Well, next Sunday and through the Sundays before Christmas, we will be singing Christmas hymns. And so this is one of my favorite times of the year because it is filled with such optimism, the coming of Christ. And I am so thankful and love these hymns filled with all of this joy to the world the Lord has come let earth receive her King. And indeed, the great victory for this grace shall go as far as the curse is found. And so we shall be singing. I told Jamie that it would be all right with me and that maybe we could just put another one or two in our worship service as we sing. We don't get to sing them very often, and they're so magnificent, these hymns, and so we'll be doing that. And then, of course, on the 21st, we will come in at 10 o'clock, and we will do our Christmas, our scripture and carol service. We need to pray for these young ladies as they are diligently practicing to try to be, we might have to sing some of them Acapulco, but we're going to lift our voice. Aren't you happy that the Lord said, make a joyful noise? Some of us cannot sing as well as others. The Lord's really gifted this church with good singers, but some of us are not. And I'm so thankful that we can just make a noise if it's joyful and comes forth from our hearts. Psalm 69. I'll read into the context of it. I'm going to look at verse 30, but verse 16 says, hear me, O Lord, for thy loving kindness is good. The word loving kindness is the Greek, I'm sorry, the Hebrew word, Kesed, sometimes pronounced more like an H, hesed. And it's the word in the Hebrew that is the closest to the word in Greek, karis, which is the word for grace. Hear me, O Lord, for thy lovingkindness is good. Turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, and hide not thy face from thy servant, for I am in trouble. Hear me speedily. Draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it. Deliver me because of mine enemies. Thou hast known my reproach and my shame and my dishonor. Mine adversaries are all before me. Reproach hath broken my heart and I'm full of heaviness. And I looked for some to take pity, but there was none. And for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Recognize that that's the words that describes what happened to our Lord. Let their table become a snare before them and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate and let none dwell in their tins. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten And they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity, and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. I am poor and sorrowful. Let thy salvation, O God, set me up, O night. I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify him with thanksgiving. What we see here is the psalmist ultimately retreating to God, no matter what happened to him. Now, he makes a prayer, we call these imprecatory prayers, where the psalmist, inspired by, I mean, this is the inspired word of God, teaching us what our attitude toward our enemies should be, and part of that is to pray these prayers. That our enemies will receive from God what is due their sin. Ultimately, that they might retreat from their sin. That they indeed might see their sin. We never pray these things to be vengeful. For vengeance at the mind, sayeth the Lord, I will repay. But we say these things because we were these enemies, were we not? Were we not the enemies of everyone that loved God before we loved God? Surely we were. We are saying to the Lord, please don't leave them in their iniquity. Let it turn upon them. And in turning upon them, may they cry out even as we did. Because ultimately, here's our testimony, we are poor. Look, we're not coming to God with any kind of declaration of our greatness or any thought that we are great. No. The only way to come to God is from the low road. We never will come to God from a high place. You only come to God from a low place. You only can look up when you're low. I'm poor. and sorrowful. This poverty of spirit. Blessed are they who are poor in spirit, you see. That's what the Lord said. Blessed are they. I am poor and sorrowful. Aren't you glad you came to that conclusion about yourself? What is so sad is that there are those who sit in churches and those who think in their pharisaical attitudes that they are something and they deserve something. But no one has ever come before God as he is and as they should without understanding that we are poor and we mourn, we are sorrowful because of our condition. Which leads us to this prayer. Let thy salvation, O God, Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high. And once we are set up on high, what will be our attitude? I will praise the name of God. I'll do it in a song. If you read my devotion this morning, you'll know that I used the passage out of Ephesians and out of Colossians that we should indeed praise the Lord with psalms, that we should speak to ourselves and speak to each other in psalms and in hymns and in spiritual songs, making melody in our heart and to the Lord, or as Colossians says, the apostle wrote to the church at Colossae, that we should