“If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” “ If “–then there
is a possibility that some may not have tasted that the Lord is
gracious, and it is needful to inquire whether we are amongst the number
who know the grace of God by heart-experience. There is no spiritual
revelation which may not be a matter of heart-searching. At the very
summit of holy delight we meet the challenge of sentinel “If”–“If ye
then be risen with Christ;” and at the very bottom of the hill, even at
Repentance-gate itself, He meets us with a warrant of arrest, until He
sees whether our sorrow is the godly sorrow which needeth not to be
repented of. “If thou be 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. At
the Lord’s Table itself it is proper for us to pray, “Lord, is it I?”
when there is a Judas in the company; and after the most intimate
fellowship, Christ exclaimed, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” Let
no enjoyment of ordinances, let no high and rapt fellowship which we may
have known, exempt us from the great duty of proving ourselves whether
we be in the faith. Examine yourselves then in this matter, and rest not
satisfied until you can say, “There is no ‘if’ about it; I have tasted
that the Lord is gracious.”