It is my prayer and desire that
you and I will leave this building more thankful than we were when
we entered it. Wouldn't that be a blessing?
If the Lord gives us the grace to be truly thankful. Paul gives this admonition to
the Colossians and to us in the form of a command. Be ye thankful. And I was thinking about the
fact that he gave us a command to be thankful, and I thought
it's amazing that we have to be commanded to be thankful.
But this gives us some idea of how much the flesh drags us down.
I mean, in this passage of Scripture, he said to these Colossians,
put on therefore as the elect of God, he says, you're chosen
of God. He says, you're holy and beloved, holy before God
and beloved by God. He says, Christ has forgiven
you of your sins. He says, you know something about
the peace of God. Let the peace of God rule in
your hearts. And then he gives a command,
be ye thankful. Now, you and I ought to be in
a continual state of thanksgiving. And when the Lord gives us the
grace to believe, we are thankful. You can't believe and not be
thankful. When you believe the gospel, you're filled with thankfulness. You really are. But he still
gives this in the form of a command, a gracious command, but a command
nonetheless. And if I'm not thankful, it is
disobedience to a command of God. Be ye thankful. Be ye thankful is a state of
being. Be ye thankful. That's a state of being. This
is not about having a more positive outlook on life or thinking,
well, it could always be worse. How many times have you said
that? It could always be worse. Well, no, actually it couldn't
be any better. If God really is sovereign, it
couldn't be any better. Everything God does is right
and holy and just and true. Being thankful is according to
the words of the Lord Jesus. Let me read you something. This
is after The Lord had healed 10 lepers. And you'll remember
that nine didn't return to give him thanks, only one did. And
we read in verse 15 of Luke chapter 17, and one of them, when he
saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice, glorified
God and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus
answering said, where they're not cleansed, but where the nine,
they're not found the return to give glory to God. Now, when
this man gave thanks, you know what he did? He gave glory to
God. Isn't that the best thing you
or I could do? To give glory to God. In Psalm 50 verse four,
David said, offer unto God thanksgiving. In Psalm 69 30, he said, magnify
him. That's a strong word, isn't it? Magnify him with thanksgiving. Psalm 95 2 says, let us come
before his presence with thanksgiving. Psalm 100 verse 4 says, enter
into his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Be
thankful unto him and bless his name. Psalm 116 says, I will
offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving. And Psalm 147 verse two says,
sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving. You know these specials we sing,
they're so important. We're thanking the Lord when
we sing these hymns. We're singing hymns of praise
to him, hymns of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the very atmosphere
of knowing the Lord. It is impossible to believe and
not be thankful. He said, be ye thankful. Now
I have three very simple points to this message. We're thankful
for his person, we're thankful for his provision, and we're
thankful for his providence. Be ye thankful. Now the first The thing we must talk about
when we talk about thankfulness is thankfulness for His person.
These other things don't even count. They're meaningless without
a true in my heart of bowing before Him in thankfulness for
His person. Now, we're thankful that He is
as He is. We're thankful He is as He reveals
Himself in His Word. And if it were in our power to
change the Lord Jesus Christ in any way, we wouldn't do it. That's how satisfied we are with
His person. We love Him as He is. Now, turn with me to Revelation
chapter 11, verse 17. Or verse 16, the 4 and 20 elders.
