Well, as they say, it's nice
to go travelling, but it's very nice to come home and it's good
to be back with you all this morning. It's been a great blessing
while we've been away, but as Stephen was praying, we are blessed
here as we gather together and all those out there who join
us on the internet. with us. I want to turn your
attention this morning to Psalm 37 and my text particularly is
verse... Sorry, Psalm 34, not Psalm 37. Psalm 34 and verse 8, O taste
and see that the Lord is good. O taste and see that the Lord
is good. J.C. Philpott lived in the 1900s
and was a tremendous preacher of the true gospel of grace.
He came out of the era of Anglicanism. He could just see how false and
corrupt and hypocritical it was, and he became a true preacher
of the gospel of grace, and many of us daily get readings of his
which are a great source of spiritual encouragement. And one thing
he said, I noticed it in one of the things that I received
the other day, was this, the difference between faith and
delusion, the faith that believes God and the delusion that doesn't
believe God and thinks there is nothing, the difference between
faith and delusion is that faith believes God's truth, and delusion
credits Satan's lies. That's the difference. The world
is split into those who believe God's truth, as it is in the
Scriptures, And the rest, including hordes of those who call themselves
Christian, who believe Satan's lies, and follow a false Christ,
and false Gospels, and false ideas of what the truth is, because
it fits nicely with the way they like to think about eternity
and the things of God. How is it with you? You fall
into one of those two camps. You either believe God's truth,
you seek the truth of God, and where do you find it? You find
it in the Word of God, or you drift with the great masses of
this world, who just drift along in delusion that is caused by
Satan's blinding. God's Word calls God's people
to faith. Who do I mean by God's people?
I mean the elect, the multitude, from every tongue and tribe and
kindred, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
How do we know who they are? The only way we know who they
are is that they believe the gospel of His grace, the true
gospel. They don't believe a man-made
gospel. They don't trust an invented Jesus, they trust the Christ
of Scripture, as the Scriptures reveal Him, doing everything
that He said He would do. believing that God, and he gives
the gift of faith. You know, by grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God. He gives that faith which is a spiritual sense. You know,
like sight is a physical sense to see things, hearing is a physical
sense to hear sounds, taste is to taste flavors, smell, touch,
all of these things. Well, faith is a sense. It's
the sense to taste God's goodness, God's riches, God's blessings. And there's nothing quite like
the joy in this life of experiencing the blessings of God, the goodness
of God, the riches of God, and sharing them together in fellowship.
We had a lovely time in Australia with the folk down at Nowra,
south of Sydney. lovely people. Why are they lovely
people? Just simply this, they love the Lord Jesus Christ. They
trust him, they follow him, they seek to serve him, they seek
to make his gospel known. It was lovely fellowship, it
really was. Apart from one, Angus himself,
who we'd only met for a couple of hours at the Datchworth Conference
three years ago, or whenever it was, we hadn't met any of
the rest of them before, and yet, as is always the case with
the people of God, the true people of God, we were instantly comfortable
in one another's presence. You contrast that with the poverty,
spiritual poverty, that is the state of man without God. In
verse 6 it says, this poor man cried. The poor man. What sort
of poverty do we mean? What is the poor man's poverty?
You see, the so-called church, which is really, when you look
at Revelation 17 and 18, it's really anti-Christendom. It's the false church of the
world that gets its power from the kingdoms of this world. It
is constantly talking about world poverty. The slogan for many
years was make poverty history. They seek to think that that
is their mission. That's not the mission of the
church. I'm not saying that we shouldn't seek to do good to
anybody whenever we find them in need, of course we should.
