11月20日 神的赦免
我们藉这爱子的血……过犯得以赦免。（弗一7）
别以为神既是父亲－－他既是这样慈爱，必会赦免我们。这种情感作用在新约是没有的。神赦免我们，唯一的根源就是基督十字架上的大悲剧；若把赦免放在任何别的根据上，是无形的亵渎。神赦免我们，唯一原因是叫我们重生与他和好，是藉基督的十字架，此外别无他法。赦免是多么容易接受的事，可是却付上加略山的苦楚。我们接受赦罪，接受所赐的圣灵，凭单纯的信心得以成圣，却忘记了是神付出极大的代价为我们成就的。
赦免是神恩典的神圣奇迹：他要付出基督的十字架，才能赦罪，而仍不失为圣洁的神。切勿接受一个把救赎删去，只以神为父的观点。神的启示是他不能赦免；若赦免就违反他的本性。我们蒙赦的唯一途径，是藉救赎归回神。神的赦免惟有在超然的领域上，才不反其自然。
若拿赦罪的奇迹来比较，成圣的经历就显得微不足道。成圣不过是人生命蒙赦罪之后奇妙的表现，在人心中挑起最深感激的，该是神赦免罪。保罗从未忘怀这一点。你一旦体会神为赦免你的罪所付出的，你就会被抓住，被神的爱深深激励。
祈祷◆噢，主啊，为着你透过主耶稣的恩典，向我显明你至高的父性，我赞美你。噢，我因此可以成为天父的孩子了！
November 20 The Forgiveness Of God
“In whom we have . . . the
forgiveness of sins.” Ephesians 1:7
Beware of the pleasant view of the
Fatherhood of God – God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive
us. That sentiment has no place whatever in the New Testament. The only ground
on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ;
to put forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only
ground on which God can forgive sin and reinstate us in His favour is through
the Cross of Christ, and in no other way. Forgiveness, which is so easy for us
to accept, cost the agony of Calvary. It is possible to take the forgiveness of
sin, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and our sanctification with the simplicity of
faith, and to forget at what enormous cost to God it was all made ours.
Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace;
it cost God the Cross of Jesus Christ before He could forgive sin and remain a
holy God. Never accept a view of the Fatherhood of God if it blots out the
Atonement. The revelation of God is that He cannot forgive; He would contradict
His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back
to God by the Atonement. God’s forgiveness is only natural in the supernatural
domain.
Compared with the miracle of the
forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is slight. Sanctification
is simply the marvellous expression of the forgiveness of sins in a human life,
but the thing that awakens the deepest well of gratitude in a human being is
that God has forgiven sin. Paul never got away from this. When once you realize
all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vice, constrained
by the love of God.
