[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Right, if you would open up your Bible to the book of Ephesians, chapter number 1. And I'm just thanking the Lord tonight for everything He's done in our lives.
[0:12] And, you know, that is something we should do not just on Thanksgiving, but all throughout our lives, that we're thankful to God for what He has done in His lives, the work He's done in our lives. You know, our country sets aside a day this week to give thanks.
[0:26] And the Bible says in James, chapter number 1, verse 17, if you could put that up there, it says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turn.
[0:39] We know that every good thing we have comes from God. Do you believe that? Say amen. Amen. God gives us every good thing. Every good thing that we have comes from God, and we ought to be thankful to God for that.
[0:50] In the book of Ephesians, Paul's writing to a church that was, there were believers who had come from a background that was very ungodly. It was, Ephesus was a city where they worshipped idols.
[1:01] There were false gods everywhere, but these people had gotten saved. And Paul is going to write in Ephesians chapter number 1, verse 15 and 16, and he's going to say, I am thanking God for the work He's done in your lives.
[1:13] If you would, read those verses with me. The Bible says, He says, If you would, look up a couple verses with me to verse number 6 in that chapter.
[1:49] Ephesians 1, 6. The Bible says, To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. First off, Paul was given thanks for their faith, and he was given thanks that they were accepted in Christ.
[2:04] They were accepted in Christ. They were no longer far off from God. If you noticed some of the words in that song that we just sang, He said, Your blood has washed away my sin. The Father's wrath is completely satisfied.
[2:14] I was your enemy, now I'm seated at your table. You know, at one time, that's where each and every one of us was. We were that enemy. Far off from God. We were separated from God.
[2:25] We were without God. Without hope. That's where we were. But we have been accepted. If you're here and you're born again, you've believed in Jesus Christ, you are accepted with God. And Paul says, I'm non-stop giving thanks for that fact.
[2:37] That you are now accepted. That you are accepted. He was giving thanks for that. God had made them accepted. Notice, look at what it says there. It says, To the praise of the glory of His grace, that's God's grace, wherein He, God, has made us accepted in the Beloved.
[2:52] It's not something that we did. It's something that Jesus did. We ought to be thankful for that. We ought to give thanks that we are accepted, that we're no longer strangers, but we're part of the family, that we're part of God's family.
[3:03] Second thing, look at verse number 7, the following verse. It says, In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
[3:14] It says, I am giving thanks for the forgiveness that's offered in Jesus Christ, that you all believed. When you put your faith in Christ, your sins were gone. You know, in Psalm 53, we often know, we've heard these verses before, but listen to this.
[3:28] It says, The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. God corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand that did seek God.
[3:43] Every one of them is gone back. They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Every single one of us, what does the Bible say?
[3:54] It says, We didn't seek God. We didn't know God. We didn't love God. We didn't care anything for God. In fact, we were in rebellion. But Paul says, I'm thanking God that He has redeemed you.
[4:05] He has given you forgiveness through His blood, through Christ's blood. I'm thanking God for that. Every single person is a sinner, and we deserve punishment. No one is perfect.
[4:17] Everyone is filthy, wicked, dirty, scum. That's what we were. But what did Jesus do? He came and died on the cross for our sins. He shed His blood so that we could be forgiven, that our sins could be washed away.
[4:31] And we all thank God for that. We all be thankful each and every day for the forgiveness He gives us. Let's look at one more thing. Verse number 13. He says, He's giving thanks that they heard the word of truth.
[4:42] Verse number 13. It says, In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
[4:56] Look at what he says there. He says, In whom ye also trusted, but what happened before they trusted? What happened before they believed? What does it say right after that? After that ye heard the word of truth. You know, someone had, for you to believe in Jesus Christ, someone had to bring you the gospel.
[5:11] They had to come and tell you the Bible. They had to tell you what God said. How would we know if someone didn't come and tell us? The Bible says, How shall they hear without a preacher? How would we know? I'm so, one thing I'm always thankful for is Pastor Joe, my old pastor in Ohio.
[5:25] I had grown up in church and I had gone through Sunday school and the teen group and I had known about Jesus and I had heard about Jesus, but I had never really heard and understood and trusted.
[5:38] But Brother Joe, he preached the gospel. He told me that, you know what, Christ died for your sins. And because when I grew up, I knew that Christ died, but I didn't understand that He did it for me. He loved me and He gave His life for me.
[5:50] It was voluntary. He did it because He loved us and He gave Himself for us. And Brother Joe, he told me that and at 15 years old, I got saved. But I would have never believed, I never would have trusted, I never would have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise if I had not heard.
[6:08] We ought to thank God for hearing the gospel, for having someone come and give us the gospel, give us the word of truth. Without that, we would have nothing. We would have no life.
[6:19] We'd have no acceptance with God. We'd have no forgiveness. We wouldn't be part of God's family. We'd still be rebels against God. Paul is saying, what does he say there? Let's look back up at those verses. He says, Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you.
[6:37] Making mention of you in my prayers. Paul is saying, I'm never going to stop giving thanks for what God has done in our lives. And each one of us here tonight, if we're Christians, we should never, ever forget what Christ has done for us.
[6:49] We should never, ever stop thanking Him. We should never allow one day to be a day of thanksgiving, but that our lives would be lived in thanksgiving. That each and every day we'd say, Jesus, thank you for making me your family, making me your son, making me your child.
[7:05] I love you. I thank you for that. If you're here today, you're not born again. If you've never believed in Jesus Christ, tonight you've, you've heard the word of truth. Christ came and He died for you.
[7:16] He died for your sins. He loved you and He laid down His life. No one took His life from Him. He laid His life down for you and He offers you eternal life. He offers you forgiveness of sins and you can be born again.
[7:28] We've heard, believe, you can trust Him tonight. He is the one that can take away all your sins. He will give you complete forgiveness. You are His enemy if you're here and you're not born again.
[7:38] If you've never believed in Jesus Christ, but He will make you His friend, all you must do is trust Him. Trust Him. Believe in Him. He did it all. He's the one who can make you part of His family.
[7:49] He's the one that can give you forgiveness of sins. You just need to trust Him here tonight. We have a word of prayer and the pastor will come. Dear God, thank you so much for your word. God, I thank you for each and every person here tonight for how they love you and how they're here tonight and praising you for your goodness.
[8:04] I pray that our lives would be lived in thankfulness. I pray if there's anyone here who has never trusted you as their Savior, I pray that they'd understand tonight that you love them, that you died for them, and that you're willing to save them.
[8:16] God, I pray that they would trust you here tonight. I pray all these things in Jesus' name. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.