To be compassionate on others, of course we should. But the
mission of the church is not to alleviate world poverty, the
mission of the church is to preach the gospel of God's grace. That's
the mission of the church. World poverty, do you know, is
actually the black horse of the four horses in Revelation chapter
6. The third one of them, there's
the white horse, there's the red horse of war, there's the
black horse of economic division, diversity, poverty, strife. Do
you know who sends forth the black horse into the world? God
does. Why does God send the black horse
into the world? I'll tell you. Because it is
the purpose of God to frustrate the kingdom of Satan. That's
it. That's with all those horses. It's God's purpose to frustrate
the kingdom of Satan. When we pray, Thy kingdom come,
Lord, bring all these plagues on this earth to bring it to
an end. Because even the creation itself
is groaning and straining that this might come to an end. But
that's not the poverty we're talking about here. This poor
man cried is one who has spiritual poverty and is aware of it. Oh, what a blessing it is to
be aware of spiritual poverty. I know I quote it so often, that
hymn, a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
Why is a sinner a sacred thing? Everybody's a sinner, aren't
they? Yes, of course they are. Compared with the justice of
God, everybody is. But why is a sinner who knows
he's a sinner, who is burdened and heavy laden with a knowledge
of sin, why is that one so blessed? Because God is bringing them
to a knowledge of the truth. You see, the poverty that we're
talking about here is a famine of God's truth. As God said through
the prophet Amos about Israel, he said in Amos 8 verse 11, he
said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will
send a famine in the land. What sort of a famine are we
talking about? Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord. That is the worst famine
you can suffer. My friends, wherever you are,
whatever happens to you, the worst famine you can suffer is
a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Man shall not live
by bread alone. truly live. People in this world
think they're living, they haven't a clue what life is about. I'm
talking about true life, I'm talking about the life of God.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God. You see, you and I as people,
human beings, men and women, are made in the image of God. Don't believe the lies of pseudoscience. It's not real science. It's just
the philosophy of the devil and of the false prophet. That's
what it is that tells you that there is no God. The fool has
said in his heart there is no God. No, you and I are made in
the image of God. Genesis 1, 27, God created man
in his own image. The only one of the living beings
created in the image of God. In the image of God created he
him. and a message for the day in which we live, the perverted
day in which we live, male and female He created. He created
male and female, let's be in no doubt, this is what God did.
Will you drift with the multitude of this world without any knowledge
of their creator, of the true God, on the broad way? Do you
know where the broad way goes? destruction, eternal destruction. Or will you, as Isaiah says in
Isaiah 55 and verse 6, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Is that not a gracious, open
invitation? Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him while he is near.
Will you Why do you need to seek and to call? Because you're naturally
in spiritual poverty. Is that not right? You are naturally
in spiritual poverty. You're a poor man, naturally.
The natural man doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God.
They're foolishness to him. Neither can he know them. Why?
Because they're spiritually discerned. But I have not spiritual discernment.
Why? Because I'm spiritually poverty
stricken. I'm in my flesh as I am without the knowledge of
the things of God. And why am I like that? Because
as Paul says to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4, the
God of this world, who's he talking about? He's talking about Satan,
the devil. The God of this world has blinded
the minds of them which believe not. They think in their arrogance,
in their superiority, that they through reason have come to the
knowledge. They're so proud of their agnosticism and their atheism. They're so proud of it, their
intellectual superior position. They're not intellectually superior,
they're blinded, blinded by the God of this world, that's what
it is. In your natural fleshly state, think of some of the things
that your spiritual poverty comprises in. You have a lack of understanding
regarding the meaning of life. Tell me if you can, what is it
about? How is it that you have consciousness? How is it that
you can sense things around you and interact with others? Tell
me, do you understand the meaning of life if you're outside of
God? If you have not the Lord Jesus Christ and His Spirit,
you lack understanding, you're poverty stricken. You have a
lack of knowledge about eternity and about mortality. Is it not
clear? What's one of the first things
that a child fears? To die. It's a big mystery. What is it all about? To die.
You have a lack of knowledge about eternity and about mortality
because you know that everybody you've ever known progresses
through life. and life comes to an end. You have a lack of
wisdom concerning God who has made all things, who upholds
all things, who is holy, who is the judge whom you must face.
