Jack Hibbs - Take Time to Be Thankful (01/23/2026)
Why Thanksgiving Is Special
I love tomorrow, and it has nothing to do with turkey. I love tomorrow, and it has nothing to do with football. Those are fillers. Those are fillers. Frankly, I mean, we may eat turkey, and we might watch a game—maybe, I don’t know—but just know this, and you do know this: tomorrow is a purely Christian holy day. That’s why you don’t see much advertising about it. Have you noticed that? A lot of Halloween junk on TV. You know, you don’t see Knott’s Berry Farm or Disneyland having a Thanksgiving night, but they got Scary Night, they got Crazy Night. And so, I think if the world had its way, they would just wipe Thanksgiving right off the calendar, because the history of it is truly awesome.
Turning to Psalm 95
And I want to just touch on some things tonight. We won’t be long—I don’t think we’ll be long. I don’t plan on being long tonight—but I’m going to ask you, if you’d grab your Bibles this evening and turn to the book of Psalms, Psalm 95. Psalm 95, verse 1:
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.
What It Means to Be His People
What an awesome declaration! That, as Christians tonight—what does that mean? —that we are people who have bowed the knee. We have come and we have decided, by whatever means God got our attention, that if you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, God got your attention. And tonight, I want you to be encouraged that this evening—tomorrow—take time. Maybe you ought to get up a little bit earlier tomorrow. You say, «Jack, are you crazy? It’s my day off, man.» Get up a little bit earlier tomorrow—20 minutes, 30 minutes, a little earlier—and go someplace: in your room, in the backyard, on the roof, whatever it takes—and just say, «Lord, thank You.»
Thankful for Salvation
Number one: thank You for being the God of my salvation. Salvation—it was never your idea; it was no man’s idea. Salvation: given by God, invented by God, provided and paid for by God. It’s He who has approached us and said, «Believe in Me, look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth.» That was God’s idea. While we were lost, while we were condemned, while we were living our lives bound in sin and lust and violence, in the pursuits of the world, the Bible says while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He wants us with Him. He’s the God of our salvation. He’s the Rock. How sure and firm is our salvation? Well, how sure is He, being the Rock—our strength, absolute. What an amazing God we have to be thankful for, all that He’s provided for us.
The Danger of Drifting and Ungratefulness
Now look, I understand that tonight, if we let ourselves become untethered like a boat, we’ll drift. Our human nature is prone to drifting. We drift away from the moorings of stability. Our emotions tend to slip away from what is firm and sure. Listen: our very person—who we are—we lie to ourselves. We convince ourselves that this is what’s owed to me, or this is better for me, or I know better than everybody. I might even know better than God. We try to convince ourselves. We wind up making horrible decisions. We might wind up doing terrible things—all because it’s what we want.
In many ways and shapes and forms, before the gospel is illuminated to our hearts, we think that we’re okay, or we think that maybe life is built up about me grabbing all the gusto I can, and like the bumper sticker says, «He who dies with the most toys wins.» The amazing thing about that junk that you see in the world is that that hedonistic pursuit causes someone to wind up being disillusioned—and that’s a good thing, to be disillusioned by the offerings of this world. The world can never fill the void or the gap that is in our hearts.
Christ Rescues Us
And then comes Christ. Then comes the gospel, the truth of God’s Word that transforms our lives. And tomorrow, as we’re thankful, we ought to reflect upon the great, amazing work that God saved you and me out of—a life that had deceived us, a life that had us going headlong down a course that would eventually lead to death. And God rescued us out of it, and He saved us. And who is He who saves? He is the mighty God. He’s the Lord, and He’s the one who’s created everything.
Tonight, outside is beaming a full moon—it’s awesome. Tonight, before you go to bed, turn off all the lights in the house, turn off all the lights on the outside of the house, look out your window—or better yet, just go out there. I know, I know, it’s tough out there right now; the temperature has dipped below 74—it’s quite perilous out there. Bundle up like some of you are tonight and go on out into that 60-degree air and look up, because the Bible tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God.
