Hi rand,
Okay.... could you think about this a bit longer, please? The only reason 'the law' had any power to show up the sinfulness of mankind, was that mankind was sinful already. The law did not create our sinfulness, it merely opened our eyes to it.
As soon as Adam and Eve transgressed, sin entered the world.
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
We understand that sin is always laying at our "door".
Gen_4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well,
sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
We know there was sin before the Law because God stated there was sin.
Gen 18:20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great,
and because their sin is very grievous;
People still understood what sin was.
Gen_20:9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
Yes, because of the law, sin did increase. That is why he goes on to say that "where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound".
MUCH MORE, is a
quantitative not qualitative phrase.
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered,
that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound:
In Romans 6, Paul goes on to explain that though you have been set free from sin (Rom 6:22a But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God...)
that we should not yield ourselves to sin (we still have a choice to sin) which will still lead to death.
Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey;
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
And just to put an exclamation upon what Paul is trying to say, he closes with this:
Rom 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
There is a false gospel that says if we pray a prayer and receive the Lord Jesus that now nothing we ever do will be held against us because we got "our ticket punched" and have received our "free admission" to eternal life and now, no matter how we live, nothing will be held against us.
This is a false security that has brought a slumber upon the Church and caused them to be worldly and not consider that Christ died for us so that not only will we be set free from sin and no longer be a slave to it, but that we would walk in holiness before Him.
Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity;
even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Rom 6:22
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God,
ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Notice the order of things here. There is no eternal life if there is no holiness.
People call obedience and holiness works and yes they are. They are the works of the Holy Spirit in a life that is yielded to Him.
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness,
without which no man shall see the Lord:
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
1Co 3:18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
Many
profess to know God, they have all the words to convince you, yet the Lord looks at our actions and does not just naively receive what rolls off of our lips.
Mar 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written,
This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
A man will act according to what is in his heart.
Tit 1:16
They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
So, the blessings and the curses are still here today and so is the Law. When you walk in the flesh thinking your are pleasing God, you have put yourself back under the law and its curses.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,
if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now
if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
2Co_13:5 Examine yourselves,
whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
Axehead