Revelation 11, 16. This represents the church. The four and the twenty elders,
which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces
and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God
Almighty." Now first, there's his omnipotence mentioned. We give thee thanks, O Lord God
Almighty. which art, and west, and art
to come." There he mentions his eternity and his immutability. He always has been, he is, always
will be, and he never changes. Jesus Christ the same, yesterday,
today, and forever. And he gives thanks because thou
has taken to thee thy great power and has reigned. He thanks him
for his sovereignty. Now, can you thank him? Does
it make you happy? Does it make you grateful that
he's all powerful? Does it make you grateful and
thankful that He never changes? What He was yesterday, He is
now. What He is now, He will be tomorrow. He never changes. Are you thankful
for His sovereignty, the fact that He takes His great power
and reigns? He is in control of everything,
whatever happens, He is the cause behind it. It's His will being
done. And we're thankful for that,
aren't we? I thank the Lord for His mighty power, for His eternity. I think it's glorious to think
that He never began to be. He's always been. I'm so thankful
that He never changes. I'm the Lord. I change not. Therefore,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Now, the reason He doesn't consume
me is because I was known by Him in eternity. And He never
changes. Oh, how thankful we are for his
sovereign. That's who he is. Psalm 30 verse
4 says, give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. His holiness
is his beauty. Every attribute he has is holy. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. Now, when we talk about his sovereignty,
it's a holy sovereignty. And what is holiness? You know,
I think the best, I think the best definition I've ever heard
of holiness is other. When we speak of his holiness,
that means he's not like me and you. Not like me and you. Only thou
art holy. When we speak of His power, it's
a holy power. When we speak of His love, it's
a holy love. When we speak of His justice,
it's a holy justice. When we speak of His grace, it's
a holy grace. Holy, holy, holy. That's who He is. And we give
thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. Aren't you happy
and glad and thankful that He's holy? That there's no darkness
in Him, that there's no sin in Him, that there's no injustice
or wrong in him. He's utterly and completely holy. And we admire him for that. And we give thanks. And what
is amazing is he makes us holy. So we don't have to be afraid
of his holiness. We can actually come into his presence as holy
and beloved through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. I probably at
least 10 times in the Old Testament it says, Oh, give thanks to the
Lord for he's good. Don't you love that attribute
of the Lord? Oh, give thanks unto the Lord
because he's good. His mercy endureth forever and
his goodness. I love what he said to Moses
when Moses said, show me your glory. And he answered, I'll
make my goodness pass before thee. His goodness is His capacity
to save somebody like those Israelites who fell down and worshipped
a golden calf or somebody like me. That's His goodness. You know, when David said, His
mercy endures forever, it never runs dry. Isn't that a sufficient
ground for thanksgiving? His mercy. endures. It doesn't stop. It's never reduced
to inactivity. It endures forever. David said
in Psalm 103, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that's within
me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits. And if you read that Psalm 103,
he speaks of many benefits. But you know what the first one
he mentions? who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Is that a reason
for thankfulness? Is that a reason to bless the
Lord, oh my soul? We're thankful for his person. I think of the Lord knowing me. I think of the Lord being my
savior. I think of the Lord being my
redeemer. I think of the Lord being my
husband. I think of the Lord being the
only one I can truly pour my soul out to and come into his
presence and be accepted. What a glorious Savior we have. And we are thankful for his person.
He's God. He's man. He's God's prophet. He's God's
priest. He's God's king. And I need Him
as my prophet to bring the Word of God to me. I need Him as my
priest to bring me to God. I need Him as my king to rule
and reign in me and cause me to do His will. And I'm thankful. I'm so thankful He revealed Himself
to me. I stand amazed at the presence of Jesus the Nazarene
and wonder how He could love me, a sinner condemned. unclean. Oh, we're so thankful for his
person. And how we thank the Lord for
his provision for us. After all, his name is Jehovah
Jireh. The Lord will provide. Now, I have to begin in thinking
of his provision with Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 9, 25,
where he says, now thanks be unto God for his, anybody don't
know what the next word is? His unspeakable gift. Now God, the Holy Spirit is not
at a lack for words. He has an infinite vocabulary. Yet when he describes the gift
of God, no word is sufficient. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable,
inexpressible gift. God so loved the world that he
gave. his only begotten son, and this
is not some kind of generic love. Everybody he gave his son to,
he saved. He gave his son. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. David said in Psalm 119 verse
62, at midnight, I don't know if that means 12
midnight or if he's talking about even the midnight of his soul
when he feels in the dark. I think it could mean both. That
can certainly happen. But he says in Psalm 119 verse
62, at midnight, I will rise to give thanks to thee for thy
righteous judgments. Now, without doubt, he's talking
about the cross, the righteous judgments that took place. My
sin was righteously judged. My sin was actually given what
it deserves. And that makes you admire the
Lord. He's not going to let sin go unpunished. All sin must be punished. And what righteous judgments
took place on the cross where the sins of God's elect became
his sins and God forsook him. But not only that, What righteous
judgments that come from God when He declares every sinner
for whom Christ died just. It's a righteous thing. He actually
declares us to be just. And if He declares us to be just,
there's only one reason. We are just. We are just before
God. So I'll arise at midnight and
thank him. I thank him for justification,
don't you? I thank him for his work on the cross. We thank him
for his righteous judgments. Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 2.13,
thanked God for election. He said, but we're bound. to thank God always for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. When you have sanctification
of the Spirit, you will have belief of the truth, but beware
of losing the wonder of God choosing you. Oh, it's a sad thing when election
is a doctrine, we believe, rather than looking at it in
utter wonder and amazement that God chose me before the foundation
of the world that I should be holy. and without blame before
Him. You see, election is a doctrine
of thanksgiving and praise, isn't it? Don't you love the way Paul
said, we're bound to thank God always for you? You see, election
reminds us of two things that I need to be reminded all of
the time. God's God. That's all election
says. God really is God. He's in control
of everything, including who will be saved. God is God, and
secondly, it's a reminder to us, salvation really is by grace. You see, this grace was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Had nothing to do
with our works. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth. Is that something to praise God
for? He chose you and that choice was a gracious choice. When the Lord said in Matthew 11 and Luke 10,
at that time, Jesus rejoiced in spirit. You know, that's the
only time we ever read of him rejoicing in the Spirit in the
Scriptures. Only time. Now, I know he rejoiced a lot.
