The Sanctifying Effects of Thanksgiving | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

I encourage you to hold on to your bibles throughout this service because we have many scriptures to explore. And to begin, let's read one verse from the book of second Timothy in chapter three. Second Timothy three. Now I would actually like for us to pray one more time. Is that okay?

Can we just ask God to help us again? Lord, we are really weak. I am weak. But Lord, we thank you that you promised that in our weakness, your strength is made perfect. And we ask that, Lord, we would know your strength as we endeavor to understand your word.

And that, Lord, the ministry of the word would not just be delivered in human words, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lord, we need the Holy Spirit. You told us that he would teach us and he would remind us of all things. Lord, we pray that these things would not just be heard, that they would also be retained, and not just retained, but obeyed. And so Lord, in this moment, lest this meeting be in vain, be ever present as you open the minds of the disciples to understand the scriptures.

Would you do that in all of our minds? As you allowed your word to burn in the hearts of those two on the road to Emmaus, would we experience that same burning passion in our own hearts? Lord, protect this message from confusion, from stammering, from anything that would distract from the delivery of your will, of your mind. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Second Timothy three:two.

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy. Today we continue in Paul's highlight reel of the shameful acts that will characterize mankind in the last days. And Paul, by the spirit, mentions something after our last subject that may not be as gripping as other things on this list might be, at least on the surface level. Because after he speaks about being disobedient to parents, he highlights a peculiarity that is so important, so crucial, so profound that to not spend a whole day to discover it and to understand it would be a great crime. He tells us after that, children will be more rebellious, more resistant to authority in the last days, that there will also be people who will be ungrateful.

That in the days leading to the return of Christ, more and more people will be ungrateful. And this is speaking much more than about a lack of appreciation that one man might show to his fellow men, though it may include that. The concern here, the seriousness, the severity of of what Paul is saying is that there will be an absence of heartfelt gratitude toward God himself. When the bible mentions thanksgiving, its primary application is how we should relate to God. Because the Bible tells us that God is the source of every good.

Not some, not the spiritual stuff, but every good and perfect gift. He is the fountain from which all things flow. And so when he speaks about this sin, he's telling us that this is enough for a person to be judged. And the reason why I bring this up is maybe in your list of indicators of a decaying society, a lack of thanksgiving may not be on the top of it, or on it at all. But what you and I will discover by the word of God today is that this lack of thanks, this ingratitude is actually one of the causes for the great moral chaos that you would see even on a nationwide level.

It is one of the great dangers that people are experiencing in their own spiritual condition. And I want you to see and believe that through God's word today, that something as simple as giving thanks can protect a soul from much. Something as simple as giving thanks is actually much more profound in the sight of God than you and I might imagine. And I wanna say this, that this lack of gratitude that will be more common, more shared amongst people in these last days is not just something that will be found among those who are far from Christ. I want to tell you today that it is something that can even be identified in the heart of a believer.

And I want you to leave here being convinced that out of all the spiritual disciplines that you know of, we cannot forget the discipline of giving thanks. Because it will provide a grace to your soul that you cannot imagine. And perhaps you're not convinced, and I can imagine why. But I want you to see what God thinks about ingratitude. Ingratitude.

Here's a place to consider. You have your Bibles, right? In Luke six thirty five, here are the words of Jesus when he instructs his people about how to relate to their enemies. Luke six thirty five. But love your enemies.

Love them. Love your enemies and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great. And you will be the sons of the most high, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. For he is kind even to the ungrateful and the evil. Here's the thing that I want you to realize.

Jesus places ingratitude right beside the category of evil. If I were to ask you, what would what would be a neighbor to evil? What would be something that you would say in the same sentence as being evil? Would, would being unthankful be there? Would lacking thanks be there?

In Christ's mind, it is not difficult for him, for he is God and he is holy, it's not difficult for him to say in the same sentence that God is kind to the unthankful and the evil. Paul does something similar in our main text. After he mentions that people will be ungrateful, right after that he says they will also be unholy. Unthankful and in the next breath, unholy. Put the words of Jesus and Paul together and what you have is a revelation.

