Are You Thankful?

 Temple Baptist Church - 11-24-2024

1 Thessalonians 5:18

 

Introduction: 

 

A.  One of the signs of these last days is that of ingratitude.  2 Timothy 3:2 says, “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.”  Unfortunately, it has become a characteristic of the professing Christian as well as the religious lost person.  The word “thanks” is found in many places and in several forms in the Bible:  Thanks – 71x  Thank – 26x  Thankful – 3x  Thanksgiving – 27x.  

 

B.  The key to being “thankful” is to be “thinkful.”  Most people are not thankful because they do not take the time to reflect upon just how good the Lord has been to them!  We live in days of “entitlement” thinking.

 

C.  The Person of Thanksgiving.

 

Psalms 69:30   I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

 

Psalms 30:4   Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 

 

     Psalms 106:1   Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

 

D.  The Places of Thanksgiving.

 

1.  In The Presence of The Lost - Psalms 18:49   Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. 

 

2.  In The Presence of The Church - Psalms 35:18   I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people.       

 

Psalms 100:4   Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

Psalms 105:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. 

Psalms 106:47 Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.

 

3.  In Presence of Your Children - Psalms 79:13   So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.

 

4.  In The Presence of The Lord - Psalms 95:2   Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 

 

E.  The Period of Thanksgiving - Psalms 30:12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

 

F.  The Publishing of Thanksgiving - Psalms 26:7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. 

 

G.  The Price of Thanksgiving - Psalms 116:17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.

 

H.  The Possessions of Thanksgiving:  Thankful for what God has given to us.

 

2 Peter 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

 

1.  Thank God For Salvation.

 

a.  At age 28, He came to me when I could not come to Him.

b.  He gave me the faith to be exercised.

c.  He granted me repentance.

d.  His mercy keeps me from hell.

e.  His grace gives me Heaven.

f.  His power to keep me saved.

g.  His watch care to keep me safe.

h.  His chastening to keep me straight.

 

2.  Thank God For Grace.

 

a.  Grace to live.

b.  Grace to suffer.

c.  Grace to stand.

d.  Grace in sorrow.

e.  Grace when it is my time to die.

 

3.  Thank God For Longsuffering And Mercy.

 

a.  When I am good He loves me.

b.  When I am not so good He loves me.

c.  When He chastens me it is with love and compassion.

 

4.  Thank God For Family.

 

a.  I thank God for my wife.

1)  For her faithfulness.

2)  For her forbearance (she has to put up with me 24/7 while you only put up with me for about 5 hours/week!)

b.  I thank God for my children.  I am proud of them.

c.  I thank God for my grandchildren - 6 here and 1 in Heaven.

d.  I thank God for my family in Kentucky. 

 

5.  Thank God For America.

 

a.  I love America!  I am an American by both birth and choice!

b.  I love her freedom.

c.  I love her prosperity.

d.  I love her mountains, plains, deserts, farmlands, from the north to the south, and from the east to the west.  This is my country!

 

6.  Thank God For God’s Word.

 

a.  It’s calm assurance.

b.  It’s open prophecy.

c.  It’s power to save.  (It still works!)

d.  It’s comfort in troublesome times.

e.  It is inerrant, infallible, inspired, powerful, wonderful, and it is free!

 

7.  Thank God For Using You.

 

a.  That God could use a sinner such as I.  Unworthy and unprofitable!

b.  To let me preach in a time such as this.  There are more sinners to preach to; more sin to preach against; more opportunity to shine for the Lord than at any other time since the beginning of time. 

c.  The school from which I graduated.  Tabernacle Baptist Bible College.  It was a good school: faithful to God’s Word and the doctrines of the faith.  It was a place of old-fashioned worship where God was praised and pleased.

d.  Godly pastors and laymen who faithfully taught us the Word of God.

 

8.  Thank God For The Church.  Temple Baptist Church of Laurens, SC.  The greatest church on the face of the earth!

 

a.  For 7 people to start with.  I couldn’t have handled 8!

b.  For godly deacons and their familys who have never given me one ounce of trouble.  Who have stayed by the stuff and continue to faithfully serve their Lord. 

c.  For a church full of people who are not only members of Temple Baptist Church, but are my friends.  They follow instead of fight!  I am theirs and they are mine.  I am proud of them.

 

9.  Thank God For His Many Blessings.

 

a.  Food on the table.

b.  A good bed to sleep in.

c.  A car and truck to drive.

d.  Shoes on my feet and clothes on my back.

e.  We could camp here for a while!

