I can see it now.
Example 1 - Here's the believer that gets tempted with sin and he begins like this, 'Oh Lord this temptation is so great, I don't want to sin but I can't help myself'... and he goes right on and commits the sin and suffered from guilt mentally and emotionally before he actually sinned.
Example 2 - Then you have another with the same kind of temptation and he says, I don't care and goes off and sins willfully.
If I were God (and I'm not) I would want to slap that man in Example 1, who is nothing more than a wishy-washy, mamzy-pamzy, good for nothing weak minded believer and should be chastised for his incontinency. But the man who just goes out and blows it willfully, because he has no self control of his old sin nature, that man God can work with and teach him how to receive mercy and strength through grace.
To try and explain this a bit more fully.
A sincere conversion takes place. The convert desperately wants to live as God would have them live, for the good laws of God He would have them keep have been written on their hearts and minds by the spirit, that is the new covenant
This is the covenant I will make with them after that time declares the Lord
I will put my laws in their hearts
And write them on their minds
Then he adds
Their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more
Heb 10:16&17
In the Old Testament God told Moses to tell the people to circumcise their hearts
Duet 10:16
But the people were far away from God in their hearts, they kept rebelling against him
God told Moses the people were stiff necked they would soon desert following him when they reached the promised land
But under the new covenant the heart is circumcised by the Holy Spirit
Rom 2:29
So the true convert loves God and wants in their heart to live as God would have them live, but they have a problem, the flesh
Spiurgeon said that when a person becomes saved it is like approaching a high mountain, far too steep to climb but most do try and climb it, inevitably they fail and end up back at the bottom where they started. He likens this to following after the law
But at the bottom of the mountain is a narrow gorge, so narrow that most fail to see it, it is the way of Jesus and leads to the other side.
So what happens to the true convert if they do not know the truth of grace? What if no-one has told them the truth?
They try and climb that mountain, and of course they must fail and get dispirited
So they have two choices. They can give up believing they are not good enough for God, or they can become hard nosed(not likely from a truly sincere convert)
So many in churches who have never understood the truth are left with no option than to profess they are people they know they are not deep in their hearts. They are hardly likely to admit their true state to their friends in the church
The truly sincere convert who wants nothing more than to please God feels crushed. They know they are not, cannot live the life others are PROFESSING to live and all too often they give up. Actually for the sincere convert if they try to attain Heaven by being 'GOOD ENOUGH' (always has to be according to law when you think about it) they will in all probability become worse sinners
Rom 5:20 Rom 7:7-11
But for someone who does understand the truth of grace, they know in their hearts they are secure with God through one thing only, faith in Christ who died for their sins, and that is for the whole of their Christian lives
Rom 1:17
Now, we know sin/satan used the good laws of God to condemn man Rom 7:7-11
But in Rom 3:21-30 Paul goes into detail that we have a righteousness apart from the law, we are justified without observing the law. But of course Paul knew what the charge would be.
'Well then, if I am justified apart from observing the law I migjt as well do what I want, it doesn't matter, I am saved by faith
And so Paul put to bed that notion in the last verse of the chapter
Do we then nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather we uphold the law
You see satan has but one battering ram with which to hit the sincere convert
They are not good enough, worthy enough for God, and anyone who falls for it and follows the way of self righteousness, the law, being good enough is just giving satan more and more power in their lives to dispirit them and make them give up
As you said
The power of sin is the law 1 Cor 15:56
But it is in that moment when a person knows in their heart that they are secure with God by faith in his son, and that is their only righteousness for as long as they live in God's eyes, sin MUST start to lose its power in their lives, for its power source, the law has been removed.
Hence
Do we themn nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather we uphold the law
So you see it would be absolutely impossible under a sincere conversion in the truth of grace for ANYONE to remain in the state I have often mentioned for ten years after conversion. It could not happen
For sin shall not be your master, for you are not under law but under grace(through faith)
Rom 6:14
Does that mean a convert will be perfect in the flesh on this earth? I have never met anyone who claimed to be so
For by one sacrifice he has made forever PERFECT those who are being made Holy
So in God's eyes the Christian is seen as perfect because all God sees is that his son died for their sin.
So the true sin of the true convert is to take their eyes and heart off Christ and cease trusting him to deliver them and make them all he would have them be through the spirit, and to wilfully look away to the flesh, for if a person in their herart is looking to Christ in faith they do not want to fulfill the lusts of the flesh
For the new convert it is their job to look to Christ and trust in him, as a limpet clinging to a rock despite the sin being committed that they in their hearts are desperate to be free of. They must stand on faith, not law(beiung good enough) for they are not under law but under grace.
And it will not be easy, for satan will whisper nbegative thoughts in their minds, but if they persevere in faith they will see the victory, for the spirit will sanctify them
But as a person grows and becomes stronger in the faith and is set free of certain sins by faith in Christ, if they then wilfully deliberately turn away from looking to Christ and seek to satisy the desires of the flesh that is very different from the person who has taken deep rooted sin into their Christian life but is desperate to be free of it
In such circumstances the person will need to come before God in repentance.