三月六日
你們必須重生。（約3:7）
重生是救恩的基礎，我們也必須注意我們是否真正“重生”了，因為有很多人想自己是重生了，其實並未重生。要確實知道，一個人有基督徒的名字，但並不一定有基督徒的本質；生在一個基督徒的環境裡，被人當作是一位基督徒是毫無用處的，除非再加上——被聖靈的能力重生。“重生”是一件很奧秘的事，是人的話所不能形容的。“你聽見風的響聲，卻不曉得從那裡來，往那裡去。凡從聖靈生的，也是如此。”雖然如此，這種改變是可以曉得，可以感覺到的：聖靈的工作可以被人曉得，蒙恩的經驗也能被人感到。這種工作時超自然的。這不是人為的一種工作，乃是一種新的律在人心中運行，更新人的靈魂，影響整個的人。這並不是名字的改變，而是性質的更新，因此我不再是本來的我，而是在基督耶穌裡面的一個新造的人。把一個死屍洗淨，裝扮起來，和使他復活過來是一件截然不同的事；人只能裝扮，惟獨神能使死人復活。若你已被“重生”，你必承認：“主耶穌，永活的父！你是我靈魂的父親。若非你的靈把新的、聖潔的和屬靈的生命氣息吹在我裡面，我今天必仍然‘死在過犯罪惡’之中。我屬天的生命都是從你而來，我願把這生命都奉獻與你。‘我的生命與基督一同藏在神裡面。’‘現在活著的不再是我，乃是基督在我裡面活著。’“願主使我們能切實明瞭這個性命攸關的真理，因為未重生的人，就是未得救、未被赦免的人；沒有神，就沒有盼望。
March 6
“Ye must be born again.” –John 3:7
Regeneration is a subject which lies at the very basis of salvation, and
we should be very diligent to take heed that we really are “born
again,” for there are many who fancy they are, who are not. Be assured
that the name of a Christian is not the nature of a Christian; and that being
born in a Christian land, and being recognized as professing the Christian
religion is of no avail whatever, unless there be something more added to
it–the being “born again,” is a matter so mysterious, that human
words cannot describe it. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it
goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” Nevertheless, it is a
change which is known and felt: known by works of holiness, and felt by a
gracious experience. This great work is supernatural. It is not an operation
which a man performs for himself: a new principle is infused, which works in
the heart, renews the soul, and affects the entire man. It is not a change of
my name, but a renewal of my nature, so that I am not the man I used to be, but
a new man in Christ Jesus. To wash and dress a corpse is a far different thing
from making it alive: man can do the one, God alone can do the other. If you
have then, been “born again,” your acknowledgment will be, “O
Lord Jesus, the everlasting Father, Thou art my spiritual Parent; unless Thy
Spirit had breathed into me the breath of a new, holy, and spiritual life, I
had been to this day ‘dead in trespasses and sins.’ My heavenly life is wholly
derived from Thee, to Thee I ascribe it. ‘My life is hid with Christ in God.’
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who liveth in me.” May the Lord
enable us to be well assured on this vital point, for to be unregenerate is to
be unsaved, unpardoned, without God, and without hope.
