“Thanksgiving, 2019”
Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2019 12:57 am
“Thanksgiving, 2019” by Romans
Opening Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=047xtru0ZR0
Audio Bible Study of this Message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh13-Y8k1tg
Tonight, I am going to break from our “Light and Darkness” Series in order to bring you a Message about Thanksgiving. Yes... we are still a week away from the actual day of celebration, but I believe we need to begin thinking now about all the things we should be thankful for, that we have been blessed with, that God has poured out on us in bearing us up, supporting us, and giving us His Peace as only He can.
Let's take a brief look at the historical roots of the celebration of Thanksgiving, as it was originally celebrated in this country. Among the early settlers to this Continent, as people seeking religious freedom, and facing hardships on many levels, giving thanks to God was a spontaneous celebration that took place when God's Mercy and Providence were evident. But what are the origins of this annual fixed date of Thanksgiving Day as we celebrate it, today?
On the 3rd of October, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made an official proclamation declaring that from hence forth, the last Thursday in November would be a National Day of Thanksgiving. The Civil War was still raging when he made his Declaration, which reads in part:
“Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore...
Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
In President Lincoln's mind, the Day was not being set aside to thank family and friends for a good year! In part, God was being thanked for our families and friends. But in its main essence, Thanksgiving Day was set aside to recognize, and thank and praise the God Who had so abundantly blessed this nation. Think: When was the last time you heard the word “praise” associated this day that was set aside to also acknowledge and thank God for all of the Gifts He has bestowed on us?
Have you ever heard it spoken? Surely not during a Black Friday or DoorBuster commercial for Macy's or WalMart! In addition, the President also acknowledged that God, “while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.” President Lincoln's humble and reverent appreciation of Almighty God resulted in the establishment of this annual celebration.
As Americans, we have been blessed with physical blessings; as Christians we can also thank God for all of the Spiritual Blessings that have poured out on us in addition to the physical. And our Thanksgiving to God should not be limited to the 4th Thursday of November. Thanksgiving is a Good Thing: Psalms 92:1: “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night.”
I would like to give credit to Torrey's Topical Bible for these headings that follow as we consider ~ or, perhaps, re-consider our celebration of Thanksgiving Day:
Thanksgiving Should Be Offered Always:
Ephesians 1:15: “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:”
Thanksgiving Should Be Offered In Everything:
1 Thessalonians 5:15: “See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
1 Thessalonians 1:2: “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.”
The Word of God is full of thanks to God:
God has given us not just physical Life, but we were created in the Image and Likeness of God. Psalm 139:14: “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:” We read in Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” I find it so beautifully ironic that atheistic scientists are discovering and revealing how the Heavens declare God's Glory.
Scientists have found that on earth, and out in the Universe, there are more than 40 various Natural Force settings that are exactly where they need to be for Life to exist and survive. If these atomic and gravitational and other physical forces were adjusted in the slightest intensity, Life on earth would not be possible. We live in an exquisitely fine-tuned Universe that one astronomer marveled, “knew we were coming.”
The earth produces food for us which contains the vital minerals our bodies need for growth and health. It is also a planet that envelops us in multiple shields against radiation and lethal ultraviolet light that are blocked by the Ozone Layer; The molten, flowing iron core of the earth creates the Magnetosphere, a 350,000-mile high spherical Force Field, deflects deadly solar winds and high-energy particles that are fired at us from the sun.
We read in Matthew 24:35: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” His Word not only tells us we are created, but Who our Creator is, that He is also a Lawgiver and a Judge, that there are Commandments to keep, penalties for disobedience, and that there is a Plan of Salvation we can accept and be forgiven and not punished because His only begotten Son already took on Himself the full penalty for our sins!
