1. Hello, listening friends.
亲爱的朋友，你好，
2. What a delight for us to know that you have tuned in to this broadcast;
知道你此时正在收听我们的节目，真是非常高兴；
3. and, if you heard the last broadcast, you remember we began a series on the Ten Commandments;
如果你听了上一次的节目就知道，我们开始了一个新的系列，是有关“十诫”的；
4. and this time, we’re going to look at the First Commandment;
今天，我们将要一起来看第一诫；
5. but, before I do this, I want to ask you a question.
首先，我想问你一个问题。
6. Are you ready?
你准备好了吗？
7. What is your life’s desire?
你人生的愿望是什么？
8. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself that question?
你有没有暂停一下，问问你自己这个问题？
9. If you have a piece of paper, I encourage you to write down your desire;
如果你手上有一张纸的话，我鼓励你把你的愿望写下来；
10. then, take this piece of paper and put it in a safe place;
然后，把这张纸放到一个安全的地方；
11. and, then, I want you to regularly go back and read it;
并且，我希望你能经常地拿出这张纸来看看；
12. and, five years from now, you get it out and read it;
并在五年以后，再把它拿出来看；
13. and then ask yourself, “Has the desire of my heart changed?
然后问你自己：“我心中的愿望有没有改变？
14. Is the desire of my heart for the glory of God or for my own glory?
我心中的愿望，是为神的荣耀，还是为了我自己的荣耀？
15. Has the desire of my heart grown in intensity or has it grown cold?
我心中的愿望，是越来越强烈，还是渐渐冷却？”
16. That is a great instrument.
这是一个非常好的办法。
17. In 1964,
在1964年
18. I wrote down the desire of my heart on a piece of paper.
我把心中的愿望写在了一张纸上。
19. I wrote one line as I was convicted to verbalize the desire of my heart before the Lord;
我写下了一行字，同时神也感动我把心中的愿望在主面前说出来；
20. but I have to be honest with you.
但我必须诚实地告诉你，
21. Throughout these years, from the time when I wrote those words down, I have faced many difficulties.
经过这些年，从我写下这些话的那一刻起，我已经面对了很多困境。
22. I have faced times when I was discouraged and despaired of life.
我多次面临沮丧，并对生命感到绝望。
23. I faced mockery and ridicule from some.
我面对了一些人的嘲笑和奚落。
24. I faced disappointment and even depression;
我经历了失望，什至是消沈；
25. but, through the years, God sustained me and assured me that He will give me the desire of my heart,
但是，经过这些年，神坚定我，并向我保证，祂会成就我心中的愿望，
26. because the desire of my heart was to honor God with all of my heart.
因为我心中的愿望，是要全心地荣耀上帝。
27. What was the desire of my heart that I wrote down back those many years ago?
那么，我在多年以前，写下来的心中愿望是什么呢？
28. It was to make Jesus known to millions of people throughout the world.
这愿望就是，让全世界成千上万的人们认识耶稣。
29. Because my desire was the glory of God, God honored the desire of my heart.
因为我的愿望是让神得荣耀，神就膏抹我心中的愿望。
30. Why do I want you to write this desire of your heart down?
为什么我希望你把心中的愿望写下来呢？
31. What has this got to do with the First Commandment that we will be studying today?
这与我们今天要讲的第一诫，有什么关系呢？
32. My listening friend, listen to what I’m going to tell you very carefully.
亲爱的朋友，请仔细听，我就会告诉你。
33. The temptation of crowding God out of our lives is forever before us.
有一种试探，就是把神从我们的生活中排挤出去，这是我们始终都要面对的。
34. Someone may say, “I thought that idolatry means bowing down to statues and bowing down to images.”
有些人可能说：“我以为偶像崇拜就是指，向菩萨的雕像下拜。”
35. I’m going to talk to you more about this in the next message;
关于这方面的内容，我会在下一次的信息中多讲一些；
36. but what you need to know is this:
但是我们需要知道的是：
37. idolatry is anything and anybody, other than the Lord Jesus Christ, that is occupying the center of your life.
