Hopefully we'll be back this evening for our service.
Gary Lee is going to be speaking to us, a missionary that has a relationship to our
church family through Lee Guftason.
By the way, be praying for her too because she will be leaving for the Philippines in
a few days to undertake several months of short-term missions assignment.
We pray God's blessing on her as she goes.
Now would you open your Bible please to Psalm 136.
Thanksgiving shouldn't just be an occasion.
It should be an attitude of the heart.
Psalm 136 begins, Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness is
everlasting.
The people of Israel needed a reminder to give thanks to the Lord.
So do we all.
Too easily do we take things for granted in life.
Here we see the people of Israel giving thanks to God for his blessings in creation as well
as redemption.
The refrain of the hymn is, for his loving kindness is forever or is everlasting.
The loving kindness of God is a key thought in the Old Testament.
In fact, that word loving kindness is roughly the equivalent to our New Testament word for
grace.
The grace of God is everlasting.
The loving kindness of God is forever.
God has demonstrated his loving kindness to us in very many ways.
Therefore we are to cultivate grateful hearts remembering the loving kindness of the Lord.
What are some of the things that God has done for us in his loving kindness?
To answer that question we're going to look into the New Testament this morning at a phrase
which the Apostle Paul used five times.
It's a very simple phrase that says, thanks be to God.
Thanks be to God.
The first occasion is found in Romans chapter 6 verses 17 and 18.
Paul looked beyond the physical blessings of God to see the spiritual endowments that
God gives to us who believe in Christ.
Here in these two verses he tells us that we can give thanks to the Lord because he
gives freedom from sins, slavery.
Romans 6 verses 17 and 18.
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the
heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from
sin you became slaves of righteousness.
Before salvation we had a relationship with sin.
Sin was our master.
We were sin's slaves.
We lived under sin's domination.
Not that everything that we did was bad, but everything we did was in relation to sin because
sin owned us.
Sin was our master.
We belonged to sin.
And when sin called us to act, we did so.
We freely committed our members to carrying out the appetites of sin.
As Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, we all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh,
indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath.
We had a relationship with sin.
We were enslaved to it.
But God intervened.
We heard the truth of Jesus Christ, and we responded with hearts of obedience to believe
on Christ, resulting in our being freed from the cruel taskmaster of sin.
And now we have become the slaves of righteousness.
You and I who are in Jesus Christ are no longer obligated to sin, to obey its demands.
Yes, sin is still present in us.
It dwells in our bodies as a power principle.
It allures us.
It tempts us.
It is active every day against us, just as the apostle Paul describes in the last part
of Romans chapter 7.
We struggle with sin, but the main difference is that before we struggled as slaves to sin,
now we struggle as being freed from sin so that we don't have to obey it anymore.
Now we can say no to sin and yes to Jesus Christ and obedience to his Lordship.
That's because we died to sin.
That's what ended that relationship with it.
It's like a marriage.
Death ends the relationship of marriage.
So with sin, we died to sin.
Sin didn't die, it's still alive.
But we died to it.
That relationship is over.
And we have been resurrected as new people.
Now related not to sin, but to the Savior.
We are alive in him so that now we can say yes to him and though sin is still present,
as I said before, and we face temptation and we can say yes to sin, sadly, and do say yes
to sin, sadly.
Nonetheless, we are freed from its yoke of slavery.
We don't have to say yes to sin.
We can say no and say yes to Jesus Christ.
When was the last time that you thought to say no to sin and then immediately thanked
God that you could say no?
When was the last time the temptation came upon you and you felt the urge to do what
you knew was wrong?
And within you the Spirit of God gave strength and you said no to temptation.
You did not obey sin.
But you obeyed Jesus Christ.
When was the last time you did that and then immediately said, Lord, thank you that I can
do that?
Because you see people in the world, people outside of Jesus Christ cannot do that.
They don't have to give in to every little sinful temptation that comes to them.
People in the world can lose bad habits and break them, but they cannot say no to sin
as one who's freed from it.
They cannot say yes to Jesus Christ as one who belongs to Him.
You and I begin today by giving thanks to God that He gives us freedom from the slavery
to sin.
The Apostle Paul carries this theme to another subject in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.
Here we learn that the Lord gives release from death sting.
1 Corinthians 15 verse 54, but when this perishable will have put on the imperishable and this
mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory.
Now verse 57, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord gives release from death sting.
Death is the divine judgment of God upon sin.
