in our Bibles again to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. To the surprise of no one, especially
you ladies who I'm sure have already begun preparing, tomorrow
is Thanksgiving Day. And that has had me thinking
about giving thanks. President George Washington established
Thanksgiving Day as a holiday in the United States and he said
that Thanksgiving Day is a day of public thanksgiving and prayer
to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many
and signal favors of Almighty God." Pretty good statement. I don't think a politician would
make such a statement today, but that was a good one. And
that makes Thanksgiving Day the most spiritual holiday that we
have. We ought to be a thankful people, shouldn't we? And let's
be sure that we don't stop and give thanks just on one day a
year. Colossians 3 verse 15 says, be
ye thankful, live in a state of thanksgiving. 1 Thessalonians
5, 18 says, in everything give thanks for this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So let's not just give thanks
one day a year. Let's give thanks continually
every day and not just in the good things, but in everything
give thanks. Now we don't have time. to list
the many things for which we are thankful. But I want to give
you seven this evening, seven reasons for Thanksgiving. Now,
when our family sits down to eat Thanksgiving dinner, Janet
has had a long-established policy that we all talk about something
that we're thankful for. I like to go first because if
you go last, somebody invariably is taking the thing you've planned
to talk about. So I don't know if this qualifies
my contribution. But these are seven blessings,
great blessings, that every believer is thankful for. In verse 13
of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul says, these blessings are
so great, we're bound to give God thanks for them. We're bound
to. These are such great blessings,
we must give thanks for these. These are such great blessings
that we owe a debt of thanksgiving to God. And the first one is
this, it's a great one. The love of God for his people
is reason for thanksgiving. Paul says in verse 13, but we're
bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren.
You're beloved of the Lord. Now, sons of Adam are unlovable
by nature. I mean, we don't love each other.
I mean, nations, people, it's not hard to get into war, is
it? Our nature makes us contemptible, hateable, not lovable. Well,
if that's how we are to one another, think how we look to God. You
and I are sinners. We don't deserve God's love.
What we deserve is God's wrath. And the natural man gets so upset
to hear God hates Esau and they try to change it and finagle
around it to make it say what it doesn't say. God hates Esau
and the natural man hates that, but I don't know why. It's perfectly
understandable that God would hate Esau, isn't it? The miracle
is that God loved Jacob, that God loves other sinners like
Jacob. And people say, well, no, God
is love. So God loves everybody. Well,
it's true that God is love, but that doesn't mean that God loves
everybody. You remember the message from
last Wednesday, God's a just God and a savior. God is love,
but now that doesn't mean he loves everybody. The only reason
God can love Jacob, the only reason God can love any sinner
like us is because God is love. That's what it means when we
say God is love. And God's love is not like the
love of men. Look at Romans chapter 5. Men
do not love those who are the opposite of us. We only love
people who are like us, but not God. That's not the way God's
love is. Look at Romans 5 verse 6. For when we are yet without strength,
in due time, who Christ died for? the ungodly, those who are
the opposite of God. Christ died for them because
God loved them. God loves those who are the opposite
of him by nature. Men, they don't love open, vile
sinners. You know, we put them in jail.
