Bible Commentaries
Romans 7

Verses 1-6

The principle of deliverance from the law
(Romans 7:1-6)

Romans 7:1. Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?

Romans 7:2. For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.

Romans 7:3. So then if, while her husband is living, she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.

Now here is the principle of deliverance from the law. Paul turns from the thought of being a slave in chapter 6 to being one who delights now in a new master and in a new relationship that will bring forth fruit unto God. The principle of a holy life is not obedience to the law but union with the risen Lord. May I repeat that statement?

The principle of a holy life is not obedience to the law but union with the risen Lord. In fact, Christ in glory is the rule for the believer’s life.

Now Paul is not discussing here the question of marriage and divorce and remarriage. He is using the illustration of marriage to show that when the husband dies, the wife also dies. But the woman is left, so she is free to marry somebody else. In other words, no one can be the wife of a dead man. When the husband dies, the law of marriage is broken by that death.

Take any kind of law. The only way man knows of keeping down sin is by making laws. And, when you have a law, you must also have a correspond­ing penalty. There is no mercy in law. There may be mercy in a judge, but there is no mercy in law. The law says that, if you sin, you shall die. This is the law of Moses. “The wages of sin is death.” “The person who sins shall die.” The only thing that can deliver you from law is death.

For example, outside your city and my city we have graveyards. You never have any policemen there, patrolling the graveyards. Death has severed the relationship between the people who are bur­ied there and the law under which they lived.

And, my friend, the man who has accepted Je­sus Christ as Saviour has not only been freed from death, having been the recipient of eternal life, he has not only been freed from sin as a master and as a tyrant, but he has also been delivered from the law.

I repeat it, the law, as 1 Timothy 1:9 says, was made for the lawless. The law has teeth in it. If you sin, you die. The only way you will ever get freed from it is by death. That’s what he is dealing with in these first six verses. The principle of deliver­ance is by death.

As long as you live under the law, you have to obey the law. You break the law in one point, and you are guilty of all. As Galatians 3:10 says, “Cursed is every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.”

The law says, “If you break me, you die.”

Remember, the law demands two things. The law demands that you do not break it, and the law demands righteousness. You have no capacity to measure up to either one. You neither have right­eousness nor are you innocent. You have broken the law.

You say, “But, Mr. Mitchell, I’m doing the best I can.”

But you have already broken the law. You must die.

“But I’m doing the best I can!”

It makes no difference. The law has no extenuat­ing circumstances. Have you broken it? Did you ever break it?

“Yes,” you say.

You must die. Either you die or somebody else dies for you. And the fact is that Jesus Christ took your place and died your death. What for? That you might bring forth fruit unto God. You see, what God wants is fruit. Just as a man is married to a woman and has children and dies, so the woman remarries and has fruit unto a second husband. Under the law, we produce death. We produce sin. That’s all we could do under the law.

There is no mercy in law, not even in the law of God. There is nothing wrong with the law, but there is something drastically wrong with us be­cause we can’t keep it. If we can’t keep it, we must die and there is no mercy. The only way you will get out from under the law is by death. For once death comes in, your relationship to the law is severed.

How are you joined to the risen Christ? The law was from Moses to Christ. You are not joined to the Jesus who walked the earth. You are joined to the Lord Jesus who came forth in resurrection.

The law has had nothing to say since the cross. Isn’t that a wonderful thing? You and I can bring forth fruit unto God, recognizing that we are no longer under the law which is a taskmaster, which has no mercy and which insists that we die.

And so, Paul goes on to say,

Romans 7:4. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ (death has severed the relationship), that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.

Now, I know some of you are saying, “But, Mr. Mitchell, we must keep the law.”

Listen to what the word of God says:

“Therefore, my brethren.”

Are you a child of God? He’s talking to you. “You also were made to die to the Law (you are not alive to the law, but dead to the law) through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to an­other, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.”

Now, listen again.

