The first verse reads this way,
praise the Lord. Now that's the Hebrew words,
hallelujah. Yah being the shortened version
of God's name, Jehovah. Hallelu being the command to
praise. Hallelujah. Give thanks to the
Lord. For He is good. His love endures forever. More and more I'm impressed with
the importance the scriptures lay on giving thanks to God. Now, probably all of us were
raised, you know, when we come together to eat, you know. I
know in my house, there was always a, well, we referred to it as
the blessing. But it was, we'd give thanks
for food. One of the first prayers that
children, at least from my area, my neck of the woods, one of
the first prayers I ever taught was, God is great, God is good,
and we thank him for our food. By his hands, we all are fed.
Give us, Lord, our daily bread. And for content, that's a good
prayer. That's true. God is great, isn't
he? And as our text points out, God
is good. And that's why we have food. Because God is good. And no matter how much we may
work in trying to provide for ourselves, We won't have anything
unless God blesses the labors of our hand. Everything we have is a gift
of God that arises from his goodness. We are exhorted here in this
scripture Give thanks unto the Lord. It's a shame that the scriptures
have to tell us to do that. You'd think that with all that
we have, and particularly as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ,
you'd think that no one would ever have to tell us, give thanks. I often sometimes wonder, you
know, why is it that we have to be prodded to give thanks? Well, one of the reasons, I'm
not saying this is even the main reason, it's just one that came
to mind. God blesses us so much that we've become so accustomed
to it, we don't even realize how much we're being given. You
know, generally speaking, children really have no idea all that
their parents did for them until they're out on their own and
have to try to do it for themselves. We don't realize all that's being
given to us by God, unless for some reason He quit giving it
to us. And what's interesting is He
can withdraw just some earthly blessing from us. And immediately
we're on our knees and this is the most serious thing. And yet
all the time he's given it to us, we didn't think to give thanks.
But I'm not saying that, you know, just to beat on us. That
just seemed like that's just the way we are. We're so accustomed
to God's overwhelming goodness toward us. We don't even notice
it. Kind of like the sunshine, you
know? There's so much of it, we don't
stop to think. God gave us that. Look over at Romans chapter 121,
showing something here of the importance of giving thanks. Romans chapter 1. It says in verse 18 that the
wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness
and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
And we'll skip down to verse 21 because here is the epitome
of their wickedness. For although they knew God, they
neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him. They had testimony of God. Paul said that the creation itself
makes the existence of God plain to them. And there's sufficient
revelation in just what we see around us to stand in absolute
awe of God in His eternal power, he says, and Godhead, His absolute
deity. You know, it's hard to use words
to describe God. In fact, you can't. You know, when you define something,
you know, say, well, define this or define that, what you're doing
is setting boundaries on it. You're saying this is what it
is, you know, inside this circle that defines what such a thing
is and everything outside of that circle isn't what that is.
But God cannot be defined by human language, that is not completely
or perfectly, because he's what? Infinite. I can say he's all-powerful,
but in all reality, we don't even know what that means. We
can't imagine all-powerful. We can imagine much more powerful
than us, but then Superman's much more powerful than us. You know, we can say he's all-knowing,
okay? Well, we know, we can think of
some that are very, very intelligent, but we don't even know what it
is to know absolutely everything. And so even the words we use
to describe God, to quote, define him, are actually, when we say
infinite, we're saying indescribable. And undefinable. And so Paul
uses words like Godhead, you know, just the simple word God.
That's not enough. It's His absolute Godness. And
when he talks about His eternal power, you know, instead of the
word eternal, because people always think of eternal as just
an infinite succession of moments. But there's more than that implied
here. It's talking about His timelessness. Now, we don't even know how to
think about timelessness. Once again, we know how to think
about time, and all we can do is add the word less to the end
of it, because we know that's what he is, but we cannot really
conceive of something that is not within the boundaries of
time and space. But he says that the creation,
Let's just say time and space. That's a modern day physics description
of our universe. The space-time. He created that. And that should
be enough that the human mind could say there's something outside
of here that made here. It's timeless. It's of infinite
power. It is God. Absolutely. Now, that's what the creation
should cause us to think, but that's not what men end up doing. Natural man, what does he do?
