MAN CANNOT SAVE HIMSELF
Friday 8/4/2022
Suggested Hymns: G.H.B. 165, 306
Devotional Readings: Rom. 6:1-25
Topic For Adults: Saved through Jesus
Topic For Youths: Delivered From The Law And Sin
Topic For Intermediates: Saved Only Through Jesus
Lesson Scriptures: Rom. 7:1-12; 13:25
MEMORY VERSE
“But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Romans 7:8-9) NKJV.
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THE LAW, SIN AND I
Romans 7:20-23
Man is a spiritual being that longs for spiritual things. This is because Man was created in the image of God. The image contains the spirit, soul and body. The Law is spiritual and therefore, Man can, most time, desire to fulfil the law. To fulfil the Law becomes extremely difficult because the flesh is cursed in sin. Paul expressed how he desired to obey the law but in reality, he could not. His mind knew and accepted the law but the mechanism of his body did contrary to the Law. Sin through Paul’s body continually waged war against his mind and prevailed because he had no power to avoid sinning. Paul was trapped in the agonising powerlessness of fighting sin in his own strength. Neither goodwill, discipline nor morality are good enough to overcome sin. It takes a greater power of deliverance through Jesus to deliver man from the bounds of sin.
Point of Emphasis: You can never fight sin all by yourself.
Prayer Point: Oh Lord, deliver me from the power of sin.
Reading The Bible Through in a Year: Morning: Col. 1:19-29; Evening: Ps. 39-40
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BACKGROUND
Throughout the New Testament, Paul utilized the example of marriage to demonstrate amazing truths. Marriage institution existed before the fall of the Garden and continues to this day in every tribe, nation, and community, no matter how remote. This can be traced back to the beginning of recorded history. The analogy that when a spouse dies that he or she is no longer bound to the marriage vow is what Paul uses. A Christian is no longer bound by the law because we have died with Christ Jesus. There are several similarities in the Bible between marriage, Christ and the Church. This understanding provides us insight into who Christ is to the Church.
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NOTES ON THE LESSON
PART 1: THE ORIGIN AND WEAKNESS OF THE LAW – ROM. 7:1-12
The law originated for God’s people (the Israelites) from God to lead them to live a life of practical holiness in order to please God. It is meant to see the nature of God and His plan for how they should live.
The law is good. Nevertheless, it is a school master, it lack the power to deliver from sin. It is a way of death. ‘The soul that sin must die’. In contrast, faith in Christ is a spirit that give life (Rom. 7:10). The law is a curse, Jesus redeem us from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:6).
The imperfection of the law caused God to send His only begotten Son – Jesus to save us from the curse of the law.
The Law informed us about what was sacred, and we, like children, longed to do what we had been commanded not to do. We were aware of what constituted sin. We had a desire to sin because we were governed by the sinful nature. The fruit of such desire resulted in death.
The era of Moses was known as the era of the law but when Christ came and died for us, it became the era of grace. When we become dead to sin, we become dead to the law because our spirit man and mind are no longer controlled by the things of the world but are dead to sin and the works of the flesh. We become renewed by the word of God daily. Based on this transformation, we are led by the spirit and not by the law. The presence of the law makes us aware of the existence of good and evil. The law tells us that when we do badly, it is punishable by the law as the law is the differentiating factor between good and bad which in turn makes us realise that we are capable of committing evil as we have a choice to do so due to our adamic nature. This weakness made God look for a better provision for his children through the death and resurrection of Christ.
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PART 2: FREE FROM THE BOUND OF LAW AND SIN - ROM. 7:13-25
It was through the law that we become aware of our need for a Saviour. When we view ourselves in our sinful state, powerless to break free, we look outside ourselves for redemption. As a result, the law’s purpose has always been to lead us to Christ as our Saviour. God’s ultimate plan was to show Man His standard and allow Man to see for himself that he can never meet the standard all by himself. Paul explained how impossible it was for him to fulfil the law even when he had the desire to obey it. The war between the flesh and spirit is a great war that can only be won through the acceptance of the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.
This brings realisation that being born again is provides a way for us to be free and to live free from sin’s bondage. Once we have accepted His payment for our sin and believed in Him by faith, then, we must walk in the spirit to escape the effects and desires of our previous nature. Our minds are renewed when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour Christian must win the war between the flesh and the spirit man. Our mind represents our spirit man, and the flesh represents the sinful nature in us. When the Bible says we are dead to sin, it means we died to the power of the law used to control us.
CONCLUSION
It is pointless to try to work your way into heaven, and it is futile to try to work your way through the Christian life. When Paul declared that nothing good resided inside him, he was pointing to the reality that he had nothing good in him aside from Christ and his born-again spirit. When we act apart from Christ and our born-again spirit, we will experience the duality that Paul described in this Chapter (Rom. 7:1-25). The desire to do what is right is inherent in us, but the ability to carry it through is not. “I have the purpose and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out,” the Amplified Bible says (Rom. 7:18 Amp).
QUESTIONS
1. Explain the origin of the Law.
2. How was Man bounded by the Law?
3. Why did God send His only begotten Son when the law was in existence?
4. Explain how Christ delivered Man from the Law.
DO HAVE A BLESSED DAY
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