It’s Great to be a Christian

It’s Great to be a Christian
Acts 8:35-38

Good afternoon. I hope you're as full as I am. When you hear preachers say it is challenging to preach after lunch, it is because I just like you feel right now. To tell the truth, you'd like to lay down and take a nap, but we're going to try to not do that for at least a little while. Maybe afterwards, everybody can go home and take one.

But it's wonderful to be here. I appreciate all the people that have prepared food. It was a wonderful lunch and especially the fellowship with each other. This evening I'd like for us to think about It's Great to be a Christian. Sometimes it's presented in the world, as I don't want to become a Christian? All these things I can't do.

That's actually not the way we need to think. You think about people, what they can't do, I can't get out and drink and do all these things. Think about the Christian for just a moment. He didn't wake up this morning with a hangover. He didn't wake up in jail.
He didn't wake up wondering where his car was. He didn't wake up in trouble with his wife because he got drunk and did whatever. Why is that a bad thing not to do? You could do that with a lot of things. It is actually great to be a child of God.

Anything that God has said don't do is for our benefit. On the other hand, there are things God does tell us to do. Let's notice and you're familiar with this event in the Book of Acts, chapter eight, verses 35 through 39 about the Ethiopian eunuch. Beginning in verse 35, it says, then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, see, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized.

If you back up, what had taken place? He had told him about Jesus. When you teach people Jesus, it doesn't mean just to say, let Jesus come into my heart. He said, See, here is water. What does hinder me? What stops me, what prevents me from being baptized? That was obviously taught. Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. When they were come up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip that the eunuch saw him no more. Notice this last part and we want to think about this last part—and he went on his way rejoicing.

He didn't think that all these things have been taken away from me. He looked at what he had gained—salvation and all the benefits of being a Christian. There's a lot of people that pray, but God will only hear the prayers of the righteous. We have that benefit. Think about that for a moment, that we can actually go before the throne of God and present our petitions to him and have this communication with him.

What a wonderful blessing that we have because we are a Christian. Think back to the day that you were baptized. You became a Christian. I can remember that day, July the 13th, 1986, at 10:45 A.M. I remember that day. My feet were shaking.

I was a little bit nervous, but I became a Christian that day. I have never regretted that. It's one of the greatest blessings. The greatest blessing that we can ever have is by being a child of God. Notice also in Acts 5:41 and they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

They suffered because of being a Christian. They didn't come out and complain about it. They weren't happy that they had suffered. That's not what they're saying, but they were thankful that the reason that they did suffer was because they were a Christian.

Remember, Paul said, yea, all that live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. They have these things in our lives, but they were thankful. They rejoiced, “We're children of God even if they take our lives.”

The apostles dealt with this. Even if they take our lives, we win the victory. That's still true today. It's no less true today and it's still true. It's still true that even if we lose our lives serving God, and it's still that way in some countries. In some countries, being a Christian is not the most popular thing to do, especially in some Muslim countries. They're not too happy with that idea.

In Philippians 4:4 This has always impressed me greatly that Paul could write this from prison. What would we write if we were in prison and we were writing to a family member or maybe even to the church and telling them the conditions that we're in? Let's see what Paul wrote. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. He was thankful even when he suffered. It didn't mean that the suffering was not there. It was real, very real, but he was still thankful. He still rejoiced. He still counted it a blessing because he was a child of God.

Let's look at some reasons today besides what we have mentioned just in the introduction of this, but some reasons we have to rejoice.

Number one, because God loves me and wants me to be saved. God wants me to be saved. God, before this world existed, had a plan for us. If it had just been one person, you or me, it would still have been the same plan. God loves us that much. It's hard for me to comprehend with my grandchild saying, I'll give my grandchild to get some murderer out of prison. I don't know that I could make that deal. God sent his only begotten son Jesus in order for us to have this salvation that we have, and Jesus was willing to come.

There's two parts there, we notice in Psalm 46, verse one. God is our refuge, a very present help in trouble. When Katrina hit and I could do this with Hurricane Ida and various other things, and you could too, with other storms that we know, Hawaii's going through what they're going through, you will see a lot of people say, let's pray to God. That's a good sentiment to have.

The only thing is, as soon as they got the benefits as people helped them. They weren't so interested in God anymore. They got what was good for them and they don't need God anymore. They really didn't want God to start with, they just wanted the benefits. In John 3:16, as we noticed earlier in the other sermon in Bible class, for God so loved the world, not this earth, not this round ball, but the people. God so loved this world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. There's no greater love than that. There's no greater love that man has ever known or ever will know. The greatest event that has ever taken place was when Christ died on that cross, and three days later he was resurrected.

