We Give Thanks to God without Ceasing Because...

 

Since the will of God toward us in Christ Jesus is that we give thanks in everything, we ought always to give thanks to God in all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

1 Thessalonians 5:18 “in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward.”

Ephesians 5:20 “giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.”

 

And when we give thanks to God in all things in the name of Jesus, there will surely be things for which we give thanks. Concerning the thing for which he thanked God without ceasing, the apostle Paul said:

 

“When ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God.”

 

Amen. Truly, it is so. That we can humble ourselves before the word of God and listen to that word is surely something for which we must give thanks without ceasing. This is because, sadly, many people do not do so.

 

2 Timothy 4:3-4 “3For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; 4and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.”

 

As this passage says, people do not follow sound doctrine, that is, the doctrine of the word of God. Instead, they gather many teachers who will say things that suit their own hearts and what they want to hear, and they follow the vain stories of the world. This error began from the beginning. Eve listened to the serpent’s word, and Adam listened to Eve’s word, more than the word of God.

 

Genesis 2:17 “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Genesis 3:4-6 “4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil. 6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.”

 

Even after this, people continued not to listen to the word of God. In particular, even the people of Israel, whom God had chosen, did not listen to the word of God. Therefore, God lamented and was angry, as follows:

 

Jeremiah 6:10-11 “10To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of Jehovah is become unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it. 11Therefore I am full of the wrath of Jehovah; I am weary with holding in: pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days.”

 

At the time when God spoke these words, the prophets and priests were all speaking falsehood. For example, even though there was no peace, they proclaimed to the people that there was peace. Therefore, God was angry with those prophets and priests who spoke what the people wanted to hear rather than the true word of God.

 

Jeremiah 6:13-15 “13For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. 14They have healed also the hurt of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 15Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall; at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith Jehovah.”

 

God was also angry with the people who demanded from the prophets, or seers (1 Sam. 9:9), the words they themselves wanted to hear (Ezek. 14:9-10).

 

Isaiah 30:9-14 “9For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of Jehovah; 10that say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits... 12Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely thereon... 14And he shall break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing; so that there shall not be found among the pieces thereof a sherd wherewith to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”

 

If we want it to be well with us and to have peace, we need only humbly listen to the word of God. Yet because people’s thoughts, that is, their desires, come before the word of God, they instead receive calamity.

 

Jeremiah 6:16-19 “16Thus saith Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls: but they said, We will not walk therein. 17And I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet; but they said, We will not hearken. 18Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. 19Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.”

 

Indeed. The calamity of God comes upon those who do not listen to the word of God and despise it. Therefore, we must have the following kind of faith.

 

Jeremiah 42:5-6 “5Then they said to Jeremiah, Jehovah be a true and faithful witness amongst us, if we do not according to all the word wherewith Jehovah thy God shall send thee to us. 6Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of Jehovah our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of Jehovah our God.”

 

In fact, these words were lies spoken by the men of Judah to Jeremiah. They said this to Jeremiah, but when Jeremiah actually delivered the true word of God to them, they not only regarded his words as lies and refused to listen, but even raised a conspiracy theory against him.

 

Jeremiah 43:1-3 “1And it came to pass that, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of Jehovah their God, wherewith Jehovah their God had sent him to them, even all these words, 2then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: Jehovah our God hath not sent thee to say, Ye shall not go into Egypt to sojourn there; 3but Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon.”

 

In the end, if they were going to insist on their own thoughts and say, “Our God did not send you to tell us not to go to Egypt,” then why did they first say to Jeremiah, “Whether His voice is good or evil to us, we will obey it”? It was because, even through the prophet Jeremiah, they wanted to hear what they themselves wanted to hear. But the word of God was very different from their thoughts, that is, from what they wanted (Isa. 55:8-9).

 

In any case, even though the words the men of Judah spoke to Jeremiah were lies, those words describe what should have been true. Therefore, when we listen to the word of God, we must lay down our own thoughts and desires and obey all of it, whether that word seems good to us or not. This will surely become a blessing to us.

 

Jesus also said that those who see and hear His words are blessed, because they can be “healed” (Isa. 6:9-10).

 

Matthew 13:9-16 “9He that hath ears, let him hear. 10And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11And he answered and said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath. 13Therefore speak I to them in parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: 15For this people’s heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them. 16But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.”

 

Amen. In this time when people seek only to see and hear what they themselves want, rather than the words of Jesus, if by grace we have been placed on the side of Jesus and have been permitted to know Jesus Christ, the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, there is no blessing greater than this. That is why the apostle Paul gave thanks to God without ceasing for the Thessalonian brethren, because when they received the word of God, they received it not as the word of men, but as the word of God. Receiving the word of God by faith is a reason to give thanks to God without ceasing.

 

The Israelites who died in the wilderness did so because, when they heard the word of God, they were not united with it by faith; therefore, the word they heard did not profit them (Heb. 4:1-2). And to the Jews who claimed that they were Abraham’s descendants, Jesus rebuked them—because they did not listen to and believe His word—saying that their father was the devil and that they were not of God (John 8:37-47). These passages, by contrast, clearly teach us how important and how thankful a thing it is to receive the word of God by faith.

 

Truly, the word of God works in those who believe. Therefore, when we hear and believe the words of Jesus, we can be healed (Acts 28:24-28) and live forever (John 5:25). Therefore, in this present time, when the time is near, we must all the more read, hear, and keep the words of Jesus by faith.

 

Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein: for the time is at hand.”

 

Amen.