Romans 4: 15b "For where there is no law, there is no transgression."  Transgression.  Or phrased another way which we don't like to think about.  Sin.

Nobody talks about sin anymore.  Probably because we all think we do right--in our own eyes.  Or because we have a family member involved in something that we know is wrong, but we have justified it in some way.  We are very defensive when someone suggests that we have done something wrong.

But to do something wrong, you have to have a judge.  Someone who has set a standard.  Your family, your state, your government, or ultimately--your God.

When people become Christians, they come with a lot of baggage.  They have no ultimate standard to live by.  If Christ is in their lives, if the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in their temple, God will write law on their hearts.  One thing at a time.

When a baby begins to eat real food, they throw it on the floor, rub it in their hair and get some of it in their mouths.  That behavior is no longer acceptable for a five year old.  The rules are revealed  as you grow.  You can't go back and rub food in your hair when you're grown and say that you didn't know better.

But the ultimate rules are God's rules.  And as we are growing, He reveals the next thing we need to do, or not do.  Once we know right, once we know wrong, then we are accountable.  That's why he gave us his words in the Bible.  So we can grow.

Micah 6:8 "He has showed you…what is good; and what the Lord requires of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and walk humbly with your God."

James 4:17 "Therefore to him that knows to do good and doesn't do it, to him it is sin."

You can sin by doing what God says is wrong.  Or you can sin by not doing what is right.  Not in your eyes, but in the eyes of God.  And really, honestly, we each know what we need to change.  You might as well talk to God about it.  He already knows anyway.