A Sermon for Men of Taste

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No. 459, Delivered on Sunday Morning, July 6th, 1862, By C. H. Spurgeon, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation — if you have tasted that the Lord is gracious." 1 Peter 2:1-3

"If you have tasted that the Lord is gracious." "If," then this is not a thing 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 becomes our business to inquire whether we are comprehended in that company who know the grace of God by inward experience.

There is no spiritual favor which may not be a matter for heart-searching. At the very summit of holy delight, we meet the challenge of "sentinel If."— "If you then be risen with Christ," And at the very bottom, even at Repentance-gate itself, he meets us with a warrant of arrest until he sees whether our sorrow is the godly sorrow that needs not to be repented of. "If you are the Son of God?" is not always a temptation of the devil, but often a very healthy inquiry most fittingly suggested by holy anxiety to men who would build securely upon the Rock of Ages. If at the Lord’s Table itself it is proper for us to say, "Lord, is it I?" when there is a Judas in the company; and if after the most intimate fellowship Christ exclaimed, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?"- let no enjoyment of ordinances, let no high and enrapt fellowship which we may have known, exempt us from the great duty of proving ourselves whether we are in the faith. But, beloved, albeit this should be a matter of heart-searching, I take it that no man ought to be content while there is any such thing as an "if" about his having tasted that the Lord is gracious. I can understand believers saying: "It is a point I long to know, Often it causes anxious thought, Do I love the Lord or no? Am I his, or am I not?"

But I do not understand their being comfortable while their souls are under such suspense. I can comprehend the doubts which arise from jealousy and holy distrust, but I cannot understand the continuance of those doubts, without a desperate struggle to clasp the Savior with the hands 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 to him." Do not rest, O believer, until you have a full assurance of your interest in Christ. Let nothing satisfy you until, by the infallible witness of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with your spirit, you are certain that you are a child of God. Oh, do not trifle here; let no "perhaps," and "perhaps," and "if," and "may be," satisfy your soul. Build on eternal truths, and truly build upon them. Get the sure mercies of David, and surely get them. Let your anchor be cast into that which is within the veil and see to it that your soul be linked to the anchor by a cable that will not break. Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus, I exhort and stir you up to get beyond these dreary "ifs;" abide no more in the howling wilderness of doubts and fears; cross the Jordan of distrust, and enter the Canaan of peace, where the Canaanite still lingers, but which ceases not to flow with milk and honey.

Our text mentions a taste- "If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious;" and the apostle speaks of the duty of those men of taste who have received this special favor. These two things shall take up our time this morning- the taste, and the duties arising out of it; and before we conclude, we shall go back to the Psalm with which we commenced this morning, and address those who as yet have never tasted that the Lord is gracious, in the words of David- "O taste and see that the Lord is good!"

I. FIRST, THEN, TASTE IS PROMINENT IN THE TEXT. I scarcely need observe, that in Scripture, the Holy Spirit uses natural things as figures by which to set forth spiritual mysteries. Inasmuch as our language was ordained to speak the thoughts of the mind, and to describe the things of the body, it is not fitted in itself for the utterance of the things of the spirit. As much as the soul is higher than the body, so much superior is the spirit (that is, the new principle implanted in regeneration) to the mere soul which every man possesses; and, as you will clearly see, if our speech had only been made for the body, and had not been adapted for a being that had a soul, we should have been strangely embarrassed for the expression of our mental emotions; and now, as our speech only reaches unto the natural person, if we would speak of the higher thoughts and impulses of the inner and newborn spirit, we can only do so by using the words we employ concerning natural objects. In this way we do not so much describe spiritual things as they are in themselves, but bring them down to our comprehension. When we shall become pure spirit, we may have a spiritual language; when we are caught up to the third Heaven, we shall use those words which now are not lawful for a man to utter, spiritual words fitted for spiritual things.

1. The TASTE here meant is doubtless FAITH. Faith, in the Scripture, is all the senses. It is sight. "Look unto me and be you saved, all you ends of the earth." "They looked unto him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed." It is hearing: "Hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." Faith hears the voice of the Spirit in effectual calling: for the dead hear the voice of God, and "they that hear shall live." Faith is also smelling. "All your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia;" "your name is as ointment poured forth;" "a bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me." Faith is also touch. By this faith the woman came behind and touched the hem of Christ’s garment, and by this we handle the things of the good word of life. Faith is equally the spirit’s taste. "How sweet are your words to my taste! yes, sweeter than honey to my lips." "Except a man eat my flesh," says Christ, "and drink my blood, there is no life in him." We Shall Have an Inward and Spiritual Apprehension of the Sweetness and Preciousness of Christ, as the Result of Living Faith.