A revelation along the lines of in the mind of Christ, our king, our Lord, our God, and in the mind of the greatest apostle who ever lived, being unthankful is very close to being evil and unholy. Maybe you're not convinced of this assessment. Maybe you're thinking, brother, I thought you said earlier that you wanted to build this up. I'm not really being built up right now. Don't leave yet.

Turn with me to Jude, that book right before the book of Revelation. In Jude, verse 14. No chapters. One chapter. So Jude 14.

I want you to see something else, just in case you may not be convinced of this conclusion that I present to you this afternoon. In Jude 14, we read, It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with 10 thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against them. What do you think he wants to talk about? Ungodliness. Isn't it amazing to think that as early as Genesis, with just a few who are roaming the earth, God was already revealing to some of his servants about his second coming, never mind about his first.

Enoch, seventh from Adam, receives a revelation, a vision of the return of Jesus Christ with his holy ones. And what does he see? He sees a sweeping, majestic judgment upon the earth. And what what is happening here? Well, God is going to deal with ungodliness.

He repeats it in so many ways. Ungodly, ungodly sinners, ungodly deeds, ungodly ways. And I want to ask you today, what comes to mind when you think of ungodliness, the ungodliness that Jesus himself will judge in the final hour? What crashes into your thinking? Is it, is it the sex trafficker?

Is it the merciless murderers who roam the streets at night even in our own city? Is it the drug dealers who provide deadly substances for the sake of gain? Are they the rapist, the terrorist, the ISIS figures? I'm sure they are all included. But what Jude by the Holy Spirit has in mind after he says, ungodly, ungodly, ungodly, they will receive justice and judgment for receiving and rejecting, rather, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The only thing that can save your soul from this judgment is what he says in verse 16. These are grumblers. These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires. They are loud mouthed boasters showing favoritism to gain advantage. After saying ungodly will be judged, the ungodly will be judged for their deeds, their ways, you think, well who are you talking about?

Who are these ungodly people? What will they be doing to receive God's judgment? And the first thing on the list, according to Jude, are the grumblers. The ones who murmur about their lot in life. The ones who find fault with God's providential leading.

The ones who compare and complain because they believe that they are more deserving of certain things, if not all things. Those who find fault, those who accuse, those who express their displeasure in life, these are the ones that Jude has in mind who receive God's judgment. And this grumbling is illustrated by those who traveled through the wilderness journey after they were delivered from Egypt, right? Oh, they complained about God's leading. They murmured about his timing.

They criticized the leadership that God had established in Moses and Aaron. They huffed and puffed about the food that they received miraculously, because it didn't taste like the leeks and the, the onions and the watermelon back in Egypt. And over and over again you see this murmuring bunch, and you also recognize God's kindled anger. And I wanna tell you today that as murmuring, complaining, ungratefulness will multiply, God's wrath will will manifest against such attitudes. It was not just in the Old Testament if you think that we serve a different God from the Old Testament.

No. He feels the same way as he did about those Israelites who stuck their nose at God and expressed how they thought he was unfair and that they deserve more. I can imagine how this might offend some of you. I can imagine how this might disturb you. Is judgment necessary?

Is judgment so severe required for something as common as expressing annoyance and frustration with life? It is if you understand how holy God is. That's the problem. That's the problem with modern Christianity. We don't understand just how holy God is.

I heard a preacher say something that so ministered to my heart. These are not my words, but they've been ringing in my heart for a few days. He said, Earth's perplexity, Earth's complaints is why God would judge. How can God judge man so severely? And yet it is heaven's perplexity why God would even save to begin with.

While earth here is trying to figure out and philosophy why God can judge these mere creatures made out of dust who are borrowing his air, Heaven is wondering why God would even extend salvation. Why is ingratitude so evil? Why is it so heinous? Why is it so ugly? Why is it so worthy of judgment?

