Well, turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. I thought it would be good for us to have a Thanksgiving sermon, seeing as we will all be celebrating Thanksgiving this Thursday, probably with our relatives. Of course, you know that that's a nationally appointed holiday. But for the Christian, we are to give thanks in everything, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us. And so let's bow together for prayer before I begin. Our Father, As we come to this text, help us to see the connections in truth. Help us to be those who receive the truth this morning from your word. Help us, Lord, to be those who look at ourselves and ask the question, each one of us, to ourselves, am I a thankful person? And may we learn together how we can be thankful people here this morning, because we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm going to read to you in Colossians chapter 3, in verses 12 to 17. It says, Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word 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 whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." The words, and be thankful, are set in the wider context of the duties and commands of the Lord that are given by the Apostle Paul to the saints at Colossae. He's reasoning with them, beginning in chapter 3 and verse 1. He says, if then you were raised up with Christ, keep seeking those things that are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. The Christian life begins with our being raised up. being raised up from our spiritual death and our trespasses and sins, being made alive together with Jesus Christ. And the Christian life then continues on by our seeking the things that are above. Seeking life from above. Seeking strength from above. Seeking wisdom from above that we might live this Christian life. We're raised to newness of spiritual We are given life from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are, through that means, being transformed. That is, through this spiritual life that is given to us, that is imparted to us by the Holy Spirit, we are being transformed into the very image of Christ. We are in our Master's service. And we have responsibilities. that we need to attend to, which are mentioned here in verses 12 and 13 and 14 and 15 and 16 and 17. They're all listed there in all of those verses. Many aspects of our duty and many aspects of our sanctification are becoming holy. are learning to live the Christian life are related to how we treat one another as Christians. And I believe in verse 15 of the verses that I read to you, you see that it's very crucial to the fulfillment of all of the duties here listed, that you and I be thankful. That you and I be thankful. for all that He has given to us. And it is because we are thankful then that we will be able to do our duties in relation to God with a right spirit. Our duties in relation to God and our duties in relation to man. So the question that I will ask this morning is this, how can we show God that we are truly thankful for all that He has given to us. How can we be thankful as the text says? Well, beginning at verse 12, I think that we can find four ways that God will know that we are truly thankful for all that He has given to us. First of all, we will clothe ourselves with the graces of the Spirit. Second, we will let the peace of God rule in our hearts. Third, we will let the Word of God dwell richly in our hearts. And fourth, we will learn to give thanks in everything. Let's contemplate each of these for a few moments together. First, if we are truly thankful, we will clothe ourselves with the graces of the Holy Spirit. Verse 12 says, Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, put on kindness, put on humility, put on meekness or gentleness, put on long-suffering or patience. Paul is assuming that believers look at themselves as the elect of God. Because that's how he addresses those at Colossae, who are the saints and brethren at Colossae. He says, as the elect of God, he says, put on these tender mercies, etc. He knows that they have believed in Jesus Christ. They've come to know the forgiveness of their sins. They have come to realize that they have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit in order that they might have life from above so that they might live this Christian life in accordance with Christ Himself. In verses 13 and 14 of Ephesians 1, it says, In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory. 2 Corinthians 1 and 21 and 22 says now, He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who has also sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. So we haven't been left as orphans. We've been given life from above. We've been born again by the Spirit of God. The Spirit has been given to us and the Spirit has been sealed to us. That is that we have a real experience of the Holy Spirit. I'm not talking about a charismatic experience. I'm talking about an experience of the Holy Spirit in relation to our obedience to God's commandments such as the ones that are given to us here in this text. The Holy Spirit's come there to live in our hearts. And He's come there to guarantee that a work will take place in us. He's there as the down payment of all that will come to us in terms of the blessings given to us by grace on account of Jesus Christ. And He's going to continue in us and with us until the day that we die. And even after that, when we are someday raised from the dead as well. The Spirit was given to us to be with us forever. We know that He who began a good work in us, as it says in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6, will continue it until the day of Christ. But we find here that Paul is saying that since we have received the Spirit and