THANKSGIVING IN THREE TENSES
Ps. 30:1-12
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. THANKSGIVING ON THE RUN.
a. Two men were walking through a field one day when they spotted an enraged bull. Instantly they darted toward the nearest fence. The storming bull followed in hot pursuit, and it was soon apparent they wouldn't make it.
b. Terrified, the one shouted to the other, "Put up a prayer, John. We're in for it!" John answered, "I can't. I've never made a public prayer in my life." "But you must!" implored his companion. "The bull is catching up to us."
c. "All right," panted John, "I'll say the only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table: 'O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.'" Source Unknown.
2. COMMUNITY THANKSGIVING
I am Thankful that we only elect presidents once every four years. I am Thankful that teenagers will grow up and that one day they will have children that will become teenagers of their own. I am Thankful that I am not a turkey this week. I am Thankful that the space available for messages on T-shirts and bumpers is limited. I am Thankful that hugs and kisses do not add weight or cause cancer. I am Thankful that TVs, Radios, & CD players can be turned off. I am Thankful that God’s love never fails. I am Thankful that we can come together this evening in unity. SOURCE: R Duane Gryder.
B. TEXT
1I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up, And have not let my foes rejoice over me. 2O LORD my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me. 3O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. 5For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning. 6Now in my prosperity I said,“I shall never be moved.” 7LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face, and I was troubled. 8I cried out to You, O LORD; And to the LORD I made supplication: 9“What profit is there in my blood, When I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth?10Hear, O LORD, and have mercy on me; LORD, be my helper!” 11You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, 12To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
C. THESIS
During this Psalm David thanks God for His help in the three different tenses: the past, the present, and in the future. We ought to give thanks to the Lord for all His help to us too!
I. THANK YOU, LORD, FOR YESTERDAY
A. EARTHLY THINGS DAVID WAS THANKFUL FOR
1. DEFEAT OF HIS ENEMIES(1).
a. God had delivered David from such great threats as Goliath and his relative, Ishbe-benob, and many other threats during his lifetime. David saw these as part of God’s salvation for him.
b. Just like David, God has delivered us from our spiritual enemies, the devil and his fallen angels. Christians can thank God for the great events that have brought us hope in this life and for eternity – the coming of Christ, the Cross, the Resurrection, and the great affirmations such as, “God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Praise God for His glorious deliverance!
2. DIVINE HEALING(2)
a. David says that God also healed him. On other occasions David alluded to some sort of a bodily sickness(Ps. 38:7; 41:8 KJV) that he had. But God delivered him from it! What God did for him, He will do for us.
b. This reminds us that Jesus also delivered us – He “bore our sicknesses and carried our diseases” and “was wounded with our transgressions, bruised with our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with His stripes we are healed!” (Isaiah 53:4-5).
c. Can you remember a time when God healed your body? Thanksgiving is a great time to go back to the foot of the cross and tell Jesus ‘thank you’ for the healings He’s provided for you.
3. A NEAR-BRUSH WITH DEATH(3)
a. The Bible recounts several times that David was nearly killed; fighting lions barehanded, King Saul throwing a spear at him, a giant about to pin him to the ground, a hostile army chasing after him, and when he had to act insane so the Philistines wouldn’t kill him.
b. But you can also remember times when you had a close brush with death. I remember three times when I came very close to being killed. Some Twin Towers workers were saved because they were delayed by a child’s dirty diaper, or a flat tire, or a child who forgot their lunch, and many other circumstances.
c. Probably some of you here can remember times you had close brushes with death. Can you say “Thank You God” for the times you preserved my life and I wasn’t even aware of it!
B. THANKFUL FOR GOD’S SPIRITUAL QUALITIES
1. MERCY IN GOD’S CHASTISEMENT(4). Aren’t you glad that God showed you mercy in pointing you to the way of salvation? It is by grace we are saved, not of works lest any man should boast. Thank God for his mercy!
2. GOD’S PLAN ALWAYS ENDS GOOD(5). David could say, “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” This was David’s way of saying that God “works all things together for good to them that love God, who are the called according to His purpose.” Sometimes we don’t understand why we have to endure weeping; but we can be confident in this, that somehow good will come from it and everything will work out in the end. We just must trust God.
II. THANK YOU, LORD, FOR TODAY
A. DAVID’S WRONG EMPHASIS
1. In verse six, David spoke of the ‘present’, saying “Now.”
2. Next, David began over-emphasizing the bad in his life, and assuming that the worst would happen to him. David talked about an open pit and bloodletting, but none of that happened because he called on God and God delivered him!
B. THE CHRISTIAN’S BASIS FOR FAITH
1. We need to be careful not to over-emphasize the negative. We must be positive!
2. GOAT MAKES THEM THANKFUL
a. In Budapest, a man goes to the rabbi and complains, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?" The rabbi answers, "Take your goat into the room with you." The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. "Do as I say and come back in a week."
b. A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before. "We cannot stand it," he tells the rabbi. "The goat is filthy." The rabbi then tells him, "Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week."
c. A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there's no goat -- only the nine of us." [George Mikes, How to be Decadent, Andre Deutsch, London.] Nothing will make you positive like coming out of a worse situation!
