Category: 《静夜亮光》

十二月七日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/12/1207.mp3″]

经文: 向什么样的人，我就作什么样的人。无论如何，总要救些人。（哥林多前书九：22）

保罗的目标不仅是教导人，使人进步，更是要救人。达不到这目标就会让他失望。他要人从心中更新、被赦免、得成圣，并且得救。我们工作的目标是否比这伟大的目标为低？在这末世的时代，向人教以道德，当他们在上帝面前时，发现他们并末得救，如此作有什么好处？保罗知道人天性之败坏，所以他并不企图教育他们，反要去救他们。他见世人沉沦走向地狱，但他并不想要炼净他们，而是要救他们脱离那即将来临的忿怒。为了教他们得到救恩，不辞辛劳地传扬福音，警告人，恳求人要与上帝和好。他的祷告和努力从未间断。救灵魂是他心中燃烧的烈火、是他的雄心、也是他的呼召。他成为所有人的仆人，为他本族的人劳苦。若有人接受福音，他也不会特别强调形式或礼仪；对他而言，福音是最重要的。只要能救一些人，他的心就满足了。这是他劳苦为要得着之冠冕，是他所有辛劳与舍己唯一能满足他的奖赏。你我活着是否以抢救灵魂作为崇高的目标？我们是否也有同样全心贯注的愿望？耶稣为罪人死亡，我们岂不应为罪人而活？我们若不在人类的拯救上寻求基督的荣耀，怎能说我们爱祂呢？求主教那为得人灵魂而永不熄灭的烈火燃烧在我们里面。

Evening, December 7
Scripture: “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”(1 Corinthians 9:22)

Paul’s great object was not merely to instruct and to improve, but to save. Anything short of this would have disappointed him; he would have men renewed in heart, forgiven, sanctified, in fact, saved. Have our Christian labours been aimed at anything below this great point? Then let us amend our ways, for of what avail will it be at the last great day to have taught and moralized men if they appear before God unsaved? Blood-red will our skirts be if through life we have sought inferior objects, and forgotten that men needed to be saved. Paul knew the ruin of man’s natural state, and did not try to educate him, but to save him; he saw men sinking to hell, and did not talk of refining them, but of saving from the wrath to come. To compass their salvation, he gave himself up with untiring zeal to telling abroad the gospel, to warning and beseeching men to be reconciled to God. His prayers were importunate and his labours incessant. To save souls was his consuming passion, his ambition, his calling. He became a servant to all men, toiling for his race, feeling a woe within him if he preached not the gospel. He laid aside his preferences to prevent prejudice; he submitted his will in things indifferent, and if men would but receive the gospel, he raised no questions about forms or ceremonies: the gospel was the one all-important business with him. If he might save some he would be content. This was the crown for which he strove, the sole and sufficient reward of all his labours and self-denials. Dear reader, have you and I lived to win souls at this noble rate? Are we possessed with the same all-absorbing desire? If not, why not? Jesus died for sinners, cannot we live for them? Where is our tenderness? Where our love to Christ, if we seek not his honour in the salvation of men? O that the Lord would saturate us through and through with an undying zeal for the souls of men.

十二月六日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/12/1206.mp3″]

经文: 胸间束着金带。（启示录一：13）

在拔摩岛上的约翰见到“有一位好像人子”这位主所爱的门徒注意到祂束了一条金带。对耶稣来说，束上带子代表的就是随时准备服事。现在，在永恒的宝座前，祂继续着祂的神圣职事，穿上祭司的袍子，并且束上“巧工织的带子，要和以弗得一样的作法”（出二十八：8）。我们是蒙福的，因为祂并未停止为我们去完成那爱的工作，我们最大的安全乃是“祂是长远活着，替他们祈求。”（来七：25）。祂继续不断地为祂的百姓服务，祂的服事并没有停止，祂的外袍并没有脱下。金腰带彰显了祂桌越的服事、祂高贵的位格、祂神子的地位、祂所得的荣耀。祂不再于尘世上大声疾呼，却以权柄来为世人代求，祂既是君王又是祭司。我们的主为祂百姓立下一个楷模。现在不是休息的时刻，是服事与争战的时刻。我们更需要用真理把腰紧紧束住。我们的心若不以耶稣的真理和圣灵的声音为支柱很容易会被今生的事务缠累，落人试探诱惑之网罗。除非我们能以上帝的话束腰，用祂的话围住我们全人、管理我们的性情，否则即使读圣经也枉然。“所以要站隐了，用真理当作带子束腰。”（弗六：14）

