Got two texts for you this morning.
Two places, rather. Psalm. Psalm 34 is the first
one, verse 8. And then I think in the second
place, Peter is probably thinking of this when he wrote in 1 Peter
chapter 2, verses 1 through 3, and especially verse 3, if so
be ye have tasted. While you find both of those
places, let me just begin this way and then we'll read those
verses. I was sadly reminded, as I often
am, but recently, as I made mention to you earlier, of the truth
of what God said to Jeremiah in his day concerning the false
prophets that surely outnumbered God's one prophet, Jeremiah.
But this was the charge, serious, serious charge, that the Lord
brought against those false prophets. They did a lot of things wrong.
They were just hirelings. But here's perhaps the Worst
thing they did, God said, Jeremiah 6 verse 14, they had healed also
the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, peace,
peace, when there is no peace. In other words, they gave the
people a religious band-aid. And they needed a major operation,
John. And in doing so, they only made
things worse for those unknowing people. They made them think
everything was well, when it wasn't. They prophesied smooth
things. Isn't it amazing, do you not
often in reading God's Word, when you read a text just like
we did there, from Jeremiah 6 and 14 say, man, that's the day I'm
living in. That's our day. And it is. It is. And in doing so, these
false prophets saying peace to people who didn't know God, made
them two-fold more the child of hell than they were before. That's what our Lord said the
Pharisees did when he was on earth with their religious traditions. I would rather talk to a sinner
who makes a profession of nothing at all. As a matter of fact,
I'll tell you what, I'd rather sit down and talk to a prostitute
who knows she's a prostitute and doesn't pretend to be anything
else than somebody that's made a decision for Jesus, doesn't
know God from a goose, as Don says, because you've got to get
through the rubbish before you can get to the heart of the matter,
don't you? Oh, they've only healed the hurt
of the daughter of my people slightly. I was reminded of the
truth of this in another way the other day when I sat in the
waiting room of a doctor's office and I picked up some literature
there while we waited, Robin and I, and I was flipping through
it and there it is. It was a religious magazine And
there it was, the Romans Road. Are you a sinner? Well, sure,
everybody's a sinner. Will you confess it? Sure, everybody
has to confess it. Jesus died for you. Sign on the
dotted line. It bothered me. And I looked
at Rob and I said, would you look at this? It's everywhere. It's universal. It's universal. It seems like, and thank God
it's not true, But almost tempted to sit down and have a pity party
like Elijah and say, I'm the only one left. Because it's on
every hand. This easy believism, this deception,
this delusion, this antichrist, this Babylon whore of false religion
is everywhere. Oh, thank God. As he said to
Elijah, it's not like you think, Elijah. I've got 7,000. I've
reserved to myself. They've not bowed their knee.
Oh, thank God in the light of all this darkness and confusion,
this other gospel, this other Jesus, thank God in the light
of all that, that salvation is of the Lord. He's able to bring
down. He's able to save. His arm's
not shortened that He cannot save. And when God saves a sinner,
not like the false prophets in Jeremiah's day and the false
prophets in our day saying peace to people who should not have
peace. When God saves a sinner, God
will give them peace. God will give them peace. I won't
have to ask the preacher if I've got peace. I won't have to ask
the priest. I won't have to ask anyone. When
God gives a sinner peace, he'll have peace. You'll not need to
go to anyone else. Turn to Jesus Christ, the Prince
of Peace, and you will have peace. Has that not been so? Any peace
given by man is worse than useless. It's worse than useless. It's
damning to their soul. Peace doesn't come by my voice,
by any preacher's voice. It doesn't come by baptism, learning
five points, peace doesn't come that way. It comes through the
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ upon the heart of a believing
sinner. When that happens, you'll have
peace. You'll have peace. Is that not
what the scriptures teach? Romans 5 and 1? Therefore, being
justified by faith, we have peace. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 13,
but now, but now, oh brother and sisters in Christ, where
does now find you? Where does now find you at this
very moment? Maybe you wiped away the tears
before you walked into the building and you'll Have reason to weep
after you leave. Where does now find you? Going
through difficulties? Confused? Hurting? Oh, but listen. Notwithstanding all that. But
now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made
nigh by the blood of Christ. Nothing can alter that. Nothing
can touch that. Verse 14, for he is our peace,
Christ, he's the cause of it, the reason for it, the source
of it, and always the same. He is our peace who had made
both one and had broken down the middle wall of partition
between us. Having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to making himself of twain one new man, so making peace." Preachers
go, these ambulance chasers, get to a hospital, you know,
a man's sick, they've given him a few weeks to live, so they're
going to go get a decision out of him and say, you make your
peace with God. No, no, no. Jesus Christ made
my peace with God. And let me tell you what. He
did a whole lot better job than I could ever do. Because I couldn't. Nothing I did could give me peace. I certainly couldn't make peace
with God. And no matter how many religious
loopholes Well, what are those things you see in the circus
and they make the lions or the dogs jump through those big rings?
