You can watch my message here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BgOpZSPdpRY
Message for Thanksgiving 2020
This week is Thanksgiving week. It’s the celebration
of the historical story of the when first settlers on this continent to give
thanks to God for His rich blessings and gifts to us.
And so, on this Sunday before our Thanksgiving
celebration, I thought it good to take these next 30 minutes to reflect – not
just think about, but to reflect – on the things for which you are thankful; And
for which I am thankful.
Some of the first things that come to mind for
which I am thankful are – for example – good health, for living in a country
where people are free to worship – or not to worship – as they choose. A place
where we can speak our minds without fear of Storm Troopers knocking down our
doors at 2 in the morning.
I am thankful for my wife of 46 years, for our
healthy children, for comfortable finances. So, I am thankful to God for many
of the gifts He has given me over the many years – even before I began serving
Him. And I know you here are also thankful to our God for the gifts He has
given you over the years and even to this day.
But all of those gifts, we realize – if not
consciously then subconsciously – all of those gifts can be gone in an instant.
Life changes. At times, slowly, and at other times, in a moment.
Take health, for example. A stroke. A heart
attack. A fall – and our health changes for the rest of our lives. Or our
relationships – a death of a spouse, or even worse – a divorce can change our
lives. Finances can evaporate like smoke from a candle in a hurricane.
So, if we hang our thankfulness on things that
are by their very nature transient – health, relationships, finances, and the
like – if we hang our thankfulness on those things then what happens when those
things are gone? Do Christians have anything firm, rock solid, immovable and
unchangeable for which we can always and at all times be thankful to God for
His unchangeable gifts?
The answer to that serious question is an
unquestionable and resounding, Yes!
And so, what are some of those unchangeable gifts
God has given to every one of His children who were born not of the flesh, but
through their faith in and obedience to Jesus the Christ? I can list off the
top of my head a dozen of God’s promises, and so could many of you. But we do
not have time to list them all and talk about them, so what I have done is
selected only three of the gifts of God for which we can and ought to be
thankful.
First: There is the Bible, God’s unchangeable,
eternal, inerrant, and transcultural voice to us – His very heart to us. How
could you know God loves you like a precious Father if we did not have His
assurance of that relationship in His word to us? How could we know He forgives
us for every and any sin when we repent, if we did not have His vow to that
effect in the Bible? How could we hope for divine direction in our moral
decisions if we did not have God’s flawless word to guide us?
How can the Christian be sure – really, really
SURE that when we close our eyes in death, we will open them a moment later in
the smiling face of our Father in heaven? We can be sure of that reality
because God tells us it is a reality in the Scriptures.
How can the Christian know what kind of lifestyle
is pleasing to God and what lifestyle brings His judgment? Again, we go back to
the unchangeable and infallible word of God. Surely, as Isaiah tells us, “The
grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”
(Isaiah 40:8) It is for those reasons, and for so many others that we cannot
take time to rehearse them, it is for those reasons the psalmist tells us, “How
can a young man [or an old one] keep his way pure? By keeping it according
to Your word” (Psalm
119:9). And later in the psalm: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light
to my path” (verse 105).
So when all of life changes – slowly or in an
instant, the Christian can be thankful for the unchangeable word of God, the
voice of God, the heart of God, the counsel of God, the direction of God, the
promises and the warnings of God found in the pages of Scripture from Genesis
through Revelation.
For what else can the Christian be thankful on Thanksgiving Day? How
about for God’s forgiveness, that glorious and unfathomable truth that God
placed all the sins of the penitent on the Lamb of God as He suffered and died
on that cross. Scripture tells us that Jesus became our substitutionary
sacrifice, that He purchased our pardon from the Father with His most precious
blood.
Jesus died in our place, for our sins, so that WE would not have to pay
that eternal penalty.
As I was reading the first chapter of Luke’s gospel a few
days ago the Holy Spirit stopped me when I came to verses 76 and 77. The
context is Zacharias’ prophecy about his newly born son, John. Here are the
verses:
“And you, child, will be called a prophet of the
Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his
people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke
1:76-79).
The Greek word Luke uses here for forgiveness is
a-fay-CEASE. It is most often translated as the remission of sins. So,
what does remission mean in the New Testament? It carries the idea of a forgiveness or pardon
of sins to the extent as if they had never been committed.
Did you get that? When
God gives us remission of sins it is as if those sins had never been
committed! It’s the same word
Matthew used when he recorded the words of Jesus during the Last Supper: “And
he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for
this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission
of sins.” (Matthew 26:27-28, ASV)
I heard an illustration
a short while ago that helps illustrate what that promise means. When a person
breaks a bone and the orthopedist places it in a cast for healing, the bone
will eventually heal and be pretty much as good as new. BUT, for the rest of
the person’s life, an x-ray will always reveal the place where the bone was
broken.
