Amen. He will make it plain.
And He has. Salvation is of the Lord. Turn if you would to Colossians
chapter 3. The other night, a few nights
back, we looked at how Paul, while in prison, He said, rejoice in the Lord
always, and again I say rejoice. Paul's again in prison, and he
pens these words. We're starting verse 1 of chapter
3 and go all the way to verse 17. Yeah, 17. If ye then be risen with Christ,
if you're born again, seek those things which are above, where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Now we've looked at multiple
times in our studies that when we're going through afflictions
and going through trials, where are we to set our mind? To Christ,
right? Look what Paul says here. Set your affections on things
above, not on the things on the earth. So we're to set our mind
upon Christ. Set our mind upon Him. For ye
are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. So the believer's
life is hid with Christ. When Christ, who is our life,
and He is our life, He's our eternal life, He's our life.
Everything we have is in Him. "...shall appear, then shall
ye also appear with Him in glory." Now, John and I were talking,
I mentioned this week, about how we sin more than we want
to, right? And Paul says here, "...mortify your members, which
are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
conspicuousness, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which
things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience,
into which ye also walked some time when you lived in them.
But now, but now, ye also put off all these, anger, wrath,
malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one
to another. And remember, in the culture back then, lying
was considered a virtue. Lying was considered a virtue.
It was an art, almost, that people in Paul says here, lie not one
to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his
deeds and have put on the new man. We're born again. Believers
in Christ, believers in God are born again, which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him. where
there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free." And I love that. The body
of Christ is composed of believers from all different generations,
all different cultures, all different colors, but we're one. We're one in Christ. It's beautiful. But Christ is all and in all. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If someone wrongs you, don't
wait for them to come to you to apologize. That's what the world does. And if they come to you, forgive
them, even if they don't forgive you, because of how Christ has
forgiven us. Oh, we have such forgiveness. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. How much have
we been forgiven? All our sins and all our trespasses. So we as believers should keep
short accounts, hey, with people, real short accounts. And above all these things put
on charity, love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let
the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye
are called in one body, and this is our text here, and be ye thankful. 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. We build ourselves up, each other,
we build each other up in Christ. We encourage one another in Christ.
And this is the difference between the world and us. The world will
tear you down. But we build each other up in
Christ. Isn't it marvelous that God saved us? Isn't it wonderful? Doesn't it fill you with joy?
We esteem each other better than
ourselves, too. in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. He gets
all the glory and all the honor and all the praise. And whatsoever
you do in the word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
given thanks to God and the Father by Him." Now, it is easy for
us to not be thankful. I would say it's almost natural
for us to not be thankful. The first thing we do is go to
the worst thing, don't we? I'm guilty. But scripture tells us to be
thankful. To be thankful. And beloved, we have much to
be thankful about. Much to be thankful about. The
foundation of truly being thankful must be in the understanding
which is given to us, because we don't naturally come to this
understanding, of what we have in Christ. What we have in Christ. What we have in this salvation
that is in Christ. And that this salvation is not
the result of our works. Of what we have is not the result
of our doings. But what we have that makes us
thankful is what Christ has done. What He's done for us. What He's
worked at, what He's done. We looked at this scripture this
morning, right? And think of this, the apostle was well acquainted
with this precious truth, because he said, for who make it thee
to differ from another, right? And we looked at that and answered
that. Only God. God is the only reason that we
differ from anyone else. And then it goes on to say, and
what hast thou that thou didst not receive? So any knowledge we have of anything,
really, is given to us from God. So what do we have that we didn't,
and think of this in our salvation, what do we have that we didn't
receive? Everything. We received everything
from the Lord, didn't we? There's nothing that we didn't
receive in salvation from Christ. Nothing that we did. And then
Paul goes on to say this. Now if thou didst receive it,
which we did, right? It's a free gift, right? Salvation's
a free gift from God. Now if thou didst receive it,
why didst thou glory as thou hadst not received it? Man naturally
wants to boast. See, and that's the opposite
with grace and religion. I know because I came out of
that. Religion, it's all about what you're doing and you're
boasting and telling everyone else what you're doing. But in
grace, it's all about what the King has done. It's all about
Him. I want you to leave here saying,
what a mighty Savior, when I preach. That's my goal, is that you would
look to Christ and say, what a mighty Savior. What a wonderful
God. What an incredible God. Because
that's what we have. We have a wonderful, wonderful
Savior. Wonderful Savior. And He is amazing. He is amazing. Now, to be thankful is a natural
result, too, of being made aware of who it
is that has blessed us. Who it is that has blessed us?
