Oh my. But Thanksgiving's coming
up, and so I thought we'd take a little venture off of our ACT
study and I'll do a message called Be Thankful. Be thankful. Because,
you know, we as God's people, we have a lot to be thankful
about. Well, yeah, we're going to see
that too. Daily we're loaded down with benefits. That's something
to be thankful about. Daily. The Holy Spirit cares
for us and has us grow and learn, and daily Our Lord and Savior
is mediating for us in glory with the Father. You ever went
to dinner at a relative's house? Man, I used to dread this. Tell
me if it's the same for you. I used to dread this. They'd
all get together and they'd all sit in there. Everyone needs
to tell everybody what they're thankful for. It's like, oh my
gosh, here we go. Right? And Dave was telling me
that someone needs to go around with a microphone and ask y'all
what you're thankful for. That won't happen as long as
I'm your pastor, let me tell you that. Oh, my. I used to sit there and, you
know, after the Lord saved me, and I never heard that. I never
heard that except in the Christian environment. When I was a heathen,
we just ate and, you know, we didn't just, we just ate, right?
It was just another day to have some food and drink. But after the Lord saved me,
and I started being around other professing believers, this always
came up on Thanksgiving Day. And I'd always say, well, I'm
thankful for Christ. And they'd say, oh, we're all
thankful here. And what are you talking about? Well, is there anything
more than to be thankful about? Really? Let's just end the conversation
and say, Christ, I'm thankful for Christ. It's all over. There's
nothing that'll, there's nothing, right? But I wasn't doing it
with that spirit. I was just thankful for Christ,
saving my soul. But it was, oh, that's obvious.
No, it's not. Anyways, so you won't have any
of that stuff here, Lord willing. We won't be walking around. If
we do, Dave will be carrying the mic, okay? And you will answer. Yes, you
will. Oh, I love you all. Open your
Bibles, if you would, to Colossians. Colossians. We're going to read
quite a few verses here, verses 1 to 17 of this book, to get
the setting of what Paul's writing here. Now, Colossus was an ancient
city in Asia Minor. It was one of the most celebrated
cities in its day, and today it would be located in what is
southern Turkey today. So that's where it was in Asia
Minor. During Paul's time, it wasn't as big of a city as it
was at one time. It was a booming city at one
time, and it had dwindled down, but it was still a pretty well-known
city. And it was known for its, this
is incredible, I didn't realize this. I did know about the angel
worship through our study in Colossians, but I didn't know
that it was known for its fusion of religious influences. It took
all kinds of stuff in, which included Jewish, Gnostic beliefs,
Jewish beliefs, pagan influences in the first century. And it
was well known for an angel cult. People worshiped angels there.
And the city was decimated by an earthquake in the 60s A.D. before being totally destroyed
in 1192 or 1193, they're not sure which A.D. A.D. though,
both 60 A.D. and it was just totally destroyed. And several people moved to a
neighboring city after that. It was never rebuilt. And of
course, the Gnostics had crept in. into the church, and they
were saying, you know, we have this knowledge of ways to God,
and it's through all these different... They actually had fused the angel
worship, and they said Christ is just one mediator out of many.
And so they believed, what they believed, they fused the angel
worship with Gnosticism, and they believed then that there
was levels of angels to get to God, and Christ was just one
of those angels. And if you read the book in light
of that, read Colossians, it'll come through. What Paul is setting
forth is the preeminence of Christ over everything. over everything,
over angels, over all people. That's what Paul's setting forth
in this. And it's a beautiful way to set forth Christ, because
here you have these men saying this, and then you have Christ
who's preeminent. Preeminent. If you ever teach
or preach, Brother Jonathan, I told, somebody told me this
a long time ago, and my, John Claude told me this, always make
Christ preeminent. Man, that never left me. I stuck
with that. He gets all the preeminence,
no matter what. No matter what. Brother Travis, when you're teaching
too, he always gets the preeminence. Always. Always, always, always.
It's just how it should be. How it should be. And the Gnostics,
again, were a blend of the local cult of angel worshipers, and
then they supposedly mixed Christianity into it, too. And they said,
well, we only have the keys to get to God, and you have to come.
The whole thing with Gnosticism is they tell you you have to
go through them in order to know the truth. Well, that's the basis
of most false religions, isn't it? It really is. They tell you
that you have to belong to their church or you have to go to them
to receive the knowledge of who God is. So with that in mind,
as born-again, blood-washed believers, we have much to be thankful for.