He rejoiced all the time. He was walking in continual communion
and fellowship with the Lord, his Father. But it's also said
that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And
I can't imagine the grief he experienced every day just seeing
and hearing what this world was and had come to and is and so
on. Scripture still says, I thank thee, O Father. This is the Lord
speaking. I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
you have hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes. And you know what? Aren't you
glad he said that? Do you rejoice in that? Do you
rejoice that he reveals his gospel to babes? People who can't save
themselves. And He's hid these things from
the wise and prudent. And the Lord gave this reason.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. And bless
God, anything that seems good in His sight, it's good in our
sight too, isn't it? Right with the Lord. We thank
Him for that. You know, I think of the Lord
instituting the Lord's table. And He taught us to give thanks. for the broken body and shed
blood of himself. Aren't you thankful that it pleased
the Lord to bruise him? Aren't you thankful for what
his blood actually accomplished? That when he said, it is finished,
your salvation was accomplished. It was done. It was completed. Nothing you need to do. He did it all. Truly, we give
thanks. Here's what the Father did in
giving us His Son to die. Colossians 1.12 says, giving
thanks to the Father who hath made us meet for the inheritance
of the saint and light. Now right now, there is a vast
group of millions of people called the Saints in Light. They're
in the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, bowing before His
throne, worshiping, singing the praises of the Lamb. What a worship
service. I think of people who have left
here. They're in His presence right now. But you know what
Paul tells us? He doesn't tell us we will be
made meat. It says, He hath made us meet. Right now, every believer has
all they need to be in that great choir and see the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's actually made us meet. Now we can certainly thank Him
for that. We already meet, sufficient to
be with them. Nothing else needs to be done."
Now do you hear that? Nothing else needs to be done. I got dropped this flesh, but
nothing needs to be done for me. He's made us meet. And then
Paul spake in 1 Timothy 1.12 of being enabled. You know what
that means, being enabled. He said, I thank Christ Jesus
our Lord who hath enabled me. Thank Christ Jesus our Lord who
enabled me now anything I do is because of his enabling grace
If I believe the gospel, it's because he enabled me If I love
Him, it's because He enabled me. If I love you, it's because
He enabled me. Oh, thank God for His enabling
grace. If I continue in the faith, it's
because He enabled me. If I preach the gospel, it's
because He enabled me. If I'm faithful, it's because
He enabled me. Paul said, I thank God. through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who hath enabled me. He counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry. Now, in 1 Thessalonians 2, I
can't quote this, so turn with me there, 1 Thessalonians 2,
verse 13. Now, the way you probably guessed
by now that the way I prepared this message is just by looking
at everything that the Lord was thanked for in the Scripture.
Now, look what it says here, verse 13. Paul says to the church
at Thessalonica, for this cause also thank we God without ceasing,
because when you receive the word of God, which you heard
of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is
in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you
that believe. Now, Paul thanked God for hearing
and reception. When you heard, when you received. God be thanked. Now, if you hear
like this, God be thanked. If you receive, God be thanked.
You know, I really believe this. The most pleasurable thing there
is, is when God enables you to hear the gospel in the power
of the Holy Spirit. That's better than anything this
life has to offer. to hear the gospel. And if you're unable to hear
the gospel, you know you have to thank the Lord for it. Because
you know what it is to not be able to hear. To have a inability
to be blessed. You know the word is being preached
and it's not doing anything for you. So you know that if you're
able to hear, it's only because God enables you to hear. God be thanked. And then Colossians
1 verses 3 through 5, Paul thanked God for the faith, the hope,
and the love of the Colossians. Now, if you have faith, you thank
God for it, don't you? You know he gave it to you. If
you have love, you thank God for it. He gave it to you. If you have hope, and this is
what a believer is, a believer is someone who has faith in Christ,
who has hope in the gospel, who loves God, who loves his people.
And if you are that, if you have faith, hope and love, and you
know whether you do, I do believe the gospel. I do love Him as
He is, and I love His people. And I do have a hope that I'm
going to be accepted before God, and I thank the Lord for that.