I'll tell you why it offends people for me to say such things. It's because they think that the universe revolves around them. And they have been hearing teaching that tells them that God is God because God wants to help you know what you want and what you desire. And that has bred much confusion and much unholiness. But I wanted to take you to a miraculous story that is simple and understanding, but also when you meditate on it, it is profound when it deals with reflecting human nature.

So turn with me to the gospel of Luke again in chapter 17, verse 11. I want you to see something. And we're going to read quite a few verses here, but I want you to, I want you to envision what I'm saying from the word of God. In Luke seventeen eleven, a very well known passage when dealing with ingratitude. We read here in verse 11 of chapter 17.

On the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourselves to the priest. And as they went, they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks.

Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, Were not 10 cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, Rise and go your way, your faith has made you well.

A wonderful story. Very simple application, but again, when you chew the cud, when you chew on this word, you'll realize that there's so much more to be said regarding who we are in light of this. It is not uncommon to find men crying out to God when they find themselves in great need or in growing void. It is not a foreign sight to look to our fellow man and see that there is a familiar reflex to seek God and to request from God, nor is it a strange sound in our own hearts. We see that here, do we not?

10 out of the 10 lepers, collectively in concert, ask Jesus for something that they do not have. We need you to restore our flesh. We need you to heal us. We need you to restore us. And so it is that when it comes to crying out to God, especially when there is desperate circumstances, you don't have to look too far.

But as we continue with this story, we realize that there is something else. We are taught about the fallenness of us, and that is this, that while there was 10 out of 10 who cried out, who had a need, who prayed, only one praised. Only one gave thanks. The same eagerness we might have in asking God often outweighs the energy of our praise in response to his provision. This miraculous moment teaches us something.

And it is this, that if we honestly compare our petitioning with our praising, we will find very quickly that the former is much more alive than the latter. What am I trying to say? Let me speak plain English. We are much better at praying than we are at praising. We are much more disciplined to cry out for a need to be met, and to cry out with simple adoration.

I was reminded by reading this story that this thanking God thing, it has to be intentional. It's not something that comes natural to us, just like praying. Praying is not natural to us. Praying is something that we have to engage our will to perform, and oftentimes we have to fight our flesh to even do properly. And it is no different with praising.

The issue is we theologically believe in thanksgiving. We, we, we listen to verses about it. It's a call to worship. We understand it in the Bible. We understand it's there.

But practically, I believe that many Christians do not understand that it's, it's supposed to be a training. It's supposed to be a discipline that's actually activated. All my life, I can tell you, I've heard many sermons on prayer, many, many books read on the importance of praying, and rightfully so. I believe that's a great neglect as well. But I cannot really pinpoint to a moment where, where I heard something that taught me the necessity to not pray only, but to praise.

To praise God. To thank God. And here's one of the results of this lack, is that we have bred Christians who have limited their communication to God simply in asking him for stuff. And not just communing with him and loving him and exalting him for what you already have. That's not a small thing.

That's not just like a suggestion. That's not just something that we should wear as Christians because that's our duty. No. There's much at stake here. There's much at stake here.

Makes you wonder, Why didn't the other nine come back? Why didn't they follow suit? Why why were they not caught up in rapturous praise and explosive thanksgiving? Why was that lacking? Why was 90% not there?

Let's not be quick to condemn them, shall we? Because how many times have we been so lost in our blessings that we forgot sight of the blesser? How many times have we got so distracted while swimming in provisions that we forgot that he is the fountain by which all these things that we are relishing in come from. It's interesting to note the thought process of this man in verse 15 of our text. How he came to this realization.

Look at it again in verse 15. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. Oh, I can imagine that this miracle is so special because it demanded their faith. He didn't say, you want healing? Here's your healing.

And they saw the spots and the rotten flesh disappear. He said go and show yourself, which was according to the law. And as you're walking, you're gonna be healed. They took his word, they walked, and as they're walking, I could imagine the sight of this set of lepers. That their spots, maybe one by one, were disappearing.

Maybe even some parts of their body being restored. I don't know. But what we are told about one of them what we are told about one of them is that when he saw that he was healed, when he came into contact with the reality that the miraculous had touched him, his mind raced back to Christ. That the initial thought that came to him in that moment was God made this possible. And that is the essence of thanksgiving.

