双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：11月28日  信与行善

11月28日 

信与行善

我的弟兄们，若有人说：自己有信心，却没有行为，有什么益处呢；这信心能救他么。若是弟兄，或是姐妹，赤身露体，又缺了日用的饮食，你们中间有人对他们说：平平安安的去罢，愿你们穿得暖吃得饱；却不给他们身体所需用的，这有什么益处呢。这样，信心若没有行为就是死的。必有人说：你有信心，我有行为；你将你没有行为的信心指给我看，我便藉着我的行为，将我的信心指给你看……我们的祖宗亚伯拉罕，把他儿子以撒献在坛上，岂不是因行为称义么。可见信心是与他的行为并行，而且信心因着行为才得成全；这就应验经上所说：『亚伯拉罕信神，这就算为他的义。』他又得称为神的朋友。这样看来，人称义是因着行为，不是单因着信。

雅各书2:14-18,21-24

伟大的伦敦传教士查尔斯·哈登·司布真，曾经做客于一个人的访谈，这个人以自己的美德作为主要话题；但他的美德都是带有否定词的，包括他没有做过的坏事。

司布真对这个人的自以为义感到厌恶，就说：“嘿，老兄，你说的都是一堆带否定词的东西。你不喝酒，不赌博，不骂人。那你到底做了些什么好事呢？”

我们知道，从根本上说，得救不是基于行为。然而在强调福音这方面时，太多人忽视了这样一个事实，就是我们受审判时，未行的善事比所做的恶事更为严重。

行善不是得救的途径，因为我们得救是本乎恩，也因着信。我们得救唯一的途径，就是耶稣基督的死和复活。

但是，我们的善行乃是得救的凭据。如果我们不能在任何时候，以任何方式，尽我们一切所能，对所有人行善，那么我们将会在上帝的审判台前被定罪，这一点毫无疑问。

今日祷告：

父啊，求祢引导我把我的房屋建造在这磐石上，也就是听耶稣的话而遵行；奉耶稣的名，阿们。

November 28

WORKLESS FAITH?

What does it profit,my brethren,if a man says he has faith but has not works?Can his faith save him?If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food,and one of you says to them,“Go in peace,be warned and filled,”without giving them the things needed for the body,what does it profit?So faith by itself,if it has no works,is dead.But someone will say,“You have faith and I have works.”Show me your faith apart from your works,and I by my works will show you my faith…Was not Abraham our father justified by works,when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?You see that faith was active along with his works,and faith was completed by works,and the scripture was fulfilled which says,“Abraham believed God,and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”;and he was called the friend of God.You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.James 2:14-18,21-24,RSV

Charles Haddon Spurgeon,the great London preacher,was once the guest of a man who made his virtues the chief topic of conversation;but his virtues were all of the negative kind,consisting of the bad things he had not done.

Disgusted with the man’s self-righteousness,Spurgeon said,“Why,man,you are simply a bundle of negatives.You don’t drink,you don’t gamble,you don’t swear.What in the name of goodness do you do?”

We know that,fundamentally,salvation is not of works.But in stressing this phase of the Gospel,too many have neglected to emphasize the fact that we will be judged more according to the good we have left undone than for the evil we have done.

Good works are not a means of salvation because we are saved by grace through faith.We are saved only on the grounds of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But,our good works are an evidence of salvation;and if we fail to do all the good we can,to all the people we can,at any time we can,by any means we can,we will be condemned at the judgment bar of God.Make no mistake about that.

Pray for the Day:

Father,lead me to build my house upon the rock—that is,to hear the words of Jesus and put them into practice;in Jesus’Name,Amen.