I often struggle with the fact that I
so little believe God. So little believe Him that often
I am compelled to cry, search me, oh my God. Make me know what
I am. You see, faith in Christ, faith
in Christ is not demonstrated by spending
a great deal of time in prayer or praying often, by fasting or by giving. It's not demonstrated by temperance. Our chastity, our deeds of righteousness. By all those things it may be
demonstrated, but those things pale in comparison to this. He who really believes God is
thankful. Always thankful. Thankful to
God and wills everything that God wills. He receives everything
as an instance of God's goodness, and his heart is always ready
to praise God for it. That's what it is to believe
God. That's what it is to walk in
the Spirit. Listen to this. Be not drunk
with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. filled with the spirit, filled
with faith. Being filled with the spirit,
not some kind of a display of emotionalism, shouting and waving
your hands and running up and down the aisles and acting silly.
Being filled with the spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in
your heart to the Lord giving thanks always for all things
unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. By that criteria I must confess if I have faith
at all it is less than a grain of mustard seed. I started last night preparing
a message for this evening out of Exodus 12, continuing with
our studies there because Brother Nybert I know preached to you
last Tuesday night about Thanksgiving. And so I thought I will forego
that which has been my custom for many years. I don't always
deal with things relating to holidays. I don't have much regard
for holidays, Christmas and Easter and such stuff as that are just
remnants of paganism. But Thanksgiving Day is a day
with good historic roots. And I try to always bring a message
at this time of the year on Thanksgiving. And I thought, well, I won't
do that. But God, I believe, I believe God has compelled otherwise. because of the concerns I've
had for my wife last couple of weeks. I haven't known what it was to
walk before God with thanks. And that's heavier than the concern. Forgive me. I want this evening, if God will
enable me, to talk to you about Thanksgiving. And I will talk
to you from what I find written in the word and what I have to
say. God has preached to me these
last few weeks. My text will be Psalm 103, but
let's begin in First Chronicles chapter 16. David delivered this psalm to
thank the Lord. In verse 8, he says, give thanks
unto the Lord. Thanksgiving is always in season. Then he says, call upon his name. When you read in the scripture
about men calling upon the name of the Lord, that's not just
saying his name. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. The word means to worship his
name, worship him. There's no thanksgiving to God
unless God is worshipped as God, no matter what we say with our
lips. There's no thanksgiving to God unless God is worshipped
as God. And it doesn't matter what we
say with our lips. Again in verse eight, make known
His deeds among the people declare his wondrous works in creation,
in providence, and in grace. Verse nine, sing unto the Lord,
sing psalms unto him. There's no better way to move
our hearts to thanksgiving than by lifting our voices in psalms
of thanksgiving. Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before his presence with singing. Let our mouths be filled
with laughter and our tongues with singing, that the heathen
may say, you find this in Psalm 126, that the heathen may say,
the Lord hath done great things for them. I've often told you
how Martin Luther, whenever one of his friends would come and
tell him about some new edict the Pope had issued against him,
he'd say, come, let's sing the 46th Psalm and spite the devil. Let our mouths be filled with
laughter and our tongues with singing that the heathen may
say, the Lord hath done great things for them. Back here in
verse nine again, talk ye of all his wondrous works. When
we sing, whether in private or in public, when we sing praises
to our God, We sing praises to our God when our songs are filled
with his wonders, his wondrous works, the wonder of his being
and the wonder of his doing. Regrettably, the singing of most
religious outfits in our day. Most of what you see on television
is gospel singing, jubilees and all that nonsense. There's so
much singing about emotion, about family, about experience. Let our songs be filled with
his works and give him praise. Verse 10, glory ye in his holy
name. Trust in his name, adore his
name, extol his name. Let him that glorieth glory in
this, that he understandeth. and knoweth me. Verse 10 again. Let the heart of them rejoice
that seek the Lord. Now let me give you a commentary
on that. You can look it up later. Philippians 4. Rejoice in the
Lord always. How can you rejoice when your
heart's breaking? You don't rejoice in the heartbreak,
you rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord in who He
is, in what He does, in what He has promised, in what He has
performed. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. Let your moderation, your gentleness,
the gentleness with which you experience great difficulty,
The gentleness with which you deal with great adversity. Let your gentleness be known
unto all men. The Lord's at hand. He's God
at your elbow. Be careful for nothing. Worry
about nothing. Let not your heart be troubled. Oh, God, teach me that. But in
everything. By prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. I take it that Paul intends for
us to understand that prayer and supplication
without faith are meaningless. Prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving by these things that you request be made known
unto God. And as you supplicate God's throne in prayer with thanksgiving,
the peace of God, which passeth understanding, shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now look down at verse
34. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord
for he is Our word God is but an abbreviation
of the word good. When you speak of good, you speak
of God. He is good. And because he is
good, his mercy endeareth forever. Turn over to 1 Thessalonians
5. Verse 18. I ran across this verse one day
when I was 17 years old, going through what I thought were some
difficulties. Isn't it amazing what may be at stake or troubles?
