What a blessing. Turn back to
Matthew chapter 9. I've entitled the message for
this evening, Be of Good Cheer, a Command. Be of good cheer, a command. To be of good cheer is to be
of good courage, to be of good comfort. It's the opposite of
being afraid, discouraged, and depressed. And the Lord uses
this word six times. And all six times that he uses
it, it's spoken of in the imperative. It's given as a command. It's not given as good advice. He's not saying you ought to
be of good cheer. But this is a command he gives
us to be of good cheer. Now, there are plenty of times
when we're not of good cheer. Isn't that so? There are plenty
of times we're not of good cheer. If you read the Psalms of David,
you will find in him the highest strain of praise and adoration
to the living God. But you will also find the depths
of depression, guilt, and discouragement in his writings. Being sinners,
that's understandable, isn't it? It's understandable, but it's
not desirable. Now, I want us to consider where
the Lord commands to be of good cheer. Matthew 9 verse 2, here's the
first. And behold, they brought to him
a man sick of the palsy. We know from the other accounts
he was in a house that was so crowded they couldn't get in.
So they got up on the roof of the house. They knocked a hole
in the roof and they let the man down. Can you imagine what
that would have been like to be there and see that. And the
scripture says, And Jesus, seeing their faith, the men that brought
this man who was sick of palsy, unable to walk, when he saw their
faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good
cheer. be forgiven thee. Now what if the Lord Jesus said
to you personally, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven
thee. Now what is interesting is we
never read where this man confessed his sin, we never read where
this man asked for forgiveness. We just read where these men
brought him to the Lord Jesus and all we know about this man
is he was lying on a bed sick of the palsy. Perhaps he was
so taken up with his own affliction that he'd never asked for the
forgiveness of sins. And the Lord looks at him and
says, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins are forgiven thee. Now, if I said to you, your sins
are forgiven me, they may be, they may not. I
don't know. But if he says, thy sins be forgiven
me, would that give you a reason to be of good Now he is the one
who has the authority to say this. Look in verse 3. And 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 whither is
it easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise
and walk? But that ye 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. Now what would be easier to say?
If a man was laying here on the floor, paralyzed, What would
be easier to say? Your sins are forgiven or get
up and walk? Be a whole lot easier to say your sins are forgiven.
Now, the Lord said, I want you to understand that I have the
authority to do this. And then he looked at that man
who was paralyzed. Rise, take up your bed, and walk. And now you know that I have
the authority that only God has to say to a sinner, thy sins
are forgiven thee. Your sins, beyond the possibility
of numerical calculation, your sins, he says to this man, sins
of self-righteousness, sins of hypocrisy, sins often repeated,
secret sins that nobody knows anything about but you and God,
dark and morally perverse sins, sins against light, sins against
conscience, they're all forgiven thee. Sins that you haven't even committed
yet, they're all All, all forgiven thee. This is spoken of in the
perfect tense, a perfectly completed action. He says to this man who
we don't know that he'd ever even ask for forgiveness, be
of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. There's nothing you can do to
lose this. There's nothing you can do to
mess it up. Your sins, all of them, are forgiven thee. Now, interestingly, the word
forgive is more often translated leave. Your sins have all left
you. They went somewhere else. The
Lord Jesus Christ bore them. on Calvary's tree and he put
them away. Hebrews 1.3 says he by himself
purged our sins. And I love that phrase by himself. That means you didn't have anything
to do with this. He did this by himself with no
help from you, with no contribution from you. He did this by himself
and now they are forgiven. You know we find out We've been
forgiven. We find out we've been forgiven. You see, salvation doesn't end
with forgiveness. It begins with the full, free,
complete forgiveness of sins. So, be of good cheer. Thy sins are forgiven thee, and
the only way I'm permitted to look at my sins is as forgiven
sins. Son, be of good cheer. All thy sins are forgiven thee. Look down in verse 22 of Matthew
chapter 9. But Jesus turned him about, and
when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort. The same
word, be of good comfort. Here it's translated comfort.
