Four Unchanging Reasons For Thanksgiving
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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, 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. 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
in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
This verse commands believers to give thanks to the Lord, not FOR everything, but IN everything! There is a big difference there! Certainly, we ought to be thankful, not just because we are told to be thankful, but because we have much to be thankful for!
However, I have observed that thankfulness is a very fickle thing. Often, our thankfulness focuses on things that are physical in nature. We are thankful for our health. We are thankful for our families and our homes. We are thankful for our financial stability. We are thankful for the things we have. Yet, all of these things are subject to change. Think about it, health can break, families can split up and bank accounts can run dry. What do we do then? How does that affect our thankfulness?
I would like to suggest that we remain thankful for all the physical blessings we enjoy, and that we learn to look beyond those changing things to some things that never change. I would like to share a few of those unchanging blessings with you this evening. Notice in these verses Four Unchanging Reasons For Thanksgiving. (Ill. These verses tells us of just a few of the unchanging glories of our Lord! The things revealed here are causes for thankfulness at all times.)
I. Giving Thanks for our Savior, vs. 5-6, 8.
I. Giving Thanks for our Savior, vs. 5-6, 8.
A. For His Abiding Presence, v. 5
A. For His Abiding Presence, v. 5
Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”
Regardless of where the path of life leads, the saint of God will never walk alone—
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
B. For His Assisting Presence, v. 6
B. For His Assisting Presence, v. 6
so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”
(Ill. The word “helper” comes from a word which means to “to run”. The idea is that when we are in need, the Lord runs to our aid.)
He is our Comforter—
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
(Ill. Paraklete—One called alongside of another to give aid and comfort!)
C. For His Anchoring Presence, v. 8
C. For His Anchoring Presence, v. 8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
One of our greatest sources of thanksgiving this evening is in the truth that Jesus never changes! What He was then is what He is now! From before creation on into eternity, Jesus has never, nor will He ever change! He is still “I AM!” He still possesses all power in heaven and earth,
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
We can always be thankful for our Savior!
II. Giving Thanks for our Salvation, vs. 9-12
II. Giving Thanks for our Salvation, vs. 9-12
A. The Price Of Salvation, v. 9
A. The Price Of Salvation, v. 9
Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.
This verse mentions grace! We can thank God that salvation is given without cost,
“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.
It is purely the operation of grace! Think of how you came to know Him! Dead in sin and He sought you, He called you, He died for you, He redeemed you and He keeps you. All you did was exercise the faith that He gave you. He did it all!
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
B. The Pain Of Salvation, v. 12
B. The Pain Of Salvation, v. 12
Hebrews 13:12 (NASB95)
Therefore Jesus also . . . suffered outside the gate.
For us the price was low, for God, the price was unimaginable! Our salvation cost God the life of His Son,
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
His death on the cross is what provided salvation for you and me! There is no way that we can adequately describe the gory details of the death of the Lord Jesus, But the prophet Isaiah tells us something about what He suffered for us,
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.
We can be thankful every day that even though He knew what we were and what we would be like after He saved that He still went to the cross and died for our sins!
C. The Purpose of Salvation, v. 12
C. The Purpose of Salvation, v. 12
Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
We are told here that He suffered the death He did so that He might “sanctify the people.” The word “sanctify” means “to separate from vain things and set apart for God’s use.” This is why Jesus died! He died to take vile sinners out of their sins and set them apart from this world for the glory of God. He saved us so that we might become different, and that God might be able to use us for His glory,
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Paul shares his own testimony
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service,
even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;
and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.
It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
We can be thankful that we which were so lost and wicked have now been cleansed and set apart for God’s glory through the blood of Jesus!
III. Giving Thanks for our separation, v. 13.
III. Giving Thanks for our separation, v. 13.
So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
The call of this verse is for us to do on the outside what He has already done on the inside. That is, He has set us apart inwardly through the redemption of the blood of Jesus. His call to us is that we willingly take our stand with Jesus on the outside of society. He is calling us to pick up our cross and bear the reproach of Jesus,
Matt. 16:24
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
He is telling us to be different—
“Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you.
We ought to thank the Lord that He has made a change in us. The very fact that we don’t live like we used to, that we don’t find enjoyment in all the things the world is running to, that we are different is a cause for rejoicing everyday of our lives!
We ought to stand out and we should be thankful when we do!
IV. Giving Thanks for our Sanctuary, v. 14.
IV. Giving Thanks for our Sanctuary, v. 14.
For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.
We are reminded that we are living in a world that is constantly changing. If all of our hopes are placed in this world and in the physical realm, then we are going to be disappointed more than we will be happy.
However, the child of God can rejoice in the fact that this world is not the end all, tell all of our Christian experience! Verse 14 tells us that there is something better just down the road!
We can thank the Lord this evening that when this journey is over, we have a city awaiting us were we can rest from our labors and where we can enjoy the sweet presence of the Lord. It is a place of which we know little, but we do know that none of the problems of life will be allowed there,
and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
We do know that we will be with Jesus,
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
We do know enough to allow us to be thankful for that blessed home that waits for every child of God.
Closing: This morning we need to take a close look at the real blessings of the Lord! Let us be thankful for all the things He gives us. Let us praise Him for our health, our families, our financial blessings and so on. Let us not take them for granted. But, let us learn to be more thankful for those things which we can never lose! Let us learn to be ever thankful for those things that cannot change! When all the physical blessings have faded and we can find no reason for praise in them, let us thank the Lord that there are some things that will never change! In these things we have an unchanging reason for eternal thanksgiving!
Why not come before Him right now and just thank Him for Who He is and for what He has given you and me!