7月1日 免不了的刑罚

“没有一个天堂有一个地狱的角落。”神一心要使你纯洁、正直、无暇，就一刻不容你离开圣灵的监察。他催逼你一知罪，便立刻接受审判。可是你不肯，于是后果就来了，你如今在监牢中，必须还清每一文钱，才可以出来。你会说：“这岂是慈悲仁爱的神吗？”从神那方面看来，这正是他荣耀的爱。神要叫你出来时圣洁无暇；同时他要你看透自己的本性－－就是要抓紧权利。一旦你肯让神改变你，他再造的大能就产生功效。一旦你明白神的用心，是要你与他有正确的关系，也与其他人有正确的关系，神就会用尽宇宙一切的权能，助你走上正途。

请你现在立志－－“我肯，主啊，今晚我必定写那封信”；“我现在就与那人和好”。

耶稣基督这信息是对你的意志与良心而讲的，而不是对你的理智而发出。你若拿登山宝训去强辩，就会把心中的呼召声冲淡了。

“我不明白为什么与神没有进展？”你有没有偿还神心目中的债？你一直拖延的事，现在就做吧。每一个道德呼声背后，都有一个“应该”。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，但愿我能看见你的面容，认识你的能力和那使人兴奋的恩典。愿你靠近我这个已完全复原的生命，并且求你宽恕我忽略了你如何使我复原。

July 1 The Inevitable Penalty

“Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the uttermost farthing.” Matthew 5:26

There is no heaven with a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure and holy and right; He will not allow you to escape for one moment from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit. He urged you to come to judgment right away when He convicted you, but you did not; the inevitable process began to work and now you are in prison, and you will only get out when you have paid the uttermost farthing. “Is this a God of mercy, and of love?” you say. Seen from God's side, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure and spotless and undefiled; but He wants you to recognize the disposition you were showing – the disposition of your right to yourself. The moment you are willing that God should alter your disposition, His recreating forces will begin to work. The moment you realize God's purpose, which is to get you rightly related to Himself and then to your fellow men, He will tax the last limit of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide it now – “Yes, Lord, I will write that letter to-night”; “I will be reconciled to that man now.”

These messages of Jesus Christ are for the will and the conscience, not for the head. If you dispute the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will blunt the appeal to your heart.