Evening, December 6
Scripture: “Girt about the paps with a golden girdle.”(Revelation 1:13)

“One like unto the Son of Man” appeared to John in Patmos, and the beloved disciple marked that he wore a girdle of gold. A girdle, for Jesus never was ungirt while upon earth, but stood always ready for service, and now before the eternal throne he stays not is holy ministry, but as a priest is girt about with “the curious girdle of the ephod.” Well it is for us that he has not ceased to fulfil his offices of love for us, since this is one of our choicest safeguards that he ever liveth to make intercession for us. Jesus is never an idler; his garments are never loose as though his offices were ended; he diligently carries on the cause of his people. A golden girdle, to manifest the superiority of his service, the royalty of his person, the dignity of his state, the glory of his reward. No longer does he cry out of the dust, but he pleads with authority, a King as well as a Priest. Safe enough is our cause in the hands of our enthroned Melchizedek.

Our Lord presents all his people with an example. We must never unbind our girdles. This is not the time for lying down at ease, it is the season of service and warfare. We need to bind the girdle of truth more and more tightly around our loins. It is a golden girdle, and so will be our richest ornament, and we greatly need it, for a heart that is not well braced up with the truth as it is in Jesus, and with the fidelity which is wrought of the Spirit, will be easily entangled with the things of this life, and tripped up by the snares of temptation. It is in vain that we possess the Scriptures unless we bind them around us like a girdle, surrounding our entire nature, keeping each part of our character in order, and giving compactness to our whole man. If in heaven Jesus unbinds not the girdle, much less may we upon earth. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.

十二月五日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/12/1205.mp3″]

经文: 耶和华又指四个匠人给我看。（撒迦利亚书一：20）

在本章所叙述之异象里，先知看到四个可怕的角。它们互相推撞，要将最有力者打败。先知问道：“这是什么意思？”回答说：“这是打散犹大的角”（亚一：21）。呈现在他眼前的是一些压迫教会的势力代表。四个角代表了教会从四方八面受到攻击。先知有理由感到惊慌；但是突然在他眼前出现了四位匠人。这四位是上帝找来要打碎这些角的。上帝总会寻找人来为祂作工，并且总在适当的时刻找到这些人。没有工作需要时，先知并未见到匠人；一旦角出现了，匠人也就跟着出现。更重要的是，主找到足够的人了。有四个角就必须有四匠人。上帝也找到了合适的人。并不是四位用笔写作的文人，也不是四位设计蓝图的建筑师，乃是四位能作艰辛工作的匠人。当角制造麻烦时，上帝就找到了匠人。你不必为教会的软弱而烦躁激动。从看来不可能之处出现了使徒，从最幽暗的贫困中升起了先知。主晓得到何处去寻觅祂的仆人。祂已有众多有能力的仆人随时待命，只要祂发号施令，他们就会立刻出击。争战是主的，祂必定得胜。但愿我们能一直忠于基督，而祂，在适当的时刻，总会起来保卫我们。
 

Evening, December 5
Scripture: “And the Lord shewed me four carpenters.”(Zechariah 1:20)

In the vision described in this chapter, the prophet saw four terrible horns. They were pushing this way and that way, dashing down the strongest and the mightiest; and the prophet asked, “What are these?” The answer was, “These are the horns which have scattered Israel.” He saw before him a representation of those powers which had oppressed the church of God. There were four horns; for the church is attacked from all quarters. Well might the prophet have felt dismayed; but on a sudden there appeared before him four carpenters. He asked, “What shall these do?” These are the men whom God hath found to break those horns in pieces. God will always find men for his work, and he will find them at the right time. The prophet did not see the carpenters first, when there was nothing to do, but first the “horns,” and then the “carpenters.” Moreover, the Lord finds enough men. He did not find three carpenters, but four; there were four horns, and there must be four workmen. God finds the right men; not four men with pens to write; not four architects to draw plans; but four carpenters to do rough work. Rest assured, you who tremble for the ark of God, that when the “horns” grow troublesome, the “carpenters” will be found. You need not fret concerning the weakness of the church of God at any moment; there may be growing up in obscurity the valiant reformer who will shake the nations: Chrysostoms may come forth from our Ragged Schools, and Augustines from the thickest darkness of London’s poverty. The Lord knows where to find his servants. He hath in ambush a multitude of mighty men, and at his word they shall start up to the battle; “for the battle is the Lord’s,” and he shall get to himself the victory. Let us abide faithful to Christ, and he, in the right time, will raise up for us a defence, whether it be in the day of our personal need, or in the season of peril to his Church.