2. The TASTE here meant is faith in one of it’s highest operations. One of the first performances of faith is hearing. We hear the voice of God, not with the outward ear alone, but with the inward ear; we hear it as God’s Word, and we believe it to be so; that is the hearing of faith. Then our mind looks upon the truth as it is presented to us; that is to say, we understand it, we see what it means, that is the seeing of faith. Then we perceive its preciousness to others, if not to ourselves, we begin to admire it, and find how fragrant it is; that is faith in its smell. Then comes the appropriating act by which we lay hold of the mercies that are offered us in Christ; that is faith in its touch. Then come enjoyments, peace, delight, communion; which are faith in its taste.

Any One of These Acts of Faith Is Saving. To hear Christ’s voice as the very voice of God in the soul will save us; but that which gives the true enjoyment is the aspect of faith wherein Christ, by holy taste, becomes assimilated to us; we feed on him; he comes into us and becomes part of us; his living word sustains us, and his precious blood cheers us as generous wine. Do you ask, "In what respect does faith taste that the Lord is gracious?" It Is Faith Operating by Experience. Dear Christian friends, you remember the time, when laden with guilt and full of fears, you looked to Jesus Christ, it was the eye of faith which looked. After a while Christ’s sweet love assured you that your sins were forgiven, and you felt a calm in your soul, such as you had never known before. That was tasting Christ. You knew his sweetness, you knew the power there was in him to take the bitterness out of your mouth and to put in sweetness instead thereof. Since that time you have been in trouble, but you have tasted Christ, for he has comforted you, and lifted up upon you the light of his countenance. You have been often greatly tried, but he has sustained you, and you have experienced that he is a very present help in time of trouble. Temptation has assailed you, but you have been able to meet it by "Christ in you, the hope of glory;" and perhaps even today your soul is as full as it can hold, of delightful contemplations of the loveliness, the faithfulness, the affection, the power, and the glory of your precious Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is what is meant by tasting; it Is Enjoying Christ by an Act of Faith, and Finding Him to Be the Altogether Lovely, Sweet, And Precious One. It is something more than believing Christ to be precious. It Is Perceiving His Worth, Appreciating His Sweetness, Enjoying His Loveliness. It is lying with his left hand under our head, while his right hand embraces us. Thrice happy is the man who has thus tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Follow me, while by a figure I make this point clear as noonday. There is a rumor running through the camp of Israel, that God on the morrow, at the rising of the sun, will feed his people. The rumor is believed; that is faith as hearing. Israel has heard that God will feed, and Israel believes. See now; before day-break the hosts of Israel hasten to the borders of the camp, and they see lying upon the ground certain grains like coriander seed. "This, this," say they, "is the food that God has sent to us." That is faith as seeing. They take it up in their hands; they examine it, and feel of what sort it is. That is faith as the touch. They put it to their nostrils; they ascertain somewhat of its character by the very smell. This is faith judging and discerning as smell. But lo! they place it in their mouths, and one of them says, "It tastes like wafers made with honey;" and another says "It is as fresh oil." This is faith enjoying, for now they have come, not to hear of, nor see, nor smell, nor touch alone, but men do eatangel’s food, and are fed even to the full. Here you see Faith in its Progressive Works Ending by the High Degree of Tasting.

3. Faith as exhibited to us under the aspect of tasting, is a sure and certain mark of grace in the heart — it is a sure sign of life. Man, by Nature, Is Dead in Trespasses and Sins. See if the dead can taste. Bring the most pungent drugs; do these arouse the palate? Give them a foul draught, and see if nausea can be produced. Now, put sweets to the dead man’s tongue; do the eyes glisten? It is long since that corpse has eaten; does it show any satisfaction in the presence of food? No; it is dead, and taste has fled with the once alive soul. Truly, Brethren, No Man Can Taste of Christ in His Natural Estate, and if you or I know Christ to be precious, we may be sure that we are alive through the Holy Spirit. We may not be able to say when the Spirit of God came into us; perhaps this may be a trouble to us, that we do not know the day when we were quickened from our death in sin, but, dear friend, the life itself is there! Do You Enjoy Christ? Is His Name Sweet Music to You? Oh! Can You Roll the Doctrine of His Atonement Under Your Tongue as a Sweet Morsel? Say, Is His Flesh Food to You? Do You Rejoice in His Redemption? Then you are alive, for no dead soul ever could taste heavenly things, and to taste that the Lord is good is a certain evidence that the quickening Spirit abides in you.

Or, to put it in another light; if men have a taste for Christ, it is certain evidence of a divine change, for men by nature find no delight in Jesus. Books of surgery tell us of a few persons without taste, but the cure for such unfortunates is unknown; their infirmity is beyond the reach of drugs or surgery. If a man should be without hearing, the surgeon might, perhaps, effectually operate; or if blind, the film might be removed from the visual orb; but If Without Taste, the Defect Is Beyond the Range of Mortal Power. So, if any man has a taste for Christ, inasmuch as he had it not by human nature, and he could not have obtained it of himself, for his is a case out of the pale of human ability. That Same Christ Who Raised the Dead, must Have Given this Holy Taste to the Tasteless Palate and Tongue of the Sinner. I do not inquire what your experience may have been, or may not have been; if Christ be precious to you now, there has been a work of grace in your heart; if you now love him, if his presence is your joy, if his blood is your hope, if his glory is your object and aim, and if his person is the constant love of your soul -you could not have had this taste by nature, for you were dead; you could not have acquired this taste by learning, for this is a miracle which none but the God who is supreme over nature could have wrought in you. Let every tried and troubled Christian, who nevertheless, does taste that the Lord is good, take consolation from this simple remark.