Death is the inevitable result of our sinning.
The Bible says that death spread to all men because all sinned.
It says the wages of sin is death.
And that death is first spiritual, that is being separated from God, and then it is physical.
It causes the death of these physical bodies and the separation of our invisible, soulish
part from the physical body.
That is death.
It is the result of sin.
You and I would be hopelessly lost in sin, separated from God, and headed toward eternal
death were it not for the fact that God intervened.
God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, that He might go to the cross and there
die for us, and three days later be raised from the dead.
In doing that He paid for our sin.
He made it possible for us to have a relationship with God instead of being separated from God.
And He assured the fact that all people one day will be raised from the grave, even unbelievers.
All people will be raised from the grave.
Death has a nasty sting.
All of us have suffered from its venom.
But Jesus Christ has conquered death.
And for those who place their faith in Him, He releases us from death's sting.
So that one day these bodies, which may one day be buried in the ground should we die
before the Lord comes, these bodies will be raised from the grave, glorious, like Christ's
body.
This mortal will put on immortality.
This thing of earthly clay will be given heavenly glory in the resurrection.
Thanks be to God who gives us the victory over death's sting through our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Cruel death may yet take our bodies, but it cannot keep our bodies because the Lord Jesus
Christ has in His hand the keys to death and to Hades.
There is no more significant event in the history of the world than the resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
And nothing is more certain than that one day all of us will be raised from the grave
to stand before God.
Those of us who are saved to enter into His kingdom, into His glorious, eternal reign
and life forever.
And those who are outside of Christ will be raised from the grave to stand before God
for their final judgment, only then to experience the second death.
Thanks be to God that when we are in Jesus Christ we have been delivered from death.
Job called death the king of terrors, but this despot has been overthrown by Jesus Christ,
the King of Kings.
And he stands today as our victor.
We give thanks to God for our Lord Jesus Christ and our victory over death through Him.
And again the Apostle Paul uses this phrase, thanks be to God, in 2 Corinthians 2, verse
14.
Here we thank God that the Lord gives victory in life's circumstances.
But thanks be to God, writes Paul, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ and manifests
through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
I want you to notice that the Apostle writes of the triumph in the midst of pretty desperate
circumstances.
In fact, in chapters 1 and 2 he writes about his own affliction, chapter 1, verse 4.
He writes about having an excessive burden, chapter 1, verse 8.
He tells of facing the peril of death, chapter 1, verse 10.
He records that he felt much affliction and anguish of heart, chapter 2, verse 4.
And in chapter 2, verse 13, he confesses, I had no rest in my spirit.
Do you see that?
Do you see what Paul's circumstances were as he was writing this letter and says to
them, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph?
Life was tough for Paul.
And life may be tough for you this morning.
Life may be happy.
It may be filled with blessing.
How easy to have thanksgiving when it's that way.
But maybe you more closely identify with Paul being in anguish and despair, no rest in your
spirit, feeling like you're facing death.
If that's how you feel today, I want you to know something.
The apostle Paul says that we can give thanks to God even in the midst of that.
Because the Lord gives us victory in all of life's circumstances, even the tough times.
He speaks here about the triumph.
The linguistic key to the Greek New Testament says the picture is the triumphal entry of
a military hero into the city of Rome.
The victorious Roman general marched into the city in a long procession, preceded by
the city magistrates.
They were followed by the trumpeters.
Then the spoils taken from the enemy, followed by white oxen intended for sacrifice.
Then the captives headed by the king of the conquered country.
Then the officials of the victorious army and musicians dancing and playing.
And at last the general himself, in whose honor the whole wonderful pageant was taking
place.
Paul represents himself as one of the victorious general's soldiers, sharing in the glory
of his triumph.
It was customary for the triumphal processions to be accompanied by the release of sweet
odors from the burning spices in the streets.
With that historical background you understand what Paul means when he says that we are being
led in a triumph march and there is this aroma of Christ around us.
In the midst of your circumstances by faith give thanks to God.
The victory is yours in Christ.
It's easy for a soldier who is out in the battlefield in the trenches being shelled
and shot at.
To face all of that, if he knows in the end he is going to be in the victory side.
You may be shot at, there may be shells dropping around you so many you can't count them.
But I want you to know something, if you are in Jesus Christ you are on the victory side.
There is this procession that is moving into heaven.
It is all of the Lord's own.
It is his triumph and we are a part of that.
