Go back with me, if you would,
to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. And let's read the first three
verses again. Wherefore, laying aside all malice,
and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may
grow thereby. If so be, you have tasted that
the Lord is gracious." He said, if you have. if you have if so be you have
it's all dependent on that if it's all dependent on that if
now let me see if i can illustrate that in this way you cannot teach a person how
to fall in love you can't do it You just can't
do it. It cannot be done. It does not
work that way. Either you're in love or you're
not. It just overtakes you, it overwhelms
you, it consumes you when you least expected it. You didn't
plan out your day and plan out your... I'm going to fall in...
What are you going to do today? I'm thinking about falling in love
if I have time. You can't do it. Either you're
in love or you're not. The same thing can be said about
this. You cannot teach a person how
to taste that the Lord is gracious. It cannot be done. Either a person
has tasted it or a person has not. One of the two. One person can tell another person
One person can say to another person that the Lord is gracious. In that telling, a person can
hear that the Lord is gracious. Through the scripture, a person
can see that the Lord is gracious and even mentally understand
the fact that the Lord is gracious. But tasting is something more. It's something more. It's on
a completely different field. All right, let me see if I can
illustrate that. Let me illustrate the illustration. A person can know how to make
a cake. I've been thinking about the
birthday girl through writing this out. A person can know how
to make a cake. A person can make a cake. Right? A person can know how
to make a cake. A person can make a cake. A person
can tell somebody else how to make a cake. Let me read it off
to you. Okay? Step one, step two, step
three, and step four. But tasting the cake is something
more. Is something more. And here's
the reason why. You can know how to make that cake and never
feed on it. You can make the cake. You can
go through all the steps. Step one, step two, step three,
and step four. You can go through all the steps
and make the cake. and never feed on it. But you
cannot taste the cake without committing to it. You cannot taste it without being
joined with it and knowing the experience of it. verse 3, he said, if so be you
have tasted, tasted that the Lord is gracious, if so be that
you haven't just heard that the Lord is gracious. I think about
this a lot, I think about the ministry, I think about the dear
saints the Lord has brought here, And you can't tell a person how
to fall in love. You can't tell a person how to
fall in love with Christ. Well, here's how you fall in
love with Christ. You can't do that. But I pray God would cause us
all to fall in love with Christ. I pray God would let us taste
His graciousness. And it's not just hearing. And that's what He's saying right
here. If so be that you haven't just heard that the Lord is gracious. If so be that you haven't just
seen. We've opened that word together.
Yep, there it is. If so be you are one of the ones
who haven't just seen that the Lord is gracious. If so be that
you haven't just mentally understood that the Lord is gracious. He
said, if so be that you have tasted. If you're one of the
ones who has tasted the graciousness of the Lord. If that's the case,
then he said, prove it by some things. Prove it. Verse 3 is the if. Verses 1 and
2 are the then. Do these things if so be that
you've tasted that the Lord is gracious. Now, if we have tasted
that the Lord is gracious, if we have, What have we tasted? What does His graciousness taste
like? What does it taste like? Turn
with me over to Exodus chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16. And look with me at verse 29. See for that the Lord hath given
you the Sabbath. Therefore he giveth you on the
sixth day the bread of two days. Abide ye every man in his place. Let no man go out of his place
on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh
day, and the house of Israel called the name thereof, Manna. And it was like coriander seed,
white, And the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Wafers made with honey. That's
what the bread of heaven tastes like. Wafers made with honey. Do you know that Christ said,
I am that bread. I am that bread. The bread come
down from heaven. The bread that God himself broke
he said take eat this is my body which is broken for you he said
eat ye all of it eat all of it every sinner who does every single
sinner who does will say that is the sweetest thing I've ever
tasted his broken body The bread of heaven Himself.
