All right, good morning, everyone. This morning we have a guest
speaker, a pastor and brother, Gabe Stoniker from Kingsport
Sovereign Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. And his wife Hannah
is with us as well. So we welcome them and looking
forward to it. And let's open with a word of
prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
for your grace. We thank you, Lord, for gathering
us together to hear your blessed word, the gospel of your son,
Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for you gather
your people and you bless your people. You give us your spirit,
making us to hear that word with ears that hear. And Lord, we
pray for your grace this morning both on Gabe and on us, Lord,
that he may have liberty to preach boldly, proclaiming the gospel
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And Lord, that we may
have grace to hear it, to receive your word as it is the word of
God, that we would hear it in the new man that you have given
to us. And Lord, we thank you for your
grace. We thank you for your mercy to us. We pray that you
would meet with us this morning. It's in Christ's name that we
pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, Brother Gabe,
don't forget to just turn it on and you're good. Thank you, Tom. Good morning,
everyone. If you would like to turn with
me to Psalm 118. Psalm 118. Everyone in Kingsport
sends their love to you. Greetings from the saints in
Kingsport. Hannah and I sincerely want to
thank you for having us here. We had such a wonderful day yesterday. We really did. Traveling out
here was good and such a wonderful day with Eric and Michelle. They
took us all over your city and it's literally everywhere. We went everywhere. And it's
beautiful. I've looked forward to being
here. I really have. And I'm just so
thankful to be here with you. I've looked forward to worshiping
with you. and I'm so glad to be here right
now. I pray the Lord will let us worship. That's what I deeply
desire. I am thankful for the cause of
us being together. If it was not for one particular
cause, none of us would be together right now. Right? There's one
reason why we are all here. right now and I'm so thankful
for that reason. I am so thankful for the gospel. I'm thankful to know the gospel. I really am. I'm so thankful
for this privilege of declaring the gospel and to be counted
among God's people. What a privilege it is. What
a privilege to be counted among God's people. Some of us were
talking last night about this very thing, thinking, why would
God have mercy on us? Why would He choose to do this
for us? Why would He choose us? Of all people, I'm just so thankful. I'm thankful for this hope of
glory. We have a hope of glory. Some people do not have that
hope. Some people have this life only, that's it. They have this
life only, then they're going to leave this life only, and
that's it. We have a hope of glory. If we really stop and
think about it, I believe that ought to be the emotion that
overwhelms a child of God more than any other emotion that we
have. Thankfulness. I believe it should
be. Thankfulness. God's people have
sorrow. You know, you see a lot of times,
especially in false religion, everybody's just going around,
just on cloud nine all the time. You know, nothing's going to
get me down. Well, that's not the case for God's people. God's
people have sorrow. God's people have fear. They
do. God's people experience joy,
peace, love. I wouldn't want to be without
any of those emotions. None of them. The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom. That's what the Scripture says.
The fear of this Lord. The Scripture says we weep with
those who weep. And we do. We hear about the
things that our brethren have to go through and we just We
sorrow with them. We sorrow with them. We weep
with our brethren who weep. I sure would not want to be without
joy, without peace, without love. I wouldn't want to be without
any of those things. But every one of those emotions that a
believer experiences can be and should be and is tempered by
thankfulness. every one of those emotions.
Even in deep sorrow, we can still be thankful. And you know what
I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about.
You've experienced it. Even in deep, deep sorrow, going through
something that's just bringing absolute, utter sorrow, even
in that moment, God's people can still be thankful. I've got a little story here
that supports that and is proof of that. Back in 1920, a man
named Josh Gravitt and a man named A.D. And A.D. Mews was one of the men that
Brother Henry had preached in his first Sovereign Grace Conference
in 1954. But 34 years before that, in
1920, these two gospel preachers were traveling home from a meeting
in a Model T Ford, and the front tire blew out, and that car flipped
end over end a few times, and Josh Gravitt was thrown from
the car. And the car ended up upside down on its top. And A.D. Mews realized, you know, he was
all beat up, but he realized Josh is not in the car. And so
he crawled out the window and hollered for Josh. And he heard
Josh moan in the weeds, so he crawled over to Josh. And he
said, Josh, are you hurt? And he put his arm around him.
