The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: Live in victory now because you have Jesus and the word and eternity and know when this is over, the best comes.

Guest (Male): We often think of heaven as something waiting for us far in the future, but scripture tells us that through Jesus Christ, we can experience a taste of heaven right now. Today, Pastor Jack Morris begins our new series, Living Above the Circumstances, with a beautiful reminder of what God has already placed within the hearts of those who know him.

The gift of Christ, the goodness of his word, and the promise of eternity. Here's Pastor Jack Morris with A Taste of Heaven.

Pastor Jack Morris: Going to turn our attention now to Hebrews chapter 6. You have an outline in your bulletin insert. I'd like for you to take it out and look at it with me, follow along. May God bless this to our hearts.

Let me look at Hebrews chapter 6 starting at verse 4 just so we can get a background and a fresh reminder. It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted—say the word 'tasted' [Congregation: Tasted]—the heavenly gift, and who have shared in the Holy Spirit, and who have—say 'tasted' [Congregation: Tasted]—the goodness of the word of God and—I think we can put in brackets the word tasted again—tasted the powers of the coming age.

I'm somewhat lifting this out of context this morning. I'm not going to talk about whether we're going to get in or whether we're not going to get into heaven. By the grace of God and Jesus' blood, we know we are going to get in. But as I was reading this, I saw at least two times and three times the word 'tasted, tasted, tasted'.

What happened was we go all the way back to Numbers chapter 13 where the people of God, the children of Israel, were released from Egyptian bondage and they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. But you know, they could have been in the promised land in a matter of days. They came right up, they left Egypt, they walked right up to the promised land. There was no need for them to have wandered for 40 years in the desert, no need whatsoever.

They got right up to the borders, and Moses sent 12 spies over into the land to spy it out. And the 12 spies went into the land and they went up 250 miles into where Israel, the Palestine, the land of Israel is now. They just didn't stop at the border; these 12 spies went 250 miles and then they came back 250 miles. It took them about 40 days to make that journey in and out.

When they came out, they were instructed by Moses to bring some of the fruit of the land with them. And they had one cluster of grapes, and it took two men to carry one cluster of grapes. You know, you go into the supermarket and you get a little cluster of grapes. Two men on a pole between them, one cluster of grapes to carry it out.

And they came back with a good report. They said, "It is surely a land that flows with milk and honey." And they had pomegranates and they had figs, and they just brought back all of these good things. Moses said, "What do you think? Do you think we ought to go in and take it?"

And two of them, Joshua and Caleb, says, "We can do it. We're the people of God. We have the promise of God. And when God promises, God always fulfills. All we need is his promise and we've got it. So that means we have all we need." Ten of them said, "Oh, no, no, no." Said, "There are giants over there. Big people, 7, 8, 9 feet tall. We'll never make it, we'll never make it."

And Joshua and Caleb said, "What do you mean we'll never make it? Of course we'll make it. God is on our side, God is with us, God told us to do this." But the majority voted down the minority and the two were voted out. They listened to the ten and they turned the people of Israel and they went back into the desert and they wandered in starvation and in thirst and in all kind of peril for 40 years. If they had only listened to the two men that believed the promise of God and not looked at the giants but looked at the promise of God.

Well, I'm not even going to talk about that this morning. That's not my sermon, but I couldn't help but mention it. That's really what this is referring to. But the thing I want to talk about is look at it again. Said they've been enlightened, they tasted the heavenly gift, they shared in the Holy Spirit, they tasted the goodness of the word of God, they tasted the powers of the coming age. They tasted all of that and still they couldn't get it through their heads. Isn't that strange? That perplexes me.

Now, we have experienced that tasting of those good things of God just as they had. And I want to remind us today of what God has given to us and how wonderfully blessed we are. It says in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 22, "God has set his seal of ownership on us and put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come."

When God guarantees it, when God says all of heaven is behind this—not all the gold at Fort Knox is backing this dollar, but my promise is backed up by God Almighty and by all of heaven. What a guarantee that is ours. And he said he has put this on deposit in our hearts. That means he has given us a guarantee that the whole is coming.