I tell you what, if you're of good cheer, you're of good comfort,
aren't you? You know, what is more comforting than to know
all your sins are forgiven? What a blessed comfort. So this
is a good way to translate this. Daughter, be of good comfort,
thy faith hath made thee whole. And that word whole is the same
word that's generally translated saved. Same word that's used
in Ephesians 2.8, by grace ye are saved. Thy faith hath made thee whole,
thy faith hath saved thee. Now what was this woman's faith? Now we know that this woman had
a menstrual disease and she had it for 12 years. And she, we know from the other
accounts, had gone to many physicians and had not become better but
rather grew worse. She was anemic. She was sick. But look at verse 20. And behold,
a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years
came behind. She didn't come in front. She
didn't feel fit to do that. I'm sure she was afraid to. She
came behind and touched the hem of his garment. For she said
within herself, If I may but touch his garment, if I can just
come into contact with him, I shall be whole. That's simple enough,
isn't it? What was her faith? If I can
come into contact with him, I'll be made whole. She tried everything
else and it hadn't worked. But somehow she knew, because
of who He is, that if she can come into contact with Him, she'd
be whole. You see, if you read the pages
of the New Testament, you'll find that everybody that He touched,
without exception, they were healed. They were saved. They were made whole. You know
why? Because of who He is. Now, I think it's interesting,
if you read Luke's account, He says, after this woman touched
him, he said, who touched me? For he perceived that virtue
was gone out of him, the scripture says. Who touched me? And Peter said, Lord, the crowd
is thronging thee. Sayest thou who touched me? Hundreds
of people touched you. He said, somebody touched me.
And he's talking about somebody who had faith. All these other
folks who touched him, they didn't have any faith. But this woman
had this precious gift of God, faith to believe that if she
came into contact with Christ, she would be made whole. And I can just see her crawling
through the crowd, too weak to stand up. She had to be crawling
because she's touching the hem of his garment. Not up at the
top, but the hem. And she came through that crowd
with this thought, if I can just get into contact with Him because
of who He is. He's the Son of David. He's God.
He can't fail. If I can just come into contact
with Him, I'll be made perfectly whole. And as soon as she touched
Him, she was made whole. You know what the Lord said to
her? Be of good cheer. Be of good
comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Now do you believe what this
woman did? Do you believe that there is such saving power in
His person that if by His grace you come into contact with Him,
you'll be perfectly whole? Well, be of good cheer. Your
faith, the faith you possess, the faith that He gave you, hath
made thee whole. Turn to Matthew chapter 14, verse 27. But straightway Jesus
spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. Now the context, verse 24. 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. They were terrified,
saying, It's a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
Straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer,
it's I. Be not afraid. With regard to everything that
takes place in my life and yours, He says, Be of good cheer, it's I. Be not afraid. Whatever happens is His will
being done. Now let me tell you three things
about this one who says it's I. Be of good cheer. Be not afraid. First, this one
is too powerful to not have control of everything. Everything that takes place under
the sun, He is the cause of. You believe that about Him? Do
you believe there's anything outside of His control? Well,
if you believe that, you believe in a weak Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ of the Bible is absolutely sovereign. And if the doctor
says you have cancer, be of good cheer. It's I. Be not afraid. Whatever happens,
doesn't matter. I could use so many examples.
Be of good cheer. It's I. Be not afraid. And the second thing about this
one who said this, he's so powerful, he's omnipotent. That means he
has the power to control everything and he does in fact control everything. But secondly, he's too wise to make any errors. Whatever he does is just right. He's too wise to make any errors. And he is too kind to ever be
cruel. So be of good cheer with regard
to everything. Be of good cheer. It's I. Be not afraid. And so we can
say with regard to everything, this is the Lord's doing. And
it's marvelous in our eyes because he did it. Turn to Mark chapter
10. Verse 49. And Jesus stood still and commanded
him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. Question. Have you ever asked
him for mercy? Don't just say, of course I have. Think about it. Have you ever
asked the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy? Now, this man did. Look in verse 47, and when he
heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, He began to cry out and say,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged
him that he should hold his peace, but he cried them all a great
deal. Thou son of David, have mercy on me. Now what happens when someone
asks for mercy? Well, let me tell you two things
that must be in place. First, you only ask for mercy
when you have no merit. If you have any merit at all,
you're not asking for mercy. You're asking for payment for
your merit. On this way, you need to respond. That's not asking for mercy. That's bargaining with God with
what you have. And that is not asking for mercy. The only time you ask for mercy
is if you have absolutely no merit at all. Secondly, when you ask for mercy,
You know you can't demand mercy. You know it's His to give or
to withhold. If you don't believe that, you're
not asking for mercy. You know that your sin's all
your fault, you've forfeited all rights, and He can do with
you whatever He's pleased to do, and you can't demand anything
of Him. Lord, you need to give me mercy.
I have it coming. You have to give me mercy. I'm
asking for it. No, no. You know that it's His
to give or to withhold. And you believe that. And if
you don't come like that, let me assure you, you've never asked
for mercy. You ask for mercy when you have
no merit and you know it's within his sovereign right to give it
or to withhold it. Now, that's just the facts. That's just the facts. Most folks
who think they've asked for mercy, they've not really asked for
mercy. They've tried to strike a deal with God. I'm going to
do this and you do that. But that's not asking for mercy.