You have a lack of wisdom. You have no spiritual understanding,
true spiritual understanding. You have a lack of peace regarding
sin and death because you know really that God is holy and God
is pure. And God calls all to account
for it is appointed to man, Hebrews 9.27, it is appointed to man
to die once and immediately in your consciousness is the judgment. You stand before the judgment
seat of Christ and the books are opened. And those who are
not found written in the Lamb's book of life are condemned to
a lost eternity. You have a lack of peace regarding
that. You have a lack of purpose and direction as you go through
life without God, without hope in this world. A lack of purpose
and direction. Whatever your career path might
have laid out before you, oh, there it is, they say the world
is your oyster, it's there, it's opened up before you. All the
wonderful things that you're going to do and you're going
to achieve. There was a story told once, and I think I know
whose story it was, I think it was Octavius Winslow, because
he wrote about it in one of his books, and he wrote it in the
third person, as if it wasn't really him, but I have a strong
feeling it was him. And he talked about a young man,
who was a clever young man, and he was doing very, very well
at school, and his very aged grandfather was asking him what
he was going to do. And his aged grandfather was
a true believer. And his aged grandfather asked
him, what are you going to do? And he said, oh, well, I'm working
my way out, you know, I'm in one of the best schools, and
I'm working my way to do the very best I can in my exams.
And I know that I'm on course to get really good grades. Oh,
very good, that's very good for you, young man, yes. And what
will you do then when you get all your grades? Well, my plans
are that I'm going to the very best law school in the country. Because I think if I get the
grades from this school, I'll be accepted into that very best
of law schools. Oh, that's very good for you.
And then what will you do? Well, I'll work my way through and
I'll qualify. And I'll come out with a top
class law degree. Right, so you want to be top
of the class, oh absolutely, I'm on my way to be top of the
class, oh that's very good for you. And then what will you do?
Well, I'm talking to a few law firms now and I'm lined up to
be one of the leading partners, eventually, with one of the key
law firms. And then? And then? Well, I'll
work my way through my career and hopefully I'll become a Queen's
Counsel and I'll go to the bar and, what do they say, take silk
and all these other legal terms of the British legal system and
I'm going to be a very successful lawyer and ultimately a top judge,
that's my objective. And then? And then, says the
grandfather, and then, well, I guess I'll retire and enjoy
the fruits of my labours, because I'll have made a very good living,
I'm sure. I'll be able to enjoy a lovely
retirement. Oh, well, that's very, very nice
of you. It's nothing quite like being able to enjoy a nice retirement. And then, well, I guess I'll
get older and older, and maybe sick. And then, and then, well
I guess I'm going to die. And then, and then, what when
you've died? And then it is appointed to man
to die. I don't care how good a lawyer
you've been, I don't care how at the top of your game you've
been, in whatever your career is, it is appointed to man to
die once and then the judgment. And that young man That prompted him to think. That
prompted him to seek the Lord while he may be found. That prompted
him to call upon him while he is near. And do you know what
he became? He didn't become a lawyer. He became a preacher of the gospel.
Without God, we're poverty stricken regarding life's purpose and
direction. We have a lack of comfort in
life's difficulties without God. with that spiritual poverty,
we make plans and they get frustrated. We think our finances are in
great shape and then some hardship comes along that we could have
nothing to do with to stop it from happening. We are very happy
and then all of a sudden a gigantic emotional crisis comes along
out of the blue. We think we're in the fittest
of health and something happens, that lump appears or something
else appears and we're in a state of ill health. And like that
man, that man who thought he had everything sorted for life,
his barns were full, he had such a good harvest. And in the parable
that Jesus told, he said, I'm going to tear down my barns because
they're not big enough. I'm going to build much bigger
ones and fill them to the full. And then I'll be able to relax
and enjoy the rest of life and say to my soul, eat, drink and
be merry soul. And God said, yes, this night,
you fool, your soul will be required of you. because bereavement comes
along, bereavement of others close to us, and we have a lack
of comfort in life's difficulties. We try to find comfort in the
broken cisterns of this world. God says through Jeremiah to
his people, he says, this have I against you, you have forsaken
me, the fountain of living waters, and you've hewn for yourself
cisterns just stone pots to hold water, but they're broken systems,
and they cannot hold any water whatsoever that will bring you
any satisfaction. And when the poor man realizes
the spiritual poverty of his condition, he cries, Lord, help
me. Oh Lord, help me. But look, this
poor man cried, This poor man cried. This poor man cried. This poor man cried. And the
Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Verse
8, O taste and see that the Lord is good. He heard and saved and
showed him that the Lord is good. Hearing God's call to taste and
see. There's a call there, isn't there?