十二月四日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/12/1204.mp3″]

经文: 就是我们……也是自己心里叹息，等候得着儿子的名分，乃是我们的身体得赎。（罗马书八：23）

这种叹息是全球圣徒都有的。它是盼望之声而非绝望之音。我们等候那一日，就是我们的全人──灵、魂、体三方面，能从罪恶的残余势力得释放。我们渴望脱离腐朽、软弱和羞耻，穿上不能朽坏，不能衰残和荣耀的衣裳，这些都是主耶稣应允赐给祂儿女的。我们渴望自己得着儿子名分的时刻到来。我们叹息，但只是心中叹息。那不是虚假之叹息，为要教别人因我们的受苦而看我们是圣徒。我们只单单向主表示我们的渴望。我们并不是像约拿或以利亚求死时埋怨不平，也不是因疲于作工或因期望逃避目前的苦难而鸣咽哀怨，而是为了得荣耀而叹息。但我们必须耐心等候，因为知道主的时刻是于我们最有利的。等候暗示着已经准备妥当。我们就站在门外，等待那爱我们的主开门迎接我们，使我们永远与祂在一起。这叹息也是一种测试。你可以从一个人的叹息来判断他。有人为财富叹息。也有人为生活中所遭遇的困难不停地叹息。但是那些为上帝叹息，且因自己尚未能像基督而感不安的人，才是蒙福的人。但愿上帝帮助我们，为了主的再来而叹息，为了祂要赐给我们的复活而叹息。
 

Evening, December 4
Scripture: “Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”(Romans 8:23)

This groaning is universal among the saints: to a greater or less extent we all feel it. It is not the groan of murmuring or complaint: it is rather the note of desire than of distress. Having received an earnest, we desire the whole of our portion; we are sighing that our entire manhood, in its trinity of spirit, soul, and body, may be set free from the last vestige of the fall; we long to put off corruption, weakness, and dishonour, and to wrap ourselves in incorruption, in immortality, in glory, in the spiritual body which the Lord Jesus will bestow upon his people. We long for the manifestation of our adoption as the children of God. “We groan,” but it is “within ourselves.” It is not the hypocrite’s groan, by which he would make men believe that he is a saint because he is wretched. Our sighs are sacred things, too hallowed for us to tell abroad. We keep our longings to our Lord alone. Then the apostle says we are “waiting,” by which we learn that we are not to be petulant, like Jonah or Elijah, when they said, “Let me die”; nor are we to whimper and sigh for the end of life because we are tired of work, nor wish to escape from our present sufferings till the will of the Lord is done. We are to groan for glorification, but we are to wait patiently for it, knowing that what the Lord appoints is best. Waiting implies being ready. We are to stand at the door expecting the Beloved to open it and take us away to himself. This “groaning” is a test. You may judge of a man by what he groans after. Some men groan after wealth－they worship Mammon; some groan continually under the troubles of life－they are merely impatient; but the man who sighs after God, who is uneasy till he is made like Christ, that is the blessed man. May God help us to groan for the coming of the Lord, and the resurrection which he will bring to us.

十二月三日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/12/1203.mp3″]

经文: 在战场上有能的耶和华。（诗篇二十四：8）

上帝在祂百姓的眼中是配得荣耀的。祂在他们中间，藉他们的手为他们行了大奇事。主耶稣为他们战胜每一个仇敌，藉祂的顺服，破碎了敌人所有的武器。藉祂胜利的复活和升天，完全推翻了地狱的希望；藉祂的十字架，将我们的仇敌俘虏囚禁，教它们公开蒙羞，撒但手中每一支瞄准我们的罪恶之箭都被折断了，因为谁能控告上帝的选民呢？蒙拯救的人应当崇敬救他们的主，因为祂在他们心田的战场上完全得胜了。他们天生仇恨之箭被折断，悖逆之武器被粉碎了。人的意志一降服，罪的权威一被推翻，耶稣将得到何等大的荣耀！我们里面残留的腐败也必遭受同样的挫败，每一个试探、疑惑和忧虑更难逃毁灭一途。在我们祥和宁静的心灵的深处，耶稣之名是高过一切的。我们也能满有把握地期待胜利。“然而靠着爱我们的主，在这一切的事上，已经得胜有余了。”（罗八：37）藉我们的信心，热心和圣洁，能颠覆世界的黑暗权势。我们能为耶稣赢得罪人，能推翻错误的制度，能教社会改变，因为上帝与我们同在，没有人能敌挡我们。今晚，愿基督的勇士高唱战歌，预备投入明日的战斗──“因为那在你们里面的，比那在世界上的更大。”（约壹四：4）
 

