Go with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 100. Psalm 100, and let's read verse
four together again. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving
and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless
his name. I want us to consider this verse
for our text tonight because we have so much to be thankful
for. We have so very much to be thankful
for. That's what I've titled this
message. We have so much to be thankful for. We honestly do.
Again, verse four says, enter into his gates with thanksgiving. That just really struck me when
I read that. I read the whole chapter, but
that one verse, enter into his gates with thanksgiving. It just struck me. How should
we enter into his house? How should we enter into his
presence for worship? Enter into his gates with thanksgiving. and into his courts with praise,
be thankful unto him and bless his name." That's a wonderful
exhortation to us. And the reason is because we
honestly have so very much to be thankful for, just so much. Now, we forget that, we do. We do, we forget that and our
sinful flesh gets us in a place where we feel like we have so
much to complain about. And I recognize that in myself,
I honestly do. I recognize that in myself, and
I wish it wasn't so, and I would love to change that. I pray the
Lord might help me change that. But that is the way of the flesh. We read about our brothers and
sisters wandering in the wilderness in the Old Testament, and all
they did was murmur and complain. And you think, what is wrong
with y'all? That's all I do. That's all I do. I'm being honest. I just murmur and complain. I
just murmur and complain. I get myself so convinced that,
oh, there's a lot to complain about. Oh, we just have so much
to complain about. Oh, so much work left on that
building. Thank God we're getting a building.
The ministry's tough. Thank God He gave us the ministry. How many people are without it? We come into the house of the
Lord. This is what happens. I believe this is what happens
for all of God's people. We come into the house of the
Lord and we open his word. And this is why we do this. We
were just here. Why are we back? We're in need again. We're in
the same need we were in before we came in this morning. We come
into the house of the Lord and we open up his word together
and we see the things of God In spite of the things of man,
just look at God's goodness to his people throughout that time
in the wilderness, in spite of them. We're no different, we're
still in the wilderness. Kingsport is the wilderness. And we see what our Lord has
done for us in spite of us, and we're reminded again, we have
so much to be thankful for. So very much. David listed some
of the things that he was thankful for right here. The next verse
in verse four, he said, 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. Those are three wonderful things
to be thankful for. The Lord himself is good. And let me see if I can convey what I'm trying to convey. The adversary is not. We are not. But the Lord is. in His character, in His will,
in His desire. The Lord is good. He is so good. His mercy that He has on sinners. There's nothing greater to a
sinner who really gets a hold of his sin There is nothing greater
to a sinner who's gotten hold of his sin than mercy in the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because you cannot fathom how
that sin is going to be dealt with, how that sin is going to
be corrected, how that sin is going to be stopped doing. You
say, I can't stop doing it. And then you hear about mercy
through the covering of the blood. God poured blood on it and smothered
it. And he said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Nothing greater. Any sinner who
needs mercy, for the sin that they committed yesterday and
the sin they committed today and the sin that they know they're
gonna commit tomorrow. This is the greatest thing you
could hear. His mercy endureth forever. And his truth endures to all
generations. Isn't that wonderful? While we
cry, save our children, save our children, the word of God
says, his truth endures to all generations. Those are three
wonderful things to be thankful for, honestly thankful for. David himself said, I am so thankful
for that. David listed a lot of things
in the Psalms that he was thankful for. He constantly listed things
he was thankful for. The apostle Paul did the same
thing. He let it be known, this is what I'm thankful for. Look
with me if you would at 2 Corinthians 9. 2 Corinthians 9. Look at verse 15, he said, 2 Corinthians 9 verse 15, he said,
thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. What was God's unspeakable
gift? His only begotten Son, the spotless
Lamb of heaven, the one who is owed all the value, all the value,
the one who is owed all the glory, the one who heaven literally
revolves around. Heaven revolves around him. Everything is looking to him.
You talk about a reason to be thankful. You know, God didn't say, I'm
gonna take one of the cherubims and slay one of the cherubims
for you. He said, I'm gonna take my only
begotten son. the one that heaven is built on. And I'm going
to give him. For God so loved sinners, ungodly
sinners, out of every nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue all
over this world, He gave His only begotten Son. And Paul said,
I'm thankful for that. I'm very thankful. Look with
me at 2 Thessalonians 2. Again, the Apostle Paul is the
one writing this and he said in verse 13, 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. Paul said, I thank God for his
election. And I thank God for the ones
he elected. Thank God for his election and
the people he chose. Thank God he chose sinners to
salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. He set them apart by his spirit and put his own faith
in them, caused them to believe on him. That's how he did it. David said, this is what I'm
thankful for. Many times David said, this is
what I'm thankful for. The apostle Paul said, this is
what I'm thankful for. And I'm so glad we have those
things recorded so we can read them. But how wonderful is it
to know that the Lord himself declared, this is what I'm thankful
for. Look with me at Luke chapter
10. This is just, boy, this is something. Luke 10, verse 21, it says, in that hour, Jesus rejoiced
in spirit. And I just, the thought of that
is just, that's time stopping. That's, in that hour, Jesus rejoiced
in spirit. and said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Aren't you
thankful for that? The Lord himself said, father,
I am so thankful for the fact that you've chosen to reveal
these mysteries of the gospel and these mysteries of salvation,
eternal life to babes. The lowly, the simple, the meek. He said, I thank you for that. Our Lord, in His example here,
openly declaring His own thanksgiving and Him doing that, He is the
proof to us that it is a good thing to give thanks unto the
Lord. It's a good thing. Our text tells
us, enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts
with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless
His name. That's what our text tells us. So with that instruction, I've
written down a few things that I am sincerely thankful for.