We have much to be thankful in the fact that we believe the
truth. And not a lie. I used to believe a lie. Did
you? And now I believe the truth. And the only one who showed me
that, the only ones who revealed that to us, as believers, is
God the Holy Spirit. By His regenerating power. Giving
us the faith, as we saw today, to look to Christ. To look to
Christ and Him alone. So let's look here. Colossians
chapter 3. Now, this is very instructive
here, even for today. The fact that all this stuff's
going on in the world. You ever notice something? You
ever notice something? Vicki and I went out for lunch
the other day. And we were sitting beside two ladies. And I do this. I like listening in. Do you all
like listening in? No one will admit it, but we
like listening in, don't we? We love it. We love listening
in. And they were complaining. One lady started complaining.
The other lady started complaining. And they just was mixing that
pot, stirring that pot, right? Stirring that pot. And I'm thinking
about this message. And I'm thinking, man, they're not thankful for
nothing. They're just feeding off each other's problems. And we always look for someone
who will listen, right? Well, we always look for someone
who will listen while we complain, right? Let's be honest, we're
all the same, right? Or, you know, I actually like,
when Vicki comes home from work, and I'm sure several of you do
this with your spouses, is, she'll tell me about her day, and I'll
just listen. And it's just a way for her to unload from the day,
right? And that's good. You need to
do that. You need a sounding board. You need someone just
to listen. Not say a word. I've learned as a man, now, finally,
after 26 years of marriage, that my wife doesn't need me to fix
things. Okay? Just listen. Just listen. But if you go out to the restaurants,
listen in a little bit. People are always complaining
about stuff. Very little, you sit beside someone and they go,
well, man, I'm so thankful the Lord saved me. Or even I'm thankful,
this is a beautiful day. I'm very thankful for it. Otherwise,
oh, it's too windy. It's sunny, but it's too cold,
right? Always something, always something. We always focus on
the negative. Let us be thankful. Let us, as
God's people, be thankful. You know, A.W. Pink wrote this. Now, this is a way to fix us
from murmuring about the weather. Ever since I read this, I don't
complain about the weather no more. A.W. Pink said this. He
said, to murmur against the weather is to murmur against God's providence. Oh, man. Oh, man. So when that snow comes, praise
God, the snow's here. Right? Seriously, though. Dave's laughing. He can't do
that. Oh, my. But no, seriously, though. Let's
give thanks to God. Now, let's read this. So in this
time, the world we live in, there's all kinds of things going on.
All kinds. Antichrist in the sense that
people are against Christ, which is all antichrist is. People
think antichrist is a man. Antichrist is a system. It's
just against Christ. That's all it is. It's a religious
system or a world system that's against Christ. That's all antichrist
means. If you look at the Greek definition,
it just means against Christ. It doesn't say a man. It just
says against Christ. So any religion that adds works
to grace is against Christ. It's antichrist. Any of it. Okay. So all the stuff going
on in the world. Look at what Paul writes here
to the Colossians. And this is good for us. This
is good instruction for us right now. If ye then be risen with
Christ, which God's people are, right? We're seated with him
in heavenly places already. Seek those things which are above. Oh my, what's above? The Father,
the Son, the saints of God worshiping God? Where Christ sitteth on
the right hand of God. Do you know if I'm, do you know
if I'm looking to Christ, I'm not looking at you, and I'm not
looking at the world? You know when we're complaining
about people and stuff, we're looking at them, aren't we? Paul says,
set your mind to things above. It'll make you thankful. When
you start setting your mind on things above, when you start
setting your mind on Christ sitting on the throne, that the work
of salvation is a finished and accomplished work, that the atonement
is perfect, it's already done, it's already complete, that we
preachers get up and we preach a work that's already finished
2,000 years ago, that there's nothing for us to do but to look
to Christ by God-given faith, that'll make you thankful, won't
it? Yeah, amen, brother. I'll make you thankful. And that
thankfulness will just flow out of your heart, you see? You know,
I remember hearing someone say a long time ago, and I totally
disagree with this statement. I totally disagree with this
statement. They'd say, well, you're so heavenly minded, you're
no earthly good. Okay, so you're telling me then
not to look to Christ? Not to set my mind on Christ?
Because if I'm in that position where I'm praising God in my
heart and praising God amongst God's people, it's because I'm
looking to Christ. And you know what? I don't do
it enough. My. See, that's why Paul, that's
why, and remember who the true author of this is. It's not Paul.
The true author is God the Holy Spirit. And He's telling us as
believers. This is written to believers.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Just look to Christ.
Just look to Him. Look at this. Set your affection.
