Oh, Happy Day!

I don't know about you, but I've about had enough of the bad news that's been going on in our world today. It seems like everybody's gone crazy, and everybody's mad at each other for one reason or another, and it just seems like things are starting to come unhinged. So I think I thought today we would look at something that was uplifting and cheery. My name's Rick Bloodworth, this is the Common Sense Christian channel, and the theme of today is a song that was written back in the 1700s called Oh Happy Day. I first came into contact with this song, at least the first time I remember hearing it, was when I was watching the movie Secretariat. And a couple of times in that movie, this song was actually featured. And it was from 19, I think it was recorded 1968 and released in 1969 by the Edwin Hawkins singers. And one of the lines in this song says this, Oh happy day, Oh, happy day when Jesus washed my sins away. Well, this is really a great basis for the beginning of a song, isn't it? Happy Day. There's another part in that song where it talks about how we're going to live rejoicing every day. Well, this was initially written by Philip Doddridge. Philip Doddridge was an English non conformist minister, or congregational minister. minister, and he wrote a lot of songs back in the 1700s. This particular song, I believe, was actually released in 1755 on sheet music, obviously. So, several years after he passed away, but the, but the passage that he used as the basis of his song was from Acts chapter 8, and specifically verse 35. But, so let's look at Acts chapter 8 and see the context from which he pulled this happy song. Starting in verse 26 of Acts chapter 8. Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, go south to the road, the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he started out and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. The man had gone to Jerusalem to worship and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah, the prophet. The spirit told Philip, go to the chariot and stay near it. Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. Do you understand what you're reading? Philip said, How can I? He answered, Unless someone explains it to me. So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The eunuch was reading this passage of scripture. He was like a sheep to the slaughter, And as a lamb before the shearer is silent, So he did not open his mouth in his humiliation. He was deprived of justice, who can speak of his descendants for his life was taken from the earth. The eunuch asked Philip, tell me please, who is the prophet talking about himself or someone else? And this is the part that Philip Doddridge got the idea for this song. Then Philip began with this very passage of scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled on the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, Look, here's water. Why shouldn't I be baptized? Apparently, part of the good news or the gospel that Philip was teaching Otherwise there wouldn't have been a reason for the eunuch to ask him about that. But again, he said, Here is water, why shouldn't I be baptized? Then he ordered the chariot to stop. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. And why shouldn't he? He had just had his sins washed away. He had just been baptized into Christ. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17, it says, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. The old is passed away, behold, the new has come. So now this official in the court of Candace, the queen of Ethiopia, has been made a new creation. He has a new start to his life. Can there be any wonder why he went away rejoicing? Have you ever wished that you could just get a fresh start? When I was a kid, I loved etch a sketches. I loved those magic erase boards also. You know, the ones that had that heavy sheet of plastic and you had a little plastic stylus and you'd press down on that board and you could make pictures. And if you didn't like it, you just rip the plastic up. And start over again. Same thing with an et of sketch. If you didn't like your design, you could just turn it over and shake the, the sand back onto the screen and you had a fresh start. I've loved fresh starts all my life. I always like getting a new notebook. I know that sounds a little bit crazy, but it's just always nice to have that fresh notebook with nothing written on it yet. The, the sky was the limit as far as the possibilities of what you might put into that notebook. Well, think about the notebook of your life, maybe you were at one point lost without hope in a world of sin. And because of that, you, you suffered the ups and downs of life, but mainly the downs. Perhaps you're depressed. Perhaps you're feeling the weight of the guilt of your sins. For those of us who have become Christians, you'll remember this day, the day that the, the word of the gospel actually hit your heart to the point where you believed it beyond a shadow of a doubt, and it excited you this, this news this good news of the gospel of Christ. And not only did you believe that and believe that Christ was the son of God, but you confessed. that very thing. And you repented of your sins. You were sorry for them. You were determined that you were going to make a new start. You're going to put those sins away and now you're going to live for God. And then the final part of God's plan of salvation, you're baptized into Christ and you had your sins washed away. Do you remember what it felt like to come up out of that water new and absolute pristine being. The guilt is gone, not because you deserved it, and not because there was some kind of a magical property to the water. But as Peter pointed out, you had performed this act of obedience that was literally a pledge of a good conscience to God. And he washed your sins away, adding you to the body of Christ. And now you're a new creation. The old indeed has gone and the new has come. Is there any wonder that when Philip Doddridge was writing this song? He said, Oh, happy day. There's a few days like that in our, our existence. Maybe, maybe if you're, if you have children and you got to witness your children being born, maybe the day of of your marriage and men, you saw your bride coming down the aisle towards you, certainly the day that you see your children accept Christ and obey the gospel and are baptized and have their sins washed away. There's just nothing like it. It is a happy day. We do, like the eunuch from Ethiopia, go away from this event rejoicing. But what happens after you've become a Christian, after you've become pure and clean, if you go back into the world and, and you sin? Well, God has a provision for that as well. Look at 1 John 1, starting in verse 5. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, God is light. And Him is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him, yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. So if, once you've become a Christian, you find yourself not living by the truth because you're in the darkness, you need to get back in the light. But what happens if you do? What happens when you start walking in the light or living in God's way? Verse 7, But if we walk in the light, As he, God, is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, talking about our brothers and sisters in the church, in Christ. And the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. It's not just the day of your baptism that you can enjoy this happy day, this new start, this new creation. It's any time you should choose to come back to God once you've departed. It's this daily renewal for those of you who are faithful and who are walking in the light each day. And even though we all stumble from time to time, because you are trying to do your best to walk in the light, according to God's terms, we are told that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. There's that new creation again. It's like that magic erase board, isn't it? Except for it's no child's toy. We really genuinely do get a new start. I believe this is what the world needs. I am absolutely convinced that one of the reason for the madness of our current times is because most people have gone away from Christ. And as the scriptures prophesied, the love of most has grown cold. But we can do something about it in our own lives. We might not be able to change the world, but maybe we can do something about this little corner of the world in which we live. And when we find ourselves just at wit's end, isn't it nice to know that we can have that fresh, clean start? Every day because we're going to heaven, not because we deserve it, but because God has made this offer through his grace, that if we will live for him in his way, that we'll get to be with him forever, a new start, a new creation. And someday we're going to be taking part in heaven for eternity. Oh, happy day. I love that song. Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away. It's good to be clean. It's good to be new. It's good to be whole. It's good to have that hope of salvation. We ought to be rejoicing every day. We ought to have every day is a happy day. And really, shouldn't we be doing our best to share this with others? Why not do that today? If this video has helped you, do me a favor, share it with somebody else that you think might be helped by the message. It's a good message. Not because it's from me. Every good idea I have, it seems like I've stolen from somebody else. And this one I certainly got from a great song, but more importantly, from a great truth. We can have our sins washed away, and we can, in fact, go away from that moment rejoicing unto eternity. Appreciate your listening today. Hope you'll come back tomorrow, but until then, I pray that God will richly bless you as you try to do your best to serve him walking in the light every day. Oh, happy day.