Go with me back to Psalm 105.
Psalm 105, and let's read the first seven verses again. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Call upon His name. Make known
His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto
Him. Talk ye of all His wondrous works. Glory ye in His holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice
that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and His strength. Seek His face evermore. Remember His marvelous works
that He hath done, His wonders and the judgments of His mouth.
O ye seed of Abraham, His servant, ye children of Jacob, His chosen,
He is the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the
earth. I was initially drawn to this
psalm because we're coming up on the Thanksgiving holiday.
And I thought this would be a good time to bring a message on giving
thanks. So give thanks to the Lord. I started though, when I was
studying this and reading this, that's a long psalm. And as I
was reading what was written here in this whole Psalm, I got
a hold of something that gave me great reason to give thanks. I came here to give thanks. And
after I got here, I found great reason to give
thanks. Great reason. As I was thinking about what
is written here, I entered into specifically what I want to give
thanks for tonight. Now we give thanks for everything
that comes to us from God, everything. 1 Thessalonians 5 says, in everything
give thanks, everything. We thank God for creating us. That's a good place to start,
isn't it? We thank God for redeeming us. He created us and look what
we did with ourselves. We thank God for redeeming us. We thank God for calling us. We thank God for sustaining us. Had he not called us, we wouldn't
be called. And if he doesn't sustain us,
we won't be sustained. We thank God for the cross, don't
we? We thank God for the Christ who
came and suffered on the cross. We thank God for the blood that
poured from the veins of the Christ who came and suffered
on the cross for us. We thank God for having mercy
on us. He will have mercy on whoever
he wants to have mercy on. This is God. This is God. We don't assume on him at any
point. We don't assume on him. And so
we thank Him for having mercy on us, and we thank Him for having
mercy on our brethren. I'm so glad He had mercy on me,
and I'm so glad He had mercy on you. And we thank God for giving us
the hope that He is gonna have mercy on many more. He has put
a hope in us, an expected anticipation, because the earth is still rotating. And because there's an opportunity
to preach one more message, he has given us the hope that he's
gonna have mercy on many more. Mercy on our families, mercy
on our parents, our children, our friends, our acquaintances. We have everything to thank God
for. Food, you realize how many people
in this world don't have food? Clothes. Look at what I'm wearing. Homes. Beds, comforts, luxuries. That's what we have, luxuries.
What do we have that we have not received from Him? He gave us all of this. We have
everything to give thanks for. And along with everything, I'd
like for us to single in on this tonight. I don't want to neglect
anything. I don't wanna forget anything.
We have everything to thank Him for. But along with everything,
I want us to single in on this tonight. Verse one, he said,
oh, give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, Make known
His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto
Him. Talk ye of all His wondrous works. Glory ye in His holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice
that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord in His strength. Seek His face evermore. Remember
his marvelous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments
of his mouth. Oh, ye seed of Abraham, his servant,
ye children of Jacob, his chosen, he is the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the
earth. Tonight, I'd like for us to specifically
give thanks for His deeds among the people, all of His wondrous
works, His marvelous works that He hath done, His judgments that
are in all the earth. That's what we're gonna give
thanks for. And this one line is gonna summarize the whole
message. If we wanna focus in on specifically what it is we're
giving thanks for, this one line says it all. God meant it for good. If you wanna get to the core of
this whole message, that one line right there, God meant it
for good. Verse eight says, he hath remembered
his covenant forever, The word which he commanded to a thousand
generations, which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath
unto Isaac and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law and
to Israel for an everlasting covenant. He made a covenant
with them. And verse 17 says, he began the work of fulfilling
his promise. by sending a man named Joseph,
it says, who was sold for a servant. That's how he started his covenant. He sent Joseph who was sold for
a servant. Verse 18 says, whose feet they
hurt with fetters. He was laid in iron until that
time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him. And then David goes on to recount
his story. and how God used him for the
good of his brethren. They ended up getting corn in
the middle of a famine. We know the story of Joseph.
His brothers sold him into slavery and the Lord used him and raised
him up. Pharaoh put him in charge of
all the corn. He saw in a dream that a famine
was coming and he started stockpiling. and his brothers came and they
were able to get corn. And that brought all of Joseph's
brethren and Jacob, whose name is Israel, Israel and his family,
his children, it brought them into Egypt, plenty of corn. And
he goes on to say, that's what put all of them in bondage. The whole nation, God's chosen
people. Verse 23 says, Israel also came
into Egypt and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham and he increased
his people greatly and made them stronger than their enemies.