And I can tell you how it soullessed my heart then and how it soullesses
my heart today. In everything, give thanks. And here's the reason for this, whatever it is. Been praying
you and your wife ever since we heard about her sickness.
Been praying for Marty Heller, friends down in New Guinea. This,
the sickness and the recovery, the heartache and the joy, the
life and the death, whatever it is that you now experience. This. This. What is it you're going through?
What is it that touches your heart and life now? This. This
is the will of God. Not just the will of God. It
is the will of God in Christ Jesus. Specifically concerning
you. In everything, give thanks to
God and celebrate his praise. Now look at Colossians 1. Thanksgiving is always in season.
Every child of Adam living upon this earth ought to lift his
heart to God in heaven, giving thanks to him for his great goodness. Thanksgiving is always in season
for everybody. I never taught our daughter.
to say her prayers. I never taught our daughter to
recite prayers others did. I never taught our daughter to
pretend that she was a believer when she wasn't. But I did teach
her from early days. I said, you can thank God for
his goodness, and you ought to. Mr. Spurgeon once said, even
the little chick, when it takes a drink of water, lifts its head
to swallow the water and to give thanks to God as he swallows. Surely we ought to thank God. Thanksgiving is good always. But if we are partakers of Christ,
if we are saved by God's grace, if we are heirs of eternal life,
our hearts should be filled with thanksgiving to God continually. We ought to constantly give thanks
to him in all things and for all things. Look at verse 12,
Colossians 1. Here are some specific reasons. Giving
thanks unto the Father. God is our Father. Brother David and I were talking
about this last Saturday night. What an amazing thing. God is
our Father. And this one who is our father
has made, it's already done, made us meet, the word is worthy
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light who have
delivered us from the power of darkness and have translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son. in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. He continues the same
thing in Colossians 3 verse 15. Let the peace of God rule in
your hearts to the which also you are called in one body and
be you thankful. God's called us to peace. One
with Christ, one with one another in Christ. Now let this peace
rule your heart to which you're called and be thankful. Paul
admonishes us to be thankful because thanksgiving is God's
will. Because thanksgiving is the secret to living in peace
in a world full of trouble. And because thanksgiving is an
act of faith. Most honoring to God, the natural
man. gives thanks for what he has
in his hand. And that's all they can do at
best. The believer, the spiritual man,
the spiritual woman is thankful for what he has in his heart
and what he has in Christ, even when he has nothing in his hand. For all the blessings of grace
so freely bestowed upon us The apostle Paul here by the Spirit
of God says, be ye thankful. Thankful to God for his free
elected love. Be you thankful for redemption
by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Be you thankful for the
forgiveness of sins. Be you thankful for that which
awaits us in the world yet to come when we shall at last be
triumphant over all things. all that has caused ruin in this
world, all that has caused pain, all that has caused evil, the
sin of man, we shall at last be triumphant. And the Lord God
almighty will cause us to see and rejoice and give thanks forever
in all things. Now said all that to say this,
as we gather with our families around the table Thursday, Let
us lift our hearts with gratitude, praise, and thanksgiving. And
never do we need more to be reminded of our need to give thanks to
God than at those times when we experience difficulties and
trials that cause us to call into question God's goodness
and God's mercy. Oh, God, teach us to give thanks
to him. For every blessing of His grace,
every work of His providence, so freely and bountifully and
relentlessly bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus. Because every
work of His providence. Oh, preacher, listen to yourself.
