For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Romans 7:22-24 (NKJV)
How about you, can you relate to what Paul is saying here in the scriptures above? I know that I certainly can. How many times have we wanted to do what is right in a certain situation only to fall back to doing what is wrong? Its as if our body has a mind of its own, and it wont take no for an answer. Well, actually thats exactly what is going on when we sin. We are simply listening to the bodys request to be satisfied with something that is not in line with what God desires.
Notice I said, our bodies request, and not demand. Its important we acknowledge this with a clear mind and we remember it. We are in control of what we do, not our body. We make the choices and decide whether we will sin or not. We are the ones within the chambers our own minds that justify our behavior when we know all too well, it is not righteous.
Pauls description of a war being raged within the members of our bodies describes so vividly what we go through when we continue to think upon something and reason that we shouldnt do it. And for each one of us at some point, this process can be too much and we will eventually fail in our own effort in our attempt to change. When this happens, we can become discouraged, and depressed, and even give up hope, and simply start the cycle of sinful behavior over again.
It appears that Paul even comes to a point where he is giving up hope, as he asks the question, Who will deliver me from this body of death? Or was this simply an analogy? You see, it was during this period of history when Paul had written this letter, where a person who was convicted of murdering another individual, could receive as a sentence to his crime, having the body of the dead man tied to his body. And this person might have to carry this decaying corpse for weeks. The stench alone would kill some.
Isnt that the way our past sin can be? We can commit certain sinful actions and think weve gotten away with something, but we end up carrying them around with us. And the stench of them can kill us spiritually. In all actuality, we never did get away with anything, and we end up paying for these transgressions, as our walk with God suffers, and our life reflects the loss of joy we could have experienced, had we not chose to listen to the flesh.
Paul answers his question proposed in verse 24, in the following verse:
I thank Godthrough Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:25 (NKJV)
You see, he didnt ask what, would deliver him, he asked who. And there is only one person who is capable, and it is Jesus Christ. It will never be a 12-step program; with some procedure or template we will be able to apply to your life to handle our character deficiency, or weakness in the flesh. I am not speaking ill of these programs, and they may be used for structure in rehabilitation, but the healing and the power to overcome sinful temptation will always be from the power of Jesus Christ through the Helper he sent, known as the Holy Spirit. This is the only way to be delivered from the bondage of sinful behavior, and the bondage of a spiritual and physical body of death.
Christ died for all of us so we could be free from the bondage of sin. When we spend time with Him daily reading His Word, and talking with Him, we will begin to understand just how much He has done for us, and how much He loves us. We were formally darkness, but now we are light. We used to feed our fleshly desires and focus on the things of the world, but now we are to focus on eternal things. Before we couldnt help ourselves, because we were prisoners to our flesh, but Christ has delivered us, and has set us free.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their chains in pieces. Psalms 107:14 (NKJV)
If we continue to live as slaves, then what has He died for? It is time to put those ways behind us and commit 100% to following Him, and 100% relying on Him. Compromise will lead to sin, and the fleshly patterns will start again, because that is the nature of our temporary body in which we live. But it is only temporary, so hold fast and stay focused against the temptation to satisfy the temporary.
As I said earlier, we cannot live the way God has intended for us to live without His help; we will eventually fail. Satan is counting on us to just try a little harder, because he knows he can outlast, and out tempt our willpower. We must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to sustain our walk, and to lead us in His ways. And this can only happen through a relationship with Jesus. If we look to Him for help, we will not have to give in to sin.
STUDY QUESTION: Who is our deliverer?
PERSONAL INVENTORY: Can you relate to failing in your Christian walk? Can you see where your focus shifted during these times, from Jesus, to the things, and cares of the world?
APPLICATION: Keep your eyes firmly fixed upon the cross, and the things that are eternal; things which have significance for eternity. Cast off things, which are keeping you too busy to spend time with God.
How about you, can you relate to what Paul is saying here in the scriptures above? I know that I certainly can. How many times have we wanted to do what is right in a certain situation only to fall back to doing what is wrong? Its as if our body has a mind of its own, and it wont take no for an answer. Well, actually thats exactly what is going on when we sin. We are simply listening to the bodys request to be satisfied with something that is not in line with what God desires.
Notice I said, our bodies request, and not demand. Its important we acknowledge this with a clear mind and we remember it. We are in control of what we do, not our body. We make the choices and decide whether we will sin or not. We are the ones within the chambers our own minds that justify our behavior when we know all too well, it is not righteous.
Pauls description of a war being raged within the members of our bodies describes so vividly what we go through when we continue to think upon something and reason that we shouldnt do it. And for each one of us at some point, this process can be too much and we will eventually fail in our own effort in our attempt to change. When this happens, we can become discouraged, and depressed, and even give up hope, and simply start the cycle of sinful behavior over again.
It appears that Paul even comes to a point where he is giving up hope, as he asks the question, Who will deliver me from this body of death? Or was this simply an analogy? You see, it was during this period of history when Paul had written this letter, where a person who was convicted of murdering another individual, could receive as a sentence to his crime, having the body of the dead man tied to his body. And this person might have to carry this decaying corpse for weeks. The stench alone would kill some.
Isnt that the way our past sin can be? We can commit certain sinful actions and think weve gotten away with something, but we end up carrying them around with us. And the stench of them can kill us spiritually. In all actuality, we never did get away with anything, and we end up paying for these transgressions, as our walk with God suffers, and our life reflects the loss of joy we could have experienced, had we not chose to listen to the flesh.
Paul answers his question proposed in verse 24, in the following verse:
I thank Godthrough Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:25 (NKJV)
You see, he didnt ask what, would deliver him, he asked who. And there is only one person who is capable, and it is Jesus Christ. It will never be a 12-step program; with some procedure or template we will be able to apply to your life to handle our character deficiency, or weakness in the flesh. I am not speaking ill of these programs, and they may be used for structure in rehabilitation, but the healing and the power to overcome sinful temptation will always be from the power of Jesus Christ through the Helper he sent, known as the Holy Spirit. This is the only way to be delivered from the bondage of sinful behavior, and the bondage of a spiritual and physical body of death.
Christ died for all of us so we could be free from the bondage of sin. When we spend time with Him daily reading His Word, and talking with Him, we will begin to understand just how much He has done for us, and how much He loves us. We were formally darkness, but now we are light. We used to feed our fleshly desires and focus on the things of the world, but now we are to focus on eternal things. Before we couldnt help ourselves, because we were prisoners to our flesh, but Christ has delivered us, and has set us free.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their chains in pieces. Psalms 107:14 (NKJV)
If we continue to live as slaves, then what has He died for? It is time to put those ways behind us and commit 100% to following Him, and 100% relying on Him. Compromise will lead to sin, and the fleshly patterns will start again, because that is the nature of our temporary body in which we live. But it is only temporary, so hold fast and stay focused against the temptation to satisfy the temporary.
As I said earlier, we cannot live the way God has intended for us to live without His help; we will eventually fail. Satan is counting on us to just try a little harder, because he knows he can outlast, and out tempt our willpower. We must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to sustain our walk, and to lead us in His ways. And this can only happen through a relationship with Jesus. If we look to Him for help, we will not have to give in to sin.
STUDY QUESTION: Who is our deliverer?
PERSONAL INVENTORY: Can you relate to failing in your Christian walk? Can you see where your focus shifted during these times, from Jesus, to the things, and cares of the world?
APPLICATION: Keep your eyes firmly fixed upon the cross, and the things that are eternal; things which have significance for eternity. Cast off things, which are keeping you too busy to spend time with God.
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