What Makes Christians Most Thankful?

We're to thank God for God, to thank Him for who He is. Listen to Psalm 30 verse 4.

Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. Thank God for who He is. Thank God for His attributes.

Thank God for His character. Thank God for His holiness. A loving family, a steady job, or simply good health and good friends, those are all things you can be thankful for. But what should make a Christian most thankful? John MacArthur shows you today on Grace To You, as we launch a week of broadcasts to prepare you for next week's Thanksgiving celebration here in the United States. But John, before we get started, I have a question related to this issue of thankfulness, which is difficult for a lot of people.

And I should start by saying I think of you as maybe the best model of gratitude and thankfulness that I know. I've seen you in hard times, I've seen you in good times, and you are always grateful for the leading of God's providence. But have there ever been times when you have struggled with being as thankful as you should? Well, yeah, I think when I was a young Christian and didn't have the life experience of seeing the hand of God in adversity, I might have been disappointed in the direction of something, something that obviously the Lord sovereignly allowed, but it was a disappointment to me. And in my youth, I would feel the pull of the temptation to say, Why did the Lord let that happen? The Lord could have stopped that.

Or maybe I tried to manipulate things in my own strength to get the outcome I wanted. But the longer I walk with the Lord and the more I've seen his providence unfold in the hard times, the more that disappears. I am thankful for everything the Lord does, good, bad and indifferent, on its face, because I know, as Romans 8 28 says, that it's all working together for good, for our good and his glory. And I've said this before and I say it again, I love living in the providence of God.

I love not knowing the outcome. I love not being able to manipulate or to fix things. I love giving the people around me freedom to serve and lead and minister without me climbing on their backs to force them to behave in a certain way. I want to see what the Lord will do with faithful people. And I think that's what's kind of marked our ministry. And the reason there are so many gifted and capable people flourishing in our ministries is because we all own the real foundational truth that God superintends everything. Be patient, be thankful, even in advance when you haven't seen the outcome that you would have hoped, because the Lord has that or something far better.

So hopefully those few words stimulate your interest in the program today. We're going to try to help you in your sanctification by making you thankful for everything the Lord does. Stay with us as we launch this Thanksgiving focus with a message called What Makes Christians Most Thankful.

That's right, friend. If you're a Christian, if your life and eternity have been bought by Christ, then you have a reason to be thankful every day. John's going to help you see that right now as he begins the lesson. The Apostle Paul is praying for the Colossians, something which is rather common to the introduction to his letters to mention that he's praying for a certain group of people.

And it is no different in the case of the Colossians. If you look at verse 9, he says, For this cause we also, since the day we heard, do not cease to pray for you. That's a very common response in the heart of the Apostle Paul to the need and the life of the people to whom he wrote. He's praying for them. And here he expresses the fact that he's been praying for them.

Now his prayer has two parts. The first part is petition and the second part is praise. The first part is to request something and the second part is to thank God for something. Verses 9 to 11 is the petition and verses 12 to 14, the praise.

He's already requested some things to be done and now thanks God for what he has already done. And I think in a very real sense, this can set for us a model or a pattern for our own prayer life. That we are to be occupied, I think, with two broad categories in our prayers and that is petition and praise. And so there needs to be both sides in our prayer life and to be sure that there is a balance.

Just to illustrate that to you and to show you that that was indeed the pattern of the Apostle Paul, you are in Colossians chapter 1. If you look back at the fourth chapter of Philippians, which would just be the prior page, you look at the sixth verse, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer, even supplication with thanksgiving. You have there a definition of prayer. Prayer is supplication or petition with thanksgiving. It is asking and thanking.

It is that beautiful balance. In 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1, I exhort therefore, Paul says, that first of all, supplication, prayer, intercession, and giving of thanks be made for all men. Those terms combine petition and praise, asking and thanking. And those really become the ingredients to any biblical pattern for prayer. Notice verse 12 and how it begins. Giving thanks unto the Father.

Now that's a very basic idea. And I wonder sometimes, and I want to spend a little time talking about thanks, I wonder sometimes if we really understand how thanksgiving is to fit into our lives. I wonder whether it isn't very easy to forget to say thanks when we're used to getting what we want and that's what God is used to doing, you know, meeting needs. It's as simple as the words of Asaph who wrote in Psalm 50 verse 14, offer unto God thanksgiving.

