10月28日
因信稱義
因為我們作仇敵的時候,且藉著神兒子的死,得與神和好,既已和好,就更要因他的生得救了。(羅五10)
我不是因我的信得救,我是因著信,知道自己得救。悔改不能救我;悔改只表示我體會神在基督耶穌裡所成就的。危險的是把重點放在果效,而不放在原因上。因為我順服,所以與神和好--我的成聖。不!我與神和好,是因為在一切以先,基督死了。當我轉向神,憑信心接納神所啟示我--耶穌基督救贖的大能--就立時進入與神和好的境地;又憑著神恩典超然的神跡,我立在稱義的地位上。這不是因為我認罪,不是因為我悔改,而是因為主耶穌所成就的。神的靈帶來一道透徹的光芒,於是我知道自己得救了,雖然我不知道這到底怎樣發生的。
神的救贖並不建基於人的邏輯,乃建基於耶穌的捨身。我們得以重生,是因為主的救贖。有罪的人可以成為新造的人,不是由於他們悔改,不是由於他們相信,乃是由於神在主耶穌裡奇妙的工作,這是一切經歷之首。稱義成聖的穩固保障,是神自己。我們不必去做什麼,因為一切已在救贖中作成了。神奇妙的作為使超然的成為自然,我們可以認識主耶穌已成就的--“成了”。
祈禱◆主啊,因著在你這位眾光之父裡,“沒有改變,也沒有轉動的影兒”,我便歡喜快樂。願你使我能辨別你的統治和管理。
October
28 Justification By Faith
“For
if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Romans 5:10
I am not
saved by believing; I realize I am saved by believing. It is not repentance
that saves me, repentance is the sign that I realize what God has done in
Christ Jesus. The danger is to put the emphasis on the effect instead of on the
cause. It is my obedience that puts me right with God, my consecration. Never!
I am put right with God because prior to all, Christ died. When I turn to God
and by belief accept what God reveals I can accept, instantly the stupendous
Atonement of Jesus Christ rushes me into a right relationship with God; and by
the supernatural miracle of God's grace I stand justified, not because I am
sorry for my sin, not because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has
done. The Spirit of God brings it with a breaking, all-over light, and I know,
though I do not know how, that I am saved.
The
salvation of God does not stand on human logic, it stands on the sacrificial
Death of Jesus. We can be born again because of the Atonement of Our Lord.
Sinful men and women can be changed into new creatures, not by their repentance
or their belief, but by the marvellous work of God in Christ Jesus which is
prior to all experience. The impregnable safety of justification and
sanctification is God Himself. We have not to work out these things ourselves;
they have been worked out by the Atonement. The supernatural becomes natural by
the miracle of God; there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already
done – “It is finished.”