晨興聖言-經歷、享受並彰顯基督(四)(W44-6)

第四十四週.週六

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晨興餧養

啟十二11 『弟兄們勝過他,是因…他們雖至於死,也不愛自己的魂生命。』

太十六24 『於是耶穌對門徒說,若有人要跟從我,就當否認己,背起他的十字架,並跟從我。』

因著亞當墮落,撒但就和人的魂生命,就是人的己聯合。(太十六23~24。)因此,我們要勝過撒但,就當不愛自己的魂生命,倒要恨惡並否認。(路十四26,九23。)那些構成男孩子的得勝信徒,『雖至於死,也不愛自己的魂生命。』只有那些不愛自己魂生命的人,纔甘心殉道。我們必須恨惡我們的己。只要我們愛自己的魂生命,就成為土,好作撒但的食物。但我們若不愛自己的魂生命,不愛我們的己,就不會成為土,這就叫撒但被殺死。當我們的魂生命被殺死,撒但也就被殺死。這是我們作為婦人的較剛強部分,勝過撒但的路。(啟示錄生命讀經,五○三至五○四頁。)

信息選讀

撒但對付我們最好的辦法,就是使我們用自己的力量來作事。撒但…要我們用自己天然的才能,血氣的能力來為神工作。

天然的才能就是我們原有的才能,從未受過十字架運行的對付,也就是在我們的人格裏所帶來的東西。有的人,他天然的能力是他的聰明…;有的人,他天然的能力是他的口才,他不必特別得著聖靈的能力,就很會說話。但是,人不能藉著沒有經過十字架對付的天然的能力來事奉神。…我們總得被神帶到一個地步,變成一個戰兢恐懼的人,變成一個離了主不能作甚麼的人,(不是口裏說說,乃是的確如此的人,)纔能在神的手裏有用處。

我們要學習認識十字架。十字架就是對付我們,使我們不敢憑著自己動。我們光是講十字架的道理沒有用,光是聽十字架的道理也沒有用。神所需要的,是經過十字架,受過十字架對付的人。你所傳的信息對了還不彀,還要問你這個人是誰。保羅說,『我…在你們中間不知道別的,只知道耶穌基督,並這位釘十字架的。我在你們那裏,又軟弱,又懼怕,又甚戰兢。我說的話,講的道,不是用智慧動聽的言語…。』(林前二2~4。)前面是說出他的信息,後面是說出他是怎樣的人。我們想,像保羅這樣的人,上講臺是綽綽有餘了。但是保羅…傳的信息是十字架,他自己是又輭弱,又懼怕,又甚戰兢。…如果我們受過了十字架的對付,我們就沒有把握,就不敢誇口。

從我們這一方面來看,十字架就是除去一切不是出於神的,十字架就是只留下從神出來的。…有的弟兄說,我從前這樣救人,那樣救人,現在學習受十字架的對付,這樣對付,那樣對付,被它對付完了,好像沒有事情可作了。這就是證明他從前的一切都是出於他自己的。因為凡出於神的,都是十字架所殺不死的。…經過十字架還爬得起來的,就是出於神的;經過十字架爬不起來的,就是出於人的。主耶穌是出於神的,祂經過了十字架能起來。所有魂的生命,血氣的生命,我們要不愛惜它,一直到死的地步。…我們的態度是:我們不憑著自己作人,我們不能作一個自以為有本領,自以為有把握的人,我們要戰戰兢兢的作人,我們知道自己是一個軟弱的人。(倪柝聲文集第二輯第十四冊,一一二至一一四頁。)

參讀:聖潔沒有瑕疵,第四章。

WEEK 44 — DAY 6

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Morning Nourishment

Rev. 12:11 And they overcame him because…they loved not their soul-life even unto death.

Matt. 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.

Because of Adam’s fall, Satan has joined himself to man’s soul-life, man’s self (Matt. 16:23-24). Hence, to overcome him we must not love our soul-life but rather hate it and deny it (Luke 14:26; 9:23). The overcoming believers who constitute the man-child do not love their soul-life even unto death. Those who do not love their soul-life are willing to be martyred. We must hate our self. As long as we love our soul-life, we are dust, good to be food for Satan. But if we do not love our soul-life, our self, there will be no dust, and Satan will be killed. When our soul-life is killed, Satan is killed also. This is the way for us, as the stronger part of the woman, to overcome Satan. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 411-412)

Today’s Reading

The best way for Satan to deal with us is to cause us to act in our own strength…He wants us to exercise our own natural ability and fleshly energy in our work for God.

Natural ability is the ability which we originally had and which has never been dealt with by the cross. It accompanies our character. The natural ability of one person may be his cleverness…The natural ability of another may be his eloquence. He can speak well independent of any special power from the Holy Spirit. Man, however, cannot serve God with the natural ability that has never been dealt with by the cross…Oh, we all must be brought by God to the place where we are trembling and fearful lest we do anything without the Lord. We must become such persons—not merely speaking such things, but actually being such persons. Then we will become useful in the hand of God.

We must learn to experience the cross. The purpose of the cross is to deal with us, so that we will not dare to move by our selves. It is useless merely to talk about the message of the cross or to listen to the message of the cross. God needs those who have gone through the cross and have been dealt with by the cross. It is not enough that our message is correct. We have to ask, “How about ourselves? What kind of persons are we?” The apostle Paul said, “For I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling; and my speech and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom” (1 Cor. 2:2-4). The first part of these verses refers to Paul’s message, and the last part refers to Paul’s person. We often think that when a person like Paul gets up to speak, he must feel rich and full of his own resources. But Paul’s message was the cross, and he himself was in weakness, fear, and much trembling…If we have been dealt with by the cross, we will not have any self-confidence, and we will not dare to boast.

The subjective work of the cross in us is to take away the things which do not originate with God. The cross leaves only the things which are of God… Some brothers have said that in the past they had many ways to help people be saved, but after they began to experience the dealing of the cross, the cross has dealt with their various ways, and it seems as if they are not able to do anything. This proves that what they did previously came out from themselves, because whatever is of God cannot be slain by the cross…That which passes through the cross and rises up again is of God; anything which is not able to rise is of man. The Lord Jesus is of God, for after He passed through the cross, He was able to rise again. We should not love anything of the soulish life or of the life of the flesh, but let it all go into death…Our attitude is that we will not live by ourselves in any way; we will not value our own ability or have any self-confidence. We must live as men full of fear and trembling. We must realize what feeble creatures we are. (CWWN, vol. 34, “The Glorious Church,” pp. 91-93)

Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 34, “The Glorious Church,” ch. 4

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