We are blessed with access not only to God's Words and Commands and prophecies, but also His thoughts: We read in Jeremiah 29:11-13: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
John Gill writes, “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord,.... The purposes and resolutions of his heart concerning their welfare, particularly the restoration of them to their own land; these were within him, and known to him, and him only; they were remembered by him, and continued with him, as the "thoughts of his heart are to all generations"; and so would not fail of being performed;
men think and forget what they have thought of, and so it comes to nothing; but thus it is not with God; he has taken up many thoughts in a way of love, grace, and mercy, concerning sinful men; about their election in Christ; a provision of all spiritual blessings for them; redemption and salvation by Christ; their effectual calling, adoption, and eternal life:
thoughts of peace, and not of evil: or "for evil;” these thoughts were concerning the temporal peace and prosperity of the Jews in Babylon, and not of anything to their hurt; yea, even their captivity was for their good; and thoughts concerning his spiritual Israel, their peace and reconciliation with God, and the manner of bringing it about, by the blood, sufferings, and death of his Son in human nature, with whom he consulted and agreed about this matter;
and concerning their inward spiritual peace of mind and conscience now, and their eternal peace hereafter: nor does he ever think of evil for them; whatever evil he thinks towards others, angels or men, he thinks none towards them; and whatever evil befalls them, he means it for good, and it does work for good unto them;
he cannot think otherwise concerning them, consistent with his everlasting and unchangeable love to them; since he has designed so much good for them, does so much to them, and has so much to bestow upon them. The issue of all which is,
to give you an expected end; a very desirable one; such as they wished and hoped to have, and expected; such as would put an end to all their troubles, and put them into the enjoyment of all good things promised and waited for. This, in the mystical sense, may have reference to the Messiah, in whom all God's thoughts of peace, concerning his special people, issue; he is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, of all things;
of all things in creation; of the Scriptures, promises and prophecies of it: "the end of the law for righteousness", the fulfilling end of it, by his obedience, and sufferings, and death; and who was to come, and did come, at the end of the Jewish world, at the end of their civil and ecclesiastical state: he was long promised and prophesied of and was much waited for and expected, by the saints before the flood; from thence to Moses... to David … to the Babylonian captivity;
from thence to the times of his coming, when there was a general expectation of him; and expected end was then given, as an instance of grace and good will to men. It may also be applied to salvation by Christ; the end of all God's gracious purposes and designs; the end of the covenant of grace, the provisions, blessings, and promises of it; the end of Christ's coming into the world, and of his obedience and death;
the end of his prayers and preparations now in heaven; and the end of the faith of the saints on earth: this is an end hoped, waited for, and expected by faith; and for which there is good reason; since it is wrought out, prepared, and promised; saints are heirs of it; and now it is nearer than when they believed; and will be bestowed as a free grace gift, through Jesus Christ our Lord;
and will be enjoyed as the issue and result of God's eternal thoughts of peace concerning them. Some render it, "an expected reward;” which is given at the end of the work: others, "posterity and hope;” a numerous posterity, and hope and expectation of good things from the Lord, promised in the days of the Messiah.
(t) ולא לרעה "et non in malum", Montanus, Cocceius, Schmidt. (u) אחרית ותקוה "mercedem et quidem expectatam", Piscator; so Ben Melech. (w) "Posteritatem et spem", Schmidt.
The Word of God tells us in Jeremiah 31:3: “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” It only occurred to me recently that if God loves us with an everlasting love, and He does, then that means that there was never a time when He did not love us. In His capacity as a Supreme Being Who inhabits eternity (Isaiah 57:15), He already loved us in Eternity Past, l-o-n-g before we existed!
Of this, the Sermon Bible tells us, “I. Divine love is a fact; there can be no doubt of the teaching of the Scripture on this subject. The God of the Bible is a God of love, He is a Father in heaven. He cares for us, He watches over us, He guides us, He saves us. This attitude of Divine love is the very core of the Gospel. It may be said to encounter two obstacles within us: our fears at times, and then, what seems the very opposite, our pride and self-confidence.
(1) The instinct of conscious guilt is fear, and when the sense of sin is strongly awakened we are apt to turn away from God, and to feel as if God must hate us. But God never hates us. He hates our sins and will punish those sins. But in the very hatred of those sins there is the reality of Divine love.
(2) Not only does our fear sometimes turn us away from the thought of God, but our self-sufficiency.
We feel as if the powers of nature were strong in us, and the sense of sin dies down; we feel as if God would overlook our sins, and that we are not so sinful after all; we feel as if we might trust to His goodness, as if it were, so to speak, good nature. But this is equally inconsistent with true spiritual experience. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
II. God not only loves us; He loves us everlastingly. The fact of Divine love is not only sure in itself, it is never uncertain in incidence. Whatever appearance there may seem to the contrary, it is still there. The voice of God is not still because man does not hear it, and the love of. God is not gone because man does not feel it. It is still crying to us; it abides as an everlasting fact. "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love."
III. The love of God is individual; it is personal; it is the love of one loving heart to another; it is no mere impersonal conception of supreme benevolence; it is the love of a father to a child, the love of a mother to a daughter; it would not be love otherwise, for it is a distinguishing idea of love that it discriminates its object. "With lovingkindness have I drawn thee."
