Go with me if you would back
to Acts 26. We just read in our scripture
reading up to verse 1. Paul is on trial and King Agrippa
said to him, He's on trial by the Jews who want him dead. King
Agrippa says to him, what do you have to say for yourself?
You can speak for yourself. The Apostle Paul said in chapter
26, verse two, I think myself happy. I think I'm happy. This is one
of my favorite portions of scripture. I love this, when you enter into
the case that this man is in, his response is, I think I'm
happy. I really do. I honestly think I'm happy. You know how sometimes you have
those days where you can't put your finger on it. You don't
exactly know why. But you're just happy. You're
just happy. I am well aware of the fact that
there are plenty of days when the opposite is true. I'm well
aware of that. That's another issue. There are
times when the Lord does something to this heart. There are times whenever he reaches
down and he touches the heart and we can honestly say, I think
myself happy. I think I'm happy. I really do. I was in one of those moments
when it came to time to prepare this message. I was just really
happy. I thought about this verse of scripture. I was not only
happy for myself, but happy for the fact that God makes all of
His people happy. All of His people. Right in the
middle of the trial. Right in the center of it. Right
in the middle of all the afflictions, God still makes His people happy. Look with me at a few scriptures,
go over to Deuteronomy 33. Deuteronomy 33 verse 26, it says, There is none like unto the God
of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in
his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he shall thrust out
the enemy from before thee, and shall say, destroy them. Israel
then shall dwell in safety alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine. Also, his heavens shall drop
down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel, who
is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord. the shield of thy
help, and who is the sword of thy excellency. And thine enemies
shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their
high places." He said God's Israel is a happy people, a happy people,
so happy. Look with me at 2 Chronicles
9. 2nd Chronicles 9 verse 1 says, And when the queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions
at Jerusalem with a very great company and camels that bear
spices and gold in abundance and precious stones. And when
she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that
was in her heart. And Solomon told her all her
questions. And there was nothing hid from
Solomon which he told her not. And when the queen of Sheba had
seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,
and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants,
and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel, his cupbearers
also and their apparel, and his ascent by which he went up into
the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. And
she said to the king, it was a true report which I heard in
mine own land of thine acts and of thy wisdom. How be it I believed
not their words until I came and mine eyes had seen it. And
behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me,
for thou exceedest the fame that I heard. Happy are thy men, and
happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before
thee and hear thy wisdom." She said, that's what stands out
to me about seeing your greatness. That's what stands out to me
about seeing those that serve you. They're so happy. They're so happy to serve you. They stand and listen to your
wisdom. So happy to be in your service.
Look with me at Psalm 144. Psalm 144 verse 15 says, happy
is that people that is in such a case Yea, happy is that people
whose God is the Lord." That's a happy people. Look across the
page at 146 verse 5. It says, Happy is he that hath
the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his
God. Happy, happy. Now, the Apostle Paul told King
Agrippa, I think I'm happy. I think I'm happy. And our Lord
has told us to be the same thing. He constantly told us, I want
you to be the same thing. In His own words, as we listened
to the things He declared and recorded for us, He constantly
said, be of good cheer. That's what he constantly told
his people. Be of good cheer. What he was saying is, I want
you to be happy. He saw how distraught we were
all the time. He said, be happy. Be happy. He said, your names are written
in heaven. Be happy. Be of good cheer. I wrote down
five different times. I looked up five different times
that he said, be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. In these five
times, we have five reasons, five reasons to be happy. Number one is in Matthew chapter
nine. Matthew chapter 9 verse 1 says,
and he entered into a ship and passed over and came into his
own city. And behold, they brought to him
a man sick of the palsy lying on a bed. And the other gospels
tell us that our Lord was in a house preaching the gospel
when they came. And they brought this man, their
friend, four men, they brought their friend, but they could
not get in the front door because there were so many people in
the house. They could not get to the Lord. So they climbed
on the roof and they started ripping the tiles off the roof. I can imagine the commotion.
That's a loud thing to do. You don't quietly rip a hole
in the roof. And they get this hole ripped
in the roof and they holler at, you know, the other two friends,
hoist him up. And they tied a rope to this
bed and they lower their friend down just in front of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it says in verse 2, and Jesus
seeing their faith. I can see Him watching them. You know, scripture says the
kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.
They said, we can't get to the Lord. Somebody cried, rip a hole
in the roof. So that's what they did. And
here the Lord is watching them, watching the faith he gave them.