Salvation was gained. Satan did not win. Jesus Christ won not Satan. He may have thought he won the battle, but far from it. Our Lord won the battle.

In Matthew 1:21, it says and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name, Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Do you see that plan? It's in place. It's taking place.

Romans 8:31-32, Paul writes what shall we then say to these things? Notice this if God be for us, this is us, if you're a Christian, this is you. If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spareth not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall he not with Him also freely give us all things? If he gave us His Son, you don't think he'll take care of us in this life?

He'll bless us now, backing up just a little bit, who can be against us? There's people that are against the Christians. They are against Christians. Satan is, but if we're faithful to God, we know that we will win. God will take care of us but if he has provided all the blessings that he has, he will continue to provide in the future the blessings that we need.

Number two, the reason it's great to be a Christian is because Christ died to save me from sin. We talked more about God and what he has done, but Jesus was willing to come. He was willing to come to this world. Go back to the garden of Gethsemane when he prayed, Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me. He knew what was before Him, but he said, “Thy will be done.”

There was no other way. We couldn't be saved any other way so he died on that cross. Salvation had been brought down to mankind. In John 15:13, it says, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Let's think about something for a minute. I'm sure if our friend was in trouble we would try to help. I have no doubt about that, but you think about us. We were actually enemies of Christ, and he laid down his life. We weren't actually living the life that we were supposed to live before we were Christians. We were lost living in the world, living contrary to God's will. He died for even people that were his enemies. You read it there in Acts, where the apostles preached to those that have gathered there together. They were some that had yelled, crucify him, crucify him. They were in the audience. They hear about this Jesus, this same Jesus whom you have crucified. God has made both Lord and Christ. They now understand what has taken place. Men and brethren, what shall we do?

They see what took place, and because Christ was willing to sacrifice, because he loved us that much, we have the joys of being a Christian. That day, about 3000 obeyed the Gospel. They repented and were baptized. It says in that chapter, those that gladly received his word were baptized. Do you ever take notice of the word gladly? They were happy here's how I'm going to be saved from my sins. This is the way. They were happy about that. It says gladly.

Sometimes we do things in life, and it's not always gladly. I bet sometimes when Monday morning, rolls around, you don't get out of the bed gladly—not ready to go back to work. We don't always do things gladly. But those that gladly received the word of God, they were baptized. They obeyed God. In Hebrews 9:22 it says and almost all things are by the law. Purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission. If Jesus hadn't shed that blood, man couldn't be saved.

You could try to devise a plan. It won't work. There's only one, only one plan, and that is the man Jesus Christ. And his blood that washes us. Brethren, think right now, if we are still walking in the light, his blood is still washing away our sins. What a blessing. Why? Because we're Christians. Because we have that benefit of being a child of God.

Hebrews 4:15-16. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin, the things that we face, the everyday things of life. He faced much more, but he faced all those things, too. On that Day of Judgment, we'll never be able to say, Jesus, you don't know what it was like being down here. He does. If he wanted to, he could say, you don't know what it's like to go to the cross. Because we didn't, but he did because of His wonderful love.

Number three, because Jesus Christ is my high priest. That's one reason it's great to be a Christian. In the Old Testament, under the Law of Moses, they had the high priest, but he was limited as to what he could do. Our high priest today, Jesus Christ, our high priest, is not limited by the things that he can do. Notice in First John 2:1, my little children. Notice John the apostle, he's called the Apostle of Love. You know what he and his brother James were called earlier, don't you? Sons of thunder. Something changed in John, didn't it? He seems to have grown and mellowed out. See how he addresses them? He's writing to them with encouragement and his love.

He cares for them. My little children, these things I write unto you that ye sin not. There's a problem, though, John. We still have moments when we do sin. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Yes, we still sin not because we want to live a life of sin, but we still fall short, but we have an advocate, somebody pleading our case. We still have the ability, even though we have been baptized, not go back and be baptized again, but that blood washes away our sins as we walk in the light.

We have that advocate. If somebody gets in trouble, especially somebody famous that has a lot of money. What do they do? They hire the best attorney they possibly can, and sometimes, probably too many times, they get off with things they did. You probably could name some. We have somebody far better than anybody that's ever been in any courtroom. Jesus Christ pleads our case. There's not a better attorney around anywhere. Never has been, never will be. He's the one that pleads my case because he loves me. He can plead my case in a way nobody else can.

What a wonderful blessing it is to be a child of God. What a wonderful blessing it is to be a Christian. In Hebrews 2:17, it says wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. You mean He's dying on the cross because of sins? What did he do? He must have done something really bad that they put him on a cross. Not one single sin.