He gives all the credit. None goes to us, and I can appeal
to every believer. That's their experience. In Romans
chapter 6 verse 17, Paul said, God be thanked that you have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which delivered you. And I can appeal to every believer,
any act of obedience by the grace of God you have, God be thanked.
If you obey the gospel, God be thanked. He enabled you and gave
you grace to do it. Why, we even thank him for our
willingness. David said in 1 Chronicles 29,
13, and 14, now therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise
thy glorious name. But who am I and what are my
people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this
sort? while we know even the will,
the desire, comes from Him. Here's something we can always
be thankful for. I don't know how many times I felt like this was all I had,
but it's all I needed. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14 says,
Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ. You ever feel like a failure? You always triumph in Christ. Always. What a blessed promise. Thanks be unto God. Somebody talks about, well, they're
living a defeated Christian life. Ain't no such thing. No such
thing. And second, Thessalonians 1.3,
Paul thanked God for the growth of the faith and the love of
the Thessalonians. We want to grow, don't we? Don't
you want to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ? Don't you want to grow in the fruit of
God, the Holy Spirit? Grow in love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. There is
such a thing as growth, and it's all of God. And that's why we
ought to be encouraged regarding this thing of growth, the Lord.
causes growth. And wherever there's growth,
when we see growth in another believer, oh, we give thanks
to the Lord. And in Philippians 1.3, Paul
thanked God for the fellowship he had with the Philippians in
the gospel from the first day until now. And what a blessed
thing it is to be able to continue together in the fellowship of
the gospel. What a blessed thing. Knowing
each other, seeing each other's warts, weaknesses, seeing each
other in Christ, and continuing in fellowship, the fellowship
of the gospel. What a blessing that is. You see, our fellowship is this. I love, by His grace, I love
the Lord Jesus Christ. By His grace, you love the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's our fellowship. Fellows
in the same ship, believing the same gospel, saved by the same
grace. Now listen to this scripture.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 8, 16, God be thanked. God be thanked,
who hath put the same earnest care in the heart of Titus for
you." Now did you hear that verse of scripture? He said, God be
thanked to the Corinthians. God took Titus and he put earnest
care in his heart for you. You know the folks that love
you and that have earnest care for you? You know how they got
to be that way? God put it in their heart. Is that something to thank the
Lord for? I mean everything, in everything give thanks. With regard to prayer, Paul said
be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and thanksgiving
or by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request
be made known to God. I love that. tells me and you
in everything. Is it too trite to pray about? No. In everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving. thanking him before he answers
or before you even know if he's going to answer the way you want
him to, knowing that he is God and you ask him to conform your
will to his will in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known
to God. Now, Briefly regarding God's
providence, we've talked about his glorious person. We've talked
about his providence, his provision with regard to his providence.
Let me read you a couple of scriptures. Ephesians 520 says, giving thanks
always for all things. Giving thanks always for all
things unto God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then 1 Thessalonians 5.18
says in everything, give thanks. If you get sick, give thanks. If something terrible happens,
give thanks. If something good happens, give
thanks, because in reality, it's all good, isn't it? Because He
sent it. In everything, give thanks. No matter what it is, in everything,
give thanks. For this is God's will in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Isn't it a blessed thing to know
that God's got a will concerning you? And this is His will concerning
you. In everything, give thanks. You know, you still have a sinful man you're
dragging around with you. Same one that Paul spoke of when
he said, Oh, wretched man that I am. Like David said, my sin
is ever before me. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank my God through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. I will be delivered from this
body of death. You know, one of these days,
I'm not even going to remember what it's like to be a sinner. I will not be conscious of any
sin. Now, that's impossible to grab
hold of, isn't it? It's just impossible to lay hold
upon that, but we'll be like him. No sin. And as I've said
before, we'll know by looking at his scars, he's still going
to have those scars on his body and we're going to see them.
And we're going to know the only reason we're without sin is because
of those scars. We'll know that. You and I will die. The sting
of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks
be unto God who giveth us the victory. Through our Lord Jesus
Christ, you already have the victory and heaven awaits you. Be ye thankful. One last scripture. In first
Timothy chapter one, verse 15. Paul said, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. Now, that word acceptation means. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. This is a faithful
saying it's a saying you can rely on. And it's a saying that
everybody ought to be thankful for that Christ Jesus. Came into the world. to save
sinners. And I am eternally grateful for
that. Paul said, of whom I am chief. Be ye thankful. The Lord God, by his grace, give
me in you the grace to be thankful. What a state of being. Let's
pray together.