He brings God down to a level that he can understand. In fact,
he makes him into in the form of a man or he says
four-footed creatures or whatever and bows down to statues. Idolatry. Essential atheism. It says, they did not acknowledge
him as God. But all of this, and we understand
all that to be horrible, don't we? But right in the middle of
all that, neither did they give thanks. Of course, why would
you give thanks? to a God you can control. What do you think of it? You know, the God of the freewheeler
is controlled by man. There's things that, you know,
by his choice and actions that he can kind of force God to do. Well, who is going to be thankful
to such a God? Now the God, I love the way Tim
James described our Lord as the Lord. He said He's out of control.
He's out of control. Now, a God like that, men will
bow to Him. And when they realize who God
is and what He's really like, and when that's impressed on
our hearts, we are moved to give thanks. And to not give thanks, reveals a heart devoid of the
knowledge of who God really is. Now, I know one of the other
reasons, you know, we have to be careful any time we say something
like that because all of us are going to think, well, I certainly
don't give God thanks like I should. We don't ever do anything like
we should. One of the reasons we don't give
thanks is because we just don't think of it. Really? Don't our minds just
get so occupied? Mine does. Sometimes with 10,
12 things at once. I get so occupied with everything
else, it's quite frankly very difficult for me to calm my mind
down and meditate on all the goodness
God has shown me. Now that's the only thing it's
difficult for me to calm my mind and pay attention to. I can't
hardly calm my mind and pay attention to anything. I said it's always
just kind of going in every direction at once. In the frailty of our
flesh, we do not give thanks as we ought. But where there
is no true thanksgiving, I think it'd be safe to say there is
no grace. There is no understanding of God. Look over at John 6, verse 23. I can't remember how long ago
this was, but I do remember reading this scripture one time, and
the importance of thanksgiving just kind of jumped out of the
page at me. Now, to give a little bit of
context, earlier in John chapter 6, the Lord had fed 5,000 men
plus their wives and children. And then he got on a boat and
went across the lake. Well, the next day, people realized the Lord Jesus
wasn't there anymore. And then some boats, it said,
if you read in verse 23, It says, the next day the crowd
that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that
only one boat had been there. This is verse 22, I'm sorry. And that Jesus had not entered
it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then
some boats from Tiberias landed near, now notice how this place
is described. landed near the place where the
people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks." Now,
if you are wanting to identify that spot where that miracle
occurred and say, you know, this is the place that the boats came
to, Wouldn't it have been enough to say, some boats showed up
at that place where the Lord fed 5,000 men plus their wives
and children with five loaves and two fishes. Don't you think
that would be a notable enough thing to identify the spot he
was referring to? But John didn't stop there. Do
you know what he found remarkable? Every bit as remarkable and as
important a way to identify the spot, as was the feeding of 5,000,
was the fact that our Lord gave thanks there. Why would the Holy Spirit move
John to point out that particular aspect of the story, just to
identify the spot that the boats showed up? if it were not that
the giving of thanks was of tremendous importance. In fact, it says
that the people ate the bread after
the Lord gave thanks. Now in another place Paul said
to make your request to God with thanksgiving. What does he mean
by that? Do you thank God for what you're
requesting? We can certainly give thanks
to God that he can provide what we're asking for and will if
it's good and wise to do so. But you put this in the position
of our Lord Jesus Christ, you put this pattern in what our
Lord did there, knowing that he knows what is good and wise
to do. And when he prayed and gave thanks,
he was giving thanks to God for what God was about to do through
him in the feeding of 5,000 people. And so, certain was our Lord of this. And you know, as a man, he was
a man of faith. It is written and applied to
our Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Hebrews. I will put my
trust in him. That was our Lord's attitude.
