Seeking for the helm of the Lord this evening, I desire to speak to you from the first three verses on 1 Peter chapter two. 1 Peter chapter two, the first three verses. We are continuing our series in the epistles of Peter. This is the eighth sermon in that series. And this evening it is tasting that the Lord is gracious. And the text reads, 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 ye may grow thereby. If so be, ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

1 Peter, chapter two, verses one through two, three. Christ's charge to Peter, if you remember, was twofold. One was when he was converted or when that he was restored after his fall and denying his master three times. after being in Satan's sieve, then he was to strengthen his brethren. And we see in these verses a certain strengthening of the brethren. strengthening even coming down to the lowest or a low part to lift up and encourage those who are as newborn babes in the faith. Also the Lord charged him to feed, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, and we find this here as well, the milk of the word, the sincere milk of the word. And Peter then is fulfilling this charge throughout this epistle, but in this text this evening, in strengthening and also feeding through the word of God.

And so I want to look this evening firstly at tasting that the Lord is gracious, beginning at verse 3 and going backwards if you like. And then there are two exhortations, two such, to those that have tasted that the Lord is gracious. There's those two exhortations. The first one is laying aside, laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and endings and all evil speakings. The second is concerning desire. Those newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. There's two exhortations to those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Then there are also two encouragements. This is our third point. For the tasting, those that have tasted that the Lord is gracious and that heed those exhortations There are two, two encouragements, and we hope to look at those as we come to that last point.

But firstly, we have this word grace, or gracious, what does it mean? Grace is the free unmerited favor of God. Grace is that which God imparts to his people, But when God himself is gracious, it is how he is acting towards his people in unmerited kindness, in a pleasant way, not coming to them as an angry judge, but showing them mercy and long-suffering, acting in a very gracious way to them. And so those here are said to have tasted that the Lord is kind, that the Lord has acted pleasantly, that he has acted in a way that they did not deserve, a way that they saw how longsuffering and forbearing he was to them and realised that He had done this for no goodness in them but just of His kindness and His graciousness towards them. There are some things that are necessary and really are bound up with if we are to taste that the Lord is gracious.

There are some things that already we will know or must No, I don't put these as that which is a prerequisite, though it is, but rather if we have tasted that the Lord is gracious, it is implied that we must already know these things to be able to taste it so.

And the first thing is there's a sense of our sinnership. If we do not feel ourselves as sinners, we will not, we cannot ever view anything given to us or done to us as being gracious. All the time we think we've got a righteousness of our own, then we're not going to receive mercies or kindness in a gracious way and view it as grace.

Of course, the context here implies here is a people that by nature have malice, have guile, are hypocrites, they envy, and they're prone to evil speakings. Because the exhortation we come to in a moment is to lay them aside. So Peter is not writing to people that are sinless. He's writing to sinners, and it is sinners can say, and none but they, says the hymn writer, how precious is the Lord, or the graciousness of the Lord.

But another thing is bound up too, and that is a realization that we deserve nothing at the hand of the Lord except wrath. God is angry with the wicked every day, and we are all under the sentence of death. and the wrath of God is poured out upon all outside of Christ.

And so we need to remember this before we, and to realize this, otherwise we will never, we will never see or discern graciousness on the hand of the Lord at all. Also, we need to be mindful, mindful of providence and mindful of grace and blessings of grace or what goes on in our souls, spiritually what goes on in our souls. It is through these two channels that we will most likely view the Lord being gracious toward us. In his dealings, in providence, what happens in our lives, things that we know we deserve, that those things happened, where the Lord has softened a blow, where he's limited the damage, where though there's been trouble and tribulation, we've seen mercies and kindnesses mixed in with that. And so we need to actually be looking at Providence and realizing that God is over all. He is governing all of these things. We also need to be mindful of what goes on in our soul. If the Lord is gracious to us in a spiritual way and blesses our soul, then we must have a living soul.

We must be mindful of what goes on in the court of conscience, what goes on between us and the Lord, a life of prayer, or things that are going on within. It's something that, by nature, we don't consider. Well, we can't. We have not got a living soul.