Who has blessed us? The Lord Jesus Christ in Him
alone. He's the only one. James says this in verse 17 of
chapter 1. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above. And cometh down from the Father
of lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Every
good and perfect gift comes from above. Comes from above. When a man is made to know the
weakness of his flesh, the sinfulness of his heart, and his natural
inability to seek out the righteousness, that man will bow down to Christ
and His Majesty and thank the Lord God of heaven
and earth for His mercy towards him. Is it not so with you, beloved? Do you not wonder and awe that
God had mercy upon you? Brother Neal, we've talked about
that. Why me? Because it pleased the Lord.
Because it pleased the Lord. Oh, as long as man entertains
some notion of his own worthiness to receive the blessings of the
Lord, he cannot and will not have a true spirit of thanksgiving.
If he equates anything to his own doing, he will not have a
thankful heart. Here I have a boastful heart,
but not a thankful heart. Because when we know and when
we've been shown that Christ has done it all, everything,
oh, it makes us thankful. It makes us thankful and grateful. Grateful. A natural man's heart
or a religious man's heart, in his heart he is convinced that
he is somehow deserving of the blessings of God. by something he's performed.
But that's a refuge of lies. That's a refuge of lies. And
that's what natural man thinks. Just ask him. I know, because I was there.
Just ask him to say, well, I'm not as bad as that guy over there.
Right away. Is that not how we were before
the Lord saved us? I'm guilty. But now we who are believers
say, no, I'm the chief of sinners. What a change. And it's all wrought
by God. It's all wrought by Him. Turn,
if you would, to Ephesians chapter 5. So man has a false refuge, a
false refuge in self-righteousness. Now humility and thankfulness
go hand in hand. I'll tell you a little story
about being humble. My wife's already
laughing. When I was in religion, Vicki drew me a picture of a
lion. And it was a beautiful picture.
I think we still have it too. Beautiful picture. And she gave
me this and she said, she said, I want to give you this because
it reminds me of you that you're really, you're really meek. And
I want to give that to you. So she gives me this picture
and it's just beautiful. And now meekness means humility,
right? So what happens to a religious
man when you give him something and tell him you're meek? You
think he's meek. Well, I was going to work going,
My fiance, she gave me this picture, and it represents meekness, because
I'm so humble, and I'm so full of pride and self-righteousness.
Did you see? I'm just pulling my suspenders, but
it wasn't doing anything, because it was all just self-righteousness.
Now, she meant well, but it just filled me full of
pride. But with God's people, humility
and thankfulness go hand in hand. When God shows you what you really
are, it humbles you. It brings you low. It really
does. And we are stripped down. Preaching
the gospel, the gospel preaching is called stripping grace. I
like what one old preacher told me. He said, it's stripping grace.
And it's so true. It strips you down to nothing. Strips you down
to nothing. And then builds you back up in
Christ. and shows you what you are in Christ. And that's the
truth. It strips us of all our own self-righteousness
and shows us what we have in Christ. Oh, Romans 1 says this,
because that they knew not God, they glorified Him not as God,
neither were thankful. So natural man's not thankful,
but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened.
The Pharisees said, I thank God He said he thanked God, but it
was a prayer of the hypocrite. It wasn't a prayer of self-righteousness. Now what are some things that
we have to be thankful for? Ephesians 5.20, given thanks
always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to give thanks always.
Always. Ephesians 1.16. He's blessed
us with the fellowship of our brethren in Christ. Cease not
to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers."
And then in Colossians 3.15, "...and let the peace of God
rule in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body,
and be ye thankful." We're to be thankful for our
brethren in Christ, even the ones we don't always get along
with. Because we're one in Christ.