I mean, it's that simple. It's commanded of us to be thankful. In Psalm 69 and verse 30, it says, I will praise the name of God, and I like this, with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs.

You know what God likes better than a sacrificial animal? True praise, true thanks that comes out of a heart that is filled with thanksgiving and is offered both in word and in song. In Psalm 107, it's verse 21 I think, it says, now look at verse 21 and 22, O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men, and let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving. God wants from us thanksgiving. Psalm 92 verse 1, it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High. At the end of Hebrews, it's an interesting statement that is made in Hebrews 13, 15, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. So we are to thank God, we are to thank Him when we talk, we are to thank Him when we sing, we are to thank Him when we pray. Thanksgiving is to make up a part of our life.

And I guess I'm as guilty as anybody else in failing so very many times to thank God. It seems a simple thing to do to set a little time aside every day and just thank Him. But we forget, don't we? We don't forget to ask Him, we only forget to thank Him. What are we to thank Him for?

Do you ever think about that? What are we to thank God for? The Bible gives so many illustrations for food, for example, food. And I know most of us are aware of this, we can't even eat without saying, Lord, bless the food, Amen.

You know, and we pass this on from generation to generation. 1 Timothy 4 sort of sets the pattern, it says, there will be false teachers in the last days forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God has created to be received with what? Thanksgiving. Food is to be received with Thanksgiving. Every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with Thanksgiving. People always worry about what they're going to eat.

Now I don't want to get too trapped into this because some of you people are health food people. But it says there everything is, every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it is received with Thanksgiving. If you sort of thank God for it, you kind of put Him on the spot to bless it.

Right? Thank God for food, Jesus did. John 6, didn't He? Before He fed the 5,000 plus, took it and He thanked God and distributed it. You know something else we're to thank God for?

I like this one. We're to thank God for God. To thank Him for who He is.

Listen to Psalm 30 verse 4, Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. Thank God for who He is. Thank God for His attributes. Thank God for His character. Thank God for His holiness. Thank God that He is a holy God.

And you could add to that all the other attributes. They're mentioned many places in the Psalms. But Psalm 97 12 says the same thing, essentially, Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. Now maybe holiness is the sort of the superimposed attribute that covers the others and thank God for who He is is what's in the psalmist's mind.

But in Psalm 75 he adds another thought. Thank God for His nearness. Psalm 75 1, unto thee, O God, do we give thanks. unto thee, do we give thanks, for that thy name is near, thy wondrous works declare. We're so glad you're near, God. We know you're near because we see you working all around us.

You see? Aren't you thankful that God isn't way off somewhere? Well, that's a good verse for the deist who thinks that God spun the world and then went away and left it. The psalmist says, thank God that He didn't do that, but He's near. And it's evident by what He's doing right in our midst. And it goes on and on like that through the Psalms.

And I tell you another thing. I thank God for my salvation, don't you? 1 Timothy 1 12, And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, in that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief. Thank Christ Jesus, he says, for what He's done in my life. Here's another thing that I found in Scripture, just to give you an idea, a sample, that we're to be thankful for, and that is, and I think we forget this, we're to thank God for the progress in the lives of other people. We're to thank God for the spiritual growth of other people. Do you ever really stop to thank God for what He's doing? You know, it's the old story of the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and we wind up praying only for the problem people. But do you ever stop to thank God for what He's doing in the lives of the people who don't give us any problems? Romans 1 8, he says, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all.

What about it? That your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. I thank God for your testimony. Have you ever thanked God for the testimony of congregations? Have you ever thanked God for the testimony of churches? Have you ever thanked God for the testimony of men and women whom God is using?

In 1 Thessalonians even, chapter 2, I think, verse 13, this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God which effectually works in you also that believe. Thank God. We're to thank God for food and God and God's attributes and God's nearness and salvation and spiritual progress and others. And I can go on.

That's just a sampling. We're to thank God. If you want to know the truth, we're to thank God for what? Everything. Everything.

It's all included. Paul says to the Ephesians, I cease not to give thanks for you, period. I just thank God for you in total.

