八福
主啊，使我潔淨
經文
羅馬書七14-八４
14我們原曉得律法是屬乎靈的，但我是屬乎肉體的，是已經賣給罪了。
15因為我所作的，我自己不明白；我所願意的，我並不作；我所恨惡的，我倒去作。
16若我所作的，是我所不願意的，我就應承律法是善的。
17既是這樣，就不是我作的，乃是住在我裡頭的罪作的。
18我也知道在我裡頭，就是我肉體之中，沒有良善。因為，立志為善由得我，隻是行出來由不得我。
19故此，我所願意的善，我反不作；我所不願意的惡，我倒去作。
20若我去作所不願意作的，就不是我作的，乃是住在我裡頭的罪作的。
21我覺得有個律，就是我願意為善的時候，便有惡與我同在。22因為按著我裡面的意思（原文是人），我是喜歡神的律；
23但我覺得肢體中另有個律和我心中的律交戰，把我擄去，叫我附從那肢體中犯罪的律。
24我真是苦阿！誰能救我脫離這取死的身體呢？
25感謝神，靠著我們的主耶穌基督就能脫離了。這樣看來，我以內心順服神的律，我肉體卻順服罪的律了。
1如今，那些在基督耶穌裡的就不定罪了。
2因為賜生命聖靈的律，在基督耶穌裡釋放了我，使我脫離罪和死的律了。
3律法既因肉體軟弱，有所不能行的，神就差遣自己的兒子，成為罪身的形狀，作了贖罪祭，在肉體中定了罪案，
4使律法的義成就在我們這不隨從肉體、隻隨從聖靈的人身上。
信息分享
昨天我們說神可以賜予潔淨同時締造潔淨，然後幫助我們在日常生活和經驗中應用出來。請讓我就這個方面分享我個人的經驗，不是作為讓你跟從的榜樣，而隻是說明神怎樣向我顯明他自己。
我在十多歲時信主，之後，朋友認為我應該求神以他的聖靈替我施洗。他們告訴我，這樣我便會得著力量，成為他有力的見証人。我求神這樣做，終於，在一次與他奇妙的相遇中，我找到了我想要尋求的那種力量。雖然這個經驗在一夜之間改變了我，將我從一個害羞、膽怯的追隨者變成基督勇敢的見証人，但我仍然因為罪的力量深受困擾。我努力對抗諸如貪欲和色欲等試探，直到有一晚，我因為內在的沖突而筋疲力竭，我跪下禱告說：「主啊，求你進到我內在深處，使我得到真正的潔淨。」
奇妙的事情再次發生。這一次，不是神的能力進到我裡面，而是他的純潔。雖然我沒有因而立刻超越了屬肉體的思想、驕傲、妒忌等；但從那一刻開始，我察覺聖靈的同在，多於察覺罪的同在。正如那些相信神賜予聖潔的人的信念，邪惡沒有在我裡面被消除，但我對邪惡事物的渴求消失了，那飢渴也不再叫囂。現在，五十年過去了，我為著聖靈那清新和潔淨的觸摸而對神發出的感謝，從來沒有止息。
「神的靈那潔淨的觸摸能改變我們」
進深研究
加五1-26；太五29；羅六6，十三14
1.保羅怎樣勸勉加拉太人？
2.耶穌怎樣激烈地表達？
祈禱
我的父，我的神，我明白我必須走上這條通往聖潔和內在潔淨的道路。求您讓我能夠經歷內心深處那清新與潔淨的觸摸。奉耶穌的名祈求，阿們。
The Beatitudes
Lord - make me clean
Bible reading:
Romans 7:14-8:4
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law;
23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in my sinful nature[b] a slave to the law of sin.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[c] free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[d] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.[e] And so he condemned sin in the flesh,
4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Message
Yesterday we ended by saying that God can impart purity as well as impute it, and He then helps us apply it in our daily life and experience. Permit me to share my own personal experience in this connection, not as a model for you to follow, but simply to illustrate how God revealed Himself to me.
Following my conversion in my mid-teens, friends assured me that I ought to ask God to baptise me in His Holy Spirit. This, they told me, would give me the power I needed to become an effective witness for Him. I asked God to do this - and in a remarkable encounter with Him, I found the power I sought. But although this experience transformed me overnight from a shy, timid follower of Christ into a fearless witness for Him, I still felt deeply troubled by sinful forces. I fought hard with such things as lust and sensuality until one night, worn down by the inner conflict, I got down on my knees and prayed: "Lord, reach deep inside me and make me truly clean."
Again, something wonderful took place - not so much an invasion of power as an invasion of purity. It did not result, I found, in placing me beyond the possibility of a carnal thought, a stab of pride, a trace of envy, but it meant that from that moment to this, I have been more conscious of the Holy Spirit's presence than I have been of sin's presence. Evil was not eradicated in me, as some proponents of imparted holiness believe, but I found that the eagerness for it had gone, and the hunger for it was no longer a clamour. Now, fifty years later, I never cease to thank God for His Spirit's cooling and cleansing touch.
"God's Spirit has a cleansing touch"
Prayer
My Father and my God, although I realise I have to walk my own personal path to holiness and inner cleansing, help me to know at last that same cooling, cleansing touch in the depths of my heart. I ask this for Your own dear Name's sake. Amen.
Further study
Galatians 5:1-26
Matthew 5:29
Romans 6:6; 13:14
1. How did Paul exhort the Galatians?
2. How drastically did Jesus put it?
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