Our scripture reading this morning,
turn with me to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. The context of this chapter is
obedient children, children of God, followers of God. Ephesians
chapter 5, beginning in verse 1. Be ye therefore followers
of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling sake. But fornication, and all
uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among
you as becometh saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking,
nor jesting which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no whoremonger,
nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater, hath
any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no
man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore
partakers with them. or because. You were sometimes
darkness. Now this doesn't say you were
in darkness. This says you were darkness. An unregenerate man is the personification
of darkness. That's everything he thinks he
knows he don't know. He's convinced that he knows.
You were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the
Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is
in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Proving what is acceptable
unto the Lord. That's the issue, isn't it? It's
not what's acceptable to the church. It's not what's acceptable
to the man in charge of the church or the committee. It's what's acceptable to God. Proving what is acceptable unto
the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather reprove them. For it's a shame even to
speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all
things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. For
whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith,
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly,
not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, Because the days are
evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but
understanding what the will of the Lord is. A man stands up
and he said, the Lord told me for 100,000 of you to send me
$100 each. Really? No. No, that's not the will of the
Lord, and that's what he's telling us. Be not drunk with wine, neither
excess, but he wants you to be understanding what the will of
the Lord is. And be filled with the Spirit.
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Now watch this, here's my text
this morning. Giving thanks 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. May the Lord give us an understanding
of his word. I invite you to turn back with
me to Ephesians chapter 5. The subject this morning is a
thankful heart. The text is Ephesians 5 verse
20. And he says, giving thanks always
for all things unto God. When things go how you like them
to go and when things don't. Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. So this exhortation where he
says God, he's talking about God the Holy Ghost and the Father
and Christ. So we're to give thanks to the
triune God, or God as He is. And my aim this morning is to
point out from the scriptures that gratitude to God is not
some optional grace, something that we would add to our character
if we would, but it's the fundamental character
of all them that believe. It's not something you're going
to grab as a believer and add to yourself. It's what you are
as a believer. Thanksgiving is not a day set
apart to be thankful, but the very attitude and constant mind
of the children of God. Everything about the believer
leaves him thankful. He cries continually, thanks
be unto God, which giveth us the victory. The victory over
what? Everything. Anything. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And believers, Peter says, are those who show forth the praises
of Him that called us out of darkness. You were one time darkness. That's what I read to you out
of Ephesians 5. But he called us out of darkness.
And he called us into his marvelous light, the very light of God. Which in time past, he said,
you were not a people. You're not a people? You think being an American impresses
God? or being from England or being
from Italy or somewhere, you think God's impressed with that?
You weren't a people. You were heathens. And Paul's
using Israel as a tag-team and talking to Gentiles. At that
time, you were without God. He said, in time past you were
not a people, but now you're the people of God, which had
not obtained mercy, but now you've obtained mercy. Our beginning, I'm talking about
believers now, our beginning is that of a beggar. I know people, well, when I get
ready, I'm going to join the church. How are you going to
do that? You at the Quickened who were
dead, you reckon dead people can get themselves ready? Think
about it. Like creation, God makes something
out of nothing. Isn't that what that says in
Hebrews 11? And nothing is a good description
of a sinner. Our Lord said, here's what you
said, and he's talking to one of his churches. He said, you
say I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of
nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked. Paul said, you remember, he told
the Ephesian church, you remember that in time past you were Gentiles,
you were heathens, without Christ. I didn't know who Christ was.
I could say the name. I've heard a million people say
the name. But if you ask them who he is, they can't tell you.
They'll give you some general explanation, but they don't know
who Christ is. They don't know why he came.