That's important. In 2 Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 11, I know you probably got blisters if you've been trying to follow me through the pages, but just hang in there. In 2 Corinthians 9, 11, being enriched in everything to all bountifulness which causes through us thanksgiving to God. Just that general blessing of God ought to bring about a thanksgiving response. And of course, you know what 1 Thessalonians 5, 18 says, in everything do what? Give thanks. For this is the will of God.

That's another one of those simple things that people make hard. Oh, I wonder what the will of God is. I'm searching for the will of God. You know what the will of God is?

Say thanks to Him. That's the will of God. That's it.

That's part of it. In chapter 5 of Ephesians, essentially the same thing. In 1 Timothy chapter 2, essentially the same thing. It just continues to repeat itself in Scripture. We are to be thankful.

But let's move to the point of Paul's words in Colossians. The primary point of thanksgiving. What is the primary objective of thanksgiving? What is that primary issue for which we bring thanks to God? You know what it is? It is the work of Christ.

Right? It's the work of Christ. That is the thing for which we are most thankful. Again, 2 Corinthians 9, 15 says this, Thanks unto God for His, what? Unspeakable gift.

Thanks for His unspeakable gift. We're most thankful for Jesus Christ and His perfect work. In Romans 6, 17, Paul says, But God be thanked.

Why? What are you thanking Him for, Paul? That whereas you were the servants of sin, you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.

Thank God for that transformation. And the same thing comes in Romans 7, 24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

And what does he say? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's the one who delivers us.

Thank God. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 57, But thanks be to God who giveth us, what? The victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The primary issue, 2 Corinthians 2, 14, But thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph in Christ.

Now, beloved, that really is the key thing. 1 Corinthians 1, 4, Paul says, I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ. Thank you, God, for salvation. Now, the reason I've spent so much time belaboring the point is I just want to kind of pound it in a little bit. It's important to be thankful, and most of all, for salvation.

That's the primary thing. Now, in Colossians 1, look at it with me. Paul expresses thanks for salvation. His idea here is to thank God for the salvation that has been provided in Christ. Let's read 12 to 14.

You watch. Giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins. Thanks unto the Father. And then he sums up the doctrine of salvation in three great statements. It's as if Paul says, Father, I have petitioned you on the behalf of these Christians, and now I want to thank you for three great truths regarding salvation, three great realities.

You know what they are? Let me give you three words, and that's our outline. Inheritance, deliverance, and transference.

I want to thank you for three things. Inheritance, who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Deliverance, who has delivered us from the power of darkness. Transference, and has transferred us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sin. Now these three things make up Paul's thanksgiving.

Let's look at the first one, inheritance. Giving thanks unto the Father, and thereby using the term Father, he's emphasizing the personal relational aspect of our union with God, who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Paul says that salvation is the granting of an inheritance. And he's saying here, God, thank you for bringing us into the inheritance that belongs to the saints. I'm glad he uses the term Father, because this really emphasizes the relationship properly. God, at one time in a man's life, is judge.

He looks down on a guilty sinner, condemned by the working of his own laws of holiness, but by the grace of God and the act of Christ and by our faith in Christ, he stops being a judge and becomes a father. And notice what it says, he has made us fit. That's a crucial phrase, and I want you to look at it for a minute. Literally in the Greek, who has qualified us. Who has qualified us. That particular verb is only used one other place in Scripture, and it simply means to qualify someone. To be given the right, to be given the title, to be given the position, to be given the privilege, to be fit.

It's not talking about our practice, it's talking about our position. He has labeled us qualified to enter into the inheritance. And I ask you, on what basis am I qualified? On the basis of my work?

On the basis of whose work? The finished work of Christ. Now believe me, before God in his sovereign grace qualified us, we were really unqualified, weren't we? Look for a minute at Ephesians chapter 2, and let me just show you how unqualified we were. Ephesians 2, 1, And you who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all had our manner of life, in time past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Now that's disqualification, folks. You're dead. You're dead in trespasses and sin. You walk according to the course of the world. You are under the power of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit working in you as the son of disobedience. Your manner of life in time past is dominated by the lust of the flesh, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the mind.

Sum it all up and you're nothing but a target for wrath. Now that's disqualified. God looks you over and says, there is no way that that guy enters into my heaven. He is not qualified. There is no way that there shall be any inheritance granted to him.

He is not qualified. Look at chapter 2 of Ephesians, verse 11. Wherefore remember that you in time past pagans, Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands.

