Thinkful Gratitude
This is a transcript. It may contain small inaccuracies.
This morning’s message is entitled a thinkful gratitude. And you will understand why as we go on to understand gratitude today. Thankfulness. Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers. The 19th century preacher, minister of God’s word. He was mightily used by God to proclaim Christ. He loved Christ. He served Christ and He proclaimed Christ. He preached over six-hundred times before he was twenty years old. Six-hundred times before he was twenty. His sermons sold twenty thousand copies a week and were translated into twenty languages. The collective sermons fill sixty three volumes, equivalent to the 27 volume 9th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica and stands as the largest set of books by a single author in the history of the christian faith.
The story is told of him, Spurgeon, being mugged in London. Terrifying experience for him. So he came home after being mugged, having his wallet stolen on the streets of London, and told his wife what happened. She listened to him with great care. And at the end of it, he said, "But thank God, I am truly thankful." His wife responded and said, "Really? You thank the Lord that you were mugged?" And Spurgeon responded and said, "No, I am thankful for three things." He said, "Firstly, I am thankful that they took my money and not my life. Second," he said, "I'm thankful that the wallet they took had hardly any money in it." And he said, "Thirdly, I'm thankful that I was not the thief."
There was an attitude in that man of perceiving a situation completely differently from how many people would. Many people would go through that and their first response would be some form of murmuring, some form of grumbling, some form of complaint. "Why, God?" But the attitude of gratitude exhibited by Spurgeon was something that Christians—you and I—should mimic. It was his habit, in fact, when people asked him, "How are you?" he responded, "Better than I deserve. Better than I deserve." That was his habit. And if you know anything about the kind of things he struggled with, it will make the statement all the more potent.
He believed, and I quote, "It was a heavenly thing to be thankful. After all, it was gratitude which ought to teach us, the divine object of grace." He longed for his heart to burn with the sacred flame of thankfulness. The sacred flame of thankfulness. For the world, being happy was a prerequisite to being grateful, but Spurgeon knew that God's people are always happy when they are grateful to Him. In fact, Spurgeon was so certain, he said, and I quote, "We should be ten times more full of bliss if we were proportionately more full of thankfulness."
For him, living with thankfulness was an all-encompassing commitment, whether for richer or for poorer, even in sickness and in health. He would often remind his congregation that, and I quote, "You have received all that you have from God the Father through Jesus Christ.". This truth made every enjoyment an avenue for God-glorifying attitude. That very idea is what we're going to consider this morning as we try to understand what gratitude is and how we can cultivate an attitude of gratitude.
And we need this. We need this reminder. Yes, it is something we're focused on in a concentrated way, Thanksgiving weekend, but we need that realignment so that we can be thankful by the grace of God every single day of the year. As we gather together this Thanksgiving Sunday, it is appropriate that we express our gratitude to God, that we experience gratitude, yes, but also, beloved, that we grow in gratitude, that we recommit to gratitude, that we don't allow gratitude to be something simply on the periphery.
I would hope that as long as we gather together as God's people, this local body of Christ known as Grace Chapel, I would hope that as long as we gather together, that every time we walk through that door, that there is a profound sense of gratitude in our hearts. That it should never be lost, that it should never evaporate, that it should never be something that just belonged to that sweet first time that we gathered together back in 2009, January. That we're a thankful church, full of gratitude.
You know, it's hard to imagine a church filled with gratitude that is at the same time riddled with bitterness, riddled with discontent, riddled with murmuring, riddled with malice. It's hard to imagine a church filled with gratitude and at the same time riddled with divisions. You see, where gratitude exists, griping does not. Where gratitude exists, pettiness does not. Where gratitude exists, conflicts are swiftly resolved. Where gratitude exists, the church tends to keep the main thing, the main thing.
Gratitude not only chases off several sins, but like wind beneath the wings of an eagle, it gives lift to all kinds of Christ-like virtues. When you're grateful, it returns sweetness to your prayer, it returns sweetness to your praise, to your worship. When you're grateful, it really turns our very times of devotion to a great amount of adoration and praise. When you're grateful, zeal comes back to your service to God. You love to serve the Savior. You love to serve Him. You want to serve Him. You delight to serve Him.
And when you meet a grateful man, he's serving, and he's serving, serving the Lord, and you say to him, "Thank you," he almost says to you, "Don't thank me." He's found his joy in what he's doing; rather, he's found his joy in God Himself, and therefore he's found his joy in what he's doing for the Master. A servant of Christ once said, and I quote, "When gratitude dies on the altar of a man's heart, that man is well-nigh hopeless."
You see, gratitude is not an optional extra in the Christian life. It's not icing on the cake. It's not nice but not necessary. Gratitude, beloved, is not about the mood that you're in. "I'm not in the mood to be grateful." It has nothing to do with the mood that you're in. It has nothing to do with it.
As far as the Bible is concerned, gratitude is one of the signs of being born from above. It's one of the signs of being regenerate, one of the signs of having met the Savior, of still growing in grace. At least 21 times in the Bible we're commanded to be grateful, to give thanks, to offer thanksgiving. At least 21 times. In many other places, gratitude and thanksgiving are commended. They are suggested as right, as fitting, as normal for the believer. If you're a believer, you're grateful.
And to turn it around, you remember what Paul says in Romans 1:21. The indictment on mankind is what? "For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks." Give thanks. Unregenerate people are unthankful people. That's the indictment on mankind. You see, beloved, unbelief and unthankfulness always travel together. They travel as twins. And gratitude and faith, they travel together.
Those who are unthankful are as the Israelites were when they were unthankful, murmuring, and tempted God by murmuring and grumbling against Him. In other words, gratitude is not about how you're feeling today. Gratitude is about what you believe is true about life.
Gratitude rises and falls on two beliefs. Mark it down. Rises or falls on two beliefs. Number one, the belief of what you believe you deserve. And number two, what you believe you've received. Always. And those two things, depending on whether or not you're holding them correctly, is exactly why you're grateful or not grateful. The belief of what you believe you deserve and what you believe you received.
You see, an unthankful person believes that he deserves much good and thinks he's received little of it. And therefore, he's ungrateful. "It's not fair." That's how the world thinks—I noticed on the box of pizza that we enjoyed the other day, it says, "Enjoy the better taste because you deserve it." You deserve it. You deserve it. That's how the world thinks. An unthankful person believes that he deserves much good and thinks he received little of it, if any. And so they grumble.
But a thankful man believes that he deserves nothing or very little, if any, little good and believes he's received much. So much. Those two poles are exactly why a man is grateful or not. So the question this morning for us is, how do we become a people who are grateful? How? You say, I want to be grateful. I want to cultivate gratitude. How do I do this? How do we become people who are grateful, who are sustained by gratitude, who understand what we do deserve and understand what we have received?
The Bible's answer is found here—I mean, one place of many other places in Scripture—Psalm 105. And the Bible's answer here is, as in many Scripture, is a command to think, to reflect, a command to reflect. This is very important. It's not going to come upon you like some kind of this automatic thing. You go to sleep and you wake up grateful. It's the result of what? Reflection. Reflection. And so the Scripture here tells you to think on certain things.
In fact, the Anglo-Saxon origin of the word thankful comes from this word that means think-ful. That's why we have it in the title: think-ful gratitude. Think-ful. In other words, to be thankful, you have to be think-ful, and you have to be mindful, and you have to be thoughtful, and you have to reflect, and you have to muse, and you have to consider, and consider what it is that's been given to you when you didn't deserve anything at all. In fact, you deserve the opposite. That's when gratitude rises up.
Now in Psalm 105, the psalmist begins with a description of what gratitude looks like, and we're going to really take that as a matter of fact. This is what gratitude looks like. But we're going to study the psalm beginning with verse 7 on down. But look at the initial description of gratitude, what gratitude looks like in the first few verses.
Verse 1: "Oh give thanks to Yahweh, call upon His name; Make known His acts among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Muse on all His wondrous deeds. Boast in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh be glad. Inquire of Yahweh in His strength; Seek His face continually. Remember His wondrous deeds which He has done, His miracles and the judgments uttered by His mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!"
That's what gratitude looks like. That's the experience of gratitude. When we have a grateful church, we're talking often about the things of God. We're singing of it. Our times of praise are not just methodical ploddings—they're exuberance. Your heart is overflowing with gladness, with gratefulness, with gratitude, with thankfulness.
And if we have to say in our fellowship, in our, you know, getting together or fellowship lunch, or if we're to say, "Is there a testimony here?" we're at the edge of our seat. I've got lots to be thankful for, and if you're going to give me opportunity, I'm going to share and share and share. That's an attitude amongst us of awe, childlike amazement for what God has done. That's what happens in a church filled with gratitude.
