Today I'll be preaching from the book of Psalm, Psalm number 95, Psalm number 95, and a short Psalm of just 11 verses. I'll be focusing on verses 8 to 11. For the sake of continuity, however, I'll read verses 1 down to verse number 11. Psalm 95 and verse number 1, the Bible says, O come, let us sing unto the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth. The strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his. and he made it and his hands formed the dry land oh come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the lord our maker for he's our god and we are the people of his pastor and the sheep of his hand today if ye will hear his voice harden not your heart as in the provocation and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said it is the people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways, unto whom I swear in my wrath. that they should not enter into my rest. Let us pray. Father, we thank you once again for the wonderful privilege we have to worship you and to magnify your name and to then gather around your precious word. Lord, I pray that you would use your word in a mighty way to speak to each and every heart. We know that your word is quick, it's powerful, it's sharper than any two-edged sword. And I pray that as it goes forward, that it would accomplish your will and purpose. I pray that you would give me the words you'll have me to say. May they not be my words, but directly yours. and that your will would be accomplished. Thank you once again for your goodness, your love, your mercy, and your grace. Take full control. May your presence be felt and may it move as only you can. And we'll be careful to give you the honor and glory. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You will be seated. This past week, my wife and I were privileged to be able to travel to the island of St. Martin and to celebrate with the Battle Baptist Church there as they celebrated their 47th church anniversary. It was truly a refreshing week, a great time of spiritual blessing. But as we endeavored to leave from Nevis Saturday before last, I wondered whether or not this week would even happen. And this is because as we left home to go to the pier and we got down trying to catch the eight o'clock boat, when we got there, to our shock and dismay, There was no 8 a.m. boat running. Keep in mind that this boat trip was listed on the schedule, but it was a no-show. Based on all the heads nodding, it seems as though many of you have experienced this same thing. This left us in a quandary. because based on the time of the flight, we had very little margin for error. And so we rushed over to Ueli, on the other side of the island, as we who live here would understand, had to get a special charter, then arrange a taxi to get to the airport, which cost us twice as much. And even as we were trying to get this sorted out, I promise you, I thought to myself, we are in grave danger of missing this flight. All of the extra stress and drama because a boat that was scheduled to sail did not show up and failed to show up and there was no notification provided to us. this scenario of a boat not showing up was a problem. But how many of you know that when God chooses not to show up in our services and in our lives, my friend, it is an even greater problem for us whether we acknowledge it or not. My friend, the message here today is that without the presence of God in our lives, without his presence in our services, without his presence in our activities, our efforts are in vain and amount to a colossal waste of time. It is vital that we are aware of what is it that prompts God to show up. You see, my friend, the God of the universe does not show up under any circumstance. There are certain criteria, certain requirements, there are certain conditions, if you will, that must be in place for this God of the universe to make a decision to grace us with his presence. We've been looking at this matter in the book of 2 Chronicles chapter 5 to 7 for some time now, and these passages give us some clear insight as to what does God require in order for his presence to be felt. We've seen that the background to that passage in 2 Chronicles is that the children of Israel were at a very exciting period in their history. They were moving from the use of a tabernacle, which was somewhat of a more temporary facility, if you will, or location, that they had used since the days of being in the wilderness, getting to the promised land. And now, through the desire of king david which was now manifesting itself in his son king solomon his successor they had now built a permanent structure by way of a temple and this temple was now to be dedicated to the lord and the bible says a paraphrasing here is that when solomon prayed listen the glory of the lord filled the temple God sanctioned what was happening with his presence. We've seen by way of observation in that passage and very many others that God shows up when his people sacrifice. The people sacrificed what they had to see the temple come to fruition. God honors sacrifice. We also noticed that there was sanctification. The people were clean, not only physically, which is important for good sanitation, but even more importantly, they were cleaned up spiritually as well. God says, be holy as I am holy. We observed as well that there was unity among the people. You see, God is a God who loves togetherness, who loves moving people in the right direction, following him in unity and harmony. And these people were as one, the Bible describes it. They were unified. We observed as well that the people were filled with