No matter how many of those I jump through, I never had peace. You need to do this. You need
to do that. You need to come up here. You need to pray after
me. You're saved. You're saved. You've done God
a great favor. Don't you doubt it. Don't you
doubt that you're saved. Now, you're eternally saved and I lay down
at night and God say, no, you're not. You're lost. You're lost. You're lost. And
until he brought me to that place where I fell before him as the
nothing that I was, having nothing, claiming nothing, deserving nothing
but his wrath, God have mercy upon me, I'm the sinner, Jesus
Christ, the Prince of Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what he told his troubled
disciples that night, wasn't it? Right before he went to Gethsemane,
he told them, I'm leaving. I'm leaving you now. Oh, can
you imagine? Because remember, remember, the
disciples, it wasn't until after his resurrection that they even
understood what he came into this world for. They didn't know.
They kept looking for him to set up an earthly kingdom. Didn't
have a clue. And he said, I'm going away.
I'm leaving you. Ah, so they felt like orphans. They felt like orphans. And he
said, where I'm going, you can come. You can follow me now. And then he went on down to say,
but peace, I leave with you. My peace, I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid." That's what I want, don't you? I don't
want peace from a priest or a preacher. What's that worth? I don't want
you, John Copeland, you say, Larry, peace. So what? It's as about as worthless as
me telling you, you have peace with God. Oh no. If I'm serious
about this, I won't be satisfied until he who has the authority
and the power to grant me peace speaks to my heart. Oh God, help
me not to be satisfied with anything else. If I would have peace with
God, I must do business with God. I must go to God seeking
peace on the merits of Jesus Christ and by faith in Jesus
Christ himself. No other way. I made reference
to Bruce's article in your bulletin. I would encourage you to keep
that one. I would encourage you to keep it. It might come in
handy later. Before you toss it away, you
might think about keeping it. Bruce, in his article, said some
people, this is a quote from that doctor, he said, some people
need their faith to lean on. I can almost imagine, I can almost
picture that fellow, don't you? One of them smarter than God
guys. And he probably said it with
a, if he didn't show it, I'm sure he was thinking, I don't
need that. that you might need that and
lean up on an opiate. Religion is an opiate for the
people, but no, I don't need that. I'm self-sufficient. Bruce
had just told him after the surgeon had told he and Joe that there
was no cure for the cancer. Bruce said, well, we're believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the doctor said, well, some
people need their faith to lean on. I like what Bruce said. He said, I just wanted to scream.
I just wanted to tell him, no, I'm not leaning on my faith,
I'm leaning on the Lord of Glory. I like what Bruce said here.
Some people talk about faith as if it were their God. Have
you ever heard that? It's the object of faith, the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's our comfort, is the Lord
himself. Bruce went on to say, faith looks
away from itself to Jesus Christ. Faith leans wholly upon its beloved,
and it sees Him revealed in the written Word of God, and true
faith never leans on itself. If it does, it's not true faith. I mean, that's the evidence that
faith is genuine. It lands on Christ, so to speak. Look unto me and be ye saved,
and God grants us the gift of faith and enables us to do that
very thing. Any so-called faith is exactly
that. That doesn't look to Christ is
not faith. It's not the gift of God. The
preachers of today have got things all mixed up. Just all reversed. I mean, they've got everybody
saved and nobody's lost. It doesn't make a lick of difference
if you're a Catholic or a Jew, a Baptist, a Mormon, Presbyterian,
Seventh-day Adventist. It don't make any difference.
Everybody's going to heaven. Nobody's going to hell. They say that grace is works
and works is grace, that salvation is a compromise between God and
man, and man gets the most credit because his choice makes the
deciding factor. I'll tell you, if there's one
thing more insane in this world today than the political correctness
that we live with, It's the religious insanity, is it not? Political
correctness says, murder the babies. I mean, even after they're
delivered. Carry them nine months. We'll
lay them over here on the table. We'll make them comfortable.
