The truth of deliverance is also illustrated by the Old Testament story about the ax head that swam. The Spirit of God who penned the New Testament also penned the Old. In 2 Kings 6 there are seven verses that, I believe, link directly with our subject. I do not say they are a type, but they are a picture of what we have before us in Rom. 7. (Types are generally well identified in the New Testament.) These verses are a picture (an outline) of the subject of deliverance. I like pictures because they help us to understand and to remember the truth.
"And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go. So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood. But as one was felling a beam, the ax head fell into the water: and he cried, and said, Alas, master! for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither; and the iron did swim. Therefore said he, Take it up to thee. And he put out his hand, and took it." 2 Kings 6:1-7.
Our late brother Ruskin Gill said this was one of the most discouraging passages in Scripture for a man to see. The man's case is hopeless; he depends entirely on the ax, yet it lies at the bottom of the Jordan and he cannot retrieve it. It's an utterly hopeless picture. It is a picture of you and me after we are saved, when we see we are confronted with this body of death. Unless God comes in, our case is hopeless.