That same God that is controlling the moon tonight is the same God that has said, «I loved you, and I do love you, and I have loved you with an everlasting love.» He’s the same God that tells us that He sent Jesus Christ, sent by the Father, to be our salvation. His work is awesome. His work is firm. His work is sure. And tomorrow we give thanks.
Thankful in Everything
And I know it’s a day that’s set aside, but you know, in the Scriptures it tells us that we are to rejoice and be thankful in everything. You say, «Jack, is that one of those parts of the Bible like it’s hyperbole-type speaking, that God is trying to maybe just encourage us? I mean, we’re not really supposed to be thankful in everything, right—in accidents or in issues or sicknesses or whatever?»
Listen, first of all, if that’s our approach—“How can I give God thanks in the situation I’m in?”—wait a minute. If that’s your approach to the practice of giving thanks, you’re missing what it means. Life’s issues can never be victoriously navigated by the believer unless we determine, number one, why we should be thankful, how it is that we are thankful, what’s it all about.
Being thankful is having the fact and the knowledge of knowing that I don’t get it, I don’t understand this, but God has anticipated the fact that I should be thankful in every situation. It’s not for us to be in such a way that we think, like, «Well, look, my house just burned down—let’s be thankful.» That’s not what He’s talking about. It means that when your house burns down, you can be thankful in God, because that’s not your identity.
«Oh, I’ve got cancer.» «I’ve been robbed, ” or whatever the case might be. Listen, this is life. This is an evil world. Thank God this is not our home. Amen. In the midst of all these things, we can be thankful because God is above all those things. He transcends all those things. He’s greater than all those things. And so we revel in the fact that, „Lord, I am so thankful.“
The Consequences of Ungratefulness
And for many of us, there’s issues of life that happen, and if we’re not careful, we will let that emotional side of how we view things or the human side rule our thinking. And then listen—one of the dangerous things for us as believers is for us to become unthankful. And truly, at that point, we have loosened the moorings. We’ve loosened our way.
Because even as a believer, if we nurture our self-demands, our self-position, our „What’s in it for me?“ and „I should have had this by now“ and „Why me?“, if we begin to turn our eyes inward, then we begin to become hurt. And hurt leads to bitterness, and bitterness left unchecked causes us to become very critical. A person that’s bitter is a critical person. And you can even be a believer and get away from God that way and become unthankful.
The Bible tells us that there’s a great warning that we need to watch out—that we do not become unthankful—because when we become unthankful, we become unholy, unloving. And that’s a dangerous thing.
Thanksgiving as a Missionary Opportunity
So tomorrow we’ll get together with family. And now, I think we have a small gathering at my house tomorrow. I think—I don’t think there’s going to be any non-believers at our house tomorrow. Could be, I don’t know, but that’s kind of rare for us. Normally it’s a big family get-together. And what happens when you get a big family get-together, right? Uncle Fred shows up, or your aunt, somebody—and you know what I mean by that. I’m not picking on your uncle or your aunt, but they’re definitely not believers.
And as Christians—you know, I hope this encourages you. As a Christian—by the way, you Christians in here, raise your hand if you’re Christian in here. That’s a lot of Christians. So here’s the deal: I really firmly believe—maybe it’s the way that I was brought up; I don’t think so. Maybe it’s the way that I heard the Bible taught; I do think so—that our Christianity is much more resilient than we give it credit for.
I think sometimes we think that we’re gonna break if we get out into the world. Now, you listen to me carefully: I didn’t say get out there and let the world get into us—big difference. I’m not talking about—I’m not a fan of that—but I’m talking about us getting out into the world. We’re not of this world, but we’re in it.
And tomorrow you’re going to brush up against Aunt whoever and Uncle whoever or whatever, and „Oh no—you just found out who’s coming tomorrow.“ „Who?“ „What?“ „Oh no.“ Hey, you know—no, no, no, no. You’re the Christian tomorrow. Tomorrow is a missionary venture.