We're one in Him. He has caused our brethren to
walk in faith and love, bringing untold blessings to us by their
example. Turn with me if you would to
Colossians 1.3-6 and I'll read Romans 1.8. First, I thank my
God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken
of throughout the whole world. We're encouraged as believers,
we're encouraged when we hear about the faith of others, aren't
we? When we hear the Lord's saving. When we hear the Lord's building
up believers in Christ. It encourages us. It encourages. Why do you think we have conferences?
A long time ago, I talked to Brother Donnie and he mentioned
something to me. He said, you know why we have conferences?
And I thought, well, to hear the gospel. He said, no, it's
not just that. It's to show the body, that there's
other believers in other churches that have the same message that
we have. And they're all over. They're all over. The same message,
the same Christ. Look at Colossians 1, verses
3-6. Now Paul, we looked at this in
depth through Wednesday night. We give thanks to God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. Paul
prayed for other churches. He prayed for other saints. Since
we heard, look at this, since we heard of your faith in Christ
Jesus, they heard that they were believers. And of the love which
you have, look at this, to all the saints. And we looked at
that. Not just the ones you get along with really good. All the
saints. We love all the saints. for the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel, which is come unto you." The gospel comes
unto you. You don't come unto it. It comes unto you. This is
wonderful. "...as it is in all the world,
and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you since the
day you heard of it, and knew the grace of God and truth."
Now this makes us thankful. The gospel came to me. And not
just to me, but to all you who believe. And to all the elect
of all the ages. And Paul gave thanks when he
heard this. When he heard of the faith of
the Colossian saints, it brought him great joy. We have much to be thankful for. Why should we Why should we be
thankful for our great King? Because He's given us daily bread. Peace be to the brethren in love
with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Forbidding
to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created
to be received with thanksgiving. Now there was some meat in the
biblical times that they were told they couldn't eat and they
could eat. We're to give thanks for everything
we have. Everything. We're to give thanks for the
food we have, for the clothes we have, for the homes we have.
Everything. For every creature of God is
good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving.
1 Timothy 4, verse 4. Turn, if you would, to Revelation
11. We're to be thankful that God
is sovereign. and that he has no rival, and that he needs no
aid at all. We looked at that from another
text earlier today, that he doesn't need any counselors. He doesn't need any aid. He's
sovereign. And we should be thankful for
that, because when we see everything going on, We should be thankful
that our God is sovereign. Look at Revelation 11, 17, saying,
We give 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. Our God reigns. And He reigns
in power. And that should make us thankful.
And like I say, it is not hard for us to become unthankful.
I know for me it's not hard. It's not hard. It's funny how
just a little wee thing will set us off, or get us unthankful,
or get our eyes off Christ. But oh, we're to keep our eyes
upon our great King, aren't we? We're to keep our eyes upon Him
and be thankful, and be thankful for what He's done. He's a holy
God. We're to be thankful that He's
a holy God, and He delights in righteousness. Turn, if you would,
to Psalm 97, and I'll read Psalm 30, verse 4. Sing unto the Lord,
O ye saints of His, and give thanks to the remembrance of
His holiness. God is a holy God. And then look at Psalm 97, verse
12. And then actually put your finger
in Psalm 106.1, too. I'm going to have us jumping around a little
bit tonight. Look at Psalm 97, 12, first of
all. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous. And notice the verbiage there.
Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous. God's people are made righteous. They're made righteous by Christ.
Ye righteous, and give thanks, and give thanks at the remembrance
of His holiness." We're to give thanks at the remembrance of
His holiness, that God is a holy and just God. And we're to give
thanks. We're to give thanks and praise. And then look at Psalm 106, verse
1. We're to rejoice and give thanks
that He's a God who delights in mercy, and He does display
His goodness to His people. Look at this. What a verse for us to burn into
our hearts here. Praise ye the Lord. Oh, give
thanks unto the Lord. Again, there it is again. For
he is good. And look at this latter part.
For his mercy endureth forever. We just park there and not go
anywhere else, couldn't we? Right there. Praise ye the Lord. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord.
For he is good. And remember, we saw His holiness
in verse 12 of Psalm 97. For His mercy endureth forever. He does not change. Therefore
ye were not consumed. We know that from Malachi 3. We're to give thanks that He's
given us His Word. For this cause we thank We also thank we God without
ceasing because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard
of us, ye received it not as the Word of man, but as in truth,
the Word of God which affectionately worketh also in you that believe."