The question is, how do you get it? How do you cultivate it? Well, the rest of the psalm is a model of how to give thanks. And as we consider this model, we're going to see together four actions of God, four ways that God's people could give thanks, four things that are identified here in the psalm that God does for us. And if we think on these things, if we're thinkful, we will be grateful.
So let's look at the text. In the first few verses, 7 through 11, what does it say? I'm going to take them in chunks and get the major principle, the major truth being taught, the action of God.
Verse 7: "He is Yahweh our God: His judgments are in all the earth. He has remembered His covenant forever, The word which He commanded for a thousand generations, Which He cut with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, 'To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance.'"
And the first action towards us that, if we reflect on it, if we muse on it, if we think upon it, it causes gratitude, is this: God's promises. God's promises. Reflect on God's promises, muse on God's promises, think upon the promises of God. You see, the psalmist begins by giving thanks that Israel served a promise-keeping God. You see what he's saying in these verses? He's saying there's this covenant that was between Yahweh and Abraham, the God of Israel and Abraham.
What's a covenant? Well, it's simply an agreement between two parties sealed with an oath. The specific covenant referenced here is the Abrahamic covenant, where God said to Abraham—to simplify it—He said, "I'll give you land, I'll give you seed, and I'll give you blessing without condition”. Without condition. A promise to him. From God's side, He said He's going to do that. He's committed Himself to do that. God committed Himself to do that.
And even though Israel turned to other gods—and we know the history—Israel turned to idol worship. Even though they worshiped Baal and Ashtoreth and Moloch, God kept His word. God kept His promise. He put Israel in the land, and when they were kicked out, taken captive under the judgment of God, He restored them back to the land. Even when exiled from the land, He returned them. He promised to be their God. He promised to be faithful to them even when they weren't faithful to Him.
God is faithful to His promise, right? As we sang earlier. And the psalmist says, Israel, Israel, think about our promise-keeping God. Reflect on Him and sing. Reflect on Him and give thanks. Give thanks to Him. Make known His deeds. It's a joyous thing. It's a happy thing. It's a blessed thing. Why? You're in a world filled with truce-breakers, filled with liars, oath-breakers, perjurers. Aren't you thankful for someone who, when He promises you something, He will never fail to do it? Aren’t you?
How many times have you been the victim of a broken promise? How many times, perhaps, you have been the perpetrator of a broken promise? But to know that there is a God who is willing to make promises to His people, and to know that He cannot lie, He cannot fail to keep whatever He commits Himself to do, is a deep, deep joy—profound joy and comfort. In a world where anything can change at any time, here we have a firm foundation. Something that you can plant your life on. There is a promise-keeping God in Heaven, and what He promises, He will keep.
Let me ask you, what promises has He made to you, beloved? To us? His beloved? Do you realize that if you are a New Testament believer today, if you're in Christ, if you have believed on Jesus Christ and received Him as your Lord and Savior, if you are born from above, if you belong to the family of God, if you are His, sealed with the Holy Spirit—do you realize your whole faith is dependent on promises? Do you realize that?
Let that grip you. Your entire faith is dependent on promises. Everything you believe is a promise. Reflect on this. This is really important. You see, if you've trusted Jesus Christ, the whole of your salvation, all the package, the whole is dependent on the fact that God said, He said in His Word, "If you call on the name of My Son, I will forgive your sins, I will pardon you, I will cleanse you, and I will give you righteousness, His righteousness. I will give you eternal life, I will give you a glorious inheritance in heaven, I will adopt you as My child and make you joint heir with My beloved Son." God said it. He said, "I will give you all of these things, and I will give it to you, all of it, on the basis of calling on the name of My Son. If you turn from your sin, you turn from self, I will save you. I will save you from sin's penalty, and sin's power, and one day, sin's presence." He promises you eternal life, a future in heaven. But you know what all of this depends on? He has to keep His Word, right? He has to keep His Word. What would happen if He didn't? Or if He doesn't? Would our whole faith not fail? Everything, everything we depend on right now is a promise-keeping God.
A side note, we take His promise concerning our salvation, and we say, "Lord, thank You." When it comes to other promises related to the here and now—provision, protection, promises like, "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common with man, but God is faithful, that He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able," and so forth—"Seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness.” “Don't worry about what you eat, what you drink," all of these things. And all of a sudden, it's like, He's a promise-keeping God. Everything we depend on right now is a promise-keeping God.
And can I say to you today, if you're outside of Jesus Christ, if you're sitting here today, and you're outside of Jesus Christ, let me tell you this. And listen, please, very carefully. God has no pleasant promises for you. There are promises for you, but they're not pleasant. And I beg you to consider Christ today.
Ephesians 2 clearly says that at that time, outside of Christ, He said, You were without Christ, “alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise.” This is the saddest statement in the Scripture: " having no hope and without God in this world." And if you continue to be without hope and without God in this world, you will be without God and without hope in the world to come.
But once you're in Christ—in Christ—and I use that phrase deliberately, because that's the New Testament's favorite phrase to describe what a Christian is. In Christ, you are in Christ. I am in Christ. You go on in Messiah by faith. And if you do that, a wealth of promises open up.
2 Corinthians 1:20, "For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes” – and “Amen to the glory of God." You see, God is under no obligation to give us even one little promise. He owes us nothing. We have no right to expect anything from Him. And yet, out of the abundance of His goodness, He has given us a book filled with hundreds and hundreds of promises. Every single promise is more wonderful than words could describe. And each one meets a critical need, a desire in our lives. There will never be a divine promise that God does not perfectly fulfill.
Somebody, in fact, counted 8,810 promises in the entire Bible. They counted, in the Old Testament, 7,706. In the New Testament, 1,104. Now, not every one of them is directed to you as a New Testament believer, but a huge portion of them are. And I would say far more than you need, than I need, to be content and grateful. Ah, beloved, if we had but three promises, five, ten from the God of all creation, should we not be joyful? Should we not be thankful? What if we have thousands from God?
In Bunyan's story of Pilgrim's Progress, the problem starts when Pilgrim leaves the main highway because he's seeking an easier path. Always, always remember that. Problems always happen when we seek the easier path, okay? But that easier path leads him into the territory of the giant—the giant named Despair. And the giant Despair takes him into the Doubting Castle, and there he's kept in a dungeon, and he's advised to kill himself. End your misery. Just kill yourself. Be done with it. And there he sits. And there he sits, looming and considering this. And for a time, it seems as if Despair has conquered Christian.
And then the text of Pilgrim's Progress says this, listen to this now. So Christian is in the dungeon. Despair seems to have conquered Christian. And now we read this:
"Now, a little before it was day, good Christian, as one half amazed, broke out into this passionate speech: What a fool am I, thus to lie in a stinking dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a key in my pocket called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle. Then said Hopeful, That is good news, good brother; pluck it out of thy pocket and try. Then Christian pulled it out of his pocket and began to try the dungeon door, whose bolt, as he turned the key, gave back, and the door flew open with ease, and Christian and Hopeful both came out."
Beloved, if you are thinkful enough about God's promises, you will be thankful. You will be thankful. Do you know how you do that? You have to be in the Word. You have to be in the Word enough so that the Word gets in you. And when you're in the Word and the Word gets in you, the promises of God will be in you, and then the Holy Spirit will bring them to your remembrance at the point of need.
Story is told of a dying saint who called his pastor to his side, and he said, "Pastor, Pastor, I'm dying now. It seems to me I cannot remember a single one of God's promises." And his pastor said to him, "But my dear brother, do you think God has forgotten His promises?" And the dying brother said, "You're right, Pastor. Even if I cannot recall them now, God will never forget them."
Israel was encouraged to reflect on God's promises, but there's a second thing they are encouraged to reflect on, a second work of God, action of God that begins in verse 12. Listen, look at verse 12 with me: "When there were only a few men in number, Of little account, and sojourners in it. And they wandered about from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people. He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes: 'Do not touch My anointed ones, And to My prophets do no evil.'"
The second action of God towards His people that, when reflected upon, brings gratitude is not only God's promises, but in the second place, God's protection. God's protection. The psalmist praises God here that this little band of Israelites, hardly armed with anything, a small family, could have immediately been overwhelmed by several hostile tribes that really should have been decimated. There was no reason for them to survive. They could have easily been absorbed, scattered, killed by a vindictive ruler anywhere in time.
In fact, just the history of the Jewish people, even to this day, is truly remarkable to see how God had protected that people—not because there's anything special in them, but in spite of them. It's just because of who He is, a God who keeps His promise. Sometimes they needed protection from themselves. You remember Abraham and Isaac, right? They almost gave their wives to pagan kings had God not intervened, but through it all, God protected His people.