We put them to death. We want them out of our sight. We don't
love them, but God does. God loves open, vile sinners. Verse seven of Romans chapter
five. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet for adventure,
for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. The reason Christ died for sinners
is God loved them. Now you think about what a miracle
of God's grace this is, what a miracle of the character of
God this is that God loves sinners. You who believe, Gene Patterson,
God Almighty loves you. Reckon you'd give thanks? Oh,
what an amazing statement of God's grace. We don't deserve
God's love, but he set his love on his people anyway. And we're
thankful. God's love is free. It's unearned. It's undeserved. It's saving,
keeping love. God's love is eternal. God's
love began, had no beginning. It begins with Him and He doesn't
have any beginning. It's not gonna have any ending
either. God loved His people before He created this world
and nothing you can do can make Him stop loving you. His love
is eternal. If He's ever loved you, He's
always loved you. And it has to be that way. God's
love must be that way. God had to love me before I was
born. He had to love any man he loved before they were born,
because this I promise you, none of us have done anything to deserve
God's love after we are born. No, the reasons for God's love
must be found in Him. And when we sin, when we fail,
when we disappoint others, when we disappoint ourselves, our
comfort is this, God's love is eternal. Paul tells us in Romans
chapter eight that nothing shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. I'm thankful. That's a blessing to be thankful
for. Well, now here's a question. How can I know if God loves me
or not? God hates some, he hates Esau,
right? And he loves some, he loves Jacob. How can I tell if
God loves me or not? Well, these next six blessings
all stem from God's love. Second, God's election of a people
is reason for thanksgiving. Verse 13 in our text again, 2
Thessalonians 2. We're bound to give thanks all
the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now everyone
God loves, God chooses. He chose them in electing love. Now again, I know the natural
man hates God's election. And I'm not going to spend any
time trying to prove it tonight. It's just true. It's plainly
taught in God's Word. God elected a people. I'm not
bothering to prove it. What I want to do tonight is
give thanks. Give thanks for God's election.
And every believer, I don't care where you find them, is thankful
for God's election. Let me give you five reasons
we're thankful for God's election. Election is necessary for eternal
life. Look at Acts chapter 13. Election
is necessary for eternal life. Acts 13 and verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. Who had eternal life? Those who were ordained, those
who were elected of God. Election is necessary for eternal
life. Look back at John chapter 10.
Second, we're thankful for God's election because election is
necessary for faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. John 10, verse 26. Well, look at verse 25. They'd ask, if you
be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you're
not of my sheep, as I said unto you. Now, it's not that you're
not my sheep because you don't believe. Our Lord said, you don't
believe because you're not my sheep. You don't believe because
I didn't choose you. I didn't elect you. If I did,
you'd believe. Could my sheep hear my voice?
Third, every believer's thankful for God's election because election
is of grace. In Romans 11, five, Paul talks
about the election of grace. Now what that means, the election
of grace, here's what that means. God chose sinners. It's of grace. God didn't choose people who
did something to deserve it. No, God chose sinners who didn't
deserve it. He chose them by grace. And I'm thankful. Oh, I'm so
thankful. Election is the only way a sinner
can have hope. It's the election of grace. Four,
every believer is thankful for God's election because election
is personal. I know from reading scripture,
God chose Abraham. Isaac and Jacob. God chose David
and he chose Mephibosheth. He chose Solomon. He chose Ezekiel. But if you believe the gospel,
God chose you the same way he chose Abraham by his grace. And fifth, every believer is
thankful for God's election because only the elect will be taken
to glory. Look at Matthew chapter 24. Matthew 24, verse 30. And then shall appear the sign
of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he
shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and
they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from
one end of heaven to the other. God's elect are the only ones
going to be taken to glory. When they gather them together,
not one of them is going to be missing. I thank God He chose
to save sinners. If God didn't elect some, no
one would be saved. What'd our Lord tell His disciples?
You haven't chosen me and you never would have chosen me. but
I've chosen you. Oh, I'm so thankful for God's
electing love. Third, God's salvation is reason
for thanksgiving. Look here again in our text,
2 Thessalonians 2, 13. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. Everyone God loves, He saves. Now, election is not salvation. Election is to salvation. That's
what the apostle says here and it's to salvation. Most certainly
God chose a people to be saved and those people shall be saved. But the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
son, had to come in time and save them. He had to come in
time and sacrifice himself to pay for their sin debt. And we
give thanks for Christ because he is our salvation. In 2 Corinthians
9, the Apostle Paul teaches us a lesson on giving. And you know
how he ended that lesson on giving? By pointing to Christ. Thanks
be unto God for his unspeakable gift. The gift of the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Savior, is so great. There aren't any words we can
use to express what a great gift, what a wonderful gift the Lord
Jesus is. We don't have the words to say
what a wonderful gift salvation really is. Now, in order to save
sinners, God had to kill His only begotten Son. In order to
save a sinner like you, God had to kill the son of his love.