And Josh laid there. Josh Gravitt laid there. for
a second and he said, Archie, God is sovereign and we'll be
thankful. And he was known for that statement.
He said that all the time. And even in that moment, he said,
God is sovereign and we'll be thankful. If we could just learn
that, if I could just learn that, God is Sovereign. God is Sovereign. God is absolutely Sovereign.
He's not trying to do anything. He doesn't hope to do anything.
He's absolutely Sovereign. And in whatever His Sovereign
will is, and whatever His Sovereign purpose is, and whatever His
Sovereign doing is, may He give me a heart to be thankful. Thankful
in it. He said, even in this we can
still be thankful. Well, because Psalm 92 says,
it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. And because Colossians
3 says, let the peace of God rule in your hearts, and I pray
that might happen, the peace of God. Let the peace of God
rule in your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body,
and be ye thankful. And because 1 Thessalonians 5
says, in everything give thanks, in everything give thanks. because it's so good and it's
so pleasant and it's so right for a child of God to give thanks. Because of that, I have five
reasons for us to give thanks this morning. Alright, that's
going to be our outline. Five reasons for a child of God
to give thanks. We have an infinite number of
reasons. We will spend eternity giving
thanks, giving thanks, giving thanks. But for this Bible study,
just to keep it within our time frame here, we'll focus on five. We're just going to study the
Bible. We're going to study the Bible in this Bible study, alright?
Five reasons to give thanks. Here's the first one. Look with
me here at Psalm 118, verse 1. It says, O give thanks unto the
Lord, For He is good. He is good. Oh give thanks unto
the Lord for He is good. He is gracious. He is good. Now let's see if we can enter
into this. There is a sovereign over us. There is a sovereign over us
who is in absolute control of us. And He can do with us whatever
He is pleased to do with us. We are completely at the mercy
of how He treats us. Alright, let me say that again
and let me see if we can really enter into this. We are completely
at the mercy of how He treats us. There is a sovereign over
us, and He can do with us whatever He wants to do with us, and we
are completely at the mercy of how He treats us. We are at the mercy of His will. We have no say. in our harm or
our well-being. And that's what Josh Gravett
meant when he said, even in this, God is sovereign, we'll be thankful.
We have no say in our harm or our well-being. We are at the
mercy of a higher and a greater than us, okay? Thank God the
one that we are in the hands of is not our adversary. Thank God. The adversary who
is stronger than us, he is stronger than us. I hear people so foolishly
talk about the adversary, flippantly. Well, I'm going to tell him and
he better not don't do that. He is stronger than us. He can
do with us whatever God lets him do with us. Ask Joe. He only means evil for us. That's all He means for us, is
evil. He only means harm to us. He is only trying to work everything
that He can work to bring us into bondage and condemnation. That's all He's doing. Thank
God. The adversary is in the hands
of the same God We are in the hands of you. The God who came
to this earth, the scripture says, to bring good tidings of
good. Isn't that good news? Thank God,
our sovereign God. Thank God, the Almighty. We talk
about the Almighty. Thank God, the Almighty is good. Thank God. He's good. The scripture says, He went about
doing good. Psalm 118 verse 1, O give thanks
unto the Lord, for He's good. We have such reason to give thanks
for that. Such reason. Hold your place right here and
look with me at Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. Luke 12 verse 32, it says, Fear not, little flock, for it
is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It's your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. Is that not reason to give thanks? We're going to have a little
run here. We're going to look at some scriptures here. Go to
Philippians 1. Philippians 1. Verse 6, it says, being confident
of this very thing that He which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. That's what
He does because that's what He is. That's what He is. A good work from a good Lord. Look at Philippians 2 verse 13. Philippians chapter 2 verse 13.
