Jesus answered and said, ’I thank You, Father . . . that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’ —Matthew 11:25
We do not grow into a spiritual relationship step by step— we either have a relationship or we do not. God does not continue to cleanse us more and more from sin— “But if we walk in the light,” we are cleansed “from all sin” (1 John 1:7). It is a matter of obedience, and once we obey, the relationship is instantly perfected. But if we turn away from obedience for even one second, darkness and death are immediately at work again.
All of God’s revealed truths are sealed until they are opened to us through obedience. You will never open them through philosophy or thinking. But once you obey, a flash of light comes immediately. Let God’s truth work into you by immersing yourself in it, not by worrying into it. The only way you can get to know the truth of God is to stop trying to find out and by being born again. If you obey God in the first thing He shows you, then He instantly opens up the next truth to you. You could read volumes on the work of the Holy Spirit, when five minutes of total, uncompromising obedience would make things as clear as sunlight. Don’t say, “I suppose I will understand these things someday!” You can understand them now. And it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience. Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already. Beware of becoming one of the “wise and prudent.” “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know . . .” (John 7:17).
我怎知道？
父啊，天地的主，我感謝你，因為你將這些事，向聰明通達人，就藏起來，向嬰孩，就顯出來。 （太十一25）
在屬靈的關係上，沒有漸長這回事；有就有，沒有就是沒有。神並不是愈來愈洗清我們的罪，而是我們若行在光中，一切罪就除掉了。問題是順服與否，若順服，那關係就隨即完全了。只要一秒鐘不順服，黑暗與死亡就隨即作工。
神所有的啟示全都是密封的，不能靠哲學或思想開啟。只有靠順服，才向我們開啟。一順服，亮光就來。不是牽腸掛肚地要進入真理，乃是要浸在真理中，好叫他能在你裡面作工。要認識真理，就只有靠重生，而不是靠追尋。順服神告訴你的事，下一步就會向你顯明。關於聖靈的工作，我們可以讀萬卷書，但只要有五分鐘的完全順服，事情就明朗如目光。 [我想總有一天會明白的。 ]其實你如今就可以明白。不是靠研究，乃是靠順服。一點點的順服，就能打開天門，神深奧的真理就立即屬於你了。你若尚未順服神向你啟示的真理，他不會再向你顯示更多真理。要當心變得[聰明通達]。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，願我從肉體和心靈的各種污穢中自潔；除去屬靈生命中所有的粗糙品質，以致我可以在滿足的喜樂中，在你裡面居住。
October 10, 2012
October 09, 2012
Building on the Atonement
. . . present . . . your members as instruments of righteousness to God —Romans 6:13
I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made the perfect atonement for sin. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it? The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things. The redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith on it. If I construct my faith on my own experience, I produce the most unscriptural kind of life— an isolated life, with my eyes focused solely on my own holiness. Beware of that human holiness that is not based on the atonement of the Lord. It has no value for anything except a life of isolation— it is useless to God and a nuisance to man. Measure every kind of experience you have by our Lord Himself. We cannot do anything pleasing to God unless we deliberately build on the foundation of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
The atonement of Jesus must be exhibited in practical, unassuming ways in my life. Every time I obey, the absolute deity of God is on my side, so that the grace of God and my natural obedience are in perfect agreement. Obedience means that I have completely placed my trust in the atonement, and my obedience is immediately met by the delight of the supernatural grace of God.
Beware of the human holiness that denies the reality of the natural life— it is a fraud. Continually bring yourself to the trial or test of the atonement and ask, “Where is the discernment of the atonement in this, and in that?”
