to have the Lord's Table tonight. Now, somebody may wonder, Why
do you have it at night? Because that's when they had
it in the New Testament. And I feel like we should, as the
Lord enables us, do as they did then. This is very important.
The Lord said, This do in remembrance of Me. And I'm going to be speaking
out of Acts chapter 18. where the disciples were said
to believe through grace. Matthew chapter 9, the Lord says to this man, son,
be of good cheer. I've entitled this message, Six
reasons to be of good cheer. And there's a lot of sorrow in
this life. There are trials, there are disappointments,
there's disillusionment, the sorrow that your sin brings upon
you, the sorrow that others' sin brings upon you. There's
a lot of sorrow in this life. Six reasons to be of good cheer. Now, these are reasons that the
Lord Jesus Christ gives to be of good cheer. There was a song that came out
some years ago, I always liked it, but it said, don't worry,
be happy. Don't worry, be happy. Landlord
says your rent is late, he may have to litigate. Don't worry,
be happy. And there's not a well-grounded
reason in that song to not worry and be happy. But these words
are utterly valid because these are the words of him who knows
when there is a reason to be. of good cheer. Now these words,
be of good cheer, cannot be said indiscriminately to all men. Now there are men, perhaps I'm
speaking to you, there are men who have plenty of money in the
bank and they have health. They're not sick, their loved
ones are not sick, perhaps you don't even have conflict in your
life. Everything is going good. That's
still not a reason for you to be of good cheer. Somebody says,
explain that to me. Well, David spoke of the prosperity
of the wicked in Psalm 73. And he said, regarding these
men who have no trials, everything's going their way. Surely thou
did set them in slippery places. Moses said in due time their
foot shall slide. Now good cheer is not founded
on Reasons in the world to be a good cheer. Everything's going
well. I got plenty of money. I'm healthy. I'm wealthy. I don't
have any conflict. My family's getting along. I'm
having a good time at work. Everything's good. That is not
a reason for good cheer. The scripture says that God before
us who can be against us. But it is equally true if God
be against us, who can be for us? You see, the Lord does have
enemies. Everybody who doesn't believe
his son is his enemy. The carnal mind, the scripture
says, is enmity against God. Now, if God's against you, I
don't care how good things are, there's nothing to be of good
cheer about. But if God's for you, at all times, you have reason
to be of good cheer. Every believer, without exception,
has a valid ground to be of good cheer all the time. Now, if you're a believer, I
hope you leave this place in good cheer. And if you're not
a believer, I pray that God makes you a believer and you leave
this place in good cheer. Now, here is the first reason
for good cheer. The Lord says to this man in
Matthew 9, verse 2, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven
thee. Do you have sins? Sins of omission, sins of commission,
secret sins, sins that no one knows about but you and God. Sins. The Lord says to this man,
son, be of good cheer. Thy sins, thy sins be forgiven
thee." Now here the word forgiven is in the perfect tense, perfectly
completed, never to be repeated. All of your sins, even the ones
you have not committed yet, are forgiven. This cannot be reversed. You
didn't do anything to obtain this great blessing. As a matter
of fact, we don't even read where this man asked for forgiveness.
He was told he was forgiven. Don't you have to ask for forgiveness
first? This man didn't. He found out he was forgiven. That's the way forgiveness works.
you find out you have been forgiven. Now, most people think that forgiveness
is the end of an equation. If you're sorry for your sins,
if you turn from your sins, if you stop committing those sins
and believe the gospel, you will be forgiven. Not so. There is not a drop of gospel
in that message. That is salvation by works. That is all that is. Now, as I've already said, Here,
in this instance, this man finds out. Without him doing anything,
he finds out he's been forgiven. You see, the believer's salvation
does not end in forgiveness after he checks all the boxes that
he needs to do in order to be forgiven. The believer's salvation begins with the complete, utter forgiveness
of all your sins for Christ's sake. Be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven me. Now, the Lord's forgiveness is
so unlike our forgiveness. You see, if I sin against you,
I'll be thankful if you forgive me, I hope you do. And you should. Not because I say you should,
but if you've been forgiven, you'll forgive. If I sin against
you, you'll forgive me. But you will not forget it. I've
heard people say, well, I forgot. I don't believe you. Don't believe
you. You will remember what I've done,
and probably I will have lost an element of trust with you.