But this man asked for mercy. And look what they said. Many,
verse 48, charged him that he should hold his peace. But you know what? If you ever ask for mercy, you
will not shut up. You keep asking. You know it's not something you
deserve. That's already settled. But you
will keep asking. They said, Bartimaeus, hold your
peace. But he cried to more, a great
deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus, verse
49, stood still. Now he was on his way to Jerusalem.
He was on his way to the cross. But here is something that stopped
him dead in his tracks. And beloved, if me or you actually
cry for mercy, that'll stop him. And he'll hear
your prayer. And he'll hear your cry. Jesus
stood still and commanded him to be called. I love that. He didn't say invite him over
here. He commanded him to be called. And they said to the
blind man, be of good comfort. Rise, he calleth thee. Now, here's the point I want
to make out of this. If you ask for mercy, it's because
He's calling you. Let me repeat that. If you personally
ask Him for mercy, it's because He is calling you. You would not ask for mercy if
He were not calling you. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also, what? Called. And whom he called, them
he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now this is his calling grace.
How do I know if he's calling me? You'll be asking for mercy. That's how you know. If you're
not asking for mercy, he's not calling you. I'll assure you
he's not. But if you're asking him for
mercy, save me by your mercy, have mercy on me. I'm nothing
but guilt. I need mercy. Somebody that has
no merit. Somebody who knows they have
nothing to bargain with. Someone who knows it's God's
right to give or withhold. Whatever he does is right. That
person, God is calling. Be of good cheer. Rise, he calleth
thee. I love that scripture. We preach
Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the
Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called. Christ, the power of God, and
Christ, the wisdom of God. Turn to John 16. Now this is
the passage of Scripture that initially made me look at this. Verse 33, These things have I spoken unto
you, that in me You might have peace. In the world, you'll have
tribulation, trouble, nothing but trouble. But be of good cheer. And remember, this is a command.
Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Now, look back at verse 29. And his disciples said unto him,
Lo, thou speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now
we are sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that
any man should ask thee. By this we believe thou camest
forth from God. Oh, he's got their affirmation
now. I'm sure he feels a lot better. What does he say to them? Jesus
answered them, do you now believe? Do you now believe? They were
making these bold assertions. We believe now. Do you now believe? Verse 32, Behold the hour cometh,
yea, is now come that you shall be scattered, every man to his
own, and shall leave me alone. You make this bold assertion
that you believe now. No, you don't. No, you don't. All of you will
be scattered and flee and hide. Yet I'm not alone, because the
Father's with me. These things have I spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. Not in your assertions,
I now believe, I've got faith now. Now we're really sure that
you are who you say you are. You know, that was horrible,
what they said to him. It was horrible. You know, the
disciples said a whole lot of horrible things, didn't they?
They're just like us. But that was terrible that they
said, oh, we can believe you now like you couldn't before.
He said, you guys are going to all scatter and leave me. But
these things have I spoken unto you that in me you might have
peace. I'm telling you that you're going
to scatter and leave me and forsake me and act like you don't know
me in fear and hide. These things have I spoken unto
you, and let you know that in me you might have peace. Look back at John chapter 13
for a moment. I think this illustrates that. Verse 37, Peter said unto him, Lord, why
cannot I follow thee now? I lay down my life for thy sake.
Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the cock shall not crow till
thou hast denied me thrice. Let not your heart be troubled. And you know that, that chapteral
division is man-made. You are going to deny me three
times. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Now back to our text. In John
chapter 16, verse 33. These things have I spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. Now what's in Christ? I'd like to spend the whole message
on this. What's in Christ? I can tell you. According to
Colossians 2.9, In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
in a body. That's what's in Christ. All
the fullness of the incomprehensible, immortal, invisible God. Secondly, Paul tells us that
He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. You know what that means? Everything
God has for the sinner is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not
in you, it's in Christ. 2 Timothy 1.9 says, He saved
us and He called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. All God has for
the sinner is in Christ. If you're going to be saved,
everything God requires of you, He looks to His blessed Son for
all of God's blessing. Everything that God has for the
sinner is in His blessed Son. And here's what else is in Christ.
But of him are you in Christ Jesus. Every believer. Of him are you in Christ Jesus. Who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Now, the only
place peace is found is in him. Do you get any peace from the
strength of your faith? If you do, you're deceived. The
only place peace is found is in the Lord Jesus Christ. These
things have I spoken unto you that you're going to leave me
and everything else I've said up to this point. These things
have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. In the
world, You're going to have tribulation. You're going to have trouble.
You're going to have trials. Nothing's going to go right,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And if I've overcome the world,
you've overcome the world. Turn to Acts chapter 23. Paul is in prison. Verse 11, And the night following
the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul. Now I
think the reason he said that to Paul, I know the reason he
said that to Paul, is because Paul was not of good cheer. Paul
was upset. Paul was discouraged. Paul was
floundering at this time. And I can see why it would be.
