I appreciate that especially.
It's such a blessing. Let's open our Bibles together
this morning to Psalm chapter 92. Psalm chapter 92. If I was to give a title to the
message, it would be a message of Thanksgiving. We've just celebrated
Thanksgiving in our country this past Thursday. And for a lot
of believers, I've heard a lot of believers say over the years
that it's their favorite holiday of the year. That would be true
for myself. Thanksgiving is definitely the
favorite holiday of the ones that we celebrate. And we celebrate
several good ones. But let's read here in Psalm
chapter 92. beginning in verse number one.
We'll read down through verse number five. Scripture says it
is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises
unto that name. Almost to show forth our loving
kindness in the morning and our faithfulness every night upon
an instrument of 10 strings and upon the softer and upon the
heart with the O Lord, how great are thy works,
and thy thoughts are very deep. There's a message in every morning, but I want us to spend
our time looking at verses number one and number two. You know,
I mentioned we just celebrated Thanksgiving, but for the believer,
every day should be a day of Thanksgiving. Every day should
be a day of Thanksgiving for us. We should continually thank
our God for his unspeakable gift. Is there ever a day that it's
not appropriate believer for us to thank God for his unspeakable
gift, that is the gift of his dear son, the gift of his only
begotten son. Scripture says, for God so loved
the world. He so loved the world. We cannot
describe as we try to stand and preach the gospel, we cannot
describe that word so, how God loved the world. that he gave
his only begotten son. Think about how God gave his
son. He gave him to be born in a stable,
like animals are born, and to be laid in a manger. He gave
him to walk in this world in a life of hardship, a life of
trouble. He gave his son in such a way
that he was betrayed of man, and he was mocked and ridiculed
and buffeted and nailed to a cross. He gave his son in such a way
that his son had to bear separation from him when he bore the sins
of his people in his body upon the tree. God so loved the world
that he gave. He gave us. And you think about
how he gave his son. That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. You know that word unspeakable,
his unspeakable gift. You know the word actually means
indescribable. Words. May God help us when we first
awake in the morning and we wake from sleep, the first thought
to come to our mind, thank you, oh God, for your unspeakable
gift, the gift of your son. Every day should be a day of
thanksgiving. You know, we should be like that leopard. You know, in the story there,
the Lord Jesus actually healed ten lepers, but only one returned. Only one returned and fell before
Him and glorified and thanked Him. And the Lord wondered, wasn't
there ten? Let us not be denied. All ten
were healed. The Lord has healed us from a
much worse disease than leprosy, believer. He's healed us from
our sins, from our offenses against Him. gift. We're to receive our daily
food and our provision with Thanksgiving. You know, when we fail, when
we sin, we forfeited any right that God should ever give any
good blessing to us. It's only of His mercy that we
receive anything good from His hand. Every good and every perfect
gift cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is
no bearing when there's no shadow of turning. We don't deserve
that God should give us anything, and He pours out His blessings
in this world upon the righteous and the unrighteous. the food and the things and the
sustenance that we need in this world. We should be thankful
for our provisions that the Lord gives us every day. Our prayers,
the scripture teaches, should be full of thanksgiving. I couldn't
help but notice when Brother Streeter was praying, it was
about 90% giving thanks. he's blessed us with. We're told
to continue in prayer and to watch in the same with Thanksgiving. And one of the things I wanted
to mention this morning that I'm thankful for, and I know
believers and members of this church that you're thankful for,
we should be thankful for a faithful pastor. I'm thankful for our
pastors. One who loves us and prays for
us and studies God's word to bring us a message. Not every
church has a faithful pastor. I tell you this every time that
I'm asked to preach. I'm especially thankful when
I'm asked to preach that we have a pastor. This is a work. It's
a work. It's such a responsibility. You
know, Kevin saying that hymn is singing of the great love
of the Lord Jesus Christ. To stand and speak as an ambassador
of Christ, who's given so much for us. What a burden. And we're
so unfit. No man of himself is fit to stand
in the pulpit and tell others of the Lord Jesus Christ. Such a burden. And such a burden
to see the church family that go through different troubles
and trials. And he wouldn't want me to say
as much as I've said already, but I want to say it publicly.
I'm thankful for our pastor, and I know you are as well. Paul
summed it up when he exhorted the Ephesians. He said, giving
thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He pretty much wrapped it up
there, didn't he? Even for the things that we don't
feel we can give thanks for, we're exhorted to give thanks.