That's the sweetest thing I've ever tasted. Turn with me to
Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse 103. How sweet are thy words unto
my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Some people see
this word and they hear this word and they are told this word
and it creates such a bitterness in them. That's what the Word is to them,
bitterness, just bitterness. Some people have such a bitterness
toward God's Word and His authority, the authority of His Word, the
authority of the message. And what that means is they have
seen it. If they have that bitterness,
it means they've seen it. They've heard it. and they know
enough of it to quote a little bit, but they've never tasted
it. That's what it means. They've
never tasted it. Every sinner who tastes the gospel
of the word of God says that is the sweetest thing I've ever
tasted in my mouth. Those are the sweetest words
I've ever tasted. Election is the sweetest thing
I've ever heard. Limited atonement. That's the
sweetest thing I've ever heard. Go over a few pages to Proverbs
24. Proverbs 24 verse 13 says, My son, eat thou honey, because
it is good, and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste. So shall the knowledge of wisdom
be unto thy soul, when thou hast found it. Then there shall be
a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off. The honey
is the word. The honeycomb is what the Word
flows out of. Christ Himself. Christ and His
Word. Truly commit to it. Commit to
it. Be joined with it. Be a partaker
of it. The sweetness of Christ and His
Word. Be a partaker of it. One more. Go to Song of Solomon chapter
2. Song of Solomon two, verse three. As the apple tree among the trees
of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. It's talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. I sat down under his shadow with
great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste. What is that
fruit? What is it that tastes so sweet
to a recipient of grace? What is it exactly that tastes
so sweet? It is the fruit of his spirit. That's what it is. The sweetness
of the fruit of his spirit. It is the sweetness of his love. That he would love something
as ungodly as I am. That's when you enter into the
sweetness of love. when you see how unsweet this
flesh is and the sin is the sweetness of his joy his joy was the bitter
cross set before him didn't he go to that cross for the joy
set before him that was his joy the sweetness of his peace these
are the fruits of the spirit love joy peace the sweetness
of his peace i love how After he arose, the apostles were all
gathered together in that room and they had heard he had risen
and some of them believed and some of them didn't believe and
the doors being shut, all of a sudden he just entered into
the midst of them, held up his hands and said, peace be unto
you. Isn't it amazing that he did
not hold his hands up and say, look what you did to me. Look
what you did to me. The sweetness of his peace. Peace
be unto you. The sweetness of his patience.
You know, it's salvation is the long suffering of the Lord. The
sweetness of his gentleness, he said, come unto me and I'll
give you rest. The sweetness of His goodness,
the sweetness of His faith, the sweetness of His meekness. He
said, take my yoke upon you, learn of me. I'm meek, I'm lowly
in heart, you'll find rest. The sweetness of His temperance.
So sweet. If so be, you have tasted. Tasted with the heart, tasted
with the soul, tasted with every fiber of our being. If so be,
we have tasted. Somebody will say, how can I know if I've tasted?
How will I know if I have tasted? A person who only knows the bitterness
of doctrine, All right, and this is becoming
clearer and clearer to me all the time. A person who only knows
the bitterness of doctrine. Doctrine is cold, doctrine is
hard. Doctrine is bitter. A person
who only knows that. Now, do God's people know correct
doctrine? Absolutely they do. But a person who only knows doctrine
has never tasted. Never tasted. a person who only
knows the sourness of sin there are some people who know that
they're sinners there are some people who know that and that's
a wonderful thing to know we know that but a person who only
knows that has never tasted A person that only knows that fiery heat
of judgment. There are some people who know
about God's judgment. They get up and they beat on
their pulpits and they cry, the end of the world is coming and
you better, you know. They know that, but if that's
all they know, they've never tasted. Never tasted. If a man or a woman
ever gets a true taste, of the graciousness of the Lord. It'll
be sweeter than honey to his mouth. The sacrifice of Christ
will be the sweetest smell ever savored. It is finished will be the sweetest
words ever spoken. Thou art worthy will be the sweetest
song ever sung. The person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, Him, Him. We're all gathered around Him
tonight. We're gathered at the feet of
Him, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That'll be the sweetest
subject of conversation ever communicated. You know what people
who absolutely are taken up with the sweet savor of Christ, you
know what they want to talk about? Christ. That's their favorite conversation.
That's the sweetest conversation they can have. The message of
the gospel. That'll be the sweetest message
ever delivered. The grace and the mercy of the
Lord. Now, if so be that we have tasted, if then. All right, go with me back to
our text. First Peter 2. Here is the then. 1 Peter 2 verse 1 says, Wherefore,
laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and
envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. I just
want to read you what Charles Spurgeon had to say about that
in his commentary, and I want to encourage us to ask the Lord
to teach us something through this. This instruction is wise instruction. This is needful instruction.
This is a believer's instruction, and I don't believe this can
be said any better than this. Charles Spurgeon said, This is what we
are to lay aside. He said, if so be that you've
tasted, he said, then lay aside some things. If so be you've
tasted that the Lord is gracious, lay aside some things. This is
what we are to lay aside, to put away from us, to banish altogether. These are the old garments of
the flesh which we are to give up to the moths, that they may
devour them, and leave not a fragment of the old rags for us to wear."
He said, laying aside all malice, has anybody injured you? Are
you angry with him because of what he has done to you? Thou
freely forgive the injury, and wholly forget it. If so be, you've
tasted that the Lord is gracious. If you've tasted that broken
body, if you've tasted the sacrifice of that shed blood, if you've
tasted the love, the peace. He said, has anybody injured
you? Has anybody injured you? Are you angry with him because
of what he's done to you? This is just impossible for the
flesh. This takes the Spirit of God.