That means your heart. In the Greek, that means your
heart. Set your heart on things above, not on things on the earth.
Don't get entangled with everything that's going on. Know what's
going on, but don't get so stressed out and so worked up that it's
paralyzing us. You know, I don't even know what's
coming tomorrow, do you? We don't know what's coming today,
during the day, exactly. But yet, we can be concerned
about things that may happen years from now, or may happen
a month or not, or what? Sufficient is the evil thereof
for today, right? For today. For today. That's why, Brother Brian, you
and I have been talking about this and how much peace and joy it brings
us just to look to Christ. To not get wrapped up in all
the things going on. Because I don't know, I may die
tomorrow. You may die tomorrow. We don't
know. So let us rejoice this day in
Christ our Savior. Let us praise His name. Why should
we do that? Look at this. For you are dead
and your life is hid with Christ in God. We're the hidden ones.
We're hidden Christ. My oh my. And we're dead. When Christ died, Paul said,
I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. When Christ died, we
died in Him. We died to the law. Praise be
to God. Right? We died to the justice
of God and the wrath of God is being extinguished against us. We're crucified with Christ.
We're new creatures now. My oh my. Look at this. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Now notice that little word,
we've been finding it everywhere. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear. He's coming back. There's that
little word shall again, we've been finding everywhere. He's
coming back, it's guaranteed. Sure as the sun set this morning,
our Lord is coming back. We just don't know when. We don't
know him, but he's coming. I know he's either coming at
my death, for me, or if I'm alive, when he comes again, I'll be
caught up in the air with him. Either way, either way, we're gonna
be with him. Right? Win-win, yeah, that's a good
way to put it. Win-win, yeah. We're gonna be with him. Why?
Because of what he's done for us. Because he shed his precious
blood for us. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, it's wonderful. We've been
redeemed, beloved. Now he gives us a little instruction
here, where we can't become antinomians and go out and go crazy. He says,
mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication,
uncleanness, inorder, affection, evil, cupid'sness, and covetousness,
which is idolatry. For which things sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience. In which, look
at this, this verse to me is so incredible. Because he just
told us, for which things the wrath of God cometh on the children
of disobedience for those things. And look what he says here, in
the which he also walked sometime when you lived in him. Praise God he saved us. Praise
God he saved us, beloved. Scripture says we're not appointed
to wrath, but to obtain salvation. And we walk the same way as anyone
else who's in hell right now. And the only one who made us
to differ was God. The only one who made us to differ
as believers is God. This is why we say, sinner friend,
flee to Christ. We're just a bunch of safe sinners,
aren't we? Christ is the only hope for sinners. And everything
that a sinner needs is found in Christ. We need redemption. We need to
be saved from all our sins. It's in Christ. We need justification
so we can stand before God. It's in Christ. We need sanctification. We need to be made holy. We're
made holy in Christ. We need righteousness. Righteousness.
Righteousness is not preached much anymore. You know why? Because
people are going about trying to establish their own righteousness
now. We need righteousness. Our righteousness is like filthy
rags before the eyes of the Lord. And God the Father clothes us
in the perfect righteousness of Christ. My, we have so much
to be thankful for, don't we? So very much. Did we deserve
any of that? No, we deserve this. We deserve
this. For which things sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience. That's what
we did. We deserve the wrath of God. But I love what Paul
said, I've obtained mercy. Brother Tom, we've obtained mercy,
brother. Mercy in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. We've
obtained it by him, by his work, his perfect atonement on Calvary's
cross, the shedding of his precious blood. We're fully forgiven,
brother. Fully pardoned so that God don't remember any of our
sins. And I remember them. You probably remember yours,
I remember mine. But he says, Think of this too. Why do we
beat ourselves up? They're already gone. They're
already forgiven. They're washed under the blood.
And scripture says if we confess our sin, he's faithful just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And his blood has cleansed us from all unrighteousness, beloved.
It's wonderful, isn't it, Brother Brian? It's wonderful. Now, I don't have to tell you
to be thankful, although in here we're gonna, I'm presenting things
that, why we should be thankful. I can see on some of your faces
you're already thankful. Isn't that wonderful? And isn't
it wonderful the more you hear about it, the more, more, more
happy and joyful and thankful it makes you? Salvation in Christ, a complete
forgiveness, like I mean complete, so much so that the scripture
says, and ye are complete in Christ. That's your, your, God
don't see your sin no more. The forgiveness is not a partial
forgiveness, it's a full forgiveness. And then to be given the perfect
spotless righteousness of Christ, to be clothed in it by the Father.
