Dear congregation, Proverbs 10 verse 22 says it best, the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow to it. And Solomon is making a most powerful statement here, and that is you can have the world's riches, You can have money, you can have power, you can have prestige, but all those things have sorrow intermixed in it. J.C. Ryle said, the riches of this world, you have trouble getting it, and you have trouble keeping it, and you have trouble leaving it. And yet, the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he adds no sorrow to it. You see, the blessing of the Lord, whatever it is in our lives, it really makes us spiritually rich. And whatever sorrows come into our lives, the blessing of the Lord governs it and directs it. to the end that the Lord receives all the praise and all the thanks as we seek to do on a day like today. Well, what is the blessing of the Lord? The Bible uses this term bless or blessing 400 times. Clearly, it's an important theme in the Bible. And really, blessing means to live life as it was intended to be lived to the full. under God's smile experiencing his favor like the Lord Jesus Christ said when he was on the earth I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly when the Lord made us in paradise he blessed us that's the first reference to blessing in the Bible in Genesis 128 He made man male and female after his own image, and He blessed them. He pronounced on them life in all its fullness. Adam and Eve were to be fruitful and to multiply and fill the earth under the smile of heaven, under the blessing of Jehovah. In Adam in Paradise, sadly, we turned from that blessing. We forsook God. We said in Adam, as it were, the smile of God. We don't want it. He can keep it. And instead, in our folly and in our rebellion, we chose misery. We chose the opposite of blessing. We chose the curse. And yet God from out of himself has found a way even after the fall to bless a people, to bless a people even despite their sin, their shame. We have that word blessing once again with Noah after the flood. Genesis 9, 1 through 3, the Lord blessed Noah and his sons and he gave them a great symbol to remind them of himself and of his blessing, the rainbow. over fallen mankind, a blessing which is to be experienced through God's grace, through the fulfillment of God's promises. Abraham was chosen and taken out of a far country. He was under the curse by nature, but God came and He promised him blessing. I will bless you and make you a blessing. how full the Lord's heart is of blessings to bestow on unworthy people like ourselves, especially when the Lord Jesus Christ came to this world. One of his first sermons, the first words that came off the lips of the Lord Jesus were, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek. Blessings upon blessings flowed, especially from him, the great blessing of God. In the psalm before us, Psalm 115, is really about blessing. The word blessing or to bless occurs five times in this psalm. And even when it doesn't use the word, it's really about this, the blessing of the Lord. This psalm commemorated as the psalms around it. Psalms 113 through 118 commemorated God's deliverance out of Egypt. when he took them with a mighty hand by his grace and led them through the wilderness and promised them this land flowing with milk and honey and he had called them to bless them. and to make them a blessing, which is what this psalm especially commemorates. And on this Thanksgiving Day, we want to receive instruction how to bless the Lord and how to receive His blessing from this, our psalm, and especially our focuses on verses 12 and 13. And allow me to read them at this time. Psalm 115, verse 12 and 13. where we read these words, The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. The theme of God's help this morning is simply the blessing of the Lord. We'll see four points briefly. The source of blessing, the recipients of blessing, the hope of blessing, and the aim of blessing, the blessing of the Lord, the source, the recipients, the hope, and the aim of blessing. Well, congregation, the Lord has been mindful of us. What a glorious phrase that is. The Lord has been mindful of us. He's thought about us. God thinks about me. Isn't that something that should just overwhelm us? That the God of the universe thinks about me? God has been mindful of us. Who here can deny that? As we look past this year that's passed, the Lord's been mindful of us. He's thought of us. How else can you explain everything that has happened? And literally, the word here in the original is to remember. He has remembered us. That doesn't mean, of course, that the Lord ever forgets. That's what we do, and we've forgotten Him times without number, but God never forgets. But what the psalmist is saying here is that God in his mind has been thinking over his people continually. He's remembered them constantly. It's the kind of thing that you read about Noah and the ark in Genesis chapter 8 verse 1 and it says, and God remembered Noah and every living thing that was with him in the ark. That doesn't mean that God had ever forgotten Noah. but that his mind was so focused on Noah and on those creatures with him in the ark. They were the object of his thoughts. He, the great God of the universe, thinks on me. What an amazing thing. David says in one of the Psalms, but I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinks about me. What the psalmist is saying here is that blessings that come to us are not just random events. They're not things either that just people give to us or that forces of nature or fate dispense to us. No, everything that comes our way has its origin in the mind of God, the thoughts of God. He's planned out perfectly everything that will happen. He's ordained it all. in heaven and on earth. And everything that happens to us, also those things that happened to us this past year, they had their origin in the mind of God. Shouldn't this make us adore God? Shouldn't this humble us before God? Thou, God, seest me. Thou, God, thinkest upon me. Another psalm says, how precious are thy thoughts towards me. That same Psalm, Psalm 139, says that even when we were in our mother's womb, the Lord was thinking of us. He was knitting us together there. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world. What a comforting thought that is, that we don't need, ultimately, to think everything out. But the Lord has thought it out from before the beginning of the world. And all the blessings of life and of health, of family and friends, of church, and this harvest season, God has been mindful to us. God has been mindful to us. He's planned it all out. Everything in your life has been planned out by the Lord. prosperity, adversity, provisions, lack, everything has its source in God. He knows it. He knows it beforehand. He's planned it out. Rest, anxious, soul, this morning, he knows. And he's telling you, I know, I see, I've thought it out beforehand. Nothing has escaped my mind. And I've been mindful of you. Can't you echo that? The Lord has been mindful of us. Can't you find yourself in that sentence? The Lord has been mindful of us. Let your mind go to this year, all of it. And can't you in your heart say the words of our text? The Lord has been mindful of us. I'm so insignificant. I'm so sinful of myself. How is it possible that the Lord would think on me? But He has thought on me. His Word says it. The Lord has been mindful upon us. Does this comfort you this morning? Do you like being in the mind of God? Are you like that thief on the cross who his last petition really was that? He said, Lord, remember me. Let me be in Thy mind. I don't need anything else. Because if I'm in Thy mind, Thy glorious, Thy almighty mind, then I'm safe. and I'm secure no matter what happens. I don't ask for more. Remember me, oh God, with a blessing, with a favor thou showest towards thy saints. Well, that first of all, every blessing has its source in God. But secondly, let's look at the recipients of blessing because the psalm goes on to say some remarkable things. It says, the Lord has been mindful to us and he will bless us. and it explains who this us is he will bless the house of israel he will bless the house of aaron and so what the lord is saying here is that he will bless his people his heritage those who are his his people those whom he has made his own possession that's israel his people in the old testament was the nation of israel We know now that it's all people whom the Lord has made his own and he'll bless them. And it singles out the house of Aaron, I believe, because this is, these were the priests. This was the house of Aaron through whom God gave spiritual blessings to his people. And he would bless them in a special way for them to be a blessing to the whole nation. Think of the ministers that God has given us, all those who occupy the pulpit and even the elders and deacons and all of you really who are channels of blessing to others. The Lord will bless and fill those channels with blessing in order to bless others. But we shouldn't take this verse to mean that simply because you're part of a group or a nation or an ethnic group that you're the object of God's blessing because verse 13 goes on to make clear who it really is who is blessed by the Lord. He will bless them that fear Him. Now what does it mean to fear the Lord? It means to respect Him, to honor Him, to love Him, to live for Him. To fear the Lord means that He is everything to us. That we look to Him. That when He directs us and when He commands us things, we seek, with His help, to do it. John Brown, a Puritan, said, when we fear God, we regard His smiles and His frowns to be of greater worth than the smiles and frowns of people, those around us. Is that you? Do you fear God? Do you want his smile? Do you hate his frown? That's what it means to fear God. Maybe you say here, yeah but I'm I'm so small. I'm such a new Christian, maybe, or I'm such an insignificant person. People don't see me, much less God. Well, you're mistaken, my friend, if that's you, because our text says something really remarkable. If you feel like a nobody, listen to this. He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. I love how the Lord puts that up front. He puts the small ones first. You see, he has an eye for those who are insignificant, those who count themselves out, those who think they have no place. He says, I will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great. And isn't this how the Lord Jesus Christ lived his life? Blessing those people whom others pushed to the side, whom others had no time for, whom others had no room for. He took the small ones, the insignificant ones, the people cast to the margin and he said come and he said to those children for example whom the disciples pushed away he took them on his knees and he blessed them he blesses the small and others like Bartimaeus and other, the diseased woman and Mary Magdalene and others whom the world just pushes to the side. The Lord says, come, you're in my thoughts, you're in my heart. He will bless the small and the great. but he puts the small first. You and your children he shall bless, it says here in verse 14. If you're here this morning and you're young and you say, you know, this church thing is for older people, don't get that wrong. He will bless you and your children, it says. There's a place in the heart of God for small ones, especially for them. You can read of this in Psalm 113. He lifts the beggar from the dunghill and makes him to sit with princes. The thoughts of God go throughout the world and in the furthest reaches of this world where no one else is thinking about this one or that one. There he sits in his loneliness. There she sits in her grief. There no one thinks of her today on Thanksgiving Day but the thoughts of God. Go to the small and also to the great. Oh, how important it is