Right now you and I have received Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, and we have the guarantee that we're going to stand in his presence and look upon him face to face. We have the guarantee in our hearts. Now how could we prove that? We can't to anybody else, but the Holy Spirit has already proved it to us.

We have the guarantee. It's on deposit. It is a first installment, and it says we have already tasted of what God has for us. We've already had a taste of it and we know that the greater part is yet to come. Now when we at our house have meat to be carved, like turkey or a roast or ham, that's usually my job to do the carving.

When little pieces fall off, I'll reach down and taste it. And Corinne will look over and she says, "Stop that! Stop that!" And if a little piece doesn't fall off, I'll cut it so a little piece will fall off and I'll taste it. And I'll say, "This is a foretaste of what's to come." I'm just tasting it now, but what I'm tasting is the same as the abundance that's going to come.

This is what has happened. You and I have tasted Jesus. We have already tasted eternity. We have already tasted eternal life. It's the same that we're going to get, but what we have now is a taste, but we're going to get the big part later. The best is yet to come, but what we have in part is the same thing that we're going to get later on.

And when we have personally tasted—now look back at the scripture again. Who have tasted what? What did we taste? The heavenly gift. All right, under point A in your outline, put down "Experiencing the gift of heaven". Taste is a metaphor or figure of speech meaning that we have personally experienced.

I personally experienced some of that turkey, I personally experienced some of that ham or whatever it is that I'm carving. I've already had a personal experience of it. And this is what it means. We have tasted the heavenly gift, or we have already had an experience of heaven.

When Jesus was at Jacob's well, there was a woman there drawing water, and she was having a very difficult time grasping the truth that this was indeed the Son of God. And this is what Jesus said, "If you knew the gift of God." Now notice it said "tasted the heavenly gift". That heavenly gift is Jesus, and Jesus himself knew that he had come from God.

God so loved the world that he gave this gift, this heavenly gift. It says in 2 Corinthians 9:15, "Thanks be unto God for his indescribable gift." This gift, indescribable. How can you express it with words what we have in our hearts today? What you have in your heart today. You have Jesus in your heart, and it's an indescribable thing.

When I want to tell a friend, it's so difficult to tell and to communicate with words what it is to have this heavenly gift inside me. Now think about it. Inside you, right now, is Jesus. He's inside you. Say it, "Jesus is inside me." [Congregation: Jesus is inside me.] Say this, "Jesus is in my heart." [Congregation: Jesus is in my heart.]

Now, he's in your heart right now. And it says in 1 Peter, "Now you who believe, he is precious." Precious meaning costly. That's what the word means, costly, of great value, something that is expensive, something that is dear. Let me ask you a question. If I were to ask you to turn your sermon notes over and I would say, "What value do you put on Jesus?"

Not really, but take your pencil—I'd like for you to do it this afternoon—what value do you put on him? How much do you value him? How precious is he to you? Do you really know this heavenly gift that has been so graciously given without cost to you? The value of that gift to you.

It says in Romans chapter 8, "He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he also along with him graciously or freely give us all things?" You see, when I received Jesus, I received that great relief called forgiveness. But along with that came joy, peace, hope. I could go on and name some other things.

But when I got the one gift, it's like when I was in college, my mother would send me a gift. I'd get this big box and I'd carry that box. "I got a gift! I got a gift from home! I got a gift!" And then I would put it down and open it up and I'd start pulling out other little gifts. Keep pulling out gifts. There are several gifts in the one gift.

So when you receive Jesus, that heavenly gift, that gift of heaven, you also receive so many other gifts: joy, peace, hope. And it's all inside you right now. You have already received. That's what it says in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 4, "who have tasted". You have tasted. Does it taste good to you, this new spiritual life? Does it?

Does it taste good? Is it sweet to you? Is it precious to you? Do you value it? The scripture says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Everyone is invited. Now only you can taste. I can taste something and I can say to Corinne, "It needs a little more salt." She says, "Oh my goodness, it's got so much salt on it right now."

