Let's go ahead and pray and then we'll get into this text. Loving Heavenly Father, we do bless your name. We acknowledge that you are good. That you're beyond our total comprehension. You're bigger than we can grasp and we love that. Thank you that you are a Heavenly Father who shepherds his sheep. We thank you that you've laid before us your word and a direction for life. Thank you for Jesus. who You long ago promised, who came, who died, who took our sin and rose in victory and triumph over death and sin and hell. Thank You that through faith in Him, we can be redeemed, we can be forgiven, and we can live a life through His power and His Spirit within us that pleases You. Thank You for that. Father, we've come into this sanctuary this morning. We've all dealt with different things throughout the week, but we have something in common. We have a need for You. I pray that we can set aside or at least bring those things, those struggles, those issues in our life next to You, next to what You've declared and the revelation that we have of You. And help us to go forward from there. As I proclaim, would Your Spirit lead as we, the listener and myself, respond to Your Word. Give grace, courage, and let us do so in faith and obedience. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Psalm 103, verse 1, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits, who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion, who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. The Lord performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. as far as the east is from the west, so far as it removed our transgressions from us. Just as the Father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he himself knows our frame, he is mindful that we are but dust. As for man, his days are like grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer. The loving kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children, to those who keep His covenant and remember His precepts to do them. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, you who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the Lord, all you works of His, in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. I want to speak to you today about this issue of giving thanks to the Lord, really about having a thankful heart. There's an aspect to the life of the believer that can be a wonderful help to us and is pleasing to God. And that is a practice of being thankful. This attitude ought to be ours and can be a challenge to maintain. If I asked you what it was that would keep you from being thankful, I believe that for most it would be you respond in this way that often it comes down to the circumstances that come into our lives. These circumstances seem to have a profound effect on us at times. That is certainly true. Opening day of deer season was Thursday. And to help you just to think through this, see just how shallow and fickle we are at times, I would ask you, which deer hunters do you think were the most thankful at the end of that day? Would it be the one who harvested a beautiful buck? Or would it be the one who didn't see anything big enough to shoot or perhaps even messed up on a perfect opportunity? Who do you think it would be? Let's say they were both believers. Which one do you think would be most thankful to God? Let's take that thought into everyday life, whether it be health issues, relationships, employment, parenting, athletics, how those things are and how they're going often determines whether we are thankful to God or not. But I want to say to you today that there is a relationship, there's a foundation for the believer that I believe should exude or help us to be thankful. That relationship is what I want to speak to for just a moment. One's relationship to God is the foundation for a life of thanksgiving, is for the redeemed. Believers have every reason to live a life that is overflowing with gratitude and thanksgiving to our great and wonderful God. To have what we have in Christ transcends into our lives in such a way as to give peace that goes beyond circumstances. That goes beyond what we face. And it leaves us with hope. Hope that's an anchor to the soul. Hope that wells up within us to adoration of our Lord and our great God. Psalm 103 I'm not going to preach every verse in this psalm, but I want to give you a few things from this psalm I think that can give you reason today, remind you perhaps once again, why it is that we ought to be thankful. Look at verses 1-5 with me again. Bless the Lord, O my soul, all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits. You might say, well, what are some of those benefits? It is that this psalm, written by David, he sort of gives a list here. Look at it. Verse 3, Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion, Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. Why should we be thankful? Well I want to say there's thinking through this thought and I'm in this text but I have to tell you there's so much out there that I could bring this morning and I had to really narrow this down and I'm going to try to stick with this text I'll bring in some other things as well. But I want you to know that David speaks and I want to say first and foremost we can be thankful that we know him. He