Five Pearls, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word pastor Bill Gebhart challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ will men be like. He says it near the end of verse two.

They will be hungry prevailing view of man will be. They have no right they are ungrateful that were ungrateful, or simply the word thankful with the Greek letter a in front of me does not. They are not thankful they have completely forgotten about season of Jesus is not just for the lost. It's easy to forget what God is what joining us today on this additional fellowship of the word pastor Bill Gebhart Fellowship in the Words the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible church located in Metairie, Louisiana Pastor Bill Gebhart now is again he shows us God's word meets our work was a time when Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and the reason I thought it was such a great holiday was that it didn't have any of the commercialization, or any of the distractions at the other holidays Was kinda pure in its own way.

That's not true anymore Black Friday in America's not become as important to our culture. It's Thanksgiving is, in fact, some stores are bringing Black Friday to Thanksgiving Russia going to start the sales earlier presumably Black Friday. That's just the way that her work.

In fact, I think that when you think about Thanksgiving in America it becomes a little bit perplexing. We no longer think God like the Puritans date started the whole thing will do that anymore. How you can thank anybody you can think any DD you choose up or no deity. If you want to. I imagine some of you if you want to you can thank yourselves on Thursday.

You can do that if you like because that's our culture, but that doesn't have any effect on us as followers of Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul said to the Thessalonians in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

He also told the church of Ephesus. He's always giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ so biblically Thanksgiving should be every day for us. We should be people who thank God every day, but I suspect that you don't you think him once in a while, but not that often now you think I'm Thursday because somebody has to say something at the table but that's not the way it should be. So I want to do today as I want to remind you and encourage you to give thanks to God. Would you open your Bibles to Psalm 103 Psalm 103 Psalm of David. And I want you to imagine that were inviting David to your table in a David is going to give thanks. As we all do around the table.

Just give thanks to God. That's what David's going to do. It is a unique Psalm David speaks to three different groups in the Psalm in verses 1 to 5 he speaks to himself.

He believes of the verse he talks to himself about in verses 6 to 18. He speaks to the nation he speaks to all the other people and then verses 19 to 22 he actually speaks to the Angels and he tells the angels they should give thanks to an amazing song. The mood of the song. The theme of the Psalm is found in those first three words bless the Lord bless the Lord know. Please don't misunderstand the word bless. Sometimes Christians get one. How can I bless him. He blesses me is not that kind of blessing this word for blesses the word bar bullock and a great word in Hebrew, Moloch means to bow my knee before one sovereign it means to acknowledge the awesome presence of God. He said bless the Lord that's what he says he's caught up in the moment. Bless the Lord all my soul. When a great way to say it, bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, forget none of this benefits the verse 20.

Bless the Lord view his angels. Verse 21. Bless the Lord always hosts.

Verse 22.

Bless the Lord all the works of his in all places of this dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. That's what David is talking about. Lord I just bow before you.

I'm thankful for what you have done for me. I'm thankful for this were not always. Some of you probably not at all your place and go with me to second Timothy chapter 3, second Timothy three, Paul is describing what it's like to live on the on the earth in the last days wasn't going to be like in the last days.

What are people going to be like in the last days and want to see what he says. Second Timothy three and verse one Paul says realize this. I want to think about this.

Realize this, that in the last days. He said difficult times will come. Why because a man he says for men will be lovers of self will be narcissist will be lovers of money, the materialist, he said to be boastful and arrogant revolvers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, I'm loving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, will be lovers of pleasure hedonist rather than lovers of God right in the middle of that he has one word what will men be like.

He says it near the end of verse two. They will be ungrateful. The prevailing view of man will be.

They have no gratitude to God at all.

They are ungrateful that word ungrateful was simply the word thankful with the Greek letter a in front of it, which means not think they are not thankful to God.

They have completely forgotten about God.

It's easy to forget it's easy not just for the loss to forget, but for the believer, to forget it's easy to forget what God has blessed you with not be thankful. Go with me now to Mark chapter 8 Mark chapter 8 the beginning of chapter 8 of Mark the gospel writer talks about Jesus feeding the 4000. He feeds 4000 he's already fed 5000. That's a very important thing to understand. He spread he's fed 5000. He spent 4000 and then they go to the Sea of Galilee and only pick up in verse 13 he said, leaving them, he again embarked and went away to the other side so is once again going now wanted to see the way the disciples are these are his disciples. These are the chosen ones. These represent people like you and me and they have forgotten to take bread and they did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. I'm hungry just a little bit hungry.