But where there is a living soul, if we are to know the Lord is gracious in forgiveness, in pardon, in softening our hearts, in drawing our affections after Him, in teaching us, opening our eyes to spiritual truth, blessing us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

If we're to discern that the Lord has been gracious to us, then we'll be mindful of those things that are going on within. Mindful of the times that in heart we have departed from him and yet he's brought us back. may be chastened. And we've seen in that even the Lord's kindness and graciousness, not leaving us to go our own way. When we've turned to the right hand or turned to the left, we have a word. This is the way walking in it, when you turn to the right hand, when you turn to the left.

The other thing is that we are to realize who is being gracious to us. Now text says, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. The Lord is gracious. But often the Lord is gracious through second means. It might be that he sends provision or kindness or gifts or help, suitable helps, through a friend or through an anonymous source, and we are to look beyond the means, beyond the messenger, and see that this comes forth from the hand of the Lord. And so there is to be discerning whose hand it is. The means the giver might be evident to us that faith says this is the Lord's doing and is marvellous in our eyes.

When Paul was cast down, he laid it to the blessing of the Lord that God that comforteth those that are cast down comforted us by the coming of Titus. And he could see just by the coming of Titus this was the Lord's work, this was his kindness in comforting them.

So how do you know that that was grace, that he tasted it was grace. He ascribed it to the Lord and Paul, he knew well, he said, I'm not made to be an apostle because I persecuted the house of the Church of God. He realized everything the Lord gave him was according to grace. What I am, I am by the grace of God. So we need to discern who it is if we're to taste that the Lord is gracious.

Now when we taste something, and of course those who've been to a supermarket, they might have on the end of an aisle a tasting table. Maybe they're trying to sell a new range of cheeses. And they chop up little bits of cheese and they offer them free to those passing by. You think, well, what good can a little bit of cheese do? But the taste of it will have either of three effects. One, they'll take one taste and say, oh, don't like that. And that's the last they'll have anything to do with that cheese. Another will say, oh, that's pretty ordinary. We'll just stay with what we've got, thank you. Another would say, well, that's lovely. That's really nice. I'm going to go and buy it. I want more of that. Just a taste of that, and I want more of that. Well, in the context here, if we've tasted that the Lord is gracious, one of the tests is, do you want more of that? Is it what you long, that the Lord would show more grace and more help? and you see in it a favourable thing.

You think if the Lord deals thus with me through my life then I am blessed, I am favoured. A taste of the best wine, a taste of what the Lord has to give to his people surely must be the best. And so There is in the taste a discerning and a recognising of either attraction or repulsion. So if you might think, well, have I really tasted that the Lord is gracious? Well, if you can think of some of those instances where the Lord has not dealt with you as you have deserved, where he's shown you kindness, where you've looked for wrath, you've looked for punishment, chastisement, instead, he's shown you mercies, he's shown you kindness. And if the effect of that is to want more of that, and to warm you to the Lord, attract you to the Lord, then you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

It's a blessed thing, if that is the case. the children of Israel, tasted it right through the wilderness journey. How oft they rebelled, they kicked, they rebelled at the Red Sea, they rebelled at the waters of Mara, they tried the Lord with the manna, and then with the golden calf, and then with refusing to go into Canaan.

All of these things, what did the Lord do? Did he completely, utterly destroy them? No, he didn't. Yes, he took vengeance on their idols. He chastised them, and many of them were killed. You might say as a nation, though, they were preserved. Those that were slain were like in us, the sins, iniquities, and evils. And the Lord spares his people, but takes vengeance on their sins. We think of Jacob, Jacob the supplanter, Jacob who deceived his father, Jacob who robbed his brother of his birthright, Jacob.

The Lord blessed him as he left home. How gracious was the Lord to give him such wonderful promise, I will be with thee in all places whither thou goest. I will not leave thee until I have spoken, done that which I have spoken to thee of. I will bring thee again unto this land.' And the Lord did. No one moved the Lord to make such kind, gracious promises and to fulfil them.