3. Have faith in God! You are an heir of God and God’s child. A quotation I learned early in my Christian life says, “Over me is the Blood of the Lamb; The Lord knows before me; Jesus is in me; The angels of the Lord camp around me; Underneath me are the everlasting arms of God, and goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!” Fear has no place in my life!
4. We will all have trials, but aren’t you glad that we have the promise of God’s provision? -- The power of the blood of Christ to protect and cleanse us; the promises of the Word of God to stand on; the all-powerful Name of Jesus to command sin, sickness, and Satan; and the marvelous Holy Spirit to empower us to live the Christian life in victory! Praise God for such a great inheritance!
III. THANK YOU, LORD, FOR TOMORROW
We should thank God for the past, and also for what He’s doing for us in the present, but we should also thank Him for what he’s going to do in the future.
A. DAVID FORESEES FUTURE THANKS
1. In verse 12, David says he will “give thanks to You forever,” indicating future Thanksgiving. As a matter of fact, this Psalm was written for the future Temple.
2. The prescript said that David wrote this Psalm/song for the dedication of the Temple! He probably wrote it long before he became old, because in his old age he became so feeble his body couldn’t maintain its temperature in cold weather. This means he wrote it by faith many years before the Temple was ever built. What an interesting thought that David wrote a Psalm of thanks to God for the Temple probably 20 or more years before it was built!
3. Later this Psalm came to be applied to the rededication of the Temple by Judas Maccabeus (165 B.C.) after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes (168 B.C.). It is now sung during Hanukkah each year in commemoration of that event.
B. ANTICIPATION OF OUR FUTURE
1. Paul outlined the joy that awaits us when he said, “[Jesus] shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body” Phip. 3:21 KJV. Paul told the Thessalonians that when Christ Jesus comes “we who are still alive and are left will be caught up [Latin ‘rapturo’] together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” I:4:17; NIV.
2. The apostle John in the book of Revelation describes the triumph of Jesus over death, hell, and the grave and the triumph of all God’s people in heaven. He also describes our eternal home, New Jerusalem, with streets of gold, walls of precious gems, Gates made of giant pearls, and water supply made up of the Holy Spirit, trees whose fruit brings healing and wholeness, and an unending uncreated brilliance lighting the city which emanates from the very person of the Risen Lord!
3. That beats the heck out of just looking forward to a temple. We’re going to be thanking God for all eternity, as we share the joys of heaven with our families in unbroken peace and happiness forever and ever. That’s something to thank God about, even now!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. There was a missionary surgeon who once stopped to see one of the ladies in the village that he had once operated on. The lady and her husband were dirt poor. Their only source of income was an angora rabbit and two chickens. The woman would often comb the rabbit, take is hair and spin it into yarn which she would sell to make a little money. The chickens provided the eggs that they would eat for food.
2. Anyway, this woman insisted that the missionary stay for lunch. He accepted the invitation. He was not gone for more than an hour and a half, while he went to check on another one of his postoperative patients. When he returned he peeped into the cooking pot to see what was for lunch. In the pot he saw a rabbit and two chickens.
3. This woman had given up both her income and her only source for food. She had given up everything. He was so touched that he wept. The missionary later was speaking to some Bible School students about his work and, noticing their disinterest, told his audience that they were North American “fat cats” who knew nothing about gratitude. It was then that he told this story. (John K. Bergland. Abingdon Preacher’s Annual 1992. Rev. Dr. Victor Shepherd. “What Price Gratitude?”. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1991, p. 122).
B. ALTAR CALL
1. I am Thankful for......... ....the taxes I pay ....because it means I’m employed. ....the clothes that fit a little too snug ....because it means I have enough to eat. ....my shadow who watches me work ....because it means I am out in the sunshine. ....a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and ....gutters that need fixing ....because it means I have a home. ....the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot ....because it means I am capable of walking. ....my huge heating bill ....because it means I am warm. ....all the complaining I hear about our government ....because it means we have freedom of speech. ....the lady behind me in church who sings off key. ....because it means that I can hear. ....the piles of laundry and ironing ....because it means my loved ones are nearby. ....the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours ....because it means that I’m alive. ....weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day ....because it means I have been productive. The art of thanksliving. It is gratitude in action. It is thanking God for the gift of life by living it triumphantly. It is thanking God for your talents and abilities by accepting them as obligations to be invested for the common good. It is thanking God for all that men and women have done for you by doing things for others. It is thanking God for happiness by striving to make others happy. It is thanking God for beauty by helping to make the world more beautiful. It is thanking God for inspiration by trying to be an inspiration to others.
2. WE SERVE THE GOD OF ALL 3 TENSES: PAST, PRESENT, & FUTURE: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” Heb. 13:8; and “Grace and peace to you from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come….the Almighty” Rev. 1:4,8. Praise God!
3. Let’s stand and thank God for our many blessings!
