Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Thessalonians chapter five. 1 Thessalonians five. I would like
to begin our coming back together with thanksgiving. That's how I'd like for us to
come back together, with thanksgiving. I believe that's a needful subject
and an appropriate subject for us to come back together to.
Thanksgiving, our Lord has been with us and we need to acknowledge
that that's so. Our Lord has been with us and
he's had his hand on us. and He's helped us and He's allowed
us to be here right now. So for that reason, 1 Thessalonians
5 verse 18 will be our text and it says, in everything give thanks for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. In everything, give thanks. For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. What I'd like for us to look
at in this is how do we properly give thanks? That's what I want
us to see. How do we properly give thanks? I want to give thanks. You want
to give thanks. How do we properly give thanks? This is the will of God concerning
us. So how do we do it? How do we
do it properly? It's something that we as God's
people should put much emphasis on. A lot of times things happen
and we forget to go back and give thanks. We beg and pray
and cry, Lord, please, please, please, and He does it. He hears
us, He answers us. And we forget to go back and
give thanks. And it's something that we need
to be very mindful of. We need to put much emphasis
on it because this word says that there is peace from God
in being thankful to Him. And as a side note, I wanna point
this out. If you are in a hard way, Emotionally, physically, if you
are depressed, if you are whatever, in some form of a bad way and
you want to get over it, start thanking the Lord. I'm serious.
Start thanking the Lord for everything that you can think of to thank
him for, and it will pull you out of it. It'll pull you right
out of your depression. You just start being grateful.
And it'll change everything. It will absolutely change everything. There is peace from God to his
people through being thankful. The scripture says for those
who are not his people and are never truly from the heart thankful
to him, it says they will be given over to judgment and wrath.
That's the opposite. Let me just show you that. Look
with me at Philippians 4. Philippians 4 verse 6 says, be
careful for nothing. The scripture is always telling
us this, be full of care over nothing, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests
be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passeth all
understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus. Prayer and supplication, and
that's what we do. You know, the Lord allows us
to get into a place, and we start praying and begging, Lord, these
are our requests, this is what we're asking. He said, with thanksgiving,
with thanksgiving, as much thanksgiving as we can give. And he said,
the peace of God shall keep you. Now the opposite of that is in
Romans 1. Turn with me over there. Romans 1 verse 18 says, For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them.
For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Now watch verse 21. Because that
when they knew God, two things, they glorified Him not as God,
neither were thankful. but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image made like two corruptible men, into birds and
four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave
them up." So it ought to be very important to us to be thankful,
and it is. It is, it is very important to
God's people to be thankful because they know they all truly know
that God has to be the one to put the thankfulness in them. It has to come from Him. Even
our thankfulness is His work. Where is boasting then, saying,
well, at least we're thankful? No, God is the one who has to
put that in us. That's His doing in us. Every soul in this room, in the
flesh, all we are is Romans 1. So we want to be thankful and
we beg our Lord to allow us to be thankful. We beg him to create
thankfulness in us to him at all times. Look with me, if you
would, at Colossians 3. Colossians 3 verse 15 says, And let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body,
and be ye thankful. Be thankful. God's people are
a thankful people. We are, aren't we? Thankful. We want to be thankful, and we
want to know how to be more thankful. Like the man said, Lord, I believe,
but help my unbelief. In that same way, we cry, Lord,
we're thankful, but help us to be more thankful. Help us to
realize this more. So I just wanna look at this
subject for a minute. How do we as God's people properly
give thanks? Well, go with me back to our
text. 1 Thessalonians 5. Verse 18 says, in everything give thanks. In everything, give thanks. That's the first thing. That's
the first way. May God teach us to be thankful
in everything. Everything. May God teach us
that. I acknowledge my flesh is not.
My flesh is not. That's not the first response
of my flesh. But I sincerely pray, Lord, would
you teach me to do that and teach me to be that? In everything, give thanks. Not in just what appears to be
good things. I have said this before, Lord
will, and I'll say it a thousand more times. There are things
that happen to us that appear to be good, good things. Wow, would you look at that?
Oh, we're so thankful. Isn't that amazing? That's God.
That's the hand of God. You see what God did? Buddy,
we're thankful. That's what we do. We do that in the things that
physically benefit us. I lost my job, but I just got
a better job, or whatever that may be. May God teach us to not just
be thankful in the things that go our way or the way that we
want them to go, but everything, everything. You know how happy,
if there is peace in being thankful, you know how happy we would be?