That's His instruction to us. And I've written down a few things
that I'm sincerely, honestly thankful for. Now, these are
not the only things, not at all. The things that David said he
was thankful for, and the things that Paul said he was thankful
for, and especially the thing that the Lord said he was thankful
for. I'm thankful for all that too.
All of God's people are. So, so thankful. We're thankful
for everything that pertains to Christ and our life in him.
So these are not the only things. These are just the things that
the Lord laid on my heart for this message. And these things
can speak for all of us. I'm saying these are the things
I'm thankful for. They can speak on behalf of all
of us as we are gathered here in his court together. All right,
we can all declare our thankfulness to him. Along with his goodness
and his mercy through the blood of his cross, his unspeakable
gift, along with his election of his particular people, and
the fact that those people are the lowly people like you and
me, along with that, in really thinking about it, and praying
about it, I just took some time to really think, what am I thankful
for? What am I really thankful for?
In thinking about it, praying about it, and applying it to
the life that we right now live on this earth, right here, right
now. The first thing that I want to
declare my and our thankfulness to God for is found in Revelation
19. Turn with me over to Revelation
19. While you're turning there, I'll
say again that we could all go into our hearts and we could
think of thousands of things to be thankful for. Thousands
of things, all right? These are just the ones I want
to bring our attention to tonight. Revelation 19, look with me at
verse 5, it says, And a voice came out of the throne, saying,
Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small
and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thunderings saying, hallelujah, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. I sincerely thank God for the
fact that our God reigneth. And I mean that. We could name
Oh, we'll spend eternity naming reasons why we thank God for
everything. But the thing that I sincerely
want to say to Him, as we have now come into His court, the thing that I want to say
I'm so, so thankful for in this day and age that we live in right
now, is the fact that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. The word omnipotent means all
ruling, almighty. He reigns. Our God is right now
reigning over all things. all things. You can turn with
me or just listen. You know these. I'm going to
read a few verses to you. Psalm 115 verse 3 says, I could just quote this, but
I want to get it right. Psalm 115 verse 3, it says, but
our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. That's our God. Daniel 4, this is Daniel 4, verse 35. I quote this all the time and
I love this. I'm so thankful for it. It says,
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. Aren't
you glad? All of them. and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? So, so glad. Listen to this one. This is Colossians 1, 16 and
17. It says, for by him were all
things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him." Why is that
evil, wicked man over there doing what he's doing? For Him. That's
why. It says, and He is before all
things. and by him all things consist. Our God is right now reigning
over all things, all things. A sparrow can't fall to the ground. A hair cannot fall out of a head,
honestly, without him giving permission for that to take place.
We do not enter into that. We shouldn't even pretend like
we do. We do not enter into that. We could, if the Lord would give
us the ability to, but we don't. But here's the thing, whether
we enter into it or not is irrelevant. Our God is still reigning. We
can enter into it and have peace and comfort and rest or not enter
into it and have fear and worry and doubt. It doesn't matter.
Either way, our God reigneth, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. And I'm thankful. I'm very, very
thankful. You know, men down here running
around saying, well, now this could happen, that could happen. You know what's gonna happen?
Whatever the king on the throne allows to happen. The reigning
king, that's what's gonna happen. Only what he lets happen. And
whatever he says will happen, will happen. He reigns. In my lifetime, I've never known
chaos like this in the world before. I'm not that old. I keep
saying that, but one day that's not gonna be true anymore. And
I know many of you've lived longer, and I also know that we've been
very sheltered in this country. I do know that. There's been
a lot of, oh, just turmoil, and we've been very sheltered from
it. But for me, just in my experience, this is the most chaotic, seemingly
uncertain time I have ever known. Do you know that nothing that's
going on right now is chaotic or uncertain? Nothing. Nothing. David said, although it be not
so with my house, the Lord hath made an everlasting covenant
with me, ordered in all things and sure. Even though I haven't
been able to fully see it or understand it in this life that
I've lived here on this earth, even though he make it not to
grow, I haven't seen the fullness of it. Even though we don't understand
these things, we know that they are all ordered and sure. Ordered and sure. God controls
armies. God controls nations. All we have to do is read the
scripture. God can make two enemies of his people ambush each other
and just wipe everybody out. And then they show up, the Lord
told them, you shall not need to fight in this battle. Well,
it was like he said it was. God controls plagues. It's all ordered. It's all controlled. Psalm 37, 23 says the steps of
a good man, a man who's been made good in Christ, robed in
the righteousness of Christ. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. Even our steps are ordered by
the Lord. You ever leave the house and
get so frustrated and murmur and complain because you forgot
something? So you have to turn around and go back and get it.