 

10.  Thank God For A Heavenly Hope.

 

a.  All of this and Heaven too.  Glory!!

b.  The blessed hope of His soon appearing.

c.  The blessed hope of my disappearing.

d.  Ruling and reigning with Him.

e.  Living in the New Jerusalem in a mansion.

f.  Spending an eternity with my blessed Saviour and those who have been redeemed throughout all ages.

         

Conclusion:  Unthankful?  Probably Unthinkful!  

Ignorance - Ignorance and Death

Temple Baptist Church - 9-1-2024

1 Thessalonians 4:13; Philippians 1:20-24

 

Introduction:

 

A.  This morning, I want to preach on “Ignorance and Death.”  Once again, we hear the words that Paul said, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” 

 

B.  Now, most of you will probably, at this point, ask the question in your mind, “Why is the pastor preaching on the subject of ignorance and death to us?”  Because none of us want to die right now.  Thinking about death is not what we do as far as the flesh goes.

 

1.  Because we do not know when we will die, and God has given us a will to live.

 

2.  Because we do not know how we will die, and not one of us wants to suffer in the process.

 

3.  Because we have no control over death but know that it is coming for all of us if the Lord does not come soon.

 

C.  Why are we thus?  Why fear to some extent of death?  Because God has not yet given to us dying grace.  Dr. Harold Sightler used to say, “God’s people die well.”  If we are sick and screaming and hollering, we are more than likely not dying.

 

D.  Paul spoke of his dilemma in Philippians, chapter 1, concerning life and death.  Interesting the way the Bible describes this.  We understand the precept of magnifying Christ in our lives but death?  Paul wanted to live like a Christian and also die like one!  We are to magnify Christ when we die.

 

Philippians 1:20-24  According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.  (21)  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  (22)  But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.  (23)  For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:  (24)  Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

 

E.  I am preaching this for this reason: as most of us are vaguely familiar with what happens leading up to, during, and after death, there is also a natural fear of death that all of us have.  I say vaguely familiar with death because none of us have experienced death by walking through that valley.

 

1.  It is a valley of the shadow of death.  Death is certainly a dark place. The words “darkness” and “death” are found 13 times in your Bible.  In Biblical Numerology, 13 is the number of ill omen.

 

Job 10:21-22  Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;  (22)  A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

 

2.  It is a valley that can hold great fear.  Hebrews 2:14-15  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;  (15)  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

 

Job 24:17  For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

 

Jeremiah 2:6  Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

 

3.  An old saying goes like this:  “If I knew where I was going to die, I probably wouldn’t go there.”  I believe that this saying would apply to most of us, though we are saved.

 

4.  I have no fear of the afterlife but possibly will not enjoy the process of death.  I had just as soon go to sleep here and wake up there.  As one man said, “My brother went to sleep last night and this morning he woke up dead!”

 

5.  But, if I knew where I would die, I probably still wouldn’t purposefully go there and neither would you.  God placed within man a natural desire to live.  Our bodies are tough and will struggle against death until that final moment comes.

 

F.  Paul knew that he would continue to suffer in this life and also the gain of dying in the life to come.  Death was far better, and living was more needful.

 

G.  The gain of death far outweighs the pains of living.

 

1.  Heaven’s Person – we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.  

 

1 John 3:1-2  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.  (2)  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

 

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.

 

2.  Heaven’s Pleasure.  Psalms 16:11  Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

 

Jude 24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

a.  No More Sea

b.  No More Tears

c.  No More Death

d.  No More Sorrow

e.  No More Pain

f.  No More Night

g.  No More Sin

 

3.  Heaven’s Place.  1 Corinthians 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

 

a.  A Place of great Purity.

 

Revelation 21:27  And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

 

Revelation 22:14-15  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.  (15)  For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

 

b.  A Place of great Beauty.

 

(1)  Walls of Jasper

(2)  Gates of Pearl

(3)  Foundations of Precious Stones

(4)  Street of Transparent Gold

(5)  Palaces Of Ivory

(6)  River As Clear As Crystal

(7)  Tree Bearing 12 Manner of Fruits

(8)  Lighted By The Glory of God

 

c.  A Place of great Accommodations.  “In my Father’s house are many mansions!” 

 

4.  Heaven’s People.  They Are Blood Bought

 

Revelation 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

 

Conclusion:  Have no fear, my little children, death is the final enemy, and our Lord Jesus Christ tasted death for us and now awaits our coming.  What a day that will be!