振作
將肢體獻給義作奴僕，以至於成聖。 （羅六19）
我不能救自己，叫自己成聖，也不能贖罪；我不能救贖世界，把歪的弄直，把不純的變為純淨，把不潔的變為聖潔。這完全是神至高無上的作為。我對主耶穌成就的一切，有沒有信心呢？他成就完全的救恩，我有沒有時刻緊記？最重要的不是作什麼，而是相信。基督的救贖不是一個經驗，乃是神透過基督成就的大作為，我要把信心建基其上。若我的信心寄託再自己的經歷上，就產生最不合聖經的模式－－一個孤立的生命，因為我只注視自身的潔白。要提防那種不以主的救贖為根基的敬虔。這生命毫無用處，只是避世的退隱。對神無用處，對人也無裨益。要以主耶穌來衡量每一種經歷。除非我們把所有事物建在主的救贖上，否則一切所作的都不能討神喜悅。
主耶穌的救贖必須在我的生活上，產生實際自然的功效。每次我順服，神就在我這一方，他的恩典與我天然的順服，就契合為一了。順服就是把一切都沒在主的救贖上，於是就立即得著神恩典的悅納。要否定天然生命的阿敬虔，因這只是個假殼。要經常去到救贖的案前，問自己：救贖在這件或那件事上，有顯明出來麼？
祈禱◆主啊，我來到你的面前，求你自己像一團火那樣四面護衛我，而你的榮耀就在其中。這個祈求聽起來全屬自私，可是，我卻不懂得用別的方法來表達。噢，主啊，你是最清楚知道的。
I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made the perfect atonement for sin. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it? The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things. The redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith on it. If I construct my faith on my own experience, I produce the most unscriptural kind of life— an isolated life, with my eyes focused solely on my own holiness. Beware of that human holiness that is not based on the atonement of the Lord. It has no value for anything except a life of isolation— it is useless to God and a nuisance to man. Measure every kind of experience you have by our Lord Himself. We cannot do anything pleasing to God unless we deliberately build on the foundation of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.
The atonement of Jesus must be exhibited in practical, unassuming ways in my life. Every time I obey, the absolute deity of God is on my side, so that the grace of God and my natural obedience are in perfect agreement. Obedience means that I have completely placed my trust in the atonement, and my obedience is immediately met by the delight of the supernatural grace of God.
Beware of the human holiness that denies the reality of the natural life— it is a fraud. Continually bring yourself to the trial or test of the atonement and ask, “Where is the discernment of the atonement in this, and in that?”
振作
將肢體獻給義作奴僕，以至於成聖。 （羅六19）
我不能救自己，叫自己成聖，也不能贖罪；我不能救贖世界，把歪的弄直，把不純的變為純淨，把不潔的變為聖潔。這完全是神至高無上的作為。我對主耶穌成就的一切，有沒有信心呢？他成就完全的救恩，我有沒有時刻緊記？最重要的不是作什麼，而是相信。基督的救贖不是一個經驗，乃是神透過基督成就的大作為，我要把信心建基其上。若我的信心寄託再自己的經歷上，就產生最不合聖經的模式－－一個孤立的生命，因為我只注視自身的潔白。要提防那種不以主的救贖為根基的敬虔。這生命毫無用處，只是避世的退隱。對神無用處，對人也無裨益。要以主耶穌來衡量每一種經歷。除非我們把所有事物建在主的救贖上，否則一切所作的都不能討神喜悅。
主耶穌的救贖必須在我的生活上，產生實際自然的功效。每次我順服，神就在我這一方，他的恩典與我天然的順服，就契合為一了。順服就是把一切都沒在主的救贖上，於是就立即得著神恩典的悅納。要否定天然生命的阿敬虔，因這只是個假殼。要經常去到救贖的案前，問自己：救贖在這件或那件事上，有顯明出來麼？
祈禱◆主啊，我來到你的面前，求你自己像一團火那樣四面護衛我，而你的榮耀就在其中。這個祈求聽起來全屬自私，可是，我卻不懂得用別的方法來表達。噢，主啊，你是最清楚知道的。
October 08, 2012
Coming to Jesus
Come to Me . . . —Matthew 11:28
Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things about which we will not come to Jesus Christ. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words— “Come to Me . . . .” In every dimension in which you are not real, you will argue or evade the issue altogether rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; and you will do anything rather than come the last lap of the race of seemingly unspeakable foolishness and say, “Just as I am, I come.” As long as you have even the least bit of spiritual disrespect, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do something very big, and yet all He is telling you to do is to “Come . . . .”
“Come to Me . . . .” When you hear those words, you will know that something must happen in you before you can come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do, and it will involve anything that will uproot whatever is preventing you from getting through to Jesus. And you will never get any further until you are willing to do that very thing. The Holy Spirit will search out that one immovable stronghold within you, but He cannot budge it unless you are willing to let Him do so.
How often have you come to God with your requests and gone away thinking, “I’ve really received what I wanted this time!” And yet you go away with nothing, while all the time God has stood with His hands outstretched not only to take you but also for you to take Him. Just think of the invincible, unconquerable, and untiring patience of Jesus, who lovingly says, “Come to Me. . . .”
