"So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Romans 8:8
Attempting to regulate man's fallen nature, by God's pure and Holy law, is as futile and absurd as beating the drum for the deaf to dance. The old nature is entirely in enmity with God, therefore, any attempt at refurbishing it to suit divine purpose is vane. Heaven has no attraction to that which is alien to God, and that is what the fallen nature is. That which is deeply rooted in rebellion cannot be modified to meet divine requirement.
The fallen nature has no desire for the things of God, even as a pig has no desire for a clean environment. No matter how hard you try to reform a pig: give it a bath, dress it up nicely, embellish with the best cosmetics, yet, you can't change its desire for filth. Those who assume that by refurbishing the fallen nature, which is entirely sinful, they can make it acceptable to God are mistaken because nature cannot be refurbished, it is born, and for the sinner to transit from his sin nature to that of righteousness, it must be born again.
To make this possible, God sent His only begotten Son into the world to die, and on the cross, He put the old nature in Christ and crucified him. Therefore, when Christ died, the old man died also. This is the only hope for fallen man to come into the presence of a holy God. To attempt doing this by reforming the old man is futile, and that is what the legalists try to do. In their minds, this will make it presentable to God, but it won't.
In the mind of the legalist, the sinner must give up sin in order to become righteous, but this is an absolute impossibility. The only work that a man who is dead in sin can bring about is that which is dead. It is not in the power of the sinful nature to give up itself, only by death and a new life made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is this possible.
Toni