Look at the first of this chapter. And Paul, earnestly beholding
the counsel, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience
before God until this day. You know, I looked at that and
I said, How could anybody say that? Well, he did it this time. He did it this time. What if
I said to you, my conscience has never bothered me about anything
I've ever done. I've lived in all good conscience
to this day. Well, Paul said that. Paul said
that. And the high priest Ananias commanded
them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul
unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. For sittest
thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten
contrary to the law? And David stood by and said,
Revilest thou, God's high priest? Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren,
that he was the high priest. Now there's another thing. Since
when does Paul not know who the high priest is? I wist not, brethren, that it
was the high priest, for it's written, Thou shalt not speak
evil of the ruler of the people. But when Paul perceived that
one part were Sadducees, And the other Pharisees, he saw some
political maneuvering that he could use. He cried out in the
council, men and brethren, I am a Christian. No, I am a Pharisee. The son of the 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, nor ain't neither 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, saying, We find no evil in this man, but if a spirit
or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God.
And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain,
fearing lest Paul should have been pulled into pieces of them,
commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from
among them, and to bring him into a castle. Now, that is all
carnal policy. He's playing politics. He's trying
to set one person against another. Now somebody says, how do you
know? Read it. He started this in Acts chapter
21. Now, Paul, I couldn't compromise the gospel. Yeah, you could.
Yeah, you could. Apart from the grace of God,
you will. This started in Acts chapter 21 when Paul submitted
to going ahead and have a sacrifice offered with a vow of the Nazarite
where there would actually be a blood sacrifice in order to
appease the Jews who disagreed with what he was saying. And
he was totally wrong in doing that. And God in his mercy had
him arrested before he could offer up that blood sacrifice.
But this kind of thinking is still continuing. And I think
when he got thrown into prison, he started thinking about everything
that he'd done. And he was feeling guilty, and
ashamed, and down. He felt like he'd let the Lord
down in his testimony of him. He could see that he'd used carnal
policy. And the Lord comes to him, and
what's he say? And the night following, the
Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul. For as thou hast testified of
me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness of me also in Rome. Yes, you messed up, but be of
good cheer. I'm going to use you anyway. Oh, what a blessing that was
to Paul. You see, the Lord If the Lord
only used you, if you didn't mess up, would he use you at
all? No. Now Paul shows us how easily,
and listen, Paul's my hero. I don't deserve to, humanly speaking,
I don't deserve to tie his shoes. I know that and you know that.
I have the highest estimation of Paul, and I'm not slamming
him about this, but I know how Conflict after conflict after
conflict, he just weakened at this time. But after this took
place, I think it's interesting, after this took place, this is
the time of the writing of Galatians, where he saw what he'd done in
really compromising things. And he saw the error of that,
and that's where he wrote the book of Galatians that is so
strong against all this stuff. But here's the point. Be of good
cheer, Paul. I'm not putting you on a shelf.
I'm going to cause you to testify of me again. Now the final word
I want to look at is where, turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Now here the adverb form of the
word Be of good cheer is used and it's translated boldly. Verse
6, so that we may boldly with courage and good cheer, so that
we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. And I will not fear what man
shall do unto me. Now, the previous verse Let your conversation be without
covetousness, and be content with such things as you have,
for He has said, I'll never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Now
I want you to think of that statement. He said, I will never. And in the original, there's
actually five negatives. It speaks like this, I will never,
never, no, never, never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Now because of that promise,
we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what
man shall do unto me. How can that be so? Because he
said it. Need any other reason? Well,
I'll give you one. Because salvation is all of grace
and he doesn't have a reason to leave you nor forsake you.
Because if you're justified, you stand before him without
guilt. He doesn't have a reason to leave you nor forsake you. But what about my sin? It's put
away. It's put away. We may boldly say, the Lord is
my helper. I won't fear what man can do
to me. Because He has promised, I'll never leave thee nor forsake
thee. Now remember, these are spoken of in the imperative. Be of good cheer. Your sins are
forgiven. Be of good cheer. Your faith
has saved you. Be of good cheer. It's I. Be
not afraid. Be of good cheer. He calls you. Be of good cheer. In Him, you
have peace. Be of good cheer. You're still
my witness. And be of good cheer, because
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Let's pray. Lord, how thankful we are that
you command us to be of good cheer. And Lord, give us the
grace to be obedient to this command because you say to us,
be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Lord,
enable us to hear your voice for Christ's sake. Lord, as we
face this coming week, let us be of good cheer. thinking of
all the blessings we have in your son. Lord, we ask that you
would open up doors for us to preach your gospel to other people.
Lord, we pray for our children. We pray for the young people
of this assembly that you would reveal yourself to them. Lord,
accept our thanksgiving through thy dear son. Oh, that we might
be found in him. In his name we pray. Amen.