Every work of His providence is the blessing of His grace. Every work of his providence
is the blessing of his grace, no matter how it hurts. And no matter how it appears. Never will forget. One Sunday
morning, preachers sitting back there about where Jim grad is
now and who claimed to believe free grace. I've been preaching
on God's providence. He walked out the door. They'd
mentioned of a specific trial. He said, I don't know how you
can say that's going to be good. And my response is I didn't. God
did. And he didn't say it's going
to be, he said it is. It is. Perhaps as you try to
lead your family in worship, if God gives you opportunity,
you might want to read this 103rd Psalm. Let's look at it together. In these 22 verses, The Psalmist
David teaches us by his own example, exhorting his own soul to count
our blessings day by day and bless the Lord for all his benefits. And he does so with five exhortations.
Number one, he tells us that we ought to ever eulogize God. Bless the Lord. Oh, my soul. and all that is within me, bless
his holy name. Bless him. Bless him. Bless him. The word in the Greek
New Testament, Hebrews 1, where Paul speaks, he says, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the word
eulogize. You come to a funeral, and if
a person has been faithful in the things of God, Man and woman
have been faithful in serving the Redeemer. It's proper to
eulogize them, to eulogize them. Even when they have not been,
even when they have not been, man been a good father, woman
been a good mother, good wife, good brother, good sister. It
is altogether proper for those who have experienced their human
kindness to eulogize them. But here. We're called upon to
eulogize God. To say something good about God. Oh, Spirit of God, teach me in
my heart at all times to speak well of my God. Bless the Lord,
oh my soul. Before we can thank God for His
blessings, we've got to thank God for His being. His holy name
that embraces every attribute of His person. Every character
of His nature. We are to bless God for who He
is. He's God. Praise ye the Lord,
the psalmist says. Praise all ye servants of the
Lord. Praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for
he is good. All right, here's the second
thing. David admonishes us and exhorts
us to eulogize God and he does it speaking to himself. It is
with my soul that I must bless him, praise him and speak well
of him. Not just with my lips, not just
with my brains, but in my soul, in my heart, in my inmost being. And then second, he tells us
that in order to stir up our souls to bless the Lord, we should
recall his benefits, all his benefits, those benefits of grace
that we've experienced personally. Look at verse two. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. What a sad,
sad realization this is. We are terribly prone to remember
evil and forget good. Terribly prone to remember pain
and forget pleasure. Terribly prone to remember those
things that We look at it and say that's bad. And forget those
things that anybody looking at would say that's good. Forget
not all his benefits. Well, can you tell me what they
are? Who forgiveth. Now watch this. All these things
are in the present tense. Who forgiveth. His continual Day by day, 24
hour a day, 7 day a week, 30 days a month, 365 days a year,
forgiveth. Watch it now. All thine iniquities. They were forgiven from eternity.
Forgiven before they were performed. They were forgiven when Christ
died for us at Calvary. The Lord God forgave them to
us conscientiously when he came and spoke peace to our souls,
giving us faith in Christ. I read this just about the time
Brother Bob Duff walked in tonight, about five, 10 minutes to seven.
And I thought, thank God. This forgiveness I experience
right now, who forgiveth all thine iniquities. past, present,
and future. Iniquities of thought, iniquities
of deed, iniquities of the heart, who forgiveth through the precious
blood of his Son, cleansing us from all sin, all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, Certainly there's
an application here to physical diseases, but the fact is all
the diseases of these bodies will never be healed so long
as we live in these bodies of flesh. You've been living for
a while now, haven't you? And it's not going to get any
better. Rapidly deteriorating. I just
got back from the doctor this morning. It's not going to get
any better Got aches and pains. I didn't have a year ago. They're
not going to get any better No, it's not all about healing our
physical diseases. That's not what it's all about.
