"Taste And See… He's Sweet I Know.”

Banner of Praise Ministries

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

Rev. Dr.Levi Howard Wright, Pastor & Founder

Subject: “Taste And See… He’s Sweet I Know.”

Text: Psalm 34:1-10

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praises shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, And saved him out of his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.”

Introduction

“Try It You Will Like It.” Have you ever been to a supermarket when a company was giving out free samples of food? The basic concept behind this form of advertising is “Try It, You Will Like It.”

The assumption here is that once you’ve tried the product, you’ll come back for more. King David assumed the same thing about one’s experience with the Lord when he said, “Oh, Taste And See That The Lord Is Good”

The American Heritage Dictionary definition for TASTE:

1) To distinguish the flavor of something by taking it into the mouth.

2) To experience or partake, or sample especially for the first time. To appreciate; to enjoy.

3) The sense that distinguishes the sweet, sour, salty, and the bitter qualities of disolved substances in contact with the taste buds on the tongue.

This sense in combination with the senses of smell and touch, which together receive a sensation of a substance in the mouth.

To taste mean to eat; discern; perceive; to evaluate. To Taste in its verb form refers to the testing of goods by means of the sense of taste. From the primary act of tasting, (Ta’am) tasting developed into the idea of evaluative sampling of thing other than food. (Ta’am) Tasting as a noun came to refer to “discernment,” that is to the capacity to appropriately choose and delight in good things.

The great proverbial King Solomon speaks of a woman who lacks taste when it said in Proverbs 12:22 “As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.”

And he also spoke of a woman with good taste, in Proverbs 31:18 when he said “She perceives her merchandise is of high quality and did not let her candle go out by night.”

The Apostle Paul and David both spoke of having “Tasted of the heavenly gift.” The sense of taste includes most of the other sense-----sight , smell, and touch. And certainly this is also true in spiritual things.

There are basically three different classes of Christians:

(1) There are those who hear without seeing;

(2) There are those who both hear and see without tasting;

(3) There are those in whom all three combine---to whom “Faith” cometh by hearing,” in whom faith growth by seeing, in whom faith is developed and consummated by tasting.

David extended an open invitation for us to come and enjoy and to magnify and exalt the Divine Name and Goodness of the Lord. He challenged people to “Taste” and “See” that the Lord is “Good”.

He wanted them to Taste the Goodness of God, because he wanted them to experience God first hand.

O Taste and See, he did not say “See and Taste. Before we taste a substance we generally look it over first. But here, we are told, that we must taste before we see.

There must be an appreciation for Divine things before we can see and enjoy the Lord.

Two things are necessary to the enjoyment of this goodness:

1) Freedom from guilt and

2) A sense of gratitude.

Enjoying God’s Goodness involves trusting Him.

Trusting Him will ensure us true blessedness. We must trust and follow the Lord, and forget the things in the past and things behind us and press on to the things that are before us. Oh Yeah, “There is no want to them that fear the Lord.”

My Brothers and Sisters we must Taste of God for ourselves and not lean and depend upon the testimonies of others.

The Bible declares that some men moral perceptions are so perverted that they call good evil and evil good.

They call bitter sweet and sweet bitter.