When we commit sin,
when our relationship with God is broken, repentance (we will look at that word
shortly) – repentance restores our relationship,
and fixes the ‘break.’
Scripture tells us God
casts the sins of the truly penitent – meaning the one who has acknowledged to
God that he or she sinned against God, broke His commandments, is truly sorry
and demonstrates that sorrow by a decision to never commit that sin again – God
casts the sins of the truly penitent as far as the east is from the west. You
find that promise in Psalm 103. Scripture also tells us God casts our sins into
the depths of the sea. You can find that one in Micah 7.
BUT – and here is the
thing I have missed for decades and decades: When we repent, God grants us remission
of our sins. In other words, from God’s perspective, it is as if WE NEVER COMMITTED
THE OFFENSE!
Please now take a
moment to think of the absolute worst sin you have ever committed in your life.
Do it now. I will give you a moment to do that.
Did you ever confess
that sin to God and ask forgiveness for the sake of Jesus’ sacrifice for that
sin? If you did, then God tells us through His unchangeable words of promise
that He has remitted that sin, meaning it is now as if YOU NEVER COMMITTED THAT
OFFENSE.
Oh! Happy Thanksgiving!
I heard this song the
other day during my morning time with Jesus. The lyrics spoke comfort and
confidence to me. Here are some of the lyrics. I hope they speak comfort and
confidence to you, too:
I’m Amazed, by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
I'm amazed
that You love me. I'm amazed how You care
Through Your precious blood I've found pardon
And my sins are washed; They're all washed away
All my sins are washed away
Yes
there've been days when I've failed You.
Lord You know the many times I've gone astray.
But I've learned Your love is stronger than my weakness,
And Your ear is open every time I pray. . . .
I'm amazed
that You love me I'm amazed how You care
Through Your precious blood I've found pardon
And my sins are washed they're all washed away
All my sins are washed away
Please hear me. When I think of the worst sins I have ever
committed, then I remind myself of what I only recently learned about the
remission of sins. Oh! How can I not be thankful – even if my world has crashed
into flames all around me – how can I not be thankful for God’s unchangeable
promises for His remission of all sins for the truly penitent.
And so, for the sake of time, I will remind us of only one
more truth for which Christians be
thankful.
We have a PURPOSE in life. A life-MISSION. A reason
for living. God has gifted you and me with the privilege to tell
others of this great news, this news that I am telling you now.
We have the message of
God’s promises that bring irreducible hope to others! Whatever they’ve done in
their lives, we can give them the ASSURANCE that through repentance – turning
from their sin – we can give them the full assurance from God Himself that He
views their sins as if they NEVER committed them.
I know I keep repeating
myself. I do that for a reason. I want you – and I want myself –l to get that
truth burned into our souls.
No wonder Peter tells
us: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the
excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
The Lord Jesus quoted a
passage from Isaiah and referred to it about His own ministry – but don’t think
for a nanosecond the same Great Call, the same Great Mission does not apply to
ALL God’s born-again children: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring
good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; To proclaim
the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn . . .” (Isaiah 61:1-2)
Listen to what the Lord Jesus said to the rabid
persecutor of the Church when he was on his way to Damascus to wreak havoc
there among the Christians. Jesus said to Saul: ‘[G]et up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared
to you . . . 18 to open their eyes so that they may
turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins (there’s that Greek word again
for remission of sins – a-fay-CEASE) and an inheritance among those who
have been sanctified by faith in Me.’ (Acts 26:15-18)
It is a devilish deception to think anything
else but God’s gracious grace through the bloody sacrifice of Jesus His Son
remits, takes away our sins’ deepest stains. No amount of good works. No amount
of money we give. No amount of prayers. You could go to church every day. You
can teach Sunday School or Catechism classes for twenty years. Nothing will
sanctify us before God, nothing will wash away our sins but our faith in the
sacrificial death of Jesus; Jesus, who was sacrificed for us.
THAT is the mission, the purpose, the message
God gifts to us to gift to others.
Have you asked Jesus to cover your sins with His
blood? Are you now living for Him? Are you now forsaking your own will and
lifestyle for His will and lifestyle? If you are not sure, then you need to BE
SURE. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you need to make changes in your
life.
Let me close with this last reminder. Health,
family, friendships, a warm home, good food, and so forth – all those gifts of
God are transitory. They are fleeting. Like that puff of smoke I mentioned
earlier that evaporates like smoke from a candle in a hurricane.
But there are things God gifts to us that NEVER
change or disappear. We looked at only three of those gifts this afternoon: The
Bible, the remission of sins, and the mission, the purpose God has gifted to
all His children born through faith in Christ.
I encourage you to remember those things, not
only when you sit down to your Thanksgiving meal, but from this day and every
day for the rest of your life. Oh, may God the Holy Spirit remind us all of His
indescribable gifts.
Amen.
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