He had to sacrifice his son as a sin offering. How can you thank God for saving
you? He killed his son to save you. God loved his people so
much that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have eternal life. The Lord Jesus
Christ, our Savior, is all of our salvation. Christ saved us
from our sin by being made sin for us. Christ saved us from
condemnation by being condemned for us. Christ saved us from
the curse of the law by being made a curse for us. Christ saved
us from hell by suffering hell for us as our substitute. Christ
saved his people from death by dying for us. Christ saved us
from self by giving us his nature in the new birth. Christ saved
his elect by suffering and dying in their place, by satisfying
God's justice as their substitute. He saved his elect by giving
himself, by giving his whole self as an offering for sin. He made his soul and offering
for sin. He gave his body to be broken.
This is what we're about to observe. How he gave his body to be broken. How he shed his precious blood
as payment for the sin of his people. And we looked at this
last week, that blood wiped the mountain of God's, the sin of
God's elect away. What a great salvation. But we
have such a great salvation because we have such a great Savior.
And we should give thanks. Shouldn't we give thanks? Oh,
what a gift. Then fourthly, sanctification. Sanctification of the Spirit
is reason for thanksgiving. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. Everyone God loves,
God sanctifies. Now there are three meanings
of the word sanctification. Sanctification is a big word.
It really has a very simple meaning. First, sanctification means to
be set apart. Sanctification is God taking
something that's common and ordinary and setting it apart for His
holy use. The items in the tabernacle You
know, they gathered them all together and they used them to
build the tabernacle, just according to the instructions God gave
Moses. But all those things that they used to build it were common,
ordinary items, weren't they? Just wood and gold and silver,
nothing holy about them. But God said they're sanctified.
They were set apart for His holy use in the worship of Him. And
in the same way, God the Father took common, ordinary sons of
Adam, and He sanctified them. He set them apart for His use.
Look in Jude. Jude, the first verse. God set
apart His people for His holy use. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. How are they
sanctified? God the Father chose them and
set them apart for His use. Second, sanctify, it means to
declare something to be holy. Now God tells His people to sanctify
Him, doesn't He? Well, He doesn't mean we're going
to make God holy. No, we declare God to be what
He is. We declare Him to be holy. Well, God has declared His people
to be holy. Now, if God declared, you might
say, well, I don't feel holy. Well, if God declares something
to be holy, it is. It is holy. God declares that
his elect are holy because that's what he made them in Christ.
And that's the third meaning of the word sanctify. It means
to actually make something holy. Christ has sanctified his people. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. I'll
show you this. This is so plain and simple to
understand. Christ has sanctified his people
by his sacrifice. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
10. By the which will we are sanctified,
how? Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once. Verse 14, for by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. were sanctified,
made holy by the sacrifice of Christ, washed from all of our
sin in the blood of Christ. And when God the Holy Spirit
comes, he sanctifies God's people by giving them life in the new
birth. That new man who's born of God is holy, sinless, he's
sanctified. Now there is no salvation unless
we're sanctified. There's no salvation without
sanctification, without being made holy. And don't try to sanctify
yourself. Don't try to make yourself holy
or declare yourself holy. You know, if I try to declare
myself holy, who cares? My word carries no power. Sanctification
is the work of God. This is something that the whole
Godhead must do for us. We must be sanctified, set apart,
chosen for God's holy use by the Father. We must be sanctified,
must be made holy when we're washed in the blood of Christ.
