Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks (Quality: Good)

[0:00] the first verse in the 75th Psalm is the portion of truth to which my mind has been directed and from which I've been thinking through the day the 75th Psalm and verse 1 unto thee O God do we give thanks unto thee do we give thanks for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare the psalm is headed a psalm of Asaph it is suggested that it originated in the time when Asaph and David the sweet psalmist of Israel were engaged in the praising of God that Asaph wrote this psalm for David at the time when David anticipated the fulfilment of God's promise in that he would reign over the people of God after that God had removed that great stumbling blood before him in the person of his avowed enemy Saul who at such a time occupied the throne which he at length through promise should inherit himself others have suggested that the psalm was written at the time when Sennacherib the great king of Assyria threatened Hezekiah and Hezekiah went before the Lord by reason of the threatenings of Rabshakeh and if you look into the second book of Kings at chapters 18 and 19 you'll see the history of that occasion it's also recorded again in Isaiah's prophecy at chapters 36 and 37 but my friends whichever occasion was the occasion for the penning of the psalm and the associated circumstances which gave rise to this language being recorded under the inspiration of the Spirit we know that it will have and still will continue to have relevance to the experiences and exercises of the Lord's people it's a wonderful thing with Scripture that it is not historical in that it becomes stale and outdated and the Scripture retains a life and relevancy peculiar to itself that my friends the Bible's always up to date and never out of date and I'm sure the exercise that the people of God are thankful to the God of grace who has given His word unto us as a precious heritage and one can see the connection between the preservation the gift originally and the preservation of Scripture with the thanksgiving of the psalmist in the text before us before I go on to that particular consideration let us appreciate the thanksgiving that here is reiterated by the psalmist at the opening of this psalm unto thee

[4:16] O God do we give thanks unto thee do we give thanks now has that language any appropriation to you and to me you say well yes we give thanks to the Lord we come we sing the hymns of praise and thanksgiving and we say grace at the table and there are times especially times of deliverance when we obviously turn to the Lord with thankfulness that we've got better from our sickness or that we've had a wonderful providential deliverance in some tangled skein of experience so that we can fairly appreciate that there is a God and that God works and he condescends to work for us and as he works so we desire to give him our thanks well my friends one would never minimize the benefit and blessing of a spirit of praise

[5:41] I was going to say however seldom it is found in the heart but how said when the spirit of praise is seldom found in our hearts the spirit of praise or thanksgiving to God to be seldom in our hearts indicates our terrible ignorance of who we are and what we receive the apostle Paul in the wisdom of gracious understanding by the teaching or illumination of the holy spirit says this in everything give thanks and my friends there's occasion for thanksgiving in everything if only we had eyes to see it and hearts to understand it and if for the most part our hearts are on the willows and we're indifferent to the spirit of praise and the spirit of thanksgiving it is that we fail to appreciate our great indebtedness to God for his goodness to us in the way of providence and much more in a way of grace and how sad if you and I can look back over this day and feel that we have not really felt cause and reason to thank God from our hearts as we have gathered through the day the benefits and blessings of his left hand and I trust some tokens of his right hand favours too now the psalmist says unto thee

[7:54] O God do we give thanks nature is appreciative and God has given wonderful instruction to us of the thanksgivings of his creation I feel I don't exaggerate in saying that the fowls of the heaven give wonderful expression of thanksgiving to their creator day by day the morning song is a wonderful expression of thanksgiving for the care of the night and then my friends the song of the birds is surely directed to more than your ear and to my ear as we listen to the wonderful song that finds his expression from the fowls of the air surely those notes of praise enter into the ear of the creator with satisfaction許 but then who of

[9:38] God's creation has more reason to be thankful than mankind man without I was going to say the benefits of divine grace just on the ground of God's common benefits to a fallen race I say what ground there is for thanksgiving and how mankind should be appreciative that the Lord has veiled so to speak his majesty and his wrath against sin in the communications of his providence that mankind is supplied by the bounty of God and God causes his sun to shine upon the unjust as well as the just among men but more than this not only are we in common with all partakers of divine providence when we're conscious of our unworthiness of the least of all the mercies that we receive from the good hand of heaven surely if the rest of the human race is silent in appreciation of God's goodness in the way of providence it becomes the church to acknowledge God's goodness to them with recurring thanksgiving and how sad if you and I can receive

[11:41] God's temporal blessings day by day with silent hearts unto thee O God do we give thanks unto thee do we give thanks for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare well praise is comely for the upright and my friends the scripture clearly indicates the divine will and pleasure that thanksgiving becomes the saints of all creatures God has made thanksgiving is due from the saints of God not only in that prepared abode of praise which awaits awaits the saints on high but surely in anticipation of that glorious song the saints assured raise their voices this is now in praise and thanksgiving to the giver of all good gifts unto thee O God do we give thanks unto thee do we give thanks now scripture is inspired and repetition is not vain in this particular the psalmist appreciated the need of affirmation as he expressed the very feelings of his heart and those that were with him in this way unto thee O God do we give thanks to live humbly and to live thankfully is a great blessing proud hearts live as if they had a right to expect the favour of God humble hearts knowing they are unworthy of the favour of God ever desire to give to God the praise and glory due to his name for all his goodness and his mercy which is new every morning and great is