唯獨基督
到我這裡來。 （太十一28）
要我到耶穌那裡去，豈非卑躬屈膝？試想想有什麼事令我們不想到耶穌那裡去。若想知道自己的真面目，可以用[到我這裡來]這句話考一考自己。你若有任何不真誠，都會千方百計爭辯，不肯到主那裡去；你會逃避，不肯去；你寧可吃苦也不去；你寧可作任何事，也不願走這最後一程自認完全無知的路－－[依我本相到主跟前]。只要你仍有一丁點兒屬靈的自負，總會期望神叫你做大事，而他只叫你到他那裡去。
[到我這裡來。 ]聽見這句話時，便知道你未去他那里以前，某些事情必然發生。聖靈會指示你所當作的，叫你從根本的問題上下斧，除掉那阻路的東西。你不去解決，就無法再前進。聖靈會指出死結所在，但他不能強行解開，他要你自己甘願去解開。
多少時候，你來到神面前祈求，覺得這一次總可以成就了，可是每次都空手而回。其實神一直張開手等待你，要得著你，也要你得著他。想想主耶穌那無法淹沒、無可抗拒、不厭其煩的忍耐－－[到我這裡來]。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，詩人的話對我何其真實－－[我的性命幾乎歸於塵土。 ]我的靈魂鋪滿了塵土，主啊，求你按照你的話語激發我。言語藉著你的靈而得著生機，它所帶來的生命將是何等完美！主啊，願你現在便發聲。
Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things about which we will not come to Jesus Christ. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words— “Come to Me . . . .” In every dimension in which you are not real, you will argue or evade the issue altogether rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; and you will do anything rather than come the last lap of the race of seemingly unspeakable foolishness and say, “Just as I am, I come.” As long as you have even the least bit of spiritual disrespect, it will always reveal itself in the fact that you are expecting God to tell you to do something very big, and yet all He is telling you to do is to “Come . . . .”
“Come to Me . . . .” When you hear those words, you will know that something must happen in you before you can come. The Holy Spirit will show you what you have to do, and it will involve anything that will uproot whatever is preventing you from getting through to Jesus. And you will never get any further until you are willing to do that very thing. The Holy Spirit will search out that one immovable stronghold within you, but He cannot budge it unless you are willing to let Him do so.
How often have you come to God with your requests and gone away thinking, “I’ve really received what I wanted this time!” And yet you go away with nothing, while all the time God has stood with His hands outstretched not only to take you but also for you to take Him. Just think of the invincible, unconquerable, and untiring patience of Jesus, who lovingly says, “Come to Me. . . .”
唯獨基督
到我這裡來。 （太十一28）
要我到耶穌那裡去，豈非卑躬屈膝？試想想有什麼事令我們不想到耶穌那裡去。若想知道自己的真面目，可以用[到我這裡來]這句話考一考自己。你若有任何不真誠，都會千方百計爭辯，不肯到主那裡去；你會逃避，不肯去；你寧可吃苦也不去；你寧可作任何事，也不願走這最後一程自認完全無知的路－－[依我本相到主跟前]。只要你仍有一丁點兒屬靈的自負，總會期望神叫你做大事，而他只叫你到他那裡去。
[到我這裡來。 ]聽見這句話時，便知道你未去他那里以前，某些事情必然發生。聖靈會指示你所當作的，叫你從根本的問題上下斧，除掉那阻路的東西。你不去解決，就無法再前進。聖靈會指出死結所在，但他不能強行解開，他要你自己甘願去解開。
多少時候，你來到神面前祈求，覺得這一次總可以成就了，可是每次都空手而回。其實神一直張開手等待你，要得著你，也要你得著他。想想主耶穌那無法淹沒、無可抗拒、不厭其煩的忍耐－－[到我這裡來]。
祈禱◆噢，主啊，詩人的話對我何其真實－－[我的性命幾乎歸於塵土。 ]我的靈魂鋪滿了塵土，主啊，求你按照你的話語激發我。言語藉著你的靈而得著生機，它所帶來的生命將是何等完美！主啊，願你現在便發聲。
October 07, 2012
The Nature of Reconciliation
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him —2 Corinthians 5:21
Sin is a fundamental relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrong being— it is deliberate and determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.
