Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Thessalonians 5. Our text is verse 18. It says, In everything, give
thanks. In everything, give thanks. In everything. Everything. Everything. Give thanks. Thanks is gratefulness. Gratefulness in everything. Let's be grateful. In everything, let's be happy
for it. Happy. In everything, let's see
the good in it. God is good. In everything, let's see God
in it. We believe He does everything. He's in it. In everything, let's
acknowledge the good of God in it. In every thing, give thanks. There's a reason for every single
thing. Verses 16, 17, and 18 each say
something different, but really they're all saying the same thing.
Verse 16 says, Rejoice evermore. Verse 17 says, pray without ceasing. And verse 18 says, in everything,
give thanks, rejoice. That's being happy. Being thankful,
rejoice, pray without ceasing, prayer is giving thanks, we thank
thee, we thank you. We begin our meal by saying,
let's give thanks. In everything, let's be grateful,
try to rejoice in it, and give thanks for it. Everything. Who
do we thank? Who does this thanks belong to?
Look in 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 3. It says, we are bound to thank
God. We're bound to thank God. We have to give thanks. Not only
because we're bound to, because we're commanded to, but because
we love to. We have to. We love it too much. We have to give thanks. We love
to give thanks. In 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 3,
it goes on to say, we're bound to thank God always for you,
brethren. as it is me, because that your
faith groweth exceedingly, and the love, the charity of every
one of you all toward each other is abounding, is growing, is
growing. And we thank God for that. We're
bound to thank God for you. Philippians 1.3 says, I thank
my God upon every remembrance of you. I remember the first
time I saw that, somebody sent me a letter. And that verse blessed my heart. I thank God every time I think
about you. I thank God that I thank God
every time I think about you. Brotherhood is a great reason
to give thanks. We give thanks to God in everything.
Now, let's look through this word. For a few reasons for us
to give much thanks. A few reasons for much thanks
to God. First, we collectively thank
God for Christ. First and foremost, turn to 2
Corinthians 9. 2 Corinthians 9. Verse 15 says, Thanks be unto
God for His unspeakable gift. Unspeakable. That He would give His only begotten
Son for us. That is unspeakable. If we could
really think about that. Give my child for the vilest
offender? That is unspeakable. Oh, thanks be to God for Christ.
For God so loved the world, He gave His Son He gave His Son. How much does He love us? Does that give us any idea of
how much He loves us? How much does He care for us?
Oh, we thank God for Christ. Turn over to Luke 2. Luke chapter 2. Joseph and Mary are bringing
the Lord to the temple. And it says in verse 27 that
Luke 2 27 Simeon came by the spirit into the temple. And when
the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the
custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms and blessed
God and said, Lord, now let us thou thy servant depart in peace
according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Verse 36 says, And there was
one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Aser. She was of a great age and had
lived with and husband seven years from her virginity, and
she was a widow of about four score and four years, which departed
not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers
night and day. And she coming in that instant
gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all
them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. The Redeemer is
here. The Savior is here. God sent
Christ. She ran in and gave thanks, thanks,
thanks. Our only hope is here. Thanks
be to God for Christ. Unspeakable gift. We thank God for Christ, and
the next thing we thank God for is his broken body and his shed
blood. Go with me to second, no, first
Corinthians 11. First Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 23 says,
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto
you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed,
took bread, and when he had given thanks, he break it and said,
Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. This do in
remembrance of me, After the same manner also he took the
cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament
in my blood. This do ye as oft as you drink
it in remembrance of me. He said, This is my body. And here's a cup full of my blood.
Let's give thanks. We give thanks. It's our salvation,
it's our redemption. Thank you, Lord, for saving our
souls. That's all we can say, that's
all we can do. Thank you, Lord, for making us
whole, given to us salvation. We thank God for sending Christ
the unspeakable gift, and we thank Christ for his broken body
and his shed blood. And we thank God for his healing
and cleansing power. We have a disease that we need
to get rid of. Thanks be to God for his healing
and cleansing power. Go with me to Luke 17. Luke 17
verse. 11 says, And it came to pass, as
he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria
and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain
village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood
afar off. And they lifted up their voices
and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw
them, he said unto them, go show yourselves unto the priest. And
it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And
one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and
with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at
his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
They had this disease. How long? How long? They tried everything. Lord,
help me, save me, cleanse me. I will. Thanks be to God. All power is given unto Him.
