9月3日 悔改的必要
悔改的必要
“因为真受割礼的，乃是我们这以神的灵敬拜、在基督耶稣里夸口、不靠着肉体的。”（腓3:3）
若要在你心中为坚固的平安立下稳妥的根基，若无祷告与眼泪，即若无悔改，你便无法大功告成。然而，单凭这些方法本身，永远无法使人得着与神和好的平安。良心的平安，不过是赦罪怜悯的回声；当这悦耳的乐声在良心中回荡时，便将灵魂带入甜美的安息。回声不过是同一声音的重现；所以，若眼泪、祷告与善行不能为我们买来赦罪的平安，它们同样不能产生安慰的平安。请牢记我的话：没有这些，你不能得着内在的平安；但单靠这些，你也得不到内在的平安。
普通的伤口若不包扎起来避免暴露于空气中，并保持洁净，便极难愈合；然而，这些护理措施本身并不能治愈伤口，真正医治它的是药物。我并非要你停止祷告和服事，只是要你别指望平安单单从这些根须上生长出来。若你倚靠这些，便是将自己隔绝在福音所提供的真平安益处之外。这两者彼此排斥，如同德国那两条著名的河流，虽在交汇之处相遇，水流却不肯相融。
福音的平安绝不会与任何其他平安相混合。你必须饮用纯净无杂的福音平安，否则就一口也喝不到。保罗代表自己，也代表众信徒作见证说：“因为真受割礼的，乃是我们这以神的灵敬拜、在基督耶稣里夸口、不靠着肉体的。”（腓3:3）他宣告说：“我们在任何圣洁的本分或服事上都不落人后。不，我们甚至超越这些，因为我们是以神的灵敬拜；但即便如此，这也不是我们汲取喜乐与安慰的水龙头。我们是在基督耶稣里夸口，绝非靠着肉体。”因此，凡抵挡基督、阻碍我们在祂里面夸口的，保罗一概称之为肉体。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：撒上27章，林前8章，
个人灵修：结6章，约7章
SEPTEMBER 3, THURSDAY
THE NEED FOR REPENTANCE
“We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3).
Now as for laying a sure foundation for solid peace in your heart, you cannot complete it without prayers and tears— I mean repentance. But by themselves, these remedies will never provide peace with God. Peace of conscience is nothing more than the echo of pardoning mercy which brings the soul into sweet rest as its pleasant music sounds in the conscience. This echo is only the same voice repeated; so if tears and prayers and good works cannot purchase our peace of pardon, they cannot effect the peace of comfort either. Remember what I have said—you cannot have inner peace without these; but you cannot have it by them alone.
A common wound will hardly heal unless it is wrapped up from the open air and kept clean; yet these measures do not cure it—the medicine does. I do not want you to stop praying and serving; just do not expect peace to grow only from their root. If you do rely on this you isolate yourself from any benefit of true peace which the Gospel offers. One resists the other like two famous rivers in Germany, whose streams will not mingle when they meet.
Gospel peace will not merge with any other peace. You must drink it pure and undiluted or not at all. Speaking for himself and for all other believers, Paul testified, “We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). He was declaring, “We do not fall behind in any holy duty or service. No, we go beyond them, because we worship God in the spirit; but even this is not the tap where we draw our joy and comfort. We rejoice in Christ Jesus, not in the flesh.” Thus anything which opposes Christ and our rejoicing in Him, Paul calls flesh.