They don't know what he did. And they certainly don't know
where he's at and what's going on now. They'll just give you
a general answer. Paul said, you were aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel. That is, you were aliens from
God's elect. You had no connection between
yourself and the promises of God. Me and today just go over
here and grab a promise and say, that's for me. Oh, no. No, no, no. That's for Israel. The Israel of God. spiritual
Israel, his elect. Paul said he blessed God. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now listen,
according as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation
of the world. You mean all those blessings
are according to election? That's exactly what I mean. That's
exactly what he says. And he blessed us that we might
be holy. He chose us in Christ that we
might be holy. You ain't holy outside of Christ,
my soul. Paul was an apostle, he wrote
half the New Testament and he cried, O wretched man that I
am, who shall deliver me from the... He was a wretched man
and he knew it. He knew it. Nothing's a good description
of a sinner. And Paul said, you were without
Christ. You didn't know who Christ was,
you didn't know any of those things. You were aliens, he said,
from the commonwealth of Israel. No connection. You couldn't connect
yourself with the promises of God. Strangers, he said, from
the covenants of promise. And you had no hope. No biblical
hope. You had no hope. You had a hope,
a hope, a hope. Unless there's a hope it don't
rain tomorrow. Well, it's a 90% chance. That ain't hope. You had no hope. And you were without God in a
cursed world. Nothing. That's the sinner. Helpless,
hopeless, dead in trespasses and sin. Without me, Christ said. They watched that rich young
ruler. Man, he was the... You talk about 50 Bill. He had
everything. He lived a spotless life. He
paid his tithes. He was good to people. He was
rich. Boy, here's a potential for the church. And he goes to
Christ, and Christ sent him away with his head back. And the disciples looked at each
other and they said, who then can be saved? You remember what
he told him? With man, it is impossible. Impossible. You had no hope without
God, world were helpless, hopeless, dead in trespasses and sins,
without me you can do nothing, Christ said. None righteous. Concerning righteousness, nothing.
Right? None that understandeth. So if
we're looking at understanding, you have nothing. None that seeketh after God,
nothing. None good. No fear of God before their eyes. Together become unprofitable.
Nothing. That's what the sinner is. He's nothing. But God, His purpose is to make
something out of nothing that He might glorify His own name.
That's what He's going to do. He's not going to make something
out of something. He's going to make something out of nothing. And this is where Thanksgiving
begins, with a sense of what you are and where you are and
who you are. You and I, he said, were servants
of sin. You, hath he quickened, who were
dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world. What world? This condemned
world. Whole world fell in Adam, and
they all walked the same. I walked the sign. We were servants
of sin, we served this world, we served this flesh, we served
the prince of the power of the air. How did you do that? You
were religious. You were religious. And your
religion was against God. Contrary to God. He calls it
Antichrist in the scripture because it's contrary to Christ. And you were by nature children
of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace
ye are saved. Who quickened us with Christ?
Did you do it? No. Did the pastor do it? No.
Well, who quickened you? God did. Why did he do it? Because he's rich in mercy. And
for the great love we're with, He loved us. Oh, listen to what Paul said,
you were the servants of sin. But God be thanked. Ain't that
what we're talking about? Gratitude? Thanksgiving? But
God be thanked, you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
which was delivered to you. Being then made free from sin,
we become the servants of righteousness. Your righteousness? No. His. His. Something out of nothing
is what we are. Listen to this in Romans 9. He
said of the same lump. Listen. He said, hath not the
potter power over the clay? He takes his lump and he rolls
it up and he sticks it on that turntable and he wets his hands
and he starts to form a vessel. Hath not the potter power over
the clay? He can make one vessel under
honor or another under dishonor. Sure he can. And that's what
he does. Of the same look. Of the same
look. An unthankful man is a man still
in his sins. He's still calculating spiritual
truth by fleshly means. Still judging himself by those
around him. Or my soul, you can always find
somebody worse than you. Sure you can. And you can look
pretty good if you line all them up. But that ain't how God judges. You ever seen maggots on a corpse?
They all look alike. They all act alike. And they
all feed alike, that manner. Listen to this over in Job 25
verse 4. He said, how can man be justified
with God? Justified. God looking at you
and saying, I can't find anything wrong with you. Huh? You can't look yourself in the
mirror and say that. How can man be justified with
God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Behold, even the moon and it
shineth not, yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much
less man that is a worm. I challenge you to look that
up. It means wiggling maggot. And the son of man, that's not
a capital S there. That's a small s. And the son of man, which is
a worm. Oh, he said, in everything give
thanks, because everything you have is a gift of God. Who maketh these a different
from another? That's what Paul said. And I'll
tell you what happens. God's restraining grace. If it
wasn't for restraining grace, you couldn't live in this world.