And then we find with Laban, Laban's changing his wages a ten times. The Lord's been gracious, and Jacob knows it. He says, except the Lord had been with me, I would have come out with nothing. He realized the Lord had been gracious to him. We think of Jonah, the reason why Jonah ran away, the reason why Jonah did not want to go and preach to the Ninevites, because he knew that the Lord was a gracious God. That if he sent a minister, it was that he'd turn away. He would give them repentance. And he did. Jonah knew the character of God. He had tasted that the Lord was gracious, but sadly, he didn't want others, especially the enemies of Israel, to partake of that same grace. I hope we are not like that. And we think of David.

David, the adulterer, the murderer, did the Lord deal with him according to his sins deserved? He should have been slain. The Lord gave him repentance. He gave him his life. Yes, he chastened him. The sword was not to depart from his house. But the Lord showed him much grace, much kindness, and even in the Conspiracy with Absalom, even with all of the, before that, the pursuing of Saul, how Saul pursued him. The Lord was gracious to him again and again. And David realized it. He realized it. He did not deserve anything in the Lord's hand. He viewed these things as mercy and from the hand of a gracious God. If so be. You have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Comes down low, isn't it? Just a little taste. Just a little taste. But enough to want more of that grace. To know more. of the character, you know, you wouldn't have a taste of something.

And then when you bought the whole thing, you found out it tastes completely different. You say that that was that was deceitful. With the Lord gives his people a taste that he is gracious. He's not going to then say, well, I'm going to change now. You might have had that taste 30 years ago. And you say, but the sins that have passed me since, and all of the evils, and all my departures. But when you think of that grace, is not that what you want now? Did you not taste it then? Maybe not just in one occasion, but several occasions you've tasted it. It's a blessed thing to be able to say, yay. I have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

This is the whole essence of the gospel. This is the way poor sinners, undeserving sinners are saved. By a gracious God, how can the Lord be gracious? He's sovereign. He says to Moses, I will be gracious. under whom I will be gracious. He is sovereign God, but how can he do this?

It all comes down to Calvary, doesn't it? The gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, the enduring in his body, the sufferings, the hiding of a father's face because of our sins. That is what is bound up. with the graciousness of the Lord. You might say, but isn't there common grace? Doesn't the world continue because of that? Yes, it does. And doesn't he give his rain to rain upon the just and unjust and the sunshine as well, all partakes of his goodness? Yes, that is so.

But here is a people that instead of ascribing it to luck or chance or nothing at all, instead of saying, well, I deserve that and all that is bad, I don't deserve that. Here is a people that know they don't deserve these things, that see them come from the hand of the Lord, are grateful for them, humble before the Lord, and that they're not just outward things either, though providence is a large part of it, but they extend to the soul. to blessings in the soul of opened eyes and opened ears and teaching and the Lord's long-suffering to them.

When the Lord told the parables, many, many heard those parables. But the Lord was especially gracious to his disciples. When they were alone, he expounded them to them, opened their understanding that they might understand. They'd heard the word all the same. but they had that which was special, graciously given by the Lord to teach them. These blessings of grace and the graciousness of the Lord, instead of wrath, instead of destruction, it all flows because of what was done at Calvary and the blood that was shed to put away the sins of those to whom he will be gracious to.

And we need to remember that. The Lord just cannot just be gracious and give the soul to see that graciousness, to feel that graciousness, to be thankful for it, and to look for it, and that there not be an underlying price paid. The reason why the Lord is showing this favour and this kindness, wouldn't we ask if we had a stranger come to us and they started giving us kindness, money, health, care, we'd say, why are you doing this? Wouldn't we? Wouldn't we want to know why? Well, if we were to ask the Lord why, He'd show us His hands and His feet like He did to the disciples. The wounds that He endured suffering for us. He'd show us the reason why. Because we are His. Because we are His children.