A little sarcasm there. He's simply saying you are the Gentiles whom the Jews who have circumcision, strictly physical, call the uncircumcision just to remind you who you are outside the privileges. And at that time you were, watch this, without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Now that's to be disqualified. Christless, look at it, without Christ. Christless, stateless, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. Covenantless, strangers from the covenants of promise. Hopeless, having no hope and godless without God in the world.

That's to be unqualified. In Ephesians 4, look at verse 17. This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you henceforth walk not as Gentiles walk.

The word other doesn't appear in the better Greek renderings. Walk not as Gentiles walk, listen, in the vanity of their mind. That's self-centeredness. Having the understanding darkened, that's ignorance. Being alienated from the life of God, that's death, through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts. Who being past feeling or sensitivity have given themselves over to lasciviousness, that's shamelessness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

The idea is simply that there is unblushing obscenity, that last phrase. Christless, stateless, covenantless, hopeless, godless, self-centered, ignorant, dead, shameless, and having an unblushing obscene mind. Such a person, my friend, is unqualified.

And you want to hear something interesting? Such a person is you and such a person is me. But in spite of that, God in His grace chose to qualify us for an inheritance.

And remember it, look at verse 12 in Colossians 1 again. Thank God, who made us qualified. Did you ever do anything to get qualified? No, that's an act of grace. You say, John, I'm so glad I'm qualified.

What am I qualified for? I'd like to know. All right, verse 12, qualified to be a partaker of the inheritance. Now that's exciting. Partaker means, and this is a very important word because it adds a dimension here that you need to understand. Partaker means to receive by lot or portion. And it means to receive personally and individually. In other words, if an inheritance is left and there are 10 people who are to inherit it, each receives his own lot and his own portion.

There's not any overlapping. You seven get this and you 12 get this. No, no. Every individual has his individual allotment. And that's the term. We have been qualified to receive a personal inheritance, something that belongs to us as individuals.

That's exciting. Now what is this inheritance? Well, in the Old Testament, this is an Old Testament term because it comes really out of God's promise to His holy people, Israel, when He provided an earthly inheritance in the land, they could actually touch a tangible inheritance. But the inheritance that Paul is speaking of here, bouncing off of that Old Testament idea, is a higher level inheritance. It's a more enduring inheritance.

It's a different kind. In fact, Peter calls it this, an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away. This is not an earthly inheritance.

This is not a transitory passing inheritance. This is something that never will pass. You and I, beloved, have been qualified to be partakers.

That's present tense, incidentally. You say, when do I get my inheritance? You already have it. You say, I do?

That's right. You say, well, I haven't used much of it. Well, that's your problem. But you have it. You know, when we think about an inheritance, we have only a future concept. We associate, we say, someone is an heir. We say, we are heirs with Christ or joint heirs. Isn't that great? Someday we're going to get something.

No, you already got it. We think about it in the sense of the future. But in the New Testament, the believer's heritage is present, actual, enjoyed right here, right now. In Romans 8, verse 16, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

We are right now in on the inheritance. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur. Thanks for being with us. John's message looked at what makes a Christian most thankful. It's part of a special set of broadcasts on gratitude and thankfulness that we are launching today.

And friend, if you're thankful for this radio broadcast, just a reminder that we are listener supported. We're able to make verse-by-verse Bible teaching available on stations like this one because of the generous support of listeners like you. To help us connect people like you in communities like this one with biblical truth that changes lives, contact us today. You can mail your tax-deductible gift to Grace to You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. You can also make a one-time donation or set up a convenient recurring donation through our website, gty.org, or call us toll-free, 800-55-GRACE. That's 800-55-GRACE, and a special thanks if you're a Grace partner. Also, don't forget, you'll find thousands of free resources at gty.org, including videos from John's television and conference appearances, and more than 3,500 sermons covering much of the Old Testament and every verse in the New Testament. You'll find the audio and transcripts of all of John's sermons at gty.org. And to stay current on free offers, upcoming series, and more, follow us on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Keep in mind, Grace to You Television airs this Sunday on DirecTV Channel 378, or check our website to see if it airs on a channel near you, and then join us starting Monday when John looks at specific reasons you have to be thankful. Not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day. That's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You.