That old hackneyed expression, "Thank God we are not under law: we're under grace!" has come to mean something entirely different from that which God intended.

How do we please God? What exactly does God require of us?

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven, And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: Nehemiah 1:4-5

Notice that after Nehemiah stopped weeping, mourning, fasting, and praying, he came to a definite conclusion. God answers prayer for those who love him and keep his commandments. (Daniel 9:4)

Immediately a storm of howls and protests will arise from the average modern day student of the Bible, and you will hear words something like these: "But that's Old Testament, we are living under grace now. Obedience is not a requirement now, just do your best (according to how you see it) and have faith."

What many fail to see is that loving God and keeping His commandments has always been and always will be God's requirement.

...If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. Exodus 15:26

The entire twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy tells us in no uncertain terms what God thinks of keeping His commandments. There are many others in the Old Testament, but let's go to the New Testament.

If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. ...If a man love me, he will keep my words... He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings... But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do... John 14:15,21,23,24,31

Amazingly enough, there are those who will protest these words of Jesus, and argue that because they were spoken before He died on the cross, they do not apply now. How foolish! For years those who have wanted to avoid the claims made on their devotions by the Word of God excused themselves from all Old Testament scripture.

Now there are those who refuse to live up to the requirements of the New Testament epistles, stating that only the words of Christ—(some use the term "only what's written in red") apply to them. Then there are those who come along and say these words were spoken before the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and therefore do not apply. Convenient, wouldn't you say? In other words, according to them, they can do their own thing and go to heaven because they are not under law, but under grace. Whose grace?

Remembering the words we read in Nehemiah 1:5, let us look at a statement made after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 1 John 3:22

Those who feel that preachers of holiness are dictators must chafe at the words of Jesus in John 15:14, Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

The message stays the same throughout the entire Bible. To please God we must do as He tells us to. To obey God is not to be under bondage, but to be free.

Going back to the opening paragraph of this chapter, let me point out that the only way to be out from under the law is to be above the law.

But if ye be led of the spirit, ye are not under the law. Galatians 5:18

To be higher than the law means to live above the law. This is what Jesus is showing us in Matthew 5:19-48.

The commandment, Thou shalt not steal, is no problem to those led by the Spirit of God. Likewise, the commandments, Thou shalt not kill..., bear false witness, etc., are not a problem to those who are led by the Spirit of God.

Just as the man driving within the speed limit does not feel threatened by the traffic officer or the radar camera, neither do the commandments of God and the standards of holiness cramp the style of those who are led by the Spirit of God.