1120 神的赦免
我們借這愛子的血得蒙救贖，過犯得以赦免，乃是照他豐富的恩典。《以弗所書1:7》
要提防神的父性以下這種令人愉悅的觀點：神如此仁慈和慈愛，當然就會赦免我們。那種完全基於情感的想法，在《新約》中是找不到的。神能赦免我們的唯一依據是基督十字架上的巨大悲劇；將我們的赦免置於其他根基，都是無意識的褻瀆。神能夠赦免我們的罪並重新恩寵我們，唯一依據是藉着基督的十字架，此外別無他法！赦免對我們來說如此容易接受，但卻付上在加略山上痛苦的代價。我們永遠不應該接受罪得赦免、聖靈的恩賜和我們單憑信心的成聖，然後忘記神為我們成就一切所付出的巨大代價。
赦免是神恩典的神跡，神付出的代價是基督的十字架；要赦免罪，同時仍舊是聖潔的神，必須付出這個代價。切勿接受神是父，如果它抹去贖罪的觀點。神啟示的真理是，沒有贖罪，祂就不能赦罪——若祂赦罪，就違反祂的本性。我們能被赦免的唯一途徑，是通過十字架的贖罪被帶回到神那裡。神的赦免只有在超自然的領域上才有可能。
與赦罪的神跡相比，成聖的經歷顯得很小。成聖只是人的生命中罪得赦免的奇妙表現或明證。但喚醒人最深層感激泉源的，是神赦免了他的罪。保羅從未逃避這一點。一旦你意識到神為赦免你付出了一切的代價，你就會被神的愛所抓住，就像被鉗子夾住一樣。
來自章伯斯的智慧
我們的危險在於淡化神的話來迎合自己。神從不調整祂的話來迎合我；祂調整我來符合祂的話。 《不知往何處去》
1120 The Forgiveness of God
In Him we have…the forgiveness of sins… —Ephesians 1:7
Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.
Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm.
Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin. Paul never got away from this. Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Our danger is to water down God’s word to suit ourselves. God never fits His word to suit me; He fits me to suit His word. —Not Knowing Whither, 901 R