There's no telling what the Lord spared you from. Hannah knows that I like to take
Center Street all the way here because it's faster and I want
to get here. And that's usually the route we take. And every
now and then she'll say, take Watauga. She is, you know, nice
driving. And every now and then I'll say,
oh, all right. There's no telling what the Lord
spared us from. You just think, well, on a whim, our hap was,
I gotta run back and get that. Our steps are ordered by the
Lord. Every single step is ordered
by the Lord. There is no chance ahead of you. There is no uncertainty around
the corner. Trouble, yes. Trials, absolutely. Sickness,
sorrow, it'll be there just like the Lord said it would be there.
Just like the reigning king said it would be there. But it's all
at the hand of the one who is in control. I'm sincerely thankful. I am sincerely so thankful for
that. Our God reigns. I know you are
too. The second thing we'll declare
our thankfulness for is in Romans 8. Romans 8, look with me at verse
31. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Our God reigns, and if God be
for us, who can be against us? He is for us. He is for us. Peter said, cast
all your care on him because he cares for you. That's an amazing
thought. That honestly, that is an amazing
thought. I just, how can you fathom God? Can a man by searching
find out God, the great and infinite God, and just to think he cares
for you. That is just overwhelming. That's a comforting thing to
know. Everything that he does, is for us. It is. Like a husband for a wife,
like a parent for a child. Everything he does, he has us
in mind. It's for our wellbeing, everything
he does. The care, the safety, the salvation. Verse 32 says, he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We're accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What thankfulness
that produces in us. Doesn't that make you want to
enter his gates with thanksgiving and enter his courts with praise? Makes me want to be thankful
for him, thankful to him and bless his name. Blessed be the
name. Our God reigneth and he's for
us. And if God be for us, who can
be against us? Last thing. This is the last
thing I wanna declare thankfulness for. It's something that we know
and we quote all the time. And because of that, I believe,
I very strongly believe we take it for granted. We know it, we
quote it, we take it for granted. Most of the time, I believe it's
common to us, and I believe it does not hit us, it does not
grab us, and it just passes over us, passes over our minds and
our hearts. But every time the Lord brings
this back to my fervent attention, Every time he really applies
it to me again, I am so thankful for it. It's found right here
in Romans 8, verse 28. It says, and we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God to them
who are the called according to His purpose." You know what
that means? That means we can trust Him. That's what it means. That means
we can trust Him. We know that all things work
together for good. to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. For God's people,
there is not one thing that happens on this earth that is not for
their good. And I'm gonna repeat that. For God's people, there is not
one thing that happens on this earth all the way around it. That does not happen for their
good. Not one thing, not one thing. Every painful thing that comes
to God's people will bring good. Every sorrowful thing that comes
to God's people will bring good. Every event that happens in this
lifetime, for those who are in Christ, that event was ordered to happen. It was ordered at the sovereign
hand of the God who is for us. It was ordered by the hand of
the sovereign God who's for us. And he purposed it for good. He purposed it for good. We've
listed these things before, but let me just remind us. Think
about them throwing Joseph in a pit and selling him into slavery. You say, oh, that was bad. Not
according to Joseph. Joseph said it was good. He said,
you meant this for evil. God meant it for good. He literally
said that and he meant it. What was it, two years he spent
in that horrible prison and everything he endured? He said it was good.
He meant that. He honestly meant that. Think
about the fact that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were actually
thrown into a burning, fiery furnace. Can you imagine? You
think about that and you say, that was bad. That's horrible.
Not according to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Once that fourth
man appeared, oh, they said, this is good. This is all good. They beat the apostle Paul and
they bound him with chains and literally threw him into a Philippian
jail. And you say, oh man, that was
bad. That was so bad. Not according
to Paul and not according to that Philippian jailer. They said, that was good. That
was so good. All right, now, thinking about
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and thinking about Paul, and
thinking about these men who endured all this, think about
you, and think about the very things that are happening in
your life right now. The different things that you're
going through that are causing you to say, it's bad. This is
bad. Things are, this is looking bad. All right, think about those
very things. Zero in on those very things.
All right, those actual things. And remember this, soon you are
going to be thanking God for those things. The very things
that you are just dreading, the clouds you so much dread. very
soon. All right. It may be nearly impossible
to believe that right now, but it is so it is absolutely so
either in this lifetime or in the life to come. Either way. Every one of God's children will
see the good of every single event that the Lord caused on
purpose to come their way, and we will thank Him for it. I'm
telling you, we will thank God for that seemingly horrible event. Whatever trial we may be enduring,
not only will He bring an end to it, but He'll bring good from it
and we will thank Him for it. So let's close going back to
Psalm 100. Let's read this in closing. Along with David, along with
all the other brethren in the scripture, I wanna acknowledge
to our Lord on all of our behalf that we're so thankful to Him
for the fact that He's sovereign over all things. So thankful
that He's for us, and so thankful that everything He's purposed
to us is for our good. With that, Psalm 100 says, Make
a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord
with gladness. Come before His presence with
singing. Know ye that the Lord, He is
God, it is He that hath 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 the Lord. Thanks be to
our Lord. All right, Brother Dwight, you've
come.