Ultimate Thanksgiving

Read Psalm 95:7–11 “For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.””

Introduction

What are people’s most favorite holiday? Take a guess!

According to statistics, Christmas was at 78% at Thanksgiving at 79%, making Thanksgiving the most favorite holiday!

With Thanksgiving coming this week I want us to look at where thanksgiving truly originates from.

I have a feeling, that Thanksgiving is the most popular holiday because it’s not as overtly Christian as Christmas.

Some families will come around and talk about what they are thankful for such as good health and family.

But in reality, Thanksgiving is just as Christian as Christmas.

Because Jesus Christ is the true reason to give thanks, and without Him, there is no true thanksgiving!

So the title for today’s sermon is Ultimate Thanksgiving where we will look at God being the ultimate reason to give thanks!

1. God is always ___ us (v.1-2)

1. God is always with us (v.1-2)

Context of the Psalm

Psalm 95 was written to be sung and celebrated during the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Feast of Tabernacles was a fall holiday for the Israelites just like Thanksgiving is a fall holiday for us today.

The Feast of Tabernacles was a holiday to help the Israelites remember how God took care of them in the wilderness.

He protected them from the Egyptian army that tried to kill them by taking them out in the splitting of the Red Sea.

And he fed them bread from heaven so that they wouldn’t starve in the desert.

And it’s because of these wonderful things that God has done, the psalmist writes in v.1, ‘Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation’.

Now this was to be sung on the way to the temple to worship the Lord.

It is to be a loud shout the Psalmist writes.

Because we are singing to the LORD, Yahweh, the God who is faithful to all the promises that He has made to us to always be with us.

He’s not some unknown distant God, but a God who has even give us His name: Jesus Christ.

And because God is the Rock of our salvation!

Can someone tell me What is a rock like?

This is not a pebble, but a rock!

This Hebrew word is sometimes translated as boulder or cliff.

God like a rock, is immovable and mighty.

The constant massive cliff that keeps our salvation secure and immovable for eternity.

When we stand on God, we stand stable and secure instead of slipping and falling.

When Moses struck the rock at Meribah. Water came flowing from the rock to sustain the life of the Israelites.

Can you imagine water coming from a rock?

How incredible that is?

That is why the psalmist says in v.2, ‘Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;

This is why we give thanks!

Jesus Christ, the Rock of our salvation is the ultimate reason on why we give thanks!

Look what Christ has done for you on your life, on the cross, and today, giving you an immovable hope that no one can take away and see if you can’t give thanks!

And that is why the psalmist writes next, ‘Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.’

What this means is there there must be enthusiasm when you come to worship God!

Not an attitude of apathy or lack of interest, or indifference!

Do you come to church not caring or so tired that your emotions are shot?

Do you come to church more excited of what’s on the screen on your phone than what’s in front of you at church?

Come to church with great excitement and sing loudly the songs we sing with your heart!

So students as you celebrate thanksgiving this week, and you enjoy all the delicious turkey, stuffing, and other thanksgiving food that you love, remember Christ!

When you give thanks this Thursday, start by giving thanks to Christ on who He is, not just what He has given you.

Give thanks that He is the faithful Rock that is always with you no matter where you are and no matter where you go.

That He is always the massive cliff for you to stand on when your walk becomes shaky!

That’s how you give thanks to who He is!

2. God created and ___ the universe (v.3-5)

2. God created and owns the universe (v.3-5)

Speaking of who He is, the psalmist tells us more about God and He starts in v.3, ‘For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods.’

The psalmist is not saying that there are other gods who exist, as the Bible says elsewhere that there is only one God.

But the point the psalmist is making here is that Jesus Christ is supreme above all including angels, demons, Satan, and above all kings.

And that’s because God created the universe and everything in it.

v.4-5, ‘In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.

Everything in the world is His, because He created it.

A few months ago I was watching videos about the deepest cave in the world.

And the name of the deepest cave is Veryovkina cave.

Picture of Veryovkina cave

At almost 7300 ft, Veryovkina is the deepest cave in the world.

It is so deep that you can fit more than 2 Burj Khalifas stacked on top of each other in that cave.

And in case you didn’t know the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building on earth and this is what it looks like.

And God says, that’s mine.

This is the tallest mountain in the world: Mount Everest.

God says, that’s mine.

And finally, here is the Challenger Deep the deepest point on the earth period, in the Pacific Ocean.

What does God say? That’s mine.

God created everything in the universe and it all belongs to Him.

This is what we learned last week.

So when you go outside and touch grass, and see the beautiful nature that God created,

And you look at a beautiful sunset, give thanks to God.

Because it belongs to God, and He has given you this wonderful gift of seeing it.

Psalm 19:1 (ESV)

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

When you feel that awe when you look at nature’s beauty, it is preaching to you God’s glory.

So give thanks to God, because He created and owns the universe.

3. God created __ and cares for __ (v.6-7a)

3. God created us and cares for us (v.6-7a)

As the people of God came to the entrance of the temple, they were to get low and worship God.

That’s why the psalmist wrote, ‘Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

This physical action of getting low before God, starts in the heart.

It begins with a realization that God is huge and we are but tiny dust in His sight.

And speaking of dust, that’s why the Psalmist writes, ‘Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker’.

When we realize the bigness of God, it is tied to recognizing that He also created us.

Sometimes mothers and fathers will scold their child when they do something wrong and say, ‘I gave birth to you.’

