晨興聖言-亞伯拉罕、以撒、雅各的神-(W5-3)

第五週■週三

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晨興餧養

加六 18『弟兄們,願我們主耶穌基督的恩與你們的靈同在。阿們。』

彼後三 18『你們卻要在我們的主和救主耶穌基督的恩典和知識上長大。…』

彼前五 10『但那全般恩典的神,就是那曾在基督耶穌裏召你們進入祂永遠榮耀的,等你們暫受苦難之後,必要親自成全你們,堅固你們,加強你們,給你們立定根基。』

以撒在恩典裏被養大。(創二一8。)藉他的歷史我們看見,他沒有作甚麼。他生出來,他被養大。…就像農夫在果園中栽種蘋果,神也在祂的果園中栽種以撒。以撒是在恩典裏被神養大的。

彼後三章十八節告訴我們:『要在…恩典…上長大。』這指明長大乃是…〔藉着〕餧養和澆灌。〔參彼前二 2,林前三 2,6。〕在恩典上長大,就是享受基督之於我們的一切,作我們的靈食和活水而長大。基督之於我們的一切豐富,乃是叫我們在生命裏長大。我們越享受基督的豐富,(弗三 8,)我們就越在生命裏長大。(四 15。)(創世記生命讀經,一○○四至一○○五頁。)

信息選讀

神乃是要把祂自己作到我們裏面,成爲我們的謙卑和一切。祂要我們說,『主,我一無所有,我也不作甚麼,我只向你敞開,讓你進來,安家在我裏面,活在我裏面,爲我作一切。主,你活,我要享受你的活。甚麼時候你在我裏面作事,我就要說,「主,讚美你,這真好!我不是作工的人,我是享受的人,我珍賞你爲我所作的一切。」』

恩典就是神把祂自己作到我們裏面,作我們的享受。這位神今天不僅僅是父神,也是子神和靈神。不僅如此,靈神也是恩典的靈,(來十 29,)這恩典乃是生命的恩典,(彼前三 7,)也是『諸般的恩典』,(四 10,)『全般的恩典』,(五 10,)『彀用的恩典』。(林後十二 9。)三一神是這樣的恩典,這恩典如今與我們的靈同在。(加六 18。)恩典乃是三一神的神聖人位作爲那靈,住在我們的靈裏。這恩典的靈住在我們靈裏,作我們的享受,使我們享受神作我們的生命和一切,甚至作我們的生活。這就是爲甚麼保羅的每一封書信都結束於:『願恩典與你們同在。』…恩典不是在我們外面,乃是在我們裏面。不論我們稱之爲恩典的靈或生命的恩典,恩典在我們靈裏總是活的,神聖的。我們的確有這樣神聖的實際,就是三一神自己,在我們靈裏作我們的恩典和享受。當祂藉着我們愛別人的時候,這愛就是我們的享受,當祂藉着我們活出祂自己的時候,這個活也是我們的享受。

我們爲甚麼受苦?因爲我們的己、自我、天然的人仍在這裏,需要受對付。…每個從神來的對付,都是破碎我們天然的人,使我們更多享受祂作我們的恩典。爲此,我們有亞伯拉罕和以撒;有損失的痛苦,也有得着的享受。這不是得着外面的東西;乃是得着內住的那位,就是恩典的靈和生命的恩典。…祝福必須成爲恩典。在舊約裏,神賜給祂子民許多東西當作祝福,但那些東西僅僅是外面的祝福。在基督來臨之前,這些祝福都沒有作到神子民裏面。基督來不僅爲我們死在十字架上,更在死後成了賜生命的靈進到我們裏面。所以在新約裏有『在基督裏』和『基督在你們裏面』的辭。現今祂在我們裏面,我們也在祂裏面。神在基督裏所賜給我們的,已經作到我們裏面,成爲恩典,就是我們的享受。現今我們不僅在祂的祝福之下,我們更在祂的恩典裏面,祂的恩典也在我們裏面。…新約從未說,『願祝福與你們同在,』卻一再說,『願恩典與你們同在。』(創世記生命讀經,一○○一至一○○四頁。)

參讀:亞伯拉罕以撒雅各的神,第七章。

WEEK 5 — DAY 3

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Morning Nourishment

Gal. 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

2 Pet. 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…

1 Pet. 5:10 But the God of all grace, He who has called you into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you.

Isaac was grown up in grace (Gen. 21:8). By his history we see that he did not do anything. He was born and he was grown up…Like a farmer who grows apples in his orchard, God grew Isaac like a tree in His orchard. Isaac was grown up by God in grace.

Second Peter 3:18 tells us to “grow in the grace.” This indicates that to grow is by the feeding and watering [cf. 1 Pet. 2:2; 1 Cor. 3:2, 6]…To grow in grace is to grow in the enjoyment of all that Christ is to us as our spiritual food and living water. All the riches of what Christ is to us are for our growth in life. The more we enjoy the riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8), the more we grow in life (4:15). (Life-study of Genesis, p. 826)

Todays Reading

God wants to work Himself into us to be our humility and our everything. He wants us to say, “Lord, I am nothing and will not do anything. I just open up to You that You might come in, make Your home in me, live in me, and do everything for me. Lord, You live and I’ll enjoy Your living. Whenever You do something in me, I’ll say, ‘Praise You, Lord. This is wonderful! I am not the doer; I am an enjoyer, appreciating all You are doing for me.’ “

Grace is God working Himself into our being as our enjoyment. The very God today is not only God the Father but also God the Son and God the Spirit. Moreover, God the Spirit is the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29), and this grace is the grace of life (1 Pet. 3:7), which is “the varied grace” (4:10), the “all grace” (5:10), and the sufficient grace (2 Cor. 12:9). The Triune God is such a grace, and this grace is now with our spirit (Gal. 6:18). Grace is the divine person of the Triune God as the Spirit indwelling our spirit. It is by the Spirit of grace indwelling our spirit to be our enjoyment that we may enjoy God as our life and our everything, even as our living. This is why every one of Paul’s Epistles ends with the words, “Grace be with you.”…Grace is not outside of us; it is in us. Whatever we call it, the Spirit of grace or the grace of life, it is something living and divine in our spirit. We do have such a divine reality, the Triune God Himself, in our spirit as our grace and enjoyment. When He loves others through us, this love is our enjoyment. When He lives Himself out through us, this living is also our enjoyment.

We suffer because the self, the ego, the natural man, is still here and must be dealt with…Every dealing from God is a breaking of our natural man that we may enjoy more of Him as our grace. Thus, we have Abraham and Isaac; we have the suffering of the loss and the enjoyment of the gain. This gain is not the gain of outward things; it is the gain of the indwelling One, that is, the Spirit of grace and the grace of life…The blessing must become the grace. In the Old Testament, God gave many things to His people as blessings, but all those things were merely outward blessings. Before Christ came, none of those blessings had been wrought into God’s people. Christ came not only to die on the cross for us but, after His death, to become the life-giving Spirit to enter into our being. Thus, in the New Testament, we have the terms in Christ and Christ in you. Now He is in us, and we are in Him. Whatever God gives us in Christ has been wrought into our being and has become grace, our enjoyment. Now we are not merely under His blessing; we are in His grace, and His grace is in us…The New Testament never says, “Blessing be with you.” Rather, it says repeatedly, “Grace be with you.” (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 824-826)

Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 35, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” ch. 7

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