sing with grace in our hearts. That's why we can sing. Singing is different than speaking. Even the language of songs are different than the language of speaking. The language of speaking is prose. The language of songs is poetry. And in fact, the book of Psalms is filled with poetry. As any Hebrew student knows, because as a Hebrew student trying to translate these difficult passages in Hebrew, it was the worst or the hardest passage to, translate our poems, the poetry of the Old Testament. It's even a whole different Hebrew, filled with all of these synonyms. Very difficult to retain in your mind all of these, but here is this poetry. Poetry is the language of the soul. Prose, the language of the mind. Poetry, the language of the soul and of the heart. That's why these things appeal to us so much as we sing these songs, rhyming in English as well as in other languages. We are singing, there is a sense where Our heart is directly connected to our God. So speak to yourselves and speak to one another in these psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Now there are those, some reformers said it should just be psalms. I don't really believe that that's what it's saying. I think there are three types, though not technical, I don't guess, but surely three types, but whatever it might be, whatever that, you know, notwithstanding, it is this language, and indeed, often the language of prayer. One of the greatest devotional books that you could read is a good hymnal where you can read these things. I was reading a little bit about a lady who had written the song that God giveth and giveth and giveth again. And I found out that she, her mother died when she was three. Miss Annie's mother died when she was three. Her father died a few years later and adopted and sent them to a family called Flint, and they adopted them. That's why her name, I think it was Johnson, and then it became Flint. And she was going to be a schoolteacher, but got crippling arthritis, and for most of her life was in a wheelchair, but wrote these wonderful hymns. How could she have written such things? Even you say that those sinful or trouble come, with the trouble comes the grace to bear it. What a wonderful hymn. He giveth and giveth and giveth again. But how could she have known that? For example, how could Fanny Crosby have ever gotten to the place she did with these wonderful hymns? if she had not been blinded through the error of a doctor, but was not bitter, but thanked God for her condition because from that point she could see the wonder of her God, the essence of thanksgiving, Now here's the character of Thanksgiving. It's a principle of the Christian life. Again, I've referenced this in Romans 121, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful. You see, if you're going to glorify God as God, you're going to have to glorify Him through a position of thankfulness. That's the character of the Christian life. The character of the Christian life is not grumbling. The character of the Christian life is not complaining. The character of the Christian life is not in being self-absorbed. but in thanking God. I remember one time, we'd laugh about it, but our dear friend, R.F. Gates, who is in heaven now, I surely would like to be near him in heaven. I mean, he praised the Lord so magnificently upon the earth. Can you imagine what he's doing today in heaven? And so he was on the program of an evangelism conference in Louisiana, and we were going to the conference, and well, He ate with the podium personalities, those that was going to preach. And so we went and got something to eat at a restaurant, came back, and we said, well, now, Brother RF, how was the meal? He says, oh, the meat was cold, and the snap beans were crunchy. And then he caught himself right in the middle of that. And he says, but better than I deserved, I should have starved. Not grumpy, not complaining. Look, there's enough. In this world, you'll have trouble. If you try to live for Christ in this world, you're going to have trouble. You're going to have trouble from yourself, from even your own spirit. And sometimes you're going to have trouble with others that even that called themselves Christian, that even try to tempt you to do wrong. And when you don't take their temptation to do wrong, then they're angry with you. And you're the one that's unloving and unkind because they're filled with bitterness and with complaining spirits, you see. Next time you begin to think or you want to start complaining, remember this point. Thanksgiving is a principle of the Christian life. Unthankfulness is the principle of unbelievers. But also thanksgiving is a prayer. The song we just sang was a prayer. Many of these hymns are prayers unto the Lord. You know, we raise to thee our hymn of grateful praise. So thanksgiving is a prayer. And as I said in my prayer, how can you begin a prayer without beginning it with being thankful? O Lord God, our Father, we thank So the apostle says to the young pastor Timothy in his first letter to Timothy chapter two, verse one, exhort therefore, I exhort therefore, that