This Week @ FBF - 11/16/11
“Rescue Me!”
Romans 7
Romans 7 describes well the believer’s struggle with sin. Read it carefully. You can just FEEL Paul’s pain as he describes the daily conflict of our two natures. Believers have been freed from their fallen nature, but, God help us, we continue to yield to its lure. It’s surprising, but true, that some of the most intense spiritual warfare begins AFTER salvation.
Romans 7
The believer’s mind, will, and body can be controlled either by the old nature or the new nature, either by the flesh or the Spirit. Paul was speaking of the conflict between those two natures. When talking about his Sin, Paul uses the term “lives in” several times in this passage. He personifies Sin as a king, tyrant, slave owner. It tempts and lures him, AND US, to independence from God. Listen to Paul’s cry in V24: What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thank the Lord, he does not leave it there. V25 proclaims, Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! Would you join us Wed night as we share our struggles and lift each other up to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come study God’s Word and fellowship with folks who will so happy to pray with you. We look forward to seeing you.
God Bless,
Pastor
www.fbfkyle.com
517-9723
We meet Wednesdays at 6:30pm in the school library at Negley Elementary in Kyle. The school is located in the Plum Creek subdivision at 5940 McNaughton.
Study Questions
Read 7:1-6
How long is a woman bound to her husband? Why?
What are we guilty of if we try to be married to two laws at the same time? How does Paul’s marriage illustration apply?
How is it that we "died to the Law?" For what purpose?
What does Paul mean by "sinful nature” (V5)?
Compare and contrast our service in the new way of the Spirit with the old way of the written code (V7).
Read 7:7-13
What did the Law reveal to Paul?
Read Exodus 20:17. What is coveting? Is it a sinful heart or the commandment (the Law) that produced covetousness?
Explain what Paul was saying in V9.
What is the intent of the commandment? What did sin do through the commandment?
Can the law become the cause of spiritual or eternal death? What is the cause for death then? How does God show us the nature of our sin?
Read 7:14-25
What is Paul’s desire in these verses? Do his actions match his desire? Rewrite Romans 7:15 in your own words. Do you sense this tension too?
What do make of V17 & V20? Is Paul absolving himself of responsibility?
How is it that sin can still live in someone who belongs to Jesus? Explain the difference between the inner being and the members of the body?
Are there situations in which your inner being and your body are at war?
Who it is that rescues us from this body of death and how He has done it?
