Let's turn to 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles chapter 29. 1 Chronicles 29. I want to look at a prayer of David here, and it begins in verse 10 is where we'll pick up. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 10, Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation, and David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our father, forever and ever.

And in this prayer, David is expressing the heart of God's child. The child of God glories in the Lord. The Lord does wondrous works for which we glory in Him and we're made thankful in Him and rejoice in our God.

And he goes on to say now in verse 11, Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in heaven and in the earth is Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all.

And when you look at that verse and just sweetly savor that verse there, we see what a humble submission is wrought in David's heart to the Lord. He acknowledges God's greatness is above all other great things. All other greatness. God is greater. He acknowledges that God's power exceeds all power. God's glory outshines every other glory. His victory is unsurpassed by any other victory. There's no victory greater. His majesty is beyond anything that we lightly call awesome. Anything that we say wholeheartedly is awesome cannot compare to the awesome majesty of Almighty God.

And you may notice in there when you read that verse a few times, you'll notice, I know those words. Our Lord said those very things when he said, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Christ spoke those very words, giving God his father all the glory.

You know, men by nature, we harbor things in our heart. And that word harbor is a shipping term, as I understand it, really, when a ship is seeking safe harbor. He goes into the shore there and anchors down, and he's locked in place there. And he harbors things. He hides things in his heart to protect them. But all things belong to the Lord. and nothing is hid from the Lord. And we try to hide things, but the Lord is able to whip up the wind of Heraclides, as it were, that shipwrecked Paul's ship, and he's able to blow through our hearts and to take out those things that we would harbor in our hearts to hide from him, because the Lord does all things as it pleases him. He is God. He is God.

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. All that ever has been, all that is, or all that ever shall be is the Lord's. It's the Lord's, and he does whatsoever pleases him. That is done. That is done.

On that note, The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1.11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated. God sorted out all things and how they would go according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of of his own will. He doesn't look outside or consult with anyone outside of himself to determine what he shall do. He does as it pleases him, whatsoever he wills.

And so the people of God are given a heart to acknowledge these things and that all there is and all that we have or all that we ever shall have are according to the riches of Almighty God.

David adds here in verse 12, 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.

And so what a grace it is to be taught to know, right? It's a grace of God that he should make us to know that all that I am, all that I have, all that I ever shall have is given of the almighty hand of God to the praise, honor, and glory of his name. And there's none like him, there's none like him. And there's nowhere else that we can turn to worship God. He's revealed himself to us in his word and through the person of his darling, well-beloved, only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he does all things well, and he does as pleases him.

Now, David, when he spoke this prayer, he knew that his end was near. He knew that his time was coming when he would yield the throne to his son Solomon. And this is leading up to where Solomon is going to assume the throne. And he would be king over all Israel. And so David makes this prayer of thanksgiving unto the Lord. as he's closing down and Solomon's winding up there. And since this week coming up, we celebrate, as a nation, a day of Thanksgiving. I thought it would be good to go here to this prayer. There's many places we could have gone to, but David, in the rest of this prayer, will make nine points, nine points that I want to look at with you. that you can consider, even if you can retain one or two, but these are things for which we may be thankful unto the Lord, both today and throughout the week, that we may thank the Lord who gave us his unspeakable gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, and has made this glorious salvation known unto us.

So let's look at these nine reasons to give thanks. David says now in verse 13, now therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. All right, well, from this verse, I wanna look at two of the first of the nine points, two points here from this verse. David first says, God, we thank thee. God's people are made a thankful people. When you know what you are, and you know who God is, we are made a thankful people unto the Lord. We thank him for his manifold blessings.

Now over in Psalm 106 in verse one. Psalm 106, verse one, the psalmist wrote, praise ye the Lord, oh, give thanks unto the Lord. And then he gives three reasons, there's many reasons to give thanks to the Lord, but here in verse one, he gives three reasons to give thanks to God for.

First, for God is good. God is good. The Apostle Paul tells us that it is the goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance. God's goodness. When he exercises his grace upon a sinner, it's his goodness to that sinner that leads us to repentance. It's his goodness that leads us to repentance, to be delivered from falsehoods and lies and darkness that we're in by nature, that we should be brought out of that darkness and translated into the kingdom of light of his darling son, Jesus Christ, to know his name and to worship him in spirit and in truth, it is the goodness of God that does it. It's the goodness of God that plucks us out of death and safely delivers us into the arms of his darling son, Jesus Christ. And so God is good. God is dealing with his people in grace, in grace. And he blesses us with his goodness to know him, to draw us out of death. God is good.