You'll think, he doesn't have my back after he did that. Now,
hopefully I can win it back. I'd love to be able to do that,
but any way you look at it, when we forgive, we do not forget. We should, I realize that. Shouldn't
hold a grudge. You shouldn't always be bringing
things back up that have been done in the past. No, I'm not
advocating that kind of thing, but I'm still saying we don't
forget. As a matter of fact, you don't
forget anything. Everything's still in your mind. It might
be underneath a bunch of layers of things that you kind of don't,
it's not up in your conscious right now, but it's always there.
We do not forget. But when the Lord forgives, he
really does forget. Their sins and their iniquities,
I will remember no more. And even when I'm in heaven,
the Lord's not gonna look at me and say, I remember what he
did. I remember. You know why he doesn't remember?
Because there's nothing there to remember. He blotted out made
not to be my sins. My sin, oh the bliss of this
glorious thought, my sin, not in part but the whole, has been
nailed to the cross and I bear them no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord,
oh my soul. Now this is what the Bible calls
justification. Remember that publican beating
on his breast, crying, God be merciful to me, the sinner. You
want the Lord said regarding that man, he went down to his
house, justified without sin, without guilt. So here's the first reason to
be of good cheer because of what Jesus Christ did on Calvary's
tree in your behalf. Your sins are forgiven. They're blotted out. Even the
ones you haven't committed yet, they're all gone. You stand before God without
guilt. He looks at you and he is pleased
with you. Is that a reason to be of good cheer?
Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. And look in Matthew chapter 9
verse 22. This is that woman who had that
issue of blood for 12 years and she was diseased and weak and
anemic. And she'd sought for many different
physicians for deliverance from this disease. And she'd spent
all that she had and was nothing better, but rather grew worse. When she came in the press behind
him and touched his garment, verse 22, but Jesus turned him
about. And when he saw her, he said,
daughter, be of good comfort. That's the exact same word in
the original, be of good cheer. Be of good comfort, be of good
cheer, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now be of good comfort,
be of good cheer, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now what was
her faith? Well, look in verse 21. For she said within herself,
If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. Now here's what I wanna bring
out about this woman's faith. She had such a high view of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It can't even be expressed how
high her view of him was. This is how high it was though.
She said, if I can just come in contact with him, if I can
just touch the hem of his garment. I love to think of her crawling
on her knees in the press, thinking, getting past people's knees and
legs and just to touch the bottom of his garment. She said there's
such saving virtue and glory in his person that if I can touch
the hem of his garment, I'll be perfectly whole. Now the emphasis
is not her touch. The emphasis is who's him it
is. Now, let me say this. Here's what I am personally relying
on right now. This is my faith. Here it is. Everything God requires
of me, he looks to his son for. Everything. When Christ, before
time began, agreed to be my surety, he told his Father, whatever
you require of him, look to me for. And all of my salvation
is in Christ bearing full responsibility for my salvation. You see, he
can't fail. He can't fail. It's impossible
for Him to fail. All my salvation is in Him. You see, I trust His righteousness
as my personal righteousness. I trust His shed blood as my
sin payment. I trust His resurrection as my
justification before God so that God is actually satisfied with
me. Just as he was satisfied with what his son did in raising
him from the dead, he's satisfied with me. I trust his intercession
to present me faultless before the Father, to keep me from falling,
to cause me to persevere in the faith, and to present me faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Be of good
cheer, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now it's not
my faith as such that saves me, it's Christ that saves me, and
I believe that. I believe that. Be of good cheer, daughter, thy
faith hath made thee whole. Turn to Matthew 14. Verse 24, but the ship was now
in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves for the wind was contrary. Now I've never been in a situation
like that on a boat. I've seen it on TV and I think
it would be absolutely terrifying. Maybe some of you have. To be
in a ship with the waves tossing it around, the wind contrary,
you're totally without control, scared to death. And that can
certainly represent my life and your life. The wind is contrary. It's knocking you backwards. Look what it says. And in the
fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking on the
sea. Did he really do that? Yeah. You see, the laws of physics
are his laws. And if he decides to break them,
he does because of who he is. He comes to them walking on the
sea. Now, I can imagine, this is a
slang way to put this, but you know they were freaked out. Looking
at him walking on the sea, coming to them. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, it's a spirit.
