第六週■週三

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晨興餧養

提前三15『倘若我躭延，你也可以知道在神的家中當怎樣行；這家就是活神的召會，真理的柱石和根基。』

約十七17『求你用真理聖別他們，你的話就是真理。』

我們學習作神的工，其中一個基本的功課，就是對真理要絕對。聖經中的每一個真理都不和人發生關係。今天人對真理不絕對，乃是因爲真理與自己發生關係。真理因着與人發生關係，所以一個人沒有經歷，他就覺得不能講那個真理；然而不是你能經歷，你就能講。真理本身是絕對的。大衞說，所有的人都是撒謊的；（詩十二2；）他說這句話的時候，並沒有想到自己。…因爲真理是絕對的，所以我就要委屈自己，把自己擺在一邊。

我們要看見，個人的光景如何，與神的真理不發生一點的關係。真理若受人影響，這個真理就不是真理。真理在你身上若不是絕對的，你還不認識神，還不會讀神的話。（倪柝聲文集第三輯第十一册，一五一至一五二頁。）

信息選讀

我們個人怎樣，不能影響神的真理。…世界上有多少難處的發生、多少道理的分歧，不是因着真理本身改變，乃是因着人事改變。

甚麼叫作真理的絕對？提摩太前書題到真理的柱石。（三15。）爲甚麼說到真理的柱石呢？因爲柱子是不移動的。它不能升高，也不能降低。它不像椅子一樣，可以把它擺來擺去。我們如果是一個不清明的人，真理在我們身上就沒有功效。真理不能信託給一個跟隨感覺而行的人。這是一個大試驗。人必須站在真理一邊反對自己，如此纔能維持真理，不維持自己。自己沒有受過對付的人，永遠不知道甚麼是真理。你錯的時候，就把真理拉低一點，對的時候就把真理拉高一點；這就好像你是升降機，真理跟着你升降。惟有對付自己的人，纔能維持真理。

今天黑暗的原因乃是人委屈了真理來跟隨自己。假如我們能彀以真理爲獨一的標準，假如我們敢說，主旣然這麼說、這麼作，那我就是錯了。這樣，新的光、新的路纔會來。…你不委屈光，光就能彀把你提高。能跟得上真理的人有福了；能跟得上真理，審判自己的人纔有盼望。跟不上真理，而把真理拉下來的，這人永遠在黑暗裏，光沒有辦法照到他。

一面來說，人若沒有經歷，就不能傳真理。但另一面說，人必須知道真理與他自己沒有關係。人若到一個地步，無法再抗拒神的話，被這話定罪，他就能得到光。這個乃是啓示的根據，是得啓示的祕訣。古今中外，所有看見光的人從來不委屈神的話。我來不及，我要追上去，我跟着主的話走。我若趕不上，我只說我有罪。這樣，路就越過越清楚，你就越走越有光。不然的話，你讀真理、傳真理都成爲白說、白傳的。（倪柝聲文集第三輯第十一册，一五二至一五四頁。）

參讀：倪柝聲文集第三輯第十一册，第十二篇；主工人的性格，第八章。

WEEK 6 — DAY 3

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Morning Nourishment

1 Tim. 3:15 But if I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.

John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

In learning to take care of God’s work, one basic lesson is to be absolute for the truth. No truth in the Bible should be entangled with man’s condition. Today man is not absolute toward the truth because he entangles the truth with his own condition. When man entangles the truth with his own condition, he feels that he cannot speak the truth if he has not experienced it. Yet we have to realize that it is not our experience that qualifies us to speak concerning a truth. Truth is absolute in itself. David said that all men speak falsehood (Psa. 12:2). When he spoke this word, he was not considering himself...Because the truth is absolute, we have to sacrifice ourselves and put ourselves aside.

We have to realize that the condition of an individual has nothing to do with God’s truth. If truth is affected by man, the truth is no longer the truth. If the truth is not something absolute for you, you do not know God, and you do not know God’s word. (CWWN, vol. 57, pp. 133-134)

Today’s Reading

What I am personally cannot affect what God’s truth is...So many problems in the world and so many disputes in teachings arise because of changes in human factors, not because of a change in the truth itself.

What does it mean to say that the truth is absolute? First Timothy speaks of the pillar of the truth (3:15). Why does it say the pillar of the truth? It is because a pillar is something immovable. It cannot go up or down. It is not like a chair that can be moved from one place to another. If we are not sober, the truth will not have any effect on us. The truth cannot be entrusted to a person who walks according to his feelings. This is a great test. A man must stand on the side of the truth to oppose himself. Only by this can he maintain the truth instead of himself. Those who have never been dealt with do not know what the truth is. Some people lower the truth a little when they are wrong, and lift up the truth a little when they are right. This means that they are like elevators. The truth goes up and down with them. Only those who have dealt with themselves are able to maintain the truth.

The reason for so much darkness today is that man sacrifices the truth and forces the truth to yield to him. If you can take the truth as the unique standard and if you have the courage to say that since the Lord has done such and such a thing, you admit that you are wrong, new light will come, and a new way will be opened to you...If you do not sacrifice the light, the light will uplift you. Blessed are those who can go along with the truth. Only those who judge themselves have the hope of going on. Those who cannot go along with the truth, but instead lower the standard of the truth, will forever live in darkness. Light will have no way to shine on them.

On the one hand, a man cannot preach the truth unless he has the experience. But on the other hand, a person has to know that the truth has nothing to do with him. If a man is brought to a point that he can no longer withstand God’s word and he finds God’s word condemning him, he will receive the light. This is the basis of revelation; it is the secret to receiving revelation. Throughout history no one who has received God’s light sacrificed God’s word. If we are not up to the standard of God’s word, we have to catch up, and we have to go along with God’s word. If we cannot catch up, we can only say that we have sinned. If we do this, the way ahead will be clear, and we will have more and more light. Otherwise, our reading and preaching of the truth will become vain talk and vain preaching. (CWWN, vol. 57, pp. 134-136)

Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 57, ch. 12; CWWN, vol. 52, “The Character of the Lord’s Worker,” ch. 8