See, my taste buds are different. It's hard to taste something and describe it to somebody else. But that's why the psalmist says, "Taste and see." You do it for yourself. Come on, taste and see that the Lord is good. Ask him to come into your heart and just see how good life can be, and how wonderfully he can change life and how new he can change life.

Taste and see. And I'm going to invite you in just a little while to bow and to ask Jesus to come in and for you to taste for yourself, not taste religion, not get a taste of church, but get a taste of that heavenly gift. Can you say praise the Lord? [Congregation: Praise the Lord.]

Look at point B in your outline. We are now experiencing the word of God. Now in verse 5, it says in your Bible, Hebrews 6:5, "tasted"—meaning experienced—"tasted" what? "The goodness of the word". See, there are things right now you and I don't have to wait forever and ever, all life long in order to get.

Right now we have experienced the heavenly gift. We have tasted and it's sweet to the taste. Christ coming has sweetened our life. Oh, I think he's saying today over and over again, "If you knew the gift of God that is available to you. If you knew, you would ask and the Father would give and you would receive."

But we've also tasted the goodness of the word of God. The word of God isn't something that is threatening and is supposed to scare us to death. No, that's not the purpose of the word of God. The word of God is to bring goodness into our life. And you're coming to the house of God today, having your Bibles open, thinking through, allowing the Holy Spirit to touch your heart.

Right now heaven's calling somebody, wanting you to taste. God calling. But the word of God for you to taste it for yourself. This is your book. This is God's word to you. He is your father and he loves you greatly. So write down under point B "Experiencing the word of God, the goodness of the word".

The psalmist says, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth." The word of God isn't bitter, it isn't threatening, it isn't scary. It is sweet and I want you to hear it, and I want you to taste it, and I want you to experience it. This is what God wants for you today.

It says in Mark chapter 13, heaven and earth will pass away, but what will happen to the word of God? It'll abide forever. It'll last forever. Heaven and earth is going to pass away, and when heaven and earth passes away, all the philosophies and all the theories and all the ideas of man will pass away also.

But the word of God is foundational and it will stand and it will last forever. That's what Jesus meant in John chapter 4 with the woman at the well. When the disciples came back, he said, "I have food to eat that you know not of." The Lord has given us his word to strengthen us, to abide within us, to make us strong to the overcoming of all of our problems.

I truly believe that some of us here this morning are going to go back home and back out into the world stronger than we were when we came in. And we're going to face some of those same difficulties that we faced this past week, but we're going to face them now with the goodness of the word of God. We have tasted something this morning and we're feasting, and we're feeling the strength that is coming in because of it.

And now under point C, experiencing eternity. Write down the word "eternity". Look at verse 5 again: "and the powers of the coming age". And as I said earlier, in brackets we could put "tasted or experienced the powers of the coming age". The King James says "experienced the powers of the world to come".

Ecclesiastes says this: "He, God Almighty, has also set eternity in the hearts of men." Eternity. Right now within your own heart, those of you who know Jesus, eternity is already there. We look forward to eternity, life after death someday, but right now Jesus is in your heart.

Right now the word of God is in your heart. Right now he has put eternity in your heart. It's there. Think about it. I want you to think about what you already possess because of the mercy of Jesus, because of the grace of God. Think about it and give thanks and know the joy and the strength of possessing these gifts.

Eternity within the heart. It's like a woman who is pregnant. She feels new life moving within her. I remember Corinne telling me, "The baby's moving. The baby's moving." In you there is life. Now you have been born into this world by natural birth, but you've been born into the kingdom of God through a new birth.

That's why Jesus said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again." You have this one birth, but somehow this birth and this life seems to overshadow that birth and that life. We know all about being born, our birth certificate. We can say when we were born, where we were born, we know all about it.

But ask a person, "When did you receive Jesus? When were you born again?" "Well, I don't know really. I'm not sure." We know our ancestry, we know our family tree, but when it comes to spirituality, some of us are so vague because the experience is so vague to us. Yet that spiritual experience that is so vague is the eternal experience that you're going to have forever.

