JON 2ROM 7
In Romans 7:14-24, we have the past experiences of a delivered man, who had struggled for freedom until he found he was rather getting further from deliverance than nearer the goal. He is now standing on dry ground, so to speak, and describing what he experienced before he was free.
You see a remarkable illustration of this in Jonah 2. He is put into the place where none could deliver him but God alone—in "the belly of hell" as he describes it. Three times over he promised what he would do if he only could get out. He said, "I will look again toward Thy holy temple." No, vows and resolutions will not do. "But," he cries, "I will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice of thanksgiving." Will this set him free? No! Again he cries, "I will pay that that I have vowed." All is in vain. Promises and vows, efforts and resolves, which are made in such a state, will not do. They all come from "I," and as long as "I" is recognized you have not given up "I" as one in whose flesh "dwelleth no good thing," and turned the eye away to Christ alone.
At last Jonah says, "Salvation is of the Lord." Ah, Jonah, you have found out the secret; you have touched the spring of the lock, and you are standing on dry ground the next moment! How simple, and yet how blessed to have the eye removed from self—hopeless self—and turned in the sense of utter, helpless weakness upon Christ. Then all is done, and we are free!