偶像崇拜就是，除了主耶稣基督以外的任何人和任何事，你容许他们占据你生活的中心位置。
38. I want to show you a biblical example of how that can happen and has happened.
我想给你举一个圣经中的例子，说明这种事曾经发生过，以及是如何发生的。
39. One day, God asked a very powerful man—a very important man—to write down the desire of his heart.
有一天，神让一个非常有权势，非常重要的人，把他心中的愿望写下来。
40. This man responded right away.
这个人立刻行动了。
41. If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to 1 Kings, Chapter 3, verse 5.
如果你手上有圣经，请和我一起翻开列王纪上3章5节。
42. God appeared to Solomon and says, “What is your pleasure, Solomon?
耶和华向所罗门显现，对他说：“所罗门，你愿我赐你什么？
43. What is the desire of your heart?”
你心中的愿望是什么？”
44. Solomon’s answer will tell you that this man, at that point of his life, wanted to worship no one but God.
所罗门的回答会告诉你，在他人生的这个阶段，他单单敬拜耶和华。
45. He wanted to worship the Lord with all his heart.
他愿用他的全心敬拜耶和华。
46. What did Solomon ask for?
所罗门求了什么？
47. Did he ask for wealth?
他求财富了吗？
48. No.
没有。
49. Did he want power?
他求权力了吗？
50. No.
没有。
51. At that point of his life, Solomon wanted to worship the living God alone.
在他人生的那个时期，所罗门愿意单单敬拜永活的真神耶和华。
52. He said, “I want wisdom so I can rule my people righteously...”
他说：“求你赐我智慧，可以判断你的民，能辨别是非……”
53. and God gave him the desire of his heart -
耶和华神成全了他心中的愿望。
54. so much so that Solomon was considered to be the wisest man in the Old Testament.
以至于所罗门，被认为是旧约时代最有智慧的人。
55. Solomon also was a man of prayer.
所罗门也是一个很会祷告的人。
56. He wanted nothing but Jehovah’s splendor.
除了耶和华的荣耀，他别无所求。
57. Kings and queens came from all over the world just to catch a glimpse of the wisdom that God gave Solomon;
国王和女王们从世界各地而来，只为一睹耶和华神给予所罗门的智慧风采。
58. but there is one thing you need to know about God.
但是关于上帝，你需要了解一件事。
59. When you desire His glory, He gives you everything else;
当你渴慕神的荣耀时，祂会赐给你所需的一切；
60. and that’s what Jesus said.
这也就是耶稣所说的。
61. He said,
祂说：
62. “If you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things”—all your needs, are going to be met;
“你们要先求神的国和神的义，这些东西……”，也就是你们需用的一切，都要加给你们了；
63. and so He did this with Solomon.
祂就是这样赏赐所罗门的。
64. He did not only give him wisdom, but He have him wealth and power as well;
神不仅赐给了所罗门智慧，同时也赐给了他财富和权利。
65. but here’s an important thing I don’t want you to miss.
但是我希望你不要忽略一个重要的信息。
66. The God who sees everything before it happens
神是先知先觉的，
67. said to Solomon, “I want to give you a warning...”
祂对所罗门说：“我要给你一个警告……”
68. and here’s the warning in 1 Kings, Chapter 9, verses 4 to 6.
这个警告就在列王纪上9章4到6节，那里说：
69. “If you observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over the kingdom forever;
“你若遵行我一切所吩咐你的，谨守我的律例典章，我就必坚固你的国位在以色列中，直到永远；
70. but, if you turn away from Me and do not observe the commands and the decrees that I have given you and you go off and serve and worship other gods,
倘若你们和你们的子孙转去不跟从我，不守我指示你们的诫命律例，去事奉敬拜别神，
71. then I will cut you off from the land I’ve given you.
我就必将以色列人从我赐给他们的地上剪除，
72. I will reject the Temple that I have consecrated for My Name.”
并且我为己名所分别为圣的殿，也必舍弃不顾。”
73. Let me tell you something very important, my listening friend.
亲爱的朋友，让我来告诉一些非常重要的事。
74. God’s blessings to us can be used to bless others, or, they can be hoarded and bring a curse.
上帝赐给我们的福，可以用来祝福别人，但它们也可以被收藏起来，并带来咒诅。
75. God’s blessings can be given away to bring glory to His name, or, they can be accumulated to become a destructive force.
上帝所赐的福在分给别人时可以荣耀祂的名，但它们也可能累积起来，成为一股毁坏的力量。
76. God’s blessings can cause you to worship Him joyfully and turn back to Him the blessings that He has given you,
上帝所赐的福，能使你满心喜乐地敬拜祂，并将尊荣带回给祂，
77. or, it can cause us to make an idol out of our blessings;
但我们也可能把这福分当成了偶像；
78. and we all know what happened to Solomon.
