Psalm 92:1-6 – It’s A Good Thing to Be Thankful – Bible study

Psalm 92:1-6 It Is Good to Thank the Lord This Thursday is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is one of our least commercialized holidays and I for one am glad. I suppose it is difficult to make much of a profit on a day whose purpose is to be thankful. However, the Bible teaches us that we are not naturally a thankful people. I am not speaking of just the lost people here but the saved as well. \#Luke 17:11-19\ Jesus healed 10 men of leprosy but only one came back to express gratitude. Two things are obvious from that text: 1. People are not naturally inclined to offer thanksgiving. 2. Jesus expected thanksgiving. Psalm 92:1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD. Let us consider some of the things we have to be thankful for this morning. I. We have received too much not to be thankful. (POSSESSIONS). A. We are blessed with our health. 1. Every person is different and everyone has differing degrees of health, but even those who are struggling some today have enjoyed some very good days. 2. Im always impressed that those who seem to have the greatest reasons to be unthankful, seldom are. We have often been blessed by the hymns of Fanny Crosby. She has left us over 8,000 songs such as, Blessed Assurance, To God Be The Glory, Jesus Keep Me Near The Cross, Praise Him! Praise Him, Rescue The Perishing, Redeemed, and All The Way My Savior Leads Me, just to name a few. When she was only 6 weeks old she developed a minor eye inflammation and the doctors careless treatment left her permanently blind. The doctor who destroyed her eyesight never forgave himself and moved from the area, but Fanny held no ill will against him. She wrote in her autobiography, If I could meet him now, I would say, Thank you, thank you over and over again for making me blind. Forgive Me When I Whine Today upon a bus, I saw a lovely maid with golden hair; I envied her-she seemed so gay, and how, I wished I were so fair; When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle; she had one foot and wore a crutch, but as she passed, a smile. Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two feet-the world is mine. And when I stopped to buy some sweets, the lad who served me had such charm; he seemed to radiate good cheer, his manner was so kind and warm; I said, "Its nice to deal with you, such courtesy I seldom find;" he turned and said, "Oh, thank you sir." And then I saw that he was blind. Oh, God, forgive me when I whine, I have two eyes, the world is mine. Then, when walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue; he stood and watched the others play, it seemed he knew not what to do; I stopped a moment, then I said, "Why dont you join the others, dear?" He looked ahead without a word, and then I knew he could not hear. Oh God, forgive me when I whine, I have two ears, the world is mine. With feet to take me where Id go; with eyes to see the sunsets glow, with ears to hear what I would know. I am blessed indeed. The world is mine; Oh, God, forgive me when I whine. B. We are blessed to have our wealth. 1. By wealth, I do not mean an abundance of money. That seems to be more a curse than a blessing to many. 2. By wealth, I mean you have a comfortable life. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the one million who will not survive this week. If you can attend church meetings without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion of this world. (Thats almost half of the worlds population.) If you could read a printed copy of this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people who cannot read at all. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because while the majority of people in this world could do that, most will not. C. We are blessed to have our family. 1. Again, everyone has different types and sizes of families, but most are blessed not to be alone in this world. 2. Maybe your family is blood related; but the best are love related. 3. If anyone loves and cares for you, you are tremendously blessed and have cause to be thankful. D. We are blessed to be born in this country. 1. The freedoms that we have! a. We can DO what we ought to do. b. We can GO where we should go. c. We can SAY we should be said. d. We can WORSHIP how the Bible directs. e. We can BE whoever God wants us to be. 2. The opportunities we have! a. Notice that I have added the word "can" there. (1) Much of what our country offers is a choice that must be exercised. (2) Every American is afforded opportunity but not all of us are taking full advantage of those opportunities. b. Let me give you two. (1) Education – Provided basically free (2) Work (a) You do the work you want. (b) You can do it with whom you want. (c) You can do it how you want. (d) If you are not doing that, the only thing keeping you where you are is you. (3) No matter who you are or where you started. You can be almost anything. 3. The happiness we have. a. The Declaration of Independence grants to us that most basic right: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." b. Jesus gave us something even betterHis peace. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. c. This country has always been a bastion for both of them. (1) Do you think the people who are risking their lives to float out of Cuba on manmade boats are happy? (2) Do you think the millions of illegal immigrants who have crossed our borders from Mexico did so because they were just too happy to stay in Mexico? E. We are blessed to have our church. 1. So far, the possessions I have mentioned have all been secular. a. That was on purpose to show that even if you are lost, you have ample reason to be thankful. b. Regardless of who you are and what spiritual condition you are in, it is a good thing to thank the Lord. c. But let me mention some things that begin to move us into the spiritual realm. d. Churches not only are a heaven for the saved, they minster to the lost. 2. I know our church isnt perfect and isnt for everyone, but I think we greatly blessed to be here at this time. a. A place where the Bible is still preached. b. A place where the music is God-honoring. c. A place where there is a loving, serving spirit. d. A place where there has been no scandal of any kind in over 30 years. 3. Remember, these are tomorrows good ol days. Be thankful while you have them. G. We are blessed to be saved. 1. Now we are head one with the saved for the lost have no possession in heaven. 2. The greatest possession we will ever have is our salvation. II. We have been promised too much not to be thankful. (PROMISES) A. We have been promised the Person of the Holy Ghost. John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 1. You will never be alone or forgotten. 2. You will never be helpless or powerless. 3. You will never be clueless or ignorant. 4. You will never be separated from God. B. We have been promised a POWER. 1. Paul asked: Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 2. We are the overcomers! There is no sin, no weakness, no malady, no enemy, and no obstacle that we cannot defeat if God desires. C. We have been promised a PLACE (heaven). John 14:2 In my Fathers house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 1. Have you no home in this life? You will possess a mansion in the one to come. 2. Have you no family in this life? You will be a manifested child of God in the one to come. 3. Have you no riches in this life? You will be joint heirs with Christ in the one to come. 4. Have you lost a loved one in this life? You will be a part of Gods great family reunion in the one to come. III. We have been forgiven too much not to be thankful. (PARDON) A. Forgiveness is the heart of what 0ur salvation is. 1. We owed a debt we could not pay. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe. 2. Now, all who will trust His death as payment for their sins and will turn to Him in obedience, may have every sin erased. B. No matter how evil you have been, God has forgiven you if you have trusted Him or will forgive you if would trust Him today. Isaiah 43:25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Jeremiah 50:20 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve. The story is told of one of the wagon train parties on the Oregon Trail. Water and grass had been scarce for several days. Some of the wagons were broken down, with consequent delays amid the stifling heat. A general feeling of fretfulness had succeeded the early optimism and cheer. So it was decided that, at the next nights stop, a meeting would be held to air their troubles. When the immigrants had gathered around the campfire, one of them arose and said, "Before we do anything else, I think we should first thank God that we have come this far with no loss of life, with no serious trouble with the Indians, and that we have enough strength left to finish our journey." This was done, and then there was silence. No one had any complaints to make. Looked at in such a light, it seemed they really were fortunate.