He protected His people physically. He protected them from being mixed with other people, and He protected them spiritually. And Israel has survived, and they could thank God for His protection. It's a strange thing to think about protection, isn't it? We don't often think of how protected we are until we have a close call. We take it for granted. We wake up every day. We go about our business.
When you have a brush with danger, when you experience something that could have harmed you, suddenly you become aware of the importance of protection. When you're dwelling securely for a long time, you begin to relax and take things for granted. But after you have that close brush, you realize how many ways you could have been harmed, and you understand how many threats there are, how God truly has fenced you in, hedged you.
You know, those of us in our midst here have small kids. You realize how there really must be guardian angels. There's so many ways they should have been harmed and should have perished, and that's supposedly in a safe environment, and you could see the hand of God.
One of the American Native Indian tribes had an interesting way of training their young braves. We're told on the night of a boy's 13th birthday, they would take him out blindfolded into the forest. He would have already learned hunting and scouting and fishing, but his final test was that he had to be in a place in a dense forest and spend the entire night alone by himself. And so, though he lived under the blanket of his family's security for so long, there he was, placed in that dark forest with gripping, terrifying aloneness, the sound of animals. No doubt every crack of leaf or fall of twig made his heart freeze, jump.
But finally, when the light came again, dawned and the day broke, the boy would begin to recognize the trees, the flowers, the path, the surroundings, and then he would look over and see, not too far from him, the figure of a man standing watch, armed with bow and arrow. It was his father. He'd been there all night long, watching over him. And, beloved, that's really what's going on in your life and my life. Our Father is there all along, watching over us.
Listen how it is put in Psalm 33. In fact, turn with me there. I want your eyes to see this. This is incredible. Psalm 33, look at verse 13. You have here the omniscience of God, the omnipresence of God. But look at this: "Yahweh looks from heaven; He sees everything. He sees all the sons of man; And from the place of His habitation He gazes On all the inhabitants of the earth, He who forms the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works."
Here He is, God, who is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. God sees everything. God sees everyone. Picture it, even now. I mean, even now, this minute here, God is here. He knows all about you, all about us here. And He knows and He sees every single person on this planet. He knows all about them. He sees them. He looks and He sees all the sons of man, all of them, all of them. You name a country, all of them.
But notice now the distinction. Verse 18, go down to verse 18: "Behold, the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear Him." Yeah, He sees everybody. He knows everybody. But especially God is watching over His own children: "On those who wait for His lovingkindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul is patient for Yahweh; He is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let Your lovingkindness, O Yahweh, be upon us, As we wait for You."
God protects us from so many possible threats—physical threats, criminals, attacks, car accidents, accidents at home, at work, something going wrong fatally with our bodies. God protects us. You know what that tells you? It tells you God is watching over you. His eye is set on you. There's a, He puts a circle around you as His child. And that means nothing, absolutely nothing, will come into your life without it first passing through the sacred desk of God. He's watching over you.
But more than physical protection, He protects us spiritually. Have you ever thought of the many threats to our faith? Satan sends false teachers to divert us, confuse us, pervert the teaching of God's Word. He sends apostates to infiltrate the church who profess to know Christ in order to subvert the faith and pervert the gospel. He raises up wolves from within who pose as sheep to infiltrate the church and turn people away from true undershepherds and draw people away after themselves.
God protects you from your own faith failing. He protects me from my own faith failing, from utter despair, from unbelief. I mean, how many times have you sat there and wondered, why am I still a believer? And can I tell you, beloved, that the greatest protection that God affords you and affords me in Christ, God protects you from God. Did you hear that? That's the greatest protection that God affords you. In Christ, God protects you from God.
You know the word propitiation? It's a good word in Scripture. It's a good word. hilaskomai’ is the Greek word you find in several places, such as in Hebrews 2:17. It means, this word means the quenching of God's anger, satisfying God's holy wrath. And on the cross, Calvary's cross that day, God the Son satisfied the holy and just anger, wrath of God on behalf of all of those who put their trust in Him.
And if you're not in Christ, where do you think God's wrath, God's anger will fall? Where do you think it will fall? Where will God's holy justice fall? It falls on you. It falls on you. And my sinner friend, can I tell you, there is no enemy as fearful, as terrifying as an all-powerful God. There's no threat in all the world that you should fear more than God. There's no calamity as terrible as being the target of God's holy anger. For the Scripture is clear, "It is a” – fearful thing, – “a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God", Hebrews 10:31.
And outside of Christ, that's where you will end up unless you repent and believe in the Son of God. Because in Christ, you are protected. You are protected, you're robed with His righteousness. The wrath of God is satisfied. His anger is appeased. That's what those wonderful words mean that we read in Romans 8:38 "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Be thankful for His protection. Why should this handful of believers be here 16 years later in this place? Why? Should we not all have been scattered all over? Should we not have fallen to unbelief and despair and apostasy? Should we have not fallen into temptation that disqualified us from serving, disqualified us from service?
God has protected us. God has protected us from teaching too subtle, from adversity too difficult, the wiles of the devil. And most of all, He protected you and me from Himself. And this comes from the good hand of our protecting God, who's called in Scripture a shield, a high tower, a fortress, a refuge, a shepherd who has a rod and a staff.
And so the psalmist says, Israel, think about God's promises. Think about God's protection. But then thirdly, in a lengthy section, he gives us something else to thank God for. Look at verses 16 and following: "And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; Until the time that His word came to pass, The word of Yahweh refined him. The king sent and released him, The rulers of the people sent and set him free. He set him up as lord of his house And ruler of his possessions, To imprison his princes at will, And that he might teach his elders wisdom. Then Israel came to Egypt; And Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And He caused His people to be very fruitful, And He caused them to be stronger than their adversaries. He turned their hearts to His people, To deal craftily with His slaves. He sent Moses His servant, And Aaron, whom He has chosen. They sent forth the words of His signs among them, And miracles in the land of Ham. He sent darkness and made it dark; And they did not rebel against His words. He turned their waters into blood And caused their fish to die. Their land swarmed with frogs Even in the chambers of their kings. He spoke, there came a swarm of flies And gnats in all their territory. He gave them hail for rain, And flaming fire in the land. He also struck down the vines and the fig trees, and He shattered the trees of their territory. He spoke, and locusts came, And creeping locusts without number, And they ate all vegetation in their land, And they ate up the fruit of the ground. He also struck down all the firstborn in their land, The first of all their vigor. Then He brought them out with silver and gold, And there was none among His tribes who stumbled. Egypt was glad when they went out, For the dread of them had fallen upon him.”
What's this all about? A long description of the acts of God for His people. But we can summarize this by saying the third action of God is His providence. His providence, His providence. His promises, His protection, His providence.
And He rehearses here the history of Joseph. Many years ago, when we studied Genesis, it was a thrill to study the providence of God in the life of Joseph. You remember all the events that led Joseph down there, and then led Joseph to prepare the land, and then led the brothers down there, and then led them to expand, and then to cause a new Pharaoh to come in, whose hard-heartedness set up the Exodus, and then the Exodus with all of its miracles that led Israel to go out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
And what is the name of all of this? Providence, providence. Gracious providence. We can put it this way: gracious guidance and governance of all events, including the free acts of men and women, all things being directed to their appointed end for His glory.
You study the life of Joseph, you see that God is in control over the good, He's in control of the evil, He's in control of the Pharaoh that loved Joseph, control of the Pharaoh that hated Moses, and He's in control of years of plenty, control of famine. He got Israel down into Canaan, then to Egypt, then took them out of Egypt back into Canaan. So here are these movements from Canaan as a group of 120; think about that, 120, and then you have a group of 2 million from Egypt back into Canaan.
And what is the verse that we read in Genesis 50 that Joseph says to his brothers when they're trying to make amends? Genesis 50:20, he said—you know this verse very well—"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to do what has happened on this day, to keep many people alive."
You know, I think one of the most exciting things about being a Christian is being able to see God at work. The hand of God on your life. Outside of Christ, life must seem random, chaotic, disorderly. Oh, but in Christ, you realize life is a story written by a Master Author who knows exactly what goes where, what chapter goes where—the introduction, the chapters, the conclusion—everything with precision.
And when you look at the circumstances through the eyes of faith, we can have a grateful attitude for providence. And we say with faith, God rules over all and He rules for His glory. What does it say in Romans 8:28? "We know." It's not like we think, we hope, we wish, maybe—no, no. "We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." All of it.
I'm reminded of what the Dutch reformer Abraham Kuyper said, "There's not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence in which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine." There's no part of our lives that's not under the lordship of Jesus. And that should give you comfort. Oh, the providence of God.
That's why, as we've said at the beginning, the heart of gratitude, beloved—the heart of gratitude is actually faith. It's submission. It's an attitude that says, life has been ordered by God. And what God has given is God's choice for me. And He's good. And it's for my good. And I'm grateful. I'm grateful. I'm grateful. I'm grateful. And I'm always grateful.