It's all about other diseases the disease of seeing the plague
of the heart and he continually heals us of our diseases, continually
restraining the evil that's in us, continually holding back
the corruption that's in our hearts, and continually cleansing
our souls by His grace through the blood of His Son, who redeemeth. The word is delivereth. Who delivereth
thy life from destruction. Reckon how come that fella who
crossed the road right in front of you today, doing 100 miles
an hour, didn't kill you? Reckon how come that deadly disease
you came in contact with today, you didn't take it? Reckon how
come? Because our God continually delivereth
thy life from destruction. And He will at last deliver us
from the destruction of life in this world caused by sin. Read this. Who crowneth thee? Thou hast made us kings and priests
unto our God. I don't know much about kings
or priests, but I know they both wear a crown. The priest wears
a crown, a plate right on the front of his head, holiness to
the Lord. And the king wears a crown, a
royal diadem on his head. Well, here is the crown he put
on your head. Loving kindness and tender mercy. who satisfyeth. Eat this bread, you'll never
be hungry for any more. Drink this water, you'll never
thirst again. Who satisfyeth, continually satisfyeth,
thy mouth with good things. So that thy soul is renewed like
the eagles. Rejoice evermore. Pray without
ceasing. In everything give thanks. For
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. All right,
move on. He renews your youth like the
eagle. What's that talking about? This is a promise of life, long
life, eternal life. The eagle may live to be upwards
of a hundred years, and that old bird, hundred-year-old bird,
imagine that, a big bird, just kind of floats in the air because God gives her a new crop
of feathers continually. so that she soars as she did
in her youth. Only now she soars more peacefully
and more gladly and more comfortably than ever in her youth. There's
a promise of constant renewal. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk. and not faint. Just about the time I think I'm
beginning to walk and not faint, I find myself running with fear
and horribly weary. Remind me of that next time I
scold you for doing the same. Wait on the Lord. You'll renew
your strength as an eagle. And you shall walk with peace
and not faint. Even in old age, he renews. Let me read you something I read
from Robert Hawker today. This is the reason we're converting
all that to text. I'll put it in my notes here. By soul hast
thou sinned. God in Christ pardons thy sins. Art thou diseased in body and
soul by reason of sin? God in Christ healeth all thy
diseases. Art thou ruined and undone in
all the circumstances of nature by reason of the fall? It is
God in Christ that redeemeth thy life from destruction. and
crowneth thee with all that's needful for thee in grace. Art
thou feeling decays, and the event of mortality hastening
upon thee, God in Christ will renew thee as the eagle is renewed
in old age. Precious, precious salvation,
all eternally secured and made certain from a God in Christ. All right, look back at our Psalm
again, Psalm 103, verses six through 18. For the sake of time,
I'll let you read it. I'll just pick up the highlights.
Here's the third thing. As we recall God's benefits of
grace personally experienced, if we would give thanks to our
God, we ought to extol God for all his works of mercy and grace.
bestowed upon and experienced by all his church, by all his
people. In thanksgiving and praise, God teach us not to act selfishly,
but to be thankful for what God has done and is doing for our
brethren as well as for us. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians
and said, we're bound to give thanks always to God for you.
Bound to give thanks for you. And we are bound to give thanks
to our God for the blessings he bestows upon one another. When God's pleased to grant his
blessings of grace upon another household, give thanks, even
if he doesn't upon your home. If God's pleased to grant His
blessings upon another congregation and pass by this one, give Him
thanks. If God's pleased to grant His
blessing anywhere, give Him thanks and seek more. Truly, God is good to Israel. Now look what it says here. In
verse 6, He tells us that God protects and defends all His
people. I'm so thankful. The Lord executeth
righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. In verse
7, the Lord has revealed himself to us by his servants. He made
known his ways unto Moses and his acts to the children of Israel. He showed Moses what he was going
to do and Moses showed it to them. He told Moses who he was
and Moses told them. He told Moses where they were
going and Moses told them. the ways of his grace and providence,
the acts and designs of his purpose. These are the things he makes
known by his servants. Look at verses 8 through 14.
Truly, the Lord our God is a God of
mercy, love, and grace. The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. Isn't that good? He
hath not dealt with us after our sins. He never has. Lindsay Campbell,
He's never dealt with you after your sins. Not one time. Oh,
but does God chasing us for our sins? Yeah, that's not dealing
with us after our sins. That's dealing with us after
His love. That's not dealing with us in anger. That's dealing
with us in mercy. He's not dealt with us after
our sins. He dealt with Christ after our sins. He has not dealt
with us after our sins. Read on. He's never rewarded
us for our iniquities. Well, boy, my chickens are coming
home to roost. If they come home to roost on
you, you've never been redeemed. That's just all there is to it.
Well, don't you believe that what a man sows, he'll also reap?
