A CALL TO THANKSGIVING

Psa. 100:1–5

Psalm 100:1–5 NLT

1 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. 3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Intro: This Psalm concludes a series of Psalms that began with Psalm 91 and which look ahead to the advent and coronation of the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s believed this Psalm has its true setting in the millennial Kingdom during the reign of Christ. A time when all the world will be filled with righteousness and all men everywhere will exalt the Name of the Lord. A time when His praises will fill the earth as they should at all times. That blessed time will be a time when the glory of Jesus will literally fill all the earth. Thank God, you and I that are saved will get to share in that glorious Kingdom some day.

Psalm 91 NLT

1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. 3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. 4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. 5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. 6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. 7 Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. 8 Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished. 9 If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, 10 no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. 11 For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. 12 They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. 13 You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet! 14 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. 15 When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. 16 I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

While these things, and that time, are future, there is still an application in this Psalm for everyone here. Because this Psalm is a call to Thanksgiving. The title literally reads, “A Psalm Of Shouting.” It is a plea from the psalmist to the hearts of his readers to look to the Lord and to exalt His Name!

This week on Thursday, we will carry out a tradition that is as old as America. In 1621, after a terrible year in which half their number died of starvation or disease, the Pilgrims set aside 3 days in December to praise the Lord for a bountiful corn harvest. Many years later in 1789, President George Washington proclaimed November 26 as a national day of Thanksgiving unto the Lord. This was in response to God’s granting American independence from Britain. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln revived this old tradition of rendering thanks unto the Lord, and finally in 1941, the United States Congress decreed that the fourth Thursday in November was to be a national day of Thanksgiving unto the Lord God.

For many, Thursday will merely be a day when family gathers together, eats an enormous meal, watches football on TV, and, most important of all, it is a day when they do not have to go to work. I hope that it will mean more to us than that! In truth, we must never be guilty of allowing our thanks to wait until Thanksgiving to be expressed.

10,000 Sermon Illustrations Unthankful

Unthankful

Samuel Leibowitz, criminal lawyer and judge, saved 78 men from the electric chair. Not one ever did bother to thank him.

For many this pandemic is real and individuals are maybe finding it had to be thankful. They have lost loved ones and other loved ones may be fighting for their lives.

We are to be thankful to the Lord every day of our lives. God goes so far as to say that being thankful to Him is His will for our lives—

1 Thes. 5:18.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT

18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Yet, I am afraid that we are a very ungrateful people! Children are ungrateful to parents, people are ungrateful to one another, and worse of all, people are ungrateful to God.

Thankfully, there are portions of Scripture like the one we have read in which we can find, not only a challenge and a call to be thankful, but also plenty of reasons why we should thank the Lord for His goodness toward us. Therefore, since we are the week of our annual Thanksgiving, let’s take a few moments and look into these scriptures and try and make them relevant for us. Let’s praise to the Lord and be thankful unto Him. As the Lord gives liberty, I am going to preach for a while on the thought, “A Call To Thanksgiving.”

(Ill. The Psalmist opens this Psalm by issuing a call to worship and praise before the Lord. He teaches us how we are to come into God’s presence. By the way, nothing brings us into the presence of the Lord like lifting His Name! He promises us that He will “inhabit the praises of His people”, Psalm 22:3.

Psalm 22:3 NLT

3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.

Notice 3 ways great manifestations of praise that bring us into the presence of God.)

Psalm 47:1 NLT

1 Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise!

Luke 19:37–40 NLT

37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen. 38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!” 39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” 40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

(When is the last time you saw someone excited about going to church? When is the last time you saw someone shout because they were called on to do a job at church? When was the last time you saw excitement during the offering? Though these types of rejoicing are rare, and even non-existent in the House of God, they really should be common place! (Ill. David was glad when church time came—Psa. 122:1; David was glad to perform even the most menial of tasks at the Lord’s House—Psa. 84:10; Paul said that our giving should be an exercise in praise—2 Cor. 9:7 (Ill. “Cheerful” = hilarious—Lit. Paul is saying that our giving ought to be a thing of extreme joy!)

