Nisi. We give thanks to his name. Jehovah Sidkenu, in Jeremiah
23, 6 and in Jeremiah 33, 16, it says, this is the name wherewith
he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And it says of
his church, his Israel, this is the name wherewith she shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Sidkenu, I am the Lord
your righteousness. In Judges 6, 24, He's the Lord
your peace. When we thank Him, we not only
thank Him for what He's done, that He has made peace by the
blood of His cross for us, we actually praise His name, that
He is Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace. He is. You see, it's
It's our God we're rejoicing in. We're giving thanks to Him. In Ezekiel 48-35, he spoke of
the city that he was building. And he spoke of that city and
he said, and I'm going to build that city. And he said, and from
now on, I'm going to call it Jehovah Shammah. The Lord is
there. He's building His city and He
is there. He is with His people, with His
church, with them continually. I am there. Jehovah Shema. And then in Psalm 23, we're familiar
with this one where He said, I am the Lord your shepherd. The word shepherd means Re'ah. Jehovah Re'ah. The Lord your
shepherd. He is the one who is leading
His people through this valley of death that we must go. He
is our shepherd. He is our shepherd. So those
are the names of Him. And those names, I want you to
see Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43, 3. Those names all
meet in one. In one name. He said, I am the Lord thy God,
the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I thought that was Jesus' name.
For He shall save His people from their sin. That's who He
is. Jehovah thy God, the Holy One
of Israel, Jehovah Jesus. All these names meet in Him.
So, what do we give thanks for? We give thanks. When do we give
thanks? We give thanks always. I find the older I get, the more
I find myself walking around talking to God, thanking Him. We give thanks always for what? For all things. For all things. Because we owe all things to
Him. And we thank God our Father. Who do we give thanks and whose
name do we give thanks? In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And what do we do? we praise
and give thanks to His name, to His name. I hope that'll help
you. Let's look over last verse, last
scripture, 1 Chronicles 29. I hope that'll help us put in
perspective what it is that the believer truly gives thanks for
and how much we truly have to be thankful for. This is what
David said, 1 Chronicles 29 11. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness,
and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty. For all that is in the heaven
and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord,
and Thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor
come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all. And in Thine hand is
power and might, and in Thine hand it is to make great and
to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank
thee and praise thy glorious name.