praise. Amen? Listen, they praised the Lord and God inhabits the praise of His people. In other words, when people praise the Lord, God is urged to show up in their lives. There was praise. And praise is like a twin of thanksgiving. We are currently exploring this requirement of thanksgiving. Notice what the Bible says here in verse number two of Psalm 95. The psalmist pleading here, he says, let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. In other words, thanksgiving is so important, you don't find it after you come, you bring it when you come to praise the Lord and to worship. And we've seen in Psalm number 95 how important this matter of thanksgiving is to Almighty God. It's a requirement, my friend. God requires that we have thankful hearts. Notice in verse number 3 the reason. Why ought we to be so grateful and full of thanksgiving to Almighty God? Why? For the Lord is a great God. and the king above all gods. My friend, there are a multiplicity of reasons to be thankful to God. Notice verse number seven, for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Anybody got any reason this morning for some thanksgiving to God? Let me tell you, he woke you up this morning And so there are reasons to be able to be filled with thanksgiving to God. Notice the response. to thanksgiving. Look at verse number one. Oh come let us do what? Sing unto the Lord. My friend, singing is not just done to fill the spot. Singing ought to be done as a response of our hearts that are filled with thanksgiving. So I burst out in singing to this great God and to make a joyful noise, to praise him. Let us worship and bow down That's a response of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving yields or brings about worship, surrender to this great God. It's a response of saying, God, I'm so grateful for what you've done in my life, your love, your mercy and grace. I have no other response but to surrender my life to you. That's the response of thanksgiving. But notice very importantly here, And this is somewhat of a sobering transition in this psalm, that there is a request, a request by the psalmist. He says, listen, there ought to be a natural response. of thanksgiving, to praise, to worship, to bow down, to sing. But the psalmist says, listen, there are times in our lives when we don't do it naturally and we are feeling oriented. We are up one day and we're down another. We feel like everything is going our way, then we're filled with thanksgiving. But the psalmist says, listen, even though that response is not natural, I feel an urgency to make a request of you to make it a priority to be filled with thanksgiving to this great God. So if you don't do it naturally, I have to ask you to make sure that you do. So he says in verse number seven, he says, today, if you would hear his voice, harden not your heart. In other words, make this attitude of thanksgiving a priority in your life. Do it today. Don't wait until tomorrow. Don't wait until your circumstance changes. Everything might not be going your way, but find something to thank God for. He said, make this thing a priority. He says, don't harden your heart. He says, as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness. And today I want to focus here in these remaining verses in this psalm on a reminder that the psalmist sought to be able to give to these who he would write this psalm to and by extension to all of us. You see, my friend, the psalmist was somewhat clinching the point here, if you will. He says, I'm making a request of you. Keep in mind, the entire thrust of this psalm is the importance of thanksgiving. Keep that in mind. And he says, it ought to be a natural response. I'm not to have to prompt you, but just in case I do, this matter of thanksgiving is so important that I'm gonna have to make a request of you, specifically, because we don't always feel like we want to be thankful. But he says, just in case that didn't do it, let me give you a sobering reminder of our forefathers, of our ancestors, of a time in the history of the nation of Israel when people failed to be thankful and the devastating consequences that resulted. He says, hopefully by the end of this reminder, you would understand the importance of having a thankful heart. So today we want to look at this reminder that the Psalmist sought to provide for the people and by extension all of us. Now notice the first thing regarding this reminder and put yourself in the position of the nation of Israel as he recalls the time when they would leave the bondage of Egypt and they would go through the wilderness on their way to their destiny, the promised land. Now notice he recalls that these individuals, our forefathers, They witnessed what God had done. Now notice what he says here in verse number nine. He says, your fathers tempted me. They proved me. And look at the last phrase in this verse. Let's read it together. And what? And saw my In other words, here's what he was saying. He was saying these individuals, these people, our forefathers, they witnessed what God had done. They saw what happened in Egypt. They saw the plagues that were brought upon Pharaoh and all the Egyptians and how God made a division between His people and the Egyptians. And while there were plagues in Egypt, God's people didn't have any plagues. That was the hand of God. They witnessed what God did when they were at the Red Sea and Pharaoh was chasing after them and God put a cloud between them and gave almost a million people enough time to cross over into the Red Sea and parted the Red Sea. They saw all that. They saw God bring the Red Sea back over and cover up the Egyptians