How can we do that? We can only do it in faith. Believing
that God is our Father and that He loves us and that He's ordered
all things in this world for our good. So Earth is a place
of continual thanksgiving for the believer, or it should be.
It should be, and that's my prayer this morning, that God would
make it so for us today. Heaven is a place of thanksgiving. This is our, this is our practice
round in this world for heaven. For heaven is a place of thanksgiving,
and it's a place where everyone who's there, their hearts are
always fully, fully and completely thankful. We're told of the great
number which no man can number, that they cry out, amen, and
blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor,
and power, and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. Heaven is a place of thanksgiving. Notice what's going on here in
verse number one. It's a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord, and it's also a good thing to sing praises
unto thy name, O Most High. It's a good thing to sing praises
unto our God as well. You know, I don't know about
you, but my experience has been that when I feel cast down, when
I feel discouraged, and don't we all get discouraged? I know,
I know I do. When my heart is cast down and
my soul is cast down, it does me good to sing praises unto
the Lord. It does my heart good. It encourages
me to sing unto the Lord, to sing back unto Him what He's
done for me. You know, we have so many good
hymns, don't we? Of course, we have the book of
Psalms and all the good hymns here, but all the good hymns
that we have to sing, just think of some of them. It is well with
my soul. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
I'm found, was blind, but now I see. That can't help but do
the heart good. Believe it when you're cast down.
Savior, like a shepherd, lead me. Much I need thy tender care. All these hymns, and one of the
things that I've noticed over the years, as some dementia or Alzheimer's or whatever
it may be, that they appear to continue to be able to sing praises
unto God. Have you ever noticed that? That's
such a blessing. The psalmist said, I will sing
unto the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God
while I have any being. And I've seen that. to sing praises unto God, even
unto old age, even when our memory's gone. God gives us that grace
to be able to continue to sing praises unto Him. Psalm has said,
I'll sing unto the Lord because He hath dealt bountifully with
me. He's dealt bountifully with us,
even when we don't feel that way. It's still true. And we
sing, and as we sing, I believe God helps us. He helps our hearts. He helps our souls. He lifts
us up from being cast down as we sing. And so I want to pause
here, and I want to thank those of you who lead us in singing,
for those who play the musical instruments, who sing the specials. Thank you for, I know you do
it in service of the Lord, but you know you serve your other
brothers and sisters in Christ as well. We thank you for that
today, because it's a good thing to sing praises unto the Lord,
and you help us in doing so. And notice verse number two.
I want to, in the time that I have remaining this morning, I want
us to spend just a few minutes day. Verse number two to show
forth that loving kindness in the morning and that faithfulness
every night. By God's grace this morning,
I want you and I to show forth God's loving kindness. But spend
just a few minutes thinking about God's loving kindness. You know,
the Hebrew word that's translated loving kindness here appears
in the scripture in the Old Testament 248 times. That's a lot, isn't
it? 248 times. It's most often translated mercy. God's mercy. But it's also translated kindness,
loving kindness, goodness, kindly, merciful, favor, good, goodliness,
and pity. In the NIV translation of the
scripture, it's translated steadfast love. Aren't those all good words?
Every one of those. You know, regardless of how it's
translated in the scripture, sinners like me, in a state of
undone, being undone, being unrighteous, being a sinner, what I need more
than anything else is the steadfast love of God. Whether it's translated
mercy or goodness or kindness or I need all of that, don't
you? I need every one of those. We need God's steadfast love
desperately. And so let's spend just a few
minutes considering four ways that we can be thankful for God's
loving kindness. Here's the first one. As we're
born into this world and only God knows, only God knows your
heart this morning and knows where you're knows. Many times, unless God
shows you, we don't even know because the heart's deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. But when we're lost and
dead and trespasses and sins, we need the loving kindness of
God. We need his loving kindness more
than anything else. Before he ever created anything,
when God dwelt alone, God chose a multitude of sinners. He elected
a multitude of people that he would save, that he would make
conform to the image of his dear son. We read in Jeremiah 31,
God said, I have loved with loving kindness have I drawn
thee." You see, today, and I wish we could get a hold of this this
morning. I pray that the Lord will help us get a hold of this
truth. That today, if we have a desire to know God, if we have
a desire to know the Lord Jesus Christ, if we have a desire to
be and solely based on the Lord
Jesus Christ, based on His life of righteousness, and based upon
that successful substitutionary death upon the cross where He
actually paid in full for all the sins of His people. If today
that is your desire, that's your prayer, you believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, you trust Him as your only Savior. If you today
even have that desire, it's because drawing you. We give ourselves
way too much credit. Give ourselves way too much credit
to what we might be able to produce in ourselves. The Lord Jesus
said, No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me
draw him. The Lord Jesus Christ, his word is true. He is true.