The essence of thanksgiving is that it crowns God as the sovereign source of every good and perfect thing. I'm telling you everything as common as the hot meal that you enjoy in your warm home to the miraculous provisions from heaven for the most unlikely cases. Thanksgiving crowns him. It exalts him. It identifies him.

I can imagine what was flooding the minds of these other lepers. You gotta remember what it was like to be a leper. You were an outcast. You were kicked out. You watched the normal world from a distance while you just stood there and rotted to death.

And so I can just I can sympathize with them that as they're receiving this healing, oh, we can be normal citizens of society again. We can go to the market. We we can we can go to to the lovely parks that I once knew. I wonder if some of them thought, I can finally embrace my wife again. I haven't held her in so many years, so many months, so many weeks.

Oh, I can't wait to embrace my spouse. Perhaps the others who thought we can resume building memories with our children. For all this time, all we can do is wave at them from a distance as they travel to school with their mother. I don't blame them for being so excited. But this man, this one man, the moment he realized that there was a provision, the moment that this new opportunity at life presented itself because of the mercy of God, his heart flooded with the revelation of the goodness of God.

God. And because of this, he comes back. It takes effort to thank God. He turns back, meaning that he put a delay on going to the temple, on being declared clean, from running to his home with a surprise, from going back to his workplace, from seeing his friends at the local coffee shop. He put all of that on pause because he needed to praise God.

Because he did not want to delay. Somebody made this observation. If we are so, so, so, so, so antsy for God to answer our prayers so quickly, then we have no right to delay with our praise when he does act on our behalf. And the great crime of this, the offense of being ungrateful, is found in the words of Jesus in verse 18. Was no one found to return and give praise to God except for this foreigner?

Other transitions would say, was there no one who can return to give glory to God? You see the connection between thanks, praise, and glory. Jesus Christ is teaching us here that thanksgiving is a way of identifying his goodness and his Godness, if you will. That this learning to be thankful Listen, it's not about good manners, okay? Your mom and dad might have taught you that.

We might have been raised by our parents to say learn to say thank you because they wanted to mold our social skills, but thanksgiving in this case, thanksgiving toward God has much more severe implications. When we train in this, when we train in thanksgiving, it is a matter of giving God his due. It's worship. It's worship. It's adoration.

It's rightful recognition. It's exaltation. It's putting the spotlight on the one who deserves the spotlight. It's the sound. Thanksgiving is the sound that awakens the eyes of the heart to see God behind every gift.

It's the stirring, the spiritual tool that stirs our affections in a way in which we love him over whatever he gives us to enjoy. It's the declaration of the sovereignty of God and the reminder that we are undeserving creatures who only should expect judgment but receive so much more. So much more. The crime of ingratitude is that it robs God of glory. It robs God of his glory.

It keeps him in the dark. While we might credit ourselves or others, no matter what skill or investment you made into anything, realize that you cannot even get out of your bed unless God gives you the power to do so. You can't even scratch your nose today unless heaven authorizes it. Therefore, to reserve thanksgiving is to rob God of glory, and that's no small thing. And such such a reservation, such thievery is to be expected amongst the godly ungodly.

Why? Because they don't even acknowledge God to begin with. There's no acknowledgment of who he is even to begin with. And so how can they thank him? How can they thank him?

But the thing that is concerning to us is that we are a different breed of people. We are a different breed of people. The very basis of our faith is from the place of receiving something that we did not deserve. I want you to think about that. That if Jesus Christ never does one more thing in your life, if he never answers one more prayer, if he never provides one more meal, if he never does one more thing to make your life that much more enjoyable or comfortable, he's still worthy of thanks.

Because the gift in in Jesus, the gift that was extended to you and I is eternal. And because it is eternal, it demands eternal thanks. It demands eternal praise. It demands eternal appreciation beginning now. Beginning now.

And that is why even though you might be enduring a Job like situation where everything is stripped from you, even your own health, he's still worthy to be worshiped. This is what God deserves. This is what he deserves. And I can end it here. I can end it here to say he deserves it.

And that's that's enough because that's the primary function of it. That's the primary goal. But I don't wanna end there because there's something else that happens in this story. At the end of it, after this man comes to give thanks to God, Jesus concludes with a wonderful, wonderful assurance. In verse 19, he tells him, rise and go your way.

Your faith has made you well. Your faith has made you well. Many believe that what Jesus is doing here is not restating that his faith led to his healing physically. And the reason why people don't believe that is because the phrase there, your faith has made you well, in the Greek, it's different than the word cleansing and healing in the earlier verses. In fact, the phrase used there, made you well, is often the phrase used when it talks about salvation, when it talks about sins being forgiven.

And so what you have here, if this is true, is not just Jesus reassuring him that the faith he expressed earlier has led to his healing, but that he receives another blessing. That as a Samaritan who is worshiping God and acknowledging who Jesus is and his nature, Jesus says you got healing, but I want to let you know that your faith also now got you salvation. Your body is healed, but I wanna tell you now, rise. Your heart is restored. Your heart is revived.

Your heart is now cleansed. He's talking about salvation. And I think that this teaches us something more than just about faith. I think here that if you look at it through the lens of thanksgiving, that we see another principle that's true about Thanksgiving from cover to cover in our Bibles. And this is it.

Think about it. This man with the 10, with the nine rather, when they cried out to God for healing, they all got it. But when this one man came back with the motivation to give thanks, he got more. He got more. He received more.

What am I trying to say? This is what I'm trying to say. Yes. The primary function, the primary purpose of thanksgiving is that God would receive glory. But just like many of the commands of God that are God focused in their goal, as we give thanks, something happens to us as well.

As we give thanks, there are benefits that shower on us as a result of showering praise on him. And so if you leave here today thinking that thanksgiving is merely my duty, yes, you're right. And that should be motivation enough. But our God is so good that when he prescribes such commands, he is not in need. He is not nervous.

He's not insecure in heaven. He's not complaining to the angels that my creation does not give thanks to me. He is sufficient within himself. But when he prescribed such things, he knows you need this. You need this.

And I wanna show you at least three things. I wanna show you at least three sanctifying effects of thanksgiving that will change your life If you believe it. You've heard, I'm sure, most of your Christian life, pray because prayer does this and it does that, and it will change your life, it will anchor you, it will protect you. And that is right. But I want to now bring to your attention that if you implement the discipline of thanksgiving, it's not natural to you, my brother.

It's not natural to you, my sister. It is not natural to me. It's not. And if we're just going to wait for waves of emotion to cause us to be thankful, we are as doomed as if we were waiting for some motivation to pray every single day. It has to be by faith.

It has to be something you actually, actually do intentionally with, with mindfulness, where you pause and you give thanks. It sounds childlike. It didn't say childish. It sounds childlike, doesn't it? That's how often God works when it comes to his commands.

It demands childlike faith. And you grew up with parents, I'm sure, that told you when to say thanks, never forget to say thanks, and your heavenly father today wants to teach you how to give thanks. I wanna show you sanctifying effect number one when a believer implements thanksgiving in his life. Number one, thanksgiving is a remedy that rescues us from anxiety. Thanksgiving is a remedy that rescues us from anxiety.

I'm sure if I asked you if you're an anxious person or you experienced anxious thoughts, ninety eight percent of you would lift your hand. But I wanna show you the cure, the prescription. It's found in Philippians chapter four, verse six and seven. Philippians four six reads, do not be anxious about anything. Do you think he meant anything, or do you think the Greek means something else?

I think he meant anything. Single people, don't be anxious by the fact that you're single. Right? Pandemic pressured people here. Don't don't be anxious about the future of your job.

Don't be anxious. Don't be anxious about anything. There is nothing in this life, no matter how severe or dangerous or threatening it may be, that deserves your anxiety. Do not be anxious about anything. Well, why?

But so here's the instruction. In everything do you think it means different in the Greek? Or do you think everything means everything? I think it means everything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and here's the result.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. Many people have difficulty understanding the Trinity. My my mind can't understand how it works, one being, three persons, one in essence. Before you get to the Trinity, realize that there's a peace that God can offer you that doesn't make sense. That surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Now, this verse is known. You've heard it. You've preached it. You've probably counseled your own soul with it. You probably offered it to somebody else.

And it's so known that we look at it and we kind of just, yeah, yeah, I know this already. Don't give it to me. May I suggest to you today that many people who have attempted to apply these instructions have not seen their desired results because they don't, they don't obey the full instruction. Because these verses are used to often say, if you're anxious, pray brother. Pray, and I say amen, because it says it.

Anxieties may visit your heart, but they may must always be left at his feet. Pour your heart out to him. Tell him your needs. Be detailed. Groan if you need to.

Do it. But is that all it says? No. And this is where many people fail. They come to God in their anxiety, in their fear, in their concern, in their unease.

And they pray, they present their needs, they tell God what he needs to do about these needs. And they fail that in the midst of that, to be thankful with thanksgiving. So you punched in one set of numbers, but you forgot the other set and you're wondering why as you press enter, there's error in your soul. You see what God is trying to say is don't just come to me and express your needs. Come to me, yes.

But turn your attention away from what you don't have or what you would like for me to do to what I have already done. Turn your attention to that. And let me be extremely practical here. Don't be general in your I'm thankful for you. Okay.

Wonderful. Be detailed. Be detailed. Because that is the instruction. When you couple the relief that comes from unburdening your soul in prayer, as well as the mindfulness of his faithfulness, as you declare with those same weak lips the goodness of God, you will extinguish everything that is uneasy in your soul.

And not only will it be extinguished, it will be replaced with a supernatural peace. I remember somebody telling me that about their day. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it blessed my heart. That after a long day where they had to go to some event, they were so it was just a dark night of the soul. There was clouds covering the rays of warmth with the knowledge of God, and they couldn't seem to shake out of it.

And as they were getting ready in the bathroom, doing their hair, fixing their beard, they couldn't shake this off. They couldn't. It was just heavy, and it was just it was destroying even the hopeful plans for that same night. And this verse came to mind. And so as he had a razor in his hand and he looked at himself in the mirror, he said, I'm gonna do this.

I'm just gonna give thanks to God for whatever I can think of right now. So what does he do? God, I thank you that I can see with my eyes. God, I thank you that as I'm standing in my bathroom, there's no pain. I'm not bound to some bed.

God, I thank you that I have a church family that loves me, that loves God. Lord, I thank you that I can be comfortable in this house, and everything is functioning just fine. And as he began to list these things, the rays of God's life penetrated through the clouds that covered his soul. And he found himself being able to worship without gifted musicians, without the right worship track playing in the background, without anything other than the simplicity of the sacrifice of praise, listening to different blessings that he could identify, and it rescued him. It rescued him, and it put a fresh step into him.

It's the remedy. I've heard of a preacher because of the the circumstances of his own body. He had a he had a strange voice that made preaching very difficult because people would laugh at him with his voice. And he learned this principle of sacrifice of praise. And so he made it his duty that every single morning before he would step foot on on the ground, on the floor, he would spend ten minutes just thanking God, thanking God for different things.

He would not begin his day otherwise. I'm not saying you need to do ten minutes. All I'm saying is if you thank God enough intentionally with mindful, I thank you God God I thank no. No. No.

No. You calculate your thoughts. You will know a deliverance from dark nights of the soul. Number two, not only is thanksgiving the remedy that rescues us from anxiety, among other things, but thanksgiving is a practice that protects us from sin. Being thankful, let me emphasize this, is not just your duty.

Being thankful, thankfulness, gratitude carries a force that keeps sin at bay. There is such power behind this that it can actually protect your heart from the passions of the flesh that war against your soul. I want to prove that to you in the book of Romans in verse 29 of chapter one. In Romans one twenty nine, we read about what society looks like. You've heard this passage before in the past few weeks.

What society looks like, what their hearts are filled with by abandoning God. And here's what people are filled with. Notice, filled, not visited by, filled with. They are filled with all manner of unrighteousness. Evil, covetousness, malice, they are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.

They are filled. They are living in a continual state of these horrible things. Now notice two of them. You ready? Covetousness, envy, meaning what?

Living in a perpetual state of comparison, sensing this dissatisfaction as you continually look at what you don't have, what other people have, what you think belongs to you, and that could be anything from a car to a husband. That can be anything from a ministry position to a promotion. This craving, this ugly craving, because of their abandonment of God, the people will be filled with this, filled with it. And this is not just a danger for unbelievers. Listen.

James says, why are you guys fighting? He's speaking to the churches in chapter four. Why are you guys fighting? Why is there quarreling? Why is there strife?

Let me answer it for you. Because you have desires, and they are not met. You covet, and you don't have. Listen. If we get a room filled with people in this place that are covetousness or are filled with jealousy or envy, guaranteed war.

Guaranteed war. There is chaos in any setting when a heart is not satisfied in God alone. When a man or woman does not draw from God as their source of fulfillment, there is left this kind of filling because something has to go in there. There's no neutrality. There's no emptiness.

Something will fill this heart, and either it will be God himself or things such as these. But but wait. Hold on. How? How are people filled with this?

This is not just the fruit. This is the symptom. This is a symptom to a deeper issue, and Paul brings that up earlier in the same chapter in verse 21. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. They didn't give thanks to him.

They did not discipline themselves to say, god, you are the reason. God, apart from you, this would not be god, apart from you, I would not be. They did not thank him. Therefore, they were filled with covetousness and envy. You see, giving thanks shields us from being filled with all manner of unrighteousness.

It keeps us humble. It keeps us joyful. It keeps us full. It keeps us prioritizing what needs to be prioritized, and it keeps God where he belongs in our hearts. You can know this for certain that people who walk in the flesh, even within the community of faith, people that strive against one another, people that bicker against one another, people that complain all the time just like the Israelites complained about Moses and about Aaron, about this and that.

People that do that, I can tell you one thing. They don't give thanks to God. Oh, they might parrot some words off a screen, but there is no personal praise in their lives. Oh, they pray, they ask God for a lot of things, but they do not stop to say, God, before I ask for another thing, I thank you for what you have given me already. They don't do that because that's what my bible teaches.

Thanksgiving shields your heart. It's the floodgate from all this filth coming in. Because mankind refused to give thanks to him, They inherited all these things that are described. Oh, there are so many things about Thanksgiving, but let me give you a final one. Thanksgiving not only is a remedy that rescues us from anxiety, Thanksgiving is not only the protection from so much sin, thanksgiving is a light that brightens our witness.

Our final text is back in Philippians chapter two verse 14. Philippians two fourteen. You and I heard in the beginning that in the last days there will be those who will grow in their ingratitude. More and more people will be ungrateful. So what do we do about it?

What's our duty as believers? Well, here it is. Philippians two fourteen. Do all things without grumbling or disputing. Do you think the Greek means all things, or do you think it means some things?

All things. This is probably one of the most challenging things. The most challenging Christian disciplines. All things without grumbling or disputing. God, why can't you leave room for some things?

All things. Because there's something at stake. That's why. That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. You see what he's saying here?

This is for the sake of the gospel. Because if we're not careful, we can muddy the gospel with our grumbles and groans. The motivation is be careful how you express your frustration. Be careful how you voice your annoyance. Be careful how you manage your attitude as you perform all kinds of duties.

Because there's a watching world. There's a listening world. And by performing all things with a genuine spirit of gratitude, we stand out. We stand out. Let me give you a very simple observation that you probably made.

Isn't it wonderful to be around people who don't complain? Like, I feel lighter. Not only that, I'm blessed because when you know what that person's going through, and they're not being superficial, they're not being, like, plasticky. They're being real. When they can they can look at the positivity, they can look at the sanctifying element of whatever they're experiencing, it's like you're magnetized towards such people.

And sometimes it even convicts you. And sometimes you're even like, yeah, but it really bothered you, didn't it? And they're like, praise God, God's in control. And you're like, you sure? Like, it didn't do anything to you?

And you're like because there's something supernatural about it. And the opposite is true. It's amazing how contagious negativity is. It's amazing that you can sit with people, even a group of friends, and all of a sudden somebody starts complaining about the church, about how they don't do this, and what starts happening. Oh yeah, you know, I also don't like that.

And then you were intending to come to be built up as we share with believers, and you're leaving there more frustrated than anything. I know this is really practical, but it'll save your soul. If you're serious about being a witness for Christ, then you're going to be serious about Thanksgiving. You're going to be serious about it. And I want to tell you today that a watching world needs a thankful church.

Come on, man. Are you serious? I'm serious. I didn't write this. God did.

And the more twisted and crooked a generation becomes, the more we must be disciplined to make sure that we don't complain like they do. How fitting for a COVID age. How fitting for a day in which we see things that are causing people to act in a certain manner. I'm not saying that I agree with it, I'm not saying I'm not mad about it, I am frustrated about it. Had a chance to go to the gym with after these crazy things, these mandates.

And, I went to the employee and I just I just looked at him because I had to go through a process to make sure that I can go in. And as I looked at him, I just said, I'm sure people are giving you a lot of headache. Right? And he just he didn't even say anything. He just stopped and he looked at me.

He goes and he went back. And I thought to myself, check this out, this actually ran through my mind because I was giving him my religious exemption. I better not blow this. Because the world the world, they're good at they're good at expressing themselves with no restraint. But this guy knows that I'm coming in here and and there's my faith is involved to why I don't do this and I don't do that.

He knows now. He knows who I am. Every time I come in and I give my barcode, he sees religious exemption. There's a watching world. And Thanksgiving is not just for you and me, it's for people to be convinced that the gospel is enough.

Thanksgiving is for people who have no one to thank, to see that we actually believe in a God who is good, and who is perfect, and who supplies all our needs, and who is our salvation. And if you think I'm pointing the finger at you today, you've heard it. Right? There are three right back at me. I thank God for the Holy Spirit, Or else we're doomed.

We're doomed even in Thanksgiving. But I can tell you this, he is our helper. And if you by faith, just as though I preached on praying on different occasions, if you by faith will say I'm gonna apply this to my life, I have no doubt in my mind that you'll be a different person. I have no mind I have no doubt in my mind that you'll be saved from much unnecessary harm. Let's give thanks.

Lord, we thank you for the sharp blade of your word. We thank you, oh God, that your prescription is for our good. Heavenly Father, let the world be ungrateful, but may it not be found in us. Teach us to praise, not just to pray, but teach us to praise. Teach us to specifically sanctify certain moments of our day to give You praise.

And as we do that, Lord, protect us from legalistic attitudes, protect us from not knowing the joy of this process. Lord, we are grateful to you. Apart from you, we are nothing. And we have nothing. Lord, we thank you.

We thank you that you are for us and not against us. And we thank you, oh God, that you have primarily saved our soul from hell. You've saved our soul from your wrath. That we have eternal life with you forever. We thank you.

We thank you that we have more than enough resources. Beyond for the need of survival, we are now swimming in enjoyment and in comfort and in opportunities and in toys. We are thankful. We are thankful that we have friendships in this place. We are thankful that we can worship you without any threats for our lives.

We thank you that we'll get into cars in the next couple of hours and drive, and we don't have to walk three hours to get home. We thank you. We thank you that we will have food to eat right after this. We thank you. Help us, oh God, to always find your goodness and not find fault.

Help us, oh God. We've realized the seriousness of our murmurings, so protect us from such things. And lord, we may fail at this, so continue to teach us and guide us moving forward. And lord, as people come to this church, may they find a grateful people filled with contentment, filled with joy, satisfied in God, and in God alone. We wanna worship you in thanks for your goodness.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.