My. You wonder why I get excited
when I preach. That's why. I'm a sinner saved by grace. I was there. And if it wasn't for the grace
of God, I'd still be there, wouldn't you? Deserving of wrath. And I still deserve wrath, but
God's had mercy on me in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? My, fills
your heart with joy, doesn't it? Look at what he tells us
here. But now put off these things,
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your
mouth. Lie not one to another. Back in those days, this is something
interesting too, back in those days in the Asian culture, it
was considered an art to lie. In the Middle East countries
and stuff like that, it was considered an art to lie, to gain Whether
you're in business and stuff like this, it was considered
an art. That's why he's saying here, lie not one to another,
because it's wrong. It's a sin. But it was so ingrained
in their culture. Lie not one to another. Look
at this. Seeing you put off the old man
with his deeds. We're new creatures now in Christ.
We're made new by the Holy Spirit of God, by his regenerating power,
aren't we? Born again. Why? Because of the precious
blood of Christ that redeemed us. Because the Father chose
us in Christ in eternity. It all goes back to Him. He gets
all the glory for it. And they put off the new man,
which is renewed knowledge after the image of Him that created
him. Now look at this, where there's neither Greek nor Jew. Greek there represents the Gentiles,
but look, he's going to go on a little bit more here. Circumcision
or uncircumcision, well that's the Gentiles, the uncircumcision,
and the circumcision being the Jews. Barbarian, the Gauls, and
anyone, actually Rome considered anyone outside of Rome a barbarian,
a savage. And Israel considered anyone
outside of Israel just a bunch of heathen dogs. So barbarian would, for the Israelites,
would compose of anyone outside of Israel. Now it says here Scythian. Who's the Scythians? Well, if
you look up the Scythians, we thought Vikings were bad? The Scythians were the worst
of the worst. Known as the barbarian of the barbarians. They would
go into battle, slaughter anyone they could, chop their heads
off, and drink their blood out of their skulls. That's how wicked
they were. They were just... They were known,
again, as the barbarians of the barbarians. Absolutely. Well,
look at this. The Lord saved some of them. How do we know that? This is
amazing. Whether it's neither Greek nor Jewish, circumcision
or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but
Christ is all and in all. Oh my, the worst of the worst.
That's me. Is that you? Right? We're the chief of sinners, aren't
we? Every one of us. But these Scythians, they were
something else. And you know what? It's even in us to be that
way. Except for the grace of God.
I remember Todd Neibert saying, the only difference between me
and somebody in prison is the grace of God. The worst criminal
in prison is the grace of God. That's true for all of us, isn't
it? We all have the same nature when we're born into this world.
Now look at this. Put on therefore as the elect
of God. There's that word elect again. That means chosen in the
Greek. My, how thankful we are that
we were chosen in Christ. before the foundation of the
world. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, that's what we're called. Notice that? It's not what we have to try
to be, it's what we're called, holy. We're made holy by Christ. It's all by him. Beloved. Beloved is what the brethren
called each other. Beloved of God. Bows of mercy. kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, long-suffering. Look, we see two of the fruit
of the spirit there, meekness and long-suffering. But all of
these things have to be worked in us. We're not humble. We're
not humble by nature, are we? Scripture says God humbles the
pride. That's what he does to believers. Do you know that?
When it says he humbles the pride, that's what he's done to you
and I, as believers. He's humbled the proud. Look
at this. Forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgive you, so also do ye. I was told this
a long time ago. I've shared it with a few of
you. In every circumstance we can either get better or bitter.
Right? People have asked me, how do
you let things go so easily? Well, I can either get better
or bitter, right? Do you know that if I get bitter at someone,
you ever think of this? When I get bitter at someone,
it doesn't affect them. They don't even know I'm bitter
at them. You ever think of that? Who's it affect? Right? We get mad at people.
Now, somebody might know you're mad at them. You might have a
dispute with someone, but there's other people. They might tick
you off. They don't even know, they don't even have a clue you're
married and you're just burning hot. Who's it affecting? Me. Right? Keep short accounts,
beloved. You know why? Because Christ
wiped our account clean. Paid in full. Washed in the blood
of Christ. God's people. I think it was
Henry who said this, God's people who've received grace are gracious.
They are. They are. And that's God working
that in us, isn't it? It's amazing. Oh, my. Look at this, forbearing one
another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. My. You ever had somebody really
do you wrong? Like, I mean really deep. We're to forgive them, aren't
we? God, give us grace to do that. God, give us strength to
do that. Because look how much Christ
has forgiven us. Who did we sin against? We sinned
against God, didn't we? And he has forgiven us all our
sins and trespasses in Christ. And Christ died before God. He
died before God's justice and law for us. Because it's us who had offended
the Father. He's the lawgiver, isn't he?