that we live in the fear of God. Do you know where the fear of God especially blooms and blossoms? It's when small ones look to God, need God, think of God. Isn't that amazing? He has been mindful of us and He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless all those who fear Him, who think of Him. He thinks of them and they think of Him. That's grace, isn't it? That's how it is in marriage. We think of each other, and in love, we think of each other. We're in each other's thoughts and minds, and here's what happens in grace. God thinks on the sinner and makes the sinner to think of Him, and their thoughts meet at the Calvary, at the cross, where God shows His abundant love, His thoughts. Do you wanna know what God thinks of you? Look at the cross. He sent His Son, not for the good, not for the great, but for the ungodly, for enemies, for those who had no thoughts of Him. But there on the cross, He shows His thoughts in order that He might gather our thoughts and draw our thoughts and give us His thoughts through the working of His Holy Spirit. And when He does that, and hope is born in our soul. Hope of blessing as we see in our third point. He has been mindful of us and he will bless us. What a surprise the psalm has for us this morning. Where is your hope this morning? I hope it's not in the idols of this world. Because in all honesty, that's what most people hope in. Stuff. Like this psalm is very honest about what makes this world go round. What makes people tick. They have their idols. The work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. They have feet, but they walk not. We're entering into a season here in which our societies, which are already very materialistic, are putting their confidence in stuff, in things, in goods. And let this psalm cure us from the outset of that. You can't have it both ways. Oh yes, the Lord gives us many good things to enjoy. And we're not ascetics, we're not monastics, we don't separate ourselves from the world and go live in cloisters and monasteries. God gives us all kinds of gifts, richly to enjoy. And today on Thanksgiving Day, no doubt he's showered many gifts upon many of us, if not all of us. We can enjoy those. But where's your confidence? Where's your trust? Where's your affections? Where's your desires? What are you living for? What are you thinking about? It's a test for us this morning. Where's your hope? May God the Holy Spirit draw our hope to the Lord and may we learn to really long for this. The Lord has been mindful of us and he will bless us. I need this blessing of the Lord. I love how the psalm ties the past and the future together. He has been mindful of us. and He will bless us. I think what the Psalm is saying here is we can take encouragement from God's dealings with us in the past. He will not forsake us. The work that He has for us begun shall by His grace be fully done. in 1 Samuel 7, Samuel set up a stone, Ebenezer he called it, stone of help as a monument of what God had done, a spectacular deliverance against the Philistines and every time the nation looked at the stone they could remind themselves God helped us then in the deepest distress from that we can glean and gather that he will also help us in the future If he helped us in the most difficult situation, will he not help us in the future as well, even in what awaits us, the unknowns? He won't forget us then. He's been mindful of us up till now. He'll bless us. That's one of the reasons I believe that the Thanksgiving Day custom and ordinance in our nation has been so powerful. The pilgrims in 1621, they started this Thanksgiving ceremony, meal, gathering. And it has come to us as a very important reminder. God has been mindful of us, also as a nation. We can't take that for granted. So many blessings have been poured upon us for almost 400 years in our nation. We don't deserve them. It's not like the Lord has said, well, those Americans are so great, they deserve more than others. Absolutely not at all. It's what we do with the blessings that God undeservingly gives to us. That's the question. But what the Pilgrims Institute and what has been legislated through the years is one of those memory markers, one of those Ebenezer stones, if you will, that says God has helped us in the past. As we live in the fear of God, which is so important, we can have the assurance that no matter what happens, no matter what shifts, no matter what changes, He has been mindful of us and He will bless us. People of God, this is especially for you because there is no Ebenezer stone for you like the cross of Calvary. And we often go there, don't we, people of God? And we say the Lord has been our help and he's been mindful of us. And if he spared not his own son but gave him up for us all, How shall he not also with him freely give us all things? All that I've needed, thy hand has provided. Great is thy faithfulness. Well, that doesn't mean that God doesn't test our hope We confessed it already before that out of God's fatherly hands comes both sickness and health, prosperity and adversity, sorrows and struggles, as well as joys and gladness. We don't always experience life as full of joy and abundance, do we? But the fear of God teaches us something. And that is that no matter what happens around us, we can be sure that we're in God's thoughts if we're the Lord's. And that everything that He purposes for us will turn out for our advantage. And that everything that comes our way are blessings. Though some of them are blessings in disguise. But because of Christ and His work on Calvary, the sting is gone for each of the Lord's children out of every affliction. He's taken the sting out of it. And it's His blessing, whatever it is. Count it all joy. When you suffer various trials and temptations, knowing that the trial of your faith works experience, and experience works hope, and hope puts not to shame because the love of God is poured out in our hearts. You see, the blessings of God come in different packages. There are those bright and cheerful and colorful packages that we love to open up. then there's also those blessings that come in the dark packages of life that we so afraid to open up and yet there's a people here who can testify to the fact that those dark packages that they have opened up in their lives over time not immediately, sometimes not for years, but we realize, and we learn to confess, the Lord has been mindful to us. And that grows confidence in our hearts, even in trials, and in difficulties, and in struggles. Because as we look to what He's done in the past, through afflictions, and some of you have had difficult years, and you're here, And this is your tax. The Lord has been mindful of you. And take hold of this as well. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless all those who fear the Lord, both small And great. This comes congregation from the God who cannot lie, from the God who made the heavens and the earth as he shows himself in this psalm. And he does all these things and works them out in our lives in order that we might bless him. Because that is the aim of his blessing as we see fourthly and lastly. What does God do all this blessing for? He doesn't bless us in order that we might live it up for ourselves. He seeks to make us channels of blessing to others, to those in need, to small ones around us, to those who need the Lord. Our lives are hollowed out in order that the grace of God might stream through our lives and reach others. And that's why the blessing of the Lord, if you've experienced it, makes you look away from yourself. And you understand how this psalm opens. Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory. You can know whether God has really given you his blessing if this is in your heart and in your mind. Not to me, Lord, not to me. You look away from yourself. You look to Him. I love how the psalmist repeats that, not unto us, not unto us. It's as if he has to tell himself repeatedly, not me, not me. Not to me goes the glory, but to the Lord alone. That's a sure mark that God has taught you what it is to need God's blessing and to live for God's blessing. You look away from yourself and you look to Him. that's if the psalm begins with not unto us not unto us it ends with this but we will bless the Lord notice that word bless we will bless the Lord we will seek by his spirit to give back to him so that the blessings which come from him might reach full circle and come back to him we will praise him we will live for him we will devote ourselves to him we will have his mind let the mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. We will make ourselves small in order to benefit those who are small, and we will bless the Lord, and we will thank Him, not just Thanksgiving Day, but all our days. Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices, who wondrous things has done, in which our world rejoices, who from our mother's arms have blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love and still is ours today. Congregation, is that your mind? Is that your heart this Thanksgiving Day? We will bless the Lord. We will praise Him, we will thank Him, and seek to be a blessing. If you're here this morning and you've never desired the blessing of the Lord, you've lived for stuff, maybe you recognize it even now. You know that this morning already your mind's been going after the things of this world. Why does our world do that, just rob this day? gets focused on deals and the latest and the greatest. Well, whatever the world does, let's resolve that we thank God first and foremost, that we praise Him, that we love Him. The idols, don't become like them. Don't live for them. Don't fill yourself with that stuff. Don't let your heart be drawn away after the stuff of this world, because then, my friend, if that's you, you're not under blessing. You're still under curse. And if that's true, my friend, for you, I speak to you, this blessing can also be yours in the ways of becoming small, of becoming very small before God, learning the fear of His name, Setting aside all this stuff and saying Lord is there also a blessing for me sinner that I am My friend then this Thanksgiving day will become a prayer day, but it can also then in that way become a true Thanksgiving day Because then something is born in your heart that you'll never cease thanking God for The unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ. As we close this morning, congregation, I said to you that this psalm was a psalm to commemorate the Passover and it was sung by the people of Israel. around the Passover still is today Psalms 113 through 118 and the Lord Jesus Christ on the night in which he was betrayed he went out to that garden of Gethsemane and it says he went out and sang a hymn and he would have sung Psalms 113 all the way to 118 and a number of those Psalms are Psalms of Thanksgiving And he would have sung these words as well. The Lord has been mindful of us. And it was he who had come forth from the mind of God. And he's singing with his disciples there on the eve of his betrayal, the eve of his death. The Lord has been mindful of us. I hear His voice as it were singing above the voice of His disciples. He teaches us to sing, doesn't He? He teaches us to thank the Lord. He teaches us to bless the Lord. And He will bless us. This Lamb of God was confident that the Passover had only just begun, that He was the Passover, and that He would lead His people through the bondage of sin and Satan into the freedom of the blessing of God. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless all those that fear the Lord, both small and great. People of God, you are on the heart of the Savior as he sang those words. And he's everything, isn't he? He's the mind of God in the flesh. That's what God thinks of you people of God. What do you think of him this morning? Shall we not humble ourselves and bless the Lord? Amen.