Being Ready to Share the Gospel
Now, I don’t mean jump on top of the turkey or the table and start preaching the gospel, but I am asking you to take tomorrow on and say, „Lord, I’m available. If You want me to talk to somebody about Jesus, You have them come and talk to me. You just have them bump into me. You have them come up and say, ‘You know, what do you think about all this? ’“ I mean, just ask the Lord, „Lord, I’m willing. You bring someone to me tomorrow at Thanksgiving dinner. You bring somebody to me, and make it clear, and I’ll tell them about You.“
I tell you what: you take on that challenge tonight—you take that tomorrow—and you will not have a boring day tomorrow. You will not have a boring day. You watch what happens. It’s awesome.
And you know, maybe some of you—I don’t know how it was for you guys or how it is for you guys—but I remember I was the first Christian in our family. And I remember at Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners, my mom—or my dad; I think it’s pretty much my mom. My dad really didn’t say anything. I know you find that hard to believe—as much as I talk, my dad hardly ever spoke. My mom didn’t speak too much either. I think after I got saved, I talked a lot.
But my mom would always say, „Jack, um, it’s time to eat, so go ahead and pray your prayers.“ That’s what she would say: „Go ahead and pray your prayers.“ Is it like that in your house? Yes, that’s awesome.
So here’s what I would do: „Dear Lord, thank You. Thank You for Jesus, the sacrifice. This turkey in front of us was sacrificed for our pleasure, for our enjoyment, and Jesus was sacrificed for our salvation. And thank You for dying on the cross for our sins. Lord, thank You for the food. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.“
Takes about 30 seconds. It has set the tone for the rest of the day. You may be alienated during the day—which is a fantastic thing anyway; they’ll all leave you alone over there in the corner—but they would have heard the truth. It’s a grand invitation. So if they ask you to pray it, you can give the gospel to your entire family and bless the meal in a minute. Go for it.
If it doesn’t happen that way and somebody comes up and says, „Hey, you know what—there’s so-and-so. I can’t believe they’re here.“ Well, you know, just say, „Well, you know, we all need God’s love, don’t we?“ The opportunities will be there tomorrow because you’ll be willing. You won’t be obnoxious. You won’t be rude. You won’t, you know, pin somebody down on the ground and say, „No, let me give you the four spiritual laws, brother.“ Don’t do that. But be willing.
We Are the Sheep of His Pasture
Because the psalmist tells us that we are the people of His pasture. We are the sheep of His hand. You believe that? Now, the Bible says it. The Bible says it. It’s absolutely true in the pages of the Bible. But does this truth come off the pages of the Bible into my life? It’s true in the Bible—is it true in me?
Said, „What do you mean?“ Well, when it says there in verse 7, „For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture”—that’s pretty firm, don’t you think? What the psalmist is saying—he says, „We are the sheep of His pasture.“ Does this sound kind of doubtful to you? Sounds pretty firm to me.
„How do you know that, David? How’d you know that?“ He was convinced. Listen: God won over David’s life. God won over his fear. God won over his dreams. God won over his pursuits. And David was to say, „We are the sheep of His pasture.“
Pasture is an amazing thing. You ever seen a pasture? I know where we live, we have pastures here, but not really. I mean, I don’t mean to bum anybody out, but in my mind, the only time that we really have a pasture around here at all is when the hills in the winter or spring are green. To me, that’s a pasture.
I know most of us think of a cube with barbed wire, an electric fence, right, and the sheep or the cattle are inside. And if they wander too close, you know—it’s like—and you’ve got these Southern California sheep and cattle, and they’re like… But man, you know what? I’ve had a couple opportunities to drive the English countryside on speaking commitments—and of all places, Sherwood Forest and Nottingham. You know, it’s a real place. I didn’t know that until I was asked to speak there.
And I think the guy that was driving me—and I saw the sign: „You are now entering Sherwood County in Sherwood Forest.“ I’m not kidding. This is Sherwood Forest. And you think, „Oh, how cute.“ I know how that works—when you go down the 5 freeway, the sign says „Disneyland—2 miles.“ It’s a sign, right, for an amusement park. It must be Sherwood Forest amusement park. No, it’s really Nottingham and real Sherwood Forest—the one that’s all about the fairy tales and stories.