And I'm not always grateful for the pain of the circumstances, but I'm always grateful that that pain is being controlled by a good God. I rejoice in the purpose of the trial. I can bow the knee and accept it and rejoice in the God of the circumstance. When Jonathan Edwards died in his 50s because of a botched vaccine, Sarah Edwards, writing to her daughter Esther at the death of her husband, said this, and I quote: "My very dear child, what shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. Oh, that we may kiss the rod and lay our hands on our mouths. The Lord has done it. He has made me adore His goodness that we had him so long. But my God lives and He has my heart. Oh, what a legacy my husband and your father has left us. We are all given to God. And there I am and love to be. Your ever affectionate mother, Sarah Edwards."
Remember Paul and Silas? Beaten unlawfully, in stocks, Philippian jail. What did they start doing? They begin singing praises, hymns to God. You see, if they had been reacting to their circumstances, they would have graffitied their stocks. Or they would have been calling out loudly, "Excuse me, excuse me, I'm a Roman citizen. This is illegal. I have my rights." But they chose to submit to God, saying, as it were, The God of my circumstances has ordained this. This is for our good and for His glory. And so real thankfulness rose.
If you just think, reflect back, think about the circumstances, the providence of God for this body of Christ. This body of Christ. The way this work of God began back in January 2009. The way you came to be part of this work of God. Even sitting right here today in your chair. Each of those is a story of circumstances ordered by God.
On a personal level, think of how God worked in your life, beloved. How He saved you. How God has moved you to different places and different churches and different means to get you to where you are today, sitting here in this place. Think of whom He's allowed you to come across, who influenced you and how, and various means that He used—the internet, social media, word of mouth, personal touch. Think of how He's brought different people into this church just at the right time.
Think of how He's used adversity to remove the dross, to purify us—church discipline, protection from divisive people. Think of how He's used trials, physical diseases, financial hardship, relational hardship, even the death of loved ones. And what has it done? God has woven it all together to bring about fruit. And need I say anything more than look around you in this room, this place, and think about the providence of God?
Have you ever reflected on that? Thanked Him for how He shaped you, for where He took you, people He used in your life, painful trials He's brought into your life, the so-called chance meetings, the exposure to the gospel, the exposure to Grace Chapel? May I exhort you, next time you go into your prayer closet, spend some time in prayer—will you go with the attitude, "I'm not going to ask God for anything, I'm just going to reflect back and thank God for all these various things"?
And as you do that, as you go through this, thanking God for the people of God, the various ministries, your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and as you thank God for the fellowship of the saints, as you thank God for your loved ones and all the good things that God has given you, by the time you're done, your heart will be so full because the perspective will be changing. Providence—a God who is ordering everything in my life for my good and for His glory.
But I must hasten. There's a fourth reason why Israel is to give thanks. Look at the last verses of the psalm, verse 39 and on: "He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to give light by night. They asked, and He brought quail, And satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock and water flowed out; It ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His holy word With Abraham His servant; And He brought His people out with joy, His chosen ones with a shout of joy. He gave them also the lands of the nations, That they might take possession of the fruit of the people's labor, So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws." – And how does it end? – "Praise Yah!"
Well, God's provision—that's the fourth action. God's provision—that's the fourth reason to be thankful. God's provision, the psalmist says here. Israel, think about what God has provided. What did He provide? Oh, the text tells us: He provided light when we were in darkness. When we were in the desert, He provided water. When we were hungry, He provided food. When we needed a place to stay, He provided land. He even gave us houses we did not build, vineyards we did not plant. Provision.
Isn't it true that as parents, one of the things that we try to drill into our children's minds and hearts is gratitude? You give them something, and if they just take it and just look at you, you say, "What do you say?" And why do we do that? Because human hearts drift to taking things for granted.
Less wonder, less amazement, less awe if left to itself. And here's the horrible cycle of the human heart: left to itself, without the grace of God working, you have more and more, but then you have less and less gratitude. And the so-called spoiled child syndrome is exactly that—more and more and more and more, but less and less and less and less wonder.
That's what we said at the beginning: your gratitude is proportional to what you think you deserve. Do I deserve much? Or do I deserve little, if any, at all? Do I deserve much goodness?
Well, according to Scripture, Lamentations 3:22, it is of His mercies that we are not consumed. It's because of His ‘hased’ I'm not consumed. Because mark it down and let it be drilled into your head, child of God. Tell yourself, "I deserve hell. I deserve hell." That puts what I deserve exactly where it needs to be. I deserve hell.
What have I received in terms of God's provision? You and I will do well every single day to train our hearts as soon as we wake up to ask ourselves these two questions: What do I deserve, and what have I received? If you live with this idea of, like, I'm being cheated. I'm being cheated. I do deserve more. I've been so gypped. What a raw deal I've been given. If you live with this idea, I know exactly what your gratitude level is going to be.
And so we teach our children, be grateful, because if you're not grateful, you're proud. Proud people are unthankful people. And unthankful people are proud people, exalted in their own eyes, feeling that the whole world ought to be laying presents at my feet. And generally, feeling angry that other people are not worshipping the king ‘self’. And when people and circumstances fail to meet my proud expectations of what I deserve, what do I become? Very unhappy. I grumble. I murmur because I'm being mistreated, and I'm going to complain.
Spurgeon said, "You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' He says, 'You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.'"
Remember the account of Jesus cleansing ten lepers, of whom only one was thankful? But just before that, He gave a parable on servanthood in Luke 17. You remember that parable? He says if you have a slave—and an indentured slave at that time, somebody who works entirely for you, committed their life to serving you because of a debt they owed or whatever the case may be—and that slave's requirement, one of his duties, is to serve you, to attend to your needs. And He says, are you going to say to him, "Please, please, you sit down first, have some food"? He said, no, that's not how it works. He says, as your servant, his duty is to do that very thing of serve you.
And so when you come in, you say to him, Luke 17:8, "Prepare something for me to eat, and clothing yourself properly, serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward, you may eat and drink. Is he grateful to the slave because he did the things which were commanded? In this way, you also, when you do all things which are commanded of you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.'"
In other words, the same way, Jesus is saying, as Christians, we don't walk around with a haughty expectation that God should be patting us on the back and saying, "Oh my, oh my, am I so blessed to have you or not? So blessed to have you." I don't need an asset to My kingdom. Rather, He says, regard yourself as an unworthy slave who is simply doing his duty for the Master.
Now, you know, according to the Word of God, that you're treasured. But you're treasured in Christ. And so if we have that attitude—"You know what? I don't have any merit. I deserve hell. God has blessed me beyond measure"—what we should then be so surprised and amazed by is the generosity and the kindness of our good Master.
And I'll let you in on a secret if you haven't come across this before. In the Scripture, Jesus says that one of the things He's going to do in the future is gird Himself and serve His servants. Luke 12:27. Let no one complain against our Lord. You see, in Christ, we're fully provided for. God is able to make every grace abound to you so that in everything at every time, having every sufficiency, you may have an abundance for every good work. And of course, Philippians 4:19, "my God will fulfill all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
Would you think of how God has provided for us as a church, as individuals? But as a church, not only has He given us His Spirit, His Word, equipped His church with gifts, gifted men, gifted women. He provided the members that were needed at every time in Grace Chapel's life—the finances to support ministry, mercy, missions, direction, wisdom.
Have you ever spent time thinking of all that God has provided you with, beloved? The Bible tells you you're supposed to be content with two things: food and clothing. But has He given you more? Think of all the advantages that He's given you—your goods, your income, your house, your car. What He's given beyond even what you need—the extras, kindnesses that fill your days. Think of how many helpers He's brought your way—teachers, advisors, counselors, encouragers, exhorters.
Think of the opportunities He's given you, opportunities to grow and learn and thrive. He's given you all things that you need for life and godliness in this book. Can anyone here honestly say, "There's been a time when I lacked what I needed to be godly?" No one can say that. Contentment is learned and obeyed. So the psalmist says to us, you want to be grateful? Be thinkful. Think about God's promises to you as a people. Think about His protection to you. Think of His providence in ordering it, and think of His provision.
I love to read hymns, old hymns especially. Just read them, even when I can't sing them. So one of them, one of my favorite hymns is by Joseph Addison, titled, When All Thy Mercies, O My God. Listen to what he writes, and I'll close with this: "When all Thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys." I love that word, surveys. Surveys. Surveys is a favorite word of the hymn writers. "When I survey the wondrous cross," right? Survey. Why? Why do they keep using that word, survey?