[14:35] God's faithfulness now one can see the relevance of the reiteration in the night and morning vows it's good to commence a day with thanksgiving it's good to conclude a day with thanksgiving my friends if we can appreciate God's watchfulness over us and his goodness to us in blessing us with the blessings of rest and sleep it's a good way to start a day acknowledging God and as we wade as it were through the responsibilities and needs and cares of the day how good to feel at the end of the day the help of God received the blessings of God enjoyed the deliverances that we may have experienced and the helps in this particular and that particular as duties and responsibilities have laid upon us to live prayerfully and to live thankfully as we journey on reaping as it were those blessings from God's good hand all of which were undeserved of nevertheless which are so bountifully strewn through the pilgrimage way how sad if we can let God's mercies lie forgotten in unthankfulness and without praises doubt surely ingratitude is one of the great evils which makes us fall before God from time to time in shame and confession before him but here the psalmist raises this point of reiteration we can liken the reiteration to providence and grace to morning and evening vows and we can relate them surely to God's former favours and his present blessings whatever may give rise as it were to the reiterations expressed here in this language my friends let us ever remember that to appreciate the cause for thanksgiving and to desire from our hearts to render praise to God is consistent with the will of

[17:45] God in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you says the scripture if God is not thanked by the saints from whence is that volume of praise due to him to be realized praise waiteth for thee O God in Zion how wonderful when Zion is so appreciative of her unworthiness and the great blessings of God in grace and in providence that as it were the church is bursting at the seams to express its thanksgiving to God for all his goodness and his mercy toward us lively healthy spiritual state will invariably associate with praise and my friends some of the most healthy seasons of the church in the history of the world have brought forth some of the sweetest hymns of praise that have given us now to sing together in our public worship well unto thee O

[19:29] God do we give thanks unto thee do we give thanks for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare the nearness of the name of the Lord is developed by the manifestation of his wondrous works that is God manifests his presence by demonstrations of his power and when God's power is withheld we may say that the nearness of his presence is not with us this is why the church of God is so greatly exercised to see and to feel demonstrations of his power because when his works are not declaring then his presence surely is lacking for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare real religion is the manifestation of the wondrous works of God and the church depends upon these in a personal way and in a collective way let me look at this from the personal viewpoint initially and then turn to the corporate aspect in later consideration for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare spiritual life is the work of God it's not only God's prerogative to give life it's

[22:12] God's prerogative to hold our souls in life and except the Lord in the quickening power of his Holy Spirit is with us day by day we fall into a state and condition of spiritual deadness feeling I don't mean to infer by that the saints who are born again of the Holy Spirit die spiritually because life imparted by the Holy Spirit is eternal life and that life will never die but what I'm saying is this that the experimental enjoyment of the possession of spiritual life is consistent with the continual outworking of the Spirit's presence and power in our souls now that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare when the

[23:27] Lord by his Spirit is close to us and there is the ministry of life there's a liveliness spiritually so that there is a living response to the things of God the things of truth the things of the Spirit and my friends this does not necessitate a separation from the world in the living aspect of life that is you haven't got to close yourself in a monastery or nunnery to be conscious of the spiritual presence of the Lord and the ministry of his

[24:29] Spirit as a spirit of life and separation from the world in a spiritual sense why you can be spiritually lively in any environment that could be named that falls out to be your way by the leading and teaching of the Holy Spirit in your particular calling and way of life do you know what it is to worship in the kitchen you ladies do you know what it is to be in a lively state of soul while you're doing your daily chores if I may use that expression so that your kitchen becomes the house of God and sometimes perhaps the tears roll down into the washing up water because of the feelings nearness of the Lord in your heart while you're doing your daily duties you say but oh it's not much

[25:40] I don't have much enjoyment of that you know my heart is so often cold and dark and distant Lord it is my chief complaint my heart is cold and faint well how sweet it is when we can say for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare when he softens your heart when he draws your affections when you're doing things and you don't realize what you're doing because your heart and your mind is in another place have you ever been amazed as it were that you've done something properly when you've realized that your mind hasn't really been on what you're doing because your mind has been drawn away by the sweet drawings of the spirit of life

[26:50] I could go on couldn't I for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare God softening the heart God drawing the spirit God in the as the spirit of life as it were ministering that living influence in our hearts so that we're in the world and yet not of it we're attending to things in almost a detached way from time to time and my friends there is such a depth of blessing to be enjoyed by the ministry of the spirit in these particulars as to incapacitate a person for their daily responsibilities and some of us know and only know too rarely what it is to have to ask the

[27:53] Lord to withdraw a little to meet our day by day commitments and that's something worth coveting in the renewal of it and in the enjoyment of it that the Lord will so fill our souls with his blessings to make us feelingly incapacitated for the duties and responsibilities of our daily life Lord withdraw a little because I've got this to do and I can't do it I remember once going to London to meet Mr.