And there are pastures—real ones—for miles and all over. These sheep—I know the commercial says „Happy cows come from California.“ I don’t know, but you know what? The sheep in England—it was amazing because they just dot the countryside. They looked so content. None of them were running around. They’re just eating or laying down—eating and laying down, and then making new sheep, more sheep. Why? Because they’re happy and healthy.
Hey, don’t laugh—you guys are sheep. Listen: when you share tomorrow with people the love of God, that’s how sheep produce sheep. Tomorrow, when you talk to people, that’s how sheep reproduce sheep. Healthy sheep make sheep. We’re Christians—how does that happen? We share with other goats, and the goats become sheep. And we’re safe in Him.
The Care of the Shepherd
None of the sheep are biting their fingernails. They don’t have anything to worry about. Why? Because the Lord is their shepherd. They suffer no lack. God has made that promise to us. And the verse ends by saying that we’re the sheep of His hand. That’s a strong hand. We’re the sheep of His hand. The word implies that we’re the sheep of His work. He makes sure that the sheep are okay.
Remember when the Bible says in Psalm 23, „He anoints my head with oil“? It’s actually a beautiful saying—obviously it’s beautiful and it’s true, and that’s what’s done. But imagine holding a sheep’s head, and you’re looking—the sheep is facing you—and you take this medicinal oil, and it would have the smell of herbs in those oils, you know. And the shepherd would go up to the sheep’s head and he would see that the sheep’s head needed care—because sheep can get caught in thickets. They’re not—you know, there’s a reason why the Bible calls us the sheep of His pasture.
And listen: sheep are really, really, really dumb. Did you know that? Did you know that sheep, if they want to drink water—you know, in fact, the psalmist again says He’d lead beside still waters. Do you know why it says that? Because if sheep don’t have a shepherd, you know what they’ll do? The sheep are thirsty, and they will walk into the river to get a drink—and away they go.
Did you know that? Did you know that sheep under attack—they usually, instead of running, they just stand there and look? And if anything, they’ll get together. They’ll group up—to do what? They’ll group up together so the wolf has got more sheep to eat in the most efficient time possible.
I don’t want to freak you out in this little side note, but when you’re in the United States, if you are developing critical care products for human use—if you’re going to develop things that are going to be used inside the human body—heart valves or artificial gut parts, stuff—when you’re going to do cardiac research for the human heart to develop products that’s going to increase and help the quality of human life, you don’t do it on kangaroos. You don’t do that on giraffes. You don’t do it on monkeys. You don’t do it on pigs. You don’t do it on fill-in-the-blank. You know what you do it on? Sheep.
Did you know that? Sheep respond very similar to the way we do under certain medications. The heart rate, the ability to do surgery on sheep is very similar to humans. I find that fascinating.
Oh, one other thing—this drives evolutionists nuts, and I’m really glad about that. In the evolutionary theory—or I should say, in the evolutionary religion—animals existed before humans came along, and that includes sheep. The only problem is sheep cannot survive or live at all without a human being. You can’t separate the two. Did you know that? Sheep cannot live without a human. Sheep have to have human care. I find that awesome. They cannot survive.
We are the sheep of His pasture. He watches over us with His hands. He takes the oil as He anoints our head with oil—because our heads, because we wander away, we get—as the sheep do—they get their head all scratched up, and thorns get stuck in it, and they’ll get bloody foreheads, and they’ll get all messed up, and it hurts them. And the shepherd—and David says, talks about this in the 23rd Psalm—the shepherd pulls out the thorns, gets the ticks out of the head, because the head is always the one that’s going in places.
And he takes that oil and he begins to rub with his thumbs deep into the wool, down, saturating the forehead to bring healing to all of the scrapes and the pains and the sorrows of life that that lamb has encountered. He leads us beside still waters. His rod and His staff—they comfort us.
The Shepherd’s Discipline
Maybe you’re here tonight—you can be thankful because maybe this time last year you weren’t walking with Jesus. Maybe you were Christian, but you weren’t walking with Him. And just maybe in this last year since last Thanksgiving, He’s got your attention now.