Well, because the expectation is that what Christians are going to do is what? Survey. They're going to think. They're going to meditate. Muse on. Reflect on. And so this hymn writer says, "When all Thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys, transported with the view, I'm lost in wonder, love, and praise." And then he says, "Ten thousand thousand precious gifts my daily thanks employ, nor is the least a cheerful heart that tastes those gifts with joy." May it be so in this church now and always. And all God's people say? Amen.
Let's pray.
The story is told of him, Spurgeon, being mugged in London. Terrifying experience for him. So he came home after being mugged, having his wallet stolen on the streets of London, and told his wife what happened. She listened to him with great care. And at the end of it, he said, "But thank God, I am truly thankful." His wife responded and said, "Really? You thank the Lord that you were mugged?" And Spurgeon responded and said, "No, I am thankful for three things." He said, "Firstly, I am thankful that they took my money and not my life. Second," he said, "I'm thankful that the wallet they took had hardly any money in it." And he said, "Thirdly, I'm thankful that I was not the thief."
There was an attitude in that man of perceiving a situation completely differently from how many people would. Many people would go through that and their first response would be some form of murmuring, some form of grumbling, some form of complaint. "Why, God?" But the attitude of gratitude exhibited by Spurgeon was something that Christians—you and I—should mimic. It was his habit, in fact, when people asked him, "How are you?" he responded, "Better than I deserve. Better than I deserve." That was his habit. And if you know anything about the kind of things he struggled with, it will make the statement all the more potent.
He believed, and I quote, "It was a heavenly thing to be thankful. After all, it was gratitude which ought to teach us, the divine object of grace." He longed for his heart to burn with the sacred flame of thankfulness. The sacred flame of thankfulness. For the world, being happy was a prerequisite to being grateful, but Spurgeon knew that God's people are always happy when they are grateful to Him. In fact, Spurgeon was so certain, he said, and I quote, "We should be ten times more full of bliss if we were proportionately more full of thankfulness."
For him, living with thankfulness was an all-encompassing commitment, whether for richer or for poorer, even in sickness and in health. He would often remind his congregation that, and I quote, "You have received all that you have from God the Father through Jesus Christ.". This truth made every enjoyment an avenue for God-glorifying attitude. That very idea is what we're going to consider this morning as we try to understand what gratitude is and how we can cultivate an attitude of gratitude.
And we need this. We need this reminder. Yes, it is something we're focused on in a concentrated way, Thanksgiving weekend, but we need that realignment so that we can be thankful by the grace of God every single day of the year. As we gather together this Thanksgiving Sunday, it is appropriate that we express our gratitude to God, that we experience gratitude, yes, but also, beloved, that we grow in gratitude, that we recommit to gratitude, that we don't allow gratitude to be something simply on the periphery.
I would hope that as long as we gather together as God's people, this local body of Christ known as Grace Chapel, I would hope that as long as we gather together, that every time we walk through that door, that there is a profound sense of gratitude in our hearts. That it should never be lost, that it should never evaporate, that it should never be something that just belonged to that sweet first time that we gathered together back in 2009, January. That we're a thankful church, full of gratitude.
You know, it's hard to imagine a church filled with gratitude that is at the same time riddled with bitterness, riddled with discontent, riddled with murmuring, riddled with malice. It's hard to imagine a church filled with gratitude and at the same time riddled with divisions. You see, where gratitude exists, griping does not. Where gratitude exists, pettiness does not. Where gratitude exists, conflicts are swiftly resolved. Where gratitude exists, the church tends to keep the main thing, the main thing.
Gratitude not only chases off several sins, but like wind beneath the wings of an eagle, it gives lift to all kinds of Christ-like virtues. When you're grateful, it returns sweetness to your prayer, it returns sweetness to your praise, to your worship. When you're grateful, it really turns our very times of devotion to a great amount of adoration and praise. When you're grateful, zeal comes back to your service to God. You love to serve the Savior. You love to serve Him. You want to serve Him. You delight to serve Him.
And when you meet a grateful man, he's serving, and he's serving, serving the Lord, and you say to him, "Thank you," he almost says to you, "Don't thank me." He's found his joy in what he's doing; rather, he's found his joy in God Himself, and therefore he's found his joy in what he's doing for the Master. A servant of Christ once said, and I quote, "When gratitude dies on the altar of a man's heart, that man is well-nigh hopeless."
You see, gratitude is not an optional extra in the Christian life. It's not icing on the cake. It's not nice but not necessary. Gratitude, beloved, is not about the mood that you're in. "I'm not in the mood to be grateful." It has nothing to do with the mood that you're in. It has nothing to do with it.
As far as the Bible is concerned, gratitude is one of the signs of being born from above. It's one of the signs of being regenerate, one of the signs of having met the Savior, of still growing in grace. At least 21 times in the Bible we're commanded to be grateful, to give thanks, to offer thanksgiving. At least 21 times. In many other places, gratitude and thanksgiving are commended. They are suggested as right, as fitting, as normal for the believer. If you're a believer, you're grateful.
And to turn it around, you remember what Paul says in Romans 1:21. The indictment on mankind is what? "For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks." Give thanks. Unregenerate people are unthankful people. That's the indictment on mankind. You see, beloved, unbelief and unthankfulness always travel together. They travel as twins. And gratitude and faith, they travel together.
Those who are unthankful are as the Israelites were when they were unthankful, murmuring, and tempted God by murmuring and grumbling against Him. In other words, gratitude is not about how you're feeling today. Gratitude is about what you believe is true about life.
Gratitude rises and falls on two beliefs. Mark it down. Rises or falls on two beliefs. Number one, the belief of what you believe you deserve. And number two, what you believe you've received. Always. And those two things, depending on whether or not you're holding them correctly, is exactly why you're grateful or not grateful. The belief of what you believe you deserve and what you believe you received.
You see, an unthankful person believes that he deserves much good and thinks he's received little of it. And therefore, he's ungrateful. "It's not fair." That's how the world thinks—I noticed on the box of pizza that we enjoyed the other day, it says, "Enjoy the better taste because you deserve it." You deserve it. You deserve it. That's how the world thinks. An unthankful person believes that he deserves much good and thinks he received little of it, if any. And so they grumble.
But a thankful man believes that he deserves nothing or very little, if any, little good and believes he's received much. So much. Those two poles are exactly why a man is grateful or not. So the question this morning for us is, how do we become a people who are grateful? How? You say, I want to be grateful. I want to cultivate gratitude. How do I do this? How do we become people who are grateful, who are sustained by gratitude, who understand what we do deserve and understand what we have received?
The Bible's answer is found here—I mean, one place of many other places in Scripture—Psalm 105. And the Bible's answer here is, as in many Scripture, is a command to think, to reflect, a command to reflect. This is very important. It's not going to come upon you like some kind of this automatic thing. You go to sleep and you wake up grateful. It's the result of what? Reflection. Reflection. And so the Scripture here tells you to think on certain things.
In fact, the Anglo-Saxon origin of the word thankful comes from this word that means think-ful. That's why we have it in the title: think-ful gratitude. Think-ful. In other words, to be thankful, you have to be think-ful, and you have to be mindful, and you have to be thoughtful, and you have to reflect, and you have to muse, and you have to consider, and consider what it is that's been given to you when you didn't deserve anything at all. In fact, you deserve the opposite. That's when gratitude rises up.
Now in Psalm 105, the psalmist begins with a description of what gratitude looks like, and we're going to really take that as a matter of fact. This is what gratitude looks like. But we're going to study the psalm beginning with verse 7 on down. But look at the initial description of gratitude, what gratitude looks like in the first few verses.
Verse 1: "Oh give thanks to Yahweh, call upon His name; Make known His acts among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Muse on all His wondrous deeds. Boast in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh be glad. Inquire of Yahweh in His strength; Seek His face continually. Remember His wondrous deeds which He has done, His miracles and the judgments uttered by His mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!"
That's what gratitude looks like. That's the experience of gratitude. When we have a grateful church, we're talking often about the things of God. We're singing of it. Our times of praise are not just methodical ploddings—they're exuberance. Your heart is overflowing with gladness, with gratefulness, with gratitude, with thankfulness.
And if we have to say in our fellowship, in our, you know, getting together or fellowship lunch, or if we're to say, "Is there a testimony here?" we're at the edge of our seat. I've got lots to be thankful for, and if you're going to give me opportunity, I'm going to share and share and share. That's an attitude amongst us of awe, childlike amazement for what God has done. That's what happens in a church filled with gratitude.
The question is, how do you get it? How do you cultivate it? Well, the rest of the psalm is a model of how to give thanks. And as we consider this model, we're going to see together four actions of God, four ways that God's people could give thanks, four things that are identified here in the psalm that God does for us. And if we think on these things, if we're thinkful, we will be grateful.
So let's look at the text. In the first few verses, 7 through 11, what does it say? I'm going to take them in chunks and get the major principle, the major truth being taught, the action of God.
