第四週■週四

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晨興餧養

來二17『所以祂凡事該與祂的弟兄一樣，爲要在關於神的事上，成爲憐憫、忠信的大祭司，好爲百姓的罪成就平息。』

 四16『所以我們只管坦然無懼的來到施恩的寶座前，爲要受憐憫，得恩典，作應時的幫助。』

基督成爲人，並且在地上生活爲人，經過人生一切的苦難。〔來二17。〕…祂知道如何憐憫人，因祂是有人生經歷，就是有人生苦難經歷的人。

爲了有資格作大祭司，基督成爲肉體，與我們一樣。我們甚至可以說，祂不只是與我們一樣，因爲祂在爲人生活中遭遇了我們所沒有遭遇過的事。祂成了和我們一樣的，同情我們一切的輭弱。

甚至如今，雖然我們得救了，但在有些方面，我們的光景仍需要主的憐憫搆到我們。因這緣故，希伯來四章十六節說，我們首先需要受憐憫，然後纔能得恩典，作應時的幫助。基督的憐憫對我們總是便利的。然而，我們需要運用我們的靈，接觸那在我們一切輭弱中同情我們的大祭司，藉此接受憐憫。（新約總論第三册，一五三至一五四頁。）

信息選讀

感謝神，在神的愛裏不只有恩典，在神的愛裏還有一個大的東西，就是憐憫。在聖經裏，也非常注重憐憫這一件事。…愛的出路，如果不是往恩典去，就是往憐憫去。…憐憫是對於目前的狀況說的，恩典是對於將來的狀況說的。憐憫是對於你目前的情形怎樣可憐，恩典是對於你將來的情形，怎樣把你救出來，到光明的前途去。我們作罪人，神對於我們所發出來的感覺，那一個叫作憐憫。神在我們身上作事情，叫我們成爲神的兒女，這一個叫作恩典。憐憫是對於我們已有的情況所發生的，恩典是對於我們尚未得着的工作所發生的。

神在舊約的時候是憐憫，因爲那時工作還沒有作成功。所以舊約裏充滿了憐憫，神在這四千多年之中一直憐憫。但是到了今天，到了新約，就是恩典了，因爲主耶穌已經成功了工作，祂已經來擔當了我們的罪。所以我們今天不是得着憐憫，而是得着恩典。

憐憫是從愛生的，必須是到恩去。憐憫如果不是從愛生的，就必定不到恩去。如果憐憫是發乎愛，就必止乎恩。在福音書裏有一個瞎子，他碰着主的時候不是說，『主，愛我罷！』也不是說，『主，恩待我罷！』乃是說，『大衞的子孫耶穌，可憐我罷！』〔可十47。〕因爲是現在的狀況，因爲是現在的難處，因爲是目前痛苦的情形，所以求主可憐他。他知道，如果主耶穌可憐他，憐恤他，主耶穌不會就停止在憐憫那裏，主耶穌必定有所作爲。

在新約裏也有幾個地方題起憐憫。…爲甚麼必須要有憐憫呢？請記得，我們人是無依無靠的。我們如果到神的面前去求祂愛我們，我們沒有膽量這樣求。我們是屬乎肉體的，我們對於神知道得不彀清楚。雖然神在光中顯出來給我們看見，但是我們不敢親近祂。如果我們到祂那裏去求愛，我們覺得這是不可能的事。同時，如果我們在祂面前求恩典，指明要這一個祝福，要那一個祝福，我們也沒有這麼大的信心。對於神的愛，我們沒有法子求；對於神的恩典，我們也沒有那麼大的信心。（倪柝聲文集第二輯第八册，四二至四五頁。）

參讀：神的福音（卷一），四二至五○頁；希伯來書生命讀經，第十三篇；新約總論，第三百七十篇。

WEEK 4 — DAY 4

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Morning Nourishment

Heb. 2:17 Hence He should have been made like His brothers in all things that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in the things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

       4:16 Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

Christ became a man and lived on earth as a man, passing through all the human sufferings [Heb. 2:17]…He knows how to be merciful to man, for He is a man with the experience of human life, the experience of human suffering.

In order to be qualified to be the High Priest, Christ was incarnated to be like us. We may even say that He is more than like us because He suffered in His human life certain things that we have not suffered. He became like us, sympathizing with all our weaknesses.

Even now, although we are saved, we are still, in some ways, in a condition that needs the Lord’s mercy to reach us. This is the reason Hebrews 4:16 says that first we need to receive mercy, and then we can find grace for timely help. Christ’s mercy is always available to us. However, we need to receive it by exercising our spirit to contact our High Priest who sympathizes with us in all our weaknesses. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 665-666)

Todays Reading

Thank the Lord that in the love of God, there is not only grace, but another great item as well, God’s mercy. The Bible puts much emphasis on mercy also. The outlet of love is either grace or mercy…Mercy is related to the present condition, and grace is related to the future condition. Mercy speaks of the poverty of your present condition, and grace speaks of the bright condition that you will be saved into in the future. The feeling that God has toward us when we are sinners is mercy. The work that God does upon us to make us the children of God is grace. Mercy arises from our existing condition; grace arises from the work that we will receive.

God was merciful in the time of the Old Testament, because His work was not yet completed. Therefore, the Old Testament was full of mercy. God showed mercy for four thousand years. But today, in the New Testament age, we have grace because the Lord Jesus has accomplished His work. He has come to bear our sins. Hence, what we have received today is not mercy, but grace.

Mercy comes from love and issues in grace. If mercy has not come from love, it will not issue in grace. Since it originates in love, it arrives at grace. In the Gospels there is the account of a blind man receiving his sight (Mark 10:46-52). When he met the Lord, he did not say, “Lord, love me!” or “Lord, be gracious to me!” Rather, he said, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 48). He asked for mercy because of his present condition, his present difficulty, and his present pain. He knew that if the Lord Jesus were to sympathize with him, He would not stop at showing mercy to him; He would surely do something.

In the New Testament there are also a few places where mercy is mentioned…Why…is there the need for mercy? It is because man is destitute. We have no courage to go to God and ask for His love. We are of the flesh and do not know God well enough. Although God has revealed Himself to us in the light, we still do not dare come close to Him. We feel that it is impossible for us to go to God and ask for love. At the same time, we do not have the adequate faith to go to Him and ask for grace, telling Him that we need such and such a blessing. We have no way to ask for God’s love, and we do not have enough faith to ask for God’s grace. (CWWN, vol. 28, “The Gospel of God
(1),” pp. 32-34)

Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 28, “The Gospel of God (1),” pp. 32-36; Lifestudy of Hebrews, msg. 13; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 370