You couldn't live here. Go to these third world countries,
you'll see what I'm talking about. If it wasn't for the restraining
hand of God, you couldn't live in this world. But don't you
mistake the restraint of God as personal righteousness. It's
not. It's the restraining hand of
God. He uses marriage. He uses law. He uses a lot of things. And
that's the restraining grace of God. And Paul said, who maketh
thee to differ from another? Have you got some distinction? Are you successful? Are you healthy? Are you prettier than others?
Are you strong? Are you wise? Are you a believer?
Are you a preacher? Who maketh thee to differ from
another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? And if you received it, if it
was a gift freely given to you, Why do you act like it isn't? Oh God, teach this poor sinner
to be thankful. What bounty he's given me. What
bounty? I'm not wanted for anything. I have a clear understanding
of the gospel. I've got food on my table, a
roof over my head, clothes to wear, a wife to love, a ministry,
a loving congregation. When I think of the bounty of
God's blessings on me, and I look and I see those deprived, am
I not thankful? Why are believers so thankful?
Well, let me just give you a few things to think about. First
of all, be thankful to God because he's the source of every good
and perfect gift. What if God just turned you over
to yourself? Huh? What if God just didn't
deal with you at all? He didn't send you a preacher,
he didn't send you a witness, he just turned you over to yourself.
Here you go. You're on your own. You'd have nothing to ever comfort
you. The old prophet described it
this way, he says you're lying on a bed that's too short and
you got covers that won't cover you up. You're miserable. You
have no rest, you have no comfort, no peace. All of that begins with God. James said every good gift from
the smallest to the greatest and every perfect gift Everything
pertaining to the work of redemption, righteousness, and reconciliation,
every perfect gift, is from above and comes down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no bearableness, neither shadow of turning. God
is not going to change His mind. If He saves you, it's because
He set His heart on you before the foundation of the world.
And nothing can change it. I've loved them, he said, with
an everlasting love. Who can separate you from the
love of God? Huh? He got four verses filled
up with things that you might think could separate. He said,
nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus the Lord. And faith is not born of a man.
That man is born of God. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Were his workmanship, he said,
created in Christ Jesus, unto such works as faith, and repentance,
and love. Paul wrote to Philippians and
he said, work out your own salvation in fear and trembling. How in
the world could He say that, knowing what man is? Well, He
tells you how He can say it. For it's God that worketh in
you, both the will and to do of His good pleasure. God is the source of all blessing,
and therefore all those blessings are eternal. You know, after He tells us that
He blessed us with all spiritual blessings, and he talks to us
about election, the very next verse, verse 5 says, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ of Himself, Ephesians
1, 5. And in the beginning of creation,
God had a garden. He had a garden. You remember
reading that in our study in Genesis? God got a garden. John
talks about it. God being a husband man, he's
got a garden that has a vine in it. What's that vine? That's
Christ. That's Christ. He put Adam in
that garden to keep that garden. But there was a river, that's
what I want you to see. There was a river that run out
of Eden. What's Eden? That's the place
of God's pleasure. Not where God had fun, that's
not what he's talking about. He's talking about God did whatsoever
He pleased. That's what he's talking about.
It's the place of God's pleasure. The place of God's eternal will. And this river come out of Eden
and it went into that garden where God's vine is. Who's that?