The Lord gives victory in life's circumstances.
An elderly man was about to repair his roof and was seen climbing a ladder with nails
stuffed into his mouth and with a hammer into his hand.
A little bit later a neighbor lady who had seen him heard him shouting and praising the
Lord.
Curiously she said, what are you shouting about?
He said, I swallowed a nail and dropped my hammer.
She said, well that's an odd thing.
What are you so happy for about that?
Well he said, I am happy, I am thankful that I didn't drop the nail and swallow the hammer.
You can always find something to be thankful for.
Mr. Bradford who gave his life for Christ as a martyr said of Queen Mary, if the Queen
be pleased to release me, I will thank her.
If she imprison me, I will thank her.
If she will burn me, I will thank her.
There's not much you can do with a person like that.
A pastor by the name of Dr. John Watson called on a man who had suffered severe financial
reverses and found him to be utterly crushed by his losses.
Everything is gone, he said to his pastor.
To which the pastor replied, what?
I'm sorry to hear your wife is dead.
The man said, my wife?
Yes, he said, and I'm doubly grieved to hear that you've lost your character.
Then he began to name a number of other things, assets, valuable assets.
To the last the man could stand no longer and protested that all of those things still
remained.
And the pastor said, but wait a minute, I thought you said you had lost everything.
He said, brother, come to your senses.
You've lost none of those things that are worthwhile.
Only the man realized that the true riches are those things that make us rich toward
God.
Let us learn that in life's circumstances, whatever they are, in Jesus Christ we have
the victory.
We are in his triumph march.
Thanks be to God.
There is a fourth way the apostle uses this phrase.
It's in 2 Corinthians 8 this time and verse 16.
But thanks be to God, he says, who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart
of Titus.
For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of
his own accord.
And we have sent along with him the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel has
spread through all the churches, that brother is not named.
Here we see that the Lord gives friends for needed strength.
You see the Corinthians were under the gun.
They were being persecuted.
They didn't have much.
But nonetheless, they had promised that they would take an offering for the even more greatly
impoverished saints in Jerusalem.
Up to this point they had not done so.
So the apostle Paul is gathering a little committee together headed by Titus.
They are to go see the saints in Corinth and they are to encourage them in the midst of
their suffering and to help them get on with what they had promised to do.
You see the Lord gives us friends when we need strength.
Who is the Titus that God has sent to your life?
Who is that person or that group of people that has provided support for you in your
time of need?
That's part of what a local church is all about.
We are a support system for one another through the bonds of the gospel.
We need to avail ourselves of relationships within the church so that we have those kinds
of supports built in.
God did not create us to live by ourselves, individualistically, apart from others.
He created us to be a part of a group, part of a body.
Here we have a man named Titus who loved those Corinthian people just as much as Paul himself
did.
And Paul is not ashamed to say, I'm sending him as my representative and these others
are coming too and they are going to encourage you to finish what you have begun.
Are you letting other people love you?
Are you letting other people come around you and support you?
Sometimes we ask the question, well who is my friend?
Perhaps the better question first ought to be, to whom am I friendly?
Because you see, when we take the initiative to be friendly, then we find that friends
come to us.
But if we stand back with our arms crossed saying, who's going to take care of my needs?
You know one will approach.
The Lord gives us friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, to help us in our times of need.
When did you last think through the list of friends that you have in your life?
Maybe that list is small, I don't know.
When you talk about true friends, it's usually not very long.
We have friends, you know, and then we have friends.
When was the last time you thought through your list and after you thought through the
faces and said the names in your heart, you said, Lord, thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks be to God for those friends that you have brought in my life to help me in this
time.
You see, our greatest wealth is not measured in terms of riches, but relationships.
And relationships take time.
Relationships take something from us.
But listen, whatever we invest in others, we get back double fold.
So make the investment.
And as you make it in others, others will make it in you, and there will be that support
that God wants all of us to have, especially in our times of need.
Finally, the apostle uses this in the next chapter, chapter 9, verse 15, where he says,
thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.
That word indescribable is, well, it's indescribable.
It means there aren't any words for this.
But that's rather remarkable for Paul to say.
Paul was a genius.
Not only did he have a wide vocabulary, he created words.
And when it comes to this gift he's talking about, he says, I just don't have words for
this.
It's indescribable.
The Lord gives Christ Jesus for indescribable salvation.