the grace that will build us into the image of Christ, He is saying to us, I pray that you will not forget your responsibility in regard to this work of His Spirit and His grace in your heart and in your life. We are, first of all, to clothe ourselves, it says here, with the graces of the Spirit. We are to put on tender mercies. and kindness, and meekness, and long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. These are the things that the Christian does to clothe himself. If he is thankful for God's grace, he clothes himself. with tender mercies. He realizes that he is elect of God, that God has chosen him out of his mere free grace and mercy, that it was never anything in him that he could do to save himself from his sins. Or, why should God forgive me for all the sins that I have committed? And yet he has. And so out of thankfulness, we are to do this, what he is saying, we are to clothe ourselves with tender mercies, humility, kindness, meekness, long-suffering, and love. If we aren't doing these things, we should ask ourselves this morning if we are thankful for God's grace. Because that's the implication of what's being said here, that if we're that we're thankful that we will do this, that we will clothe ourselves with these graces that the Holy Spirit gives to us. It's the right thing to do when you get up in the morning to put your clothes on. We all do it. We get up, we put our clothes on, we look at ourselves in the mirror, ask ourselves the question, do I look alright today? Many times our clothes, as we all know, are the reflection of our very person, what we think, what we are like, what we think about ourselves, what we think about others, perhaps even what we think about God Himself. In Psalm 96 it says, Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory. Do His name. And bring an offering and come into His courts. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The words, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. In the NAS, they read this way. Worship the Lord in holy attire. And they refer to what people especially the Levites wore when they came to worship the Lord. In 2 Chronicles 20-21, a passage that we looked at last week in the afternoon service, we saw that Jehoshaphat, the king, was setting those who praised the Lord out in front as they went out to battle. He didn't set the army or all the people that were going to fight out in front. He sent the Levites, those who were going to praise the Lord, out in front. And the thing that they were to say when they went out in front of the army to battle was this. They went out in their holy attire. They were clothed in their holy garments. And as they went out before the army, they said, give thanks to the Lord for His loving kindness is everlasting. They put praise out front, but the particular praise that they put out front was thanking the Lord for His loving kindness. That's what you and I need to put out in front if you and I are going to win our spiritual battles as well. To praise the Lord with thanksgiving. Thankfulness has a direct relation to our winning our spiritual battles. When we clothe ourselves with tender mercies and kindness and humility and meekness and patience, we are doing this because we are thankful for how God has shown us grace. Someone has offended us, someone has sinned against us, and we are tempted not to forgive them. We are tempted to become embittered against them. We are tempted to hold a grudge against them in our heart. And we are tempted to speak against them and work against them in every way. But this will only lead to our dishonoring God and not to our being able to love them as we are commanded to do. Listen to Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 18. It says, You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." But if we will clothe ourselves, I'm saying here this morning, our hearts and our minds with these graces of the Spirit, if we put them on just as deliberately as we put our clothes on in the morning, if we will clothe our minds and our hearts I'm saying, then we will find that God is pleased with us. God is pleased with us. Why? Because we are thankful. We understand what sins we committed against God. We understand that we made terrible errors in our thinking. We understood that we continued in our sins before we were converted for a long time. Perhaps it was. And so we stop and think to ourselves, if that's the case, that I can be forgiven and I'm thankful for that, then surely I can show my brother or sister mercy. God has shown us mercy. Therefore, out of thankfulness to Him, we will be tenderly, merciful, kind, humble, and meek. That is, gentle and patient with other Christians. We will forgive them when they have offended us. We will forgive them when we have a complaint against them because Christ forgave us. So then we must forgive those who have trespassed against us. All of these right attitudes and actions come flowing out of our having received grace and mercy from God in relation to the whole body of our sins which God has forgiven for Christ's sake. These graces to be able to be this way. They come to us because of what Christ has done and what the Spirit is working in us based upon what Christ has done. We're thankful and we're able to be thankful in everything. Secondly, the second way that God will know and that we will know that we're truly thankful people is that we have peace ruling in our hearts. Verse 15 says, Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. Peace and thankfulness go hand in hand. If we are peacemakers and peaceable men and women, then we are that way because we have a great sense of thankfulness in our hearts because we have peace with our God because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. God