He never committed the first one. It was our sins that put him there. That is love. That is tremendous love. We talked about the love of the Father. We see the love of the Son as well. Yes, it's great to be a Christian, somebody that cares that much about me that they died for my sins, the ones that I committed.

Sometimes in our life there are things we did we wish we never had done, but you can have it as though it never was done. Those sins can be forgiven. Man sometimes doesn't forget like that, but God, once that blood washes away our sins, he forgets as though it never happened. He knows it happened, but he doesn't hold it against us like some people would. That's a tremendous difference.

In John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Do you want to go to the Father? I do. I want to go to the Father.

Again, as we discuss some in Bible class, it's hard to imagine what it will be like to be in his presence. That is beyond what we can comprehend. Man's mind just can't do it. Think about this, brethren. It's going to be a reality. It's going to be a reality. It's going to happen. It's coming because Jesus died. He is our high priest, and like in the Old Testament, they had to continually offer sacrifices. Jesus died once, just one time. That's all that it took.

Number four, why is it great to be a Christian? Because of the purpose and meaning of life. That makes a tremendous difference. I don't know if you've ever had any discussions with people, but there's a lot of people may even surprise you sometimes that wonder what their purpose in life is. Why am I here? Where am I going? I mean, I'm here, but for what reason? People that are out in the world living as they are now in reality, they don't have a purpose in living that way, do they? That means you better enjoy what you have now, because if you continue in that, that's all you're going to have. You're going to live it up now. Then. It's not going to be so good on the other side, but it's different for the child of God.

In Ecclesiastes12:13, we find out the purpose of our life. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Who wrote that is very important. Solomon. Why is that important? The life that he lived? Not that it was all good either. He had more money. I looked it up, what it would be in modern time, (I don’t know how accurate the count was.), but it was in the trillions.

Sometimes billionaires and somebody's got so many billions. You take all the richest men in the world, the Bill Gates, Elon Musks and all those guys, add them all together, they don't come close to what Solomon had. It's not even in the same ballpark.

Solomon had all that. Since I have all this, I can pretty much do anything that I want. I'm the king. He pretty much tried everything too, didn't he? It didn't all work out so well. He married strange wives. He even married wives just to make allegiance with other countries on different occasions. That wasn't God's commandment. That was not what God wanted him to do. When you start reading the entirety of Ecclesiastes, he says, all's vanity, it was all a waste. Does that remind you of how you see how people are living today? It's all vanity. It's all a waste. What is our purpose?

The next time you're talking with somebody and also for us, show them their purpose. Fear God and keep his commandments. That is our purpose. We have a reason to get up every day. Some people (this is a sad reality) they get up each day and think why continue? What's the purpose? Isn't that a large part of suicides? I know there are other reasons, but people don't see the point of continuing to go on. Jesus is the reason to continue to go on. There is a reason. There's still a reason in life to continue to live even when things are difficult.

We have a reason to live that should make us live differently than the world. The people that sometimes you may see don't live a Godly life. It seems like they do better than I do. You may not want all the headaches that go with it. A lot of their toys they probably can't even pay for. They're probably having problems in their home because of the way that they're living. You may not want what they have. Be careful what you wish for. Be glad that you're a Christian. It is a blessing to live as a child of God.

We also notice in John Six, verse 38, Jesus said, for I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. That should be our purpose. We have that purpose to do the will of God. We became Christians. What did Jesus say? Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

We have a purpose. We have something we're supposed to be doing. Everybody can't go to every country, but we can send people to go. We all work together in this thing, and then we see in John 17:4, Jesus said, I have glorified thee on earth. Notice I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. He did everything that God wanted him to do. He didn't leave anything undone. The work that God sent him to do was finished.

Number five why is it great to be a Christian?

Your setting here today helps me with this point because the fellowship with other Christians what do we call these? A lot of times we call it potlucks, but a lot of times it's called what? A fellowship meal. The food's great, but the fellowship should be great too, shouldn't it? It's great that you can sit and fellowship and eat at the same time. I like that idea. That's a pretty good idea. The fellowship that we have with one another, we have people, if something happens, we can get on the phone and call them, I need help. Even if they can't do it themselves, they can go into action.

We can help one another with these things in life. That's the way it is with the child of God. In First Corinthians 12:26 Paul writes to the church at Corinth. He said, and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored all the members rejoice with it. If one suffers, we all suffer. I don't even know the family that was mentioned this morning with a child that has terminal cancer. That can't help but bother you. That hurts.

