Psalm 136, if you would like to turn with me to Psalm 136, and I'll read the whole chapter. There's 26 verses.

Psalm 136. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, his love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, his love endures forever. To him who alone does great wonders, his love endures forever. Who by his understanding made the heavens, his love endures forever. Who spread out the earth upon the waters, his love endures forever. who made the great lights, his love endures forever. The sun to govern the day, his love endures forever. The moon and stars to govern the night, his love endures forever.

To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, his love endures forever. And brought Israel out from and among them, his love endures forever. with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, his love endures forever. To him who divided the Red Sea asunder, his love endures forever, and brought Israel through the midst of it, his love endures forever. But swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea, his love endures forever.

To him who led his people through the desert, his love endures forever. Who struck down great kings, his love endures forever. And killed mighty kings, his love endures forever. Sihon, king of the Amorites, his love endures forever. And Og, king of Bashan, his love endures forever. And gave their land as inheritance, his love endures forever. An inheritance to his servant Israel, His love endures forever.

To the one who remembered us in our low estate, His love endures forever. And freed us from our enemies, His love endures forever. And who gives food to every creature, His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven, His love endures forever.

Take out your hymnals once again and we'll turn them to number 151. O come all ye faithful and we'll stand as we sing number 151. O come, O ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, born the King of angels, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. horse not the virgin's womb. Very God, begotten, not created, O come let O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation. In the highest O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him Christ, the Lord Jesus, to Thee be glory given. Word of the Father, laid in flesh appearing, O come, let us adore Him.

You can turn back to Psalm 136. And let's go to the Lord in prayer before we get started. Our Father, we come to you humbled, but confident. We come to you in Christ, Lord. That is the only way we can approach you. And we come to you, Lord, asking for your blessing today. We ask that you bless our time together, that it would be a true blessing for your people, that this message is blessed by you, and any work done by it is yours. Without you, we are wasting our time. So we ask, Lord, that you bless our morning, bless our message, bless everyone watching, everyone here, that it would be a message that comforts them, that worships you and glorifies Christ. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

So Thanksgiving, it's kind of the beginning, our entrance into our humanly holiday season. And I was thinking about it a lot this week, obviously, it was Thanksgiving on Thursday. And I just, along with just about anything, we in the world tend to twist things and make them about us. And I felt that way a little bit about Thanksgiving. You know, we talk about being thankful and being grateful, and the whole world seems to jump on board, whole country anyway, about giving thanks. But it all seems so vague and empty. And I wanted to study this week what the Bible tells us about being grateful. And it tells us a lot about being thankful. And it's pretty pointed in the direction.

Giving thanks is kind of a reverence. It's a way to worship God. To give thanks to someone is saying that they have the power to do something for you. It's a form of worship. It's saying you are God and I am not. It's saying everything I have and everything I am belongs to and is because of you. When we give thanks to God, it is a form of worship, a form of reverence.

Biblical thanksgiving that we'll look into, and we'll look into quite a few different places in the scriptures that tell us a lot of things about being thankful, but biblical thanksgiving is not rooted in comforts, it's not rooted in our culture, it's not rooted even in our circumstances, our day-to-day lives. It's rooted in the unchangeable goodness of God. It's rooted in His enduring love. It's rooted in His saving power. And it's rooted in the eternal kingdom of God that He promises to His people. All revealed through Christ.

Thanksgiving, if you look at Psalm 136, the very first verse, It's a command. It is not about our feelings. It is not about how we're doing today. It's a command from God. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Real thanksgiving does not originate in our emotions. It doesn't come from how we feel. Humanly speaking, that's all we seem to care about. I feel great right now. Things are going well. I am grateful. Real thanksgiving has nothing to do with our emotion, has nothing to do with our circumstances. It originates in God's command. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

It doesn't say give thanks to the Lord when life is easy. Give thanks to the Lord when you're healthy. Give thanks to the Lord when you're wealthy. Give thanks to the Lord when you're happy. That's not what it says. Don't give thanks to the Lord when you're feeling blessed. It says, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. Our gratitude is anchored in who God is, not in what is happening around us. Even when circumstances are uncertain, which they almost always are, God's character never changes. God doesn't change. And that alone is our reason to give thanks.

If God never changes, neither does His will. What is God's will? God's will is that his people would be made holy through Christ's finished work. So if God never changes, neither does his will to save his people, and neither does the work that has been put in place by Christ. First Thessalonians says, it is God's will that you should be sanctified. Later in Hebrews it says, and by that will, God's will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

God never changes, neither does his will, neither can his accomplishments. So when it says God is good and his love endures forever, We're not just talking about his love, we're talking about his will and his accomplishments, and they're all rooted in his love for his people. And they don't change. Christ, according to his Father's will, gave himself as a sacrifice for his people, once for all, making them holy and accepted in the sight of God forever. When we give thanks, we do not start with what we feel, We start with what is true. I would say quite often if not always our emotions are lies. This is the truth. We start with the truth and what is true is that God is good and he will do what is truly good for his people always and forever.