He is the Great Physician. He heals all who come to Him. And there's no sickness he cannot
heal. Not one sickness he cannot heal. Thanks be to God. We thank God for Christ and His
broken body and His shed blood and His healing, cleansing power.
And we thank God for His sovereign authority. Go with me to Revelation
11. Revelation 11, verse 17 says, We give thee thanks, O Lord God
Almighty, which art and was and art to come, because thou hast
taken to thee thy great power and has reigned. He's right,
he really is the king of kings. and the Lord of Lords. Peter
said we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. The royal king. We don't just preach grace, we
preach sovereign grace. Ruling grace. The next thing we thank God for
is his goodness to us. Turn with me to Psalm 100. Psalm 100, verse 1 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. He's good. His mercy is everlasting
and his truth endureth to all generations. The Lord is so,
so good. He's been so good to us with
our greatest need and his mercy and his mercy is everlasting.
everlasting, it'll never end, it'll never go away. And his
truth endures to all generations, generation upon generation upon
generation. All generations, the Lord is
so good. He's so good. He supplies all of our needs. We thank God for all of his provisions,
everything that we have. Turn with me to Matthew 15. I
love this one. Matthew 15. Verse 32 says, Then Jesus called
his disciples unto him and said, I have compassion on the multitude
because they continue with me now three days and have nothing
to eat. And I will not send them away
fasting lest they faint in the way. And his disciples say unto
him, whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness
as to fill so great a multitude? Where are we going to get enough
food to fill thousands of people? We're in the wilderness. And
Jesus saith unto them, how many loaves have you? And they said
seven and a few little fishes. And he commanded the multitude
to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves
and the fishes. And he gave thanks. Our Lord was handed seven loaves
and a few fishes in front of thousands of people. And he did
not say, Father, this is not enough. You see how many people
are here, this is not enough. He took his seven loaves, he
took his few fishes and he said, thank you. Thank you for what
I have. Thank you for what you've given
me. He knew the father knows what
things he has need of. This is what I have right now.
Thank you. And it says he was generous with
what God had given him. He gave thanks and he break them
and he gave all of it to his disciples and the disciples gave
it to the multitude. They gave it all. He was generous
with what God had given him and God blessed it. They did all
eat and were filled and they took up of the broken meat that
was left seven baskets full. And they that did eat were four
thousand men besides the women and children." He just gave thanks.
That's all we have to do. Our Father knows what things
we have need of. The numbers don't add up sometimes. We give thanks. Well, He gives us what we need
and He gives us so much more. Second Corinthians nine says
we're enriched in everything to all bountifulness. That word
means liberality just gives just gives which causes through us. Thanksgiving to God, that's what
it causes. He just keeps giving and we just
keep saying thanks. Oh, thanks. Thanks. It's all
I can give. Thanks. We're enriched with the
riches of his grace, his giving. Now, the next three things that
we give thanks for, prove the grace and the work of God in
us. We thank God in grief and sorrowing. Turn with me to First Peter,
chapter two. First Peter 2. Verse 18 says servants be subject
to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle,
but also to the froward, for this is thank worthy. If a man
for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
For what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults,
you shall take it patiently? But if when you do well and suffer
for it, you take it patiently. This is acceptable with God.
For even here unto were you called because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps,
who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. who when
he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously,
who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that
we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose
stripes you were healed. For you were as sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls." We do not wish it upon ourselves. We do not wish it as painful.
We don't ask for it, but we acknowledge it's of God. It's of God. And we give thanks. We know the
story of Job. Everything going for him. All
the goodness of God. All those things then happened
to Job. And he lost everything. He lost
everything. Everything. And how did God give Job the
grace to respond? This is what he said. Job rent
his mantle and he shaved his head. Oh, he was hurting. He
was hurting. And he fell down upon the ground
and he worshipped. He worshipped, he gave thanks
unto God, he said, naked came out of my mother's womb, naked
shall I return thither. The Lord gave it to me in the
first place. And the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name
of the Lord. In all of this, Job sinned not,
nor charged God foolishly. Even in great trial, grief, suffering,
the Lord gives his people the grace to say, Blessed be the
name of the Lord. And it's hard to understand for
someone who cannot say that. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
It's through grief and trial that the Lord brings us to Christ. We thank God for His purpose
and will. His purpose and will. Turn with
me to Matthew 26. Matthew 26, look at verse 26. And as they were eating, Jesus
took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples
and said, take eat. This is my body. And he took
the cup and gave thanks. and gave it to them, saying,
Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Now, verse
36 says, Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane,
and said unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray
yonder. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very
heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, tarry ye here and
watch with me. And he went a little further
and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt." He prayed, if it be possible,
let this cup of bloodshed pass from me. But it was the Father's
will that he take the cup. And he gave thanks for it. He
gave thanks. He said, not as I will, but as
thou wilt. We thank God in grief and suffering
in His purpose, in His will, and we thank God in His providence,
in His predestination, how He's ordered our steps. All things. The path that He leads us in.
