從天上賜下的復興
混合的經驗

經文
彼得後書三10-18
10但主的日子要像賊來到一樣。那日,天必大有響聲廢去,有形質的都要被烈火銷化,地和其上的物都要燒盡了。
11這一切既然都要如此銷化,你們為人該當怎樣聖潔,怎樣敬虔,
12切切仰望神的日子來到。在那日,天被火燒就銷化了,有形質的都要被烈火鎔化。
13但我們照他的應許,盼望新天新地,有義居在其中。
14親愛的弟兄阿,你們既盼望這些事,就當殷勤,使自己沒有玷污,無可指摘,安然見主;
15並且要以我主長久忍耐為得救的因由,就如我們所親愛的兄弟保羅,照著所賜給他的智慧寫了信給你們。
16他一切的信上也都是講論這事。信中有些難明白的,那無學問、不堅固的人強解,如強解別的經書一樣,就自取沉淪。
17親愛的弟兄阿,你們既然預先知道這事,就當防備,恐怕被惡人的錯謬誘惑,就從自己堅固的地步上墜落。
18你們卻要在我們主─救主耶穌基督的恩典和知識上有長進。願榮耀歸給他,從今直到永遠。阿們!
信息分享
我們之前曾說,有很多人認為復興是多餘的和無關痛癢的,今天我們會談論引致他們有這種想法的另一個原因──在復興中被激起的感情並非純粹的屬靈經驗。有批評指出復興不單將人性屬靈的一面引發出來,同時也顯露出人性的卑劣和慾念的一面。
我們在嘗試回應這個問題以前,需要再聽清楚這個批評背後的真正意思。在復興中,屬靈的事情的確是與屬肉體的事情混合在一起。英國作曲家威廉斯(William Williams)這樣說:「當我們的靈魂嘗到天上的筵席時,肉體亦要爭取分一杯羹,以致由恩典所喚醒的本能都喧鬧起來了。」在循道公會的復興正處於高峰的時候,沒有人能否認聖靈有力的工作,但是復興並不能一次過除下肉體的慾念或本性上的缺憾。
在五旬節聖靈大大澆灌以後的數年間,有明顯的證據顯示人的慾念很活躍,保羅的書信亦勸告信徒要抵抗慾念、克制情慾。偉大的復興領袖愛德華滋(Jonathan Edwards)曾說,在使徒時代,儘管聖靈明顯地在哥林多教會作工,使徒又稱他們為「神的教會……蒙召作聖徒的」(林前一2);但如果讓他們自行處理問題的話,教會肯定還是會支離破碎。
我們不能明白復興是怎麼回事,除非能夠先理解它的主要目的。那是甚麼呢?復興的目的不是要使聖徒在一夜之間變得完美,而是要喚醒沉睡的人。
「復興是要喚醒沉睡的人」
進深研究
羅八1-17;加五25,六8
1. 對於聖靈和肉體,保羅有甚麼教導?
2. 他談及甚麼新的律法?
祈禱
天父,感謝您提醒我,復興好像信主一樣,並不能產生「即時」的聖徒。求您幫助我明白,雖然品格可以從危機中顯出,但它往往是一個漸變的過程。奉基督的名字祈求,阿們。
Heaven-Sent Revival
Mixed experiences

Bible reading:
2 Peter 3:10-18
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.[a]
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives
12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[b] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
15 Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.
16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Message
We examine one more reason why some people regard revival as unnecessary and irrelevant - the fact that emotions kindled in revival are not unmixed spiritual experiences. Critics point out that revival brings to the fore not only the spiritual side of human nature but the baser and more carnal side too.
Here again we must listen to the truth in this criticism before attempting to answer it. It is true that in revival the spiritual is often mixed with the carnal. Williams put it like this: "When our soul came to taste the feasts of heaven, the flesh also insisted on having its share, and all the passions of nature aroused by grace were rioting tumultuously." And this was at the high point of the Methodist revival when none can deny that the Holy Spirit was mightily at work. Revival does not abolish in one fell swoop human carnality or the defects of our nature.
In the years immediately following the great outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost there were clear evidences of carnality at work. Paul's letters are full of exhortations to resist carnality and subdue the works of the flesh. The great revivalist Jonathan Edwards said that if the Corinthian Church had been left to themselves they would have torn themselves to pieces - yet clearly the Spirit was at work in their midst. The apostle greets them as "the church of God...called to be saints" (1 Cor. 1:2, AV).
We will never understand revival until we understand its primary purpose. And what is that? It is not to bring saints to perfection in a day, but to wake up the drowsy.
"Revival is to wake up the drowsy"
Prayer
Father, thank You for reminding me that revival, like conversion, does not produce "instant" saints. Help me understand that although character may come out of a crisis, more often than not it is the result of a process. In Christ's Name I ask it. Amen.
Further study
Romans 8:1-17
Galatians 5:25; 6:8
1. What does Paul teach about the Spirit and the flesh?
2. What new law does he talk about?
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