I don’t know about you personally, but listen: part of our pastoral staff is counseling. We do this year in, year out. And that’s who we really meet with—you know that. I mean, that’s—it’s kind of like doctors: doctors don’t see healthy people; doctors see sick people. And ministry meets with people who need ministering with the oil on the head.
And God has brought some people through. And you know what He uses sometimes to get the sheep back into the pasture that have wandered off? He uses His rod and His staff. The staff pulls the lamb out of trouble, and the rod is what afflicts pain into the sheep’s life.
See, I thought He loved the sheep. Oh, He loves the sheep—that’s why He would discipline the sheep. It’s a real popular false doctrine going around today that God only wants for you, and God is only for things that make you feel good. Listen: the God of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Shepherd of the sheep—He knows how to smack a wayward lamb. He does it in absolute love. And He won’t smack a goat, by the way—He’ll only smack a lamb of His. Why? Because He wants it to live.
He’ll go so far even as to break a lamb’s leg—to hobble that little lamb so it can’t run away anymore, or it’s always reminded by its pain in its leg that „Me wandering away from that shepherd got me messed up.“ He doesn’t kill you—He instructs you. We are the sheep of His pasture, the sheep of His hand. People—sheep, sheep—people. It’s who we are.
God Became Flesh for Us
And so what did He do? Because sheep need constant human intervention, the eternal God became flesh. God who is Spirit became flesh to save us—because we were lost sheep having no shepherd. And He saved us.
With all that is happening in the world as we speak—just in the last three months of us being together in services—look how the world has been trending, friends. Look how it’s going. Every week, every month—this is the toothpaste out of the tube. It’s not going back. It’s not going to reverse.
So what do we do? You do not worry about a thing—because He is your Shepherd. He will not abandon His flock. He will never forsake us. What we must do is we must get more biblically educated—because we have all been polluted in our foreheads by the poison of this world. It’s come up into us, and we adhere to things that make us feel good, but they’re not true.
And the hour is coming—if it’s not already here—where the Lord is beginning to separate the sheep from the goats, as it were, as the world scene begins to unfold even more. His sheep will group together—maybe fearful, maybe scared. The wolf or wolves are coming. And all of a sudden, His hand comes in, and that great hand—just wait a minute right there. These are My sheep. These are the people for whom I died on the cross, for whom I love.
Thankful for God’s Keeping Power
And I’m thankful for that. I’m thankful that as we have in these last two weeks celebrated our 25th church anniversary—and I shared in the services; I do believe—I don’t remember; there’s multiple services, so I forget what I said when—but do you guys remember if I did tell it to you in the particular Sunday morning that I was the one that was desiring to not even mention the 25th anniversary? „Just let’s just keep going. Let’s push through. And it’s okay. All right, whatever. Let’s go.“
And the staff said, „No, you’re being a knucklehead about that.“ And as I said before, I’m so glad I lost that argument. And the first Sunday was like, „This is going to be weird talking about this stuff.“ But you know what’s amazing, you guys? The more I talked about what God has done, the more excited I got.
And then I met with you or saw you places or in the foyer or wherever, and you began to say to me—and I got letters this week, in the last two weeks—of what it meant to you and what was spoken to you from the story that God was speaking to you about. I thought, „Well, that’s amazing.“
But then last Sunday—which I knew was the last Sunday we would talk about it—I didn’t want to stop. And I’m looking at the clock, and it’s like—and you guys, you don’t know this, but I never got through the points. I never got through the notes. And I went in the back, and it dawned on me: they still don’t know hardly anything about what happened. And it forced me to remember things I’d completely forgotten. And I was just bubbling up within me: „God, this, ” and „Lord, that, ” and „You did this, ” and „You did the other thing, ” and „Oh my goodness, we didn’t say this, and we could have said this with the time.“
And then you know what? I was thankful for this little spark of revelation in my head. Now, this could have been Jack—it could have been God; it could have been lunch speaking to me; I don’t know—but I think it’s true, so that would make it God. That’s why you’re going to need eternity—because I was so blown away with how much I was reminded by talking to people who’ve been here forever, looking at pictures and photos, that one story led to another which led to another which led to another that all of you should know about, but there’s no time. But that’s what heaven’s for.