so that not one of them escaped. He says they witnessed that. When they crossed over the Red Sea, they experienced some thirst and they saw God turn the bitter water at Mara into sweet water. They saw God give them manna falling from heaven. They saw God give them water from the rock. They saw God caused them to have victory over the enemies, that they would have a pair of shoes that would last several years and not wear out. Listen, that is the hand of God. They witnessed all of these amazing things that other people and other nations did not get to see. My friend, when it comes to thanksgiving, understand that what you and I witness by way of the goodness of God, we are accountable for it. You know why we have to be thankful? We have seen God do a lot. Anybody could testify that you have witnessed the goodness of God. My friend, let me tell you something. We have seen God's hand in so many ways throughout the course of our lives that we have gotten to the point where we take it for granted. We just expect it because we're just accustomed to God's goodness. We're living in this part of the world where, let me tell you, God has provided for us food. Listen, you may experience a little bit of hunger before lunch, or a little bit of hunger before dinner, or a little bit of hunger when you wake up in the morning, but we don't know what it is to experience days and days and days and weeks and months of hunger. God has been good to us. He has provided us food. He provides us shelter. He provides us clothing. He provides us protection during storms. He has provided us healing. He gives us jobs. He gives us finances. I mean, and here in this federation, we're so accustomed to provisions that, listen, people are so accustomed that double salary don't even excite any people anymore. It's just normal. People think that's just a normal part car or their salary. It's not where we are. We got vehicles. I mean, you drive past the yard. I mean, you got three and four cars and things sitting in there. We got clean air. We got rain and water. We got the absence of war and conflict and unrest. We got limits of outbreaks of diseases. I mean, we got free education. We got safety guards that giving us during travel. Listen, we got a great salvation. We got a Holy Spirit. We got a Bible. We got the truth of God's word. We are here in a building with padded pews. I mean, not benches. We got AC. I mean, people complain about all kind of things. I mean, we got, we got, Listen, we are a choir. Listen, God has been good to us. Listen, I wish we could just go travel the world and go and go to some places. When we come back, we would realize how blessed we are. God, by the way, God did it. We have witnessed a lot, but yet people are discontent, filled with a complaining spirit. That's exactly what happened to these people, the nation of Israel, as they were in the wilderness on their way, get this, to their destiny. And after witnessing what they did, notice the next thing. They were warned. They were warned. Now, you don't see this in verse number nine, but I want to, this is implied very clearly, and I want to draw your attention to a number of passages in the book of Exodus and in the book of Numbers, and you see the mercy and grace of God as God warned them of their murmuring, of their complaining, of their lack of thankfulness. Now look at Exodus chapter 15. Exodus chapter 15. This is right after God has delivered them across the Red Sea. I mean, you would think that the amazing hand of God and this amazing victory would last a while and resonate in the hearts of these people. But look at verse number 23. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah and the people murmured against Moses saying what shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree. which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet, and there he made them for a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them. And he said, if thou wilt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandment, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord that healeth thee. This was a warning to them. Look at chapter 17. In chapter 17, very shortly after, they are in the wilderness of sin. They had no water to drink in verse number one. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses and said, give us water that we may drink. And Moses said, why chide ye with me? Wherefore do we tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted for water and the people murmured against Moses and said, wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us? and our children and our cattle with thirst. I mean, they're murmuring and they're crying unto Moses and they're almost ready to stone him, Moses says. God warns them again. This is not good. This attitude of unthankfulness, ungratefulness, of complaining, of murmuring. He said, it is not good. Look over in Numbers chapter 11. God is warning and dealing with this complaining spirit every time that there is an issue. Every time everything is not in accordance with how they feel it should be and the timing of what it should be. Verse 1 of Numbers chapter 11, and the people did what? Complained. And it displeased the Lord. And the Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. My friend, there are so many verses here that we can look at. They complain, they complain about not having flesh to eat, and there is nothing. Look at what it said in verse number six here. There is nothing besides this manna. All we're eating is this manna. And they're complaining against God all throughout this chapter. Verses number 10 to verse number 18, number 