四月八日
这些事既行在有汁水的树上，那枯干的树将来怎么样呢？（路23:31）
这一个暗示性的问题有很多解释，下面是它所有的教训：“若无辜的我，成为罪人的替身，这样受苦受辱，而当罪人——枯干的树——落在发烈怒之神的手里又当怎样呢？”当神以罪人的地位看待耶稣时，神并不宽恕他；当神看到一个没有基督的未重生的人时，神也不会轻饶他的。罪人哪！耶稣被仇敌带去，你也必被恶者拉到你的归宿。耶稣被神离弃，而他只不过是罪人的替身被离弃，你的情形更当怎样呢？“以罗伊，以罗伊！拉马撒巴各大尼？”这是一种多么凄惨可怕的呼号呀！当你喊道：“我的神，我的神！你为什么离弃我？”你所得到的回答一定是：因你们“轻弃我一切的劝戒，不肯受我的责备。你们遭灾难，我就发笑；惊恐临到你们，我必嗤笑。”若神连自己的儿子也不稍加宽恕，他又怎能宽恕你呢！当你的良心击打你的时候，必像灼热的铁鞭可怕地临到你。你们最有钱、最快乐、最自以为义的罪人——当神说：“刀剑哪！应当兴起，攻击拒绝我的人；打击他，使他永远受亏损”时，谁能替代你呢？耶稣被人唾弃，罪人哪！你的羞辱当怎样呢！你不能用一句话把为我们而死的耶稣所受的一切痛苦总括起来。若你现在死去，谁知道你的灵魂所受的苦痛不会像浩瀚的江河、汪洋的大海涌到你的头上呢？你或许就这样死去，也或许现在就死去。你可以借着基督的苦痛，他的创伤，他的血，使将来的忿怒不临到你！你若信靠神的儿子，就永远不会死亡。
April 8
“If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the
dry?” –Luke 23:31
Among other interpretations of this suggestive question, the following
is full of teaching: “If the innocent substitute for sinners, suffer thus,
what will be done when the sinner himself –the dry tree–shall fall into the
hands of an angry God?” When God saw Jesus in the sinner’s place, He did
not spare Him; and when He finds the unregenerate without Christ, He will not
spare them. O sinner, Jesus was led away by His enemies: so shall you be
dragged away by fiends to the place appointed for you. Jesus was deserted of
God; and if He, who was only imputedly a sinner, was deserted, how much more
shall you be? “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” what an awful shriek!
But what shall be your cry when you shall say, “O God! O God! why hast
Thou forsaken me?” and the answer shall come back, “Because ye have
set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof: I also will laugh
at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.” If God spared not
His own Son, how much less will He spare you! What whips of burning wire will
be yours when conscience shall smite you with all its terrors. Ye richest, ye
merriest, ye most self-righteous sinners–who would stand in your place when
God shall say, “Awake, O sword, against the man that rejected Me; smite
him, and let him feel the smart for ever”? Jesus was spit upon: sinner,
what shame will be yours! We cannot sum up in one word all the mass of sorrows
which met upon the head of Jesus who died for us, therefore it is impossible
for us to tell you what streams, what oceans of grief must roll over your
spirit if you die as you now are. You may die so, you may die now. By the
agonies of Christ, by His wounds and by His blood, do not bring upon yourselves
the wrath to come! Trust in the Son of God, and you shall never die.