Romans 7:5. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the mem­bers of our body to bear fruit for death.

Romans 7:6. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

Death severs the relationship.

Some people even fight this.

I remember a story Dwight L. Moody told. In a meeting, he asked, “Do you know anyone who is perfect?”

A man put up his hand.

“My wife’s first husband.”

But death must sever that relationship. Here we are, joined to a risen Christ; and we are trying to keep the memory of that old husband, the law, alive.

Allow me to quote to you from Galatians chapter 2, verse 19, where Paul says, “For through the Law I died to the Law.”

For what purpose?

In order “that I might live to God.”

I say this reverently. You cannot live to God, Christian friend, if you are going to live under the law. Two verses, Romans 10:3-4, talk about the Jews’ going about to establish their own right­eousness. They have not subjected themselves to the righteousness of God. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who be­lieves.”

I ask you the question: Have you taken Jesus Christ as your Saviour?

You say, “Yes.”

Have you been covered with all the righteous­ness of Christ?

“Yes.”

You have been justified by faith?

“Yes.”

Then, my friend, the Book says Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that be­lieves. He is not the beginning of the law, but the end of the law. Law has no more to say to a Chris­tian. All the law can do is to kill, to curse, to con­demn.

But Christ took my place; and now in Christ Je­sus, this risen glorified Saviour, I have been set free from the law.

Now, someone is going to say this, “Well, Mr. Mitchell, we are saved by the grace of God. We are saved through what He accomplished for us at the cross. But we must keep the law as a rule of life.”

Friend, you are putting yourself back under the law. And, if you put yourself back under the law as a rule of life, then you must come back under its curse. “Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”

Now here is strong language, isn’t it? But in these first six verses, this is what we have.

The law doesn’t die, but we die to it in Christ; and now we are joined to the risen Christ, and we are dead to the law by the body of Christ. We are joined in heart and love to the risen Saviour with all His rights, with all His inheritance, with all His righteousness, with all His life.

What for?

To bear fruit unto God in living, loving, willing obedience to Him. Our former life, the passions of our sins which were energized by the law, brought forth fruit unto death. It was not unto God.

Listen. Let me read that fifth verse, “For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.”

I know you have struggled and struggled and struggled for deliverance. You want peace of heart—not only peace of conscience through the work of Christ on the cross, but you also want peace of heart.

You have struggled and worked and struggled and worked to be pleasing to God by keeping the law, and you are not happy. You have no enjoy­ment or peace, and do you know why?

You have become legalistic. You are trying to merit favor with God. You are not saying salvation is just Christ’s death for me. You are saying it is Christ plus my keeping the law.

I’ll say, very frankly, if one is saved by trusting the Saviour plus keeping the law of God, then none of us will be saved because it is impossible for any one of us to keep the law. If you break the law in one point, you are guilty of all.

You see, the trouble is that people have never seen the purpose of the law.

Why in the world did God give it to us anyway? What is the intent of the law?

What is its purpose?

Oh, I just hunger for God’s people to live unto Him.

Galatians 2:19 says, “I through the law am dead to the law.” Death has come in. I have severed my relationship to the law. What for? that I might live unto God.

You see, if I’m living under the law, then my heart is occupied with keeping the law and I live unto myself. I produce or bring forth fruit unto sin; for the law is the strength of sin. The law is not the strength of righteousness. God wants me to bear fruit for Him. I am His workmanship, cre­ated in this living, glorified Christ unto good works. I am dead to the law for the purpose that I might live unto God.

And the very next verse in Galatians 2:1-21, which most people know, is “I have been crucified with Christ; . . . I no longer live, but Christ liveth in me.”

By the way, the 20th verse of Galatians 2:1-21 is the answer to the question raised in verse 19. Allow me to give it to you. The basis of the question is, “I through the law am dead to the law in order that I might live unto God.” Now, here’s the question: All right, Paul, when did you die to the law?

