Romans 7:24 (KJV) “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

Many Theologians believe Paul likened the weight of our dead sinful flesh to the imagery of Roman Customs: History say’s, when a man committed murder, one of the methods of punishment was to tie the deceased body to the murderer, preferably on his back! The smell of decomposition, and weight of the body would be unbearably torturous, and eventually due to the diseased flesh, the murderer would die a slow painful death also! Whether or not this is true, we can indeed compare our old sinful flesh to such, because it’s a continuous weight on the shoulders of man, and humanity goes through extreme lengths to numb the pain from sin, yet Paul let’s us know there is a way for that O Wretched man to be lifted off from our shoulders: IT CAME BY WAY OF THE CROSS! Because Jesus carried the weight of Our Cross on His shoulders, He provided a way of escape! It comes through the precious Lamb slain for the sins of the world! The Bible calls it the Gospel, and it’s the ONLY METHOD of removing the wretched man! The only way we can partake of the Gospel ourselves is to obey the New Testament plan of Salvation that’s found in John 3:5 and Acts 2:38! We liken unto the Death of Christ through Repentance of our sins: The Greek word here is “Metanoia” which is godly remorse, and true anguish of your trespasses against God’s Word. It means to turn about, and head in the opposite direction you were going in! This is where we decide we’re going to pick up our Cross and follow Him! Although we’ve repented of our sins, the beauty of Calvary is we have the chance through His blood to permanently remove the weight of sin from our shoulders: All the past deeds we have done, whether it’s giving your body away, or harming your body through drugs, what ever you’ve done, you have a chance to be washed white as snow when we choose to apply the Blood of Christ to our life, and I’ll boldly declare, the ONLY PLACE JESUS CHRIST WILL MEET US TO WASH US CLEAN IS IN THE WATER OF BAPTISM! To be specific, the name of Jesus must be invoked over us during Baptism, for it’s the only name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12!) Repentance and Baptism are acts of obedience and now that our vessels are empty of the wretched man, He said He would fill us with the Baptism of the Holy Ghost! This is how we can liken unto His Resurrection: He told His disciples in Acts 1:8 “And he shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you!” 

There are many opinions and theologies out there on how to remove the wretched man, but the Bible is emphatic when it declares the plan of Salvation to us in Scripture! We all have the same common ground by declaring it’s by the Grace of God we’re saved (Eph 2:8!) However, Paul let us know in Romans 1:5, he received GRACE by obeying The Faith! Ephesians 4:5 say’s, there is One Lord, One Faith, and One Baptism! There’s one plan of Salvation, and one way to receive the Grace of God, and that’s through obedience to His Word! Grace is not an umbrella to cover our sins, Grace is the power of God working through us by the Holy Ghost to live above the bondage of sin! The power of living the Gospel every day is what keeps the O Wretched man from creeping back on us: This is why Paul later proclaims a few verses later in Romans 8:1:

[There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The only way to be IN CHRIST, is by obeying the Acts 2:38 Message, and the only way to walk after the Spirit, is to continuously live the Gospel daily through Repentance and washing ourselves daily through the Word of God, and looking into the perfect law of Liberty (James 1!)

I feel I’ve done injustice if I don’t post the way to partake of the greatest opportunity ever given to humanity, and this week reminds us how Great our God is, that He saw we couldn’t escape the wretched man of sin, so He robed Himself in flesh and revealed unto us His Name which is above every name, Jesus Christ, He condescended himself to take on the form of a servant, and die on the Cross meant for you and I! Lord, I thank you for thinking of me, and He was thinking of YOU as well!!! For that, we owe Him a life of Worship and Praise!!!

If you’d like to know more about the New Testament plan of Salvation, or have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me! Our mission is to spread the Gospel, and I do that by any means available!!

God Bless, JDS