He turned Egypt's heart to hate his people. Who did it? Who hardened
the heart of Pharaoh? God did. Why'd he do that? He turned their heart to hate
his people, to deal subtly with his servants. They were all so
thankful and so happy to be able to come to Egypt, but that's
what put them all in bondage. Hard bondage, hard oppression,
hard taskmasters. Verse 26 says, so God sent a
man named Moses. And then he goes on down to say,
Moses performed all of these wonders. and brought all of these
plagues. And he brought such a miserable
condition to Egypt. Verse 38 says, Egypt was glad
when they departed. So glad for the fear of them
fell upon them. Egypt was glad that God led Israel
out. They were like, here, take whatever
you need. You just go. And Israel was so happy to be
leaving Egypt. But God brought them into a wilderness
where there was nothing. They said, at least we had leeks
and onions back there. There was nothing. And he kept
them there for 40 years. And they murmured and complained
about it the whole time. Even though verse 39 says, he
spread a cloud for a covering and fire to give light in the
night. The people asked and he brought
quails and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened
the rock and the waters gushed out. They ran in the dry places
like a river. Now David said those were the
deeds that God did among the people. Those were His wondrous
works toward them. Those were His judgments in all
the earth. Now here's our question. Why? Why did God sell Joseph? Why did God sell Joseph and bring
Israel into bondage and lead them into an absolutely empty
wilderness for 40 years? It's because in verse 11, he
said, unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your
inheritance. He did it because he said, I
promise you I promise you. Verse 42, he remembered his holy
promise. And Abraham his servant, and
he brought forth his people with joy and his chosen with gladness
and gave them the lands of the heathen and they inherited the
labor of the people that they might observe his statutes and
keep his laws. And what was the final word of
the whole thing? David said, praise ye the Lord. Now, this is what I'd like for
us to specifically give thanks for tonight in thinking about
the fact that David's declaring of the Lord's deeds. That's what he did in this Psalm.
He declared the Lord's deeds among the people. And in his
declaring, he started with Joseph. That's where he started his declaring.
He started with everything that happened to Joseph, beginning
with his brothers, selling him into slavery. And how he is the
one who in the end said, and I want us to read it together.
Turn with me over to Genesis 50. Genesis chapter 50. He has revealed Himself to His
brethren here. They came and He revealed to
them who He was and fear struck them. They realized we sold Him
and did Him wrong and now He's in charge of us. And it says
in Genesis 50 verse 18, His brethren also went and fell down before
His face and they said, behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph
said unto them, fear not for am I in the place of God. But
as for you, you thought evil against me. But God meant it
unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people
alive. Now therefore, fear ye not, I
will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them and
spake kindly unto them. Joseph said everything that happened
in this tragic story, every seemingly horrible deed that took place,
he said, God meant all of it for good. All of it. God has meant all
of it for good. And what was the good? He said,
to save much people alive. Now, this is what got ahold of
me. Our God is so wise and He is so powerful And He is so wise. And He is so sovereign. And He is so wise. And He is
so perfect in all of His wonderful works. Even though His judgments
in the earth, at times they seem so devastating. In all of His wisdom and in all
of His perfection, with every deed that He does among the people,
every time, He means it for good. Every single time. And this is the good, that He might save much people
alive. That's why God does what God
does according to God. Everything that he does, he means
it for good. And the good is that he might
save much people alive. Now that is something to give
thanks for. Joseph himself said, if you want
to get to the heart of why all this is happening, It was so
much people could be saved alive. Every story in the scripture
tells us that. When I was studying this, I was
thinking about story after story. We could have gone anywhere.
We could have gone anywhere. Every story tells us God's glorious
deeds among the people. The end result of His wondrous
works every time is so that much people can be saved alive. All of His judgments, everything
He does is for the salvation of God's people. It's for their
good. And we could go anywhere, Old
Testament, New Testament. And we could see how God turned
bad situations into indescribable good. They could just start rolling
through your mind. Bad things that turned out so
indescribably good. The most horrible things that
you could ever imagine, God brought great salvation through them. Great salvation, and that's the
key, salvation. I want to show you two. All right,
let's look at two. Let's look at the greatest example
that there could ever be. And then let's look at the example
that has most directly touched us and affected us. Here's the
first one. Go with me to John chapter 12. John 12 verse 23, And Jesus answered them, saying,
The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth
alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. What is he saying in that? He's saying if you see this horrible,
wicked act of sin take place, this corn of wheat, if it abides
alone and it just stays alone, that's it, that's all it'll ever
be. But he said, if it goes into the ground and dies, it will
bring forth many more just like it, much fruit. And he said, if you see hatred
for God appearing to rain on this earth,
so much so that they take the Lord of glory and nail Him to
a cross and torture Him to His death, He said, if you see that
happen, you need to know that I'm the one doing it and I'm
doing it for good. And you need to know that I'm
doing it so that much people can be saved alive. Verse 32 right here, he said,
and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto
me. The word men is in italics. He
said, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto
me. Who are the all? In John 17,
he said, it's all that my father gave to me. Every single one,
all of them. Verse 33, then this he said,
signifying what death he should die. The greatest tragedy this
world has ever known brought the greatest good this world
has ever known. What appeared to be the worst
possible thing that could ever happen, that ended up being the
one thing It ended up being the very thing
that saved much people alive. Now, let's do a little time travel. All right, go back 2000 years,
put yourself in their shoes, in their sandals. Had we been there in the days
of our Lord? Had we experienced that and known
Him and seen Him? We would not have wanted to see
him die on a cross. We would not have. You talk about
heartbreaking, you talk about crushing. We would not have seen in that
moment, we would not have seen that to have been God's wonderful
deeds among the people. We would not have rejoiced in
what was happening. We would not have seen his strength
in it. We would not have seen his almighty
sovereign power in it. We would not have seen how in
one fatal swoop, he gathered all of his people to himself.
