Romans 7

The Believer’s Relationship to the

Law
Pastor Jason Armold
• What fruit are we bearing?
– V4. “bear fruit to God”, “dead to the law; married
to another”. (saved)
– V5. “bear fruit to death”. In the flesh, the motions
(passions) of sins, which were (aroused) by the
law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit
unto death.
– Nature determines the fruit!
• V6.But now (now that we are saved and IN
CHRIST) we have been (our position) delivered
(loosed, free) from the law, that having died to
that by which we were held (bound); we should
be serving in newness of spirit and not in the
oldness of the letter.
• The law can never deliver a person.
• We need God’s Spirit and God’s life.
• We have DIED to the law and are ALIVE unto God.
• Is the law sin? Is the law something evil and sinful
and wicked? GOD FORBID! Let it not be. The
problem is not with the law.
• The law is not sin but makes known sin. Romans
3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh
will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the
knowledge of sin.
• A mirror is not dirty, it shows you that you are
dirty! Before a mirror came along, a person
thought he had a clean face. A mirror shows dirt
so the law shows (and convicts of) sin.
• The law is a perfect reflection of the God who
gave it. (it’s an excellent mirror. It can show me
my dirt, but it can’t make me clean.) the law is
holy but it can’t make you holy. The law can never
sanctify. It can only show me how unholy I am.
The law is just (righteous) but it can never justify
me. The law is good but it can never make me
good.
• The law is spiritual. There is no problem with the
law. The real problem is ME!
 The Battle Within
• Positionally speaking, a true believer (saved
person) is no longer in the carnal realm, but is
in the Spirit realm.
• Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in
the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in
you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of
Christ, he is not His.
• You are in Christ and Christ is in you.
• Also, positionally, a saved person is no longer
a slave of sin.
• Romans 6:17-18 But God be thanked that
though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed
from the heart that form of doctrine to which
you were delivered. 18 And having been set
free from sin, you became slaves of
righteousness.
• In Romans 7:14, Paul is not referring to his position but
to his actual condition. He is referring to his actual
experience of living the Christian life.
• It is possible for a true believer to have a carnal walk.
• 1 Corinthians 3:1-41 And I, brethren, could not speak to
you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes
in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food;
for until now you were not able to receive it, and even
now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For
where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you,
are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For
when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of
Apollos,” are you not carnal?
• Romans 7:15 For what I am doing, I do not
understand. For what I will to do, that I do not
practice; but what I hate, that I do.
• Every believer must admit that they have
struggled with this very thing that Paul describes.
• The sinful self is not the real self (position). Paul
was a new man in Christ, but the old Paul was
responsible for the sin. He is distinguishing
between the two natures.
• We want to do good, we want to have victory
over sin, we want to keep God’s holy law and
obey God’s word, but we have not the power to
perform, we are powerless!
• We are totally UNABLE to live the Christian life!
• The new creature in Christ has the will to do what
is good and right, but no power at all. The power
is not in ourselves but is found only in God!
• Every believer needs to come to the place
where he recognizes his own wretchedness.
We need to see our desperate need, even as
believers.
• God brings us to the depths of despair, not to
keep us there, but that HE might bring us to
the heights of HIS grace.
• “Who shall deliver me?” It does not say “What
shall I do?” Or “How shall I deliver myself?”
• This person has come to the end of himself.
Dependence on SELF has led only to defeat and
failure.
• We must come the realization that self will not
find God. Self can never please God. We have the
power to say no to sin every time because of
what Christ has done for us. We must allow God
to work in and through us for His glory and His
pleasure!
• Romans 8:1-4 1 There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
who do not walk according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the
law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not
do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did
by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the
flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law
might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according
to the flesh but according to the Spirit.