and ourselves were at enmity with each other. God and ourselves hated one another before we were converted. That's what enmity means. We were hostile towards one another. There was no peace that existed between ourselves and God. This enmity in Jesus Christ no longer exists. Because Jesus Christ died for us who believe so that we would be reconciled to God. And then through Him that we would be also then reconciled to one another as brethren. That's why the person who comes to know the Lord loves his brother. He's been reconciled himself. He is a reconciler and a peacemaker himself. Listen to the words of our Savior in John 14, and you'll see this ability to have this peace ruling in our hearts, where it comes from and how it comes to our souls from God. John 14, verses 25-27, it says, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said. to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let your heart be afraid." Jesus was going away to the cross. Jesus was leaving the disciples. They were troubled in their heart. They were fearful. They were afraid. They didn't know what this all meant. He was going then from the cross to the grave, and from the grave to the skies, like that song says. And He was going to ascend up on high and be seated at the right hand of the Father on high, where He is now in His session until He comes again. And He didn't want them to think that His teaching or His help to them would stop when all of this would happen. Oh no, the Holy Spirit was going to come. The Father would send them the Spirit in Christ's name. And it is by the giving of every believer of the Spirit that each believer has peace given to them in relation to all their various decisions, joys, trials, and most importantly, their interpersonal relationships. That's why the whole emphasis is the way that it is here in chapter 3 verses 12 to 17. There are, while we are in this world, many things that can cause our hearts to be troubled, to be agitated, especially many things that even other believers say or do to us that may provoke us to respond to them and act toward them in a sinful and fleshly way. We're told here in verse 15, that as individuals and as the body of Christ, the answer to this is to let the peace of God rule in our hearts, to which we are called in one body, and be thankful. John Gill says in his commentary on this peace ruling, the metaphor is taken from the judge in the Olympic Games, who was the umpire, who was the moderator, and who determined whose the victory was, and to whom the crown belonged. The apostle would have no other umpire among the saints than the peace of God. And this may be said to reign, he says, in their hearts when it is the governing principle there. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts. When it restrains the turbulent passions of anger, wrath, and revenge, it allays undue heats, he means passions that are within us, moderates the spirits, and composes the differences. John Gill is saying here that peace ruling in the hearts does all this. The text itself says that we are called to this in relation to the body of Christ that is other Christians. The thing that we need to ask ourselves when we feel agitated and passionate about what someone else has done to us is this. What does the peace in my heart that Christ has given to me in the presence of His Spirit with me What does the Spirit think of this? Because it's the Spirit that allows us to be able to have control of ourselves in this holy way so that peace will rule in our hearts. What does the peace in my heart that Christ has given to me in the presence of His Spirit with me think about this? For I cannot have peace and agitation of spirit reigning together in the same heart. Now, they may both be there together in my heart, but one of them must rule. One of them must rule the other. Listen to Isaiah chapter 57, verses 19 and 20. I create the fruit of lips. Peace, peace to him. who is far off, and to him who is near, says the Lord, and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. The wicked are agitated and troubled and cannot rest because of their sin. In the gospel, we are healed of the sins which produce the agitation. We have peace with God. We have the peace of God. But the saints, as you well know, can become agitated and troubled by the sins of others against them, which may tempt them to treat others in the same way that they themselves have been treated. This may even happen between believers in the same church. But listen to Romans chapter 12 and verses 17 and 18. It says, Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. How can you live in this way? It's when the peace of God rules in your heart. And the peace of God will rule when you realize that Christ Himself has given you peace by His Spirit to use in situations just like this. And He will continue to give you peace. And through that means you can overcome evil with good. That is what you and I are called to do. And that is why it says in Philippians chapter 4 Verse 6, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God. When your heart is agitated because of something that someone else has done to you, do you pray? Do you pray and come and bring it to God? in order that He might have His peace rule in your heart. That's what He is calling us to do. We have to use the means of prayer and supplication with thanksgiving if we would have the ends, which is that we would have the peace of God rule in our heart. We thank Christ for the past victories of Christ's perfect life and His sacrificial death that have brought us to the state of peace with God. We thank Him for the present victories that come by His grace through His Spirit in answer to our prayers. We put the sins of the flesh to death. We war with our flesh by the power of the Spirit. And we have peace that we can be peacemakers in our relationships with people around us. We can even give thanks for the people that we perhaps think need to change and grow in relation to their faith. Apostle Paul shows us that in 1 Thessalonians 3 and verse 9. Often it's immaturity in other believers that is very disturbing to us. It's something that agitates our hearts. But the peace of God, we are called, I'm saying this morning, to let the peace of God rule in our hearts. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 3.9, Can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God? Night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect that which is lacking in your faith." You see, there were things that were lacking in their faith. There were things that Paul needed to come and speak to them about that were lacking in their faith. But all this while he's saying, For what thanks can we render to God for you? He's not saying, well, you know, you need to get this straightened out here in your lives and then maybe I'll come and you can see things completed in your life, in your faith. No, He doesn't say that. He's rejoicing over them. He's rendering thanks to God for them. This is surely a matter of great thanksgiving to help one another in relation to our faith. We can be truly thankful for all that God has given to us if we let the Word of God richly dwell in our hearts. Verse 16. Paul is getting down now to the particulars of what we would do if we're going to be thankful people. In order to be thankful, we should let the Word of God dwell in us richly. Now, how does that take place? How does the Word of God dwell in us richly? You remember Psalm 1, don't you? How blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of the sinner, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. That's how the Word of God richly dwells in you. And then you shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water. Whatever you do, you shall prosper. Your profession will be green and leafy, and you will find that that you are bearing fruit unto God. You remember also Joshua 1 verse 8, the word of God should not only be meditated upon, but it also, I believe, should be memorized if we can, to take portions of it, at least some verses of it, and memorize them. It says, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, It shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate upon it day and night, in order that you may do according to all that is written in it. For then you will be prosperous, and then you will have good success." It says there. But when it says that it should not depart from our mouth, that means that we have to be able not only to meditate on it, but it also shows us the picture that it's upon our lips, Just like somebody who's trying to memorize something, that you can see their lips moving, that they're going over it in their mind, and they're trying to remember it and keep it in their heart. That's exactly what needs to take place for the Word of God to richly dwell within you. The words of God are not to depart from our mouth. It richly dwells in us when we give the Word its highest, the highest place. in our thoughts, the thoughts of our heart. That's when it richly dwells in us. Not when we just happen to think of the Word of God, but every day as we come into various situations, we think in our mind, now how does this relate? What part of the Word of God relates to this situation that I'm in now? And we have that Word speak to our hearts in that way. It's not that we're speaking to it so much, it is speaking to us. That's the way the Word of God becomes rich. richly dwelling in our hearts. We put it in the living room of our hard house. We put it in the dining room. We put it in the kitchen. We put it in the bedroom. We put it into all the situations of life that we go through in this life in order that the Word of God might richly dwell in us. We have it there. We have it ready at hand for it's being thought of. It's being considered. And so we ask the question here this morning to ourselves, am I thankful that He has saved me and given me the grace of the Holy Spirit to help me to live the Christian life? And when we are thankful, then we bring the Word of God, the precious, the powerful, the beautiful, the convicting, the cleansing, the encouraging Word of God into our conscious consideration and meditation every day. And then when it richly dwells in us, then we're going to be more thankful. And that thankfulness will motivate you to think upon it more and more. And that's how your heart and your mind can become a storehouse for others. I'm talking about for other people. How is it that we have fellowship with one another, except around and over the Word of God? If we do not fill our hearts and minds with the Word of God so that it richly dwells in us, overflowing, how will we ever have a word and season for the weary, for the one who needs it? How will we ever be able to strengthen and encourage one another? How will we be able to come to one another and say, brother, this is what I see in your life, and I love you, and because of that I say, can you look at the Scripture together with me? But the reason for all that is because we're thankful, and we're thankful because the Word of God is dwelling richly in us. And that leads to our being able to assume all of these holy responsibilities in the Christian life. So I'm saying that thankfulness is a very important component in our obedience. It says here in our passage that we're to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly, teaching and admonishing one another, that we'll build one another up in this holy way. That we'll take the Word of God, the