十月五日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/10/1005.mp3″]
经文: 信而受洗的必然得救。（马可福音十六：16）
麦克康纳先生问圣基大岛上的居民，人要如何才能得救。一位老人回答：“若我们悔改、离弃罪恶、转向上帝就能得救。”一位中年妇人说：“是的，并且要真心诚意。”第三位附加说：“还要加上祷告。”第四位说：“必须是从心中发出的祷告。”第五位接续说：“我们也必须努力地守诫命，如此这般。”每一位将他的想法贡献出来，以为可以制订出一套十分合宜的信条。他们等待这位传道者的认同，没想到却引起他深深的怜悯。属肉体的头脑常常想出一套自以为行得通并且了不起的方法。但是主的方法往往相反。信而受洗，本身没有值得炫耀的功勋，如此简单，没有一点可以夸口的，只有让白白的恩典得着荣耀。你也可能不得救，原因何在？你以为经文中所说的得救之法值得怀疑的吗？怎么可能上帝还需要向你保证祂的话绝对真实？你以为此话过于简易吗？要不然你为什么不听从呢？相信就是单纯地信靠、依赖、信赖基督耶稣。受洗就是接受了洗礼，禁卒在悔改的当夜完全的顺服。（参阅徒二：41和十六：30～33）外在的形式并不能救我们，但却是我们与耶稣同死、同埋葬并且同复活的记号。你相信耶稣吗？亲爱的朋友，卸下你的恐惧就能得救。你仍然不信吗？请记住只有一扇门，你若不从这门进入，就将与自己的罪一同灭亡。
Evening, October 5
Scripture: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”(Mark 16:16)
Mr. MacDonald asked the inhabitants of the island of St. Kilda how a man must be saved. An old man replied, “We shall be saved if we repent, and forsake our sins, and turn to God.” “Yes,” said a middle-aged female, “and with a true heart too.” “Aye,” rejoined a third, “and with prayer”; and, added a fourth, “It must be the prayer of the heart.” “And we must be diligent too,” said a fifth, “in keeping the commandments.” Thus, each having contributed his mite, feeling that a very decent creed had been made up, they all looked and listened for the preacher’s approbation, but they had aroused his deepest pity. The carnal mind always maps out for itself a way in which self can work and become great, but the Lord’s way is quite the reverse. Believing and being baptized are no matters of merit to be gloried in－they are so simple that boasting is excluded, and free grace bears the palm. It may be that the reader is unsaved－what is the reason? Do you think the way of salvation as laid down in the text to be dubious? How can that be when God has pledged his own word for its certainty? Do you think it too easy? Why, then, do you not attend to it? Its ease leaves those without excuse who neglect it. To believe is simply to trust, to depend, to rely upon Christ Jesus. To be baptized is to submit to the ordinance which our Lord fulfilled at Jordan, to which the converted ones submitted at Pentecost, to which the jailer yielded obedience the very night of his conversion. The outward sign saves not, but it sets forth to us our death, burial, and resurrection with Jesus, and, like the Lord’s Supper, is not to be neglected. Reader, do you believe in Jesus? Then, dear friend, dismiss your fears, you shall be saved. Are you still an unbeliever, then remember there is but one door, and if you will not enter by it you will perish in your sins.