And then second, the psalmist speaks of his mercy. God is merciful. That means that he withholds from us that which we justly deserve. that which we've earned. The scriptures say in Romans 6.23 that the wages of sin is death. Wages are what you collect for your job. If you do work, if you provide a service, or you make a product, or you do some job, some work, you earn a wage for that. Whether it's money, or whether it's a thanks, whether it's a friendship, you earn a wage for what you've done. And the scriptures tell us that the wage for our sin is death, eternal death, eternal separation from God. Or rather, hell is the presence of God without a mediator. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God, the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's unmerited. We didn't deserve that, and yet God gives the gift of his son to save his people from their sins. He doesn't owe us that mercy, but it pleases him to be merciful to his people.

in Christ. And then third, His mercy endureth forever. God's free gift of salvation is eternal. After we've been there worshiping our Lord in peace, in comfort, in gladness, in understanding, gladly doing that for a thousand years, After 10,000 years, after 100,000 years, after 100 million years, after 100 billion years, after 100 trillion years, after 100 quadrillion years, and all the way up to infinity, that blessing, that joy will never end. It'll never diminish. It'll never wear down. The shine, the luster will never grow dim. It'll continue gloriously for all eternity, rejoicing in God's presence evermore.

Now, second, the second point here that we saw, let me just read a verse from Psalm 92, verse 1, where the psalmist says something very similar. He says, it's a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High. And so the name of God is what David speaks of next. Saints praise God's glorious name. We praise his name. We're a people who worship the name of the Lord our God most high. We glory in his name.

Now, there's many deep understandings that we can gain if we were to look at the many names of God given in his word. There's many names, El Shaddai, the Lord Almighty, and Jehovah Sidkenu, and Jehovah Jireh. There's many blessings that we can take from that, but the name I want to speak to you about in our limited time here this morning, because we're going through nine points, is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is given unto us. That's the name, the Son of God. Listen to what it says in Philippians 2, and you can turn there. Philippians 2, beginning in verse 7.

were told of him that he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And that means that the Son of God laid aside his glory, or cloaked his glory, or hid it to such a degree that when men saw him, they saw a man. But a man, just like themselves. A man. And he did that. that he might take that lowest position as the servant of God to do for his people what we cannot do for ourselves. And being found, and here's an explanation of that, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. even the death of the cross." And what that's saying there is that he accomplished our redemption. He, as the servant of God, took the lowest place to redeem his people. He served for his bride, as Jacob served for his bride, for Rachel, So Christ served for his bride, suffering, laboring as the servant for his people, his darling bride whom he loved from all eternity.

Wherefore, because he accomplished the salvation of his people, because his blood was shed and purged us of our sins and put away from us God's wrath and anger, which was justly against us because of our sin, because he did it so perfectly, bearing that shame and suffering for his people, God was well pleased. It says, wherefore, verse 9, God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name, 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 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

When we look at the different names of God, we see the different facets. In a beautiful diamond, you see a different side of that diamond and the light glimmering off of it. But when you look at the whole of that diamond, you see it in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus. In him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All those attributes that we understand of God in the Old Testament and by those names and seeing what our Lord does for his people are all contained, are all brought forth in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we worship, we glory in his name. We bow down before him and we rejoice in his goodness, his grace, his mercy toward us. His name is something to be thankful for, brethren, to be thankful for.

Then, beginning in verse 14, David asks, but who am I? But who am I? This is the third point upon which the child of God is made thankful, because God makes me to know my sin and my infirmity. What am I, Lord? Who am I that you should think of me, that you should call me out of darkness? Knowing all the things I did my whole life, knowing the things I did after I heard of thee, knowing what a weak, pitiful, moronic man I am, who am I, Lord, that you should think on me and bless me with such a knowledge to glory in the name of your darling son, to worship you in Christ, whom you sent. Who am I? Who am I? I don't deserve this. You don't deserve this. Yet God is pleased to make you to know.

Who am I? God does it. He shows us our sin to humble his servant, to bring his children low in themselves. Why? God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. That's why he humbles us. That's why he brings us low in ourselves. That's why we're made to know our guilt and our shame, because God resists the proud. You're not going to get anywhere with God as a proud, hard-hearted sinner talking about what you've done for God. God resists that, because who of us can stand before God and boast of what we've done? None of us can. Only Christ. Only Christ is perfect.

So God makes his children to know, I'm like a day lily. You know what a day lily is? There's some flowers in the world that, once they bloom, they stay open for quite a long time, like a rose. It stays on the vine there for about a week before it really starts to wither and fall off.