4. In the next place; this TASTE, where it has been bestowed by grace, is a discerning faculty. There have been instances of persons who could not discern between the various flavors. A man was well known to a certain surgeon, who could just detect the distinction between the smell of garlic and the fragrance of a rose, but was quite incapable of knowing any difference between the perfume of a rose and of a lily; and the same person in feeding could never distinguish between different meats or drinks, except between the more pungent, and the more exquisitely sweet. Now, there are some Christians of that kind, who have some taste for Christ, but Their Taste Is Not Very Discerning. You may preach to them a doctrine of "ifs," and "ands," and "buts," and if it be warmly delivered and well disguised, they will hardly know what they are taking in. Then, on another occasion, you may give them the sure mercies of David- "shalls," and "wills," and everlasting verities, and oaths, and covenants, and they like that too; for they have not yet, by reason of use, become able to discern between truth and error. Yet, mark you, there was never yet a Christian who did not know the difference between the Rose of Sharon and the garlic of Egypt; there was never yet a man renewed by grace who did not soon discover the difference between works and gospel; between law and grace; between the dead efforts of the flesh, and the living power of the quickening Spirit of the living God. I have noticed that some Christians in these modern times have but little taste, and do you know to what I have ascribed it? I think they havegotten a cold, and have thus lost very much of their power of taste. Oh, how many believers there are who sit in the draft of worldliness until they get stiff-necks of carnal pride, and lose their taste for heavenly things! Besides, if a man will ruin his palate with the high-spiced viands of earth, it is little marvel that when he comes back to his natural food, Christ Jesus, he should have lost some of his delight in divine things! Now, I know there are some professors who have such a taste for worldly joys, that it is no marvel that they cannot so well discern the divine and exquisite pleasure that is in Christ Jesus, when he is fed upon by the spirit. Yet again, I say, though the degree of discernment may vary, There Is a Discerning Power in Faith as Taste. If you can feed on a religion which gives you ceremonies to trust to, you have never tasted that the Lord is gracious. If, my hearer, you can live upon a gospel which leads you to depend upon yourself, you have no spiritual taste, or else you would loathe, as much as ever Egyptian loathed to drink of the waters of Nile when turned into blood, to drink of any river which flows from created springs; You Would Only Drink of the Cool Stream of the River of Life Which Rises at the Foot of the Throne of God, and Flows Around the Base Of Calvary, Where Jesus Shed His Blood. Say, soul, do you love Jesus only? Is he all your salvation and all your desire, and do you trust and repose wholly and solely in him? For if not, then you have no spiritual taste, and you have no reason to believe that you belong unto Jesus Christ at all.

5. But, again, to pass on, having sufficiently enlarged upon that point; faith as a TASTE is not simply a discerning but a delighting faculty. Men derive much satisfaction from the organs of taste. We ought not to be as the glutton, whose only reason for living is that he may eat; but yet every one of us may be thankful that God has not made the maintaining of our body to be an obnoxious operation, and that he has given us a capacity for enjoying the flavors of food. Certain critics have a faith which is very good for discerning, but never for enjoying. They Have a Fine Nose for Heresy- the moment it comes anywhere near them they discover it; and if there be half a word in a sermon they do not like how sure they will be to take it home. One bad fish in our basket, and it will be cried all round the town before tomorrow. But let us offer ever so much that is good we can scarcely win a notice. Dear friends, I would have God’s people discerning, but the discerning propensity ought not to destroy the enjoying faculty. I bless God I love the doctrines of grace, but I never considered the doctrines of grace to be like drawn swords with which to fight every man living. I know it is a good thing to be like the armed men about the bed of Solomon, each with his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night; but for my part, to recline upon that royal bed, and sleep with Jesus’ bosom for a pillow, is better still. I beg you, dear friends, delight yourselves in Christ! Let your faith so taste Jesus as to make you glad. Let your joy be as the joy of harvest, and sing with Zechariah, "How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids." Better is Christ to you than all earth’s harvests. Christ is the cluster of Eshcol, so heavy that one man can never carry all of Christ! He is not one grape; but a Cluster of Sweetness Is Our Beloved unto Us! Feed to the full; eat, and drink abundantly, O beloved! Be satiated with delight, and let your soul rejoice as with marrow and fatness- so shall you understand in the fullest degree what this taste is which so delights the soul of man.

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