Acts chapter 5. Go with me to Acts chapter 5. We all know this story. It's
one of my favorites. I was going to quote it, but
I like to read it. The apostles are in prison for
preaching the truth. They're brought before a council,
and the council is trying to decide what to do with these
men. Verse 38 says, the council says, Now I say unto you, refrain
from these men and let them alone. For if this council or this work
be of men, it'll come to naught. But if it be of God, you cannot
overthrow it. Lest happily you be found even
to fight against God. And to him they agreed. And when
they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded
that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them
go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing
evermore. That they were counted worthy
to suffer shame for his name. and they prayed without ceasing.
Daily, they were in the temple and in every house, and they
ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. They were just
so happy and thankful. Just so thankful. Everything,
they gave thanks. Three more reasons, and we're
done. We thank God for election. I thank God for election. Turn with me to Matthew 11. Matthew 11. Look at verse twenty
five. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast
revealed them unto babes." Don't you thank God for election? He
could have hid it from everybody. Everybody was already blind.
Everybody was already dead. Could have hit it from everybody.
But he revealed it on the simple little babes. That includes me. We thank God. For election, we already thanked
God for our brethren, but we also thank God for all men. Let
me just turn to this one. This one is first Timothy chapter
two. And it says. First, Timothy chapter two, it
says, I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications,
prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men,
all men, all men. Because we are no different than
they are. We are no different than any man. We come from the
same lump of clay. I love the illustration. Well,
I mean, it's a story. Brother Scott Richardson was
with a man in the church and they went to this convenience
store and they saw a man they knew from town and talked to
him for a minute. And then Scott said, it's good
to see you, brother. And they went back and got in their car
and the man from the church said, Brother Scott, do you really
believe that man is your brother? And he said, well, if I missed
him in Christ, I got him in Adam. We come from the same lump of
clay. The whole reason we preach the gospel is because we love
mankind. We desire that they might be
saved. I desire that whoever the Lord
will allow, save us, save us all. That brings us to the last
one we'll mention in this message. We thank God for the gospel. Thank God for the gospel. It's
the power of God and the salvation. His message of good news. Go
with me to Colossians four. Colossians chapter four. Verse one says, Masters, give
unto your servants that which is just and equal, knowing that
you also have a master in heaven. Continue in prayer and watch
in the same with thanksgiving with all praying also for us. that God would open unto us a
door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which
I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to
speak." Pray for us. Pray for us. If the Lord God
gives a man a message and enables his mouth to speak the mysteries
of Christ, and if he gives us an ear to hear it, And He gives
us an understanding of these wonderful things. It's a great
reason to give thanks. We give thanks for it. Those
are just a few of the things we give thanks for. Now, I'll
close with why. Two Scriptures and I'll close
with why. Why do we? We give thanks for
these things, but why do we give thanks? Go with me to 2 Corinthians
4. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 15 says,
For all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might,
through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God. We give thanks because it gives
God all the glory. No matter what he does, we give
thanks because it gives God all the glory. We know that you know
things we don't know. We know that you know the end
from the beginning. I don't see how all this is going
to pan out, but I give thanks for everything you've done because
I know all glory goes to you. It gives Him all the glory. And
the second reason is back in our text. 1 Thessalonians 5. Verse 18 says, In everything
give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. We all say, and we mean it, I
want to do the Lord's will. Whatever the Lord's will is for
me, whatever the Lord's will is concerning me, I just want
the Lord's will. I just want to know the Lord's will. In everything
give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you." It's God's will for us to give thanks in everything. Lord, give us the grace to give
thanks. Okay, I hope the Lord will bless
that.