I mean there's 12 of us. One loaf of bread help how much bread we going to get. Now he was giving orders to them.

He speaking with a tone of voice and accesses them watch out beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and that in the leaven of Herod which you mean he said watch out the Pharisees a legalist. Herod's worldly watch out for these people. Now the Lord speaks to you that way. You think you're missing the not so much. They began to discuss with one another. The fact that they had no bread.

I'm still hungry I know is talking about some stuff, but I'm hungry preoccupied with their own need. I can have you and me to do the same thing preoccupied with their own need Jesus aware of this, he said to them, why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread, do you not yet see or understand you have a hard heart.

Don't you know who you with having to see what I've done, you have no idea he's at when I broke.

He said when I broke the five loaves for the 5000, how many baskets full of broken pieces to pick up and they said well no one to look now 12. He said when I broke the seven for the 4000, how many large baskets full of broken pieces you pick up and they said that that be seven. He was saying to them, do not yet understand how you miss this, don't you know who I am.

Don't you know what have given you.

How can you do this, how can you so easily forget what I've done for you will be too hard to disciples because we act exactly the same way we forget completely the provision of God is go back to the song. William Barclay says this in gratitude is the blindness of all the sins and gratitude is the blindness of all the settings refused to see what God has blessed you with just refused to see CS Lewis in the Screwtape letters said this belongs all monotonous tears of middle-age prosperity are excellent campaigning weather for the devil to get you distracted to get you on under your own needs your own wishes your own wants and you end up forgetting completely what God is provided. That's what Psalm 103 is about.

That's what David is going to do.

Gratitude is so important. It is really important to God. I see this all the time with people in our church have small children. If you give a small child.

A gift okay what's the parent always say, tell the man thanks, man. Thanks to… And that's really heartfelt. Parent makes them they say thanks and what we see will you get a gift you should be thankful God says yes I've given you would give one to thankful there's something else. So for you and me in this joy does not make you grateful gratitude will make you joyful joy will not make you grateful, but gratitude will make you joyful. If you're a thankful person. You're a joyful person. So David says bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, forget none of his benefits, who pardons all of our iniquities who heals our diseases who redeems your life from the pit who crowned you with loving kindness and compassion who satisfies your years with good things so that he said your youth is renewed like an eagle. David is thanking God for the blessings that God is given him a new start for short-term things.

He's not saying God I thank you that I'm king I thank you that I'm handsome. David's very handsome, I thank you that the ladies like me. He doesn't think God for anything like that is thanking God for something that's much, much more important that Charles Spurgeon, the great pastor preacher of the last century said this here.

David begins his list of blessings received which he rehearses as themes for praise he selects a few of the choices pearls from the divine love and he threads them on a string of memories, and he hangs them about the neck of gratitude. That's what I want to say this morning five pearls. David puts five pros on the string and he hangs around the neck of gratitude and says thank you. I would pray that's what you would do as well. Here's the first one he says who you notice and every one of these verses starts out who everything is who he says who pardons all your iniquities.

Think about that, he pardons all your iniquities all every single one of them you will never say to you I think you gone too far. I think that's one too many deny I've pardoned them all.

Just think of your life over the last month how many sins you committed just over the last month bending back in your life in some of the things you've done that all of us feel ashamed. Think of it all is that pardonable.

I pardon every single one of those little verse 10.

He said he is not dealt with us according to our sins rewarded us according to our iniquities. He said for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his lovingkindness for those who fear him, and as far as the east is from the West. So far, is removed our transgressions from us while thinking that how high is the heavens above the infinitely high how far please from the West infinitely. There is no distance here.

That's the way this works. In fact, he also says in Scripture. I take your sins I taken the see I throw them overboard.

And I remember them no more. What an incredible statement.

I remember them no more can affect that would have. I've even set in the past, but give her go back to God's will knowledge your sins in your walk with him and you using first John one night in your when I confess your sins and your basic come back and say are I would ask eight guidance bill again and you know, here I am again. I committed the same sin again. That type of thing God would say to me what sin Watson, I forgot I have forgotten.