But if mommy decides she doesn't want it, let it die. Murder the
babies, but don't throw any straws in the ocean. It might kill the
whales. Got to do away with those plastic
straws. Is that crazy? Is that crazy? Men claim to be
women. Hello! And women claim to be
men. I read a young girl, she was
in just the other day. She filed a grievance or got
a lawyer or something because she was forced to be in her locker
room with some nut. that thought he was a woman,
claimed to be a woman, and turned around and she watched this man,
I don't care what he feels like he's a man, if God created him,
I mean my soul, we better, if some dude stands, he gets up
in the morning and looks in front of the mirror and he don't know
what he is, he better get, check him into the funny farm. But
she said, she looked around and here stood this guy, But he identifies
it as a woman, because God made a mistake. And so he's really
a woman in a man's body. And she said, staring. She's
a 15-year-old girl. Said, this guy's staring at me.
And my school tells me I have to do it. I have to do it. I mean, absolutely insane, is
it not? But as I said, the religious
world is more insane than that. Because they look at that. and
say, well, it's okay. We can't say anything. We can't
judge, because God loves everybody. I mean, the Lord says, don't
be deceived and feminine, adulterous. They won't inherit the kingdom
of God. And preachers stand up, oh, yeah, yeah, you will. Sure
you will. Sure you will. We got to love everybody. Got
to be nice to everybody. Don't judge. When the Bible says judge not,
it's not talking about don't use common sense. We're to judge between right
and wrong, between what God's Word says and what the religious
nuts say. We have to judge, we have to
ascertain. Well now, let's come to our text. And I hope they'll be refreshing
to you in the light of that introduction. Psalm 34 and 8. Oh, thank, do you have an appetite
for this? In the light of what I just said,
and I'm as glad as you are to turn away from that and to read
this. Psalm 34 verse 8. Oh, taste,
taste, and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that
trusteth in him. And then, 1 Peter, let's go ahead
and read the first three verses. 1 Peter chapter 2, wherefore,
laying aside all malice and all guile, and hypocrisies and envies
and all evil speakings, that's how you used to be, but no, you're
new creatures in Christ now, so as newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if so be,
if so be, ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. The psalmist said, oh, taste
and see that the Lord is good. I know you're aware that God
is an abbreviation for good. And is there anything as good
as God's grace? Peter says, taste and see that
the Lord is gracious. Does not grace flow to unworthy
sinners from the very goodness of God? He delights to show mercy. Imagine that. It gives God pleasure
to show mercy. To every sinner who's received
the true grace of God, they stand amazed at the goodness of the
triune God in giving them, of all people, giving them that
grace. One hymn writer expressed it
like this, What was there in me that could merit esteem or
give the Creator delight? T'was even so, Father, we ever
must sing because it seemed good in Thy sight. That's all. That's the reason for the difference
in the saved and the lost. Then the hymn writer went on
to say, if that's so, then give all the glory to his holy name.
To him all the glory belongs. Be yours the high joy, still
to sound forth his fame, and crown him in each of your songs. I want to consider three things,
and we'll be brief with each of them. From these two texts
of scripture, and the title of my message is Taste and See. Just taste and see. The first is this, the reality of God's grace. And
then secondly, the experience of God's grace. And then last
of all, the promise, the promise of God's grace. I hear people
talk about God's grace that brings us great salvation, the great
sinners, through the great God and Savior Jesus Christ, and
they speak as if those things were no more than a point of
theology. Oh, they're very accurate, they're
very correct, they're very sound, and they're very dead. Oh God,
give me grace to feel the reality of your grace. Taste and see,
taste and see. Notice it doesn't say see and
taste. taste and see. Believe and know,
don't reverse the order. First John 5 and 13, these things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God that you may know, that you may know, that you have eternal
life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
And I know you've heard Brother Henry Mahan, he put it this way,
You don't come to Christ through doctrine, you come to doctrine
through Christ. I read Brother Joe Terrell's
bulletin, I think it came across my desk yesterday, and he said
this, let me just share a portion of it with you. He said, there's
no state of grace between being dead in trespasses and sins and
alive unto God. Until you have gone to Christ,
you have no basis to claim that God has taught you. Christ says,
come to me. So there is no reason to assume
you have heard from him until you go to him. That makes sense. And I like this statement especially.