And just like those two on the road to Emmaus, we would have
said, I thought he was gonna be the one to deliver us. I'm
crushed because I thought he was the one who was gonna save
much people alive. He was the one who delivered
us. How did he deliver us? Through
that horrible act. That horrible deed that took
place at the hands of sinful, wicked men. Everything on this
earth meant that moment for evil, including God's people. Everything
on this earth meant that moment for evil, but God meant it for
good. And all that matters is what
God means in it. And he did it to save much people
alive. That's the ultimate proof. The
death of Christ on the cross of Calvary, that's the ultimate
example, but let's look at one more. This one has directly affected
us. Christ on the cross affected
all of his people, Jew and Gentile, but this one directly affected
us Gentiles. Go with me to Philippians chapter
one. Philippians 1 verse 1, Paul and
Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in
Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons,
grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request
with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first
day until now. 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. Even as it is meet for me to
think this of you all, because I have you in my heart in as
much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation
of the gospel, you all are partakers of my grace, or that means with
me of grace. For God is my record, how greatly
I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. In this I pray
that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and
in all judgment, that you may approve things that are excellent,
that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,
being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by
Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. Now watch verse
12. But I would, you should understand,
brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel." What happened
to him? He was thrown in prison for preaching
Jesus Christ crucified. And now he's sitting there writing
letters to all the Gentile churches because he has all this time
on his hands. He had to be wondering, how am I gonna spread the gospel
message from here? Now he has all this time on his
hands and he's writing all these letters to the Gentiles. Through
that imprisonment, the New Testament came, half of the New Testament
came. Paul said, I want you to understand, brethren, that everything
that has happened to me, God means it for good. And he said,
God is going to use this to save much people alive. Verse 12,
I would, you should understand brethren that the things which
happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance
of the gospel. He said, that's the reason this
has happened. And based on the word of God, I don't, I'm not
trying to sound like a prophet or a fortune teller or anything
like that based on the word of God. The word that was written
from eternity and recorded thousands of years ago, based on the word
of God, we can know exactly why everything that is happening
in the world right now. And at any moment to come, if
we want to know why it's happening, we can know why it's happening. And we can also know what to
expect in the end of it. No matter what it is based on
God's word, everything that is happening in the world right
now is God's wondrous doings in the earth. That's what it
is. We are witnessing over the entire
globe. God's glorious deeds among the
people. And as we witness what we're
seeing right now, our hearts can rejoice in the strength of
the Lord. What we see is the Lord's strength. We see His power. That's what
we're seeing. That's what we're witnessing.
And in what we see, we can glory in His holy name. We can rejoice
and we can glorify Him. Because even though we don't
understand it in the moment, we never do, we know what He
means in it. Even though we don't understand
it, we know what He means in it. He means good. And I'll tell you what we can
expect to come from it. Everything that's going on, if
we wanna know what's right around the corner, what can we expect
to come from it? The saving of much people alive. Everything that God does is for
the purpose of bringing his people to himself. Our God is going
to keep calling his people and bringing his people until the
last person is brought. None of them are going to be
lost. And everything that happens is the purpose of that coming
to pass. It's the good of his people.
And if it takes this, even all of this, to bring his people
to himself, then we can rejoice in it. If this is what it takes,
and if this is what it takes, then there's no other way. If
this has to happen, this has to happen. And even if it takes
this, we can rejoice in it, knowing that's what's coming from it.
And we can give thanks for it. As strange as that may sound,
we can give thanks for it. This is a widespread affliction
right now. The Lord may be about to send
a widespread salvation. I would rejoice over that. I
really would, just for the hope. of a widespread salvation, just
in the fact that we have a hope that he's able, if he's willing,
I rejoice in that. Whether he does it or not is
his business. But if he wants to, he can. So for that reason,
oh, give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known
his deeds among the people. All right, let's all stand together.