He knew where their faith came from. Here he is watching what
he did, watching what he put in four men, seeing the blessedness
of it. And they lower that man down
and he's watching them. And here comes that man and he
gets right down and he says, son, it's time for you to get
happy. He said in verse two, Jesus,
seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, son, be
of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. your sins are forgiven. Verse 3, behold, certain of the
scribes said within themselves, this man blasphemeth. And Jesus,
knowing their thoughts, said, Wherefore think ye evil in your
hearts? For weather is easier to say,
Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk. But that
you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive
sins. Then saith he to the sick of
the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. And
he arose and departed to his house." What do you think? Think he was happy? That man
was happy. We don't need any other reason
to have good cheer than that. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Just knowing that Christ has
said, I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin
no more. Just knowing that, that can make
every one of us say, I think myself happy. I really think
myself is happy. The second reason is in Matthew
14. Matthew 14 verse 22. In straightway
Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go
before him unto the other side while he sent the multitudes
away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into
a mountain apart to pray. And when the evening was come,
he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And
in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking
on the sea. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. I know that if you belong to
him, you have heard him say that to you. I know you have. You've heard it in the heart.
Something devastating comes along, something that strikes so much
fear in you. How often does something come
along that strikes fear into us? How often does something
come along that puts so much doubt into us? And then one little
word from him. One little word from this word
straight into this heart. He says, fear not. It is I. Total relief. Sometimes I worry
about the things that might happen between now and the time I leave
this earth. I don't know what's going to
happen. I don't know what's going to happen with myself. I don't
know what's going to happen with my children. But I am happy to
know that he does. I'm very happy to know that.
And every time he reminds my heart, whatever it is, it is
I, and it's going to be okay. Be of good cheer. It's all on
purpose. It will be for your good. It'll
be for my glory first. And it'll be for the salvation
of souls. Every time I'm reminded of that, it thrills me. It does. It thrills me. He said, don't
be afraid. Just rest and be happy. Just rest. Don't worry about
what's going on around you. Just rest. And be of good cheer. It's I. All right. The reasons continue. Number
three, John 16. John 16 verse 33 says, These things I have spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. That means gotten the victory. I've gotten the victory. I have
overcome. I have prevailed over all of
your enemies, all of your enemies, every single one. The adversary
was cast out of heaven to the earth, to this world. He walks to and fro in the world. He seeks whom he may devour.
He sends these fiery darts. He is constantly firing fiery
darts. Constantly. But our God said,
I have overcome every bit of that. Every bit of it. Look with me at 1 John 4. 1 John 4, verse 4, it says, You are of God, little children,
and have overcome them because greater is He that is in you
than he that is in the world. That's the reason. That is the
reason. He said, you have overcome because
he overcame and he's in you. Look at chapter five, verse one. It says, whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth
him, that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. Verse
four says, for whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God." Whoever is looking to Christ totally can
be of good cheer. If God has given us faith to
look to Him totally, that's it. Be of good cheer. Go over to
Revelation 12. A few pages over to Revelation
12. Verse 7 says, And there was war
in heaven. Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed
not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And
the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil,
and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out
into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I
heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation
and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his
Christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which
accuseth them before our God day and night. And they overcame
him by the blood of the lamb. and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore, rejoice,
ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them." Rejoice, be happy,
because Christ overcame. The blood of the Lamb has overcome. Our sins are forgiven. He is in absolute control, it's
I. He has defeated all of our enemies,
every single enemy. But we still have two more reasons
to be happy. Number four is in Acts 27, Acts chapter 27. This is the account of Paul's
As it says at the top of my page, perilous sea voyage towards Rome. And this is where the ship went
down. He was shipwrecked on the island of Malta. The ship represents
Christ. Alright, Acts 27 verse 18 says,
And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, The next day
they lightened the ship, and the third day we cast out with
our own hands the tackling of the ship. And when neither sun
nor stars in many days appeared and no small tempest lay on us,
all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. But after
long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them and said,
Sirs, you should have hearkened unto me and not have loosed from
Crete and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort
you to be of good cheer." He said, you did the wrong thing.
You shouldn't have done that. I told you to stay in Crete.