So when somebody says, „Yeah, I came to the house, ” or „I came to Edison, ” or „I came to Eucalyptus”—technically it’s Appian Way. Did you ever notice that the address is Eucalyptus? Because the fire chief told us, „You can’t name it Appian Way because no firemen know where that—“ I mean, to be a new road. We asked them, „Can we name the road up front?“ „Yeah, you can name it, but the fire trucks—they’ll never know where to go. You got to keep it on Eucalyptus.“ It’s like, „Oh, that’s a bummer, ” because Appian Way is a biblical thing. It’s like, „Oh man.“ All right.
So maybe God touched you through this location or the other locations—I don’t know. Radio or what—I don’t know. But the stories continue because one person gets touched by God, and then they go home and they tell their wife or their kids or their parents or whoever. Are you with me? And that’s what’s happening.
And so I just think that as it just continues—you think about the last 2000 years, billions of people over the course of human time in two thousand years who knew Jesus. We’re going to be talking about this stuff in heaven. And there’s—and no one’s gonna be going, „Wow, you know, can you—Daniel, Abraham, can you kind of like wrap it up? There’s not even any time.“ There—no time exists in eternity. That’s why it’s called eternity—it’s no time.
So how long is eternity? Not long and not short—it’s eternal. And we’re going to be in heaven saying, „Hey, this is how I heard about Jesus. This is what happened.“ And stories are going to be told. And that’s why we’re going to need forever.
And I was very pleasantly convicted and shocked, saddened and glad that I had forgotten more than I had remembered over the last 25 years. I had no idea. And it’s precious. I am so grateful tonight for the keeping power of our God—our God who is able to keep us.
I’ve never been more thankful—because now I see it more fragile—for my freedom than ever before in my existence. I have never been more thankful for my health as I get older. I’ve never been more thankful for this state and this nation. I’ve never been more thankful for my family. Why? Because it seems like on every corner, every direction—friends, and I think it’s true for you—it seems as though there were things that were normal that have become abnormal. There were relationships, there were people you knew who you thought would never break up—they’d never even crossed your mind—and they’ve—it’s like the wind has blown them away. Homes have become fragile and have fallen apart, or things have changed.
It Is Well With My Soul
And in the midst of all of this, we sang it tonight: „It is well.“ It can only be true if you’re anchored to Christ—that your ship is tied to the Rock, that your life is in the pasture of the great Shepherd. He’ll take care of you. He’s going to take care of you.
See, Jack—yeah, but all the Christians are dying right now in the Middle East. True. Well, He didn’t help them. How do you know? Well, they’re dead. And where are they now? Well, I prayed. Okay—would you pray that God would bless them? He did bless them.
I’m reminded of another bumper sticker: „Everybody wants to go to heaven, ” it says, „but nobody wants to die.“ Isn’t that a great line?
Many of you know last Sunday Dr. David Hawking was here to worship the Lord, and we were honored by his coming to just worship on Sunday morning—because on Friday his wife Carol had died to go see Jesus. And so the first Sunday—he said it’s the first Sunday that he’s not had his wife to go worship the Lord with. She died and went to heaven.
And so he sat right about where the Kellys are at and worshiped—and weeping. I think that’s a good combo. He was worshiping, and he had a smile on his face from time to time, and then he had tears and a big frown. I’ve never seen—you know who I’m talking аbout: Dr. David Hawking. He’s about the size of a small barn, right? He’s just a monster of a man. And he looked like a little boy as he was holding back the tears. And then several times, even during the message, several times he had tears, and he was crying—and he had a smile on his face.
But in his grief he had decided to do what a previous David had done: when King David’s son had died, King David got out of bed, washed his face, got dressed, and went to the temple to worship. That’s a good move. That’s exactly how precious it is.
