Well this question is one many wrestle with in this hour. Paul said that all things were permitted, but not all things are profitable. When it comes to the penalty of the law, we are free from charge. But that does not give us a license to sin. Paul even asks this very question, do we take our liberty as an occasion for the flesh? What side of "the law" does our flesh operate on? See, if we are children of the Father, and I trust you are, then we are corrected by our Heavenly Father when we step out of line. What does He use as a benchmark to determine what is out of line and what is not? The moral law. His Holy Law. No law, man made or God made, has any power in and of it'self. It is not the nature of law to give power. It simply states a limit of acceptable behavior. Therefore, of itself, it can do nothing but identify behavior as being within the law, or beyond the law. The law has never been the problem with man, even before Moses. It's the sinful nature of man that is the problem. Natural law breakers. We don't need a school for it, we come fully equipped. We are able to train ourselves in it. It's not because of the law, but because of our fallen nature we inherit from Adam and Eve. We know from reading God's word that sin is a transgression of God's law. The problem of man is sin. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners, law breakers. Therefore we deserve death. God's justice demands the death penalty. Jesus died in our place and we become partakers of His sacrafice by faith. He then imparts His righteousness to us. Now that we ARE righteous, then what? What kind of behavior can our Father expect from His children in light of what He has done for us, blotting out all record of our sin? Will His expectations be within His moral law, or without? He has changed the desires of our hearts, but not the desires of our flesh. So as already having been made righteous (past tense) we begin to live as His children. We are told to walk after the spirit. The spirit is what has been born again. We know that the desires of our spirit are the desires of the Holy Spirit. On which side of the law would you expect that to be? Let me give you an example. Personally, I hate driving. Why? Because it's impossible for me to drive without speeding. Not that I have the peddle to the metal all the time. But my flesh just wants to fudge. If I'm not extremely careful, I'm speeding. One day, in California, I was crusing along about 70 in a 55. (My flesh was more dominant back then.) So the Holy Spirit started dealing with me. So I slowed down to a very boring 55...or so. I told Him how hard it was to try and drive the speed limit and not slip over. And just a smiggen over is as bad as a hundrend over, right? So He asked me what would happen if I dropped my speed to 50? Well, first of all Lord, I'd really be bored out of my mind, but it would be easier not to break the law. What if you slowed to 45? Oh I could drive all day and not speed, Lord. What if you didn't ever get into the car, Lahry? Lord, I would never have to be concerned with breaking the speed limit again. Well, that taught me a whole lot more than just respecting speed laws. He showed me that as christians, we often tend to live like we drive, as close to the "limit" as possible. Example: "That movie only has one sex scene in it" Or "just a few cuss words". But remember, He said that just a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Just a little compromise and first thing you know, you are off following the flesh on the wrong side of the law. Does that make the law bad? No, it's our behavior that's the problem. God desires us to behave in a manner that pleases Him and brings Him glory. We do that when we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Do not be decieved, His law goes far beyond the 10 commandments. I'm not speaking of ceremonial law here, but the laws that light our paths as we walk this narrow way. The bible tells us that to know to do good and not do it, is sin. Anything that is not of faith is sin. Now we could say that this is included in the "10", and it is. Love God, with all our heart, and love our neighbor as ourselves. All commandments are summed up in that statement that Jesus made. Love is always in favor of the law, the righteous side of the law. If we live and move in love, it is far beyond the law, in opposite directions from the flesh. It's not about how much we know, but about how we live day by day. In Romans 12 vs 9 (amplified version) Paul admonishes us to flee in horror from all wickedness. In light of that I have a question for you. What side of the law would you find wickedness? Beloved, we are saved by faith through grace. That is the only way a man/woman can be saved. It is because we ARE SAVED that God places in us both the will and desire to do His good pleasure. His good pleasure is on the righteous side of the law. Keeping the law does not make us righteous. Because we are righteous, God changes the heart and gives us the desire to live for Him and in Him, far away from the law, but always on the right side of the law. Our obedience is driven by love, thanksgiving, and worship, and not by obligation. If we are busy doing His will and not our own, the law is of no concern to us. How could it be. Like driving, we could never break speeding laws if we never get into the car. That does not makes us law keepers, nor does it make us holy inside. We need a heart change. Jesus is the only One who can do that, and we get it by faith. If the heart does not change, one is simply not saved. The heart will always change toward righteousness, and that will always be within the moral law of our God. I hope this helps, beloved. Finally, many do not understand that when the spirit is born again, in God's eyes the flesh has died with Jesus on the Cross. The flesh and the spirit of man are no longer "homogenized", as too many think. They are not one and the same. In fact they are now at war with each other. The flesh will never be perfected. The wickedness of it's desires never change. We have to deal with it on a day by day basis. It's kind of like Viet Nam. The whole time we were there, we knew it was impossible to erradicate the enemy. We had to fight it day by day. We won some and lost some. But we were not overcome. Brother, we will be the same in this life. But unlike Nam, the victory is already ours. We just have to continue to subdue and put to death the real enemy of our born again being, our flesh. Pauls said walk after the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. The desires of the Spirit of God within and the desires of the flesh are totally opposite one another. In other words, it's impossible to do both at the same time. To do one is not to do the other. So seek the Lord and His will for your life, walk in that, and devolop your love affair with the Lord Jesus Christ. Walk with Him arm and arm and you won't give in to your flesh or the devil. Oh yea, and when you look in the mirror in the morning, what you see is not you. What you see is what is destined for the grave. Let it go. Even so come quickly Lord Jesus.