That's Christ. Genesis 3.15. First promise of the Gospel and
the Scriptures. Genesis 3.15. the woman's seed. Well, where
was that? That was in the garden. Man sinned,
Christ came to it, reconciled it, taught him how to worship
God, taught him where salvation was. It was in a dying lamb. And that river run through that
garden. And after it run through that garden, it broke up into
four heads and it went out into all the world. And their names, the names of
those rivers means to disperse, to reveal, to anoint, and to
declare the judgment of God. And everything in the world was
made to drink of those waters. You see what I'm saying? A clear understanding of these
things gives a whole new depth to old Fanny Crosby's hymn, He
Hideth My Soul. He said, He hideth my soul in
the cleft of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see. Giving thanks
always to God for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And then secondly, we give thanks unto God for His
provisions fulfilled. He made provisions in all eternity,
but He didn't fulfill them until the fullness of time. When the
fullness of the time was come, Paul said, God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law that they might receive the adoption of
sons. He sent Him to fulfill all those provisions. God is made, Paul said, of one
blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the
earth, and hath determined the times before appointed." What
times? All times. Times of birth, times
of death, times of regeneration. He's appointed all times. And
then he set the bounds of their habitation. And there's nothing
left to chance or circumstance. God is in control at all times,
and everything's working together like gears in a clock. You ever
look inside a clock? I don't know how anybody works
on a clock. Man, there's gears, there's spline gears, and toothed
gears, and this one's running that way, and this one's running
that way, but they're all working to one end. And that's what Paul tells us.
Everything working together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose. And everything
committed to the Son, the Son fulfilled. It's finished. That's what He said when He died
on the cross. It's finished. It's finished. Everything required by the law
and justice of God was satisfied by the person and work of Christ.
There's a word that the old writers, if you read Gill and some of
these old men, you read these old writers, there's a word that
they use all the time, and the word is Provenient Grace. What's he talking about? He's
talking about grace before grace. Before grace. Before grace. Grace in the provision promised
in Christ. Grace in the foretelling of Christ
and in the types and symbols. Grace in the appearance of Christ,
His life, His ministry, His death. Grace in His resurrection and
His present reign and glory. Grace in the giving of the Holy
Ghost and the preaching of the Gospel. Of His fullness, John
said, have we all received and grace for grace. That's prevenient grace. God's
provisions in Christ is fulfilled. We preach redemption accomplished. Not trying to redeem myself to
God. You can't do it. If man could
redeem himself to Christ, there'd be no reason for everlasting
hell. Hell is everlasting because man
can never satisfy God. That's why it'll go on and on.
You can't pay the debt. Jesus paid it all, all to him
we owe. That's why we thank God. We preach
redemption accomplished by His own blood. He entered in once
into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us. What
kind of redemption? Eternal redemption. Listen to this. And you. Who's that talking about? Me
and you. And you. that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight." We're thankful
for God's eternal provisions in Christ. And thankful for all
those provisions fulfilled. Everything God demands from the
sinner, Christ did. He did. What do I need? Resurrection
from the dead. Blessed is he that hath part
in the first resurrection. He's my resurrection. Jesus paid it all, all to him
I owe. And then thirdly, we're thankful
for our daily provision. Did you know God took something
as tiny as an insect and brought nations to its knees? You remember
those messages I preached about the curses of God on Egypt? He sent flies. I had one message
titled, Eating and Sleeping with Frogs. He sent frogs. He crippled
that nature with insects, locusts and so on. He's taken an insect
and he used diseases that you can't even see and brought nations
to their knees. And by the same sovereign power
he maintains his elect. None of those things fell in
Goshen where Israel was. All fell on Egypt. And David
said, I've been young and now I'm old and I've never seen the
righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread. And we pray and give this day,
don't we pray, give us this day our daily bread? Sure we do.
We know where it comes from. And God pictures his provisions
in the Old Testament both spiritual and natural in the preservation
of Israel in the wilderness. A rock followed them, a smitten
rock followed them everywhere they went. They had water for
all those cattle and millions of people, and that rock, everywhere
they went, here's that rock. He gave them meat. Certain time of day, he'd rain
down quail. Certain time of day, he'd rain
down bread. Clothes, their shoes never wore
out. Forty years in the wilderness,
shoes never wore out. I can't get two years out of
mine. That widow, she had enough meal to make one meal left in
there, and enough oil to mix with. And Elijah said, will you
make me some meal? She took the last she had and
made that for that prophet, and that meal and that oil never
run out. Oh, great God in heaven, make
us aware of your giving hand. Food and clothes, more than we
can wear. And then fourthly, we thank you
for the ministry that we have. What a privilege to be a fellow
laborer with God. I've never got over it. I've
never got over the fact. A fellow laborer with God. Paul
said, I have begotten you. He couldn't begat anybody. I
have begotten you through the gospel. How can you do that? You're a fellow laborer with
God. And if God hadn't called you and put you in the ministry,
you can't get in the ministry. God has to put you in the ministry. And if you think about what's
required to save a sinner. Regeneration. I can't regenerate
anybody. All I can do is point you to
Christ. Like that woman at the well. Come see a man who told
me everything I ever did. The demoniac. He went back to
that city. He didn't want to go. He wanted
to go with Christ. Me too. But he sent him back where he
lived. Everybody there knew who he was. And now he's dressed,
he's in his right mind. Oh, what a blessed privilege.
