双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：9月26日 十架救赎

9月26日

十架救赎

你们从前远离神的人，如今却在基督耶稣里，靠着祂的血，已经得亲近了……既在十字架上灭了冤仇，便藉这十字架，使两下归为一体，与神和好了……。

以弗所书2：13，16

耶稣基督的死是基督教的核心。基督在十字架上舍身是基督教历世长存的秘诀，也是来世得胜的希望。

十字架不仅仅是一个代表，也不仅仅是一套道德体系，它是神公义和爱的大能作为。神对世人说：“我爱你！我愿意宽恕你的罪。”神对今天所有悔罪的人说：“你的罪因十字架已得赦免了。”神对今天所有孤独的人说：“看那，我与你们同在，直到世界的末了”（参马太福音28：20）。每一个读到这些话的人都有罪，除了基督献祭，别无他法可除去罪污。

威斯敏斯特大教堂里有一块英国政府为约翰·安德烈少校所立的纪念碑，他与本尼迪克特·阿诺德曾就西点要塞的投降进行谈判，并于1780年10月2日作为间谍被绞死。在这起案件中，该被绞死的人（阿诺德）得以逃脱，而在一系列奇怪情况下被抓住的人（安德烈）却被绞死了。

安德烈当时才二十多岁，是一位天才作家。在被处决之前，他写了一首诗，题为《万福，无比的爱》，其中光荣地讲述了赎罪的伟大真理，即基督替罪人代赎。他在这首诗中描述了自己的灵魂曾一度过于骄傲，不寻求基督。然而，当安德烈被判有罪，他走向了十字架，得到了荣耀而美好的平安。

不久前，我读过一位牧师主持圣餐的故事。因他不再相信基督在十字架上为我们的罪代死，所以他向会众分发鲜花，而不是饼和葡萄汁。

他反感赎罪的观念，所以以鲜花当替代品。但是，基督和祂被钉十字架是不可替代的，没有什么可以替代那古旧的、血迹斑斑的十字架。

今日祷告：

天父，为十字架感谢祢！因为在十字架上我的罪已被赎。于是，我得以存活，所有相信的人都得以存活。求祢帮助我传扬这好消息，好让更多的人有机会跟随主；奉耶稣的名祷告，阿们。

September 26

CENTERING ON THE CROSS

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ…[reconciling]us both to God in one body through the cross…Ephesians 2:13,16,RSV

The fact of the death of Jesus Christ is the very heart of Christianity.The sacrificial Cross of Christ is the secret of Christianity’s survival through all the ages and the hope of its victory in the ages to come.

The Cross is more than an example.It is more than a system of ethics.It is the mighty act of God’s justice and love.God is saying to the whole world,“I love you.I am willing to forgive your sins.”God is saying to all of those who are filled with guilt today,“Your sins are forgiven because of the Cross.”God is saying to all those who are lonely today,“Behold,I am with you until the end of the age”(cf.Matthew 28:20).Every person reading these words is guilty of sin,and there is no way to remove that stain of guilt except by the sacrifice of Christ.

In Westminster Abbey there is a memorial tablet erected by the British government in memory of Major John Andre,with whom Benedict Arnold negotiated for the surrender of the fortress of West Point and who was hanged as a spy on October 2,1780.It was a case where the man who ought to have been hung escaped and the man who was caught in a strange series of circumstances was hung.

Andre was still in his twenties.He was a gifted writer.Just before his execution he wrote a poem entitled,“Hail,Sovereign Love,”in which the great truth of the atonement,Christ’s substitution for the sinner,was gloriously told.He describes in this poem how his own soul was for a time too proud to seek Christ.However,there came a time when Andre was convicted of his sin,and he went to the Cross and found a glorious and wonderful peace.

I read about a clergyman some time ago who was conducting a communion service.Because he no longer believed in the substitutionary death of Christ on the Cross for our sins,he distributed flowers to the congregation instead of the bread and the wine.

The idea of the atonement was repugnant to him,so he gave flowers as a substitute.But there is no substitute for Christ and Him crucified,no substitute for the rugged and bloodstained cross.

Pray for the Day:

Father,thank You for the Cross,for on it my sins were paid for.And so I can live,and so can all who believe.Help me spread that Good News so that more will have the opportunity to follow;in Jesus’Name,Amen.