And then the second part of this, it says, God, for he is good, we give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever. God's love is not fragile. It is not something to be accepted or rejected. It is not something that desires, it is something that accomplishes. It says in Romans 8, 38 and 39, for I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, or any powers, neither heights nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ our Lord.

His love endures forever. Nothing can change it. Nothing can stop it. It is not temporary. It is not something that comes and goes. Now from the human perspective, the way we perceive it changes. Because we are weak and we are broken. We may feel like God's love is stronger now than it was last week or last year, or vice versa. We might feel like, I am so far from God right now, and His love is, I mean, I don't feel it. Does that mean God's love has changed? Or does that mean we have changed?

There is no change ever in the love of God for His people. The only change is our emotional, fleshly, worldly perception of it. In Jeremiah 31, it says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. It is not anything that's dependent on us. There is no power that can hinder God's love. And that includes you. You cannot change His mind because of how you act or because of what you've done.

It says in Romans, God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God's love was not triggered by repentance. God's love didn't start because of our actions, or obedience, or a certain level of improvement. It came while we were still sinful. It had to. If it didn't start according to our actions, then it will not end because of them either. God's love endures forever. The Bible declares this, meaning it does not expire with time, weaken with failure, or disappear in hardship.

Human love, which is what we're very used to, this is the love that we experience on a daily basis between friends, family, other people. Human love is fickle. Human love shifts with emotion. It shifts with circumstance. And that is the only love we're truly experiencing on a day-to-day basis. Like this is what we're used to. This is what we are, this is our idea of love. But God's love is constant and eternal. It's covenantal, it's a covenant. It's a sacred promise. established by God.

God's promises are where we find our surety. God's promises are the things that we can be sure of, the things that we can expect. God's love is one of those for his people. It's a promise, it's a covenant. This is why we give thanks. His love endures. It doesn't just last forever, it endures forever. And there's a difference. His love endured the despair and the anguish of the cross. His love continues to endure through our continuous rebellion. And His love endures, and this is, I think something that we all struggle with on a regular basis. His love endures our doubt. Because we doubt. We look at ourselves and we hear the voice of Satan accusing us. Look at what you are, look at what you've done. How can grace be enough for you? We are so weak. were it up to us, nothing would be accomplished. But God's love endures through our weakness. God's love endures through our doubts. It never changes. It never wavers. It never even weakens. It endures through our fear. It talks about in our weaknesses, his strength is perfected, and that's exactly what this means. We are so weak, and in that it shows how strong and forever and enduring the love of God is through the work of his Son.

I can tell you with certainty, to all of God's people, And hold on to this every day. When everything else in life feels unstable, the love of God remains the same. And it might not feel unstable right now, but there will be times when it feels more unstable than you ever thought possible. And even in that moment, God's love remains unshakable. in your lowest moments, in your highest moments. Nothing real, nothing true has changed.

We do not give thanks because our lives are good, we give thanks because God is good. And his love endures forever. And that love is not passive. We spoke about this last week. God didn't just decide to love his people, and because of that, he wiped their sins clean. That is not just. That is not punishing sin like it deserves. His love brought action. Because of his love, his will, and it's because of his love for us, his will is that his only son, whom he loved, who deserved his love, the only one that ever did, would offer himself as a sacrifice to his own father to exchange the sins of all of God's people for the perfect righteousness of Christ.

So when we say that we are thankful that his love endures forever, we are saying that we are thankful for the results of that love. We are thankful that Christ, who reigns on the throne, has purchased us with his perfect blood. And His work endures forever. Because it was founded and rooted in the love of God which endures forever.

If you look at Colossians 1 verses 12 and 13, It says, giving thanks to the father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves in whom we have redemption and forgiveness. This passage tells us everything we need to be thankful for. In this passage alone it explains how He qualified us to share in the inheritance of His holy people. Then it says, for He rescued us from the dominion of darkness, then brought us, transferred us, not only did He save us, He brought us into the kingdom of His Son. in whom we have been redeemed and forgiven.

" We've been qualified, rescued, transferred, redeemed, and forgiven by our God. And it says, give joyful thanks to the Father. There's nothing else to be thankful for when you compare it to this. Give thanks, give joyful thanks to the Father for he has qualified, rescued, transferred, redeemed, and forgiven.

Our thanksgiving is not vague and it is not sentimental. It is anchored in the truth of what God has done for his people. We are not merely improved. We were rescued from the darkness. And we were not just helped, we were placed into Christ's kingdom. Thanksgiving flows from remembering what God has done. Something that we could never do. Before we should thank Him for what He gives us, we should thank Him simply for saving us. It says in 1 Corinthians, but thanks be to God, He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oliver read that for us this morning. Victory over the sting of death and sin. This verse comes at the end of the resurrection chapter. After declaring the defeat of death, the certainty of resurrection, and the eternal triumph of Christ, Paul erupts in thanksgiving.