我们都知道，后来在所罗门身上发生了什么事。
79. God was patient with him.
耶和华很有耐心地对待他。
80. It did not only take years, it took decades;
不仅仅是几年的时间，而是几十年的时间；
81. but Solomon did not heed the warning of God and he messed up royally;
但所罗门不肯听上帝的警告，把整个皇室弄得一团糟；
82. and so Solomon looks at what he said that his desire was many years earlier,
后来，所罗门回顾他多年以前，自己所说的愿望，
83. and he looks at the blessings that God has given him,
以及神赐予他许多的福气，
84. and he remembers God’s warning;
终于，他记起了神的警告；
85. and then he says, “Vanity of vanity. All is vanity.”
随后他说：“虚空的虚空，凡事都是虚空。”
86. The Scripture tells us that in 1 Kings, Chapter 11, verse 5,
在列王纪上11章5节的经文告诉我们：
87. “… and Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of Sidon, and Molech, the detested god of the Ammonites...”
“因为所罗门，随从西顿人的女神亚斯她录，和亚扪人可憎的神米勒公。”
88. then, in verse 9 of the same Chapter, I Kings 11,
然后在同一章，列王纪上十一章的第9节，
89. we read that God became angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord.
我们看到，耶和华向所罗门发怒，因为他的心偏离耶和华以色列的神。
90. Although God clearly and definitively had forbidden Solomon from following other gods,
虽然耶和华，曾清晰又明确地吩咐他，不可随从别神，
91. Solomon did not keep the Lord’s commandment;
所罗门却没有遵守耶和华所吩咐的。
92. and God said, “I am going to take the kingdom away from you and split it in two and it will never be the same again.”
随后神说：“我必将你的国夺回，分裂成为两国，你的国从此不再像从前。”
93. My listening friend, I want to ask you a question.
亲爱的朋友，我想问你一个问题。
94. Has God changed?
神有没有改变过？
95. God has never changed.
上帝从未改变过。
96. God’s desire for His children to honor Him and please Him first has never changed.
神的愿望是，祂的儿女能先尊荣祂的名，让祂欢心，这愿望从未改变过。
97. The question is, have you changed?
问题是你有没有改变过？
98. Do you think Solomon kept on worshipping Yahweh while he was breaking the First Commandment?
你认为所罗门在开始违背第一条诫命时，是否仍然继续敬拜耶和华？
99. And the answer is, most likely, “Yes.”
答案几乎完全是肯定的。
100. He just slowly but surely began to move away from God,
他只是慢慢地偏离上帝，
101. until he woke up one morning and found himself waist deep in worshipping false gods.
直到某天清晨醒来，他发现自己已经在偶像崇拜中陷得太深了。
102. My listening friend, I want to tell you, these things do not happen overnight.
亲爱的朋友，我想告诉你，这种变化不是瞬息之间发生的。
103. It is one inch at a time.
它是一点一点变化的。
104. Solomon probably said to himself what we probably say in our hearts when we know we are crowding God out of our lives.
当我们渐渐地把神挤出我们的生活之外时，所罗门自我安慰的借口，恐怕也就是我们对自己所说的。
105. He probably said to himself, “Well, maybe this god is so little he surely cannot affect my relationship with Jehovah.
他可能对自己说：“看吧，这个神灵如此渺小，他肯定不会影响我和耶和华神的关系。
106. It couldn’t be all that bad.
情况不至于那么糟。
107. Surely, it’s not a big offense to Jehovah.”
当然，这对耶和华神也不是太大的冒犯。”
108. Slowly, but surely, day by day, we open our hearts to idolatry,
慢慢地，但也是很确实地，我们的心一天天地向偶像敞开，
109. until, one day, there are too many gods and Yahweh is pushed out to a corner.
直到有一天，心里充满了太多的偶像，以至于耶和华神被挤到了角落里。
110. So many people do that.
很多人都这么做。
111. So many people become so spiritual when they are in trouble or when they are in crisis,
很多的人，当他们落入困境之中或者在危机时刻，他们会极力地追求属灵的事，
112. when they desperately need their prayers to be answered;
他们迫切需要，自己的祷告能被垂听；
113. but then, when the Lord answers their prayer and blesses them and prospers them, their earlier commitment to the Lord is forgotten.
但是，当神回应了他们的祷告，并赐福给他们，使他们兴盛以后，他们就忘记了早些时候对神的承诺。
114. The tragedy of Solomon’s breaking the First Commandment was that he began to worship the very gods that he detested and rejected earlier in his life.
所罗门破坏第一诫的悲剧是，他开始拜那些，他早年曾深恶痛绝的偶像。
115. That is why it is so tragic.
因此这是非常惨痛的。
116. The Word of God shows us an example of this tragedy and I don’t want you to miss it.
神的话语让我们看见这个悲惨的鉴戒，我真的希望你不要忽略它。
117. I want to ask you this:
让我来问你：
118. other than seeking wisdom from God, what was Solomon’s number one goal?