He believed God. And he believed God, his father,
to such a degree. that he gave thanks for what
was about to happen. And it happened. Giving of thanks, so important. Look over now at Ephesians chapter
five and see another connection made about thanksgiving. I'm preaching this, I mean the
subject came to mind because this Thursday is the national
holiday of Thanksgiving, but when I'm saying Thanksgiving
here, I'm not talking about the holiday, I'm talking about actually
giving thanks, actually thanking God for what He's done. Ephesians
chapter 5, and we're going to begin reading
at verse 18. Do not get drunk on wine, which
leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms,
hymns, and spiritual song. Sing and make music in your heart
to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, be filled with the Spirit. And one of the evidences of being
filled with the Spirit is giving thanks. Now, with the modern
day charismatic movement, I say, oh, you know that people are
filled with the Spirit when they speak in tongues. A lot of people have been filled
with the Spirit and didn't speak in tongues. But everybody filled with the
Spirit, whether they do so audibly or simply from the heart, they
give thanks to God. If being filled with the Spirit
means anything, it means this, having our hearts overwhelmed
with the truth of the gospel of God's grace, having our hearts
filled with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that cannot
be going on in us, and it not produce a thankful heart. It just can't. You know, people
believe that being filled with the Spirit always involves some
kind of display of what the world would consider to be a remarkable
wonder. There'll be a wonder going on. There'll be something miraculous
and beyond the reach of human powers. Whenever a person is
filled with the Spirit of God, they worship God. They are inflamed
with love for the Lord Jesus Christ. They are stunned with
the glory that's revealed in them. And out of that stunning
realization, they give God thanks, if for nothing else, It almost
sounds like I'm making this a small thing, but it's the greatest
thing of all. They'll give God thanks that
great and wondrous as He is, He took pity on them. Isn't that
true? When we meet together like this,
and I believe there's scriptural warrant to believe this, at such
times as this, The presence of the Lord is,
well, we're more acutely aware of it anyway than at other times. Now, it's just part of my psychological
makeup. But these times when we gather
like this and we begin to hear the truth, we begin to sing it.
And it's at these times, you know, that it seems for a little
while my mind does get focused on one thing. And I began to behold once again the glories
of the Savior, the wonders of His grace. Well, I can't sing. I just sit
and look at the words. David said, such things are too
wonderful for me. They're high. I cannot attain
to it. Now, I'm not saying that the
level of your emotional response is a measure of your spiritual
state of being. Friends, like I said, just with
the way I'm made up psychologically, It's easy to choke me up with
good things, but nothing does it more quickly and more powerfully than the Gospel. To be able to
enter into these things, and remember, if we know anything
about the Gospel, if we're made aware of it again, if the light
of the Gospel shines in our heart, it's the Spirit of God that shined
it there. And so if we're filled with the Spirit, certainly there
will be the revelation of Jesus Christ to the heart once again.
And I tell you, it is hard, it is difficult to see those things in such wonderful
display and talk or sing. It is for me. And I know that
you believe it. It moves you too. We're just
all, like I said, we got different emotional makeup. There's some
people that they're deeply moved, but it
doesn't seem to signal all those things that tighten up the throat
and open up the tear ducts. Nonetheless, presence of the
spirit, the filling of the spirit always produces a thankful heart. Now look over at Philippians
chapter four. Ephesians. I may have told you
Philippians 4, that's right, beginning of verse 6. Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends
all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus. Now, we all have a measure of
anxiety, some of us to a debilitating
state. It is a natural defense mechanism. As psychologists say, it's just
the fight-or-flight response, and it's necessary as we live
in a world that presents dangers to us. The problem is when we forget the promise of
God to supply all we need, to protect us from all harm, And
we begin once again, as is so much our nature, to look to ourselves
for provision and protection. It's going to cause our anxieties
to spin out of control because we are going to be confronted
with things bigger than us. You know, people say, God will
never try you more than you are able. Really now? Now it says he will not allow
us to be tried above what we're able, then it goes on to say
he'll make a way of escape. And that way of escape always
involves the support of his grace to endure what he sends us. In other words, he'll never send
us anything he can't handle. And so we look to him. And so
that's what he's saying. Don't be anxious about anything.
