因为我们作仇敌的时候,且藉着神儿子的死,得与神和好,既已和好,就更要因他的生得救了。(罗五10)
我不是因我的信得救,我是因着信,知道自己得救。悔改不能救我;悔改只表示我体会神在基督耶稣里所成就的。危险的是把重点放在果效,而不放在原因上。因为我顺服,所以与神和好--我的成圣。不!我与神和好,是因为在一切以先,基督死了。当我转向神,凭信心接纳神所启示我--耶稣基督救赎的大能--就立时进入与神和好的境地;又凭着神恩典超然的神迹,我立在称义的地位上。这不是因为我认罪,不是因为我悔改,而是因为主耶稣所成就的。神的灵带来一道透彻的光芒,于是我知道自己得救了,虽然我不知道这到底怎样发生的。
神的救赎并不建基于人的逻辑,乃建基于耶稣的舍身。我们得以重生,是因为主的救赎。有罪的人可以成为新造的人,不是由于他们悔改,不是由于他们相信,乃是由于神在主耶稣里奇妙的工作,这是一切经历之首。称义成圣的稳固保障,是神自己。我们不必去做什么,因为一切已在救赎中作成了。神奇妙的作为使超然的成为自然,我们可以认识主耶稣已成就的--“成了”。
祈祷◆主啊,因着在你这位众光之父里,“没有改变,也没有转动的影儿”,我便欢喜快乐。愿你使我能辨别你的统治和管理。
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.”