1 Thessalonians 2.13. We're to be thankful that He's
filled our hearts with joy. With joy. Thanks can we render to God again
for you for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before
our God. 1 Thessalonians 3.9. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift. We're thankful for His unspeakable
gift, the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 9.15. And turn,
if you would, to Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. We're thankful that He has delivered
us from victory over the power of sin. And these are things
that we should be thankful for. As I said, it's not hard for
us not to be thankful. I know for me, it's not hard
for us. But these are things that will set our mind back upon
Christ and set our mind upon Him. Look at Romans chapter 7,
verses 23. He has given us deliverance and
victory over the power of sin. But I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind, verse 23, in bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O
wretched man that I am! Is that not us? Is that not the
civil war that goes on inside our bodies? We have a civil war, don't we? O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. There he is. He's being thankful.
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin. Oh, we're to be thankful. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 15,
57. See, there's the victory, right?
It's only in Christ. And we saw Paul even in Romans
7. It's only in Christ. We look to ourselves, we're doomed.
But we look to Christ. Oh, oh, what a Savior. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
2. And I'll read Daniel 2.23, which
says, I thank thee and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers,
who has given me wisdom and might, and has made known unto me what
we desired of thee. For thou hast now made known
unto us the king's matter. He grants us wisdom that we may
seek him. He grants us wisdom that we might
seek him. And we're thankful for that as believers. Because
we don't seek him on our own, do we? Oh no. And we're thankful that he has
shown us success and triumph of his gospel by the conversion
of sinners. Look at this. 1 Corinthians 2,
verses 1-5. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. Now Paul
was a very wise man, wasn't he? In the world. Very intelligent man. He says,
I didn't come to you with excellency of speech or wisdom, but He came declaring unto you
the testimony of God. For I am determined not to know
anything among you. Now, here's the one thing that's
the most important thing for us to know, and it has to be
revealed. Save Christ and Him crucified.
Save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling." He's a man just like you and
I. He goes through different things, doesn't he? Look at that.
That's the Apostle Paul. We're all the same. Remember
I said that? We all got together and we started talking about
what we go through. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. He didn't use fancy
language. But in demonstration of the Spirit
and the power. Oh, we pray the Holy Spirit will
bless the preaching of His Word. To the edifying of His saints
and to the saving of His sheep. That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of man. Now here's an interesting thing. The wisdom of man. Man thinking that he can gain
merit and favor with God by his own doing. but in the power of God. Salvation
belongeth unto the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord, not
of man's doing. In Romans 6.17, I'll read this,
it says, But God be thanked that ye were servants of sin, but
ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered you. We give thanks for the triumph
of the Gospel. Why should we thank Him? Because He's commanded us to
thank Him. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
50, verse 14. And I'll read Revelation 4, 9
now. The heavenly creatures, they praise and worship Him.
And when those beasts gave glory and honor and thanks to Him that
sat on the throne, who liveth forever and ever." Revelation
4, 9. And then Revelation 7, 11 and 12 says, And all the angels
stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the
four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and
worshipped God, saying, Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever.
Amen. Look at Psalm 50, verse 14. We're
commanded to give thanks to Him. Offer unto God thanksgiving and
pay thy vows unto the Most High. He's done so much for us, hasn't
He? Christ reached down and took us out of the dunghill of sin,
didn't He? And set our feet upon a rock. And that rock is Christ. Purchased us with His own precious
blood. And we saw today He willingly
did that. He willingly. Led like a lamb
to the slaughter. And he did it because he loved
his people, and he loves his people with an everlasting love. An everlasting love. Oh, he's so merciful, beloved. He's so merciful. Let's go to Matthew 27. Matthew
27. Let's look in verse 39. And they that pass by revealed
Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest
the temple, Thou buildest it up in three days, save Thyself,
that Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise
also the chief priests mocking Him with the scribes and elders
said, He saved others, Himself He cannot save. If He be the
King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will
believe Him. They're lying. He trusted in God. Let Him deliver
him now, for He said, I am the Son of God." Now, we stopped
there this morning. Look at this, so, "...the thieves
also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth."