But there's a thing called a day lily. And what that does is it comes up on a stalk out of usually grass-like leaves. And it comes up on a stalk, and you see these little buds start growing up on it. And they get bigger and bigger, kind of like pride, right? They just puff up, get bigger and bigger, and eventually they pop open one morning. And they're there all day long. looking beautiful, a beautiful yellow, or a golden yellow, or a creamy yellow, or red, or something like that. It's a beautiful flower.

But then comes evening. And by evening time of that same day, that thing starts to droop and wither. And by the next morning, it's just dead. It's just hanging there, dead. It's a day lily. There one day, gone the very next.

That's us by nature, brethren. We're here one day, and then we're gone. And we're gone. It's that quick. Another way of putting it, James tells us, is that our life is like a vapor. It is here today. And in a moment, it's gone.

It's almost wintertime. When you go outside and your warm breath breathes into the air, you're going to see a puff of smoke on a cold, cold day. And the wind just takes it and it swirls for a little bit. And then poof, it's gone. And then the next breath takes its place. That's us, brethren. It's that quick before the Lord.

And so he makes us to know what we are in ourselves, how quickly this life passes, and how eternal and glorious he is, that we would seek him, that we would know him. And so that's the third thing to give thanks for. Lord, thank you for showing me what I am. Please don't show me anymore, except to show me my need of Christ, Lord. drive me to him, but please don't show me the debts.

Then the whole verse there, verse 14, but who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.

All right, so here's the fourth and the fifth point. First, that the salvation, that salvation is the gift of God. And that gift is given sovereignly, not because you asked for it, though we will ask for it, not because you earned it, though, well, he earned it, but it's given sovereignly, brethren. So those are points four and five.

So let me begin with the first one here, the fourth one. By the coming of Jesus Christ into the world for the purpose of redeeming his people, meaning purchase his people with his own blood to satisfy, God's wrath which was against us, to deliver us from the hand of justice which we were in, and to give us life in himself. It was recorded by the Apostle John in John chapter 1, the Gospel of John chapter 1 in verse 17 and 18. It says, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him."

And so what that's saying is this knowledge that we have of God is because the Son of God came into this earth and obtained that redemption. and commissioned his church with this glorious good news to broadcast it and make it known throughout the world. This had never, for any religion, any knowledge of God, had ever been done. Never. Until Christ did it. Otherwise, we'd be worshipping and bowing down to stumps and stones to this day, ignorantly worshipping God, thinking God is in a volcano, or God is the sun, or some other thing.

We would ignorantly be worshipping what we thought was God, and all we'd be doing is worshipping and idolizing ourselves. in it, but the truth of God has come and revealed to us. He is the very gift of God given to save His people and to make known to us who the true and living God is. Otherwise, we wouldn't know Him. We would not know Him. We'd be ignorant and in the dark.

I'll quote just one verse. Well, at the end of Romans 5, it speaks a lot of the gift of God. I'm going to quote verse 18. Verse 18 says, therefore, as by the offenses of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. That one man that he's talking about is Adam. When Adam sinned, and we in Adam sinned against God, we all, we fell. and therefore coming forth of Adam's corrupt seed, which was yet in him, we come forth corrupt sinners. Even so, by the righteousness of one, that is, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. And so this free gift which is given to us through Christ. That's the fourth point. You may bless God, rejoice in God, be thankful unto God for the free gift of his son whereby you know him. Otherwise, we'd be ignorant of him.

And then the fifth point is that all men who are justified are sovereignly, were sovereignly chosen by God unto this salvation. God freely chose whom he would and gave us to his son for his inheritance, for his bride to be his people to worship and rejoice in him and be thankful unto him for his grace to us. And so because of this, you hear this good news. You hear this word of good news declared unto you of what the king has done. what the God of all glory has done for his people in redeeming them, in purchasing them, in saving us. And all his blessed words of comfort are given unto us in Christ to know him.

And so not only do the scriptures say that according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, but I'm going to quote from you in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. First I'll start with verse 12. It says that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So there's an all men. There's an all men that are damned because they will not hear. God didn't choose them unto this salvation. The veil of flesh remains on the heart so that when they hear the gospel, it finds no root, no place in their heart. It means nothing to them. They could care less about it.

But then there are people who are all men in Christ for whom that word comes effectually unto us and finds good ground and takes root in that good ground and bears forth fruit unto God's praise and glory. And so Paul said because of that, But we are bound to give thanks all the way unto God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, to belief of the truth, to be sanctified by the Spirit who took you out of all others and pulled you aside and caused you to hear this gospel effectually in your heart to the believing of it. receiving Christ and believing his word, made effectual to you, whereunto, because he did this, he called you by our gospel to the obtaining, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, meaning it's made effectual, effectual in your hearts. Give God thanks for that, because it's not because of you or something in you, it's because he would make you to hear it.