speaks as a child of God here, and he says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless means to give thanks or to adore, adoration. And it begins for David with that thought, I know Him. I was thinking through this psalm, and I was thinking through David's life. He could have written something very different, couldn't he have? Here's a guy, you might say, well, David was the king. He was a man after God's own heart. There was special favor on him. That would be true. But it also would be true to say that few of us have gone through what this man has gone through. Hunted like a dog by King Saul. Pursued day after day, even though God had promised him that one day he would be king. His first wife, who King Saul had given to him, was taken away from him. He knew what it was like to suffer. He knew what it was like to be grieved. He knew heartache. I don't believe he sets that aside. But I believe he brings it into proper perspective. And he says, bless the Lord, O my soul. We can be thankful because he saves sinners. We can be thankful that we know him. 1 Timothy 1.15 says it's a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The Apostle says among whom I am foremost or greatest of all. David knew God. He knew what it was like to be forgiven. You who know him. We say praise His great name. He saves sinners today. He's not done with that. You know, the cross isn't just for us to come to when we understand we're a sinner and we need to be saved. But there's this continual forgiveness that is ours there. We consistently look at. We've been forgiven. All of our trespasses, He's forgiven us of. That's an amazing thing. What a great need we had and have. And what a great God we have. that He would forgive us. Have you thought about that, friend? The basis, one's relationship to God, really is the foundation for a life of thanksgiving. Let's not forget that He's forgiven us. It says here, bless the Lord, O my soul. All that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Forget none of His benefits. I mentioned this in our Sunday School class this morning, but I don't think there ought to be a day that goes by For those who know him, for them to not say, thanks for saving me. A sinner, a wretched sinner, in line to incur your wrath. You saved me. We need to give thanks for that. And not only did he save us, but he's still in the business of doing that today, isn't he? So there's great joy in my heart that I've been regained, not because of anything I've done, Because God is a gracious, loving, compassionate God. But there's joy in my heart and hope as well, because I know a lot of people that still need to be redeemed. And he's still in the business of saving sinners. Acts 15-14, Peter has related how God first concerned Himself with taking from the Gentiles a people for His name. He's still doing that today. from the Jews as well, but especially in the Gentile community. We all have family and friends that need to be saved. And we can thank God, we can be thankful that he still has a heart. He's not willing that any should perish, that all should come to repentance. So I want to start with that as a foundation. Do you know him? This Thanksgiving is not for those who are not redeemed. But for those who know him, this is our heart cry. Bless the Lord, O my soul. He continues on here as well. Further down, mentions a few things. Look what he says. He pardons all your iniquities, heals all your diseases. But that pardon, David knew that pardon. David knew what it was like to be forgiven. He knew what it was like to be a great sinner and to have been forgiven. God extends that grace to us as well. He's still in the business of saving sinners. He's still at work in that way. Look at verse 8. I'll pick it up in verse 6. And there's a lot to be thankful for. He redeems your life from the pit. He mentions in verse 5 just the good years that come from knowing him. Verse 6, "...the Lord performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel." And look at verse 8, "...the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness." We can thank God. We can bless his name. We can have thankful hearts because he is gracious. God's grace is offered to you and I salvation. God's grace has given us our next breath. God's grace has sustained us through the years. God's grace saved us and it continues to empower us to live as he would have us to live. But there's something else to be thankful for. The Lord is compassionate and gracious. You know, God has great compassion and pity toward us. And it says He's gracious here. That doesn't happen without Him being merciful. See, if it's not for God's mercy, and by the way, God's grace is that He just lavishes on us that which we don't deserve. But mercy is the opposite in some sense, because mercy withholds what we do deserve. We don't deserve An opportunity to know him. We don't deserve forgiveness. We don't deserve his love. And yet that's just what God does toward us. He's compassionate. He's gracious. He's merciful. He's full of mercy. Look at verses 10 and 11 as well. He's not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. How many can say amen to that? Praise God, huh? We deserve his wrath. His righteous indignation. toward us. We deserve that. And it says He's merciful here. He's not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. That's really beyond words. This mercy, this lovingkindness, it is eternal. It has carried us this far. It will carry us through and into all eternity. But He is lovingly kind. He's compassionate. He's gracious. You know, we have every reason to be thankful. He's still saving sinners. He's full of grace. He's full of mercy. He knows us fully as well and still loves us. Look at verses 13 and 14. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him, for He Himself knows our frame. He's mindful that we are but dust." Wow! There's this pity. There's this compassion from our God who knows us like no one else does. I don't believe anyone here knows someone else here to the full extent. I really think that we don't fully understand and comprehend who we are. But God does. Here's an amazing thing. I want you to do a rewind. I'm going to have you do this for just a moment. I want you to rewind. And I want you to go back. I want you to think about all the ways that you have offended a holy, righteous God. From thought to deed. I'm nearing 50 years old. I've got almost 50 years of it. It's back there. It's on the cross, praise God. But God alone knows every one of those thoughts, those offenses, those deeds. He knows them all. And there's never been a time when He's not been lovingly kind to me, when He's not extended His grace into my life. That's an amazing thing. You know, there's a lot of love here this morning, but we don't know everything about the other person. We don't know what that person often thinks in their mind towards us. There's just a lot we don't know, and I'm glad we don't. And there's an extent of love here this morning to one another, and there ought to be, and we need to be growing in that. But I want you to know, God absolutely is in love with us, knowing all the junk, warts and all. You can't make Him love you any more than He does. Now, the matter of pleasing God and being right with God, that's another matter. But I want you to know this, Our Heavenly Father absolutely loves us to a degree that is beyond our comprehension. That's a beautiful thing. We have reason to give thanks. We have reason to bless His name. And He just makes it very clear here. Here's my God and He knows me. He knows our frame. He's mindful that we are dust. He knows. And yet, He loves with a deep and growing, as we would see it, a growing compassion into our lives. There's another reason I want you to think about this and give thanks to His name. And that's because He is present, He is past, and He is future. Look at verse 15. As for man, and this really lays it out what we are, his days are like grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer. God's not saying that we are not eternal beings, but He's saying our time on earth, vapor, like a flower, like the grass. You guys know what I'm talking about, don't you? They're here, a lot of you here this morning, they have a different color hair than I do. Some of you have less hair than I do. And you look back and you say, wow, where did that go, right? Not your hair, but time. Where did that go? It's just a flash, right? It's like a vapor, it's gone. Listen, look at the great contrast here. Verse 17, but the loving kindness of the Lord is, listen, from everlasting, everlasting to those who fear Him. You know, we say that we have eternal life. The Scripture says that and it's true. But you know, we could not even claim that and God couldn't say He gave it to us if He was not eternal. And this will make the brain cells thump around in there a bit. But He eternally was. There was never a point in time, in history, in eternity when God was not. And there will never be a time or a point in history when God will not be. And we are the recipients of His wonderful grace and mercy, His lovingkindness that endures forever because our God is eternal. What a contrast He draws here. Man, there He is, like flower, like the grass, it's gone. But the lovingkindness of the Lord, He will always love us. And He will always be merciful and gracious to us. It is to those who fear Him. It's everlasting. And it's righteousness to children's children. To those who keep His covenant and remember to do His precepts. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all. He's always ruled. He's always been sovereign and He always will. We need to give thanks for that. You know, our lives are just a moment in time. And we often, we struggle, don't we, with the circumstances that come to us. It's like a parade. We see what's before us. We got to keep the whole picture in mind, guys. And when we do, it'll make a difference of what is in our heart and what comes out our mouth. It'll make a difference in the attitude that we take toward our day. But God is, He's everlasting. And he also rules. Look at v. 19-22. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens and sovereignty rules over all. And it's like David's just saying to everyone, every place, any being, praise the Lord. Look at what he does in v. 20. Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength who perform His Word, obeying the voice of His Word. Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, You who serve Him doing His will. I think it's real personal. Bless the Lord all you works of His and places of dominion. In the last part of 22, bless the Lord, O my soul. He's joining that heavenly host and praising His great God who rules. There's a lot of other things I can say to this. These are just a few from this psalm. I want to mention a couple of other things from a couple of different psalms and then we'll move forward to Hebrews the 13th chapter. But I want to mention to you too that God, I want you to know that God is good. And that we can have thankful hearts toward Him and the foundation of knowing Him ought to produce that. But He is absolutely, beautifully good. Turn over to Psalm 106, verse 1. Praise the Lord. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Friends, let me ask you, is it not true that sometimes we really question as to the fact if God is good or not? Something comes along. Maybe it's news of cancer. Perhaps it's the death of a loved one, or an accident, or injustice that you see in your own life, or someone else's. And we wonder, is God good? God's Word is very clear that He is good. Look at chapter 107, verse 1. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. Often I've gathered around saints that have known the Lord, some of them longer than I've been alive, and I will hear from them this, and this happened just in the last week or so, so I'm reminded of it again. Began talking to the Lord with this person, and you know, they said something like this, well, God is so good to us, and He's been so good to us, to my family, to my spouse and myself. They're looking back and they're proclaiming, He is good. Psalm 86 tells us that God is good. By the way, I think one of the worst of the enemy in our own lives is to get us to question whether he's good or not. And if you come to a point as a believer where you really begin to think he's not good, you're buying into the lie of the enemy. That was in part what he implied in Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve. part of that temptation. I want you to know one other thing here, too, that's so dear to me and to, I think, all of you, is the fact that God is listening. He hears our prayers. Psalm 116, verses 1 and 2, part of verse 2. But the psalmist says, I love the Lord. Psalm 116, verse 1. I love the Lord. You might say, well, why? This is what he says, I love the Lord because He's heard my voice and my supplication, because He's inclined His ear unto me. Therefore, I'll call upon Him as long as I live. We are certainly fickle at times, shallow. But I have to tell you, one of the things I love about God is that He always hears. No matter the situation, the trial, the temptation, the fear, the anger, the regret, God hears. I love Him for that. You realize there are people in your lives, you know this is true. Sometimes you're talking to them and I struggle at times to listen as I should. Sometimes you're talking to them and you're thinking, they're not listening. They didn't hear what I just said. You know that's not true of our God. Think of that. The Creator, Sustainer, The Savior of the world invites you and I to the throne of grace in time of need. He has time. And He listens. That's amazing to me. I don't know who the most important person you ever talked to was. They don't even compare. At all. With an opportunity to speak to God. I want to bring this all to a conclusion here in Hebrews the 13th chapter, so I'd ask you to turn there. Just one verse, Hebrews 13.15. I want to challenge you in this. We could spend a lot of time, we did in Sunday school class, just looking at the different places in the New Testament that God calls us to be thankful. It's very clear. Hebrews 13.15 gives it, I just love the way this verse states it, so I'm going to finish here. Through Him, that is through Christ then, and this, by the way, has been all about the supremacy of Christ. He's just amazing overall. And he comes to verse 15, Through Him then, that's through Christ, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. Through Him, it is through Christ that we are to offer up what is called sacrifice praise to God. How can we do that? Well, it's because we have a relationship with Him. We know Him. That's the foundation. Again, I'm back to that. The foundation for a life of thanksgiving is this, that we know God. And God says through Him. It's through Christ that we are to do this. There's cause and effect here. One touches the other because I know Him. Something ought to be happening in my life, the life of the redeemed. Our lips can speak by way of thanksgiving and adoration to God. Bless the Lord, O my soul. And it's something we're to do continually. Not just Sundays. By the way, I want you to come tonight. Tonight's a beautiful night of worship. You're going to hear God's people testify to God's goodness. They're going to bless His name. There's going to be music. And then you'll often see this in Scripture. There's opportunities around a meal. Our ladies are going to cook some of the best pies you've ever seen and tasted. And we will gather around there and continue to praise His name. But this is what we're to do. He says here, through Him, then let us continually offer. That's the practice of the believer. It ought to be something that's always on my lips. That I'm giving thanks and praise to God. That's not that we