Evening, December 3
Scripture: “The Lord mighty in battle.”(Psalm 24:8)

Well may our God be glorious in the eyes of his people, seeing that he has wrought such wonders for them, in them, and by them. For them, the Lord Jesus upon Calvary routed every foe, breaking all the weapons of the enemy in pieces by his finished work of satisfactory obedience; by his triumphant resurrection and ascension he completely overturned the hopes of hell, leading captivity captive, making a show of our enemies openly, triumphing over them by his cross. Every arrow of guilt which Satan might have shot at us is broken, for who can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Vain are the sharp swords of infernal malice, and the perpetual battles of the serpent’s seed, for in the midst of the church the lame take the prey, and the feeblest warriors are crowned.

The saved may well adore their Lord for his conquests in them, since the arrows of their natural hatred are snapped, and the weapons of their rebellion broken. What victories has grace won in our evil hearts! How glorious is Jesus when the will is subdued, and sin dethroned! As for our remaining corruptions, they shall sustain an equally sure defeat, and every temptation, and doubt, and fear, shall be utterly destroyed. In the Salem of our peaceful hearts, the name of Jesus is great beyond compare: he has won our love, and he shall wear it. Even thus securely may we look for victories by us. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. We shall cast down the powers of darkness which are in the world, by our faith, and zeal, and holiness; we shall win sinners to Jesus, we shall overturn false systems, we shall convert nations, for God is with us, and none shall stand before us. This evening let the Christian warrior chant the war song, and prepare for to-morrow’s fight. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.

十二月二日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/12/1202.mp3″]
 
经文: 都是虚空。（传道书一：14）

除了主的爱和祂的同在，没有其它任何事物能教人心满足。最有智慧的所罗门王以他自己的生活为所有的人证实了这一点，也为你我做我们自己都不敢做的事。他们自己作见证说：“这样，我就日见昌盛，胜过以前在耶路撒冷的众人。我的智慧仍然存留。凡我眼所求的，我没有留下不给他的。我心所乐的，我没有禁止不享受的。因我的心为我一切所劳碌的快乐。这就是我从劳碌中所得的分。后来我察看我手所经营的一切事，和我劳碌所成的功。谁知都是虚空，都是捕风，在日光之下毫无益处。”（传二：9~11）“虚空的虚空，虚空的虚空。凡事都是虚空。”（传一：2）。得宠的王啊，你一切的财富都算不得什么吗？你华丽的宫中尽都虚空吗？在你一切的笙歌、曼舞、美酒和奢华中，空无一物吗？“虚空，”他答道，“只有心灵的疲乏。”在他享尽世上一切欢乐以后，他下了如此结论。能拥抱我们的主耶稣，住在祂的爱中，完全确信与祂连结，这才是一切的一切。你不需尝试其它的生活方式，来决定那是否比基督徒的生活更好。即使你环游世界，也不可能见到像救主面容的景物。即使你能尽享生活中的舒适，却失去救主，也将是世上最可怜的人。反之，你若有救主，即使被囚于地牢，也如在乐园。即使黑暗临到或饥寒交迫仍能因得主的喜悦而满足，并满有祂的慈爱。
 

Evening, December 2
Scripture: “Behold, all is vanity.”(Ecclesiastes 1:14)

Nothing can satisfy the entire man but the Lord’s love and the Lord’s own self. Saints have tried to anchor in other roadsteads, but they have been driven out of such fatal refuges. Solomon, the wisest of men, was permitted to make experiments for us all, and to do for us what we must not dare to do for ourselves. Here is his testimony in his own words: “So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.” “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” What! the whole of it vanity? O favoured monarch, is there nothing in all thy wealth? Nothing in that wide dominion reaching from the river even to the sea? Nothing in Palmyra’s glorious palaces? Nothing in the house of the forest of Lebanon? In all thy music and dancing, and wine and luxury, is there nothing? “Nothing,” he says, “but weariness of spirit.” This was his verdict when he had trodden the whole round of pleasure. To embrace our Lord Jesus, to dwell in his love, and be fully assured of union with him－this is all in all. Dear reader, you need not try other forms of life in order to see whether they are better than the Christian’s: if you roam the world around, you will see no sights like a sight of the Saviour’s face; if you could have all the comforts of life, if you lost your Saviour, you would be wretched; but if you win Christ, then should you rot in a dungeon, you would find it a paradise; should you live in obscurity, or die with famine, you will yet be satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord.