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FOR THANKSGIVING

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FOR THANKSGIVING

9 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

“In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” I Thess. 5:18.

The apostle Paul shows the way by which men may attain spiritual strength and happiness and may add grace to grace, namely:

1. By praying much, yea, without ceasing, thus being always in a prayerful frame, and ascending on wings of prayer, to become strong in the Lord, verse 17.

2. By thanking much, yea, in everything, and without ceasing, having a thankful frame in true humility, in this 18th verse.

The apostle shows that this is a powerful means by which a believing soul is made receptive for more grace and by which it might attain spiritual joy in the Lord and His strength to follow God confidently in all the dark ways, yea, even in tribulations and persecutions. Yea, such thanksgiving is the means by which the windows of heaven can be opened so that the soul may receive out of the fulness of Christ all various graces according to their needs and circumstances.

See, friends, from these words, that it is the will and pleasure of the good God that you give Him thanks in everything. And do we not have special reasons because of general blessings?

1. When we consider the great things God has done to our nation, raising us up as a mighty people and freeing us from our enemies, and how undeservedly and graciously the Lord has delivered us so that our mighty enemies do not rule over us. Darkness covered the earth and the nation, but the Lord has given us the light of His pure Word. Otherwise there would be no possibility of being saved, all would be lost.

2. When we consider the special deliverances and preservations of our nation that were evident from time to time in the many judgments, destroying winds and hail storms of God’s wrath, in the exhausting judgments, and God’s visitations even in blessings, so that we have been consumed as it were in times of plenty.

Friends, is it not the hand of God that has preserved us, and was so very longsuffering over us, not giving us over to ourselves, although our God-provoking sins, atheism and idolatry invited His wrath? Are there then no reasons, did God then not lay the obligation upon us to make haste and be converted by grace to God from Whom we have turned away? Thus we can learn to give thanks aright and to exalt and praise Him. Oh, friends, it is your responsibility!

But let us turn to ourselves and see what God has done to each of us, and whether we have ever truly given thanks. All that is called thanksgiving is not true thanksgiving. It is not true thanksgiving when we on Thanksgiving Day go to church, or when having recovered from sickness, we request the minister to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for us, if afterward we remain the same as we were. Oh that such poor blind men, yea, all converted people would examine themselves. The Lord might make you ashamed with His goodness by giving you light to see that you have never given Him the glory for all he has done for you, and that discovery might lead to your salvation. 1. Has not God in His sovereign goodness brought us forth out of nothing and willed that we should glorify Him on this earth? To that end God gave us a rational soul and such abilities that we could give Him the glory, and made us wiser than the beasts of the earth and the fowls of heaven (Job 35:11). Furthermore, He gave us such wonderful bodies. When David saw something of it, he cried out in Psalm 139, “1 will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.”

Thus you see, my friends, we are wonderfully made, but enter the world so sinful. We are a small world of miracles of God, but at the same time a compendium of hell. Each of us has brought into the same world seeds of every wickedness that are or will be committed on this earth. With that glorious body and that precious soul we provoke the Almighty, we run upon Him with the thick bosses of our bucklers (Job 15:26). We yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. James calls the tongue that little member, a world of iniquity. My friends, is that giving thanks to God?

2. Has not God provided us in this land with all things as if it were another Canaan? The Lord makes His sun to rise on that evil man, so that he can see to do his work and to earn his bread. The sun knoweth its going down, and then God in His goodness draws a shade over the hemisphere, so that man can rest. Yea, the ground upon which we walk yields food for man and beast. And see how many other blessings God gives. To each the Lord gives a portion of this world for his sustenance with meat and drink, food and clothing and besides that all, health and strength, so much peace and so little grief among his family and children. God has not left Himself without witness in that He did good, and that above others who as Solomon says eat in darkness and have had much grief in their afflictions, and as Job says (Job 21:25) die in the bitterness of his soul, and never eat with pleasure. Has not God built the homes of many remarkably, and for many made their bed a refreshing when they were ill? How often sleep was sweet and refreshing. God gives these blessings often to the most wretched and those who deserve the least. Have we ever rightly given thanks for all this?

3. Besides giving us bread, has God not given to us all His gospel, sent us His faithful servants who showed us the danger we are in by nature, and preached to us the way to heaven in the name of Jesus? Has He not given each of us some time and means whereby we may be saved, and waited to be gracious unto us? May the prophet Jeremiah not say truly and is this not applicable to us, “Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God when He led thee by the way? (Jer. 2:17). Is that giving thanks?

4.Has God not extended His longsuffering over each of us in a special manner? Would not God have been righteous if He had cut off that sinner from the means or the means from that sinner? And did He not forbear us many years? Oh my friend, with us it was not three years as with the fig tree in Luke 13, but 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years-Yea, many of us have been under the precious means of grace daily for their entire lifetime-Sometimes the Lord spreads out His hands all the day unto a rebellious people (Isa. 65:2). How many enemies and temptations aim at our lives, and how many say as of the fig tree, “Cut it down,” but the Lord says, “Let it alone.” What a blessing! Must we not give thanks for that? Cannot the Lord say, “What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Is it not now the acceptable time for conversion?

Oh my friends, that you might see your danger and that the Lord might cause you to sigh and cry for grace. The breach is with you, not with the Lord, Oh, that you might cry to God before it is too late. Would you want to hear someone crying in hell? Read Luke 16.

But for God’s people who are ingrafted in Christ, even if they are unaware of it, or in dark concerning it. for them it is the will of God in Christ Jesus that they shall in all things give thanks to God.

The grounds for spiritual thanksgiving and joy are in you. Psalm 97:11: “Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart.” Hence you may expect thanksgiving to spring forth.

Believers may give thanks when God brings upon a land what is appointed for it, the hailstorms of His wrath, invasions by enemies, wars, and pestilences, or other judgments. Oh, then the sorrowful believers raise their heads and pray and thank God for these judgments. Why? Because God thus shows that He is God. and the Atheists and Libertines will be ashamed. Because then God takes His fan in His hand to thoroughly purge His floor and also purify the sons of Levi. God then shows that He keeps an eye upon that nation and sometimes has some good in store for them. Then they praise the Lord and pray for His Spirit to commence His work. When troubles come upon a land the godless cry and howl, but the godly shall give thanks according to the promise in Isaiah 65:14. It may be that God still intends to go to this land, for He still labors so much with us.

And, finally, children of God, when you die. O! who shall say what thanksgivng and magnifying of God shall then spring forth, when you are as it were between heaven and earth in your translation. You will give thanks for the free and differentiating grace of God, for the surrender of your will to God’s, for the way God led you to break with sin and Satan. Who knows? Otherwise you would not have bowed your knees and had remained proud of heart. You will thank God for the dark ways He led you at times in temporal things and shall see that in that way you were sanctified. Then you will thank Him for your material goods, for your Surety, for His humiliation, for the crown He has received, for His preparing a place for you, yea, for the crown that awaits you. Then you shall begin pefectly and continue perfectly and eternally to keep the spiritual feast of tabernacles with joy. according to Zechariah 14:16. Then you shall sing eternally the new song, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength and glory and blessing.” Yea, John heard all creatures in heaven and earth, and under the earth and in the sea say, “Blessing and honor and glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever.” Rev. 5:12–14.

Extracts from Justus Vermeer’s Thanksgiving sermon.

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van donderdag 1 november 1962

The Banner of Truth | 8 Pagina's

FOR THANKSGIVING

Bekijk de hele uitgave van donderdag 1 november 1962

The Banner of Truth | 8 Pagina's