And now we're in this great tempest and we've thrown out everything
we can throw down and we're about to go into this ocean. And he
said, now I exhort you to be happy. For there shall no loss
of any man's life be among you, but of the ship, only the ship. For there stood by me this night
the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying, fear
not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar, and lo, God hath
given thee all them that sail with thee. He said, every man
that is in this ship is going to be saved. He's safe. He's
safe. No life will be lost, but the
life of the ship. That's it. And that's the good
news of the gospel. That's the good cheer of our gospel right
here in Acts 27 verse 39 says, when it was day, they knew not
the land, but they discovered a certain Creek with a shore
into the which they were minded. If it were possible to thrust
in the ship. And when they had taken up the
anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the
rudder bands, and hoist up the mainsail to the wind, and made
toward shore. And falling into a place where
two seas met, they ran the ship aground, and the fore part stuck
fast, and remained unmovable. But the hinder part was broken
with the violence of the waves." And that ship is Christ. And
their only hope was to thrust that ship into this place where
these great seas, these two seas of wrath and punishment and sin
and God's law, where it met and the head stuck fast, but the
body was broken. Verse 42, and the soldier's counsel
was to kill the prisoners lest any of them should swim out and
escape. But the centurion willing to save Paul kept them from their
purpose and commanded that they which could swim should cast
themselves first into the sea and get to land. And the rest,
some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it
came to pass that they escaped all safe to land. They were clinging
to the broken pieces of that ship. Our Lord's body was broken, but
he refers to his people as bone of his bone. And he said, not
one of my bones will be broken. Not one, not one in his body. Psalm 34 says he keeps all his
bones. Not one is broken. Paul said,
this is a great reason to be of good cheer. He said, we're
going down. We're going down, but no life
will be lost except for our ship. Only the ship. One more reason.
This reason applies to all of them. Our God said, our sins
are forgiven. He said, it is I, whatever it
is, it's I. He said, I have overcome the
world, I've defeated all your enemies. He said, no life that
is in Christ is going to be lost, none. The only life is the life
of the ship. And here's the last reason that
we'll give tonight. Acts 27 verse 25 says, Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer. For I believe, God, that it shall
be even as it was told me." If he said it, it's going to happen. It's going to come to pass. If
he said it, then it's so. It's ordered, it's sure. If he said it, it is so. That's
what I love about God's truth. These promises don't have a good
outlook. These promises are so. Plant
them in concrete. Dump all your money right there.
It's so. If he said it, it's going to
happen. He shall not fail. He cannot
lie. Not one word will return void. Not one little promise will slip
through the cracks. Well, we forgot about that one.
Not one word. We can put all our hope on it,
all our stock in it. It's going to be exactly like
he said it's going to be. And that'll make a people happy. That'll make us happy. There's
a lot of reason in the world to be unhappy. In the world,
you shall have tribulation. You're going to. You are going
to. But if the Lord will allow us
all to set aside the world for a minute, if He will let us just
cut the world off for just a minute, if He'll let us realize that
the world means nothing, as important as it seems to be, as important
as my flesh feels it is, as important as everybody around me seems
to think it is, it means nothing compared to this eternity that's
about to happen. It means nothing. And as soon
as we get on that, we find a moment of happiness. We find a moment
of peace. We find a moment of rest. And
at that moment, we're so happy to be his servants. We're happy
to just stand before him and hear his wisdom. Happy Israel, happy. I'm going
to close with this. This is a bulletin article that
I put in our bulletin back in January. Brother Bruce Crabtree
wrote this, and whenever I was preparing this message, I remembered
it. And this is a summary of everything
we just said. He wrote it from this verse of
Scripture. This is 1 Timothy 2, verse 5. For there is one
God, and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus. He said, I must approach unto
God by Christ Jesus because I am unholy. God must approach unto
me by Christ Jesus because He is holy. In Christ Jesus, I, a poor sinner,
And God, a holy and heavenly Father, have an honest and sincere
communion one with another. His holiness is not violated,
and my sin is not imputed, but all is washed away." All right,
now here's his response to his own article. He said, Oh, sweet
fellowship. Oh, holy union. Oh, easy walk. Oh, joyous friendship. Oh, happy me. I love that. He's saying the same thing that
brother Paul was saying. And I pray it's the same thing
we all say. I think in the midst of all this mess, in the midst
of all this heartache, in the midst of all this trouble, in
the midst of all this sin, I think, I honestly think when I get to
the core and hear this right here, I think I'm happy. I really
do. I think myself happy. All right,
let's all stand together.