O taste and see. Thirsty soul. Hungry soul. There's
a call there, oh taste and see that the Lord is good. You know
when you're hungry I might say to you, oh come and taste this
food, just savour this food, would you like it, would you
like some? Yes, the hungry soul, to the hungry soul even a piece
of bread is delicious. Tasting and seeing God's goodness. God promises blessings on those
who trust Him. Taste and see that the Lord is
good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. but trust in
whom? We need to be clear about this.
You see, a lot of people talk about trusting God. A lot of
people talk about Jesus Christ. Who do they mean? We must mean
the God, the Christ of Scripture. 1 John 5 verse 20 says this,
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an
understanding, that we may know Him that is true, not the false
ones. and we are in Him that is true,
even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is true God and eternal
life. The one true God must be known,
is only revealed, is only manifest in Jesus Christ, the Jesus Christ
of Scripture, the one who said to Philip, Philip have I been
so long with you and you have not known me, he who has seen
me has seen the Father. John 17 verses 2 and 3, in his
prayer before he went to the cross, Jesus prays this, as thou
hast given him himself, that's Christ, power over all flesh. God has given power to Jesus
the Christ, the Son of God. God has given Him power over
all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given Him. All those that the Father gave
to the Son in covenant grace, in electing grace before the
beginning of time, God has given Christ power to give to them
eternal life. And this is eternal life. What
is eternal life? What does eternal life consist
in? That they might know Thee, the only true God. How do we
know the only true God? And Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent, He alone. What does He say? John 14 verse
6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. They said, show us
the way to God. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father except
but by Me. And I'm not talking about any
Jesus. Religion all around us that calls
itself Christianity speaks of a Jesus. It's not the Jesus of
the Scriptures. They speak of a Christ. Jesus
warned this. He said, don't listen to them.
They will say, here is Christ and there is Christ. And he said,
don't believe them. Test them. Try the spirits, whether they
be of God. He who says Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
of God. And he who denies it is not of God. Well, don't they
all say that? No, they don't. The Jesus they
talk about is not the Jesus of Scripture, is not the Messiah,
the promised Messiah, the Christ of Scripture that God promised
would come to redeem His people from their sins. And the seeking
soul that comes to God by Him finds in Him all the goodness
of God manifested, all of it. all the light and glory that
is in God. God who shined in the darkness
has shined in the hearts of his people to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God, where? In the face of Jesus Christ,
the true Jesus Christ, the Christ of Scripture. So in what ways
is the goodness of God tasted by the spiritually poor man?
No doubt we could spend several weeks on this, but I'm just going
to pick out a few that came to me. And I would say, first of
all, we taste and see that the Lord is good, first of all, by
his word, by his word that we all have in these days freely
available in front of us. The word of God, that, as apparently
Queen Elizabeth I said, the greatest treasure this earth affords is
the word of God. the Word of God. You think of
everything that you value, everything you treasure. If you truly know
eternal truth, you will count the words of this book as the
greatest treasure this earth affords, the greatest, most valuable
thing you can hold in your hand. Oh, that you might study it,
that you might seek the truth of God from it. You see, we see
God's fingerprints everywhere in creation, don't we? We see
it all around us. Who can explain what's going
on out there in the spring at this time of year, this beautiful
blossom and the flowers and the birds and everything going on?
Oh, evolution did it. Come on. Who's making a blind leap of
faith? It put itself together What? You must be mad to believe that!
God made it! God made it! God's fingerprints
are everywhere! But it's through His Word that
we taste the truth of God, taste and see that the Lord is good.
It's through His Word that we taste and see how firm a foundation,
ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent
Word. What more can He say than to you He has said, you who unto
Jesus for refuge have fled. The hungry soul finds heavenly
manner. Do you know what the manner was
when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, having come
out of Egypt, and they said they complained they had no food,
and God sent them quails from heaven, the birds, and He sent
them manna every morning, six days a week but not the seventh.