Verse 7: "He is Yahweh our God: His judgments are in all the earth. He has remembered His covenant forever, The word which He commanded for a thousand generations, Which He cut with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, 'To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance.'"
And the first action towards us that, if we reflect on it, if we muse on it, if we think upon it, it causes gratitude, is this: God's promises. God's promises. Reflect on God's promises, muse on God's promises, think upon the promises of God. You see, the psalmist begins by giving thanks that Israel served a promise-keeping God. You see what he's saying in these verses? He's saying there's this covenant that was between Yahweh and Abraham, the God of Israel and Abraham.
What's a covenant? Well, it's simply an agreement between two parties sealed with an oath. The specific covenant referenced here is the Abrahamic covenant, where God said to Abraham—to simplify it—He said, "I'll give you land, I'll give you seed, and I'll give you blessing without condition”. Without condition. A promise to him. From God's side, He said He's going to do that. He's committed Himself to do that. God committed Himself to do that.
And even though Israel turned to other gods—and we know the history—Israel turned to idol worship. Even though they worshiped Baal and Ashtoreth and Moloch, God kept His word. God kept His promise. He put Israel in the land, and when they were kicked out, taken captive under the judgment of God, He restored them back to the land. Even when exiled from the land, He returned them. He promised to be their God. He promised to be faithful to them even when they weren't faithful to Him.
God is faithful to His promise, right? As we sang earlier. And the psalmist says, Israel, Israel, think about our promise-keeping God. Reflect on Him and sing. Reflect on Him and give thanks. Give thanks to Him. Make known His deeds. It's a joyous thing. It's a happy thing. It's a blessed thing. Why? You're in a world filled with truce-breakers, filled with liars, oath-breakers, perjurers. Aren't you thankful for someone who, when He promises you something, He will never fail to do it? Aren’t you?
How many times have you been the victim of a broken promise? How many times, perhaps, you have been the perpetrator of a broken promise? But to know that there is a God who is willing to make promises to His people, and to know that He cannot lie, He cannot fail to keep whatever He commits Himself to do, is a deep, deep joy—profound joy and comfort. In a world where anything can change at any time, here we have a firm foundation. Something that you can plant your life on. There is a promise-keeping God in Heaven, and what He promises, He will keep.
Let me ask you, what promises has He made to you, beloved? To us? His beloved? Do you realize that if you are a New Testament believer today, if you're in Christ, if you have believed on Jesus Christ and received Him as your Lord and Savior, if you are born from above, if you belong to the family of God, if you are His, sealed with the Holy Spirit—do you realize your whole faith is dependent on promises? Do you realize that?
Let that grip you. Your entire faith is dependent on promises. Everything you believe is a promise. Reflect on this. This is really important. You see, if you've trusted Jesus Christ, the whole of your salvation, all the package, the whole is dependent on the fact that God said, He said in His Word, "If you call on the name of My Son, I will forgive your sins, I will pardon you, I will cleanse you, and I will give you righteousness, His righteousness. I will give you eternal life, I will give you a glorious inheritance in heaven, I will adopt you as My child and make you joint heir with My beloved Son." God said it. He said, "I will give you all of these things, and I will give it to you, all of it, on the basis of calling on the name of My Son. If you turn from your sin, you turn from self, I will save you. I will save you from sin's penalty, and sin's power, and one day, sin's presence." He promises you eternal life, a future in heaven. But you know what all of this depends on? He has to keep His Word, right? He has to keep His Word. What would happen if He didn't? Or if He doesn't? Would our whole faith not fail? Everything, everything we depend on right now is a promise-keeping God.
A side note, we take His promise concerning our salvation, and we say, "Lord, thank You." When it comes to other promises related to the here and now—provision, protection, promises like, "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common with man, but God is faithful, that He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able," and so forth—"Seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness.” “Don't worry about what you eat, what you drink," all of these things. And all of a sudden, it's like, He's a promise-keeping God. Everything we depend on right now is a promise-keeping God.
And can I say to you today, if you're outside of Jesus Christ, if you're sitting here today, and you're outside of Jesus Christ, let me tell you this. And listen, please, very carefully. God has no pleasant promises for you. There are promises for you, but they're not pleasant. And I beg you to consider Christ today.
Ephesians 2 clearly says that at that time, outside of Christ, He said, You were without Christ, “alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise.” This is the saddest statement in the Scripture: " having no hope and without God in this world." And if you continue to be without hope and without God in this world, you will be without God and without hope in the world to come.
But once you're in Christ—in Christ—and I use that phrase deliberately, because that's the New Testament's favorite phrase to describe what a Christian is. In Christ, you are in Christ. I am in Christ. You go on in Messiah by faith. And if you do that, a wealth of promises open up.
2 Corinthians 1:20, "For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes” – and “Amen to the glory of God." You see, God is under no obligation to give us even one little promise. He owes us nothing. We have no right to expect anything from Him. And yet, out of the abundance of His goodness, He has given us a book filled with hundreds and hundreds of promises. Every single promise is more wonderful than words could describe. And each one meets a critical need, a desire in our lives. There will never be a divine promise that God does not perfectly fulfill.
Somebody, in fact, counted 8,810 promises in the entire Bible. They counted, in the Old Testament, 7,706. In the New Testament, 1,104. Now, not every one of them is directed to you as a New Testament believer, but a huge portion of them are. And I would say far more than you need, than I need, to be content and grateful. Ah, beloved, if we had but three promises, five, ten from the God of all creation, should we not be joyful? Should we not be thankful? What if we have thousands from God?
In Bunyan's story of Pilgrim's Progress, the problem starts when Pilgrim leaves the main highway because he's seeking an easier path. Always, always remember that. Problems always happen when we seek the easier path, okay? But that easier path leads him into the territory of the giant—the giant named Despair. And the giant Despair takes him into the Doubting Castle, and there he's kept in a dungeon, and he's advised to kill himself. End your misery. Just kill yourself. Be done with it. And there he sits. And there he sits, looming and considering this. And for a time, it seems as if Despair has conquered Christian.
And then the text of Pilgrim's Progress says this, listen to this now. So Christian is in the dungeon. Despair seems to have conquered Christian. And now we read this:
"Now, a little before it was day, good Christian, as one half amazed, broke out into this passionate speech: What a fool am I, thus to lie in a stinking dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a key in my pocket called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle. Then said Hopeful, That is good news, good brother; pluck it out of thy pocket and try. Then Christian pulled it out of his pocket and began to try the dungeon door, whose bolt, as he turned the key, gave back, and the door flew open with ease, and Christian and Hopeful both came out."
Beloved, if you are thinkful enough about God's promises, you will be thankful. You will be thankful. Do you know how you do that? You have to be in the Word. You have to be in the Word enough so that the Word gets in you. And when you're in the Word and the Word gets in you, the promises of God will be in you, and then the Holy Spirit will bring them to your remembrance at the point of need.
Story is told of a dying saint who called his pastor to his side, and he said, "Pastor, Pastor, I'm dying now. It seems to me I cannot remember a single one of God's promises." And his pastor said to him, "But my dear brother, do you think God has forgotten His promises?" And the dying brother said, "You're right, Pastor. Even if I cannot recall them now, God will never forget them."
Israel was encouraged to reflect on God's promises, but there's a second thing they are encouraged to reflect on, a second work of God, action of God that begins in verse 12. Listen, look at verse 12 with me: "When there were only a few men in number, Of little account, and sojourners in it. And they wandered about from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people. He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes: 'Do not touch My anointed ones, And to My prophets do no evil.'"
The second action of God towards His people that, when reflected upon, brings gratitude is not only God's promises, but in the second place, God's protection. God's protection. The psalmist praises God here that this little band of Israelites, hardly armed with anything, a small family, could have immediately been overwhelmed by several hostile tribes that really should have been decimated. There was no reason for them to survive. They could have easily been absorbed, scattered, killed by a vindictive ruler anywhere in time.
In fact, just the history of the Jewish people, even to this day, is truly remarkable to see how God had protected that people—not because there's anything special in them, but in spite of them. It's just because of who He is, a God who keeps His promise. Sometimes they needed protection from themselves. You remember Abraham and Isaac, right? They almost gave their wives to pagan kings had God not intervened, but through it all, God protected His people.
He protected His people physically. He protected them from being mixed with other people, and He protected them spiritually. And Israel has survived, and they could thank God for His protection. It's a strange thing to think about protection, isn't it? We don't often think of how protected we are until we have a close call. We take it for granted. We wake up every day. We go about our business.
When you have a brush with danger, when you experience something that could have harmed you, suddenly you become aware of the importance of protection. When you're dwelling securely for a long time, you begin to relax and take things for granted. But after you have that close brush, you realize how many ways you could have been harmed, and you understand how many threats there are, how God truly has fenced you in, hedged you.