It says, For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. His good pleasure. So that's
the first reason that we have to be thankful. The Lord who
is our God and has sovereignly ordered everything concerning
us is good. He's good. He is so good to us. He's so kind to us. He has worked all things together
for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. That's good news. Go back to
Psalm 118. Here's the second reason. Psalm
118 verse 1 says, O give thanks unto the Lord,
for He is good, because, here's the reason why, because His mercy
endureth forever. Thank God for mercy. Thank God for mercy. God's people
are all brought to a place where they see their need for mercy. And they thank God for it. Thank
God for mercy. Verse 2 says, Let Israel, God's
chosen people, now say, that His mercy endureth forever."
Let the house of Aaron now say that His mercy endureth forever. Let them now that fear the Lord
say that His mercy endureth forever. Let everybody say. His mercy
endures forever. Every soul that has seen His
mercy. In Psalm 51, David said, Have
mercy upon me. Have mercy upon me. What does
that mean? What does that mean? We talk
about mercy. Have mercy upon me. What is David asking? What are we asking? What are
all of God's people asking? This is what he said there. He
said, According to the multitude of thy tender mercies, Blot out
my transgressions. That's what he was asking. Blot
out my transgressions. That means cover my sin in your
blood. They used to take hyssop and
they dip it in the blood of the sacrifice. Sprinkle it on the
mercy seat. Blot out my sins, cover my sins
in your blood. That's what it means. As a figure
of speech, you know, we say, can you believe that? We say
that, can you believe that? Can you believe he did that?
Well, can we? Can we, has the Spirit of God
given us faith to believe that? Truly believe that and rest in
that? That Christ has covered our sin
in His own blood. Men and women worry about their
sin. They want to be baptized. A man told Brother Tom Harding
one time, I want you to baptize me, but I don't want to be baptized
in a baptistry, I want to be baptized in a river. Because
he said, I want my sins to float on downstream and be washed away. Tom said, that's not how it works. But honestly, men and women are
worried about their sin. I know I'm a sinner and you know
you're a sinner. And until God reveals mercy in the blood of
Jesus Christ, they wonder, what about this sin? What about this
sin? God, by His goodness, because
God is good, and in the goodness of His Spirit. He brings faith.
He speaks to the heart. He causes them to see what Christ
did on the cross. What Christ accomplished on the
cross. What that means. And He speaks peace to the heart. And that center rests in the
mercy. of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy
that is in Christ. That sinner rests thinking, my
sin has been covered in His blood. Washed in His blood. I pray God reveals that to us.
I pray He truly will. Every sinner who has that revealed
to him or her will be thankful for it. Every sinner. Hold your
place here again and go to Colossians 2. This is what it means to receive
this mercy from the Lord. Colossians 2. Ephesians 2 says, But God, who
is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, He quickened us together with Christ.
Alright, this is what that means. Colossians 2 verse 13, it says,
And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, that means you were an outcast, you were a heathen, You being dead in your sins and
the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with
Him, with Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses. blotting
out the handwriting of ordinance that was against us. That means
everything that the law had against us. The law said, sin against
me. Record it. Sin against me. Record
it. That blood blotted out everything
that the law had against us. Verse 14 says, which was contrary
to us. Christ took it out of the way. How? Nailing it to His cross. I love that. nailing it to His
cross. Verse 15 says, And having spoiled
principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them. And these last two words, if
your Bible has a center margin, I don't know if it does or not,
but the first time my eyes glanced over to the center margin, I
have a little three right there next to mine. But those two words
translate, in Himself. In it, translates, in Himself. He made an open show, triumphing
over the sins of His people in Himself. He did that in Himself. That was His mercy to us, and
it is a real reason to be thankful. It's a real reason to be thankful.
We are so thankful because the Lord is good. We're so thankful
because His mercy endures forever. Alright, reason number three.
Go with me back to the Psalms. This time go to Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse 62. It says, At midnight I will rise
to give thanks unto thee. because of thy righteous judgments."
At midnight, I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy
righteous judgments. He said, I'll be thankful because
you are holy. That's why I'll be thankful.
It's because you're holy. Our God is holy. And this is
what that means. It means he can only do what's
right. He can only do what's right.
We just had a conversation in the car on the way over here
about this. I was telling him about me getting pulled over.