Well, the thieves, both of them. Both of them. We know the Lord
in His mighty power saved one of them. God's distinguishing
grace displayed right at the cross. Now the sixth hour there
was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about
the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli,
lama sabachne? That is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? God forsook God. Some of them that stood there
when they heard this said, this man cries for Eliza. And straight
away one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar
and put it on a reed and gave him to drink. The rest said,
let be, let us see whether Eliza will come to save him. Jesus,
when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the
ghost. It is finished. It's finished. It's accomplished. Now that should
bring, we believers, that should make us quick to be thankful.
He paid it all. There was nothing left to be
paid. It's finished. It's accomplished. Salvation
on the cross for His people is accomplished. You know, there's that song,
Jesus paid it all, right? Now in religion, it goes contrary
to that song, goes contrary to scripture, doesn't it? It says
God's done all he can do, now the rest is up to you. No! Jesus did it all. It is finished. Finished means finished. When
you complete something, it's finished. And there's absolutely
nothing to be added to the work of Christ. And He did it all
in the room instead of His people. He suffered and bled on Calvary's
cross to redeem His people from their sins. And He did it. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. And He did it. It's accomplished. It's finished. Does that not fill our hearts
with thanksgiving and joy? To know that what he set out
to do, he fully accomplished. It is finished. It's finished. Oh, it's good for us to give
thanks unto the Lord. It's good for us to give thanks
unto the Lord. When should we thank Him? When should we thank Him? All
the time. All the time. When we're alone in our prayer
closet, or when our hearts are overwhelmed, when we're pressed
down with affliction and trial, It's hard to be thankful, isn't
it? It is. But we're to look to Christ and just remind ourselves
of what He's done in the room instead of His people. Now, when Daniel knew that the
writing was signed, he went into his house His windows being opened
in this chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three
times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did
aforetime. And there was a decree that you
could not do that. And Daniel went in and gave thanks. We are to give thanks when we're
gathered together with the Lord's people in the place of public
worship. And public worship is so important. So important. Streaming does not, as wonderful
as streaming is, as wonderful as it is, it does not replace
public worship. Not at all. There's something
special about being together as the Lord's church and body,
together, worshiping the Lord. And it's a wonderful tool, don't
get me wrong, it's a wonderful, wonderful tool. but it does not
replace public worship. And I remember hearing about
Greg Elmquist, and he had to tell some folks that because
folks stopped coming at night, and he had to say, hey, look,
this does not replace this. We need to be together. We need
to be together to worship, to worship God in spirit and truth. Oh, we're to be gathered together
in public worship. And what's the theme of our gathering?
Who's the theme of our gathering? Christ. Christ in Him alone. He's the focus. He's the focus
every time we come here. He is to be the focus. He's to
be the one we look to. Him. We don't come here just
to see each other, although that's a great blessing, isn't it? It
is. You guys are my family. We're family in Christ. We are. But we come here together to
worship our king. And we also hope that through
the preaching of the word, the preaching of the gospel, that
God will draw his lost sheep to himself. That's our hope. That's why we
put it out, too, in the internet. Out it goes. Oh, Lord God, use
it for your glory and your honor and your praise to draw your
sheep, to build your sheep up who are saved, and to draw your
lost sheep unto yourself. And this is our hope. So we gather
together. Psalm says this, 3518, I will
give thanks in the great congregation. I will praise Thee among much
people. We come together as a body and
we praise God and we worship Him. And we give Him thanks for what
He's done. If I could only If I could only preach the way
I feel, you know? Isn't that so even with you when you're
talking to somebody? If you could only just tell them the marvelous salvation
we have. The wonderful salvation we have
in Christ. Words just don't seem sufficient. It's incredible. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the God of heaven and earth, of all the universe, He
who holds all things together, became a man. and died. We just saw that He died upon
the cross to redeem His people from their sins. And He accomplished
this. And it's wonderful. It's wonderful. And we gather together to give
Him praise and to give Him glory and to give Him honor because
He's worthy. He's worthy of it all. We sing
hymns because He's worthy. We sing them to Him. We sing
hymns that glorify God and magnify our great God in Christ. He gets
all the glory. He's the preeminent one. He's
the supreme one. And every one of us who are here
saved, we have ceased from our labors. We cease from our own doing to
gain merit and favor with God. And we look only to Christ. And
we say to you, sinner friend, look to Christ. May God give
you the grace and give you the faith to come to Him. Oh, look
to Him. Look and live. He's the only
hope. The only one. The only one who
can save you. You can't save yourself. And we give thanks and praise
that He's saved us, don't we? That He's redeemed us. That He's
given us this faith and grace. And it fills our hearts with
thanksgiving and with praise. Because He's worthy. He's worthy
to receive it all. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians
5.20. Oh, He's worthy, beloved. He is worthy. We just looked at this earlier
too. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs. Now those will bring us, when
we think on Christ, when we sing, Psalms of Christ and hymns of
Christ. What does that do? It gets our
minds focused on Christ, doesn't it? It gets our minds focused
away from the troubles of this world. Isn't it an oasis to come
here? For us to come here? And this
is a safe place for believers, isn't it? We come here and we're
all sinners. And those of us who have been
saved, we're sinners saved by the grace of God in Christ, and
we come here in this oasis from the world. I like what John and
I were talking about, about a church almost being like a ship, right?