He said, no man can come to me. Are you coming to him this morning?
Are you coming to him in faith? Coming to God through him by
faith? Then praise God because God has
shown you his loving kindness. Therefore, in loving kindness,
he's drawn you. He's drawn you because he loves
you with an everlasting love. You see, it's God that must save
us. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Savior. He's the Savior, isn't He? He
came to seek and to save that which was lost. And part of salvation,
the very beginning of the work of God in our hearts, war. We'd like nothing more than
to be able to hide from him. And now we'd like nothing more
than to be able to come to him. We don't produce that in ourselves.
That's God in his mercy and loving kindness, not passing us by,
but showing mercy upon us, showing loving kindness upon us. You
see, it is he who must look upon us in mercy and grace and relieve
us and supply every spiritual need that we have. Paul summed
it up well when he said, who has saved us and called us with
the holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus,
even before this world began. You see, the Lord Jesus is the
Savior. He is the one who and saved us, and has given us His
desire that we have in our heart this morning. And this morning,
if you don't have that desire to know Him, call out to Him,
and He may show you His love and kindness, and give you that
desire. We move on to the second point
here. When we fall into sin, and we're convicted of our guilt, And we do, don't we? When we
fall into sin and we're convicted of our guilt, we need the loving
kindness of God. When King David was convicted
for having committed adultery with Bathsheba and then being
responsible that her husband would die so that he could cover
up his sin, you remember he cried out to God, he said, have mercy
upon me, oh God. according to your loving kindness,
according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions." So, believers, we have sinned against God, and
we do every day. We are sinned. We can't live any moment of our
life without sinning, because sin is not only what we do, it's
who we are. What other recourse do we have
when we're convicted but to just fall down before the throne of
grace and ask God for his mercy and ask him to show us his love
and kindness? Maybe this morning you're cast
down because you've fallen into some sin that you're convicted
of. Come pleading for mercy. We have
boldness to come unto the throne of grace and find mercy to help
in the time of need. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
stands at the right hand of the Father, or sits at the right
hand of the Father, and makes intercession for us. Aren't you
thankful that the scripture says that if we confess our sins,
He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. How is that possible? How can
God, who's just and holy, be righteous and just to forgive
us our sins? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
paid for the sins of all his people upon the cross. Sins are
paid for. Punishment has already been meted
out for our sins. And we come pleading what the
blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus That's our natural inclination,
isn't it? When we sin and we feel guilty, the last thing that
naturally we will do is come and ask for forgiveness. You
know, I can't speak for others. I don't know anyone's heart but
mine. But I know that the only thing that will give me any relief is to come and plead God's mercy
and love and kindness. You know, whether or not we think we're
being good or not being good, we're not. We always need God's
love and kindness. Just sometimes we're more aware
than others. We always need his love and kindness. Number three,
as we walk through this world on our pilgrimage to heaven,
isn't it comforting to know that God's eye is upon them that hope
in His mercy. His eye is upon them that hope
in His mercy. Same word, that hope in His lovingkindness,
that hope in His steadfast love. How excellent is that lovingkindness,
O God! Therefore, therefore the children
of What is it that will cause a
sinner to come and to hope and to trust and to cast their eternity
upon the Lord Jesus Christ? It's the loving kindness of God.