For the forty years they were in the wilderness wandering,
they said it was manna because they didn't know what it was.
Manna means what is it? We don't know what it is. He
sent them the manna from heaven. And in our Lord Jesus Christ,
we have that manner. It comes to us through this Word,
this Word of God, this Word by which we must live. Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from
the mouth of God. Christ is the bread of life. He said it. I am the bread of
life. He said it. He is the bread of
life. If you would eat food for your
soul, you must eat him. He said, unless you eat the flesh
of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
How do you do that? You don't do it physically, that's
cannibalism. We don't do it through transubstantiation when we have
communion because that's a fallacy, that's an error and a delusion. They're just symbols of remembrance.
But we do it by faith, discerning the body and blood of the Lord
and what He'd accomplished for us in His death on the cross
when He died for the sins of His people. Taste Him and see
that He is good. Taste Him, hungry, poverty-stricken,
thirsty soul, This is the experience. In Revelation 10 verse 10, when
John is given the little book and he's told to go and preach
the gospel of grace for the time that remains, he had to eat it
up. He couldn't just read it from
a distance like you read in any book. He had to eat it up. This
book, you cannot stay impartial about it. You cannot stay independent. You cannot stay neutral and numb
about it. You have to eat it up. And he
says, it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and as soon as I had
eaten it, my belly was bitter. Why was his belly bitter? I'll
tell you why. Because the truth of God in the
gospel of his grace, though sweet in the mouth of the sinner saved
by grace, is that which puts him at odds with the world all
around, and therefore the belly was bitter. Psalm 119 verse 103. How sweet are thy words unto
my taste, Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Isn't that not beautiful?
Lovely words. How sweet are thy words unto
my taste, ye sweeter than honey to my mouth. Colossians 3.16,
Paul writing to the church there to encourage them, he says this.
How does a preacher encourage the people of God in the things
of God? He says, let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Look, children of God, study
this book. Make it your daily food. Make
time for it. Study it. Feed on it. imbibe
it, take it into you. Seek the Lord's meaning from
it. Seek Him to teach you and to show you the truth of it.
As Peter says, 1 Peter 2, 2 and 3, he says, desire to the people
of God. Desire the sincere milk of the
word. Why that you may grow thereby.
He says at the end of his second epistle, grow in grace and the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus. How are you going to grow in
grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? Answer, by
desiring the sincere milk of the word and feeding upon it,
because thereby you will grow. If so be ye have tasted that
the Lord is gracious. Have you tasted that the Lord
is gracious? Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. By His Word, we taste and see
that the Lord is good. Because in His Word, all the
rest flow from it. In His Word, we see His being
revealed. It's in His being that we taste
and see that the Lord is good. In the triunity of His being
of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God is good in every aspect of
His being. And we taste and see as the Word
reveals to us the truth of the being of God. His perfect holiness
and His truth. Listen to this, Song of Solomon
is a picture of the believer's relationship, the church's relationship
with her God. Throughout the scripture God
says, I will be their God and they shall be my people. And
this is the testimony of the people of God in Song of Solomon
2, 3 and 4. This is the Shulamite speaking,
the woman that is in love with the beloved and she's Besotted
is a word we use about love, with the one who is her lover,
the beloved, which is a picture of Christ. And she says, as the
apple tree among the trees of the wood. You see, there's lots
of trees and they bear fruits of sort, but most of them are
not very, they're not really edible, and some of them are
distinctly unedible, and they have leaves on, but oh, the apple
tree. In this country, an apple tree in September, when it's
full of that lovely sweet fruit. As an apple tree among the trees
of the wood, so is my beloved among the suns. Do you see how
distinct, how separate is her view of this one, who is so special? I sat down under his shadow with
great delight. Oh, what a blessing it is. Whatever
stage of life you're at, whether you are conscious of soon possibly
leaving this life or whether you're just embarking on your
way through this life. You children, oh what a great
delight it is to sit down under the shadow of the living God
and to know that you're in His hands. that His fruit is sweet
to your taste. He says, He brought me to the
banqueting house, and His banner over me was love. He loved me
with an everlasting love. You see, we merely taste things
now, the things of God, we merely taste them. Oh, taste! You know, if you go to a wine
tasting, they pour you the tiniest little bit in the glass, just
enough so you can discern the taste of it. That's for now,
but in eternity, the promise of God in Revelation and throughout
the Scriptures is in eternity, perfect, eternal, intimate union
and fellowship. Look how it's expressed in the
first four verses of Psalm 34. This is the experience of God.