The gospel ship, right? And it's true. And we say, come
on, get on, right? To anyone who may fell off the
ship, You know, we're casting ropes out. But ultimately, the
Lord is the one. He's the captain. He's the one
who's steering the ship. And we look to Him. Oh! Look at Ephesians 5.19, speaking
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord. What happens when
we're making melody in our hearts to the Lord? It breeds thankfulness,
doesn't it? You start thinking about what
the Lord's done for you in your life, and I guarantee you, it'll
lift you right up. It'll lift you right up. Given
thanks, here we go, verse 20, always for all things unto God
and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Submitting
yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Giving thanks
always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And how do we give thanks? Well,
we praise Him and we worship Him and we adore Him. He's our great King. And remember
this too, beloved, there was a time when we didn't know Him. When we had no clue, we were
one of His sheep. When we had no interest, we were
talking about at lunch with the Kirkpatrick sect, there was a
time when we had no interest in the Gospel, none. None at all. I know for me, I
wasn't raised in church, so for me, I had no interest in the
gospel at all. None. Not a care. I had the stamp of Catholic,
of course, and saying, well, I'm a Catholic. But that was
just like a nationality badge, you know, that you have. That's
all Catholicism really is. It's like a badge you put on
whenever you want to. And there was a time when I had
no thoughts of him. No care for him. Wasn't thankful
for anything, really. Just looking out for number one.
Was it not so with you? But now, now in Christ Jesus,
I look back on my life, and I thank God that he protected me, and
that he kept me from destroying myself, and he kept me, even
when I didn't know him, And then one day, that shepherd,
that great king, the Lord Jesus Christ, called me by name, and
if you're saved, he called you by name. He called Lazarus, come
forth. Why didn't he just say, come
forth? One preacher said, because every grave would have broken
open and all would have come out. No, and that also shows
us effectual calling, too. Lazarus, come forth. And what
happened? Lazarus came forth, didn't he?
He came forth. He couldn't do anything but come
forth. Because it was God who called him. And there was one
day in every believer's life when God called us by name. And
we came forth. Out of the deadness of our sins,
right? Born dead in trespasses and sins. And we fled to Christ. And what now? as believers, we
who believe. What now? We're full of thanksgiving,
aren't we? Like I said, words can't express
how we feel about our Savior. They seem insufficient. But we
tell what we know. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ has
redeemed my soul. Is it not so with you who believe?
Is He not everything to you? Is He not everything? Be thankful. Give Him thanks and praise that
He didn't leave you where you were. That He redeemed you out
of all your trespasses and sins. And how many of your sins did
He pay for? Here's something that we can finish with to give
us great joy. How many of our sins did He forgive?
All of them. Every single one. And as I said before, folks often
say, well, how can you say future? All you gotta say is this. Every
single one of my sins was future when Christ died on Calvary's
cross. Every one. He either paid it all, and beloved,
he did. Or he didn't pay any at all.
Praise God, he paid it all. He paid it all. And all who come
to him by faith and flee to him and look to him shall be saved.
He will not turn one away. He will not. Flee to Christ. And God's sake, give Him all
praise and all glory and all honor and let us be thankful. Let us be thankful.