What is it that enables us to walk through this world though
we have trials and tribulations and to be able to do so with
some peace and hope? How is it that we can hide under
the wings of our God? It's because of the faith that
God's given us in His loving kindness, that He is a mercy
for God, that He's a kind God. Scripture says, bless the Lord,
O my soul. And you know, some of you, you
got such better memory than me. You'll notice I read my notes
a lot, because I don't want to misquote the scripture. As much
as I try to memorize the scripture, I still will misquote it. So
I read it because I want to make sure that I get it right. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And
all that's within me, bless His holy name. You know, blessing
the Lord is another way of saying thank the Lord. Thank the Lord,
bless the Lord, bless the Lord, O my soul, forget not all his
benefits, who forgiveth all thy iniquities, who healeth all thy
diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction. The only reason
any of us don't live our life unto destruction is the loving
kindness of God. He redeems, He redeems and redeems
our life from destruction. Who crowneth thee with loving
kindness and tender mercies. You know, I thought about that,
crowns thee with loving kindness every day. Every single day,
it's as though God sets the crown of this loving kindness upon
us, and tender mercies, who satisfies thy mouth with good things, so
that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. That's my prayer
this morning in preparing this message for us, that God would
renew our strength like the eagles. We have some to the older bucket. I believe
if it was divided into at least three buckets. All of us are as weak as water. It doesn't matter. Some of you,
you feel so strong. You're young. Bench press 300
pounds. Feel so strong, yeah. Physically,
maybe you're strong this morning. But spiritually, all of us are
as weak as water. But our God is almighty. He's the mighty God and He can
renew our strength. I don't care if we're 99 years
old today. He can make us fly like eagles.
Spiritually. He satisfies our mouths with
good things. Talking about spiritual things.
So that our youth is renewed like the eagles. Our Lord Jesus
taught us concerning God's care of us, his children, that even
the very hairs of our head are all numbered. If God has numbered
even the very hairs of our head, don't you think he knows the
troubles and trials and heartaches that we're dealing with today?
Sure he does. He loves us more than we love
ourselves. Here's the last point. Fourthly,
we trust our God's loving kindness to keep us all the way until
we reach heaven. We trust his loving kindness
to keep us all the way. If He didn't carry us across
the threshold into Heaven, if He took us just to Heaven's door
and said, OK, go ahead, Jonathan, you take that last step, I know
I would fall short. I know I would fall short. But
thank God for His loving kindness. He's going to carry us all the
way, all the way into Heaven. all the way through death, through
Jordan, where we wake up perfect without sin, where we have no possibility
of ever even sinning again. He's going to do that for us.
On authority of God's Word, first of all, we can trust our God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that He's going to guide us in
this life. He is going to guide us in this life. He's going to
guide us through this life. The Psalmist said, Don't we need
our God to show us the way that we should walk every day? Sure
we do. And you know what? The scripture
tells us about our shepherd, about the good shepherd, about
the great shepherd, about the chief shepherd, the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he is going to guide us, that he is guiding us. We're
told concerning the Lord Jesus, he shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs in
his arm and carry them in his bosom. with y'all. He is going to lead
us through this life. The longer that I try to walk
in this world as a Christian to a fall and fail so miserably,
but the longer, we do try to walk as Christians don't we?
We do. God's put that desire in our
heart to honor Him and The more I'm convinced that the
last statement in that verse applies to every single believer. You think of, it says, he shall
gently lead those that are with you. You think, oh yeah, that's
for the weak believer. Who is the believer that is not
weak? I think the picture there is
that the animal, the sheep, How is she going to run? How is she
going to protect herself from that enemy that comes against
her when she has her baby to look after? Right? It's the most
vulnerable. We are all the most vulnerable. Oh, that we could get ahold of
that this morning. We are the most vulnerable. We
need God's mercy and loving kindness every single moment. We sing
that song, I need thee every hour. Oh, that we might truly
know that and believe that. We'll live a life of much greater
peace and joy in this world if we can ever get a hold of this
truth that we are the weak ones and that he is the strong one.
Because when we're weak, then we're strong. When we feel strong, will be reminded of who we are
and what we are apart from the grace of God. Yes, he is going to lead us through
this world and thank God we can trust our God that he's gonna
keep our souls into everlasting life. When we grow cold and indifferent
spiritually, I need God's loving kindness.
I need him to draw me, to draw me back unto himself. The psalmist
said, quicken me. Make me alive, O God, after thy
loving kindness. So shall I keep the testimony
of thy mouth. And isn't God, isn't his love
amazing? fall, he continues to draw us
back. Thank God that his patience and
his kindness and his love is not my tires. Don't we have so many reasons
to be thankful today, especially, especially for God's loving kindness.
That's what we need, isn't it? May the Lord enable each me to do so. David's going to
lead us in a hymn and then have someone dismiss us in prayer.
May the Lord bless you.