I mean, happy, oh, so happy. Lord, teach us to do this. I'm
sincerely asking, Lord, teach us to do this. Look with me at Ephesians 5. I pray the Lord might teach us
to do this right here. Ephesians 5 verse 19, it says,
speaking to yourselves, that just means quietly in your heart,
speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving
thanks always. for all things unto God and the
Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Doesn't that sound
so happy? Doesn't that sound so joyful
and peaceful? How do we properly give thanks?
Number one, by giving thanks in everything. Always, for all
things, no matter what it is. no matter what it appears to
be. I have things that I have it in my mind, I think it'd be
best if it goes this way. And in my heart, and you know,
you do the same thing. You're just really hoping it
goes this way. Lord, teach me that when it doesn't, even when it doesn't, Teach me
to be thankful to you, no matter what it means for me individually. Teach me to be thankful to you. Our Lord was our great example
of this. I love Him and you love Him.
We love Him. We're going to admire Him. He
was our great example of this. The scripture says, concerning
His body that would be broken on the cross, just horribly marred
and disfigured, and also concerning the blood He
would shed, this is what it says, the night in which He was betrayed,
it says, He gave thanks. That's what he did. He got those
12 disciples there, and he was doing something. He said, I'm
going to show you what I'm about to go through. I'm going to show
you what I'm about to endure for you. And he gave thanks. And he broke it. He broke it
himself. And he said, you take this, even
though this is what this means for me, Even though this is the
outcome for me, you take this and you eat this and you drink
this. This is my body broken for you. This is my blood shed for you. He gave thanks in everything,
even in that, even in his own death. His own sacrifice, He
gave thanks, He was thankful, and so are we. Oh, how thankful
we are for the fact that He gave Himself to redeem us for our
sins. Thankful, thankful, thankful. So in following His great example,
number one, we give thanks in everything, no matter what it
is. Always, Ephesians 5 here says, for all things, Now the
second thing is right here in Ephesians 5 verse 20 says, giving
thanks always for all things unto God. Look with me at Colossians 3
again. Turn with me again over there. Colossians 3 verse 17 says, and whatsoever you do in word
or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks
to God and the Father by Him. We give thanks to God by acknowledging
Him in whatever it is we're giving thanks for. This has become so
when the Lord, I believe when the Lord reveals something to
you in the word, you see it everywhere. When God reveals grace, not works,
you see it everywhere. And with each thing that he reveals,
you see it everywhere. And the thing that he has most
recently revealed to me is the absolute importance of acknowledging
him in everything. Everything, that's what we do.
We acknowledge Him in whatever we're giving thanks for. We acknowledge
His hand in it. We acknowledge that it's from
Him, whatever it is. Look with me back at our text.
1 Thessalonians 5, verse 18 says, In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God." Whatever it is, if it's happening,
then it is the will of God. Whatever it is, we acknowledge
His power over it, His absolute control in it, that that's what
He did. I cannot remember which hurricane
it was. Quite a few years ago, I wasn't
living in Kingsport, but a hurricane struck somewhere and people died
from it. And I was talking with a lady
in town about it, and she was absolutely just beside herself
over this. And she said to me, she said,
God didn't want this to happen. And I said, ma'am, God caused
this to happen. This was from Him. This was at
His hand. Now somebody's gonna hear that
and they're gonna say, do you mean to tell me that you're thankful
for something like that? You'd be thankful that something
like that happened? Are you actually happy over the
fact that all those people died because of that? Even the Lord Himself doesn't
take pleasure in the death of the wicked. Being thankful does not necessarily
mean that you take pleasure in something. I want to really point
this out. Being thankful just acknowledges
the fact that it's at His sovereign hand. It's just bowing to it. I've told you this story before,
but this is a good one, especially for this subject. But back in
1920, two preachers of the gospel, one was named A.D. Mews and the
other one was named Josh Gravitt. And they were driving down the
road one night. It was very late. I believe they
had both been preaching in a meeting. But anyway, they were in a Model
T Ford car and one of the front tires blew and the car flipped
off the road. And Josh Gravitt was thrown from
the car. And A.D. Mews crawled out of
the upside-down car, opened the door and crawled out of this
upside-down car and could see Josh was hurting bad. He ended
up having broken ribs and a punctured lung. And he crawled over there
to him and he put his arm around him and he said, are you hurt
bad, Brother Josh? And Josh said, Archie, God is sovereign and
we'll be thankful. That was his reply. As these two men, preachers of
the gospel, and even if had they been preaching at a meeting,
you think, well, they just preached the gospel of God to people, and
that was his providence for them. It was just so we could tell
this illustration right now. God is sovereign. Here they are
laying there, beat up, broken, punctured. God is sovereign,
and we'll be thankful. Does thankful always mean happy
about it? Not necessarily. But it does
mean that in every single thing that happens, we acknowledge
God's sovereign hand in it. And if God's sovereign hand is
in it, then we acknowledge the necessity of it. If this is happening,
then it had to happen according to purpose. If that's what's
going on, it had to go on. It must needs happen. If it be,
it need be. That's how everything is with
our Lord. Everything. There's only one way with Him. Never is there a fork in the
road on God's providence. There's only one predetermined
for ordained way. So truly being thankful is acknowledging
that and acknowledging Him in whatever it is that comes our
way, whatever. Now here's the next thing. Verse
18, right here, our text, it says, in everything give thanks
for this is the will of God In Christ Jesus concerning you. In Christ Jesus concerning you. Let me repeat that one more time.
