九月二十五日
好在今時顯明他的義，使人知道他自己爲義，也稱信耶穌的人爲義。（羅3：26）
我們既因信稱義，就與神和好了。良心不再責備我們了。審判現在已經定了，但是已不再有礙于罪人了。記憶回顧過去的罪，幷爲罪悲傷，但是已不怕罪的刑罰了；因爲基督已經完全償付了他的民所欠的債，幷且得了神的收據；除非神是不公義的，否則他是不會叫人一債兩償的，耶穌所替死，所救贖的人是不會再被投到地獄裏的。
我們被光照的性情應當相信神是公義的；他必定是公義的，起初我們感到有一點恐懼；但是奇妙得很，當我們信神是公義的時候，我們馬上也感到他是我們的信心和平安的砥柱！若神是公義的，我這個罪人，如果沒有人替我死，當然要受刑罰；但耶穌已經代替了我幷爲我受刑；現在，若神是公義的，我這個罪人，在基督裏面，必永遠不能受罰了。
神對于耶穌所已經替死的人已不再根據他的律法刑罰他了。因此，耶穌站在信徒的地位上——爲一切犯了罪，當受刑的人承當了神的忿怒，信徒便可勝利地高呼：“誰能控告神所揀選的人呢？”神不能，因爲他已經稱他們爲義了；基督不能，因他已爲他們死了，“而且從死裏復活了”了。我得以存活的指望幷非因爲我不是一個罪人，而是因爲基督已經爲我這個罪人死了；我所倚靠的幷非我的聖潔，而是他已爲我這個不潔的人成爲我的義了。我的信幷不在于我現在或將來的情形、我所感覺或知道的事，而是在于基督現在和過去所爲我成就的事。盼望的美女騎在公義的獅背上真像一位王后一樣。
September
25
“Just,
and the justifier of him which believeth.” — Romans 3:26
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Conscience accuses no
longer. Judgment now decides for the sinner instead of against him. Memory
looks back upon past sins, with deep sorrow for the sin, but yet with no dread
of any penalty to come; for Christ has paid the debt of His people to the last
jot and tittle, and received the divine receipt; and unless God can be so
unjust as to demand double payment for one debt, no soul for whom Jesus died as
a substitute can ever be cast into hell. It seems to be one of the very
principles of our enlightened nature to believe that God is just; we feel that
it must be so, and this gives us our terror at first; but is it not marvellous
that this very same belief that God is just, becomes afterwards the pillar of
our confidence and peace! If God be just, I, a sinner, alone and without a
substitute, must be punished; but Jesus stands in my stead and is punished for
me; and now, if God be just, I, a sinner, standing in Christ, can never be
punished. God must change His nature before one soul, for whom Jesus was a
substitute, can ever by any possibility suffer the lash of the law. Therefore,
Jesus having taken the place of the believer– having rendered a full
equivalent to divine wrath for all that His people ought to have suffered as
the result of sin, the believer can shout with glorious triumph, “Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” Not God, for He hath
justified; not Christ, for He hath died, “yea rather hath risen
again.” My hope lives not because I am not a sinner, but because I am a
sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am holy, but that being
unholy, He is my righteousness. My faith rests not upon what I am, or shall be,
or feel, or know, but in what Christ is, in what He has done, and in what He is
now doing for me. On the lion of justice the fair maid of hope rides like a
queen.