Oh, but look at this, though. Look at this. And above all,
these things put on love, charity, love. This is the love that's
mentioned in Galatians 5.22, the love of the Spirit, which
is not natural to us, right? This is that love from the Father.
Now, we love our family members in our natural state, but this
love spoken of here, this charity spoken of here, is that love
that's wrought in us by God, the Holy Spirit. And you know
what it does? It makes us thankful. It makes
us full of joy. It gives us peace that passes
all understanding. To keep our hearts and minds
upon Christ and Him alone. That's what it does. And then
look at this. And above all things put on charity,
which is the bond of perfectness. Remember, you've heard me say
before the one thing Satan can't counterfeit is the love of God
that the Holy Spirit gives to the saints. He cannot counterfeit
that. He can counterfeit a lot of other
things. He even has counterfeit faith. He even has a counterfeit
Jesus. But he cannot counterfeit this
love. Cannot. Look at this. And let the peace of God rule
in your hearts. How do we do that? By setting your mind on
things above. by setting your mind on Christ.
And look at this. Here it is. To which also ye
are called in one body. We're one here. We come from
all different places. And the whole body of Christ
universal comes from all different places, all different countries.
And we're one in Christ. Isn't that amazing? One body. And be ye thankful. Thankful. Like I said, sit in a restaurant,
listen to people's conversations. Not many people are thankful,
but God's people are thankful. See, even though we can be caught
up in those things too, we still are thankful. And this is why
we need to hear the preaching of the gospel, because we forget
so quickly. We forget the blessings of God. He goes, Miles McKee, he's a
friend of Donnie Bell and I's, and he said that one time, he
said, the whole reason we need to hear the gospel is because
we forget so quickly. That's why every week we have
to come and keep hearing the gospel. Keep hearing about what
Christ has done for us. My. Sister Carolyn told me one
time, I love that sister, you said, I wish we could just stay
here and sleep and you preach to us every day. I love it. But that's not how it is though,
right? But that's wonderful. Does your heart not fill with
joy when you hear about Christ? Does it not make you thankful?
And I don't have to muster that up for you. I don't have to rah-rah
you, do I? It just comes out. To be thankful even in the midst
of heavy trials. That's the grace of God working
in you. That's the grace of God working in you. My oh my. And he said this, look at this.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Just let it dwell
in you. Think about it. Meditate upon
it. Take one scripture and just meditate upon it for a week.
A day. Just run it through your mind
while you're at work or wherever, run it through your mind. There's one I did a long time
ago and it still sticks with me. It says, let's see, now when I want to
remember it, I can't remember it. Oh my. For God has not given us a spirit
of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. He's
not giving us a spirit of fear. So when something comes up and
I think, oh my, God's not giving you a spirit of fear, right?
See, and we can also use those in times that we go through when
we memorize the scripture. Another one was, it's one about
a broken spirit drives the bones. Oh gosh, I can't remember it.
See? Yeah, see, right when I want to remember it. My. But it's good. It's good for
us to just pick up the scriptures and read. And let the word of Christ dwell
on you richly in all wisdom. Before you read the scriptures,
bow your head and say, Holy Spirit, please illuminate the scriptures
for me. Teach me. Teach me. Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns, spiritual songs. Let us encourage
one another in Christ. May this be a place where we
can come, as Sister Dee said, a place where we can come and
be open with each other and just be thankful for God, thankful
for each other. We're family, beloved. God has
brought us together. He's brought us together. And
we are all going through different things in our lives. Although
I bet you if we got together, we'd find out we're struggling
with a lot of the same things. But here we are. We're going
through this life. And God has brought us here together. Isn't
that amazing? Scripture says, bury one another's
burdens. Pray for each other. And I know you do. I love how
cards are signed and sent out. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. It's so encouraging. But that
manifests the love that we have for one another, doesn't it?
And how thankful we are for each other. Are you thankful for your
brothers and sisters in Christ? Isn't that wonderful? You know,
my two brothers, I pretty well lost them when the Lord saved
me. But I have More brothers now. I have two more big brothers
and a whole bunch of other brothers. I got little brothers. I got
aunts and uncles. Some of you I consider like an
aunt and an uncle. Some of you I consider like a mom and a dad. Isn't God so good? Donny Bell
told me that a long time ago, and he said, I can go anywhere
in the US with God's people, and I've got family. Isn't that
amazing? And it's God who's knit our hearts
together. And we're thankful for that, aren't we? It produces
thankfulness in us. My, people always again look
for a friendly ear to complain to. Let us get together and rejoice
in the Lord, rejoice in the wonderful things that he's done for us.