[28:35] Charles Barker the minister that has ministered to you on several occasions I went into his office on the embankment and the commissioner received me and I asked for him and he came running down the stairs and he said Harold come into the car there was a big car park underneath the great office government house and we got into the car and he drove off and he said Harold don't talk to me don't talk to me he said just let me talk to you and we drove along the embankment through the London traffic and that man was so full of the blessing of God that he received in his office this morning he said you know he said I've got several things that ought to have been done but he said I just couldn't do them he said my documents have been soaked with tears soaked with tears he said

[29:40] I've just had to give up and come out he said and I'm so thankful that I've got an ear to listen who will understand and we drove along the embankment and out through the traffic of London with that dear man pouring out the blessing of God into my ear into my heart and I sat in his car in the passenger seat weeping as he was driving through his tears and we were like a couple of fools if you like to appreciate the assessment of the world but I believe my friends we were two that morning that lunchtime we were two of the happiest men in London now that's what I'm talking about and some of you know what I'm talking about don't you that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare oh unto thee oh God do we give thanks unto thee do we give thanks that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare well every saving benefit and blessing is the work of

[30:56] God and it is abundant cause for thanksgiving it manifests the nearness of the name and what is the name it's the person it's the person of Jesus Christ himself who by his spirit blesses soul do you know what the presence and Jesus himself drew near and went with them did not our heart burn within us as he talked with us by the way as he opened to us the scripture these things connect today not just in the historical record of almost 2000 years since they're today the precious drawing near of the

[32:01] Lord himself as he journeys with his people Moses wanted he coveted him if thy presence go not with me carry us not up hands how near are you to the Lord how near is the Lord to you if you're near to the Lord you'll be giving him thanks you'll be giving him thanks if praise lies dormant upon your spirit you'll never convince me you're living near to the Lord these things invariably go hand in hand well just quickly as I close because the times rushed and raced on collectively the church the gathered saints who by divine providence have brought together in the fellowship of the

[33:22] Lord's people the best and blessed assembly under heaven they're my best friends my kindred dwell their God my saviour reigns how do we know the Lord's near his wondrous works declare his wondrous works declare for that thy name is my friends if nothing of the Lord's work is going on among a people a people may continue to meet together they may maintain the ordinances they may be satisfied with their situation but it's a dying it's a dying community it's a dying fellowship it's a dying church but what a wonderful thing when the Lord is giving us cause thanksgiving when we're seeing his hand in providence as a church and we're seeing his hand in grace as a church we're not thankful for our collections full stop no oh we're in a good position the people are giving well yes praise

[34:46] God for that let's be thankful for that that the Lord's opening the hearts I love to hear our deacons record with thankfulness the amount of last Lord's day collection I think that's good that sounds well spiritually but my friends more than that it's God's gracious work isn't it souls being born again sinners having their hearts broken saints being encouraged the wine of the kingdom being poured into poor weeping fearing souls so that we can see the fulfillment of the scripture wine maketh glad the heart of man there's no wine like the gospel to cheer a drooping soul is there some of you can confirm the principle by living experience and then my friends we love to see the works of

[36:02] God in the power of his love liberating souls to a public identification with Christ and his people in profession hinder me not ye much loved saints and I will go with you come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he has done for my soul and is it the person deciding to follow Christ or is it the overcoming influence of the spirit drawing so that their fears and misgivings are brought into captivity to the will of God they must come oh I remember our dear friend Clifford Woodhouse being brought to the point of must come and then on the following

[37:06] Saturday I was in my greenhouse in the garden and he came up the garden to me and I could have told him as he walked up the garden what he was coming about and he said Marcel must come it was the it was the wondrous works of God because his name was near he was working in his garden he was gathering of his precious fruits and my friends there was a giving of thanks wasn't there was in my heart and so there is as the wonderful works of the Lord declare that his name is near in the sending forth of our brethren into the gospel ministry we have an encouragement for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare amen in a reiterating note of thanksgiving for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare amen amen in a quindi and and close in here 949

[38:54] There's not a name beneath the skies nor is there one in heaven above but that of Jesus can survive for sinners' burdens to remove.

[39:30] Amen. Amen. Amen.

[39:54] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[40:05] Amen. Amen. Jesus.

[40:16] His name went once its virtues known. How we all have come here.

[40:35] The Spirit of Christ will lift our Lord.

[40:46] And find the rest of the Spirit. It was all before I knew this truth.

[41:10] And learned to trust the Savior's name. In marriage me I spent my youth.

[41:31] The thoughts now fill my heart with shame.

[41:42] The Lord's sins I've now found life and love.

[41:55] With which His name is rich this poor.

[42:07] The world can keep my heart no more. Though can it just content of all.

[42:27] The things I once have still come to us.

[42:41] I now have come to us. The world is yours. The world is yours.

[43:01] The world is yours. The world is yours.

[43:13] Let thy work appear unto thy servants. And thy glory unto our children.

[43:25] Forgive, O Lord, all that has been amiss. May the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The love of God.

[43:37] The sweet and abiding communion of the Holy Spirit. Be with us. Amen.