Yet if you sow your possessions to carnal things, you're going
to reap carnal things. If you sow them to the word of
God and the kingdom of God, you'll reap everlasting things. But
does the scripture mean that since you were such a rebel till
you were 70 years old and then God saved you, now you're going
to reap all those things you did all your life? Never. Never. God's not rewarded me. according to my iniquities. Aren't
you thankful? Never. Oh, no. As far as the
East is from the West, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. Tell you the first time that
passage jumped out at me, I was listening to Brother Daniel Parks
preach. He said, I'm so thankful that
he didn't say as far as the north is from the south. Hath he removed
our transgressions from us? Because I can find the south
pole and I can find the north pole. But he said as far as the
east is from the west. And he said you can travel just
as far east as you want to and you'll never find a west pole
or an east pole. How far? Infinitely removed. He's long-suffering and patient,
great in mercy, full of pity, remembering that we are but dust. And look who he pities, them
that fear him, those who trust him, those who worship him. Look
how he pities. As a father, pitieth his children. If a father has got one child
more ignorant than the others, he doesn't throw the child out
of the house, he spends more time teaching If he's got one that's
weaker than the others, he doesn't disown the child, he gives him
strength. He's got one that's more forward than the others,
he corrects it. If he's got one that's sick and
all the others are healthy, he comforts him. If he's got one
that's in trouble, father, he picks him up and helps him.
If he's got one that's early, wayward, so erring and so wayward that
he begins to be suspicious of his father's love. He forgives
him and embraces him. If he's got a child that's been
wronged, he defends him. My father doesn't. My father
doesn't. I'm not a terribly violent fellow.
But over the years, I've had a few occasions when someone
did something to hurt Shelby or Faith. If I had one of those
grandkids out, somebody did something to hurt them. Buddy, you can
mark it down. Before I thought of the consequences,
somebody would be hurting, either them or me, one of the two. A
father defends his wrong, and like as a father pitieth his
children. So God pities me. Why? He knoweth our frame. He knows we can't take care of
ourselves. He knows we can't help ourselves. He knoweth our
frame. He remembereth that we are. Now this is not terribly complimentary. Dust. Gone. Where's the strength of dust?
Where's the significance of dust? Where's the ability of dust?
He knows our frame. He remembers that we're just
dust. And though we are but sinful, withering flesh, His covenant
mercy endures forever. Here's the fourth reason to give
thanks. We never lack reasons for praise.
We ought to bless God for his glorious sovereignty and universal
providence. Look at verse 19. The Lord hath
prepared. You see that by the round tree?
The Lord's prepared. The word is established, fixed. He set His throne in the heavens
out of sight and out of reach. Nobody gonna touch it. His throne
of grace. His throne of absolute dominion. And His kingdom ruleth over all. His throne, that throne on which
John sees the lamb in revelation chapter five is the same throne
that Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter six. And he saw the same lamb
upon it. And that lamb is the Lord Jehovah,
God, our savior. And the throne on which he sent
is the mercy seat, the throne of grace to which he ever bids
us come now. the last thing, verses 20, 21
and 22. If we would truly bless and praise
our God, we must show forth his praise in our lives as well as
with our lips. I don't know. I'm sure I have,
but I don't recall saying anything in many, many years that was
in any way contradictory to God's glory. I don't recall saying
anything that did not, speaking of God, that was not deliberately
intended to extol Him. I don't use God's name lightly. I don't I don't use terms like
oh Lord and gosh and Lordy and that nonsense. I just, I don't
do it. I don't do it. If I speak God's name, I deliberately
make an effort to speak his name with honor. I don't joke about
his name, but that's easy. That's easy. Living before him with thanksgiving. That's where I've got trouble.
But thanksgiving is thanksgiving. Look at this. Bless the Lord,
ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments,
hearkening to the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all
ye his hosts, ye ministers of his, ye servants of his, that
do his pleasure. Bless the Lord all his works
in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord. Oh, my soul. David shows us here how truly
to bless and praise our God. Like the angels of God. If we
would bless him, let us be obedient to his word. Like those heavenly
ministers who serve him, if we would bless him, let us yield
to and serve his will. Like all his creation, if we
would bless and serve our God, if we would extol him, let us
deliberately serve his purpose. Doing his work. That's the essence
of Thanksgiving. You're not your own. You bought
with a price. Glorify God in your body and
in your spirit, which are God's. Spirit of God, will you seal
that demand? and that blessedness to my heart
for Christ's sake. Amen.