And we must be sanctified, made literally, actually holy in the
new birth. Now you'll notice here, God doesn't
choose anybody because they're already holy, does he? No, God
chooses the unholy and he makes them holy. Now, You who believe,
child of God, you're holy. Bob Boyd, you're as holy right
at this moment as you ever will be. In glory, you'll be more
holy than you are right now. Now that doesn't mean that Bob
doesn't sin anymore. That doesn't mean any believer,
we never quit sinning as long as we're in this flesh. We will
never do one holy thing in the flesh. A believer will grow in
grace, but a believer does not grow in sanctification. You're
never going to sin less. No. Because the flesh is never
going to get more holy. Paul says we're sanctified by
the Spirit. We're sanctified by the Spirit
in the Spirit. That new man, he's the one that's
holy. The inner man, the spiritual
man is holy. The flesh is unchanged. The flesh
is still flesh. So that every believer has two
natures. a completely sinful, rotten,
ruined nature, and a completely holy, righteous nature, been
sanctified by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And
if the Father has made you holy, He's washed you in the blood
of His Son, He sent His Spirit to give you life in the new birth,
you give thanks. God doesn't do that for everybody.
We read in Scripture about those who are dead in sins. God's given
you life, you give thanks. He only gives that life to those
he loves. Fifth, God-given faith is a reason
for thanksgiving. God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Look at Ephesians chapter two.
Everybody God loves, God gives faith to them. Ephesians 2, verse
8. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. What a
gift. Now you can't earn faith. You
can't make faith appear in you. Faith is the gift of God. And
don't we all teach our children, when somebody gives you a gift,
you say, thank you. especially for one as great as a gift of
faith. Recently, Janet was cleaning out something. I can't remember
what she was cleaning out. She found a thank you note from
one of our girls. Someone had given them a present. It was a high school graduation.
They wrote a thank you note, but forgot to send it. So all
these years later, she mailed it to these folks. They got such
a big kick out giving this thank you note these years later. Oh,
be thankful. Don't wait to say thank you for
this great gift of faith in Christ. The only way we can receive Christ,
the only way we can see Christ is by God given faith. He's got
to give it to us as a gift. Christ is the Savior. He came
to save sinners. How are you going to lay hold
on him? By faith. Oh, what a gift. What a gift
that enables a sinner to lay hold on Christ. I want to give
you some of the blessings that we have by faith. We have the
forgiveness of sin by faith. Matthew 9, verse 2, Jesus, seeing
their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good
cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. We
have spiritual healing by faith. Matthew 9, 22, Daughter, be of
good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
We're saved by faith. Luke 7 verse 50, he said to the
woman, by faith has saved thee. We have spiritual life by faith. How did the just live? The just
shall live by faith. We're justified, made without
sin by faith. Romans 3 verse 28, therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. And we're made righteous by faith. Now look at Philippians chapter
three. We're made righteous by faith. And we're not made righteous
by our faith. We're made righteous by Christ.
He's the one who made us righteous. We're made righteous by the faithfulness
of Christ. His faithfulness to do everything
the father sent him to do. And we lay hold on him. We receive
him by faith. Romans 3 verse 9, Paul says,
my desire is that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ. It's the faithfulness of Christ
to do everything required to make me righteous. The righteousness
which is of God by faith, by His faithfulness and I lay hold
on Him by faith. The salvation that we talked
about earlier. You know how that's made sure? By faith. Romans 4 verse 16, therefore
it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end that the
promise might be sure to all the seed. What a gift of faith. Well, what will faith believe?
You know, someone says, well, you know, my faith and this person's
faith, and it's been making it sound like there's all different
kinds of faith. No, there's just, there's just one faith. It isn't
one faith. It's faith in Christ. Well, what
will that faith believe? How can I tell if my faith is
God-given faith? Well, faith believes one thing.
