Thanksgiving Forever - Part 2 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bratley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise! The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace!

This is LeSaire Bratley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Heart in thousand, hearts and voices, sound the notes of praise above! Jesus reigns and heaven rejoices, Jesus reigns, the God of love! Sing, ye citizens of yonder throne, Jesus, Jesus rules the world alone! Alleluia!

Alleluia! Jesus rules the world alone! Jesus reigns, whose glory brightens, all above, and gives its worth! Lord of life, thy smile enlightens, cheers and charms, thy saints on earth!

When we pray, we think, above thy kind, for we own, we love, we find! Alleluia! Alleluia! For we own, we love, we find!

King of glory reigns for ever, thine and everlasting crown, nothing gone by love hence ever, though soon thou hast made thine own! Happy of the objects of thy grace, destined, destined to behold thy face! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Destined to behold thy face! Sing your lace and mine appearing, rain of rain, thy glorious day, when the awful sound of tearing, and men e'er shall pass away, then with them with golden hearts will sing, glory, glory, glory to our King! Alleluia!

Alleluia! Glory, glory to our King! Today we'll be continuing the message we've entitled, Thanksgiving Forever. The thought came to my mind to use that topic when I had seen several headlines last year that said, Thanksgiving Cancelled.

Well, plans may be cancelled, but I'm happy to announce Thanksgiving will never be cancelled. It goes on forever, as we see in this study of God's Word. When upon life's hills you are tear-tended stalls, when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your many blessings, see what God hath done, count your blessings, name them one by one, count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

So amid the conflict, whether great or small, do not be discouraged, that is all is for all. Count your many blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your many blessings, see what God hath done. We pray that the message will be a blessing to you today.

If it is, we'd like to hear from you. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer, sing, O earth, His wonderful love proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, bias our angels in glory, strength and honor give through His holy name.

Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children, in His arms He carries them all day long. Praise Him, praise Him, tell His excellent greatness, praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer, for our sins He suffered and bled and died.

He our rock, our hope with eternal salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus who bore our sorrows, love unbounded, wonderful deep and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell His excellent greatness, praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer, heavenly portals, loud with all status ring. Jesus, Savior reigneth forever and ever, crown Him, crown Him, Prophet and Priest and King.

Christ is coming, oh will the world victorious, power and glory unto the Lord belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell His excellent greatness, praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. So as we continue the message today talking about things for which we should give thanks, we give thanks that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and we come now to look at John chapter 10 verse 27. Verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Oh what reason to be thankful that we are His sheep and He cares for them. The Good Shepherd certainly cares for His sheep to the ultimate destination of laying down His life for them. So no matter what the circumstances we're His, we're the sheep of His pasture.

You may lose a job but we're His. COVID-19 disrupts our plans but we are His. Sickness may come but we are His.

Turmoil all around us in the world, uncertainty is troubling but we are His. And then next let's think about what we're to give thanks for. Well His blessings are numerous. When Paul was preaching in Mars Hill it said in Acts 17, 28, for in Him we live and move and have our being. So our very existence, not only that He was the Creator in the beginning but the fact that He still sustains us is because of His power, His grace, His mercy. For in Him we live and move and have our being. And then in 2 Timothy 6, 17, Paul says, charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, now get this, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.

Sometimes people get the idea that religion is designed to make you miserable, that there's nothing about it that you can enjoy but it's just the reverse. If we understand the truth of Scripture, if we understand the truth about the living God, the God who is good, the God who is our Redeemer, we understand that He intends for us to enjoy life. He has given us all things richly to enjoy.

And people sometimes say, well I sometimes feel guilty. I've been blessed so much I kind of feel guilty that I haven't. Well, you don't want to be greedy like the rich individuals that are described in the first part of this passage.

You don't want to be high minded and trust in uncertain riches but if God blesses you, you are entitled to enjoy it because God gave it to you. Give Him thanks and enjoy what you have. Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse 24, there is nothing better for a man that he should eat and drink and that he should enjoy good in his labor.

This also I saw that it was from the hand of God. He ought to be able to enjoy good in his labor and give thanks for that. Give thanks for it. And then let's look at Psalm 103.