No, it would be a strange thing, wouldn't it, if a child would say to a parent, Why are you feeding me? Why are you looking after me? Why are you guarding me? Why are you helping me? I said, well, you're my child. I love you. You're part of the family. And so the Lord says to those who have tasted that he is gracious, you're part of my family. This is why. This is the root of it. May the Spirit bear witness that some of you here will hear the word this evening. You have tasted that the Lord is gracious and you cannot deny it. If so be, you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

I want to look then secondly at two exhortations to such, and these are in verses 1 and 2. The first one is in verse 1, which is a lying aside. As we said before, this is implying that even those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, they are liable to all of these things, that we would say We are plagued by them. This is our old nature. This is what we are by nature.

Can we deal with it? Can we manage it? Can we fight it? Can we resist it? The way the Apostle sets this before us is to lay it aside. Sometimes I might have things on my desk and I know I've got to deal with them, but I just don't feel up to it at the time. So I just put it to one side. I lay it aside. Deal with other things instead. Of course, in the end, I've got to deal with that. But laying it aside is saying, I can't handle that now. I can't fight with that. I can't deal with that. I can't manage that situation. I'm just going to lay it to one side. And this is how it's set forth.

The devil would love us to spend all our time fighting, resisting, striving. And in one sense, there is that part of the Christian pathway. But the other part is either laying aside, or like Joseph did, fleeing from the temptation and from the occasion not staying to resist, not staying to find, saying, I've got other things to do. If ye, through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

So the first part is just looking at these things, malice, that ill feeling toward another to do another hurt or harm, and that is maybe festering within, you lay it aside. You say I'm not giving any more thought to that, I'm not giving any more time to that, I'm just putting it to one side. Where we say one thing but mean another, nice to someone's face but hard behind their back.

You know, the Lord said of Nathanael, an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. What you saw you got. He was transparent. But where we're guileless, we're subtle, we're devious, all guile and hypocrisies. Where we are saying one thing but doing another. We got two standards, one for other people, another for ourselves. And envies. Oh, I wish I had what someone else had. Envying them.

The Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. He was delivered up for envy. Why? Because there was crowds going after him. They weren't going after the Jews, and the lawyers, and the Pharisees. And they envied him. And Pilate knew. That's why they delivered him up.

All evil speakings. If we put it to the test, if we were speaking about someone else, if that person was in the room or present or within earshot, would we say the same things? Our gossip, speaking evil one of another. All of these things are in our hearts by nature.

God's people, they are there. They trouble them, oftentimes tripped up by them, overcome by them. But the Lord says through Peter here, if you tasted that the Lord is gracious, you've got something very, very precious. Don't be taken up with these things. These are things that will undermine. They will fight, they'll destroy, they'll aim at the precious life. You lay those things aside. You say, what am I going to do in their place? What's going to replace it? If there's a void, they'll come back in. And this is the second exhortation. The second one is in verse two.

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. You go from all of these things straight to the Word of God. The sincere milk of the Word, the inspired, infallible Word of God, that is given by God, sincerely given promises, sincerely given encouragements, sincere helps through the Word of God, These are the things that we're to desire.

Different desires from nature. Desires that spring up. We said with the taste. If you have a taste of something, you say, I like that. That will affect your desires. And this is why those who are trying to sell their new cheeses or whatever it is, they're relying on that. that a taste of something that you like will influence the desires of that person to desire and to go after and in part, part with money to buy those things and to have those things.

May the Lord make us willing to part with these evil things and to desire that which is pure and lovely. Every word of God is pure. and that which the Lord gives most sincerely. He doesn't mock his people, he doesn't give them promises, he doesn't hold out hopes and then dash those hopes. The word of God is what the people of God feed upon and grow with, that ye may grow thereby. So this is an exhortation that has two parts to it. One allowing a sign that's concerning your old nature, and the others are desiring that which the world and the old nature doesn't desire and want, which is the sincere milk of the word.

If we then have tasted that the Lord is gracious, may we heed these two exhortations. May we be helped to. Lay aside those things we may struggle with day by day. Keep laying it aside every time it rises up. And that we might desire the word of God. And may our prayers be, Lord help me, help me to obey these exhortations.