You know, those of us in our midst here have small kids. You realize how there really must be guardian angels. There's so many ways they should have been harmed and should have perished, and that's supposedly in a safe environment, and you could see the hand of God.
One of the American Native Indian tribes had an interesting way of training their young braves. We're told on the night of a boy's 13th birthday, they would take him out blindfolded into the forest. He would have already learned hunting and scouting and fishing, but his final test was that he had to be in a place in a dense forest and spend the entire night alone by himself. And so, though he lived under the blanket of his family's security for so long, there he was, placed in that dark forest with gripping, terrifying aloneness, the sound of animals. No doubt every crack of leaf or fall of twig made his heart freeze, jump.
But finally, when the light came again, dawned and the day broke, the boy would begin to recognize the trees, the flowers, the path, the surroundings, and then he would look over and see, not too far from him, the figure of a man standing watch, armed with bow and arrow. It was his father. He'd been there all night long, watching over him. And, beloved, that's really what's going on in your life and my life. Our Father is there all along, watching over us.
Listen how it is put in Psalm 33. In fact, turn with me there. I want your eyes to see this. This is incredible. Psalm 33, look at verse 13. You have here the omniscience of God, the omnipresence of God. But look at this: "Yahweh looks from heaven; He sees everything. He sees all the sons of man; And from the place of His habitation He gazes On all the inhabitants of the earth, He who forms the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works."
Here He is, God, who is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. God sees everything. God sees everyone. Picture it, even now. I mean, even now, this minute here, God is here. He knows all about you, all about us here. And He knows and He sees every single person on this planet. He knows all about them. He sees them. He looks and He sees all the sons of man, all of them, all of them. You name a country, all of them.
But notice now the distinction. Verse 18, go down to verse 18: "Behold, the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear Him." Yeah, He sees everybody. He knows everybody. But especially God is watching over His own children: "On those who wait for His lovingkindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul is patient for Yahweh; He is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let Your lovingkindness, O Yahweh, be upon us, As we wait for You."
God protects us from so many possible threats—physical threats, criminals, attacks, car accidents, accidents at home, at work, something going wrong fatally with our bodies. God protects us. You know what that tells you? It tells you God is watching over you. His eye is set on you. There's a, He puts a circle around you as His child. And that means nothing, absolutely nothing, will come into your life without it first passing through the sacred desk of God. He's watching over you.
But more than physical protection, He protects us spiritually. Have you ever thought of the many threats to our faith? Satan sends false teachers to divert us, confuse us, pervert the teaching of God's Word. He sends apostates to infiltrate the church who profess to know Christ in order to subvert the faith and pervert the gospel. He raises up wolves from within who pose as sheep to infiltrate the church and turn people away from true undershepherds and draw people away after themselves.
God protects you from your own faith failing. He protects me from my own faith failing, from utter despair, from unbelief. I mean, how many times have you sat there and wondered, why am I still a believer? And can I tell you, beloved, that the greatest protection that God affords you and affords me in Christ, God protects you from God. Did you hear that? That's the greatest protection that God affords you. In Christ, God protects you from God.
You know the word propitiation? It's a good word in Scripture. It's a good word. hilaskomai’ is the Greek word you find in several places, such as in Hebrews 2:17. It means, this word means the quenching of God's anger, satisfying God's holy wrath. And on the cross, Calvary's cross that day, God the Son satisfied the holy and just anger, wrath of God on behalf of all of those who put their trust in Him.
And if you're not in Christ, where do you think God's wrath, God's anger will fall? Where do you think it will fall? Where will God's holy justice fall? It falls on you. It falls on you. And my sinner friend, can I tell you, there is no enemy as fearful, as terrifying as an all-powerful God. There's no threat in all the world that you should fear more than God. There's no calamity as terrible as being the target of God's holy anger. For the Scripture is clear, "It is a” – fearful thing, – “a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God", Hebrews 10:31.
And outside of Christ, that's where you will end up unless you repent and believe in the Son of God. Because in Christ, you are protected. You are protected, you're robed with His righteousness. The wrath of God is satisfied. His anger is appeased. That's what those wonderful words mean that we read in Romans 8:38 "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Be thankful for His protection. Why should this handful of believers be here 16 years later in this place? Why? Should we not all have been scattered all over? Should we not have fallen to unbelief and despair and apostasy? Should we have not fallen into temptation that disqualified us from serving, disqualified us from service?
God has protected us. God has protected us from teaching too subtle, from adversity too difficult, the wiles of the devil. And most of all, He protected you and me from Himself. And this comes from the good hand of our protecting God, who's called in Scripture a shield, a high tower, a fortress, a refuge, a shepherd who has a rod and a staff.
And so the psalmist says, Israel, think about God's promises. Think about God's protection. But then thirdly, in a lengthy section, he gives us something else to thank God for. Look at verses 16 and following: "And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; Until the time that His word came to pass, The word of Yahweh refined him. The king sent and released him, The rulers of the people sent and set him free. He set him up as lord of his house And ruler of his possessions, To imprison his princes at will, And that he might teach his elders wisdom. Then Israel came to Egypt; And Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And He caused His people to be very fruitful, And He caused them to be stronger than their adversaries. He turned their hearts to His people, To deal craftily with His slaves. He sent Moses His servant, And Aaron, whom He has chosen. They sent forth the words of His signs among them, And miracles in the land of Ham. He sent darkness and made it dark; And they did not rebel against His words. He turned their waters into blood And caused their fish to die. Their land swarmed with frogs Even in the chambers of their kings. He spoke, there came a swarm of flies And gnats in all their territory. He gave them hail for rain, And flaming fire in the land. He also struck down the vines and the fig trees, and He shattered the trees of their territory. He spoke, and locusts came, And creeping locusts without number, And they ate all vegetation in their land, And they ate up the fruit of the ground. He also struck down all the firstborn in their land, The first of all their vigor. Then He brought them out with silver and gold, And there was none among His tribes who stumbled. Egypt was glad when they went out, For the dread of them had fallen upon him.”
What's this all about? A long description of the acts of God for His people. But we can summarize this by saying the third action of God is His providence. His providence, His providence. His promises, His protection, His providence.
And He rehearses here the history of Joseph. Many years ago, when we studied Genesis, it was a thrill to study the providence of God in the life of Joseph. You remember all the events that led Joseph down there, and then led Joseph to prepare the land, and then led the brothers down there, and then led them to expand, and then to cause a new Pharaoh to come in, whose hard-heartedness set up the Exodus, and then the Exodus with all of its miracles that led Israel to go out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
And what is the name of all of this? Providence, providence. Gracious providence. We can put it this way: gracious guidance and governance of all events, including the free acts of men and women, all things being directed to their appointed end for His glory.
You study the life of Joseph, you see that God is in control over the good, He's in control of the evil, He's in control of the Pharaoh that loved Joseph, control of the Pharaoh that hated Moses, and He's in control of years of plenty, control of famine. He got Israel down into Canaan, then to Egypt, then took them out of Egypt back into Canaan. So here are these movements from Canaan as a group of 120; think about that, 120, and then you have a group of 2 million from Egypt back into Canaan.
And what is the verse that we read in Genesis 50 that Joseph says to his brothers when they're trying to make amends? Genesis 50:20, he said—you know this verse very well—"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to do what has happened on this day, to keep many people alive."
You know, I think one of the most exciting things about being a Christian is being able to see God at work. The hand of God on your life. Outside of Christ, life must seem random, chaotic, disorderly. Oh, but in Christ, you realize life is a story written by a Master Author who knows exactly what goes where, what chapter goes where—the introduction, the chapters, the conclusion—everything with precision.
And when you look at the circumstances through the eyes of faith, we can have a grateful attitude for providence. And we say with faith, God rules over all and He rules for His glory. What does it say in Romans 8:28? "We know." It's not like we think, we hope, we wish, maybe—no, no. "We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." All of it.
I'm reminded of what the Dutch reformer Abraham Kuyper said, "There's not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence in which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine." There's no part of our lives that's not under the lordship of Jesus. And that should give you comfort. Oh, the providence of God.
That's why, as we've said at the beginning, the heart of gratitude, beloved—the heart of gratitude is actually faith. It's submission. It's an attitude that says, life has been ordered by God. And what God has given is God's choice for me. And He's good. And it's for my good. And I'm grateful. I'm grateful. I'm grateful. I'm grateful. And I'm always grateful.