Because you know what? For Carol, his wife—for people you and I have known—Jesus says, „I have come to give you life, and that more abundantly.“ If it was limited to this world, that’s pretty pathetic. Honestly, let’s be honest. If Jesus says, „I’ve come to give life more abundantly, ” and it’s only for this world—well then, you know what? Give me—give him some more drugs. Who cares?
Ah, but Jesus said the life that I give—though a man die, yet shall he live. As a believer, you never really see death—because Jesus said it’s not possible. You stop breathing here, you start breathing there. You close your eyes here, you open your eyes there.
Notice that every—we’ll end with this—every promise in the Bible is in the present tense. I love that. He never says, you know, „Someday, someday I’ll promise you I’ll save you.“ Who needs that? His Word is to your heart tonight.
The Gospel Invitation
Listen: are you saved? How do you know? What’s the answer? Because you’re a good person? You’re lost. Because you gave money to the church? Lost. You’re saved because what? You were born in America? Lost.
What are some of the arguments you hear? „I’m saved because I’ve got religion.“ Lost. „I’m saved because if your ‘because’ is any other thing than this—you’re lost.“ And that is: you’re saved because Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, and you trust Him to save you.
If your answer is anything different, I beg of you tonight—in the house of your friends tonight—that you make the right decision. Because you can be the most moral individual in the community and be completely lost. You can say—and I will probably agree with you—“I’m more moral than these Christians.» That could be absolutely true—but you’re lost. I guarantee you.
You want to compare yourself to people? Nicodemus would put all of us to shame, and Jesus said, «You’re lost, Nick. You need to get saved. You need to get born from above.»
I know I may be speaking to the choir tonight—almost literally. I get that part. But what if tonight there’s one person here—or one person listening right now—and they’ve got all of the happy star faces on their charts, but they’re empty inside? They’re hurting still. They feel like they’re doing this thing alone. You need to be saved tonight—rescued by the Shepherd.
You need to see yourself—listen, I mean this with all love and with all respect for you—you need to understand that the Bible says you are a condemned sinner and that your thoughts and your deeds are wicked. It says to God—did you know that? «Well, I smell good. I’ve got a—oh, I got new clothes on.» God says without Jesus, His blood upon us, we are wicked, rebellious people running from God. That’s why we do our own thing. There’s none that doeth good—the Bible says—no, not one.
See, «What are you smiling for, pastor?» Because I know how it ends.
By illustration we end—you can close your Bible; I promise. I met with someone this week, and I thought it was excellent where this person said, «I just have a hard time with you guys—with you Christians—because you don’t keep the Ten Commandments.» And I said, «Okay, I agree with you.»
He said—you have this puzzled look on his face—and I said, «We don’t keep the Ten Commandments. And I agree with you that we don’t.» I said, «Before we go any further in this conversation, do you know anyone who keeps the Ten Commandments? Because obviously it’s important to you. So do you know anyone who keeps the Ten Commandments?»
And it’s paused for a moment—he’s a real thinker; he’s thinking—and I said, «Well, for example, do you know—do you have any friends who know the Ten Commandments, believe in the Ten Commandments, but are cheating on their wives or their husbands?» «Oh yes, ” he said.
I said, „Well, the Bible says—the Ten Commandments says—you shall not commit adultery. So that means they don’t believe in the Ten Commandments either.“
When I say „believe in the Ten Commandments, ” I mean they can’t save us. You can’t get saved by the Ten Commandments—because before the moment you read the Ten Commandments, what’s the thing you read? „You shall have no other god before Me.“ I don’t even have to read the second one—I’ve already failed the first one. Are you with me? It can’t save you.
It just does this—look, it’s like this. It just goes like this. This is what the Ten Commandments does. That’s what it’s for. Did you know that?
You say, „Well, that’s not very loving.“ It’s perfectly loving. God sent the Ten Commandments to show us how holy God is and how unholy we are—so the Bible says that by the Ten Commandments all men know that they’re sinners before a holy God.
