Bible Study – Romans 7

Welcome to Bible Study on afaithtalk. I want to apologize again for missing chapter four and making us off the schedule now. I realized it last week and posted it in case you haven’t noticed it yet. Please don’t skip it. It’s one of my favorites. If you’re still working on Romans 1-6, don’t worry. This is chapter seven and it will be here when you’re ready to continue. There are many yet to go, so make sure you’re ready to continue before you read this one. There is much to glean from each chapter.

Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Romans 7
Let’s pray:
Thank You for bringing us all here, Lord. We want to learn. We want our faith to grow. What You have to say is all we want to hear. So open our ears and open our hearts and teach. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.

We’re going to begin in the Message again. Let’s go.

Romans 7:1-3 MSG
Torn Between One Way and Another
^1-3 You shouldn’t have any trouble understanding this, friends, for you know all the ins and outs of the law—how it works and how its power touches only the living. For instance, a wife is legally tied to her husband while he lives, but if he dies, she’s free. If she lives with another man while her husband is living, she’s obviously an adulteress. But if he dies, she is quite free to marry another man in good conscience, with no one’s disapproval.

Yikes. That probably made you think of someone you know. Pray for them right now, give it to God and trust Him. Then come back here, we’re at verse 4.

Read Romans 7:4 NIV
4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also ________ to the ______ through the body of Christ, that you might _________ to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might ______ ______ ____ God.

So that we might belong to one another and to Christ in order that we might bear fruit to God. Ooh, does that remind you of other Scriptures? John 15, it’s Jesus talking, he mentions fruit several times in this chapter. Go to John 15. In the first 17 verses how many times can you find the word fruit?

______ 

This is John 15:16 NIV
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

I can’t encourage you more to read the Scriptures. Read, Read and Read some more. It’s the only way to know it’s all consistent, it’s all Him. And He is beautiful.

Read Romans 7:5-6 
For when we were in the ________ of the flesh, the _____________ passions aroused by the _______ were at _______ in us, so that we bore fruit for _______. But now, by _____________ to what once ____________ us, we have been ___________ from the law so that we ________ in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Romans 7:7 MSG
⁷ But I can hear you say, “If the law code was as bad as all that, it’s no better than sin itself.” That’s certainly not true. The law code had a perfectly legitimate function. Without its clear guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork. Apart from the succinct, surgical command, “You shall not covet,” I could have dressed covetousness up to look like a virtue and ruined my life with it.

Read Romans 7:8
But _____, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, _____________ in me every kind of coveting.

For apart from the law, sin was dead.

Remember?
Sin is not counted against anyones account
where there is no law. Romans 5:13b.

Read Romans 7:9-10
Once I was __________ apart from the ______; but when the ___________________ came, ______ sprang to _______ and I ______.I found that the very ______________ that was intended to bring ________ actually brought _________.

Read Romans 7:11-12
For sin, _______________ the opportunity afforded by the commandment, _________________ me, and through the commandment put me to __________. So then, the law is ________, and the commandment is ______, _______________ and __________.

Romans 7:13 MSG 
¹³ I can already hear your next question: “Does that mean I can’t even trust what is good [that is, the law]? Is good just as dangerous as evil?” No again! Sin simply did what sin is so famous for doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally destroy me. By hiding within God’s good commandment, sin did far more mischief than it could ever have accomplished on its own.

Read Romans 7:14-17
We know that the law is ______________; but I am ________________, sold as a _________ to sin.I do not understand what I _____. For what I ________ to do I do not do, but what I ________ I do.And if I do what I do not ________ to do, I agree that the law is ________. As it is, it is no longer I ____________ who do it, but it is sin ___________ in me.

Romans 7:17-20 MSG 
^17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

Read Romans 7:21-25 NIV
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do ________, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I ____________ in God’s ______; but I see _____________ law at work in me, ___________ _____ against the law of my ________ and making me a _____________ of the law of sin at work ___________ me. What a wretched man I am! Who will ___________ me from this body that is subject to _________?
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Let’s pray:
Thank You, Jesus, for pointing out the difference here and how much we have to be grateful for. Thank You for being our rescue, our savior, our friend, our defender, our deliverer, our ever-present help and always in control of everything for us. Thank You for the way you hold on and never let go. The way You are always wooing us to You. The way You’ve provided us a way home and the way You reveal Your wonderful promises to us through study and through experience. You are so wonderful, so faithful, so much fun. I praise You, Lord. Amen.