We suffer, but we rejoice. Can you think when you see somebody is baptized and everybody goes up and gives them a hug and they're so happy? We suffer with those that suffer. We rejoice with those that rejoice. Philippians 1:27 stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving for the faith of the gospel. One spirit.

Let us all work together. God doesn't want us to be divided. He wants unity based upon the word of God. God didn't tell us to do something that was impossible. God never told us to go do something that we couldn't really do. We're able to do what God set forth to do. We also see in Psalm 133:1. This is a beautiful passage. Psalm 133:1, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

What a wonderful thing. When a congregation and brethren listen to this it does not matter how big a congregation is. If you have unity and you have the truth, you have a reason to rejoice that you're a Christian. God didn't say you had to have the biggest congregation in the brotherhood to do good to be faithful. You serve God wherever you are. Some people in some countries face things that are very difficult, but they still serve God. What a blessing.

Number six, the last one that, well, sorry folks, there's going to be one more after this one. Those getting ready to get up, don’t put your shoes on yet. Number six, because of the peace it brings by being a Christian.

Somebody told my wife, it's actually a Christian that I have known all my life because he's older than me. When she was baptized, he said, you're going to sleep the best sleep that you ever slept. You could actually have a deathly sickness and still die, still be a child of God, still go to heaven when the Lord comes. What does it mean? We can have a peace that passes all understanding.

It doesn't matter what happens in life when those tragedies come, even when we're shedding those tears and we've all been in those situations in life. It hurts, but it's still so good that we have the peace that it brings. In the book of Colossians 1:20, it says, and having made peace through the blood of his cross. in Matthew 6:34, notice I referred to Matthew 6:33 today seek the kingdom of God in his righteousness, though this should be added unto you. Look at verse 34. Take therefore no thought for tomorrow.

That doesn't mean you don't make plans—things you need to do. We do that. We need to do that. You don't have to worry that you're not going to be taken care of. God will take care of us. We have surgeries. I see some with canes.

I'm tired of having surgeries. I had a preacher elder friend that said some people go play golf for a hobby. He said, some people go fish for a hobby. He said, Mark goes has surgeries for he had so many. We have those difficulties, but God's going to be there for us and with us.

Take no thought for tomorrow. There may be some pain or whatever it may come, but don't think God's left us. He never has, never will. We read in the book of Philippians, this is one of my favorite passages, Philippians four, verses four through seven. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. Notice the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (qualification) let your request be made known unto God. Then notice the rest and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

He's going to keep us. He's going to preserve us. When you think back to when you were just a boy or girl, and usually it would be the mother we would run to most often, but you hurt yourself a little bit. What did you do? Run to Mama. Why should Mama take care of it? Mama's going to hug me and tell me it's going to be okay, and pretty soon we’re back out there going again. In a sense, that's what we do with God. We hurt, we run to God, and He'll be there for us. We're going to have that peace. You don't have to worry about that. God's got us covered. God's got us covered with this.

The last one, number seven, we can rejoice as a Christian because of the assurance of heaven. Brethren, that is a blessing—the assurance of heaven. We can know that we're going.

When is it going to be? I don't know, that could be soon, could be a long time, we don't know the date. I do know the Lord's coming, and I do know when he comes in the clouds, we shall meet Him there. In the book of First Corinthians 15:19, it says, if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men, most miserable. We don't just have hope in this life only. We have hope beyond this life, don't we?

Not just in this life. Not just this life. We have hope way beyond that. We have hope that will last into eternity. Death is something that we look at, and since we've never been through that door before, I think we all have some kind of fear or uncertainty about it because it's something that's never happened. When you truly think about it and read of the promises of God, you don't have to fear it. Remember when Lazarus was carried to the bosom of Abraham by the angels? There's a day coming for us too. God will send the angels for us when the time is right and we can go to paradise. When the time is right, that trumpet will sound.

Assurance. We have the assurance of heaven in the Book of John 14:2-3, and this is also an encouraging passage, in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself that where I am, there ye may be also.

There's the assurance, isn't it? There's the guarantee he's coming back for us. What, Jesus is doing something now? He's preparing a place for us. When God says this is the time he's coming back, Jesus will come back.

In First John 5:13. We see these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. That's us, isn't it? We believe on the name of the Son of God. Notice that ye may know that you have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Brethren, it is truly great to be a Christian. We have reasons. The Bible gives us that. It shows us how great it is to be a child of God. Is there an invitation? There is. 605. If there's anybody here I don't know everybody's situation, but if there's somebody that needs to be baptized, we can certainly help with that. If there's somebody that needs to ask for prayers, we'd certainly be glad to help with that as well as we stand as we sing.