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Get Out of Chapter 7
The other day, while studying the book of Romans, I began to notice a few things. Chapter seven is a description of the law of our natural man. The fact is, carnality and its laws are a reality we all find to be true.
They are natural laws. It occurred to me that it is possible to break the laws of Chapter Seven by applying the principles of Chapter Eight.
We are all bound by natural law, even if we are not aware of it. Keaton, my five-year-old boy, may not be able to explain the law of gravity, but despite his lack of knowledge, he has learned that gravity can really hurt you.
Murphy’s Law says, “Anything that can go wrong will.” And how many of us have experienced the reality of Murphy in all of his observations? It is possible to break the law of gravity by applying the principles of aerodynamics.
It is possible to defy Murphy’s laws by applying ourselves to prayer. It is possible to overcome the natural laws of Romans Chapter Seven by applying the principles found in Chapter Eight.
Chapter Seven starts out telling us that we are bound by the law as long as we live:
“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?”
It begins to explain a fact that should be history:
“For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins…”
“For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.”
The fault was not in the commandment, but in an inbred trait that uses the commandment to slay us. “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” This is Paul observing himself.
This can be said of all of us. This is the favorite scripture of anyone who has experienced failure. I have also found it to be a crutch for some repeat offenders.
“For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”
Paul further expands on the reality of this evil law of the flesh: “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.” Like the law of gravity, this evil nature is pulling me down.
“For I delight in the law of God after 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 shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
He has felt like a man with paper feathers jumping off a building, only to go splat on the pavement below. I am trying to be brief; you will have to fill in the blanks through your own study of this subject.
Paul has now explained the equivalent to the law of gravity. He will now begin to explain the equivalent to the principles of aerodynamics.
CHAPTER 8
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
There is a law of the Spirit that is greater than the laws of nature: “…the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Headline: If you live a carnal life, you will experience failure piled on top of failure.
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Notice the benefit of the Spirit:
“…if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, …shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
In Summation
It is possible to get out of the bankruptcy court of Chapter Seven and live in the victory and confidence of Chapter Eight, if you will apply its principles. It would seem impossible that tons of metal, plastic, luggage, and people could be lifted up ten feet off the ground.
However, through the principles of aerodynamics, they are lifted up over thirty thousand feet into the sky and stay there for hours. This is accomplished through a combination of many things: Aerodynamic shape, powerful engines, and tons of jet fuel.
A pilot with knowledge of how to fly and ground control that guides them through the storms. If you have nothing to fuel your engines, you stay on the ground. If you choose not to sit in the pilot’s seat and exert control over your situation, you will stay on the ground.
You can live in a higher dimension of living where the principles of Chapter Seven are powerless. You must be willing to apply yourself to Chapter Eight. May we all enjoy the liberating power of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus!
In Him, By Him, Through Him,
“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
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