Look at verse 15 again, and let the peace of God rule in your
hearts, to the which also you are called in one body, and be
thankful. Well, some may say, well what's
the foundation of thankfulness? Well, the foundation of being
truly thankful, or the necessity of being thankful, must be in
the understanding which is given to us, right? We don't have a
natural understanding of these things. That what we have in
Christ is not a result of our own efforts. It's not a result
of our wills. It's not a result of anything
we've done. But the faith that we have in Christ is a gift from
God. The salvation that we have in Christ is a gift from God.
I am so thankful, and I'm not saying this, that my salvation
is not dependent upon me, are you? My, I'm so thankful for that.
It would be horrible if my salvation was dependent upon me, because
I'd be just like I was in my natural state, lost. Would it
be so for you? Isn't God good? He saved your
soul. He saved your soul. My, oh my,
it's wonderful. and to be thankful is a natural
result of being made aware of who we are, who we really are,
sinners, in desperate need of Christ, and who it is that has
blessed us. Listen to this, every good gift
and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the
Father of lights, with whom is no variable, and this neither
shall return. So our Father is the one who's blessed us. And
he's blessed us in Christ, whom he sent to this world to save
us from our sins. That'll make us thankful, won't
it? So when someone asks you, are you thankful for anything?
Say, I'm thankful for Christ. And there ain't nothing else
that I need to be thankful for. Because if I'm in Christ, I have
everything. Do you have everything in Christ?
We've got everything. Can anything make you more thankful
than Christ? My. Dave, grab the mic. No, I'm just kidding. Oh my, no. But it's true. The
Apostle Paul was acquainted with this truth. He wrote this in
1 Corinthians 4-7. He said, for who maketh thee
to differ one from another? When is thou that didst not receive?
Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou
has not received it? So the only one who's made us
to differ, praise be to God, is God the Father in Christ. So we know we couldn't save ourselves. And then with thankful hearts,
we praise him for saving us. And that heart is a new heart,
isn't it? That hungers and thirsts after righteousness. Oh, my. When a man or woman is made to
know the weakness of their flesh and the sinfulness of their heart
and our natural inability to produce any righteousness or
to save ourselves, then by God's grace, they bow down and thank
the Lord of heaven for saving their souls. When we're born
again, what's the first thing? I'll tell you what. There's words
of praise coming out of our mouth, isn't there? Remember when the Lord first
saved you? I can't put a date on it. You know, people say,
well, I know the date and the time. I just know the Lord saved
me, so I'm just trusting in Him. Spurgeon said that. You get a
bunch of preachers together, they can't give you the date
or time. That don't matter, does it? You know what matters right
now? Amen, sister. Who are you trusting
right now? Right now, right this second,
are you trusting in yourself or are you trusting in Christ?
If you're trusting in yourself and you die in that state, you're
gonna go right to hell. And it'll be all your own doing. But if God saves you, you're
gonna give him all the glory. and all the honor and all the
praise while you're on earth and when you're in heaven. Because
he has made me glad. Has he made you glad? Has he
made you glad? Oh, my. Save my soul. My. See, the natural man's convinced
in their heart that they're somehow deserving of God's grace and
mercy. Right? Well, my good will outweigh
my bad. No, it won't. No, it won't. You're not deserving of that.
You know what we're deserving of? God's wrath. That's what
we're deserving of, right? But praise be to God that fell
upon Christ for his people. And natural man thinks they got
to perform some deed. No, I'll tell you what, the work's
done. Salvation is already accomplished.
You know who did it? The Lord Jesus Christ. And if
you look to him, he'll make you thankful. Oh my. Romans chapter one says,
because that when they knew not God, they glorified him not as
God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imagination
and their foolish heart was darkened. So natural man's not thankful
to God. It's just not in us. When you're
born again, you become thankful. You become thankful to God. Remember
the Pharisee? Even he thanked God, remember?
But it wasn't true thankfulness to God. It was hypocrisy. I thank God that I do this and
I do that. That was a false thankfulness.