除了寻求神的智慧以外，所罗门的第一目标是什么？
119. His number one goal was to build a Temple.
他的第一目标是建造圣殿。
120. His father, David, wanted to build it and God said, “You have too much blood on your hands. You cannot build it.
他的父亲大卫王，也很想建殿，但神对他说：“你流了多人的血，你不可为我的名建造殿宇。
121. Solomon will build it.”
所罗门必为我的名建造殿宇。”
122. Do you know what the Bible said in 1 Kings, Chapter 6?
你知道在圣经列王纪上6章讲了什么吗？
123. It took seven years for Solomon to build the Temple;
所罗门用了七年的时间来建造圣殿；
124. and, if you go down to Chapter 7, right next to Chapter 6, you’ll find that it says that it took Solomon thirteen years to build his palace.
然后，紧接着第6章，读到第7章，你会发现所罗门为自己建造宫室，十三年方才建成。
125. Listen carefully, my listening friend.
亲爱的朋友，请仔细听。
126. He spent seven years building for God and thirteen years building for himself;
他花了七年的时间为神建造圣殿，却用十三年的时间为自己建造皇宫；
127. and, in the First Commandment, God said, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery. You shall have no other god but me.”
十诫中的第一诫，神说：“我是耶和华你的神，曾将你从埃及地为奴之家领出来。除了我以外，你不可有别的神。”
128. God has never changed His mind.
神的旨意从未改变过。
129. Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and Mammon.”
耶稣说：“你们不能又侍奉神，又侍奉玛门。”
130. Solomon began by wanting to live under God’s authority.
所罗门在开始时，愿意生活在神的权威之下。
131. That’s how he began;
他的确是这样开始的；
132. but he ended up living under the authority of wealth and power,
但他却以生活在财富和权利的掌控之下而结束，
133. and his life ended in tragedy.
并且他的生命结束在悲剧中。
134. Our world today wants us to believe that the first commandment is that “you shall have no other god but yourself...”
今天，我们的世界希望我们相信的第一诫是：“除了你自己以外，你不需有别的神……”
135. therefore, self-indulgence and self-worship is the religion of the day.
因此，自我放纵和自我崇拜成为今天的信仰。
136. Some of you have probably never gone through this exercise of writing the desire of your heart on a piece of paper.
你们中间的一些人，可能从来没有试着把自己的愿望写在一张纸上。
137. Some of you may have done this, whether it is in writing or verbalized sometime back in your life.
另一些人可能在过去某一时刻这样做过，无论是口头上说出来，或是把它写下来。
138. Perhaps you said that you want to serve the Lord full time.
可能你说过你想全时间的服侍主。
139. Perhaps you said, “God, I want to bring glory to Your name in some way.”
可能你说过：“主啊，我很想借着某些方式使你得荣耀。”
140. Whatever your desire was, I want to ask you this—are you still on track,
无论你的愿望曾经是什么，我想问你：你是不是还在朝这个目标继续前行，
141. or, have other gods and God-substitutes very slowly crept into your life and crowded God out of your life;
或者是，有别神和神的替代品已在你生命中蔓延，正在慢慢地把神挤出你的生活之外；
142. and now your love for Jesus is cold and lifeless?
现在，你对耶稣的爱是冷淡而僵化了吗？
143. Where are you today?
今天的你在哪一种状态？
144. Are you passionate and compassionate, as you once desired,
你是像你曾经渴望的那样，充满热情和怜爱呢？
145. or, have you allowed the bitterness and disappointments and insecurities in your life to freeze your heart out?
还是，你允许苦毒、失望和不安在你的生活中冰封你的心呢？
146. Jesus spoke these words to the church at Ephesus.
耶稣曾对以弗所教会说过这样的话。
147. He said, “Oh, that you may return to your first love...”
祂说，“你要回到你起初的爱心里……”
148. but I want to tell you on the authority of the Word of God that it is never too late.
凭着神话语的权威我想告诉你，你若愿意的话，永远不嫌迟。
149. It is never too late for any of us;
对我们任何人都不会太迟；
150. so that you can return to your first love even now;
所以，你即使现在回到你起初的爱心，也为时不晚；
151. and God will give you the strength.
并且神会赐给你力量。
152. Until next time, I wish you God’s richest blessing.
让我们下次再会，愿神大大地赐福给你！