first of all supplications, supplication is the prayer asking for supply. Prayers, this is the general word in the Greek for prayers, that any kind of communication with you and God is a prayer. Even B. M. Palmer, the great pastor at New Orleans, Presbyterian, first Presbyterian in New Orleans, wrote a theology of prayer, wrote a book called The Theology of Prayer. And he said that cursing, That cursing is a form of praying. He said, why is that when men are so forgetful of God that they invoke his name? You're praying. You're praying to something or to someone. But the Christian prays to the Lord, intercessions, that is praying for others. We're most like Christ when we intercede for he ever liveth to intercede. And then giving of thanks, this giving of thanks be made for all men. So here it is, you see our supplications, our prayers, our intercession, our giving thanks ought to be in reference to others as well as to self. Thanksgiving is a prayer. It's a principle, but it's a prayer, and it has a purpose. Again, the apostle writes to the church at Colossae, chapter three, verse 15, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body. And be ye thankful. Let the words of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or in deed, Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Doesn't matter what you're doing. You do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, whether it be in word what you're saying, how you're using your mouth, and indeed, how you use your hands, your feet, you see. Indeed, again, Annie Flint wrote in the early 20th century, wrote, The hymn that Christ has no hands but our hands, no voice but our voice, no feet but our feet. We must be careful with that kind of understanding because he does have power beyond us. But the point of what she was writing is we must serve him, whatever we do, whatever we do, no matter if it's mundane things, common things, or spiritual things, The great lie of Satan is that you can only serve God in the spiritual realm of your life. But no, that is not the truth. The truth is you must serve him in every realm of your life. We don't live the Christian life in this building. This is not where we live. We surely come here and we must come here and we come before the Lord and we tell the world that we're worshiping our God We're coming to God, worshiping Him as we come to this building. It's a testimony, you see, and we should leave self and self-interest outside when we come here to meet our God in word and in deed. in worship, but also in work. Whatever you do, don't do it for the service of men. Their eye service. Because you could be seen of men. That's what the Pharisees do. They lift their prayers to be seen of men. They do what they do. The giving of alms to be seen of men. To make these high sounding speeches to be seen of men. Here's what John Owen said, A man is what he is. A person is what she is on her knees before God alone and nothing else. All you do in the name of the Lord, giving thanks, and the father by him giving thanks. Everything we do, whether we fix a machine, whether we study a lesson, whether we paint a building, whether we serve others, It's a sacrifice for us as His people, as His children. It's a sacrifice to Him. Now, what is the cause of thanksgiving? Well, I can tell you what causes thanksgiving. First of all, we give thanks for our person. Our life. When you pray, you should thank God for your life. Thank you for giving me life. And thank you for claiming that life. That I might live that life for its purpose. That is to give you glory. To love you. And to enjoy you forever. To serve you. Thank you for my person. And then second of all, we should thank God for our position where he's put you a position as a man, as a husband, as a father, as a woman, as a wife, as a mother, as a daughter, as a son. Thank you. Thank you for these positions. We should give God thanks that we, just like every morning when I pray, I thank God for my children. And I thank him for the love and the marriage that produced those children, the home that the children were raised in. Thank you. Thank you for them and for the grandchildren that come from them. And I pray, keep evil from them. That's my duty as their father and the grandfather to pray, keep evil from them and bring all good things to them. And may they, oh God, seek your face. Especially on Sunday, I pray this prayer. This is your day. May they have thoughts of thee today. You see, that's my position. And I'm thankful that I have such a position. And then of course, our possessions. That would be what most people are thankful for, these possessions. And surely every good gift and every perfect gift cometh to us from above, from the Father of light in whom there is no shadow of turning. And then we should thank God for our prosperity, that we have made some, some prosperous moods in this world, that we, you realize that here we are in the United States of America, and the poorest of us are richer than many in other places. We should thank God for our prosperity. That'll keep you humble. But we should also thank