This is the opposite of the flesh. He said, Thou freely forgive
the injury and wholly forget it. If so be Spurgeon said and all
guile. That is everything that is of
the nature of craftiness and deception. Be honest. Be honest. Straightforward. Simple. Transparent. This is a trait
of character which will become all Christians. He said, in hypocrisies
of all sorts, let us not profess to be what we are not, nor pretend
to know what we do not know. or talk of experiences which
we have never felt. In fact, let us never be hypocrites
in any respect whatsoever. The God of truth loves his children
to be the embodiments of truth. Hypocrisy he hates with a perfect
hatred. Acting, putting on a show. He
said in envies, we must lay them all aside. All envies of men. because they are richer, or more
gifted, or more highly esteemed than we are? Let us not envy
anybody, for envy eats a man's own heart out." It'll just eat
a man's own heart out. "...and slay him. As Eliphaz
said to Job, Envy slayeth the silly one." He said in all evil
speakings, this one's mine. Y'all can have all the other
ones. This one's mine. This one is the one that got
me. We are not to be the repeaters of stories to the discredit of
others. Or to make up or exaggerate any
evil reports concerning anything in their lives. We're not to
be the repeater of things that discredit our brethren. Well,
now you know or make up or exaggerate any
evil reports concerning anything in their lives. Let us have nothing
to do with evil speakings of any kind. Lay all these rags
aside. Is any of them still clinging
to you? Let it be laid aside this very hour. Lord, help me
lay them aside. Help me lay them aside. I just cannot imagine when it
comes to these things, you know, sometimes we look at these instructions
and say, well, we're just sinners. Yeah, that's what we do, but
we're just sinners and Christ came to save sinners. Lord, help
me lay them aside. Help me become conformed to the
image you would have me to be. Help me to become more like my
master, more like my savior. If so be that I have tasted that
the Lord is gracious, then let me be gracious in return." And
for verse two, Spurgeon said, verse two says, as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.
May the Lord let us get a hold of this. Lord, help us to do
this. This is what he said. Desire
the pure, unaltered Word of God, not out of idle curiosity, but
that you may grow thereby. What he's saying is, desire it
for that reason. Desire the Word of God for that
reason. Read the Word of God for that
reason. Hear the Word of God for that reason. Gather with
the saints around the Word of God for that reason. Growing. Growing. Have that in mind every
time you approach it. And that's where I take a step
back up to verse 1 and read verse 1 again. Let me lay aside all
malice. Let me lay aside all evil speakings. Let me lay aside all hypocrisy. Lord, let me grow. Let me grow,
mold me, make me after thy will. Let me grow from it. Spurgeon
said that you may grow more like your savior, that you may grow
up into the likeness of him whose you are and whom you serve. That's
the reason. That's why we come to hear the
gospel over and over and over again. That we might grow. That
we might grow. One meal at a time. That's what
it is. One meal at a time. Lord, help me to grow. We're
here as newborn babes. You know what growth is? It's
becoming more and more little children. We're here. We are newborn babes. When a
person first comes to know some of these things, he immediately
thinks he's a man in the gospel. Just like we think we're men
in the world, you know. But the more God teaches us,
the more we gather around that word, and the more we see of
him, the smaller and smaller we become. The smaller and smaller
we become. And that's true growth. That
sincere milk of the word it produces. Every time that we feed on the
gospel. Every single time. Every time
we feed on the bread and the water and the milk of the word. The grace and the mercy and the
sacrifice of Christ. Every time we feed on Christ.
Every single time. We taste the sweetness. We taste
the sweetness. The more we taste it, the more
we become addicted to it. Don't you wish sugar was healthy? Wouldn't that be nice? Don't you wish it was? Now, the
doctors say you better get your sugar. Better get it in there every
day. We wish that because we're all
addicted to it. We're all addicted to sugar. Christ, our Physician, Christ and His Word, the Word
of His Gospel, David said, is the health of our countenance. It's the health of our countenance. Not only is the hearing of and
the feeding on the Word of His grace, Not only is it health
to our navel and marrow to our bones. Not only is it healthy,
it's sweeter than sugar. It is sweeter than sugar. Sweeter
than honey to my mouth. We all have honey in our mind.
David kept saying and everybody else kept saying it's sweeter
than honey. Sweeter than honey. Now, I thought
about this while I was preparing this message. After we hear about
all this sweetness, most of us are probably going to go home
and eat something sweet. Most of us are thinking about
it. I'm going to get some cake. That's what I'm going to get.
Whether we do tonight or whenever that time is, the next time you
put something sweet in your mouth, say this inside your own heart.
My Lord is sweeter than this. My Savior is sweeter than this.
As sweet as this tastes. His grace is sweeter than this.
That blood is sweeter than this. That broken body He gave is sweeter
than this. Lord, let me taste. Don't let
me just hear. A lot of people hear. A lot of
people see. A lot of people mentally understand,
Lord, let me taste, let me taste, let me become addicted to the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wouldn't you love to become addicted?
You better watch out now, you'll become addicted. If so be that I have never tasted
the sweetness of the gospel, let me taste it right now. If
I've never tasted it before, let me taste it right now. Lord,
let me taste your grace to me. Alright, let's all stand together. Turn with me, if you would, to
hymn number 453. I've never, I don't believe I've
ever led this song. But I think we need to sing it.
Let's just sing three verses.