This one I'm sure you're familiar with because it describes this matter of giving thanks in such beautiful terms. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Psalmist indicates that he wanted to be intense about this. Praise the Lord, bless the Lord, O my soul, all that's within me.

I don't want this to be just a little routine matter of saying a few words at meal time. I want this to be an ongoing situation where from the depths of my soul I'm blessing His name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Oh, in the midst of troubles and trials it's easy to forget His benefits.

To be so tossed about with all the things that you see are problems. But we're reminded not to forget. Forget not all His benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Well, if you just stop at that one, isn't that enough to rejoice in every day that you live?

To think that in spite of all the sins that you've committed for a lifetime, the things that you've done, the things that you've said that you wish you hadn't said, the things that you've thought, your motivations that have been wronged, the sins of commission and the sins of omission. There's no way you can remove them. You can't atone for them.

You can't block them out. But He forgives all our iniquities, no matter how deep they may be. He forgives them.

What a blessing to have sins forgiven. Who healeth all thy diseases. Now, some have interpreted that to mean that if you have enough faith, He will always heal every disease.

I don't think that's the lesson here. He's talking about spiritual blessings. He's talking about sins being forgiven. So He heals all our diseases. We have spiritual maladies. We have diseases that plague us when we're not thinking right, when we're not in communion with the Lord, when fear, anxiety, doubt have overtaken us. But He heals those diseases when we return to Him. He redeemeth our life from destruction. Nature, our relationship to Adam, we were headed for destruction, to have the wrath of God upon us forever.

How horrendous to think of it. But He has redeemed us, redeemed us by His own sacrifice, by paying the price that we could never have paid, redeemed by life from destruction and crowneth Thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. Oh, what loving kindness, what mercy and grace that He would rescue us, that He would redeem us, that He has loved us enough to do what we could never have done for ourselves. Do you not recognize that what we always need is mercy? He says, come boldly to the throne of grace, that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Mercy is something you're not entitled to. If you could obligate God for it, it wouldn't be mercy, but you're undeserving. And yet He bestows tender mercies and satisfies Thy mouth with good things so that Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. The eagle is referred to more than once in Scripture.

It's that powerful bird that ascends far into the sky, has great strength. And it says, I fill your mouth with good things. You feel to be empty. You feel to be barren.

You feel to be discouraged. But I fill your mouth with good things. And look at the things that are here enumerated. The forgiveness of sins, His loving kindness, His tender mercies, His daily benefits, the very food that you eat, the very breath that you breathe. He gives you good things to enjoy and renews your strength, even like the eagle's. Well, then we read in the book of James, chapter 1, verse 17, every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. If every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father, then surely we need to be giving Him thanks. Not just at an appointed time each day, not just at an appointed day on an annual basis, but every day throughout the day, having a thankful heart, a thankful spirit, continually going to Him in acknowledgement. Not just say, Lord, I'm thankful, but identify those great blessings and mercies that He has kindly bestowed upon you.

His blessings are great. 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 2, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of our Lord and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue. He's given us all the things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge that we have of our Lord that's revealed in His Word. You need guidance, you need information, you need answers to questions, you go to God's Word.

He has given us all that we need pertaining to life and godliness, how to live a godly life, how to bring honor to Him. And then His marvelous grace is so beautifully described in Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ.

Now think about that. You were dead in trespasses and in sin, but He quickened you. Think of when Jesus went to the grave of Lazarus. Lazarus was dead. He'd been dead for four days.

Even when Jesus said, roll back the stone, the sisters protested. Master, he's been dead for four days. There's no need to open the door to the tomb. The stench will come out.

It'll be offensive. He was dead. But Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth. And he arose from the dead. And we read of him later being at mealtime with Jesus.

What an experience that was. Can you imagine the thoughts that rolled through Lazarus' mind? To think a few days ago, I was dead. And now I'm sitting here next to Jesus who raised me from the dead and enjoying fellowship with Him.

He has quickened us together. My nature, dead in sin. We didn't love God. We had no true interest in the things of God. We were not inclined to be submissive to Him, surrender to Him, to honor Him, to acknowledge Him as Lord and King of our life.

But He has quickened us. By grace ye are saved. And has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Jesus Christ.