But the experience that is so real, you're in the process right now of phasing it out. You're phasing it out. I'm in the process right now of phasing out this life, and I have a new life within me. And I feel it churn at times. I feel it move. I feel the call. I feel the pull. I know I'm a citizen of heaven. I know I'm part of another world.

I know I'm going to another planet. I know I'm just not of this earth. And when they say dust to dust, ashes to ashes, that's not all there is to me or to you if you have tasted the heavenly gift, if you have tasted the word of God, and if you have experienced eternity in your heart. I'm not only looking for eternity then; I've got a taste of it right now.

It's in my heart now. The Song of Solomon says, "He has taken me into his banquet hall and his banner over me is love." See right now I think it's a joy, and it is. I think it's a feast, and it is. But it's, for a better term, nothing in comparison to what's coming. Nothing.

I only have a foretaste of glory divine right now. And every time this life gets miserable, I say, "I'm in the process of phasing out. I'm in the process of phasing in that new life that is to come." It says in 1 Corinthians 13, now, right now in this life, we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror.

Then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully even as I am fully known. Right now I only have part of it. I only have a little scrap of it, so to speak. But then the full banquet. And when he invites me into the banquet room, when I really fully experience that heavenly gift—I am experiencing it now, but then I'm going to experience it fully—when I really fully experience the word of God, the word was made flesh, when I truly see the word of God and touch the word of God and the word of God touches me like it's doing now to some of us in this service this morning, but then in its fullness, in its completeness.

And then when I know this is eternity, this part of my existence, unlike that life back there on earth, this part will never end. This part will never phase out. This glory will be forever and ever, world without end, with Christ and with the saints forever and forever. But I have a taste of it now. I have a taste of it now.

The scripture says when I'm invited into that banqueting room and you're invited in, no eye has seen nor ear has heard nor mind has conceived—listen to that. Listen, listen. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived. You can't imagine! You can't even begin to imagine.

You have a foretaste, but what you're going to see when you're truly invited into that banqueting room: no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed it to us by his spirit. Somehow secretly inside you, God is revealing something of himself and something of your eternal existence.

And we're being called. Every one of us are being called. We're called into the kingdom now, and then in that day we're going to be called into his presence forever and ever into the fullness. The scripture says in Revelation 19, "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the lamb."

Do you feel the call to that heavenly world sometimes? You feel the pull away from this earth and its problems and its existence to that heavenly existence, that higher existence? Listen friends, we're only at the engagement party now. But wait till you get to the wedding party when God really opens it all up to you.

Do you know that you're part of another world? A part of the kingdom of Christianity? Do you feel eternity in your heart? There are times that it moves, it churns within me. I feel the pull, I know I belong, I know I'm going, I know that I'm extraterrestrial.

This past week we had the privilege of burying Janette's mother, and that was a privilege. And I stood there before the coffin. You know, it's different when a child of God dies. It's different. I've had some funerals, I'll tell you, I thought to myself, "What am I going to say?"

I mean, I knew something about the person, that they so lived for themselves and lived for time and they were just so taken up with things of this world. The world so acted upon them to discourage them, to encourage them. Everything was now, everything was gathered in time. Time was everything, but there I am and time ran out on them.

And I thought, "Dear God, now what?" But I'm thankful that there's only one judge. I'm not the judge. But the fruits of the kingdom just seemed like it was never ever evident. But this past week and I stood there at that coffin right before me, I knew that this lady had tasted God.

She had put a number of Bibles in this church even though she was an Episcopalian, was a member of another church all the way over in Virginia. And I spoke to that little congregation in that little Episcopal chapel, so beautiful. And the presence of God was there. And there was such a peace and such a rest.

Friends, we're phasing out. We're phasing out. I want you to set your affections on things that are above. God loves you. He wants to put the heavenly gift in your heart. He wants to put the goodness of the word—he doesn't want to scare you with the word, he wants to comfort you with the word and with its promises and with its revelations and as you hear it, with its transformations.