And I'm not always grateful for the pain of the circumstances, but I'm always grateful that that pain is being controlled by a good God. I rejoice in the purpose of the trial. I can bow the knee and accept it and rejoice in the God of the circumstance. When Jonathan Edwards died in his 50s because of a botched vaccine, Sarah Edwards, writing to her daughter Esther at the death of her husband, said this, and I quote: "My very dear child, what shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. Oh, that we may kiss the rod and lay our hands on our mouths. The Lord has done it. He has made me adore His goodness that we had him so long. But my God lives and He has my heart. Oh, what a legacy my husband and your father has left us. We are all given to God. And there I am and love to be. Your ever affectionate mother, Sarah Edwards."
Remember Paul and Silas? Beaten unlawfully, in stocks, Philippian jail. What did they start doing? They begin singing praises, hymns to God. You see, if they had been reacting to their circumstances, they would have graffitied their stocks. Or they would have been calling out loudly, "Excuse me, excuse me, I'm a Roman citizen. This is illegal. I have my rights." But they chose to submit to God, saying, as it were, The God of my circumstances has ordained this. This is for our good and for His glory. And so real thankfulness rose.
If you just think, reflect back, think about the circumstances, the providence of God for this body of Christ. This body of Christ. The way this work of God began back in January 2009. The way you came to be part of this work of God. Even sitting right here today in your chair. Each of those is a story of circumstances ordered by God.
On a personal level, think of how God worked in your life, beloved. How He saved you. How God has moved you to different places and different churches and different means to get you to where you are today, sitting here in this place. Think of whom He's allowed you to come across, who influenced you and how, and various means that He used—the internet, social media, word of mouth, personal touch. Think of how He's brought different people into this church just at the right time.
Think of how He's used adversity to remove the dross, to purify us—church discipline, protection from divisive people. Think of how He's used trials, physical diseases, financial hardship, relational hardship, even the death of loved ones. And what has it done? God has woven it all together to bring about fruit. And need I say anything more than look around you in this room, this place, and think about the providence of God?
Have you ever reflected on that? Thanked Him for how He shaped you, for where He took you, people He used in your life, painful trials He's brought into your life, the so-called chance meetings, the exposure to the gospel, the exposure to Grace Chapel? May I exhort you, next time you go into your prayer closet, spend some time in prayer—will you go with the attitude, "I'm not going to ask God for anything, I'm just going to reflect back and thank God for all these various things"?
And as you do that, as you go through this, thanking God for the people of God, the various ministries, your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and as you thank God for the fellowship of the saints, as you thank God for your loved ones and all the good things that God has given you, by the time you're done, your heart will be so full because the perspective will be changing. Providence—a God who is ordering everything in my life for my good and for His glory.
But I must hasten. There's a fourth reason why Israel is to give thanks. Look at the last verses of the psalm, verse 39 and on: "He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to give light by night. They asked, and He brought quail, And satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock and water flowed out; It ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His holy word With Abraham His servant; And He brought His people out with joy, His chosen ones with a shout of joy. He gave them also the lands of the nations, That they might take possession of the fruit of the people's labor, So that they might keep His statutes And observe His laws." – And how does it end? – "Praise Yah!"
Well, God's provision—that's the fourth action. God's provision—that's the fourth reason to be thankful. God's provision, the psalmist says here. Israel, think about what God has provided. What did He provide? Oh, the text tells us: He provided light when we were in darkness. When we were in the desert, He provided water. When we were hungry, He provided food. When we needed a place to stay, He provided land. He even gave us houses we did not build, vineyards we did not plant. Provision.
Isn't it true that as parents, one of the things that we try to drill into our children's minds and hearts is gratitude? You give them something, and if they just take it and just look at you, you say, "What do you say?" And why do we do that? Because human hearts drift to taking things for granted.
Less wonder, less amazement, less awe if left to itself. And here's the horrible cycle of the human heart: left to itself, without the grace of God working, you have more and more, but then you have less and less gratitude. And the so-called spoiled child syndrome is exactly that—more and more and more and more, but less and less and less and less wonder.
That's what we said at the beginning: your gratitude is proportional to what you think you deserve. Do I deserve much? Or do I deserve little, if any, at all? Do I deserve much goodness?
Well, according to Scripture, Lamentations 3:22, it is of His mercies that we are not consumed. It's because of His ‘hased’ I'm not consumed. Because mark it down and let it be drilled into your head, child of God. Tell yourself, "I deserve hell. I deserve hell." That puts what I deserve exactly where it needs to be. I deserve hell.
What have I received in terms of God's provision? You and I will do well every single day to train our hearts as soon as we wake up to ask ourselves these two questions: What do I deserve, and what have I received? If you live with this idea of, like, I'm being cheated. I'm being cheated. I do deserve more. I've been so gypped. What a raw deal I've been given. If you live with this idea, I know exactly what your gratitude level is going to be.
And so we teach our children, be grateful, because if you're not grateful, you're proud. Proud people are unthankful people. And unthankful people are proud people, exalted in their own eyes, feeling that the whole world ought to be laying presents at my feet. And generally, feeling angry that other people are not worshipping the king ‘self’. And when people and circumstances fail to meet my proud expectations of what I deserve, what do I become? Very unhappy. I grumble. I murmur because I'm being mistreated, and I'm going to complain.
Spurgeon said, "You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' He says, 'You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.'"
Remember the account of Jesus cleansing ten lepers, of whom only one was thankful? But just before that, He gave a parable on servanthood in Luke 17. You remember that parable? He says if you have a slave—and an indentured slave at that time, somebody who works entirely for you, committed their life to serving you because of a debt they owed or whatever the case may be—and that slave's requirement, one of his duties, is to serve you, to attend to your needs. And He says, are you going to say to him, "Please, please, you sit down first, have some food"? He said, no, that's not how it works. He says, as your servant, his duty is to do that very thing of serve you.
And so when you come in, you say to him, Luke 17:8, "Prepare something for me to eat, and clothing yourself properly, serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward, you may eat and drink. Is he grateful to the slave because he did the things which were commanded? In this way, you also, when you do all things which are commanded of you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.'"
In other words, the same way, Jesus is saying, as Christians, we don't walk around with a haughty expectation that God should be patting us on the back and saying, "Oh my, oh my, am I so blessed to have you or not? So blessed to have you." I don't need an asset to My kingdom. Rather, He says, regard yourself as an unworthy slave who is simply doing his duty for the Master.
Now, you know, according to the Word of God, that you're treasured. But you're treasured in Christ. And so if we have that attitude—"You know what? I don't have any merit. I deserve hell. God has blessed me beyond measure"—what we should then be so surprised and amazed by is the generosity and the kindness of our good Master.
And I'll let you in on a secret if you haven't come across this before. In the Scripture, Jesus says that one of the things He's going to do in the future is gird Himself and serve His servants. Luke 12:27. Let no one complain against our Lord. You see, in Christ, we're fully provided for. God is able to make every grace abound to you so that in everything at every time, having every sufficiency, you may have an abundance for every good work. And of course, Philippians 4:19, "my God will fulfill all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
Would you think of how God has provided for us as a church, as individuals? But as a church, not only has He given us His Spirit, His Word, equipped His church with gifts, gifted men, gifted women. He provided the members that were needed at every time in Grace Chapel's life—the finances to support ministry, mercy, missions, direction, wisdom.
Have you ever spent time thinking of all that God has provided you with, beloved? The Bible tells you you're supposed to be content with two things: food and clothing. But has He given you more? Think of all the advantages that He's given you—your goods, your income, your house, your car. What He's given beyond even what you need—the extras, kindnesses that fill your days. Think of how many helpers He's brought your way—teachers, advisors, counselors, encouragers, exhorters.
Think of the opportunities He's given you, opportunities to grow and learn and thrive. He's given you all things that you need for life and godliness in this book. Can anyone here honestly say, "There's been a time when I lacked what I needed to be godly?" No one can say that. Contentment is learned and obeyed. So the psalmist says to us, you want to be grateful? Be thinkful. Think about God's promises to you as a people. Think about His protection to you. Think of His providence in ordering it, and think of His provision.
I love to read hymns, old hymns especially. Just read them, even when I can't sing them. So one of them, one of my favorite hymns is by Joseph Addison, titled, When All Thy Mercies, O My God. Listen to what he writes, and I'll close with this: "When all Thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys." I love that word, surveys. Surveys. Surveys is a favorite word of the hymn writers. "When I survey the wondrous cross," right? Survey. Why? Why do they keep using that word, survey?
Well, because the expectation is that what Christians are going to do is what? Survey. They're going to think. They're going to meditate. Muse on. Reflect on. And so this hymn writer says, "When all Thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys, transported with the view, I'm lost in wonder, love, and praise." And then he says, "Ten thousand thousand precious gifts my daily thanks employ, nor is the least a cheerful heart that tastes those gifts with joy." May it be so in this church now and always. And all God's people say? Amen.
Let's pray.
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