Just look at some of the key words in the passage. He's rich in mercy. He loved us. He made us alive. He raised us up.

He's going to show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness. What beautiful words. But they're not just poetic words.

They're words that mean something. This is what He's given us. This is the salvation that we have by His sovereign grace.

It's not something we attain, that we work for, that we deserve. It's something that was freely given us by His grace. And then the apostle says in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 15, Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. Of course, we believe He was speaking of Jesus Christ. We can say a lot of things about Jesus. We've read about Him being the Good Shepherd that laid down His life for the sheep. We read about Him being the light of the world. We see Him being the friend of sinners, not coming to condone sin, but to save people from their sins. We see Him with great compassion as He ministered to those that were afflicted while He was here on this earth. We can talk about Him being the bread of life and the water of life. We talk about Him being the dearest of all friends. We talk about Him being prophet, priest, and king.

But when we run out of words, we still haven't said it all. The apostle, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in giving thanks, thanks God for the unspeakable gift. He has enough language to adequately express His beauty, His greatness, His love, the salvation that we have in Him. And then furthermore, we can give thanks not only for what He has given, but what He has promised. He has promised to hear us when we call on Him. Psalm 50, verse 14, offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

Oh, do you sometimes feel you're just at your witch end? That's what's described in the Psalms. When they were at their witch end, and they cried unto the Lord, and He delivered them, brought them into their desired haven. Call upon me in the day of trouble. Instead of giving up in despair, instead of giving way to frustration, instead of saying, I quit, there's nothing I can do, I can't make it through all these trying times. You call unto Him in the day of trouble, and He says, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me, because if we recognize He has delivered us, He's come to our rescue, He's helped us, there's nothing else to do but glorify Him.

Thank Him for it, give Him the glory and the credit for it. He has promised to be with us now. Hebrews 13 5 says, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

Isn't that wonderful to know? You sang that hymn a while ago, never alone. What a wonderful hymn. How it stirs our heart to remember that truth.

We may sometimes feel alone, but we're never actually alone. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So, we have this wonderful promise, things that He has promised to do, that He's promised to hear us, He's promised not to leave us nor forsake us, and He furthermore has promised that someday He's going to take us to be with Him. And to think of anything more exciting, anything more wonderful than to be in the presence of Jesus, to be with Him. He said in John 14 3, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also.

The disciples were sad as Jesus indicated He was going to be going away, speaking of His death. But He said, I'm going to go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I'm going to come again. I'm going to take you to myself.

I'm going to take you where you're going to be with Me. And let me tell you, in the darkest nights of life, in the most difficult times we ever can encounter, we have reason to rejoice till we think that someday we're going to be with Him. Someday all the trials will be over, the journey will be ended, and we will be with Him forever.

And when we get there, we're still going to be given thanks. Revelation chapter 7 verse 9. After this, I beheld and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, palms of victory, waving them in triumph, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb!

And all the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders of the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces and worshipped God. Verse 12 then tells us what they said, And saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. I want you to know, thanksgiving is not canceled, because not only is it something to be done perpetually by God's people throughout life, when you get to heaven, you're still going to be giving thanks and giving thanks forever. Oh, how much we have to be thankful for. Thankful that we know the true and living God, who is our Creator. Thankful that we know Him who is our Redeemer and to know that His mercy is everlasting. We give thanks because we're the sheep of His pasture.

And in the midst of this pandemic, we are not forgotten as the Good Shepherd. He knows where we are. He knows our circumstances.

He cares for us. We give thanks because we have an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled and fadeth not away. And we give thanks because we're being kept by the power of God and we'll be sure to get there and enjoy the inheritance forever. Let us make a joyful noise unto the Lord, enter into His gates with thanksgiving and delight to know thanksgiving is forever. We will glorify the King of kings. We will glorify the Lamb. We will glorify the Lord of lords.

Who is the great I Am? How good to know that though plans may be disrupted here and there may even be a neglect of the giving of thanks, thanksgiving will never be cancelled. It goes on forever. For the saints in heaven will sing praise to our Savior Jesus Christ. On and on.

No end. May we give thanks to Him now. Praise Him for His goodness and mercy that has been bestowed upon us. I hope that you will write us. Until next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. We glorify the Name. Amen.