And then he wants to put eternity in your heart. He wants you to taste it. You can have a taste of this right now. Someone says, "Oh, if I just—I just don't want to wait to heaven to get it." You don't have to wait. You can start feasting and eating and enjoying and being blessed right now.

And then when that day comes, that call, that pull, that tug will become so strong. So strong. This past week has been some week. A dear saint of God, a minister's wife. The minister was a friend of mine in Baltimore, Maryland for a number of years. I was a very young pastor, and he was an older pastor all the way on the other side of the city, Reverend McIntosh.

I never met the man—well, I did meet him, that's right, I did meet him prior to taking that pastorate. But for some unknown reason, he sort of took me under his wing and became a mentor for me. And he'd call me up, get me on the phone one time. "What's going on? How are you feeling? I've been praying about you. You've been on my heart."

He'd share with me. Well, he went on to heaven a few years ago. And then this past week, we called him Mrs. Mac. Her daughter called and told me, said "Mother went to heaven last night." Isn't that a wonderful way to say it? Mother went to heaven last night. Wow. Mother went to heaven. She's in heaven.

Said that she told her daughter Norma—they live in West Virginia now in a retirement place—she said, "Oh," she said, "don't call the doctor this time." She's 90 years old. She said, "I want to go to heaven." She said, "I'm just so wanting to go to heaven. I've experienced just about everything an old lady can experience down here."

But she said, "I've tasted of that heavenly world. I've tasted of the goodness of the word of God. It's kept me all these years. Eternity has been in my heart. Now that which has been invisible and unseen now will become visible and become a reality." Wow, that's faith.

That's the way to live and that's the way to die. Live in victory now because you have Jesus and the word and eternity. And know when this is over, the best comes. Do you know him as your personal savior? Some Christians, I know you get discouraged sometimes. Life gets difficult for you.

But you focus your thoughts on Jesus and you'll feel eternity. You'll start welling up. You'll know, you'll feel the pull. Your faith will be affirmed and confirmed. If you don't know him today, I'm going to ask you to give your heart to him.

He'll come in and you'll know the gift of heaven when it comes in and all that comes in that packaged gift. Joy and peace and love, all of those other gifts will come also. Shall we bow? Let us bow for prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of your only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And thank you Lord that we can have him now. We don't have to wait until death to have him. We have him now. When we ask him to come into our hearts, he will come, he will bless us, and he will fill us with all of the other gifts such as joy and peace and happiness, faith and contentment that the world can't give. When he comes, he imparts also.

I pray for people who do not know him personally, who have never tasted of the Son of God, that they will open their hearts and invite him to come in. I pray for Christians this morning who have been struggling, really struggling with very difficult problems, frustrations, and things that upset and anger.

I pray that you will help them to know, Lord, that we're in the process of phasing out and the Holy Spirit is in the process of phasing us in. We're part of that heavenly world, that new world. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come again and receive you unto myself." We're going somewhere in him and because of him and through him, Jesus. Help every Christian to understand that. I pray this Father in Jesus' name. Amen.

Will you stand and will the prayer counselors come forward please? Prayer counselors. I'm going to dismiss the congregation and as I leave to go into the lobby to greet you and shake hands, some of you may want to come up and pray with these prayer counselors.

They care for you, they love you, they really do. If you have any questions at all, bring your problems, your questions, your heart and they'll help you. If you don't want to pray with somebody but you'd still like to pray, go over to one of the kneelers and kneel down and that'll be a good place. I want you to know that I love you and I pray for you and we're going to do this together. We're going to live together, we're going to go to heaven together. Amen. Amen.

Guest (Male): What we experience in Christ today is only a foretaste of something far greater still to come. Through Jesus, we've already tasted God's goodness, experienced the power of his word, and received the promise of eternity in our hearts.

Discover more encouragement at thehealingword.com where you'll find biblical teaching, devotionals, and a place to share your prayer requests with us. Join us tomorrow as Pastor Morris looks at Jesus's surprising answer to the question "who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?". The message is "Childlike Greatness".