God for his presence, his presence in our life, that there's never a time when we don't consider it. Very few moments in this world when we are not gripped as His children, that we are in His presence. Can you see God? We say to our children, no is the answer to that. No, I cannot see God, but you know what? He always sees me. Now, I think this is very important and I must end so we can get to our meal. But what are the consequences? I mean, if you are thankful, what will that generate in your life? Well, I think first of all, the consequences is that you will have a knowledge of God. Thanksgiving points to God. And I just quoted James. These good gifts, these perfect gifts, they come from the Father of life. Second of all, thanksgiving prevents bitterness. You know, we're prone to being bitter. That's why the 10th commandment says don't covet. You know what we do when we break the 10th commandment? We're blaming God for not being fair. for not being right when it comes to me. Isn't it amazing how people adjust things when it comes to them? Because this is, you must do this because this is I who's speaking. Don't you know me? Don't I deserve these things? And when you don't get them, what happens? I can tell you, let me just say this to you, and I told a friend of mine. Here's when things get tense and tight for us. You know when they get tense and tight? When we begin to distrust God is when we put Him on our timetable. We get anxious and nervous, because it doesn't look like it's going to happen. But there's bitterness, you see. We're prone to bitterness because things are not right. Things don't go right. Things fail. Automobiles mess up. Plumbing springs leaks. Education doesn't produce what we want. Investments don't pay off. We get bitter. The apostle says to the church at Ephesus, let all bitterness and wrath and anger. You see how it builds bitterness? Then you're filled with wrath. Then you're filled with anger and clamor. Then you see, and evil speaking, you began to say things you shouldn't say, thinking things you shouldn't say and saying things you shouldn't say. and sometime accusing God himself at the bar of our judgment. But put away from you with all malice and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake. hath forgiven you. And then here's the thing, I think a word we need to hear today. Thanksgiving promotes unity. It is a wonderful thing for brothers to walk together. There's unity. The apostle Peter acts to preached this great message at Pentecost, and many were brought to Christ, swept into the kingdom of God. And they continued, they continuing daily with one accord, one accord, in the temple, breaking bread from house to house. There's fellowship, you see. And often when the reason that there's clamoring and bitterness and division is because we forget about this fellowship. But we should love one another. We should love our brothers and sisters more than we love ourselves. And they did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Praising God. Wouldn't you love to be in a place that's unified? But what is the source of our unity? The source of our unity is Christ. His truth. His honor. His glory. We are united to God in Him. And if we're all giving thanks, you see, how can there be disunity in that? Just as in this service just a few moments ago, we were thanking God for each other, you see. How can you be angry with someone at the same time? Thank God for them, you see. And we are thankful that this unity brings us all to honor our God. See, that's the source of it. If we're all honoring our God, if we're all praising our Christ, if we're all doing that which is holy and right and righteous, forgetting self, confessing sin, calling each other, provoking each other to holiness. See, our lives should be provocative It should be a provocative life. It should be a provocative life, provoking people, our brothers and sisters in Christ to holiness. Follow me because I follow Christ. I'm praying for you, brother. Thomas Winn was telling me the other day that they had a prayer meeting, and he has a number of prayer meetings up there with pastors and the association, and he says 99, he said, what's 99% of the prayers? I said, well, it's the prayers. People that are sick, people, he said, that's right. But you see, that's only part of our praying. We should be praying for our brothers and sisters to live gracious and wonderful and holy lives. Saying, well, how can I live a holy life? I'll tell you how, follow me. You don't know what you need to do? Watch me. Follow me. Because I follow Christ. That's where our unity will be. And if you try to make unity anywhere else, you will fail. You will become disunited. If you try to make unity about what you think and what you feel, even to dismiss what is right because you don't like it. That's going to bring disunity. But if we all, this hour, commit ourselves to the honor of our God and to do what he would have us do, we'll be united in that, won't we? Be thankful. Come to the Lord. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his court with praise. Let's pray.