J. Tulloch, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 209.
References: Jer_31:3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxiii., No. 1914; Ibid., Morning by Morning, pp. 60, 355; S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 5th series, No. vii.; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 153.”
God gives us His Holy Spirit to recognize and understand His Word, and to live by it. We read in John 14:16: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
Consider, now, all the things things worthy of giving thanks in just these six verses: Colossians1:9-14: “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. 12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”
He called us out of the world and into His Church, 1 Corinthians 1:1-3: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
He blesses us with the love of likeminded spouses and the Fellowship of likeminded believers. He allows us to live in a country where we can openly and freely praise and worship Him according to our own understanding and conscience without being arrested, imprisoned, tortured and executed.
The Apostle Paul wrote this to the Ephesians during the days of the Roman Empire, but they apply to us living today just as powerfully regarding our lives before our being called and converted: “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).
He gives us Peace. John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Paul spoke of that Peace to the Philippians, below:
We read in Philippians 4:6-7: “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Albert Barnes writes, “And the peace of God - The peace which God gives. The peace here particularly referred to is that which is felt when we have no anxious care about the supply of our needs, and when we go confidently and commit everything into the hands of God. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee;”
Which passeth all understanding - That is, which surpasses all that people had conceived or imagined. The expression is one that denotes that the peace imparted is of the highest possible kind. The apostle Paul frequently used terms which had somewhat of a hyperbolical cast and the language here is that which one would use who designed to speak of that which was of the highest order.
The Christian, committing his way to God, and feeling that he will order all things aright, has a peace which is nowhere else known. Nothing else will furnish it but religion. No confidence that a man can have in his own powers; no reliance which he can repose on his own plans or on the promises or fidelity of his fellow-men, and no calculations which he can make on the course of events, can impart such peace to the soul as simple confidence in God.
Shall keep your hearts and minds - That is, shall keep them from anxiety and agitation. The idea is, that by thus making our requests known to God, and going to him in view of all our trials and wants, the mind would be preserved from distressing anxiety. The way to find peace, and to have the heart kept from trouble, is thus to go and spread out all before the Lord; The word rendered here “shall keep,” is a military term, and means that the mind would be guarded as a camp or castle is.
Through Christ Jesus - By his agency, or intervention. It is only in him that the mind can be preserved in peace. It is not by mere confidence in God, or by mere prayer, but it is by confidence in God as he is revealed through the Redeemer, and by faith in him. Paul never lost sight of the truth that all the security and happiness of a believer were to be traced to the Saviour.”
Through His Word God gives us His Commandments to live happy and productive lives. We read in Psalm 103:7-14: “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. 8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. 10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”
In God's Word, we read of, and can barely comprehend to even even begin to thank God for, our incredible adoption into God's Family as sons and daughters: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). Paul adds in Romans 8:15: “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
The Sermon Bible writes, “Adoption is that act whereby we are received into the family of God. We are none of us in God’s family by nature. It is not a matter, properly speaking, of birth; but we are brought into it from without; literally we are adopted. Christ is the one Son of God. Into the Son God elects and engrafts members. He elects them everywhere, and He engrafts them just as He pleases;
but they are all chosen from without and brought in. As soon as the union takes places between a soul and Christ God sees that soul in the relationship in which He sees Christ. He gives it a partnership in the same privileges—He treats it as if it were His own child—He gives it a place and name better than of sons and daughters. In fact, He has adopted it.
II. But this adoption, if it stood alone, would be no blessing. We cannot sufficiently admire the wisdom of the provision, and thank God for the manifestation of His grace, that wherever He gives adoption He follows it by the "Spirit of Adoption." The Spirit seals the union by making the affinity between the Creator and the creature close, happy, and eternal. The Spirit of Adoption cries "Father."
“The wages of sin is death...” (Romans 6:23). God sent His only Son to pay our sin debt in full with His death. John the Baptist identified Jesus in John 1:29 as “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” But we read a startling declaration in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Of this John Gill writes, “For he hath made him to be sin for us,.... Christ was made of a woman, took flesh of a sinful woman; though the flesh he took of her was not sinful, being sanctified by the Spirit of God, the former of Christ's human nature: however, he appeared "in the likeness of sinful flesh"; being attended with infirmities, the effects of sin, though sinless; and he was traduced by men as a sinner, and treated as such.
