12月29日 无可推诿
12月29日，周一
无可推诿
“我得罪了祢，唯独得罪祢；我行了祢眼中看为恶的事，因此，祢宣判的时候，显为公义；祢审判的时候，显为清正。”（诗篇51:4）
下一步，一个人会发现：自己在神面前完全没有任何借口、也没有任何可以申辩的理由。大卫是在对神说：“我连一个借口也找不到。我没有任何辩词。没有什么话能替我开脱。我所做的一切毫无道理。整件事纯粹是我任意妄为、执意犯罪的结果。我彻底错了。我没有任何理由可以用来减轻自己的罪责。”
我必须特别强调这一点：这正是认罪悔改与被罪责刺透（知罪）中绝对不可缺少的一环。因为真正的悔改，不是把罪解释得“情有可原”，而是让神的话照亮我们，使我们承认：罪就是罪，我们就是该被定罪的人。因此，我恳请你省察自己，也省察你的行为：你能为你所做的一切辩护吗？你真的能拿出什么“减轻罪责”的理由吗？ 让我用先知拿单的方式来对你说：如果我站在讲台上，不直接点你的名，而是用一个“关于别人的比喻”来描述你的生命光景，你能看出那说的其实就是你吗？我们必须在这方面认真自省。我就直截了当地讲：只要你还在为自己辩护，你就还没有悔改。只要你仍然紧抓任何形式的自我开脱、自我证明、自以为义——我就不得不说：你还没有悔改。
真正悔改的人，会像大卫那样说：“我什么借口也没有。我看得清清楚楚。我没有任何理由替自己开脱。我所看见的那些在自己生命里的东西——我恨恶它们。我根本不该做那些事。我是明知故犯，是出于自己意志去做的。我承认！我坦然认罪，‘因此，祢宣判的时候，显为公义；祢审判的时候，显为清正’”。
当神定你的罪时，你是否觉得神对你太严厉？你是否觉得：如果你最终落在地狱里，那就是神不公平？若你这样想，你就还没有悔改。我甚至要更进一步强调：悔改的试金石就在这里——一个人真正看清自己的内心与一生之后，会在神面前承认：“我只配得着地狱，除此以外我什么也不配；若神把我丢在地狱里，我也没有一句怨言，因为祂仍是公义的。”这不是在否认神的怜悯，恰恰相反：这是在承认，神若施怜悯就全是恩典；祂若按公义审判，我们无可推诿。悔改正是这样把一切“功劳”从人手里拿走，让人不再靠自己，只能投奔基督。因为没有悔改，就没有救恩，不是因为悔改成了功德，而是因为不悔改的人仍在紧抓自义，拒绝向基督降服。
默想主题：
只要你仍然紧抓任何形式的自我辩解和自以为义，你就还没有悔改。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：代下34章，启20章
个人灵修：玛2章，约19章
December 29, Monday
MAN HAS NO EXCUSE
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. (PSALM 51:4)
In the next step a man finds that he has absolutely no excuse or plea. David is telling God, “I haven’t a single excuse. I have no plea. There is nothing to be said for me. There is no reason for what I have done. The whole thing was the result of utter willfulness. I am altogether wrong. I have nothing to plead in mitigation.”
I want to emphasize this. I say that this is an absolutely essential part of repentance and of conviction of sin. I therefore plead with you to examine yourselves and examine your actions. Can you justify all you have done? Can you really put up a plea of mitigation? Let me take up the position of Nathan the prophet. What if I stood in this pulpit and described your love to you in a parable about somebody else? Would you see it? We must examine ourselves in this respect. Let me put it bluntly by putting it to you like this. As long as you are in the position of trying to justify yourself, you have not repented. As long as you are clinging to any attempt at self-justification and self-righteousness, I say you have not repented. Surely the man who is repentant is the man who, like David, says, “There is not a single excuse. I see it clearly. I have no justification. The things that I see in my life—I hate them. I had no business doing them. I did them willfully; I knew it was wrong. I admit it! I frankly confess it—‘that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.’”
Do you feel that God is rather hard on you when He condemns you? Do you feel that God would be dealing unfairly with you if you ever found yourself in hell? If you do, you have not repented. I would emphasize that the test of repentance is this—that a man having looked at himself, and at his own heart and life, says to himself, “I deserve nothing but hell, and if God sends me there, I haven’t a single complaint to make. I desire nothing better!” That is an essential part of repentance, and without repentance there is no salvation.
A Thought to Ponder: As long as you are clinging to any attempt at self-justification and self-righteousness, you have not repented.