Joe said, in your pursuit of salvation, do not be satisfied
with any condition short of Jesus Christ. I'll quote that. I'll use that in our book. That's
good, isn't it? The basis of our hope is the
Word of God and that which is revealed in the Book of God. The good hope of grace and salvation
that God gives His elect is something, don't be afraid of this word,
that's felt. It's felt in their heart. Now
we shun and abhor the pure emotionalism of Pentecostalism. They might
as well dance around the stump. But at the same time, the experience
of God's grace is something that's felt in our hearts. It's a reality. It's not an aberration. It's
not imaginary. Remember that night our Lord
came walking to the disciples on the troubled sea, and they
were afraid because they thought it was a ghost. He said, no,
no, no, it's me, it's me, it is I. Don't be afraid. The hope that's begotten in the
believing heart is referred to as a lively hope, a living hope. It doesn't lie dormant, lifeless,
it's alive. And as Peter put it, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according
to his abundant mercy, have begotten us again into a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Let me put it
to you this way. When our Lord raised Lazarus
from the dead, I think Lazarus knew it. Don't you? He didn't have to go ask anybody. He knew it. A prisoner, as the
Bible describes our condition, a prisoner released from prison,
delivered from the hole of the pit in which he lay with no water,
when he's brought out of that, he feels it. He feels it. If you ever experience the forgiveness
of God's grace, you'll feel that forgiveness. Christianity is
a matter of the heart. A man believes with his heart.
He repents in his heart. Prayer is found in and comes
from the heart. All those things. And if God
gives a sinner, when God gives a sinner, a poor sinner, faith
to touch Christ, or when He, by His grace, enables you, He
takes grace. We'll never do it otherwise.
We'll set In the traditions of false religion and false professions,
we'll just sit just as smugly and think all is well. Oh, but
when God awakens us, isn't this how it happened with you? When
God makes you hungry, you think, man, this is not enough. This
doesn't satisfy me anymore. No, no. I got to get through
this rubbish. Remember that woman with the
issue of blood? I gotta get through this crowd. I gotta get to the
master. Even the disciples said, man,
I gotta touch the hem of his garment. And just as soon as
she did, she was healed. She was healed. And we're told
in Mark chapter 5, she felt in her body that she was healed
of that plague. Here in chapter 2 of 1 Peter,
look at verses 9 and 10. We read this, but ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, verse 9, a peculiar
people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who has called
you out of darkness, he's called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are
now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now
have obtained mercy. Can you experience that? and
not be aware of it. And that brings us to our second
point. The experience of grace. Taste and see. Taste and see. If I were to stand
here this morning, and I had a jar of honey, and I held it
up and said, look at this jar of honey, and I gave you a lesson
about honey, where it comes from, how it's gathered, how it's prepared,
the various ways it can be served up, you still wouldn't have any
idea how sweet honey was, would you? You'd have no idea. The
only way you can know is to taste it. Taste it, Billy, and you'll
know. Taste that honey, and you'll
know what it's like. And this is what our text says.
Taste and see. Taste and see that the Lord is
gracious. Our Lord said in John 6, I am
the living bread, which came down from heaven. If any man
eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I
will give him is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world. The article by Milton Howard
is right along that point, isn't it, in your bulletin. It's not
enough for the paschal lamb to be chosen, to be looked at, to
be examined, all that was necessary, but it must be slain. It must be slain. The blood has
to be applied. They fed upon that lamb, did
they not? And Jesus said, except you eat
my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. Oh, the old writers referred
to this. Union between Christ and a believing
sinner has a vital union. There's a lot of things we can
get along without. There's a lot of things we may
not know. Well, there's no maybe about
it. Concerning God's Word, oh, but I cannot, I cannot have salvation
without the Satan. I must be vitally united to Jesus
Christ. I must taste and see John chapter
12. John chapter 12. Lazarus has
been raised from the dead. He was dead, but Christ raised
him from the dead. And you know what that's a picture
of. You had he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
He shuffles out of the grave with those grave cloths on him
and the Lord says take them off of him. but they're not fit for
a living man. And then in chapter 12 we're
introduced to another picture. Then Jesus, verse 1, John 12,
then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany where
Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
There they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus
was one of them that sat at the table with him. sat at the table with the Lord
Jesus Christ. When I read that, I thought of
another story about King David. A picture of David's son and
David's God, David's King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me, you
need not turn there. You may have already guessed
where I'm going. 2 Samuel chapter 9. David said, is there yet any
that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? He'd entered into a covenant
with Jonathan that he would. And there was of the house of
Saul a servant whose name was Seba. And when they had called
him unto David, the king said, art thou Seba? And he said, thy
servant is he. And the king said, Is there not
yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness
of God unto him?" And he said to the king, Jonathan had yet
a son which is laying on his feet. And the king said, where
is he? And he said to the king, behold
he's in the house of Mathur in Lodabar. Then King David sent And fetched him. Fetched him. He fetched him. That's what grace does. It doesn't wait for us to be
willing. Grace makes us willing. Grace
says, he's mine. Fetch him. Fetch him. Now when
Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to
David, he fell on his face. He was scared to death. He figured
he was going to be slaughtered because you know how Saul, his
grandfather, treated David. And he fell on his face and did
reverence. And David said to Mephibosheth,
and he answered, behold thy servant. And David said unto him, fear
not. Fear not. Remember those fearful
nights, those sleepless nights, when you thought, there's no
way God's going to have mercy on me. He's got to send me to hell.
