八福
主啊，使我洁净
经文
罗马书七14-八４
14我们原晓得律法是属乎灵的，但我是属乎肉体的，是已经卖给罪了。
15因为我所作的，我自己不明白；我所愿意的，我并不作；我所恨恶的，我倒去作。
16若我所作的，是我所不愿意的，我就应承律法是善的。
17既是这样，就不是我作的，乃是住在我里头的罪作的。
18我也知道在我里头，就是我肉体之中，没有良善。因为，立志为善由得我，只是行出来由不得我。
19故此，我所愿意的善，我反不作；我所不愿意的恶，我倒去作。
20若我去作所不愿意作的，就不是我作的，乃是住在我里头的罪作的。
21我觉得有个律，就是我愿意为善的时候，便有恶与我同在。22因为按着我里面的意思（原文是人），我是喜欢神的律；
23但我觉得肢体中另有个律和我心中的律交战，把我掳去，叫我附从那肢体中犯罪的律。
24我真是苦阿！谁能救我脱离这取死的身体呢？
25感谢神，靠着我们的主耶稣基督就能脱离了。这样看来，我以内心顺服神的律，我肉体却顺服罪的律了。
1如今，那些在基督耶稣里的就不定罪了。
2因为赐生命圣灵的律，在基督耶稣里释放了我，使我脱离罪和死的律了。
3律法既因肉体软弱，有所不能行的，神就差遣自己的儿子，成为罪身的形状，作了赎罪祭，在肉体中定了罪案，
4使律法的义成就在我们这不随从肉体、只随从圣灵的人身上。
信息分享
昨天我们说神可以赐予洁净同时缔造洁净，然后帮助我们在日常生活和经验中应用出来。请让我就这个方面分享我个人的经验，不是作为让你跟从的榜样，而只是说明神怎样向我显明他自己。
我在十多岁时信主，之后，朋友认为我应该求神以他的圣灵替我施洗。他们告诉我，这样我便会得着力量，成为他有力的见证人。我求神这样做，终于，在一次与他奇妙的相遇中，我找到了我想要寻求的那种力量。虽然这个经验在一夜之间改变了我，将我从一个害羞、胆怯的追随者变成基督勇敢的见证人，但我仍然因为罪的力量深受困扰。我努力对抗诸如贪欲和色欲等试探，直到有一晚，我因为内在的冲突而筋疲力竭，我跪下祷告说：「主啊，求你进到我内在深处，使我得到真正的洁净。」
奇妙的事情再次发生。这一次，不是神的能力进到我里面，而是他的纯洁。虽然我没有因而立刻超越了属肉体的思想、骄傲、妒忌等；但从那一刻开始，我察觉圣灵的同在，多于察觉罪的同在。正如那些相信神赐予圣洁的人的信念，邪恶没有在我里面被消除，但我对邪恶事物的渴求消失了，那饥渴也不再叫嚣。现在，五十年过去了，我为着圣灵那清新和洁净的触摸而对神发出的感谢，从来没有止息。
「神的灵那洁净的触摸能改变我们」
进深研究
加五1-26；太五29；罗六6，十三14
1.保罗怎样劝勉加拉太人？
2.耶稣怎样激烈地表达？
祈祷
我的父，我的神，我明白我必须走上这条通往圣洁和内在洁净的道路。求您让我能够经历内心深处那清新与洁净的触摸。奉耶稣的名祈求，阿们。
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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