“I was crucified with Christ.” In my identifica­tion with Christ in His death, death having come in, my relationship to the law has been severed once for all. The law was an added thing because of the transgression. The law was imposed upon the people of Israel to open their eyes to the awful­ness of sin, so that they would put their trust in God and live for Him.

I say very, very frankly, none of us can really live unto God unless we realize that we have a new life in Christ, that we’ve been joined to the risen Sav­iour and that the law has no more jurisdiction over a Christian.

Did you hear me?

The law has no more jurisdiction over a Christian.

Just as sin is no longer our master, we are no longer under the jurisdiction of the law. We belong to a risen, glorified Saviour. Hallelujah!

Friend, rejoice in your new life in Christ. It’s wonderful to live for God instead of living for self. Death has severed our relationship to the law so that we are free to enter into a new relationship. Take a piece of paper and put a cross in the mid­dle of it. On the left-hand side, write “Sin—death— law.” And then on the other side, since you have been joined to Christ, write “forgiveness— justification—freedom from death—freedom from the law—freedom from sin as a master.” The law has had nothing to say since the cross; it was there that Christ met the demands of the law.

Verses 1-25

Romans 7:1-25

We have here the cry of the human heart— longing to please God, longing to live a

holy life. But the more he tries to keep the law, the more he breaks it. The more he reads the Word of God and sees what the law was made for and what it demands, the more he must cry out, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?”

The law never saved anybody. It was never given to save. It was never given as a means of life for sinners, nor was it given as the rule of life for the believer in Christ.

You say, “Well, Mr. Mitchell, can one use the law today lawfully?”

Yes, in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 9, Paul says, “The law was made for the lawless.” One can use the law to prove to men that they need a Saviour. That’s the purpose of the law. As Paul could say in Galatians 3:24, “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ;” and, having come to Christ, we are no longer under the schoolmaster.

The danger with us is that we know we are saved by grace, saved through the precious blood of Christ. But we think that to be good we must keep the law. The more we try, the more we realize we can’t be good by keeping the law. So we have in this seventh chapter two wonderful things: We are delivered from the law through the death of Christ, and we were delivered so that we can bring forth fruit unto God.

DELIVERANCE FROM THE LAW (7:1-25)

Verses 7-13

What the law did (Romans 7:7-13)

Romans 7:7. What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin ex­cept through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”

Romans 7:8. But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.

Romans 7:9. And I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died;

Romans 7:10. And this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;

Romans 7:11. For sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

Romans 7:12. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Romans 7:13. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

I wrote down, some time ago, 11 things that the law can do and cannot do.

Now, remember, the law made sin “utterly sinful.” The law is not sinful; but, through the law, sin wrought in Paul all manner of lusts. The law is all right. It’s I who am wrong. Without the law, sin was dead; it was dormant. But the old master, sin, woke me up when the law came. This, of course, manifests the fact that death puts an end to all the hopes of the flesh. Now I would like to give you what the law can and cannot do. Or, putting it another way, why was the law given? I want, first, to give you eight things about the law.

1. The law makes sin exceedingly sinful. You have this in Romans 7:7-8: “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the con­trary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law. . . . But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me covet­ing of every kind.”

The law makes sin exceedingly sinful. You have it again in Romans 7:13 and also in chapter 5:20: “And the Law came in that the transgression might in­crease.” The law gives a distinctive character to sin.

2. The law brings about wrath (Romans 4:15). It never works righteousness.

3. The law is the ministry of death (2 Corinthians 3:7-9). All the law can do is to kill you.

4. The law is the power of sin (1 Corinthians 15:56). It is not the strength of righteousness. The law demands righteousness but gives you no power to produce it. It is the power of sin.

5. The law brings a curse. Galatians 3:10 says, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them.”

All the law can do is to curse. This is some­thing the legalist will never admit. This is what most Christians will never admit. All the law of God can do is to curse. And when Jesus Christ took your place and mine and bore your sin and mine, all the law of God could do with Him was curse.

But Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. How? He was made a curse for us.

    6.The law was “added because of transgres­sions” (Galatians 3:19). It was     imposed on people.

The Jews said, “All that the Lord our God hath said, we will do.”

They didn’t know themselves, nor did they know the law of God. So the Lord gave the law to prove what they were.

    7. “Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” You have that in Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7. “I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, You shall not covet.” “By the law is the knowledge of sin.”

    8. It is a “tutor to lead us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24-25). And, having come to Christ, “we are no longer under a tutor.”

Now, all these eight things show what the law is really like in that it makes sin exceedingly sinful. It is a ministration of death. It works wrath. It is the strength of sin. “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” It brings out what’s in me.

You see, the law stirs up what is in me and brings it up. “I would not have known coveting was sin until the law said, You shall not covet.”

For example, my mother, every Saturday night when we were youngsters, used to bring home a bag of butterscotch candy; and she would give one to each of us children. There were four of us, three boys and a girl. Mother would put the bag in a glass-covered case up where we could not reach it, and then she would make a law.

She said, “Now, if I catch any of you children touching this candy, you’re going to be whipped.”

We knew we would be whipped. She made a law, and with the law was a corresponding punish­ment. And every time we looked at the bag of candy, of course we wanted the candy. But the law said, “Thou shalt not do it.”

Sometimes she would put things in the living room (we called it the “front room”), and she would shut the door. And then she made a law and she would say, “Now, you children, don’t you go into the front room today.”

Well, we weren’t even thinking about going into the front room. We were in the kitchen most of the time. But when mother said, “Don’t you go in there today,” what do you think we did? The first chance we got, we went in there. Why? She had made a law.

“Don’t you go in there or you know what!”

That stirred up something in me and my broth­ers. What in the world has she got in there? It stirred up sin in us, disobedience in us.

Or supposing you’ve got some fruit trees in your backyard and you don’t want the children passing by to pick them. They can’t see the fruit. But if you make a law and put it on a sign on your front lawn and say, “Boys, you keep away from the fruit,” the moment they see that law, what do they want? Why, of course, they want the fruit.

Now, you’ve made a little simple law—“Boys, don’t steal the fruit. Keep off the fruit tree.” But what does it do? It stirs up in our hearts a desire for fruit. Now the desire for fruit was dormant, but seeing the law put up on the front lawn brought this lust for fruit to life.

Now let me come back to what we have here. Man says, “I’m pretty good. I’ll do everything God says to do.”

But the law says, “You shall not do this, and you shall not do that;” and it stirs up that which was dormant.

So that’s what you have in these first eight things. Now let me give you three more.

9. The law is not of faith (Galatians 3:12); it is contrary to faith. In the Old Testament, people were never saved by keeping the law.

We have this in Romans 4:6-8 where “David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into ac­count.’” The law is not of faith. You have to turn from works and just accept by faith what Christ has done. You can’t have both faith and works. They just don’t mix.

10. The law cannot justify. That is, the law can­not save.

In Romans 3:20, Paul says, “By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”

This is an amazing thing.

People say, “But I’m trying to keep the law.”

God says, “You can’t stand justified before Me by keeping the law because by the law is the knowl­edge of sin.”

The law doesn’t give you righteousness. The law demands it. And you haven’t any at all. Your right­eousness is in God’s sight as filthy rags.

Now one more thing.

11. The law cannot give life. In Galatians 3:21, Paul says, “If a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.” When Christ died, He delivered us from the law; and now God is free to give eternal life to as many as will put their trust in Him.

Now, won’t you fall in love with the Saviour? He is the Saviour not only from sin and from death, but also from the law. We now live unto God in­stead of unto sin or under the law. We are new people, new creatures in Christ, living unto God. Remember, God wants you to love the Saviour with all your heart.

