[聽道分享] 心硬，試探神
太有意思的一篇講道了，想分享一下。
牧師當日講的是 希伯來書3：7﹣19
這是希伯來書的作者將詩篇95篇中的一番話對主後65﹣70年的猶太人、基督徒說的。到底什麼是試探神呢？
就是每行一步，看看神怎樣；每作一件事，又看看神的作為怎樣；每一之的犯錯，看看神的容忍有多少。
以色列人在曠野中，「觀看神的作為四十年之久」。這段時間裡，他們餓，埋怨神，神給他們嗎哪；他們渴，埋怨神，神叫水從磐石出來；他們想吃肉，埋怨神，神叫鵪鶉飛來．．．四十年了，當神的作為每天他們都觀看著，習慣了，他們
我們的生命裡，至少，也觀看了神的作為十多載了。
我們如何「觀看祂的作為」？
我們如何對待罪惡的纏繞？
接著，牧師唱起歌來：「如果，命運能選擇，十字街口踏出的每步更瀟灑；如果，活著能坦白，舊日所想信價值不必接受時代的糟蹋．．．「最近引起熱烈討論的《天與地》，劇中的三位主角分別選擇「隔離罪惡」、「以善行去遮蓋和壓
人的這些對待罪惡纏繞的方式就是心硬，因為沒有這些處理罪惡的方式使自己與神隔絕。
希伯來書中嚴厲的教導我們，將神隔絕、心硬、不信．．．的結果就是不得安息！！
那我們要如何在信仰裡走下去？
希伯來書告訴我們，要「趁著還有今日，天天彼此相勸」。在希伯來文裡，「相勸」的名詞跟「保惠師」的名詞是一樣的。所以天天彼此相勸就是聽祂的話；趁著還有今日．．．現在就去聽祂的話。
是今日、現在．．．
基督教是一個「今日」的信仰，不是「過去的」，先知耶利米提醒我們不要埋首在過去的成敗、過去的纏累、過去的罪惡、過去的罪疚感；亦不是去想，「如果我當時XXX，現在就XXX啦」沉醉在過去的「如果命運能選擇」，只會加深
我們要做的就是現在就聽祂的話，每天去對付隱而未見的罪惡。在神眼中，每日都是新的，不要被過去的過犯和罪疚成為今天我們去經歷神的作為的纏累，不要因這些被拖跨至我們單單在生活中去「觀看」神的作為，心卻硬起來了。
Gloria
Why can’t God just…forgive?
Why can’t God just simply forgive sins with the click of His finger? Why did He have to go through the trouble of sending Jesus to die on the cross? Wouldn’t the world be a better place if God just forgave everyone?
These questions are one of the most frequently asked questions of non-Christians today. It almost seems far easier for God to just forgive all the sins committed by the world and start afresh. Then everyone would be freed from the penalty of sin and everyone would be saved. Under this hypothetical scenario, we would need to think what it means for God to forgive all sins. Would He do this once and for all (just like the crucifixion) whereby all past, present and future sins are forgiven; or would He forgive every time a sin is committed by someone?
These questions aren’t relevant here however because under both scenarios if they happened, God would be committing a crime. Why? Since God is holy, righteous, and just, if He simply just forgive without the enforcing punishment for sins committed against Him, then He is no longer righteous and just. In fact, the idea that God being loving and merciful is a contradiction to the character of being righteous and just. Why? Let me illustrate this with an example so we can understand.
In 2009, in North Epping, the Lin family, owners of a busy newsagency in Epping, was brutally murdered in their homes at night, leaving the remaining survivor of the family, Brenda Lin, 15. She lived with her uncle for almost 2 years before her uncle was arrested for murder. The murder went all over the radio, newspapers and news. The community poured the hearts out for the family, griefed and in disbelief such a horrendous crime can be committed. Imagine, if you are Brenda. Imagine if you sat in court and the judge looks at the accused and says “I’m a very loving judge and in my mercy I forgive you. You can go.” What would happen? How would you feel? How would everyone react? No doubt you would accuse that judge as being one of the most corrupt, incompetent, ineligible judges. No doubt you would go on the news pleading your case and for support to dismiss this judge. Petitions would be filed. Books would be written. Radio stations would be broading non-stop.
There is a degree of social justice we as human beings want to see being carried out and adhere to. When we see a situation of unfairness, injustice, cruelty, unethical behaviour, violence intentionally carried out of hatred, greed, anger, wickedness, we want justice to occur on the grounds of moral conduct and egalitarinism. We work quickly to go against an acts that oppose this, and work together to restore what we value. In Hong Kong, people banded together to oppose Henry Tang when they felt objective moral values were not being upheld and supported.
No doubt then, in the case of God, that the full exercise of punishment should be carried out on the sinner. He cannot say we are simply forgiven because justice would not be completed. Because if no punshiment was carried out then there is no incentive for repentence. We sin knowing we will be forgiven later anyway. We don’t care about one another, nor for God, knowing the full benefits that there will be no punishment. No consequences. No discipline. In fact, instead of a paradise we envisaged, the world will become a place of chaos, unloving and empty of moral values. Therefore, God had to carry out punishment for the sake of justice and rightly so, because all have sinned no one is righteous, to the extent that every single sin we committed against a holy God, we are deemed guilty of each.
But God decided not to cast this punishment on us. He casts this on Himself through Christ so that we can be saved. Righteousness and justice was carried out, but out of love and mercy we were spared. We are undeserving of His grace. Yet when we ask the question “why can’t God just forgive?”, what we don’t realise is our ignorance of our own sins, the greed that resides in us to be unjustifyingly made right with God without reason. Everything is selfishly focused on ourselves, not God. We sinned and find an excuse to do away with sin. Yet we may see how the consequences of sin might hurt others but we are almost immune to understanding just how our sin hurts God. But realise why God is love. He is not a symbol of love, or some metaphor for love, He is love. Because He loved you so much that He gave His one and only Son to suffer in your place so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Stephen Lau