And what a blessed privilege to be able to contribute to such
a cause. My friend, it's not a burden
to give. If it is, don't give. Don't give. It's a blessing, it's a privilege
that few in comparison have ever experienced. God has a people
he chose in Christ for the glory of his name, and Christ has made
full provision for them, and God has ordained the means to
recover his banished, the preaching of the gospel. And God ever make
us mindful of this privilege. That's the only reason he leaves
his elect in this world. I ain't getting better and better,
I'm getting worse and worse. More light you have, more dirt
you see. What does God intend our ministry?
I'll tell you this, if He didn't, this message will never bless
your heart. It'll never bless your heart. It'll never teach
you anything. And it'll never bring you to
Christ. Because the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God, they're foolishness to him. Foolishness. Everything
that man says is contrary to everything I ever heard. Huh? Sure it is. Everything Christ
ever said was contrary to everything they ever heard. In conclusion, David said, let
us come before his face with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, and
especially for his unspeakable gift of Christ. There was a man one time, I had
a young boy, only child, and he was a collector of fine art.
That's what they did. And his son would go with him,
and after a while, he got an interest. And he'd follow his
daddy everywhere he went. And he only bought the best paintings. Evidently, he was a wealthy man.
And he'd buy Rembrandts and Picassos. His whole house was full of fine
art. They'd buy it. Well, about the
time his boy was graduating high school, the Vietnam conflict
went into full gear. And he had to go. He had to go. He was drafted into the Army. He had to go over to Vietnam.
One day, he was writing back and forth to his father, talking
about art and so on. One day a soldier knocked on
the front door. The old man went and opened the
door and the soldier informed him that his boy had been killed.
Just destroyed him. Just destroyed him, you can imagine.
And not much heard after that. Years went by. And finally there
was another knock on the door and another soldier. And he went
to the door and he said, He said, I'm the young man that
your son gave his life to save. And he said, your son and I were
partners. And we slept in the same tent.
We fought side by side in the battles. And he said, I, too,
am an artist. And before your son died, I painted
this portrait of him. And he gave him that portrait. When he'd gone, the old man opened
it up, and he took that portrait, and
he took down a Rembrandt. That was his prize painting. He took it down, and he put this
portrait of his son up over the fireplace, and that's where it
stayed until he died. And when the old man died, the
estate went under auction. And everybody knew this old man,
knew what he was, knew something about the paintings that he had.
And here was all these art collectors, all these rich men, and they
come to this auction to get this, buy these paintings. And the
auctioneer went over and took the picture of the sun down,
and he took it over and he said, we're going to start the bidding. on this portrait, and no bids. Couldn't get a bid. And he said, it's a well-done
portrait. I know this man is not a professional,
but it's a well-done portrait. It's the spitting image of the
man's son. Couldn't get a bid. Finally,
the old house servant said, I'll give you $10. He said, that's
all I got. And so the auctioneer said, sold
to this gentleman for $10. And he took the painting, and
he handed it to him, and he went over and he took his gavel and
put it back in the case, and took all the papers, folded them
up. And the crowd said, what are
you doing? Let's get on to the paintings.
Let's get on with it. Bring these Rembrandts. Bring
these things out. We're ready to bid. He said,
no, sir. He said there was a stipulation
in the will. He that gets the Son gets it
all. That's what I'm trying to preach
this morning. He that hath the Son has it all. He that hath
not the Son of God, he's not going to see life. The wrath
of God abideth on him. May God give us all an understanding
of what I'm trying to preach. Thank you.