He wasn't thankful. He was so full of himself it
wasn't funny, wasn't he? I do this and I do that. I'll
tell you what, I'm a nothing telling other nothings where
to find the one. I got that from Scott. That's
right. He's the one. We're a bunch of
zeros. Now people say, why do you talk
like that? Well, I'm a zero, I'll tell you that. But with
Christ, man, I'm saved. I'm saved. He's something and I'm nothing. But praise God,
he said, mercy on us. Are you thankful? Don't even
have to ask, really, do I? Oh, my. Now, again, to be thankful
is a result of God working in us. Ephesians chapter 5, verse
20 says, given thanks always for all things unto God and unto
the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So our thankfulness
flows from us through Christ. Always. And our thankfulness
is because of what God's done in us. Because we're born again. Paul says this again in Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 16. Cease not to give thanks for
you, making mention of you always in my prayers. He was thankful.
Cease not to make, stop being thankful for the Ephesian church
who were very dear to him. And then again, let's look again
at Colossians 3, verses 15 to 17 again. Let the peace of God
rule in your hearts, to which also you are called in one body,
and be you thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God and the Father by Him." So twice he's bottled up here. Give
thanks to God. If you have anything in this
world, give thanks to God. Give thanks for everything you
have. Because it all comes from Him. Like what Dave says, our
children are on loan. They're just on loan to us. They're
God's. God created everything, didn't
he? They're his. My, oh, my. What a blessing they
are to us. Another reason we should be thankful
to our great God is the fact that he's given us our daily
bread. Do you know that in Psalm 68, 19, it says this, blessed
be the Lord, that's Jehovah, who daily, daily, loaded us down
with benefits, even the God of our salvation, Selah, daily loaded
us down? Well, you think, well, I just
got up and have a cup of coffee. You know, God had rain fall upon
where that coffee was gonna be growing, and he gave the increase,
and that coffee came up, right? I think coffee's from a tree,
right? From a bean? No, it's from a bean, isn't it?
I don't know, I don't drink coffee, but anyways. But it was growing
by God, he gives the increase, right? Brother Neil, you plant
your crops, And God gives the increase, right? He gives the
increase to those crops. And then you get the bounty of
it. Well, think of that coffee you drink in the morning. Some
farmer harvested it, right? Farmer probably in Brazil or
somewhere. He harvests that bean, and they put it in a bag or something,
sent it off, went to some factory, got cooked up, got trucked from
the factory to the grocery store. You went to the grocery store,
you picked out that thing of coffee, and you went home, you
start brewing your coffee. All by the providence of God
that comes to you. Daily, that food that appears
on your plate, you think, well, I bought that. God gave it to
you. daily loaded down with benefits. God gave you the money to get
that, gave us the know-how to be able to go work, right? See, we can't boast in anything,
beloved. We can't. God's got to get all the glory.
If you're really good at your job, if you're outstanding, it's
because God gave you that ability to be doing that. That's all. See, it's humbling, isn't it?
But it's true. Oh my. Another reason we should be thankful
is that our God is a sovereign God. He has no rival. No rival. He don't need no counselors.
He does whatever he wills in the armies of heaven. And all the people of the earth
are reputed as nothing to him. Listen to this. Saying, we give
thanks, O God Almighty, which art and was and art to come,
because thou has taken to thee thy great power and has reigned.
Revelation 11, 17. Our God reigns, beloved. He's
sovereign. I'm thankful he's sovereign because
that means everything going on in this world is happening according
to his will and purpose. Right? Make you thankful, doesn't
that? Sure clear up a lot of things.
When God, he's not the creator of evil. You know why men go
around killing each other? Because we're sinful. We're a
bunch of sinners. That's why. That's why. We can do the worst
things to each other. But God's plan is unfolding,
isn't it? Sinners are being saved. I remember I was listening to
Henry Mayhem one time. When I heard this, I was like,
wow. He said, God will start a war to save one of his sheep, to get a preacher over there,
or to get someone, a believer over there, to give the gospel. Now, he's
not the author of it, but he allows it to happen. But isn't
that amazing, when you think about that? I think about all
the stuff going on. Who knows if someone's going
to download a message from a grace preacher or somewhere and hear
the truth, beloved, and Lord save them. Isn't that amazing? We don't know. We don't know
what God does. The word goes out and he does whatever he pleases
with it. My, oh, my. Another reason we
should be thankful to God is because He is God. He's a holy
God. He delights in righteousness. Scripture says, Sing unto the
Lord, O ye saints, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.
Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance
of His holiness. Let us remember His holiness.