Now the sixth point is found in verse 15. David says, for we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. Now what we draw from this is that God is our inheritance. God gives us an understanding that the reason why This world loves us not and does not receive us is because we're not of this world. And our inheritance is not of this world. It's of God. God is your inheritance. You shall have him forever, brethren.

And so here we walk by faith, even as Abraham, of whom we are a pattern. By faith, Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country. God gave it to him, but it wasn't his possession. It was a word of promise unto him that his seed should receive it after him. And he dwelled in that land as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles or tents, which can be put up and broken down real easy, and you can move on. With Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And so, in this life here, we are strangers in pilgrims, but our citizenship is in heaven, where Christ is seated above.

Now, let's read back in our text, verses 16 and 17. O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee in house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own. I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart, I have willingly offered all these things, and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee.

And what this shows us is all the righteous fruit that God's people have, all that we bear and bring forth in the labor and service to our God and his kingdom for the good and comfort of his people and the glory of his name is not of this flesh. It doesn't rise up from this flesh, but rather it's of his His Spirit. The fruit is His to the glory and praise of His name. He's obtained and brought these things in us, brethren. By flesh, by the flesh of Adam, we don't bear fruits of righteousness. Anything good that we do is we glory in Him for it. As David said here, it cometh of thine hand and is all thine own.

When we've done that which is our duty to do, what are we boasting? We've only done that which was our duty to do. It's of God that we are even made obedient unto the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's the seventh point there, is that the fruit we bear is wrought of Him. Praise God for that fruit. Praise Him for what He, that faith, that hope, that love, that kindness in you, that patience, that long-suffering and forbearing with your brethren, that's His fruit. Give Him the thanks and the praise for it. Don't take the glory for that, give it to him. Give it to him.

Paul asks, for who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Well, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou didst not receive it? Why are you talking like you're something special when it came from God? Give him the praise and the thanks. For of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that according as it's written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Not in himself, not in his improved self, not in his pharisaical self, not in his self-righteous self, glory in Christ, our righteousness. Glory in him.

All right, now it says in verse 18, O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people. and prepare their heart unto thee." David is asking, God, will you please keep this truth in my heart to know these things, lest I forget in the ignorance and pride of my flesh. And not for me only, Lord, but for all your people, will you Remind us that all these things are of your hand, that we give you thanks for these things, and not grow hard, cold, dim, uncaring of these things, but that we rejoice in what you've done for us.

That's the eighth point here, is that God's people are people kept in faith. in faith. God makes us to know that we always need him. We never outgrow him. We never outperform him. And we never get to a place where we're running on our own and don't need him anymore. We always need the grace and keeping of the Lord our God. And he's faithful that when we do rise up in pride, and we think we're something and we're really nothing, he's able to humble us. Sometimes we do need humbling. Sometimes we do need to be chastened. Sometimes we do need to be brought low in ourselves that the Lord may be gracious to us and speak comfortably to us.

It's all good. It's all in grace. It's all for our good. It never ceases to be gracious. It's not punishment just for the sake of showing us and punishing us. It's always to lead us to him in grace and thanksgiving and in joy.

And so he's able because it's written that the just shall live by faith. So it's always gonna be a walk of faith. That's how Abraham walked in faith all the days of his life.

And then, because it's the ninth point, and this is the closing point here, is we see that Christ builds the house. The Son of God builds the house. Verse 19, and gave unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things and to build the palace for the which I have made provision."

And so Solomon here is the son and he's a picture of the son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who as a son over his own house builds the house. He receives the glory for it. And so we thank him because he's the one that puts the end for the gathering of his people, for the healing of his people, the comfort of his people, the joy of his people, all that we have, that we may praise, honor, and thank him. Thank him.

So I pray that you remember some of those things there. Just go back to 1 Chronicles 29 and remember what he's done. Let's see these here. I didn't write them down nicely for myself there.

So we see it there that we are made a thankful people. We thank God for his name. We glory in his name. We are shown, verse 14, what I am in myself, that I should be humbled and seek the Lord for this, for his grace and mercy. the one who gives us, makes us to know the gift of God, and that he's given it sovereignly unto us.

He makes us to know what we are before him, that our inheritance is not here, but he is our inheritance that we glory in him, and that all that we do and have is not of ourselves, it's of His doing. It's of what He's given unto us, and then He's made us a people who walk in faith, trusting Him, and it's for our good.

It's for our good, and He's the one that builds the house. He doeth as He pleaseth. So I pray He give us a thankful heart now and always.