Just think of that hundred times you go back. This is what sin I remember no more steadfast love of the Lord never changes his mercies never come to an end. There are new every morning new every morning great is your faithfulness is incredible what God is that he pardoned all of our iniquities. Amazing. Secondly, the second Pearl. He says any heals all your diseases all what does that mean he heals all your diseases. Some would say well in our prosperity date. That means every disease is healed by God's promise. Now they realize that that's not true. So they say what it all be healed if you had enough faith and if you're on healed. You don't have enough faith and that's the only reason that's heresy may be as honest as I can about, that's nobody's talking about it on your see in a moment why first thing by the way is almost all of us will die of disease.

What heart disease will have sent in on something internal organ will have pneumonia when we become elderly. Now some of the Stein accident. Some of us I have other things but most of us will dive disease.

There's no exceptions. So he says he heals all your diseases.

That's simply not true, it doesn't ring true or all because that's not what he saying there's a couple things so much and understand about that verse is the first one when David is writing a song he's writing poetry, a specific kind of poetry Hebrew poetry. Now when he was right. Poetry don't try to rhyme the word of the end like we do in English, they use a tool called parallelism. In other words you write one line and you write a parallel line underneath it. Those two lines are interpreted together. It's called synonymous parallelism. In other words, what is said in the first line is reset in a different way. In the second line.

That's what this is. Now I want you to understand something here. He says then who pardons all of our iniquities and he was a small bar diseases.

These to relate to one another and in fact you have to understand what does he mean about our diseases. Once the antecedent to this what you referring to was the subject all my soul. He's talking about his soul, all my soul. He's not talking about anything else you talking about me about my soul. He's talking about you so wish. Diseases that we have. He's talking about a spirit of bitterness is talking about all these different things that attack our character from the inside heals all that and will see in a moment. Just as the how he does it. Sometimes he does it in this life and sometimes you do it at the end but the point of it is always does it. He heals all of our diseases. The book of Job is a very philosophical book is an incredible book to read is because Job suffers in that book, unlike any of us have ever even imagine anyone could. I don't know of anyone or maybe you don't either never suffer like Joe remember he was the most righteous man on earth. He was prosperous he had 10 children. Everything was going well and then into a discussion between Lucifer and God. God said you can do anything you want to but you can kill him. And so what happened to them. He lost all the servants they were all killed. That's tragic.

Then he lost all 10 of his children. I can even imagine what that be like as a parent.

10 children are all dead.

He lost 10 children. Then he lost all of his wealth and then you must always respect within the village itself lost a completely and then he lost his health and nannies out on the city dump.

Sitting on an ash heap in ashes in sackcloth with a piece of pottery, scraping the source off his body. You remember that even his wife said to him, she said curse God and die. Don't be too hard on her when the Scripture says that Job was the most righteous man on the world. He didn't say in his wife was the most righteous woman in the world doesn't often work like that.

She can only experience life the way she can experience it. She's unique in our own way, she lost 10 children. She lost all her wealth to us all the respect that her husband that she lost everything, and she said you should just curse God and die and then the story of Job is about friends coming and offering all kinds of advice as to why this happened and Job is struggling.

He's disillusioned all Joe keep saying is I just like an audience.

I just like to stand before I just like to be able interact him just like you and I when we suffer, I want to know why I just want to know that's all. And we know the end of the book God comes out of the whirlwind and gives Job the business and Job repents.

But in that process. I want to see how God was healing his soul go with me now to Job 23 Job 23 in verse 10 Job's interaction with Eliphaz, one of his friends, but I want to see along the process. Job is waking up. He's beginning to get some idea about this. Starting in verse 10 he says this but he knows the way that I take when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. That's an interesting statement on his part and by the way, when you read the end of the book he does come forth as gold.

When the trial is over, but Job got some insight into this, he said my foot. He said, is held fast to his path. I have kept his way have not turned aside. I have not departed from the command of his lips.

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Job is beginning to heal his soul is beginning to understand what's going on here. It's a process will always work that way. Not always. In this life but always work that way.

What's the endgame for you and me.

According to Paul writing to the Romans. We will be completely conform to the image of Christ.

Everyone of us will be completely conform to the image of Christ. Everyone of us will have the character of Jesus Christ know what that means all the diseases of our soul. See all he will heal every single one of us. That's what he is saying here. God heals all your diseases pastoral gift card on the radio ministry of fellowship Lord, if you ever miss one of our broadcast or maybe you dislike a listen to the message one more time.

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