And the police officer, in his own kindness and his own mercy,
gave me a warning and let me go. And I was telling Eric, that
was an unjust judgment. I was wrong. and justice was
not served. But men and women see that in
the flesh as being goodness and mercy. And they think that's
what God's going to do to sinners. God's going to say, you know
what, I tell you what, we're going to let that one slide.
Don't do it again. But we're just going to let that
slide. That is not goodness and mercy. That's injustice. And
a God who does that is an unholy God. But our God is holy. And He must punish sin. And my
sin was not swept under the rug and let go. My sin was punished
and condemned and damned in Jesus Christ when He nailed it to His
cross. And I thank God for that. Because
if He said, I tell you what, I'm going to turn a blind eye
to your sin. What about next time? I'm about to sin. What about next time? But God is holy, and He must
justly deal with sin. And that's exactly what God did
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. His righteous judgment
is His holiness. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Holiness is spotlessness. It's
purity within. It's sanctification within. Therefore,
He will only do what's just and right and pure without. Righteous
judgments. He ordered everything concerning
us and none of it is wrong. And I love that. He ordered everything
concerning us and none of it is wrong. None of it is wrong. All these things that happened
to us, and we think, why? One of these days, we will know
as we have been known, and we'll understand, and we'll see it
was all right. None of it was wrong, none of
it. Everything, everything that's
happening is for the purpose, for God's people, is for the
purpose of bringing goodness, mercy, and perfection to them. And in that we give thanks. We
give so much thanks. Alright, reason number four.
I'm going to be quick here. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 13. It says, But we are 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."
We thank God for electing a people. We thank God for choosing to
call a particular people, a particular brethren, to Himself. Election is the sweetest thing
that could ever be declared. It's the sweetest thing that
a child of God could ever know. People who have not had their
eyes and their hearts open to God's election see it as a harsh
thing. They see it as an excluding. You know, I've chosen this particular
people and you're not included. That's not how it works. If it
weren't for God's election, no one would be included. If it
were not for God's election, every soul would be eternally
damned. But God, who is rich in mercy
and rich in goodness, chose to spare some who wanted nothing
to do with Him. Nothing to do with Him. Who would
not come to Him. Did not desire Him. God, in His
goodness, in His mercy, He chose to, in spite of His people, save
them from what they were. He chose to gather a group of
people to call brethren. Brethren who can live together
and dwell together and fellowship together in one heart. All of God's people share one
heart. One mind. The Scripture calls
it the mind of Christ. What does that mean? That means
everything they think is Christ. What do you think about Here's
my answer. Christ. Christ. Christ is the answer. Christ
is all. That's the mind of Christ. One heart. One mind. There's
one spirit. One body. Behold how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. I thank God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord. I thank God for you. We thank
God for being good to us. We thank God for being merciful
to us. We thank God for making all of
our wrong, right. We thank God for bringing us
together. Thank God He chose us and saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Thank God He has a particular
people and He's made us to be a part of them. Thank God. Alright,
one more. One more for today. Our fifth
reason. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
11. Revelation 11. Revelation 11 verse 15. It says, And the seventh angel sounded,
and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms
of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of
His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever. And the four
and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats fell upon
their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks,
O Lord God Almighty, which art and wast and art to come, because
Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power and hast reigned." They
said, We give Thee thanks, because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great
power and has reigned. Oh Lord God Almighty. We give thanks because He is
who He is. We give thanks because He has
done what He has done. We give thanks because He has
done it for whom He has done it for. Sinners. Sinners. We give thanks because He has
reigned. We give thanks because every
promise that He's made to us, He is able to perform it, and
He gets all the credit for it, and He gets all the glory for
it. We give thanks for the fact that He gets all the glory for
everything. Don't we give thanks for that?
May all the glory be unto Him. He's been good to us. He's been
merciful to us. He has done right with us. He
chose us. and He sovereignly reigned over
us. And because of that, we're thankful. Oh, give thanks to the Lord,
for He's good, because His mercy endures forever. Amen. Alright. You coming back up?
You dismissed? Alright. Hi. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.