五月四日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/05/0504.mp3″]
经文: 你们蒙了重生，不是由于能坏的种子，乃是由于不能坏的种子。（彼得前书一：23）
彼得恳切地劝诫分散在各地的圣徒：“当从清洁的心里，彼此切实相爱”（彼前一：22）。他智慧地发生言论，以上帝植置于祂百姓中高超的上帝本质为基础，而不是基于人类本性的律法或哲理。上帝的百姓是荣耀的继承者，是有王族血统的王子，是万王之王的后裔，是世上真正的、最古老的贵族。彼得劝诫他们说：“因为你们高贵的出生──出于不能坏的种子，要彼此相爱。你们是出自上帝──万物的创造者。因为你们有永恒的目的，你们必不经死亡，虽然肉体的荣华可能凋谢，甚至停止生存。”（参彼前一：22～25）。在谦卑的心灵中，我们应当认清重生本质的真正高贵性，并且将之活出来。基督徒究竟是什么？你若将他比做国王，在王族的高贵之外，他还有祭司的圣洁。王的地位已融入了他最深处的本性。重生后他就高于其他人，如同人高于禽兽一样。他应当在行事为人中确实表明出自己不属于这个世界，是蒙至高恩典所拣选，并且是分别出来的。因此，他不能和世界的居民过同样的生活。让你本性中的高贵和你将来的荣繀约束你坚守圣洁的生活，避免一切的罪行。
Evening, May 4
Scripture: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible.”(1 Peter 1:23)
Peter most earnestly exhorted the scattered saints to love each other “with a pure heart fervently” and he wisely fetched his argument, not from the law, from nature, or from philosophy, but from that high and divine nature which God hath implanted in his people. Just as some judicious tutor of princes might labour to beget and foster in them a kingly spirit and dignified behaviour, finding arguments in their position and descent, so, looking upon God’s people as heirs of glory, princes of the blood royal, descendants of the King of kings, earth’s truest and oldest aristocracy, Peter saith to them, “See that ye love one another, because of your noble birth, being born of incorruptible seed; because of your pedigree, being descended from God, the Creator of all things; and because of your immortal destiny, for you shall never pass away, though the glory of the flesh shall fade, and even its existence shall cease.” It would be well if, in the spirit of humility, we recognized the true dignity of our regenerated nature, and lived up to it. What is a Christian? If you compare him with a king, he adds priestly sanctity to royal dignity. The king’s royalty often lieth only in his crown, but with a Christian it is infused into his inmost nature. He is as much above his fellows through his new birth, as a man is above the beast that perisheth. Surely he ought to carry himself, in all his dealings, as one who is not of the multitude, but chosen out of the world, distinguished by sovereign grace, written among “the peculiar people” and who therefore cannot grovel in the dust as others, nor live after the manner of the world’s citizens. Let the dignity of your nature, and the brightness of your prospects, O believers in Christ, constrain you to cleave unto holiness, and to avoid the very appearance of evil.