Moreover, he was made a sacrifice for sin, in order to make expiation and atonement for it; so the Hebrew word signifies both sin and a sin offering; But besides all this, he was made sin itself by imputation; the sins of all his people were transferred unto him, laid upon him, and placed to his account; he sustained their persons, and bore their sins;
and having them upon him, and being chargeable with, and answerable for them, he was treated by the justice of God as if he had been not only a sinner, but a mass of sin; for to be made sin, is a stronger expression than to be made a sinner: but now that this may appear to be only by imputation, and that none may conclude from hence that he was really and actually a sinner, or in himself so, it is said he was "made sin";
he did not become sin, or a sinner, through any sinful act of his own, but through his Father's act of imputation, to which he agreed; “He" {God} made him sin: it is not said that men made him sin; not but that they traduced him as a sinner, pretended they knew he was one, and arraigned him at Pilate's bar as such; nor is he said to make himself so, though he readily engaged to be the surety of his people, and voluntarily took upon him their sins, and gave himself an offering for them;
but he, his Father, is said to make him sin; it was he that "laid", or "made to meet" on him, the iniquity of us all; it was he that made his soul an offering for sin, and delivered him up into the hands of justice, and to death, and that "for us", in "our" room and stead, to bear the punishment of sin, and make satisfaction and atonement for it; of which he was capable, and for which he was greatly qualified: for he...
knew no sin; which cannot be understood or pure absolute ignorance of sin; for this cannot agree with him, neither as God, nor as Mediator; he full well knew the nature of sin, as it is a transgression of God's law; he knows the origin of sin, the corrupt heart of man, and the desperate wickedness of that; he knows the demerit, and the sad consequences of it; he knows, and he takes notice of too, the sins of his own people; and he knows the sins of all wicked men...
and will bring them all into judgment, convince of them, and condemn for them: but he knew no sin so as to approve of it, and like it; he hates, abhors, and detests it; he never was conscious of any sin to himself; he never knew anything of this kind by, and in himself; nor did he ever commit any, nor was any ever found in him, by men or devils, though diligently sought for.
This is mentioned, partly that we may better understand in what sense he was made sin, or a sinner, which could be only by the imputation of the sins of others, since he had no sin of his own; and partly to show that he was a very fit person to bear and take away the sins of men, to become a sacrifice for them, seeing he was the Lamb of God, without spot and blemish, typified in this, as in other respects, by the sacrifices of the legal dispensation;
also to make it appear that he died, and was cut off in a judicial way, not for himself, his own sins, but for the transgressions of his people; and to express the strictness of divine justice in not sparing the Son of God himself, though holy and harmless, when he had the sins of others upon him, and had made himself responsible for them.
The end of his being made sin, though he himself had none, was: that we might be made the righteousness of God in him; not the essential righteousness of God, which can neither be imparted nor imputed; nor any righteousness of God wrought in us; for it is a righteousness "in him", in Christ, and not in ourselves, and therefore must mean the righteousness of Christ; so called, because it is wrought by Christ, who is God over all, the true God, and eternal life;
and because it is approved of by God the Father, accepted of by him, for, and on the behalf of his elect, as a justifying one; it is what he bestows on them, and imputes unto them for their justification; it is a righteousness, and it is the only one which justifies in the sight of God. Now to be made the righteousness of God, is to be made righteous in the sight of God, by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ.
Just as Christ is made sin, or a sinner, by the imputation of the sins of others to him; so they are made righteousness, or righteous persons, through the imputation of his righteousness to them; and in no other way can the one be made sin, or the other righteousness. And this is said to be "in him", in Christ; which shows, that though Christ's righteousness is unto all, and upon all them that believe, it is imputed to them, and put upon them; it is not anything wrought in them;
it is not inherent in them. "Surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength", says the church, and also, that the way in which we come by this righteousness is by being in Christ; none have it reckoned to them, but who are in him, we are first "of" God "in" Christ, and then he is made unto us righteousness. Secret being in Christ, or union to him from everlasting, is the ground and foundation of our justification, by his righteousness, as open being in Christ at conversion is the evidence of it.”
There are innumerable physical and spiritual blessings for us to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day. All of these have come from the Father, by and through His Son Jesus Christ, our Creator and Savior. Let's begin, now, as that Day approaches, to put out of our thinking all of the shiny and empty distractions that Satan dangles before us, to take out minds off of what Thanksgiving Day was set aside to accomplish: To Thank and Praise our Great God!
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “Thanksgiving, 2019.”
This Discussion was originally delivered “live” on Wednesday, November 20th, 2019.
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