Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Get Off the Sidelines (Update 2)

(Story updated to add Cramer's Lightning Round picks, his comments on a New York Times op-ed piece on Goldman's greedy behavior and his Mad Tweets segment.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- On the seventh anniversary of his "Mad Money" TV show, Jim Cramer told his viewers that they need to embrace the possibilities and opportunities of the stock market.

He said it's time to come off the sidelines, sell those bank CDs earning 0.4% interest and invest in great American companies.

Cramer acknowledged that investors have every right to be skeptical of the markets, especially given that the last time the averages saw these levels we were on the cusp of a horrific decline. But things are different now, as he compared the markets of 2007 versus those of today.

Back in 2007, Cramer said the markets were being driven by a rise in commodities. Everything from oil to metals to fertilizer was red hot thanks to a booming Chinese economy. Meanwhile here at home, our housing market and financial system were on the brink of collapse, about to take consumer confidence with it.

So where are the markets today? Cramer said today's markets are being driven by pure growth, U.S. growth. He said everything from health care to retail to technology, even the homebuilders, are just beginning to show sustainable recoveries.

Stocks like JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and IBM (IBM) , two stocks which Cramer owns for his charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS, are leading the charge.

Then there's Apple (AAPL) , another Action Alerts PLUS name. Cramer said while some investors can't fathom Apple's historic rise, he remembers a time when Coca-Cola (KO) and Pfizer (PFE) were the most valued companies on Wall Street. Apple is so much more than just a technology company, he said, adding it's a communications, education and entertainment company as well, all of which makes it worth its valuation.