(Ill. Do you realize that obedience is an expression of worship unto the Lord? When you consider that Jesus tells us that we prove our love for Him by our obedience, then it becomes clear! John 14:15)

C. V. 2b Enter With Singing—(Ill. This word literally means “a ringing cry”.) Lifting our souls unto the Lord through song is a tremendous way to bless His name and to exalt Him. In fact, every child of God ought to possess a song in the soul, for we are commanded to sing our songs of praise unto Him—Ps 68:32, “Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah:”

(Ill. In Psalm 40:1–3, David declares that along with salvation came a new song of praise unto the Lord. Never hesitate to lift the songs of the heart unto the Lord. It glorifies Him when His people are simply willing to exalt Him in their songs of rejoicing.)

II. V. 3 OUR ENLIGHTENMENT CONCERNING HIS PERSON

(Ill. Every truth learned about the Person of the Lord results in a new reason for praise and adoration! God help us that we never reach the place where we fail to be amazed at the Person of God! Because, everything we do, very thing we are, everything in our lives rises or falls on our perception of just who God is. Therefore, it is imperative that we never forget who we are serving. We are the servants of the Living God. No better than that, we are the children of the Living God. Let us then learn all we can about Him and rejoice in all that we learn.)

There is:

A. A Word About His Power—This reminds us of the creative power of God. We are in this world because the Lord, in His great power, formed man in His image. That is something for which to praise Him. However, beyond His great creative power, there is also His great re-creative power. When we were marred by the stains of sin, thank God, He redeemed us and remade us afresh and anew in the image of His darling Son—Ill. Paul—1 Cor. 15:10. (Ill. 2 Cor. 5:17; 2 Cor. 4:7)

(Ill. Just the fact that His power is revealed in the creation of the world is reason enough to praise and glorify Him forever. However, when you add to that the fact that He has the power to take old, hell bound sinners and save them by His grace and transform them into the image of His precious Son and take them to Heaven when they die, well, that just sweetens the pot considerably!)

B. A Word About His Purchase—The Psalmist says that “we are His people.” That is, we are His personal possession, Titus 2:14. We are His by virtue of the fact that He paid the price to redeem us from our sins. When we were sold under sin, praise His Name, He came and died for us paying the price to set us free.

(Ill. There are 3 words that are translated “redeemed” in the New Testament. These three words are very telling. Notice:

1. Revelation 5:9—Redeemed = agorazo—This word literally means, “To buy in the marketplace.” It has reference to purchasing a slave right off the auction block. That is what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross. He paid the full price that we might go free from the penalty of sin. Redemption through the blood of Jesus is a reason to shout!

2. Galatians 5:9—Redeem = Exagorazo—This word means “To take off the market.” In other words, Jesus paid the price for us and we are no longer up for sale! He bought us and He intends to keep us. The fact that we are His, and His forever is a good reason to shout praises unto Him!

3. 1 Peter 1:18—Redeemed = Loutron—This word means “To release after the payment of the purchase price.” It pictures one who buys a slave and then turns that slave loose. This is what Jesus did for us! He bought us off the slave block of sin. After He redeemed us, He removed us from the sale and then set us free, not free to go and sin, but free to go and serve the Lord our God. Being redeemed from sin to service is a good reason to praise the Lord!

Thank God, we are His people! That means that we are special. Never let anyone tell you that you aren’t someone very important. After all, you are a child of the King!

C. A Word About His Provisions—This verse reminds us that we are His flock. As such, we are under the protective oversight of the Good Shepherd. That is, He has promised us several things that ought to encourage us to glorify His Name:

1. His Presence—Heb. 13:5

2. His Peace—John 14:27

3. His Provision—Phil. 4:19

(Ill. All of these things are summed up wonderfully in the words written by David and recorded in what we call the 23rd Psalm. “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.” That covers it all!)