Don't get worried. Say, well, but Paul, don't you
realize they're persecuting the church? They're killing Christians,
you know? And as I recall correctly, Philippians, you know, Paul wrote
that from prison, I believe. So he could say, yeah, I know
something about the persecution of Christians. Yeah, but they're
even killing some of them. Yeah, they are. Don't worry about
it. Don't worry about it. Hidden
life, the most important thing? Not this life. Not this life. After all, all
of us are going to come to an end of this life, and when that
happens and how that happens is not of much consequence. Don't
worry about these things. What does he say? Going back to Philippians 4,
don't be worried about it. Pray, petition, with thanksgiving. I remember back in the late 90s
when I had a, some of you will remember this time, but I had
a really serious round of the depression anxiety thing. And
it, you know, it was debilitating. and as I tried to deal with it. I remember I started this practice,
and it'd be good if I always did it. It was very helpful because
it was easy in that state of mind to see everything as dark,
gloomy, frightening. And so as soon as I would wake
up, And, you know, it takes a minute
to kind of boot your brain and get it to thinking. I'd start
thanking God. And sometimes the thanks could
get no farther than, I thank you, God, for my life. The Bible
says, in Him we live, move, and have our being. I thank you,
God, I'm alive. I thank you, God, for the life
you've given me. Even though right now it's not
particularly pleasant, I thank you for it. Why? Because I know He works all things
together for good, including what I was going through at that
time. And you all have had your own kinds of experience, the
trials God sends your way to deal with. Oh, but to begin the
day, even if you don't, This is the thing about us. Even if
our hearts do not feel the emotion of thankfulness, let us begin
to speak it. Because in speaking thankfulness,
our mind starts to focus on the things for which we can be thankful
and should be thankful. You know, the whole time that
I was going through that, I still had all the food I wanted and
more. I still had a house to live in. I had a wife that loved
me. I had kids in the house that I loved. We got along. The church
was still here. The Lord still continued to work
through the ministry that He gave me. In other words, the
only thing that had changed in all of that was me. I had as much to give thanks
for. in the midst of that darkness
as I had on the brightest day of my life. And as I would give thanks to
God, the anxiety would subside some. You say that's a psychological
trick. Well, I don't know that I'd call it
a trick. It's simply telling your psyche,
hey, calm down. God's in control. He knows what
he's doing. Everything's okay. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord.
There's little left in our culture to give evidence of any truly
Christian influence. Every so-called Christian holiday
has been thoroughly paganized. Christmas is about Santa, Easter
is about the Easter Bunny. But we've still got Thanksgiving.
And maybe one reason that Thanksgiving hasn't been quite so fully paganized
is that the church did not create Thanksgiving holiday. You know,
nearly all the religious holidays on the calendar were created
by the Roman church. And I'm not saying this, you
know, let every person celebrate the holidays according to their
own conscience. That's neither here nor there.
I'm just saying, if we stand back and just watch what the
world does with Christmas and Easter, you know, okay, that's
got nothing to do with God. But Thanksgiving was something
that first began just as a social thing, and then eventually the
government set aside a holiday for it. And actually, I believe
both George Washington and later another president did set aside
a day for Thanksgiving, but not an annual one, just a particular
one. It wasn't until the midst of
the Civil War that Thanksgiving Day, as we see it on our calendar,
began. And it was with the proclamation
by Abraham Lincoln. Now, Abraham Lincoln, I've read,
he wasn't a particularly religious guy until he became president. And probably that had something
to do with the fact when he became president, suddenly things were
out of his control. You know, like every president,
he thought he'd get elected and go in there and do something
good. And as soon as he gets in there, the whole country blows
up. And I don't know that he ever possessed what we would
call saving faith, but he certainly came to some understanding about
God, a greater understanding, I believe, than a whole lot of
preachers have in our day. And he made a Thanksgiving proclamation
in October of 1863. Earlier in the year would have
been the Battle of Gettysburg, and about a month later he would
be delivering that Gettysburg Address. But he issued a proclamation,
and I'm not going to read all of it, and I'm not reading it
on the authority of Abraham Lincoln. I just think he was quite a good
speaker and writer. And he so well expressed why
we give thanks. And in the first part of the
proclamation, he says that in the midst of the Civil War, yet
things have gone on. The fields have yielded their
crops. Industry has produced the things