And they cried out for fear, but straightway Jesus spake unto
them, saying, be of good cheer, it's I. Be not afraid. The doctor tells you you have
cancer. Be of good cheer. It's I. Be not afraid. You lose everything. Be of good cheer. It's I. Be not afraid. Your life is a wreck. Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. Now how can you make a statement
like that? Because the Bible says, in Romans
8 verse 28, and we know, that all things, what comes under that umbrella?
All things. Even the bad stuff? All things. Work together. Now you can't
see how they're working together. You can't see how this is gonna
be for your good. But God does. Christ does. All things work
together for good. To them that love God, to them
who are thee called according to his purpose. Be of good cheer. It is I. Whatever it is, it is I. Be not afraid. Mark chapter 10. Bartimaeus has been crying to
the Lord to have mercy on him. And verse 48 says many charged
him that he should hold his peace. But he cried the more a great
deal. Thou son of David have mercy
on me. And Jesus stood still. He always stands still
for that cry. Always. And commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying unto him, be of good comfort. Be of good cheer. Same thing. Rise, he calleth thee. be of good cheer, rise, he calleth
thee. I am thankful if he calls you. I need him to call me. Pass me not, O tender Savior. Hear my Humble cry, while on
others thou art calling, do not pass me by. I need him to call my name. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Zacchaeus. You see, he calls
his own sheep by name, doesn't he? Zacchaeus, make haste, come
down. Today I must abide at thy house. Lazarus, come forth. He that was dead came forth. Matthew, follow me. When he did, he followed him,
when he called him. Mary sees the Lord after the
resurrection, and she didn't recognize him. There he is in
his glorified body. Why didn't she recognize him?
Well, maybe his glorified state was such that she couldn't. Maybe
it's because the Lord withheld her from being able to see him,
but she didn't recognize him. Scripture says she supposed he
was the gardener. And then he said, Mary. And she said, Rabboni, my great
lord. He calls his own sheep by name. I have never heard Todd or Charles
Willard or whatever my name is called audibly. But I tell you this, I've heard
my name when I hear the name sinner. I hear my name. The hour is coming, and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live. Sinner. Can you answer to that name? Be of good cheer. Rise. He called it thee. He calls thee. If you can answer
to that name, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
If you can answer to that name, be of good cheer. Rise up. He's calling thee. Not talking
about somebody else right now, I'm talking about me. Rise. He calleth thee, the one who
is the friend of sinners. Now turn to John 16. Verse 29. His disciples said unto him,
Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now
are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that
any man should ask thee. By this we believe thou camest
forth from God. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? What a glorious thing they're
saying now. And the Lord answered them, do
you now believe? Big statements. Do you now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea,
has now come that you shall be scattered and every man to his
own and shall leave me alone. Now, Peter left him alone, denied
him, so did the rest. None of those fellows stayed
around. Not one of them. They're talking about their faith
now. I tell you what, any time you talk that way, you ought
to check yourself. Do you now believe? Really? Behold, the hour cometh, yea,
now has come that you shall be scattered, every man to his own
and shall leave me alone. And yet I'm not alone because the Father is with me. Verse 33, these things have I
spoken unto you. Everything he'd said up to that
point. Everything he'd said in his earthly ministry to those
men. These things have I spoken unto
you that in me you might have peace. Not in yourselves. Not in your faith. Not in your
successes, not in your efforts, in me. There is no peace, but that peace,
which is in me. Or put it this way in 1 John
3, verse 5, he was manifested to take away our sins, and in
him is no sin. Now these things have I spoken
unto you that in me you might have peace. In the world you
shall have tribulation, trouble, sorrow. You're gonna fail, you're
gonna fall, you're gonna get knocked back and forth. Now that's just so, that's just
so. And if you know yourself, you
know that's so. In the world you shall have tribulation, but
be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Be of good cheer. I, not you,
I have overcome the world. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, tell them their warfare is accomplished. Their iniquity is pardoned. It
is finished. I have overcome the world. Now you be of good cheer. Be
of good cheer. You got every reason to be of
good cheer. You have no reason to not be
of good cheer if you're a believer. Finally turn to Acts chapter
23, this is the last one. Verse 10. And when there arose a great
dissension, Acts 23 10, And when there arose a great dissension,
the chief captains, fearing lest Paul should be pulled in pieces
of them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force
from among them and to bring him into the castle. And the
night following, the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer,
Paul. Now let's examine what had taken
place at this time. Verse six of chapter 23, when
Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees
and the other Pharisees, he knew that the people who were condemning
him, half of them were Pharisees and half of them were Sadducees.