The revealed truth of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took on Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took on Himself the heredity of sin that no man can even touch. God made His own Son “to be sin” that He might make the sinner into a saint. It is revealed throughout the Bible that our Lord took on Himself the sin of the world through identification with us, not through sympathy for us. He deliberately took on His own shoulders, and endured in His own body, the complete, cumulative sin of the human race. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. . .” and by so doing He placed salvation for the entire human race solely on the basis of redemption. Jesus Christ reconciled the human race, putting it back to where God designed it to be. And now anyone can experience that reconciliation, being brought into oneness with God, on the basis of what our Lord has done on the cross.
A man cannot redeem himself— redemption is the work of God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it. A distinction must always be made between the revealed truth of redemption and the actual conscious experience of salvation in a person’s life.
和好
神使那無罪的，替我們成為罪，好叫我們在他裡面成為神的義。 （林後五21）
罪是一種根本的關係；不是指所犯的錯事，而是錯的本體，就是故意極力脫離神獨立。基督教信仰是把一切建基在正視罪的本質。其他宗教對付許多罪行，聖經只對付一樣罪。主耶穌首先面對的，就是罪的遺傳。我們傳福音若忽略這一點，就使福音失卻了叫人扎心及爆炸性的信息。
聖經的啟示不是耶穌怎樣擔負我們肉體上的罪，而是他擔負了沒有人可以觸及的罪根。神叫自己的兒子成為罪，為叫罪人可以成為聖潔。在整部聖經中，我們看見主擔當世人的罪，擔在自己肩頭上，親自承擔一切。 [神使那無罪的，替我們成為罪。 ]正因他這樣做，就為全人類建立了救贖的根基。主耶穌恢復了人類原來的地位，把他們放在神本來計劃的地位上。任何人都可以因主耶穌在十字架上成就的，與神連合。
人無法自救，救贖是出於神，並且已經完全成就。救贖與人的關係，在於人的反應。我們必須把救贖的啟示，與個人生命中得救的經歷清楚區別。
祈禱◆主啊，為著你今早賜給我的感動，我感謝你－－可是，我卻是那麼令人驚愕地毫無生氣和毫不美麗！不過，這個對自己的認識，只表明當你不在我裡面時，我的生命境況。
Sin is a fundamental relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrong being— it is deliberate and determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.
The revealed truth of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took on Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took on Himself the heredity of sin that no man can even touch. God made His own Son “to be sin” that He might make the sinner into a saint. It is revealed throughout the Bible that our Lord took on Himself the sin of the world through identification with us, not through sympathy for us. He deliberately took on His own shoulders, and endured in His own body, the complete, cumulative sin of the human race. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. . .” and by so doing He placed salvation for the entire human race solely on the basis of redemption. Jesus Christ reconciled the human race, putting it back to where God designed it to be. And now anyone can experience that reconciliation, being brought into oneness with God, on the basis of what our Lord has done on the cross.
A man cannot redeem himself— redemption is the work of God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it. A distinction must always be made between the revealed truth of redemption and the actual conscious experience of salvation in a person’s life.
和好
神使那無罪的，替我們成為罪，好叫我們在他裡面成為神的義。 （林後五21）
罪是一種根本的關係；不是指所犯的錯事，而是錯的本體，就是故意極力脫離神獨立。基督教信仰是把一切建基在正視罪的本質。其他宗教對付許多罪行，聖經只對付一樣罪。主耶穌首先面對的，就是罪的遺傳。我們傳福音若忽略這一點，就使福音失卻了叫人扎心及爆炸性的信息。
聖經的啟示不是耶穌怎樣擔負我們肉體上的罪，而是他擔負了沒有人可以觸及的罪根。神叫自己的兒子成為罪，為叫罪人可以成為聖潔。在整部聖經中，我們看見主擔當世人的罪，擔在自己肩頭上，親自承擔一切。 [神使那無罪的，替我們成為罪。 ]正因他這樣做，就為全人類建立了救贖的根基。主耶穌恢復了人類原來的地位，把他們放在神本來計劃的地位上。任何人都可以因主耶穌在十字架上成就的，與神連合。
人無法自救，救贖是出於神，並且已經完全成就。救贖與人的關係，在於人的反應。我們必須把救贖的啟示，與個人生命中得救的經歷清楚區別。
祈禱◆主啊，為著你今早賜給我的感動，我感謝你－－可是，我卻是那麼令人驚愕地毫無生氣和毫不美麗！不過，這個對自己的認識，只表明當你不在我裡面時，我的生命境況。
October 06, 2012
The Nature of Regeneration
When it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me . . . —Galatians 1:15-16
If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem He faces? It is simply this— I have a heredity in which I had no say or decision; I am not holy, nor am I likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me that I must be holy, His teaching only causes me to despair. But if Jesus Christ is truly a regenerator, someone who can put His own heredity of holiness into me, then I can begin to see what He means when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into anyone the hereditary nature that was in Himself, and all the standards He gives us are based on that nature— His teaching is meant to be applied to the life which He puts within us. The proper action on my part is simply to agree with God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ.