Verses 14-25

THE LAW CANNOT DELIVER FROM SIN
(Romans 7:14-25)

Now, Paul is not concerned with pardon. He is not concerned with the question of being saved. That’s already settled. But he is dealing with the fact of deliverance from indwelling sin.

In chapter 6, man was trying to do it one way or another by keeping sin down.

But here in chapter 7, he tries to do it by keep­ing the law. And the more he tries, the more he fails.

I want to make this thing very clear—and that is why I repeat and repeat each point I want to make. The death of Christ has severed the relationship
between you and the law. The law is not sinful, but the law works in me all manner of lust; and I’m the fellow that’s wrong, not the law. Without the law, sin was dead. Sin was dormant. The old master sin woke up when the law came.

In Romans 7:12-13, Paul vindicates the law. It is just. It is holy. It is good. It is spiritual. It came from God, but it cannot deliver.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with the law. I don’t throw the law out as being no good. But I cannot meet the law’s demands. Neither can you. Neither can anybody else. It was not given to save. It was not given to help you be good, but it de­mands that you be good. The law prescribes a holy walk, but it gives no power to do it.

As Christians, we are joined to the risen Christ. We have a new life, new motives. We have new prospects. We have new hopes. Everything is in place.

But here is the exercise of the quickened soul: Desiring to be holy, he can’t be. He wants to please God; but the more he tries to please Him, the more he fails. The old nature is unable to overcome sin in the flesh. He says, “I am carnal; I’m sold under sin. Nothing is wrong with the law; the trouble is me.”

Now let’s read these verses:

Romans 7:14. For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.

Romans 7:15. For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

Romans 7:16. But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good (that is, I wanted to keep the law but I couldn’t do it).

Romans 7:17. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me.

Now, let me come down to it. I am carnal, sold under sin. Go back to 1 Corinthians 2:14 where we have the natural man, the unsaved man, the unregenerate man who does not understand the Spirit of God. Then in Romans 7:15 we have the spiri­tual man who discerns all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

In the following chapter, 1 Corinthians 3:1-23, the first four verses, we have the carnal man. He is the Christian who should grow but is not growing. He lives like the unsaved sometimes.

He is the Christian living in the flesh. He loves the law; he wants to be holy; he wants to please God; but he finds that the more he tries, the less he can do it. He is the undelivered believer who lives with indwelling sin. He is the Christian who has not experienced deliverance from the power of sin in his life. He can say:

Romans 7:18. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me (I want to do the right thing), but the doing of the good is not.

Romans 7:19. For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish.

Romans 7:20. But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

Romans 7:21. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good.

Romans 7:22. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man (in my heart, I want to please God; I really want to please God):

Romans 7:23. But I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

He is saying, “In my flesh there dwells no good thing. My body is full of lusts and desires. Oh, how I want to please God, but the more I seek to please Him the more I fail. Am I really saved?”

Yes, yes. Thank God, you are not saved by what you do or don’t do. You are saved by trusting the Saviour. The more you read the Word of God, the more you want to please God.

But the danger is, if you try to please God in the energy of the flesh, you will fail to realize that in your flesh dwells no good thing. God has no confi­dence in the flesh—neither yours nor mine.

Paul found that out. Can I repeat that? God has no confidence in anybody’s flesh, yours or mine. Paul, speaking here from personal experience, I believe, wants to please God in the flesh; but he finds he can’t make the flesh behave. There are certain desires there.

But we can get deliverance; he speaks of it here:

Romans 7:24. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

It’s a cry for help, a cry for a deliverer. How can I be free of this thing? Help must come from the outside.

Do you know what he is saying here in this “who will set me free from the body of this death?”

It is said that if a criminal, a prisoner in a Ro­man jail, didn’t behave himself, his guards would take the body of a prisoner who had died and tie it to the back of the prisoner who didn’t behave him­self. And wherever he went, he carried that body of decaying flesh. The stench of this corrupt body was ever with him. Wherever he went, he carried it with him.

And he cried out, “Who shall deliver me from this body of death?”