You know what he knew? The Pharisees and the Sadducees
hated each other. They were the liberals and they
were the conservatives. He perceived that. He saw these
are the fellows that are arresting me. And then he got a good idea,
a real good idea. When Paul perceived that the
one part were Pharisees and the other Sadducees, he cried out
in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a
Pharisee. of the hope of the resurrection
of the dead, I am called into question." Now, think about this. He's using fleshly wisdom at
this time, isn't he? He's pitting the Pharisees against
the Sadducees. He's saying, I'm a Pharisee.
He didn't say, I'm a Christian. He didn't say, I'm a follower
of Christ at this time. He said, I'm a Pharisee. Because
he knew that the Pharisees would like this. And it would be bringing
down the Sadducees. And he said, I'm here because
of my hope in the resurrection. He knew that the Pharisees believed
in resurrection. He was using the wisdom of the
flesh at this time. Somebody said, could Paul do
that? Of course he could. Could you do it? Of course you
could. How many times have you used the wisdom of the flesh
to try to get yourself out of an uncomfortable situation? That's
what he was doing. When Paul perceived that the
one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out
in the council, men and brethren, I'm a Pharisee and the son of
a Pharisee. Of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I'm called into
question. And when he had so said, there arose a dissension
between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And the multitude
was divided for the Sadducees say that there's no resurrection,
neither an angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. And there arose a great cry and
the scribes that were of the Pharisees part arose and strove.
We find no evil in this man. If he's a spirit or an angel
spoken to him, let us not fight against God. He pretty much got
himself out of trouble. And he's put in jail that night
in the ward. And I don't have any doubt that
he was thinking about what he did. And he got depressed. He knew he was wrong. He knew
he was in the wrong. I have no doubt he was ashamed
of himself, ashamed of the way he had said I'm a Pharisee instead
of saying I'm a Christian, ashamed of the fleshly policies he used
to get himself out of trouble. And I would say he thought, Lord's
taken his hand off me, and I don't blame him. Here I am in jail,
and this is where I belong. And the Lord appeared to him. And look what he said. And the
night following, the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer,
Paul. I'm not through with you. I'm not through with you. There's
something yet to be done. You are to testify of me in Rome. I'm not through with you. Now here's a reason to be of
good cheer. Lord's not through with you. He's got purposes. for you to
glorify his great name and testify of him. That's your purpose.
That's why you're here. The fact that you're here right
now says the Lord's not through with you. How many times have
you thought the Lord's through with me? He's just gonna, that's
it. It's over. No, it's not. Be of good cheer. The Lord is
not through with you. Child of God, six reasons for
you to be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has made you whole. Whatever it is, he says, it's
I. Be not afraid. He calls you. He's overcome the world. He's
not through with you. Be of good cheer. Let's pray. Lord, we will not be of good
cheer unless you give us the grace to be of good cheer. But
Lord, may we be of good cheer. Lord, to think of the forgiveness
of sins blotted out by what you've done. To think of your greatness,
that if we touch you by your grace that we're completely whole.
Lord, to know that you're the first cause of all things, that
it's you. Lord, to hear you call us. To know that you've overcome
the world. And we're here, and you're going to make us to testify
thee. Lord, give us the grace to be
of good cheer. In Christ's name we pray, amen.