This is the child of God tasting and seeing that the Lord is good.
I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth because he's so good. My soul shall make her
boast in the Lord. What's your boast? That God has
saved me in His Son, in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm fitted for
heaven for eternity in Him. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. O you sinner, bow down with your
sins. Hear thereof that the Lord has
saved you from your sins. Boast in Him. O magnify the Lord
with me. Make Him bigger. is what it's
saying, in your experience, in your view, and let us exalt his
name together. Oh, the Lord has done great things.
I sought the Lord, poor and needy, and he heard me and delivered
me from all my fears, all my fears. I will both lay me down
and sleep in peace, for thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell
safely. He delivered me from all my fears. Oh, what praise flows from the
Child of God, seeing the being of God, and tasting and seeing
that He is good. Yes, we see Him, I mentioned
earlier, we see His fingerprints in creation. Look at the previous
Psalm, Psalm 33 and verse 6. By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of
His mouth. That's the declaration of Scripture. How did things
happen? God decreed it. God decreed it. He spoke. God said, let there
be and there was. God spoke and brought the creation
into being out of nothing. Ex nihilo, as the expression
is in the Latin. He brought it out of nothing.
How is it that we understand it? Is it by science that we
understand that God created the world and not evolution? No.
Hebrews 11, verse 2, somewhere around there. By faith we understand
that the worlds were made by God. That's how, by faith. God
gives us faith to see. And verse 9, for He spake and
it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. All that the triune God made
was very good and we see it all around. Though it's marred by
Satan and by sin, yet His great goodness and His omnipotent power
is evident throughout. And even now we know, how do
all things hold together? How is that chair holding you
up? How is it doing it? It's upheld by the word of the
power of the Lord Jesus Christ, Hebrews 1.3, upholding all things. the forces of physics, you know,
they're trying constantly to find a great unification of all
the four separate forces of physics, the different nuclear ones and
gravity and electromagnetism, because fundamentally they must
be, well they are, because they're created by the same God. And
how is it working? He upholds all things by the
word of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the manifestation
of God in this creation. And we taste God's goodness in
creation. And we look forward that this
creation is going to be replaced. I saw, says John in Revelation
21, a new heavens and a new earth coming down from God as a bride
prepared for her husband. For the old heavens and the old
earth were passed away and there was no more sea. There is a new
heavens. God is going to create another
backdrop on which he is painting his glorious grace and goodness.
In creation, we see and taste the goodness of God. We see and
taste the character of God, that it is good. In verse 16 of Psalm
34, we see the face of the Lord is against them that do evil,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. God is holy. God is holy. 33 and verse 10. The Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathen to nought. He maketh the devices of the
people of none effect. Our God, and this is what we
taste, is absolutely pure and holy. And we taste that that
absolute righteousness and holiness and justice is good. Is it not good that the God of
all the earth is just? He's unchanging in principle
of righteousness and justice. He is a just judge. As Abraham
said when Sodom was being judged, Genesis 18.25, shall not the
judge of all the earth do right? Yes, of course the judge of all
the earth shall do right. The saints in glory sing his
praise when he executes the final judgment in Revelation 15 and
all the saints are there in glory with him. And this is a picture
of how it is in eternity outside of time now. In Revelation 15,
3 and 4, they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and
the song of the Lamb saying, the thrice holy Lord is good
in every aspect of his being because he is holy and pure and
just. But then we see his glory and
we taste his goodness above all in his grace. sinner, poverty-stricken
one spiritually, we see it in his grace. God hates sin. Habakkuk
tells us he's of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. The Psalms
tell us that God is angry with the wicked every day, those who
will not believe him, those who trust in their own devices. In
Isaiah 59 verse 2 we read that your iniquities, my iniquities,
have separated between you and your God, and your sins have
hid His face from you that you will not hear, that He will not
hear. Listen, sinner, outside of Christ,
your sins have separated between you and God. Why will He not
hear you? Your sins have separated. Do
we know how much sin we have? Job cried out, Job 13, 23. How
many are mine iniquities and sins? This was the man of whom
God said to Satan, there is none like him in the earth. He's just
and upright. Well, of course, in his efforts
he was, but in truth as a man, he was as fallen as anybody else.