You see, „Well, give me some good news.“ Here’s the good news: Jesus said—I have come to keep the law, to fulfill the law and the prophets. Jesus said that. Jesus said that He would go to the cross and die for us.
And I hope that tomorrow your Thanksgiving Day is filled with appreciation for this awesome God we have. And it’s no time at all to take Him lightly anymore. Our world is in a spiritual war—it’s demonic powers against the powers of heaven, and you’re in the middle.
Prayer
Father, we thank You, God, for Your amazing grace that saved a wretch like me.
While heads are bowed tonight and eyes are closed—maybe this evening, on the eve of our holy day, maybe tonight you would acknowledge Jesus Christ finally and forever to be your Lord and Savior. That you are—like I am—that we are wretched humans, that we are prone to selfishness, that we are thrilled with the exaltation of self or the preservation of self. We are bound to think about ourselves more than anyone else.
Maybe tonight you would desire to be forgiven of sin—of self. And all of us who are around you tonight who are Christians—just know this: because of our faith in Jesus, He has transformed our lives. But yet we still carry this body around with us, and it causes us from time to time to do things that we hate. But note the difference now: we hate those things that we trip up and do. It’s no longer the pattern of our lives.
And we’re inviting you—we’re asking you tonight—to join us. Not in a church membership, not in a club, not on a team. We’re asking you to join us in loving God. We’re asking you to join us in exalting Jesus. We’re inviting you to join us on our way to heaven.
While heads are bowed and eyes are closed—maybe tonight, as I look across the sanctuary, you would say, „Jack, this has spoken to me tonight, and I need to make this decision. I’m scared. I’m terrified. And yet I know it’s true.“
Christians, please be praying for this moment. Nobody interrupts anybody at this moment. But maybe tonight you know in your chest, in your gut, in your head that you know that this is the right thing—that Jesus died for you and rose again from the grave, and by you putting your faith in Him, He will save you.
If that’s you tonight—with nobody snooping around, nobody looks—would you put your hand up tonight, and I’ll see your hand? And you’re saying, „Jack, look at me—I’m accepting Jesus tonight.“ God bless you—to my left, in the very back. Also, if there’s a tornado in your heart—that’s the Holy Spirit speaking to you. I know you might be wanting Him to like shatter the roof right now—that’s not what He’s gonna do. Inside you feel strangely uncomfortable. There’s a whirlwind inside, and you know this is right, but you’re terrified.
If that’s you and you haven’t raised your hand yet—put your hand up. Right up front—God bless you. Right here—a couple hands in the back as well. It’s amazing—it’s always amazing. Young and old.
You can put your hands down. All of us—let’s all stand together. The entire church—let’s stand. I’m going to lead us in a prayer right now. And if you don’t want to pray this prayer because it’s not true—by all means, do not pray this. But if you’ve raised your hands tonight—pray it if you mean it.
And then Christians—how about us tonight? Let’s pray along with them. Not that we need to, but it’s awesome. It’s awesome, and it’s an encouragement. Will you pray—repeat this if you would:
Dear Lord, I need You. Without You, I’m lost. I’m the sinner. You’re the Savior. I confess tonight that Jesus Christ is Lord—the Son of God who died on the cross and rose again from the dead. And I put my faith in Him. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.
Now listen—that prayer is the first step of the rest of your entire spiritual life. This is not a prayer that begins and ends at all. This is the prayer that saves you—because Christ heard you. He’s the Savior. He heard your cry.
But from this moment on, God will begin now to take your life and to mold it into the image of His Son. This prayer opens the door.
Yours—listen: if you trusted Christ tonight, that’s a done deal. God forbid—but His timing’s perfect—if you walk out of this building tonight and get hit by a flying saucer—and listen, that’s it—you go to heaven.
But if you live one more week or 100 more years, your life day by day is a journey with the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t think you accept Him tonight and then you just go back to cruise control. No—you accept Him tonight and you surrender. And let me tell you, brother, sister—He’s got a life ready for you to live.
So tomorrow, church—let’s be thankful. And may all those who come in contact with us tomorrow know that we were the most thankful ones right in the room, in the house.