sweep aside the challenges of life. That's not it at all. We bring them up next to a great God who can minister to those things and take us through it. We know that. We are to be doing this through Him. Let us continually offer up praise to God. I hear that often from God's people. I have to tell you, that is a great joy and help and benefit to me. I want to say this to you. Are you doing that? Are you giving others this blessing of hearing you speak of the goodness of God? Are you offering that up? Because look, it's really here a sacrifice of praise. You might say, well, I don't get it. Okay. He just spells it out for us. Sacrifice of praise to God. That is, here it is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name. This is God's call on us. We are to be people that what comes out of our mouths reflects thanksgiving and adoration of our great God. God desires this of the redeemed. It is good for us, helpful to others, and it pleases Him. We are to be the people that make this sort of sacrifice. We are to always speak well of God. And I believe this includes speaking well of the things that He loves and the people He loves. Let me finish here. If the Lord were to take what is coming from our lips, my lips today, and weighed it in the balance, what would the overall theme of my heart, what would it read? I think that's a question we need to ask. Am I all about seeing God as I ought to see Him? And then speaking that in a way that's honoring to Him. We can say a lot of things, right? And often our thoughts and our minds go to the negative and it's easier to pile up on those things. But you know, we need to stop. And we need to consider that God calls us to continually speak well of Him, well of His Word, well of His name. We have such a treasure trove to do that from as believers. Been redeemed. God's at work in our lives. He's ministering through us and to us and all these things. But what about you? Where does God find you today? Do you know Him? Because what we've been talking about here, see, what we've been talking about is really for those who know Him, this whole idea of a foundation, Because a relationship to God that overflows in Thanksgiving, that's only for God's people. And if you're not one of them, you need to understand something. Today, you're a sinner and you're in line to incur the holy wrath of a holy God. And that's eternity in a place we don't like to mention. It's called hell. God's not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. And that is that you just humble yourself before God, acknowledge your great sinner, and come to faith in Christ, that He died for you. He's not just the Savior of the world. He's my Savior. When He was on the cross over 2,000 years ago, He was there because He's God, and He saw my sin, and my sin was placed on Him, and God's wrath was poured out on Him, and He stood in my place there. He took what I deserved there. If you'll understand and come to faith in Him, He will save you today. And you can be forgiven of all your iniquities. What a great joy that would be to your heart and to the people of God. The people of God. I want to say that I believe there are some sins in the Bible that we don't talk much about. And I think this is one of them. We have every reason to be thankful We get so tied up in our selfish ambition, in our pride, in what we want and when we want it, how people have dealt with us. We can go down that trail, can't we? What a pity party we can have. We have no reason for that. We need to be thankful. You know, my prayer is that this whole idea would just flow through our hearts and it would grow in this congregation and grow and grow. And when people stepped inside those doors, they would notice something. Wow, what's that all about? That's about the redeemed giving thanks to their great God as they ought to. Let's pray. Loving Father, you've given us a real challenge here today. And we understand how fickle we are, how often we go a sinful route. Help, Father, that our lips would be speaking praise and adoration to you. I pray that we would understand this truth, that because of this relationship, everything else changes. All those issues that are tough on us and challenging, well, that brings them into balance. Thank You that You're good, You're sovereign, You're in control. And that You will see us through every challenge. Father, there's heartaches here today. There's difficult situations. I pray You would help us to see, help them to see, through it all, that You're good. That You'll bring all of this about and change and bring help just as You would please. And may we humble ourselves there Acknowledging that this isn't about us. This is about your great name. Father, may we start today, if it's not our practice, even as we go out those doors on that ride home, as we're at a meal with someone, may we speak well of your wonderful name because we know you. Thank you for saving us. Wretched sinners that we are. Thank you that you know all about us and that didn't change a thing. You still want to redeem us. And you've done that for so many through faith in Christ. There may be some here today that have yet to understand that and come to faith. Do that in their hearts. That work of the Spirit now. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.