needed. Even the boundaries of the country
had expanded. All kinds of good things going
on. And after having said all that, In the face of the war, which
he calls of unequal magnitude and severity, all this goodness,
this good stuff is still happening. Then he goes on to say, no human
counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these
great things. They are gracious gifts of the
Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins,
have nevertheless remembered mercy, it has seemed to me fit
and proper that they should be solemnly and reverently and gratefully
acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice by the whole American
people. I do therefore invite my fellow
citizens in every part of the United States, and also those
who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands,
to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next
as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our Beneficent Father
who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that
while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him for such singular
deliverances and blessings, they do also with humble penitence
for our national perverseness and disobedience commend to his
tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners,
or sufferers in this lamentable civil strife in which we are
unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of
the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore
it as soon as may be consistent with divine purposes to the full
enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union. Like I said, I don't know Abraham
Lincoln's heart. I know this. I can't think of
one politician out there that would ever write anything like
this today. What does he do in this proclamation? He confesses
the great sinfulness and perverseness of the nation. I mean, he just says boldly. And
he talks about the fact that God, this civil war, this is
God dealing in anger with us. for our national sin, which he
would have meant slavery. And then he goes on to say, yet
in this anger he's remembered mercy. That's a scriptural phrase. In your anger, remember mercy. And he says the greatest token
of this these thankworthy things that God has done is that he
has given all these blessings right in the teeth of our nation's
great sinfulness. To give thanks. Just as an aside,
I look at, you know, I say I, I'm sure you see the same things
I do. And we, you know, Our culture, from the perspective of a believer,
the culture is going downhill. You can't look at it any other
way. I wonder what would happen if the Spirit of God would be
pleased to work in the hearts of many, to acknowledge God as
God, and to begin to give him thanks for all that he has done
for this nation, the people that live in it, right in the teeth
of all the sin that goes on. That's why I think it's so silly
for the church to go out, you know, one of the reasons anyway,
to go out there and try to get the world to live as believers
are taught to live. As though if somehow we could
go out there and squash, you know, these outbreaks of rebellion, you know, by talking about how
bad people are being. People don't repent because they
realize how bad they are, they repent when they realize how
good God is. The goodness of God leads you
to repentance. It does amaze me, doesn't it
you? That despite all the wickedness, that we see, I mean, we've known
it's always there, but now it's right here on the surface, not
only being tolerated, it's absolutely demanding to be accepted and
acknowledged and even celebrated. And yet, so far, God has not
done anything particularly severe against this nation. Why do we give thanks to God?
Because He's good. Every attribute of God is praiseworthy,
His power, righteousness, justice, faithfulness, and wisdom. They're
all worthy objects of our adoration. But God could be righteous, just,
faithful, and wise, and send every last one of us to hell.
Isn't that true? Is there anything unjust about
God sending us to hell? Wouldn't be a thing unjust about
it. It's exactly what we deserve. So it's while all of the attributes
of God are engaged in the manner in which we are saved, the motivation
to save anyone arises from His goodness. Now, people tend to
think goodness and righteousness are the same thing, and they're
not. Goodness goes beyond the demands of righteousness. Righteousness
will simply render to you what you deserve. That's all. Goodness
goes beyond. Goodness operates on the principles
of love. Goodness gives to the undeserving. All the other attributes of God
could create a hell, but His goodness made a heaven and chose
a people for that place. Oh, where would we be without
the goodness of God? Oh, give thanks to the Lord,
for he is good. And then our translation says
his love endures forever. The King James says his mercy
endures forever. It's one of those words you can't
find a single English word that will fully tell out what it means. But there's a good example of
what's meant in the cry of blind Bartimaeus as our Lord Jesus
walked by and he said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy
on me. We tend to think of mercy only
in the judicial sense when a judge says, well, you deserve to be
hanged by the neck to your dead, but I'm going to let you go.
