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(Psalm 34:8)
I. Introduction.
A. Review.
1. This morning, we were looking at David’s exhortation to taste and see that the
Lord is good.
a. The Lord had been gracious to David in delivering him from Achish, king of
Gath.
b. Because of this blessing, David extols God, returning to Him praise and
glory.
c. Among other things, he also calls on God’s people to also put their trust in
the Lord.
B. Preview.
1. This evening, having seen that He is trustworthy, let’s consider David’s
exhortation: Taste and see that the Lord is good.
2. If we do, we’ll discover that He is good, and that the man is blessed who comes
to Him for refuge.
II. Sermon.
A. First, we must trust Him to discover for ourselves that He is good.
1. Taste, of course, is a figure of speech.
a. We taste food to see if it’s good, if we like it, if it’s good for us.
b. In a sense, David is telling us to try God, to see what He is like.
(i) He’s not saying take Him or leave Him.
(ii) This is a command: Taste, and see that what I say is true.
c. With Christianity, it’s not the knowing of truth that saves us, but
experiencing the truth. The knowledge is the means to experience.
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(i) “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom.
10:17).
(ii) We can know that Jesus Christ is a Savior from sin; that He is the only
Savior from sin.
(a) We can know that Jesus saves us from the guilt of sin, but we aren’t
actually pardoned unless we trust Him to forgive us and cover us with
His grace.
(b) We can know that He is a Savior from the power of sin, but we won’t
actually be freed from it, unless we trust Him.
(iii) Nothing in God’s Word will do us any good unless we experience its
power in our lives.
(iv) Christianity isn’t simply a set of beliefs; it is the power of a new life in
the believer.
b. If we turn from our sins, and place our trust in the Lord, we will experience
these things.
(i) There will be times when grace is low and our experience low.
(ii) But it doesn’t have to be that way.
(iii) David was addressing the covenant community to encourage them to
trust in the Lord.
(a) Many were unconverted.
(b) But there were many who were.
(c) This is a reminder to us to trust in Him: He is good.
(d) We need reminders, because we often forget.
(e) God is real; Christ is real; there are things that we should be
experiencing through the Spirit working in us.
(f) Sometimes we miss it, because we are too busy imbibing the things of
the world.
c. If you have grown cold in the things of the Lord, taste of Him again, and see
that He is good.
(i) Begin again seeking the Lord.
(ii) Seek for the fullness of His Spirit and times of spiritual refreshment.
(iii) You won’t find it in the recreation of this world.
(iv) Most Christians today would not find the power to die well as the
Covenanters did in their Christianity.
(v) It is not found in the path of sin; it is found only in the path of
righteousness.
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(vi) And so turn from the world to Christ, seek the Lord while He may be
found.
(vii) The Lord tells us, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for
Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13).
B. Second, if we do seek Him, trust Him, taste of Him, we will find blessing.
1. We may lose some of the things of this world.
a. Following Christ means that we will lose friends, the affections of family
members, sometimes even our own spouses (1 Cor. 7:15).
b. It may mean that we lose opportunities in this world, advancement in our
employments, sometimes financial gain.
(i) E.g., keeping the Lord’s Day Sabbath holy may mean we won’t be hirable
for certain jobs, because we refuse to work on God’s holy day of rest.
(ii) So many lie, cheat and steal to get ahead; the Christian won’t be able to
advance in this way.
c. Let me close with the words of Jeremiah Burroughs, from his book, Moses
His Choice, with His Eye Fixed upon Heaven Discovering the Happy
Condition of a Self-Denying Heart: Delivered in a Treatise upon Hebrews
11:25, 26, “Dear believer, you have found good already, that might make you
say with David, ‘Surely it is good for me to draw near to God, and though I
do meet with some troubles and temptations, yet let my soul say, It is good
for me to draw near to God; it is good for me that I left such and such things,
it is good for me that I have these ordinances, though it be with the loss of
some outward comforts, and my estate be abated, and my trading less.’ Say
as David in the seventy-third Psalm, ‘Truly God is good to Israel’ (v. 1).
However it be, yet God is good to Israel, though many things seem to the
contrary. Therefore, conclude with your own heart, ‘Though I should never
see a good day in the world, yet that comfort I have received in the ways of
God is enough to make me prize them forever. If now I should die, and be
annihilated, if God should deprive me of the joys of heaven, and turn me into
nothing, yet that good that I have had already in God’s ways should be
enough to [compensate for] all the troubles that I have met in the world, or
ever shall meet. Though God should withdraw Himself in all the course of
my life, and I should be in darkness, and have nothing but trouble, yet I have
had enough in God already, to {compensate for] all.’ Hath God thus spoken
peace to your soul? Remember that text in Ps. 85:8, ‘Return not again to
folly.’ The Lord has spoken peace already to your soul in afflictions, and
therefore, God forbid that you should return to folly, but continue in your
way. Go on constantly in your way to the end, and the Lord bless you in your
way. This is for the encouragement of the hearts of God’s people that have
with Moses made this choice: rather to suffer affliction with the people of
God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season” (Jeremiah Burroughs,
Day by Day, 327).
d. Having tasted of the Lord, we know that He is our greatest good
e. Having Him, we have all we need.
f. Let us find our happiness, our contentment, and our security in Him. Amen.