Or without me, you don’t exist.

But while it’s true, what’s even truer, is that without God you don’t exist.

It is God who created the mother and father who gave birth to your mother and father, and their mother and father, and so on and so forth.

And so not only did God create the universe, He created all the living beings within it, people.

And so the psalmist adds a beautiful line in v.7, ‘For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.’

Unfortunately, not every person worships and honors their creator because of their sinful heart.

But for Christians we say, ‘He is our God’.

Not everyone’s God but ours.

And we belong to His country and kingdom, ‘and we are the people of His pasture’.

A pasture is where farm animals live and eat.

Not everyone lives on God’s land and eats God’s food.

While the physical earth and the world all belong to God, and everyone lives in God’s world, not everyone lives in God’s spiritual kingdom.

Where citizens of heaven have special benefits of: eternal life, unwavering hope, unending peace, and a place in the eternal age of perfect bodies and a perfect heaven and earth.

Not everyone has this special benefit.

But we do.

Thank God for that!

The psalmist adds one final phrase at the end of this thought, ‘and the sheep of His hand’.

We are God’s sheep and He is our shepherd.

Who can’t but think of these verses from Psalm 23:1-3?

Psalm 23:1–3 (ESV)

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Christ takes special care of you as your shepherd.

Students, I’m not your shepherd, I’m just his under-shepherd.

Christ is the great shepherd.

What is a shepherd?

A shepherd takes care of sheep by leading them and guiding them to food and shelter.

Jesus as your shepherd, provides for you physically, materially, mentally, and spiritually.

He brings you true rest.

He feeds you from His very own hand.

Meaning that when you eat, and when you eat that turkey this Thanksgiving, that Jesus Christ is feeding you that turkey from His very own hand.

That He didn’t just coldly drop you some food and you go get it yourself, but He directly provided and gave you that food and everything that you need.

How many of you have fed an animal like a dog from your own hand? Raise your hand!

When you do it, you feel an intimate bond, don’t you?

It’s because usually when we feed an animal from our hand, it’s because we care for them.

Students, Jesus cares for you.

The good grades you got this period, the clothing that you wear, the food that you eat, and family that you have, is all from Jesus your shepherd, because He cares for you.

He owns us.

So when you give thanks to Jesus for food or any material thing, don’t just give Him thanks for whatever it is that He gave you, but thank Him because He cares for you.

4. Come to Christ (v.7b-11)

This is brings us to the final half of the Psalm and here the tone changes a bit.

As we see at the end of verse 7, the psalmist writes, ‘Today, if you will hear His voice’.

This isn’t just referring to the day the Israelites sung this psalm thousands of years ago, but even today, right now, this very moment!

And then he writes, ‘if you will hear His voice’.

And you might be wondering, ‘how am I hearing God’s voice right now?’

Is God speaking audibly through the flaming bush like to Moses?

Is a voice from heaven coming down as we speak?

No, what the psalmist is saying is that when you hear the Bible read and even to a degree when you hear preaching, you are hearing God’s voice.

No need to go to the ends of the world and search for God’s voice, it’s right here, when you hear it read!

So what are we supposed to do that we heard God’s voice?

The psalmist writes in v.8-9, ‘Do not harden your hearts’.

What God is saying, is that when you hear and listen to the Bible, don’t ignore it.

Don’t harden your hearts, by letting it go in one ear and out the other.

Listen to it and obey it.

Otherwise your heart will become cold and hard.

And that’s exactly what the Israelites did in the wilderness the Psalmist writes, ‘as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested me; they tried Me and though they say My work’.

The Israelites hardened their hearts at Meribah and Massah by complaining that they had no water in the desert.

And then they went further and questioned, ‘is God among us?’ when God just did many miracles and split the sea to free the Israelites from the Egyptians.

And so God provided them water through a rock.

What the Israelites did here, was test God, that’s why the Psalmist writes in v.9, ‘When your fathers tested Me; they tried me, though they say My work.’

That’s why it also says in Exodus 17:7

Exodus 17:7 (ESV)

And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

You see Among Us was being played not just 2-3 years, ago but thousands of years ago.

But the Israelites were playing with the wrong person.

They were playing with God.

They were testing God by being so vile by questioning if God is with them, after He just split the Red Sea for them.

How wicked is that?

In fact it is so wicked God says in the last verses, starting with v.10,’ For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘it is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know my ways. So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.’

Grieved, can also be translated as disgust, and so God is saying, ‘I was disgusted with that generation for 40 years.’

Don’t test God students.

When trials happen in our life, let’s not test God by questioning Him and trying Him.

Right now especially if you are going through a good season in your life, remember it, so that when God gives you a trial, you remember and thank for who He is and all the good He has done in your life.

Instead of cursing and testing Him when things get tough.

And when things get tough, that’s when we see who the true Christians are because trials cause fake Christians to leave.

Mark 4:17–19 ESV

And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

And students, not everyone here today listening is a Christian.

And so, if you’re not a Christian, and you’re listening today, and you feel a gratitude from listening to this sermon,

I want you to give the ultimate thanks, by coming to Christ today.

Not tomorrow, but today.

Don’t harden your heart to all the wonderful things God has blessed you with, and the creation that shouts at you of His glory.

But give thanks to Him by coming to Jesus today.

So that you don’t experience His wrath and never enter His rest.

But instead enter His rest and enjoy God and experience the ultimate Thanksgiving this Thursday and forever.

Let’s pray.