But thanks be to God, he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Why does he erupt in thanks? Because the war against sin and death was over. Christ had been victorious and he gave us that victory in him. Our thanks, our giving thanks is based on the finished victory. Christ has conquered sin and death. Christ has defeated sin and death. Christ has secured Eternity. For every one of his people.

That's why when Paul writes, but thanks be to God, there's an exclamation point there. But thanks be to God. Christ has won.

In 1 Thessalonians it says, rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. For this is the will for you in Christ Jesus. This verse does not say to be thankful for all circumstances. It says to be thankful in all circumstances. God's will is not dependent on our comfort. God doesn't change his will according to what's going to be more comfortable or pleasant for us right now. God's people are given this understanding that God's will is good. Regardless if it's good for them at the moment, in their opinion. This in turn, that understanding in turn gives us the understanding that we can be thankful in every circumstance.

Now we still have the flesh, but I have, and we will struggle with that, but I've seen this firsthand, and I'm sure you all have too. We've all been through hard things. Losing a loved one. It is I can't imagine going through something like that without understanding that God's hand rules all. Going through something like that with the question mark of what is happening would be terrifying. That is the gift of understanding that has been given to God's people. That's why it says, give thanks in all circumstances. Because, going back to 136 in Psalm, He is good. No matter what's happening around you, it is part of His plan and He's bringing His people home.

going through difficult aspects of life without knowing the hand of God is orchestrating all of it. It's not something I want to experience. What a gift and what a blessing it is to be given the sight to see the caring and loving and all-powerful hand of God behind it all. This is why believers can give thanks in all circumstances.

It says in Colossians 2, so then, just as you have received Christ as Lord, continue to live your lives in him and overflowing with thankfulness. You notice how every time they talk about thankfulness, they talk about Christ. Doesn't even matter who wrote what part of the Bible we're going to. A lot of it's Paul. But thankfulness is not meant to be minimal. It's meant to overflow. A heart that has been given the understanding of salvation will have a heart of gratitude. It may not stay on our hearts and on our minds as much as we'd like, but the gift of faith is always there. It may feel like it's weak faith, but it isn't. It's faith, and it's given to you as a gift. And if that is there, so is gratitude. And it cannot be taken away.

With the gift of faith of Christ comes gratitude. Gratefulness and thankfulness will never end. Because we fluctuate, it might fluctuate, but it will never go away until finally someday we will enter the kingdom of Christ. And all we will think of is thankfulness and gratefulness. And we will sing to Him. And we will never tire of it. Because we will finally understand the true level of gratitude that we should have for Christ. This isn't to say we shouldn't be thankful for daily provisions, because we should. Christ teaches us to pray, give us our daily bread in Matthew. Christ teaches us to pray daily for our provisions because it teaches us that we depend on God daily for our provisions.

We often focus on the ultimate blessing that is found in Christ because that is the job of the church. But all of our life, Every minute aspect is sustained by the grace of God. Nothing we have is self-made. Nothing we receive is self-earned. Every meal, every breath, every moment, every provision, none of it exists apart from God's sustaining hand. So we go to Him for every need. And we thank Him for everything.

And then finally, my last point in Hebrews 12, 28, it says, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. And so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for God is a consuming fire. Everything in this world can be shaken. If you actually look around, it's pretty obvious. There is no government that isn't wavering. There is no country that isn't in turmoil of some kind. Health is never consistent. There's always something. Relationships change. Difficulties happen. Our emotions aren't even stable. Life itself is one continuously shaken thing. This world is inconsistent and shaken.

But it says, therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. The kingdom of God cannot be shaken. We are so used to that, to shaken. We don't know what secure really is. This is our world. We don't understand what true security is. Everything around us isn't. We don't fully understand what secure means because nothing around us is. But our future is. Our inheritance is secure and eternal. And our king reigns. And this is a fact. Therefore, scripture says, let us be thankful.

Our thanksgiving is not rooted in what is temporary. It is rooted in what's eternal and immovable. We don't just give thanks in a vague, worldly way. We give thanks, we give thanks. That's what we should. We should give thanks to our Lord in reverence and worship. He is the source and the creator and the orchestrator of all things. He provides for us daily, every breath. He is good. His love endures forever. His active, powerful love endures forever. He has rescued and redeemed us. He has handed us victory through Christ. He has given us a permanent home in an unshakable kingdom. Everything in this world but our gratitude is rooted in the one thing, the only thing that doesn't change. Our gratitude is rooted in God and what he has done for us through our Savior Jesus Christ.

Our gratitude is rooted in God, for he is good. And his love endures forever.

Our Father, we thank you. We thank you that you have perfected your plan. And you've perfected a way to save us. We are so thankful, Lord, that your love endures forever. and that you have chosen through your will to love a people. We are so thankful that can never change. All we know is change, Lord. Help us to root ourselves in you, to remember that you are always there and you are always constant and your work is finished. We thank you, Jesus, for everything you've done for us. We pray this in your name, amen.

Take out your hymnals once again and turn them to number 164. Angels from the realms of glory, number 164, and we'll stand as we sing.