It believes the truth. It believes Christ, who is the
truth. Isn't that what it says here? In belief of what? The
truth. Now, whenever faith hears the
gospel, whenever faith hears the truth, it says, Amen. I believe that. That's so. Now,
I may never have actually thought about it before, but when I hear
it, faith says, amen. That's exactly what I believe
because faith believes the truth. Now, the way to know that God
loves you is this. Do you believe Christ? If you
believe Christ, God loves you because he gives this faith to
those that he loves. How do you make your calling
and election sure? How can I be sure God's elected
me? Do you believe Christ? Do you
trust Christ for everything? Then you're one of God's elect
because that's the faith of God's elect. What a reason for thanksgiving,
faith in Christ. Then sixth, God's calling is
reason for thanksgiving. Look at verse 14 in 2 Thessalonians
2. Whereunto he called you by our
gospel. Now how does God call his people
to faith in Christ. How does God give his people
faith in Christ? It's by the preaching of his
gospel. It's by the preaching of his word. Scripture says,
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. God
sends a preacher. He sends one of his gospel preachers
to his elect. And he sends them all with the
same message. It's the message of Christ. And
he gives his elect faith to believe Christ. By God's grace, I preach
Christ. I'm not saying that trying to
point out anything about myself or drum up a following for myself.
It's by God's grace, I preach Christ. And when I do, I expect
you to believe me. I expect it. When we preach Christ,
I expect sinners to be saved. I really do. You know why I expect
that? Because scripture says it's pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Well, I expect sinners
to be saved when we preach Christ. I expect God's people to be strengthened,
their faith to be strengthened. I expect them to be edified when
they hear Christ preach, because that's how God feeds his people.
Now, you may hear the gospel many times, many times, many
times, many, many, many, and be unaffected. But if God chose you, he will
eventually call you. He will eventually call you.
And if God ever calls you, you'll never be the same. And I'll tell
you how he's gonna call you. There's just one way he's gonna
call you. It's through the preaching of his gospel. Do you want God to call you? Do you want God to call you? Do you want God to give you faith
in Christ? I'll tell you what I'd do if
I was you. I'd be where Christ is preached, because that's where
he's going to reveal himself to you. That's how he calls his
people. And if God's put you in a place where you can hear
the gospel preached, you give thanks. Oh, give thanks. This
gospel is not in every city. It's in this one. Give thanks. If God's called you by his gospel,
if he's called you to Christ, if he's called you away from
sin and away from self and away from your idols, then give thanks.
God doesn't call everybody, he passes many by, but he always
calls his elect and he calls them through the preaching of
his gospel. Then last, God glorifying his people, his reason for thanksgiving. Verse 14, where unto he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. One day, God's going to glorify
all of his people. He's going to make them just
like Christ. Now, that's glory. That's glory. Glory is not living in a big
fancy mansion, floating around on a cloud, not having any work
to do. No. Glory, to be glorified, is to
be made like Christ. We're going to be made like Christ.
We're going to have to get rid of this flesh first, aren't we?
Look at 1 John chapter 3. Well, that's exactly what our
Lord is going to do for all of his people. We're going to get
rid of this flesh. A matter of hours ago, our brother
Maurice Montgomery got rid of this flesh. He's satisfied. He's rid of this flesh. 1 John
3 verse 2. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. Now, it does not yet appear what
we shall be. We don't look like right now
what we're gonna look like. It does not yet appear what we
shall be. But, we know that when he shall appear, we shall be
like him. That's glory. When we see him
face to face, when we see him as he is, we'll be like him.
That's glory. When Christ returns, we shall
be changed. This corruption shall put on
incorruption. I'm so thankful for that now,
I cannot stand it. I'm so excited to know one day
I'm going to be rid of this flesh. I'm so thankful. Oh, think how
thankful we'll be when you have it in reality. Oh, when it's
fulfilled. Tomorrow, we're going to enjoy
a day of Thanksgiving. in glory. You know what glory
is going to be? It's going to be one long Thanksgiving
day. Thanking God for what He's done
for His people. I pray the Lord will bless that
to us. Now we're going to observe the Lord's table. As I told you
Sunday, I thoroughly enjoy on a Wednesday before Thanksgiving
observing the Lord's table. Before we go to our table. to
go to his table, a table that's rich, rich with everything that
we need. What a good time, what a good
time to stop and give thanks at the remembrance of our Lord's
sacrifice for his people. So Eric, you may hand out the
bread if you would.