Spurgeon: May AM
* 05/21/AM
"If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious."
--1 Peter 2:3
If:--then, this is not a matter to be taken for granted
concerning every one of the human race. "If:"--then there is a
possibility and a probability that some may not have tasted that
the Lord is gracious. "If:"--then this is not a general but a
special mercy; and it is needful to enquire whether we know the
grace of God by inward experience. There is no spiritual favour
which may not be a matter for heart-searching.
But while this should be a matter of earnest and prayerful
inquiry, no one ought to be content whilst there is any such
thing as an "if" about his having tasted that the Lord is
gracious. A jealous and holy distrust of self may give rise to
the question even in the believer's heart, but the continuance
of such a doubt would be an evil indeed. We must not rest
without a desperate struggle to clasp the Saviour in the arms of
faith, and say, "I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him."
Do not rest, O believer, till thou hast a full assurance of
thine interest in Jesus. Let nothing satisfy thee till, by the
infallible witness of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with thy
spirit, thou art certified that thou art a child of God. Oh,
trifle not here; let no "perhaps" and "peradventure" and "if"
and "maybe" satisfy thy soul. Build on eternal verities, and
verily build upon them. Get the sure mercies of David, and
surely get them. Let thine anchor be cast into that which is
within the veil, and see to it that thy soul be linked to the
anchor by a cable that will not break. Advance beyond these
dreary "ifs;" abide no more in the wilderness of doubts and
fears; cross the Jordan of distrust, and enter the Canaan of
peace, where the Canaanite still lingers, but where the land
ceaseth not to flow with milk and honey.