The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a person is hit by his own sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God— “. . . until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put a new nature into me through which I can live a totally new life. When I finally reach the edge of my need and know my own limitations, then Jesus says, “Blessed are you . . .” (Matthew 5:11). But I must get to that point. God cannot put into me, the responsible moral person that I am, the nature that was in Jesus Christ unless I am aware of my need for it.
Just as the nature of sin entered into the human race through one man, the Holy Spirit entered into the human race through another Man (see Romans 5:12-19). And redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin, and that through Jesus Christ I can receive a pure and spotless heredity, namely, the Holy Spirit.
再造的改變
神……樂意將他兒子啟示在我心裡。 （加一15-16）
主耶穌若要把我重生過來，要面對什麼困難呢？我承襲的罪性，是我無能為力的；我並不聖潔，自己也不可能聖潔。若主耶穌所能作的，只是告訴我要聖潔，他的教訓只會帶來絕望；但主耶穌若是生命的再造者，能把自己聖潔的遺傳放進人裡面，我便可以明白要聖潔是什麼意思。救贖就是主耶穌把自己的性情傳襲到任何人身上，而他所設的標準，就是根據他的教訓，為放進去的生命而設的。我在道德方面能作的，就是承認神在十字架上對罪的判定。
新約對重生的教訓，就是當人深深感到屬靈的需要，神就把聖靈放進他的靈裡去，他的靈就被神兒子的靈所感動－－[真等到基督成形在你們心裡]。救贖的道德神蹟，就是神把一個新性情放在我裡面，以致我能活出全新的生命來。當我來到自己欠缺的極限，知道自己的有限時，耶穌說：[你有福了。 ]但要到達那境地，除非我先意識到自己的需要，否則，神不能把耶穌基督的性情放在我裡面。正如罪性是因一人進入人類，同樣，聖潔也藉另一個人進入。救贖就是透過主耶穌，把我從罪的傳襲中救出來，領受一個無玷污的遺傳，就是聖靈。
祈禱◆主啊，我的靈性－－或更準確地說，是我的思想領域－－仍是何等愚鈍和模糊，以致瑣碎的事情佔據了龐大的範圍，卻將生命中那些重要的問題擠掉。求你拯救的大能釋放我。
If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem He faces? It is simply this— I have a heredity in which I had no say or decision; I am not holy, nor am I likely to be; and if all Jesus Christ can do is tell me that I must be holy, His teaching only causes me to despair. But if Jesus Christ is truly a regenerator, someone who can put His own heredity of holiness into me, then I can begin to see what He means when He says that I have to be holy. Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into anyone the hereditary nature that was in Himself, and all the standards He gives us are based on that nature— His teaching is meant to be applied to the life which He puts within us. The proper action on my part is simply to agree with God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ.
The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a person is hit by his own sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God— “. . . until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can put a new nature into me through which I can live a totally new life. When I finally reach the edge of my need and know my own limitations, then Jesus says, “Blessed are you . . .” (Matthew 5:11). But I must get to that point. God cannot put into me, the responsible moral person that I am, the nature that was in Jesus Christ unless I am aware of my need for it.
Just as the nature of sin entered into the human race through one man, the Holy Spirit entered into the human race through another Man (see Romans 5:12-19). And redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin, and that through Jesus Christ I can receive a pure and spotless heredity, namely, the Holy Spirit.