Let us remember how we were unholy by nature, dead in trespasses
and sins. And let us rejoice that He's
made us holy in Christ, so that we can be in the presence now
of the one who is holy. Isn't he so good? Isn't he so
good, beloved? Oh, my. He displays his goodness
to us. Scripture says, Praise ye the
Lord, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his
mercy endureth forever. How long? Forever. We are witnesses of that. In
this generation, aren't we? In our generation, we're witnesses
to the great mercy of God in Christ. because we're receivers
of it. My, another reason we should
be thankful is God's given us his word. Scripture says this,
for this cause also, we thank, also thank we God without ceasing
because when you receive the word of God, which you heard
of us, you received it not as the word of man, but as the word
of truth, the word of God, which effectively worketh also in you
that believe. 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. So they heard the word with power.
By whose power? God, the Holy Spirit's power. Some people hear preachers and
all they hear is our words. Won't do nothing. I could stand
up here and speak for hours and hours and hours. And if all you're
hearing is my words, it won't profit you anything. But if God
the Holy Spirit gets ahold of those scriptures, which he does,
I'll tell you why. And he uses them for his glory
and raises one of his lost sheep out of the deadness of their
sin and saves them. Praise be to God. Right? Glory to his name. And that's
what he did to us. We were dead. Dead in trespasses
and sins. Now the reason we should be thankful
is that he's given us the unspeakable gift of his son. Thanks be to
God for his unspeakable gift, that's Christ. Words cannot explain how wonderful
he is to our souls. Words cannot even explain it.
And praise God, when we were dead in trespasses and sins,
he saved us, beloved. He saved us from all our sins. We should be thankful because
God, our Lord and Savior, has set an example that we should
follow in his steps continually, thanking his Heavenly Father.
He said, at this time, Jesus said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes. That's us. Hidden from the wise
and the prudent. We're just common folks, beloved. Common folks, God saved us. He
took this cup and gave thanks, gave it to them saying, drink
it all of you for this is my blood in the New Testament which
is shed for many for the remission of sins. You see, like took the
cup and gave thanks. You ever notice that too? You
know, I remember when I was a baby Christian, and used to go out
and, you know, we got to say grace. Everybody hold their hands
in the restaurant, right? Everybody put your hands together.
And then there'd be a prayer. Scripture says, he took the cup
and gave thanks. Let us just take our food. Thank
you, Lord. We don't make a big open show,
do we? Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. And I'm
not against praying. Don't get me wrong. I'm not going
to say that. But we don't have to do no big show out in public,
do we? Thank you, Lord. And you know, you could even
be thanking Lord in your heart. I like when Tom and I go out.
We give thanks. We give thanks to God for our food. We thank
him for it. It's wonderful. But we don't have to make a big
open show of it. No. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
providing for me. Thank you for your grace and
mercy. And we should thank him also when we're together. You
know, also, we should thank him when we're alone. Right? We have so much to be thankful
for. I ask you this, are you thankful that God saved you? Are you thankful that 2,000 years
ago Christ died on the cross and said, for the salvation of
our souls, it is finished? Oh, my. Are you thankful for
the regenerating power of God, the Holy Spirit? My, it's wonderful, isn't it?
Are you thankful that before there ever was a world, before
there was ever any angels, God chose us in Christ? Boy, oh, boy. You know, did we
know any of this before the Lord saved us? Oh. You know, I often think people
go to football games, they lose their minds, right? Yelling and screaming. Hallelujah. That's it. Hallelujah. Praise
his mighty name for his goodness and his grace towards us. We
don't have to shout like that. We don't have to shout like that,
but it's true though, isn't it? And here we are. Let us leave
here today with thankful hearts. When we have our Thanksgiving
dinner, let's thank him. Let's thank him for his provision,
for his mercy, for his grace. And if someone asks you, what
are you thankful for? I'm thankful for Jesus Christ.
I don't need to be thankful for nothing else. Right? No mic, Dave. No mic. Brother Jonathan, can you close
us in prayer, please? Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for this time of worship together. I pray that you do
grant us thankful hearts that seek after you and see your providence,
your goodness, your grace, your faithfulness to us, to see that
truly we are nothing and you are everything. Every good and
perfect gift comes from your merciful hand. I pray that you
give us eyes to see that and hearts to worship you for your
goodness, for who you are, because you alone are worthy of our worship,
of our praise, our thankfulness. Pray that you give us hearts
to see you. We thank you for Christ, for Christ's perfect
word. And we're thankful that it is finished, that he accomplished
salvation and full forgiveness of sin, full payment for sin,
because of his life and his death. And we are thankful, Father.
And we thank you for your promise. We thank you for this time together.
It's in your precious name that we pray, the name of Christ.
Amen.