(When all these great truths about His Person are looked at and considered, they certainly do give us ample reason to praise the Name of the Lord.)

III. V. 4–5 OUR EXPRESSION OF HIS PRAISES

(Ill. These verses give us three great ways that we can express our praises for the Lord. If He is worthy of our praise and if we are supposed to glorify Him, then we had better know how to do that properly. Then, when we know, we are going to be held accountable for what we do with the truths we have received. Notice these three great means that we are to employ in glorifying the Lord.)

A. Praise Should Be Visible—The Psalmist said that we are to enter His gates and His courts with praise. This isn’t an activity that was to be done in a corner where one could be hidden from the view of others. Simply put, there should be no shame attached to our worship of the Lord.

(Ill. It may help us to look at Hebrew worship practices and see how they visibly praised the Lord.

1. Clapping—Psa. 47:1, “O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.” This does not convey the idea of applause, but of a sudden, loud clap that draws attention to the fact that God is receiving praise from a worshiper.

2. Lifting of Hands—Psalm 63:4, “Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.”; Psalm 134:2, “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.” When the hands were lifted toward Heaven, it was a sign of adoration and praise. It was symbolic of lifting up the Lord and glorifying Him.

3. Dancing—2 Sam. 6:14, “And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.” When David contemplated the presence and greatness of the Lord, he got a case of happy feet and praised the Lord unashamedly before all those present.)

(Ill. There is nothing wrong with any genuine, visible expression of praise and glory toward the Lord.)

B. Praise Should Be Vocal—In verses 1 and 2, the Psalmist used words like “noise” (which means to shout) and “singing”. Neither of these can be done in silence! True praise to God manifests itself in a vocal expression! There is nothing wrong with being vocal in our praise for Him! Actually, I kind of imagine the Lord likes it!

(Ill. Billy Bray was an old cockney sinner that God saved by His grace. Billy used to praise the Lord every where he went. Once, he was praising the Lord as he usually did, when someone came up and told him that he needed to calm himself down. They said it wasn’t proper for a preacher to be shouting all the time. Billy Bray responded by saying, “I can’t help myself. You see, I put down my right foot and it says, “Hallelujah.” I put down my right and it says, “Amen.” With that, he marched down the street shouting a chorus of “hallelujah’s” and “Amen’s.”)

(Never let anyone steal the shout that God has placed in your soul!)

C. Praise Should Be Volitional—That is, praise is to be an act of the will. According to verse 5, God is good, He is faithful and His truth will stand forever. When these things are considered then we are to make a rational decision to praise His Name because of the reality of who He is.

(Ill. I have seen TV preachers work a crowd into a frenzy. I have seen folks so stirred up that they would shout on command. That is fanaticism. True praise looks at God, recognizes His greatness, remembers the reality of His blessings and bursts forth from a soul that adores the Lord.)

(Ill. What I mean by all that is this, praise the Lord, because of who He is to you and for what He has done for you. Praise Him for who He is. Praise Him because He is God. Do it, but do it because you love Him and He will bless your praise life.)

Conc: A good example of praise is set forth for us by the prayer of an elderly saint of God at a prayer meeting one evening. He said,”O Lord, we will praise Thee; we will praise Thee with an instrument of ten strings!” People wondered what he meant, but understood when he continued, “We will praise Thee with our two eyes by looking only unto Thee. We will exalt Thee with our two ears by listening only to Thy voice. We will extol Thee with our two hands by working in Thy service. We will honor Thee with our own two feet by walking in the way of Thy statutes. We will magnify Thee with our tongue by bearing testimony to Thy loving kindness. We will worship Thee with our heart by loving only Thee. We thank Thee for this instrument, Lord; keep it in tune. Play upon it as Thou wilt and ring out the melodies of Thy grace! May its harmonies always express Thy glory!”

We have just come through the Thanksgiving season. In view of all the glorious things God has done for us, is our praise life up to par this morning? I say we have sufficient reasons to praise His Name. Now, I call you to come before him and to glorify the Name of the Lord. I also call upon each one of us to be more active in the praises of our God.[1]

A CALL TO THANKSGIVING

Psa. 100:1–5

Intro: This Psalm concludes a series of Psalms that began with Psalm 91 and which look ahead to the advent and coronation of the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. This Psalm has its true setting in the millennial Kingdom during the reign of Christ. A time when all the world will be filled with righteousness and all men everywhere will exalt the Name of the Lord. A time when His praises will fill the earth as they should at all times. That blessed time will be a time when the glory of Jesus will literally fill all the earth. Thank God, you and I that are saved will get to share in that glorious Kingdom some day.

While these things, and that time, are future, there is still an application in this Psalm for everyone here this evening. Because this Psalm is a call to Thanksgiving. The title literally reads, “A Psalm Of Shouting.” It is a plea from the psalmist to the hearts of his readers to look to the Lord and to exalt His Name!

This week, we will carry out a tradition that is as old as America. In 1621, after a terrible year in which half their number died of starvation or disease, the Pilgrims set aside 3 days in December to praise the Lord for a bountiful corn harvest. Many years later in 1789, President George Washington proclaimed November 26 as a national day of Thanksgiving unto the Lord. This was in response to God’s granting American independence from Britain. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln revived this old tradition of rendering thanks unto the Lord, and finally in 1941, the United States Congress decreed that the fourth Thursday in November was to be a national day of Thanksgiving unto the Lord God.

For many, tomorrow will merely be a day when family gathers together, eats an enormous meal, watches football on TV, and, most important of all, it is a day when they do not have to go to work. I hope that it will mean more to us than that! In truth, we must never be guilty of allowing our thanks to wait until Thanksgiving to be expressed. We are to be thankful to the Lord every day of our lives. God goes so far as to say that being thankful to Him is His will for our lives—1 Thes. 5:18. Yet, I am afraid that we are a very ungrateful people! Children are ungrateful to parents, people are ungrateful to one another, and worse of all, people are ungrateful to God.

Thankfully, there are portions of Scripture like the one we have read this evening in which we can find, not only a challenge and a call to be thankful, but also plenty of reasons why we should thank the Lord for His goodness toward us. Therefore, since we are on the eve of Thanksgiving Day, let’s take a few minutes to look into these verses and try and understand what they teach us about praise to the Lord and about being thankful unto Him. As the Lord gives liberty, I am going to preach for a while on the thought, “A Call To Thanksgiving.”

I. V. 1–2 OUR ENTRANCE INTO HIS PRESENCE

(Ill. The Psalmist opens this Psalm by issuing a call to worship and praise before the Lord. He teaches us how we are to come into God’s presence. By the way, nothing brings us into the presence of the Lord like lifting His Name! He promises us that He will “inhabit the praises of His people”, Psalm 22:3. Notice 3 ways great manifestations of praise that bring us into the presence of God.)

A. V. 1 Enter With Shouting—“Make a joyful noise” comes from one Hebrew word which means “to shout.” Vocal praise unto the Lord is out of fashion in our modern, reserved church world, but it is still in vogue as far as God is concerned! When we verbally declare our praise for Him, it glorifies His name and brings us into His presence. May God give us all a shout in the soul that will find expression on the lips! Psalm 47:1. (Ill. Luke 19:37–40—I do not want the stones to have to cry out because I remain silent!)

B. V. 2a Enter With Service—We are challenged to “serve the Lord with gladness.” That is, we are to never allow our labor for the Lord to become a drudgery. We are not to grow weary in well doing—Gal. 6:9. The word “gladness” literally means “mirth or joy.” That is, we are to look upon our service to the Lord as a cause for rejoicing. Instead of seeing it a chore, we are to view it as a privilege afforded to those who have been redeemed by grace and who have been chosen by the Lord to do His work and will in the world. (Ill. Paul—1 Tim. 1:12)