20, 18 to 20, 31 to 34, they're complaining and God is warning them, listen, stop this complaining. Do you know that God is a merciful God? And I fear that God's mercy upon our lives is often mistaken for God's approval for our complaining spirit. Lamentation says, listen, it is because of God's mercies that we are what? We are not consumed. All the meanwhile, God is providing warnings. to his people. But notice the progression. The people witnessed what God did. God warned them. But notice, the people were willful. Now notice back in Psalm number 95. I want you to pay attention here to what the Bible says and how this is described. They were witnessing what God did. were warned about their complaining spirit, but they were willful. Verse number nine says, when your fathers tempted me, proved me. In other words, here's why they were willful. They saw what God did. They knew God. They knew the power of God. They knew that God was not pleased with this complaining spirit, but they still intentionally did it. That's why God says, you tempted me. You proved me. You saw what I did. You know who I am. You know my power. You know my might. You know my goodness. And yet, you're still willful. You know, today, many people see the grace of God, see the goodness of God. and still reject and complain against this great God. My friend, that is a very dangerous practice. Now, turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 1. I want you to notice a very devastating cycle, a downward spiral, probably would be a better description, if you will, that comes from a heart of unthankfulness. Now, look at Romans chapter 1. Every time I read this chapter in the Word of God, it sobers me. It is very... How do I describe it? It's sobering. Now, look at verse number 18 of Romans chapter 1. It says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against ungodliness and all unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Notice that phrase, hold the truth. These are individuals who witness God's goodness, who know the truth, who are aware. Look at verse number 19. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. Awareness for God has what? Showed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen Being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and guarded so that they are without excuse look at verse number 21 because that when they knew God They glorified him what not as God neither were what? Neither were what? Are you reading the same thing I'm reading? There neither were they thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. My friend, here is the importance of having a thankful spirit and a thankful heart and being grateful for the goodness of God. If you're not grateful, if you're not thankful, here's what happens. you lose spiritual eyesight. Your eyes become dark and in other words, you lose good judgment and you think you are right but because you are a complainer and a murmurer, you are seeing wrong and you think professing themselves to be wise, they became what? Fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God, uncorruptible God into an image made like to incorruptible man and to birds and four-footed bees and creeping things. After a while, the God who's the God of the universe is no longer God to them. Some beast is God. Some inanimate object is God, and they think I am Dr. So-and-so. I'm full of wisdom. When the Bible describes you as a fool, that's the danger, my friend, of being unthankful. You begin to engage in willful acts against this great God. But notice the consequences of such a heart. Back in Psalm number 95, I want to keep a finger into Romans chapter 1, because we're going to turn back there. As you see the progression. Back in Psalm 95 and verse number 10, look at what God caused to happen to these unthankful, ungrateful people. Verse number 10, 40 years long. I was grieved with this generation, and it is said, it is the people that do err in their heart. They have not known my ways. My friend, God caused them to wander. Imagine a journey that should have taken days to their destiny, to the promised land, ended up taking them 40 years. We read in Romans, in Numbers rather, chapter 14, that God, in response to their murmuring, the background to Numbers chapter 14, we know that it's that God had sent, Moses rather, had sent 12 spies to the promised land. Imagine, they went to the promised land. That tells you it couldn't be too far away. Went there and came back. And the song says, 10 were bad. And two were good. And the ten came back and complained and gave, the Bible says, an evil report. And notice what the Bible says in Numbers chapter 14 and verse 33. And your children shall what? Wander in the wilderness forty years. and bear your whoredoms until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. My friend, to wander is a sad judgment from Almighty God. They were not far away from their destiny, but rejecting God's mercy, causes you to lose direction to lose proper judgment and as such my friend to have a complaining spirit and a complaining attitude God will cause you to wander aimlessly in life without purpose without direction without good judgment and never ever realizing your destiny where blessings from God abound. God has a plan and a purpose for every person's life. And let me tell you, it is my desire that that be fulfilled in my life. It is my desire that that is fulfilled in the heart and life of every single person, every child of God, that every unsaved person would be saved and would experience the blessings and the destiny that God has. But my friend, to be unthankful, to be rejecting God's