precious, powerful, convicting, cleansing Word of God, and we will take that Word of God and we bring it into our own heart and experience first, but then it overflows into the lives of others. How does it do so? Well, it does so by our singing. We have enough of the Word of God in our hearts that we sing it. to one another. We sing it to one another here, but let me ask you, do you sing the good word of God? Do you sing the hymns of God and the psalms of God to your family members or in your family worship or to yourself during the day in your heart and mind? It's saying, let this word of Christ dwell in you richly. And the way that we do this is admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts. to the Lord. I plead with you this morning that you will begin to do this, if you haven't done it already. Begin to sing the songs of Zion, not only when we're together here, but at other times during the day, during the week. Fill your mind and heart with the good word of God. Teach others of the precious promises of God. May they be upon your lips and in your mouth when you walk by the way with your children. May they know that this Word is dwelling richly in you. This is how the Lord and others will know that you're truly a thankful person. And then finally, we can be truly thankful people if we will give thanks in whatever we do, in word or in deed. Verse 17. Now notice that we're being told here not only just to be thankful, the attitude of our heart, but also that we would give Thanks. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Giving thanks is shown here to be right and appropriate in whatever situation that we're in. Whatever we do, whatever we say, our focus ought to be twofold. We ought to be doing whatever we're doing. and saying whatever we are saying in the name of the Lord Jesus, it says here. And we ought to be giving thanks that He is the one who gives us the grace to do or to say anything right or of lasting value. Anything that is glorifying to Him, anything that is edifying to others, anything that is helpful to others, is going to come out of a thankful spirit. Thankful that God has given us all of these things. That's how we give to others. We have been first given to. If we have been first given to, then we are to give to others. And the way that we give to others is if we can, ourselves, in everything, whatever we do, whatever we say, that we are giving thanks. That will keep us from sin, and it will secure our obedience. It will do both. Ephesians 4, verse 20, it's worded in this way, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are to give thanks in everything as well as our being thankful, as our continual attitude or mindset. And that can only take place when we're thinking about the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ is the name in which we frame our prayers to God. We often end our prayers with the phrase, in Jesus' name. And it's right, because all that we pray for and all that we ask for in our requests must come through Jesus Christ to the Father And it all must be in line with His Word and with His will. That's why we pray in Jesus' name, and that's what it means when we pray in Jesus' name. And our verse 17 of the text tells us that whatever we do in word or deed should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, which teaches us this, that all of our words and all of our deeds ought to be accompanied by prayer and with the thought that what we are doing and saying would be pleasing to God, that it would honor God and that it would bring glory to God. I'm saying everything that we do and everything that we say would be that way. Honoring God and bringing glory to Him. And if we learn the duty of giving thanks, in whatever we do and say, it will truly be a help to us in living righteously in the Christian life, in the sight of God and men. People who are unthankful to God, people rather who are thankful to God in this way, they become holy people as time goes on. Unbelieving people, we are told in the book of Romans, Chapter 1 and verse 21, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor did they give thanks. So see, it's very important, the things that I'm saying to you here. They were not thankful. They became futile. It says there in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of God for that which is corruptible. And this is what I pray that none of us would become like that. The knowledge of God, and the knowledge of His Word, and the knowledge of what Christ has done for us, and what the Spirit is doing for us, who believe, ought to lead us to be thankful. Thankful in everything, and for everything, that God would be glorified. May this be seen more and more in our midst. Let's pray together. Father, we ask that you would take these words of your Word and help us to see the connection between our assuming our responsibilities as a Christian and being thankful. Help us, Lord, to understand how to clothe ourselves with the graces of the Spirit. For we have received this great gift of the person of your Holy Spirit, and we would live to your glory. Help us, Lord, in the times when our hearts are agitated, that peace may rule in our hearts, and that we might be thankful. Help us, O Lord, to be able to see how it is that we can let the Word of Jesus Christ dwell in us richly. May we apply our hearts and minds to it, to the Word of God, to memorize it, and to meditate upon it, and to think of it so that it speaks to us each day. And then, Lord, that we might truly be those who are not only thankful, but that we might really give thanks. May it be so, Lord, with each of us. May you work in us a work of great grace so that we are truly a thankful people. For we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.