Give me such taste that I so desire them. They joined the way to Emmaus, had a real taste of the Lord opening up in all the scriptures concerning himself. And immediately, though the day was far spent, they went back to Jerusalem, had a real effect upon them. Did not our heart burn within us? Blessed thing to have a taste that then moves us to then obedience and to listen to the directions of the word of God.

I want to look then at our third point, which is to encouragements. The first encouragement is that those that desire the sincere milk of the word they're spoken of as newborn babes. Those then that have tasted that the Lord is gracious, they're evidence of being born again.

This is one of the effects of the new birth. Remember, Peter was charged not just to feed sheep, but to feed the lambs. Lambs, newborn especially, are given milk. But here are newborn babes. And though we may say, well, it's just an illustration. It's just like a newborn baby has from its mother's breast the milk.

And this is just putting as analogy is pointing to the word of God. But is it only that? It says here that ye may grow thereby. So then there must be life, surely. There must be a birth that is not just that which is an illustration, because it goes from the illustration that ye may grow. In other words, ye are a newborn babe. And ye are born again.

But young in the way, it's coming right down to the first beginnings of God's work of grace, where there is a tasting that the Lord is gracious. This one that feels themselves a sinner, feels undeserving of anything from the Lord's hand, and yet they discern the Lord is being kind to them, is helping them. He's giving them a word here or word there, providential help here or there, some encouragement under the word of God, some warming of their hearts under the word of God. And the encouragement is here.

You might not have discerned it. You might not think if someone said, are you born again? Have you been partaker of the new birth? You say, I hope I have. I'm not sure. or if you've tasted the Lord is gracious here, the word is saying you have. Those that taste that, those that trace it to the Lord, they're not unregenerate. They're not those in nature's darkness.

And we might add this, where there is the second part, these two exhortations, where they are willing to be heard, or acknowledge the need of them, especially of the laying aside, that's a double token. Here is a newborn soul. Because one in nature's darkness would rise up and say, why do I need that? Why do I need to know that? One that would just think of the love of God or the grace of God, that's all right. I don't need to change my life. I'll just go on.

But here is one that feels the need of that change, they feel the warfare, they know the sin that is within. And so we may say, this is the lambs, this is a newborn soul, this is one, the Lord has these encouraging words too. But the second encouragement is that promise of growth through the word, that ye may grow thereby. What an expectation there is. What an expectation.

If you're in doubt even of the birth, of the life, the spiritual life, let's test it by the growth and remember Often growth is slow. It is in the plant. It is with a baby as well. It's imperceptible. It goes over a period of time. You see it very markedly. But there is a growth. Where there is life, there will be growth. And may we heed this exhortation again. It brings to the Word of God.

A newborn soul does not neglect the Word of God. You look back, perhaps, quite a few years to when you were unconcerned or really no desire for the things of God, how much was the Word looked at, prayed over, or read? Is it different now? If it is, why is it different?

And what an encouragement here, that as we read it, as we desire it, that we may grow. Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And remember, growth in grace is not growing in self-holiness or higher view of our own standing. We grow more and more realising we are debtors. to grace. Like John Baptist, I must decrease, he must increase. That is a growth in grace.

To the thinking less and less of ourselves and more and more of Christ. Himmler says, if ever my poor soul be saved, his Christ must be the way. is the only way a poor sinner can be saved. And we are to grow in the persuasion of that, the knowledge of that, and to see day by day Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. If ever my poor soul be saved, it's Christ must be the way.

And so these are the encouragements. May we be encouraged to believe what the Lord has done for us graciously is a token of the new birth. And what he has done for us has made us desire his word that we lay hold on this, that we have the expectation the word will profit us and we will grow. These verses are encouraging verses and they come down very low. not have great vast amounts of tasting the Lord is gracious but just a taste just a taste may the Lord bear witness to the word here the reality of such a taste in your soul in your life give you to heed the exhortations me also and to be encouraged We encourage that we are born again and that the Lord will cause us to grow through his word. Amen.