OK, that's mercy. That's certainly one version
of mercy. But the mercy of God is something
much bigger than that. Probably, in my opinion, the
best English word to cover the sense of mercy is pity. Blind Bartimaeus was not asking
the Lord for anything regarding judgment. In fact, he did not
specify what he wanted except this, mercy, look my way. Look
at me, notice me, see the wretched state I am in, and be moved by
what you see. We have such a legal attitude
in our minds, we think that when we sin, when I say we, I mean
we believers, we still have that thing when he sees us sin, that
it rouses up his anger and wrath. This is one of those things that,
well, I'm a grace believer, but it almost seems dangerous to
me to say it, but it must be true, because if it's not true,
we're lost. When God sees His people in their
sin, He pities them. His heart is moved because He
knows what that sin will cost them. He knows what that sin
has done to them. You know, there's the story.
You know, I'll wrap it up with this. The book of Hosea. And God told
the prophet Hosea, gave him a really weird directive. Says, go take yourself a wife
of harlotry. Hosea, you need a wife. Let me
tell you where to go. You go down to the red light district
of your town. And you pick a wife from one of those women. Well,
Hosea did what the Lord said, and he married a prostitute.
And here's the thing. She didn't quit being a prostitute.
I mean, you know, she didn't stand out there on the corner
of the street anymore. But from what we understand, yeah, she
and Hosea had a child. It says she bore to Hosea a child,
and they gave it a name. And then it says she bore two
more children. But it doesn't say she bore two
more children to Hosea. Now, the scriptures don't specify
it, but I believe that these two children, Hosea was not their
father. And one reason I believe that,
two reasons, it doesn't say she bore them to Hosea, plus the
names that were given to them meant not loved and not mine.
Imagine growing up in a house with those names. Not loved,
not mine. And as time went on, Hosea got
deeper and deeper back into the old life that Hosea married her
out of until she's all used up and she
is on the auction block. Imagine that. You married a woman
that's a prostitute. She gave you one child, but then
she's right back at it. And her prostitution, her continued
adulteries got her wrapped up and in the control of others.
And there she is on the auction block. Now, most of us would
say, well, you made your bed, sleep in it. God told Hosea,
you go down and you buy her back. That's his wife. She already
belongs to him. Yeah. But the only way he'll
ever have her is to redeem her from the auction lot. Now, I
don't know what Hosea felt like. As he stood there and the auctioneers
trying to run the bid up as high as he thinks he can for this
used up woman. But I know this. When the Lord sees his bride. Beat up. Used up. Messed up. because of her own perverseness
and sinfulness. And he goes down to the auction,
that's his wife, but he's got to pay for her. And pay he did. But he saw her, and he did not
see in all of her unattractiveness, In all of her brokenness, in
all of her uselessness, he did not see an offense against him. In his heart, he said, oh, my
wife, what have you done to yourself? What did I tell you? Look at the mess you've made
of things. But you're mine. And I will not let you belong
to someone else. I will pay the price. you'll
come home with me. I don't know about you, but I feel
like I've lived my life on the auction block. I don't see myself as a young,
attractive, unused, unabused woman, spiritually speaking,
that would attract the eye of the Lord Jesus Christ. I see a broken-down person who
through his own foolishness has made himself worthless. ugly, somebody no one would want except the Lord. And I give thanks that He is
good and that His mercy endures forever. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Make Your Word good for us. Oh,
thank You for Your Son who loved us in all our wretchedness and
gave Himself for us. Forgive us that there is a split
second of unthankfulness on our part. We have your love, your favor,
your goodness, right in the teeth of all our sin. And you've added
to that an abundance of the blessings even of this life. We cannot
make complaint. Forgive us, our God, and remind
us of how much we owe. how mercifully we've been treated.
And Lord, we pray that if there be any here among us this morning
or watching online or maybe later, see this message online. Lord,
use it to break their hearts. If they're unbelieving, Lord,
break their hearts with the revelation of your goodness in your Son,
the Lord Jesus. and make them yours.