He, Jesus Christ, is the gift of the Father so that you and I could escape what we deserve,
punishment for our sin, and might receive and inherit what we don't deserve, which
is life and heaven forevermore.
Paul points here to a gift freely given by God.
Its value is beyond description and price.
He uses it as the highest example of giving.
He says, here is what God has given for you.
In the context of these two chapters he says, now what will you give in response to God's
indescribable gift?
I think it's important to ask the question whether you've received this gift that God
has given you.
Have you opened your own heart and received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life?
The Bible says, as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children
of God.
Surely above everything else in the world that is the gift worth receiving.
And surely above everything else we give thanks to God for that gift.
Isaiah said, unto us a child is born.
Unto us a son is given.
The gift of God, Jesus Christ.
Paul says in Romans 8, he did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all.
Surely thanks be to God for forgiveness of sins and peace with God.
For as was sung earlier, thanks be to God for pardon from sin and peace that endureth.
Is it too much then to cultivate hearts of gratitude?
I don't think so.
When we remember all the spiritual endowments that God has given to us out of His loving
kindness, give thanks to the Lord.
He is good.
His loving kindness is everlasting.
Because God is such a generous giver, it is appropriate that we cultivate hearts that
reflect thanksgiving to Him.
Alexander White was a famous preacher in Scotland in another generation.
Those who heard him said that he invariably began his Sunday public prayers with an expression
of gratitude for something.
One cold and rainy day, his people wondered how he was going to be grateful that morning.
And so he began his prayer by saying, we thank thee, O Lord, that it is not always like this.
A grateful heart.
In the early days of the settlement of the West, as you know, travelers encountered a
lot of difficulty.
One party of pioneers on the Oregon Trail had suffered greatly from a scarcity of water
and grass for their animals.
Some of their wagons had broken down, causing delays in the stifling heat.
Along with all of these adverse circumstances, history tells us that there was a feeling
of fretfulness and depression upon them.
Some of the cheer which had earlier been a part of them was gone.
One night a meeting was called so that they could air all of their complaints.
They gathered around the campfire in the middle of the wagons, and one of them arose and said,
before we do anything else, I think we should first thank God that we have come this far
with no loss of life, with no serious troubles from the Indians, and that we have enough
strength left to finish our journey.
And so there was a prayer of thanksgiving to God for those things.
When the prayer was done, there was silence.
You see, no one had any grievances which they felt were important enough to voice.
Gratitude often transforms a grumbling spirit into one of contentment, because we see the
many mercies of God that we would ordinarily overlook.
Just as you can draw a magnet through the sand and pick up iron filings from it, so
a thankful spirit is able to draw the magnet of gratitude through life and pick up causes
for rejoicing.
Oh, give thanks to the Lord.
He is good.
His loving kindness is everlasting.
What do you want to give thanks to God for this morning?
Let's pray.
There where you're seated would you voice thanksgiving to God even if life is painful
and tough right now?
Would you see the spiritual endowments that God has given you if you're a Christian?
And even if your heart doesn't feel like it, will you by faith say, Lord, I thank you.
Thanks be to God.
And then name those things for which you are grateful.
Allow the Holy Spirit to cultivate in you a heart of gratitude to the Lord.
Give thanks to him.
Oh, Father, I pray that we as a people will learn to be grateful.
We have so much, and yet we confess we so easily complain.
Forgive us.
Forgive us of our small vision.
Forgive us of our grumbling spirits.
We lift our hearts to you with gratitude for the blessings that we have in Christ Jesus,
for all of the spiritual endowments that are ours in him.
See we are so blessed by the gifts of your hand.
Father, thank you.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Would you take your hymnal please?
We're going to sing again the chorus that we began with this morning.
It's 564 in your hymnal.
Let us sing it with hearts of gratitude.
Maybe as we came in this morning we simply sung it because it was there before us.
The words are up here on the wall too if you want to use those.
Maybe you sang it just out of routine.
But maybe in this service God has touched our hearts in such a way that we can sing
this hymn from the depths of our beings and reflect gratitude to him for his blessings.
Let's stand and sing together.
564.
We are so blessed by the gifts of your hand.
I just can't understand why you've loved us so much.
We are so blessed.
We just can't find a way for the words that can say,
Thank you Lord for your touch.
When we're empty, you fill us till we overfall.
When we're hungry, you feed us and cause us to know.
We are so blessed.
Take what we have to bring.
Take love every day.
Lord we love you so much.
With all the Lord's people said, Amen.
God bless you.