There's nothing else he can do. I deserve it. But his grace fetched
me and said, fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for
Jonathan thy father's sake. and I will restore thee all the
land of Saul thy father and thou shalt eat bread at my house,
my table continually." And he bowed himself and said, what
is thy servant that thou shouldest look upon
such a dead dog as I am? So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem
for he did eat continually at the king's table and was lame
on both his feet, but you couldn't see those feet under the King's
table. Surely, David said, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now here's last of all,
the promise of grace. The promise of grace. Taste and
see. Taste and see. Ask anyone who's
tasted of God's grace if this promise is true. Anybody you
want to ask. Ask that leper. Ask blind Bartimaeus. Ask Saul of Tarsus. Ask anyone
of that multitude before the throne of God. Did you seek God's
mercy in vain? Never. Never. God delights to
show mercy. I was told concerning my older
brother that there was nothing he could do. This was his reaction
to what I preach. A wrong reaction. But he said,
well, mom, Larry believes that God chose people to be saved,
so what difference does it make whether I pray or not? Whether
I see God or not? I was saddened to hear that,
and I'm going to write him. I thought we'd had a discussion
on that before, and it could just be a lame excuse. No, that's
just the product, the product of man's reasoning. That's just
man's logic. That's just the thoughts of a
natural man, a lost man, and it's dead wrong. It's dead wrong. I've told him before and I'm
going to remind him again. If he dies lost, he can't blame
God's sovereignty. He can't blame God's mercy. There's
no way in this world of sinners ever come to God seeking mercy
who didn't get it. There is not one example of a
sinner who sincerely came wanting mercy who didn't find mercy. It never happened and it never
will. Listen to this. Does it sound
like God's reluctant to show mercy? Therefore, O thou Son
of Man, speak unto the house of Israel. Thus shall ye speak. If our transgressions and our
sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how shall we then
live? Say unto them, tell them this,
as I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye,
turn. This is God speaking. Turn ye,
turn ye. Why will ye die, O house of Israel? Our Lord, for the last time,
He sends Mount Olivet. And Jerusalem comes within view.
And He says, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered
you, even as a hen gathers her chicks unto her, but you would
not. You would not. Does this sound
unwilling on the part of the triune God to show mercy? Ho! Ho! Everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye, taste, taste and see. Buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price. Incline your ear unto
me and hear, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. And before we dismiss, allow
me just another minute. I told you, ask any sinner who's
ever sought mercy. Solitarsis, blind Bartimaeus,
whoever. And they'll answer, oh yes, it
was never in vain. I found mercy. Well, as the brief
article I put in the bulletin today, let me tell you this. You're looking at a testimony. You're looking at living proof
that God delights to show mercy. Because He made this sinner hungry,
John. I mean, He made me... I was starving
to death to know God. Oh, I dreaded laying down at
night another night of tossing and turning knowing I was lost.
Oh, late until the sun come up. God have mercy upon this sinner.
The Lord said, Larry, Chris, come unto me. You labor and you're
heavy laden. Come unto me and I'll give you
rest. You know what? I came to him and he gave me
rest. Come unto me. Larry, come unto
me. You've gone everywhere else.
Come to me. Look unto me and be saved. And
I looked and I was saved. Him that comes to me, I will
in no wise cast out. And I came. And lo and behold,
he didn't cast me out. Oh, why? Why was I made to hear
his voice in inner Wilder's room when thousands made a wretched
choice and would rather starve than come? And the Spirit and
the bride say, come. And let him that heareth say,
come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely. Taste and see. I ran across this. I'll share it with you. I'll
be done. I don't recall seeing this hymn
before, but a portion of it reads like this. Fain had I fed on
the husk around me, till to myself I came and said, Plenty have
my father's servants, perish I for want of bread. I will arise
and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in his arms,
in the arms of my dear Savior. Oh, there are 10,000 charms.
Father, I'll say I've sinned before thee. No more may I be
called thy son. Make me only as thy servant. Pity me, a wretch undone. And then I rose and came to my
Father. Mercy amazing, love unknown.
He beheld me, ran, embraced me. He pardoned me, welcomed me.
and call me son. Taste and see. Taste and see. The Lord is gracious. God bless
you.