Check it out!  Read through Deut. 28:1-14.

At least SEVEN TIMES we find the phrases “if you fully obey,”  “if you carefully keep all his commands,” “if you obey,” “if you walk in his ways,” “if you listen,” and “if you carefully obey.”

These conditional clauses are followed by at least FIFTEEN promises of blessing for those who walk in obedience to the LORD.

Now read through Deut. 28:15-68.

At least SEVEN TIMES we find phrases containing the idea “if you refuse to listen and do not obey” followed by more than FIFTEEN instances of “the LORD will.”  These 38 verses enumerate more more than THIRTY curses promised to the children of God who refuse to listen and obey the LORD’s commands.

That’s harsh!   Because we now “no longer live under the law but under grace,” as some put it, does that mean this no longer applies to us?

Jesus says in Luke. 11:28, “Even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”  And in Luke 6:46-49:  “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?  As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.  They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.  But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

Is it possible that the standard is now higher since we are now “under grace,” his law has been written upon our hearts, and we have been given the Holy Spirit to enable us to walk in obedience to the Lord’s commands?

Yes, our salvation is wholly by grace through faith, not by our works.  What does God now expect of believers who have been partakers of that grace?  Even in his “Great Commission,” Jesus told the disciples to teach the new disciples to obey everything he had commanded them (Matt. 28:20).

Grace is not a license for sloppy obedience, but an enabling to walk in complete obedience to our Lord. So let’s do it!  By his power and in his strength!