One does not need to be around a legalist very long before his orientation comes to the front for "out of the mouth proceed the issues of the heart". If one is of the persuasion that salvation is dependent upon what man does that is precisely where his emphasis will be--on law keeping. There is a vast chasm between obedience that is grace motivated and obedience that is law motivated. Grace motivation is altogether different from law motivation.

God wants His children to be HEART motivated. He has no regard for Pharisaical obedience. New Covenant obedience springs forth from grateful recipients of salvation on whose hearts God's laws are written. David asked God to instill in him a pure heart that he might not sin against Him. The kind of obedience God desires is that which declares, "It is no longer I but Christ Who lives in me". This is obedience that gives God all of the glory for salvation. Christ's New Covenant religion does not feature "law" righteousness. It features the righteousness that comes down from above, the righteousness that is of faith. Philippians 3:9.

Salvation was never intended to demonstrate man's righteousness. Salvation is altogether a demonstration of God's righteousness. Salvation is of God. Salvation is impossible on the part of man. Matthew 19:26. When we allow Christ to live in our hearts, when we clothe ourselves with the New Covenant personality our obedience will be the outcropping of Christ living in us. It will not be by reason of the demands of law. It will be Spirit motivated. The letter kills while the Spirit makes alive. 2'nd Corinthians 3:6. New Covenant religion is a religion of the heart.

What it narrows down to is this: Legalism emphasizes what man does in the process of salvation. It puffs up and inflates the ego with imagined worthiness while grace emphasizes what God has done through Jesus. Salvation is a free gift from God. It is entirely of God and the legalist insults our Divine Host when he tries to pay Him for His gift. He insults Him when he insists on paying his own way. This is what the proud ruler of Matthew 19 wished to do. The question narrows down to this: Is our obedience grace motivated from the heart or is it law motivated? Judge ye!

As we work out the duration of our salvation God causes us to be heart motivated. He causes us to "want" to be obedient to Him. Philippians 2:12-13. All New Covenant law keeping can be narrowed down to the "new commandment", that princely commandment, on which rests the law and the prophets and that is to love one another. But even then we are not authorized to boast in our law keeping. It is the love of the Lord Jesus emanating from us. Let us boast in Him! Psalms 34:2 and 44:8, also Ephesians 2:9.

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