And when he comes to know it, he sees glimpses of it. How many
are mine iniquities and sins? Make me to know my transgression
and my sin. Show me what I truly am, and
now taste. the sweetest note for the soul
burdened with sin. Listen to this, taste the sweet,
if you know anything of sin before God, Exodus 34 verses 6 and 7,
the Lord passed by before him, before Moses, the Lord passed
by before him and proclaimed, this is the Lord speaking, the
Lord The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no
means clear the guilty. There's a dichotomy there, isn't
there? He will by no means clear the guilty, and yet he is gracious
and merciful and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression. How is he
able to do that? How is he able to still be a
just God who hates sin and must punish it, and yet forgive the
sins and transgressions and iniquities of thousands? How is he able
to do that? Galatians 3.13. Cursed, verse 10, cursed is everyone
who does not continue in all things written in the book of
the law to do them continually, perfectly. But, verse 13 of Galatians
3, Christ has redeemed, bought us, purchased us, paid the penalty,
paid the ticket. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, that curse which is pronounced on all sin,
any sin, that curse which is pronounced on it and must be
exacted. That curse, Christ has redeemed us from it. How? By
Himself, as the substitute of sinners, being made a curse for
us. He bore it, that we, He being
made the curse has cleared the debt, that we might be made the
children of God, that we might receive the adoption of sons
into the family of God, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Daddy, Lord, God, if I'm not
being too irreverent in putting it like that. That's the soul
saved by what Christ has done. Jesus himself said this, and
you know I often quote it. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, burdened with sin, conscious of your need.
And he says, just come. Don't do, come and I will give
you rest. How do you come? You come by
faith. You look to Him, the author and finisher of our faith, and
you come. You seek the Lord while He may be found. You call upon
Him while He is near. In verse 4 of Psalm 34 it says,
I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all
my fears. We taste his goodness, I'm nearly
finished, we taste his goodness in his eternal purpose and providence. Romans 8, 28, we know that he
causes all things to work together for good to those who love God,
who are called according to his purpose. All things. Do you mean
believers don't get sick? Oh, yes. Do you mean that believers
don't die? No, they do die. Do you mean
that believers don't suffer loss? Yes, they do suffer loss. Do
you mean that believers, when there's a war, don't have to
go to war and get shot and killed? Yes, they do. Believers went
to war and got shot and killed and have done all down the ages.
So how does God cause all things to work together for their good?
Because it's spiritual good. their eternal good. No one can
pluck them out of the Father's hand. Look at Psalm 34 verse
7, The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him,
and delivereth them. Verse 9, O fear the Lord, ye
his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. He'll
provide all our needs. Seek, what did Jesus say? Seek
ye first. Think what you're seeking in
this life. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these other things that
you need will be added to you. There's no want, there's no lack
to those that trust Him. Verse 10. The young lions lack
and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want
any good thing. Verse 19. Many are the afflictions
of the righteous, his people, but the Lord delivers him out
of them all. Verse 22. The Lord redeems the
soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall
be desolate. Psalm 84 verse 11, the Lord will
give grace and glory. Listen, no good thing will he
withhold from them that walk uprightly. So in Christ, and
in Christ alone, we taste the goodness of the triune God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. He is the bread of life. He is
the giver of living water. Will you heed His call to come
and trust Him and be blessed of God with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus? No good thing will He
withhold from them that walk uprightly by faith, looking unto
Jesus. Amen.