mercy, his grace, his goodness will cause any individual to wander aimlessly. Like a rocking chair, plenty motion but no action. Not getting to where God would have them be. My friend, it is a sad indictment that a judgment from God would cause an individual to just wander. Wander. A journey that should take days ends up taking 40 years. Wow. The importance of thanksgiving should never be understated. Look back in Romans chapter 1 and verse number 24. Look at the judgment here that results in wandering. Wherefore, as a result of not being thankful, as a result of losing judgment and losing direction, wherefore God also gave them up to what? uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator. He's blessed forever for this God's cause. God gave them what? up unto vile affections for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature and likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust one towards another men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves their recompense of the error which was meat my friend i don't have to emphasize you see it all around We are living in a world where man feels that he's just the smartest of every generation that has ever existed. Man seems to think that he's wiser than all past generations. But man, because of being unthankful, because of rejecting the goodness of God, has turned himself into fools. wandering aimlessly. And notice, finally, the wandering ultimately resulted in the people being wasted. That word is used in Numbers chapter 14. The Bible says, God speaking, says, your carcasses shall be what? Wasted in the wilderness. They lost out completely. All because of an attitude of complaining. Murmuring. As I read this passage, you know what I thought of? That Israel was guilty of other sins. But those sins did not result in this same judgment. You recall when Moses came down from Mount Sinai and the children of Israel, you would figure, were in gross immorality. They were naked and they were worshiping a golden calf. No, I'm not minimizing the significance of such whoredom because many of them lost their lives on that day. But even the fact that they were worshiping a golden calf did not result at that time in them losing out on accomplishing and experiencing their destiny. But when they murmured and continued to complain, even after witnessing the promised land, witnessing all the benefits that God had promised to them, they came back complaining. And because of a lack of a thankful heart, they were wasted in the wilderness. Let me close with this thought. My friend, the more you and I see of God, the greater our accountability. You see, it's a very dangerous thing to be such a major beneficiary of all these blessings from God, all the goodness of God that we experience, to grow up all our lives hearing about this great God, being exposed to this gift of salvation, being exposed to the consistent preaching of the Word of God, line upon line, precept upon precept, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, to see the hand of God upon our lives and then to reject it. My friend, that results in a harsher judgment than someone who's not exposed to all that we have. That is why you see time and time again that people who grew up in church, who are exposed to the Word of God, can quote the verses left, right, and center. and reject it time and time again, end up wandering so far away and many times end up being lost forever. It's a judgment of being wasted because you witnessed too much. You saw too much to still be willful. You were warned too many times to still make up in your mind, I'm gonna reject it. The end result is only to wander and eventually be wasted. That's why Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 26 says, for if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. Nothing else could be done. There is no more hope. I wanted to close with the remaining verses in Romans chapter 1, and you notice, Take some time and read Romans chapter 1 and see if you don't see a downward vicious spiral of having truth presented, understanding it, witnessing it, rejecting it, and just going down and down and down and down. Look at verse 28 to verse 32. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over. My friend, when God give you over, That's it. To a reprobate mind. To do those things which are not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things. disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, what we understand to be normal and abnormal has been turned upside down, implacable, unmerciful. Look at this again, who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, nor the consequences. Look at this. Not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. When that is the state of mind, and when that is the heart, my friend, you are wasted. That's the judgment of God. that comes from what we would think is some little insignificant seed called complaining, murmuring, being unthankful, has grown into something that produces a life destroyed. My friend, God takes pleasure in thankful hearts. And notice, don't wait until everything is perfect to be thankful. The children of Israel experienced a little hunger. You're going to experience some too. They experienced a little thirst. You're going to experience that too. But appeal to God as he's done before to provide and he will do it right on time. Listen, God has been too good. to just complain every time something goes wrong. And by the way, as many things as go wrong, far more things are going right. So focus on the goodness of God and focus on what God has done and let us all endeavor to be thankful.