再造的改變
神……樂意將他兒子啟示在我心裡。 （加一15-16）
主耶穌若要把我重生過來，要面對什麼困難呢？我承襲的罪性，是我無能為力的；我並不聖潔，自己也不可能聖潔。若主耶穌所能作的，只是告訴我要聖潔，他的教訓只會帶來絕望；但主耶穌若是生命的再造者，能把自己聖潔的遺傳放進人裡面，我便可以明白要聖潔是什麼意思。救贖就是主耶穌把自己的性情傳襲到任何人身上，而他所設的標準，就是根據他的教訓，為放進去的生命而設的。我在道德方面能作的，就是承認神在十字架上對罪的判定。
新約對重生的教訓，就是當人深深感到屬靈的需要，神就把聖靈放進他的靈裡去，他的靈就被神兒子的靈所感動－－[真等到基督成形在你們心裡]。救贖的道德神蹟，就是神把一個新性情放在我裡面，以致我能活出全新的生命來。當我來到自己欠缺的極限，知道自己的有限時，耶穌說：[你有福了。 ]但要到達那境地，除非我先意識到自己的需要，否則，神不能把耶穌基督的性情放在我裡面。正如罪性是因一人進入人類，同樣，聖潔也藉另一個人進入。救贖就是透過主耶穌，把我從罪的傳襲中救出來，領受一個無玷污的遺傳，就是聖靈。
祈禱◆主啊，我的靈性－－或更準確地說，是我的思想領域－－仍是何等愚鈍和模糊，以致瑣碎的事情佔據了龐大的範圍，卻將生命中那些重要的問題擠掉。求你拯救的大能釋放我。
October 05, 2012
The Nature of Degeneration
Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . . —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, “I am my own god.” This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light . . . ” (John 3:19).
墮落的傾向
這就如罪是從一人入了世界，死又是從罪來的，於是死就臨到眾人，因為眾人都犯了罪。 （羅五12）
聖經不是說神因一人的罪，就刑罰所有的人；聖經乃是說人的罪性－－我對自我主權的把持，是由一人進入人類。然而另一個人擔負了人類的罪，把罪除掉（來九26），這是何其奧秘的啟示哩。罪性並非指錯失或道德的敗落，而是自我實現的傾向－－我是自己的神。這傾向可以表現得很道德，也可以很不道德，但只有一個根基，就是對自我主權的把持。主耶穌不論碰到罪大惡極的人，還是正人君子，他均不理會前者道德的敗落或後者道德的操守；他所注意的，是我們所看不見的－－人的意向。
罪是與生俱來的，是人無能為力的，但神藉著救贖對付了罪。神藉主耶穌的十字架，拯救整個人類，使我們可以脫離那因罪而來的咒詛。神從不因人有遺傳的罪根而定人的罪。定罪不是由於我生來承襲了罪，乃是因知道主耶穌來救贖我，而我仍拒絕他，那是我就要被定罪了。 [光來到世間，世人……不愛光倒愛黑暗，定他們的罪就是在此。 ]
祈禱◆主啊，願你今天將聖靈的直覺力和先天的靈感賜給我，讓我可以在一切事情上識別你。願你恩慈的同在和平安，充滿這一天。
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, “I am my own god.” This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light . . . ” (John 3:19).
墮落的傾向
這就如罪是從一人入了世界，死又是從罪來的，於是死就臨到眾人，因為眾人都犯了罪。 （羅五12）
聖經不是說神因一人的罪，就刑罰所有的人；聖經乃是說人的罪性－－我對自我主權的把持，是由一人進入人類。然而另一個人擔負了人類的罪，把罪除掉（來九26），這是何其奧秘的啟示哩。罪性並非指錯失或道德的敗落，而是自我實現的傾向－－我是自己的神。這傾向可以表現得很道德，也可以很不道德，但只有一個根基，就是對自我主權的把持。主耶穌不論碰到罪大惡極的人，還是正人君子，他均不理會前者道德的敗落或後者道德的操守；他所注意的，是我們所看不見的－－人的意向。
罪是與生俱來的，是人無能為力的，但神藉著救贖對付了罪。神藉主耶穌的十字架，拯救整個人類，使我們可以脫離那因罪而來的咒詛。神從不因人有遺傳的罪根而定人的罪。定罪不是由於我生來承襲了罪，乃是因知道主耶穌來救贖我，而我仍拒絕他，那是我就要被定罪了。 [光來到世間，世人……不愛光倒愛黑暗，定他們的罪就是在此。 ]
祈禱◆主啊，願你今天將聖靈的直覺力和先天的靈感賜給我，讓我可以在一切事情上識別你。願你恩慈的同在和平安，充滿這一天。
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