In Christ Jesus concerning you. Romans 8. That chapter starts out by talking
about those that are in Christ Jesus. You know what it says?
There's no condemnation. to them which are in Christ Jesus.
And that chapter goes on to talk about all these wonderful things
and promises that God has purposed for those who are in Christ Jesus. And then you get to verse 28
and it says, concerning God's people, those who are in Christ
Jesus, it says, all things work together for good. To them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Being thankful in a given thing
is acknowledging the good in it. Not just that it is of the hand
of the Lord. It is, but not just acknowledging
that it is of the hand of the Lord. Not just that he is the
one doing it. And it's His control over it
and His power in it. Not just that it has to be the
way it is because of His purpose and His providence. But along
with all that, it's acknowledging the fact that good will come
from it. Good will come from it. Turn with me to Psalm 119. I'm
not gonna keep you much longer, but turn over to Psalm 119. Boy, I love this. I hope the Lord will teach us
some of these things that he's taught his dear saints throughout
the generations. Psalm 119, verse 71. David said,
it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that
I might learn thy statutes. It's good for me. What a powerful verse of scripture
that is. Verse 65, he said, thou hast
dealt well with thy servant. Oh Lord, according unto thy word,
teach me good judgment and knowledge for I have believed thy commandments. Watch this. He said, before I
was afflicted, I went astray. And we can enter into that, can't
we? Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy
word. Thou art good and doest good. Teach me thy statutes. He said,
The proud have forged a lie against me, but I'll keep thy precepts
with my whole heart. Their heart is as fat as grease,
but I delight in thy law. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. The law of thy
mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
It's the greatest riches a man or woman could ever know. That is being thankful, seeing
God's hand in it, seeing His control of it, seeing the necessity
of it, seeing the good in it. And in all of that, because of
all of that, after all of that, it's praising Him for it. Go with me back to our text. First Thessalonians 5 verse 18
says, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. We can read that two ways. Both
of them are accurate. Both of them are true. Number
one, he's saying give thanks because this is what God willed
to happen to you. That's the first thing he's saying,
give thanks because this is what God willed and purpose to happen
to you. And number two, he's saying in what has happened to
you, give thanks because that's God's will in it. God wills for
you to give thanks in what has happened to you. In everything,
give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. Everything that concerns us is
in Christ Jesus. Therefore, that's where our thanks
is. Our thanks is in him. It's because of him. It's because
of his blood. It's all for his sake. For Christ's
sake, we'll be thankful. And I'm not going to read this.
We were going to turn to Hebrews 13. But Hebrews 13 is saying
that He suffered for us without the camp. Everything that He
endured for us, that he might sanctify the people with his
own blood. He suffered without the gate.
Let us go for therefore unto him without the camp bearing
his reproach. For here we have no continuing
city, but we seek one to come by him therefore because of what
he did. Let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks unto His name. For Christ's sake, we'll be thankful. May God honestly teach us this
would be a good thing to commit to memory and repeat often. May God teach us to say and mean
God is sovereign, and we'll be thankful. All right, you're dismissed.