Faith Works: A Losing Battle

Faith Works: A Losing Battle Romans 7:1-25

BIG IDEA: Only _______ can _______ me from sin’s control Jesus rescue

____ can’t keep me from sin, only ______ can. v. 1-6 Law Jesus

So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. v. 4

So, my friends, this is something like what has taken place with you. When Christ died he took that entire rule-dominated way of life down with him and left it in the tomb, leaving you free to “marry” a resurrection life and bear “offspring” of faith for God. The Message

… by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. v. 6

Sin ______________ the law and __________ me v. 7-13 manipulates deceives

Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. v. 7

But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment produced in me every kind of covetous desire. v. 8

For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me… and through the commandment put me to death. v. 11

_______________ isn’t enough to free me v. 14-25 Determination

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. v. 15-17

. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. 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. v. 18-20

We admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

“What a wretched man I am!” Who will rescue me from this body of death? v. 24

Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! v. 25 I need a ________! Rescuer

Faith Works: A Losing Battle