It’s the cry of Paul.

He says, “Here I am living in a body that is full of desire. When I want to do the right thing, I do the bad thing. When I want to leave a thing alone, I can’t do it.”

It’s like the man who says, “I can take it or leave it.” Well, you and I know what he will do. He will take it. And sometimes we begin to wonder if there is any deliverance from indwelling sin for us. Is there any way we can keep our body from doing the things it does?

Now let’s be realistic about it. Don’t try to live like an ascetic and then tell me, “Well, Mr. Mitchell, I’m holy and I don’t sin.”

I don’t believe you. I don’t believe you. If you don’t sin in action, you are thinking thoughts and words and deeds. All of us do to a more or less de­gree. Of course, we can see the badness in the other fellow; but he sees the badness in us. We criticize each other, and we are both bad. Oh, how quick we are to judge the weakness and failure and frailty in some other Christian. And the world is very quick, of course, to judge that sin in us.

So there is a yearning in my heart, and I try to make my body behave itself. I’m trying to keep the lust down, and I try the law of God. The law says, “Don’t you do such-and-such.” But I go ahead and do it. The law says, “You must die.” It is a body of death.

You say, “Who will deliver me?”

I say the deliverance must come from the out­side. So the last verse says:

Romans 7:25. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

See, he learned something. He learned that sin was dwelling in his body, and he was powerless against it. Is that your experience, my friend?

Notice something else. The sinful self was not the real self. The real self wanted God. The new man panted after God. The old man panted after sin.

Deliverance is found in one place—in Jesus Christ. The channel, the course of our deliverance, is found only in Him. So now the law of the risen Christ Himself is the rule of the believer. That’s why chapter 8 is full of the Spirit of God.

Did you notice chapter 7 doesn’t mention the Holy Spirit? Here is a man who is trying to be holy and good without the power of the Holy Spirit. He is trying by his own strength to conquer frailty and weakness and failure in his life. He wants to please God and finds he can’t do it. He is trying by himself.

As the old saying goes, he is trying to lift himself up by his own bootstraps.

But he learns something. He learns that sin is in his members. He learns that he is powerless against it. He learns that he has a new life pat­terned after God even though sin is in his mem­bers.

And he learns that there is only One who can deliver him and that is Jesus Christ, the risen Son of God. Sometimes the Lord has to get us right down into failure and to the bottom of things be­fore we really trust Him.

Many have often said, “We trust God for our eternal souls—but, oh, how difficult it is to trust Him the next 24 hours with our daily walk in life.”

My friend, may I say, if you’re a discouraged Christian and you’ve tried to live for God and you’ve failed, there is a place of deliverance. When we come to the next chapter, you will find it is full of the Spirit of God. In chapter 7, it was “I,” “me” and “mine,” “what I can do,” “what I hope to do,” “what I am trying to do.” And the answer to that is failure. In chapter 8, it is no longer I—but Christ.

Under the law with its terrible lash,
Learning at last how true;
The more I tried,
The sooner I died
While the law cried, “You, You, You.”

Hopelessly stilled did the battle rage;
“O wretched man,” my cry.
And deliverance I thought
By some penance bought

While my soul cried, “I, I, I.”

Then came a day when my struggling ceased;
And, trembling in every limb,

At the foot of the tree

Where One died for me

I sobbed out, “Him, Him, Him.”

Oh, when we just stop our deadly doing and trust the Lord, what wonderful things happen.

Friend, again, are you struggling? Are you dis­couraged? You’re trying to live for God, and your life has been full of weakness and failure? Just turn the whole business over to the Saviour.

You cry, “Who will deliver me?” Then comes the answer: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Say with Paul in chapter 8, “We over­whelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”

Now may the Lord make it wonderfully real to you.

Isn’t it wonderful to have a Saviour who not only saves us from the penalty and guilt of sin, but a Saviour who can deliver you and me daily from the power of sin and from the curse of a broken law?