[LearsFool]

Jesus was speaking to people who had been given instructions by God through the Law and the Prophets. And He quoted from Isaiah, through whom God had spoken to people similarly instructed.

In order to be pleasing to God, these two audiences needed to draw nigh unto Him with their whole hearts rather than their lips alone, obeying His commands rather than their own devices.

We see such a heart in Abraham when he offers up Isaac. We see it in the Israelites as they march around Jericho. We see it in Noah as he builds the ark. God says the heart that obeys His commands is the one that draws nigh to Him.

Jesus says the heart that disregards God’s commands is far from Him, and that the worship from such a heart is unacceptable.

[Springfield Reformer]

False dilemma. No one here is advocating disobeying God.  At least not that I know of. But to be made pleasing to God, Paul is very clear that it is faith, not works, that accomplishes our justification.  You raise the example of Abraham.  So did Paul, but in opposite effect:

What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
(Romans 4:1-5)

This event happened well before Abraham offered up Isaac. That's how it is.  Believers are justified by faith first, after the Lord opens their heart.  Then, because they have true faith, they act on it. So of course they are obedient.  This is not really that hard.

But actually, it is hard if all one has is the natural man:

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
(Romans 8:7-8)

OK, maybe not hard.  Paul is really saying it's impossible.  Which is what I suspect is behind most systems that emphasize legal performance over faith and the new birth.  Campbellism is a great example.  If the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration has been written out of the script, what else is there but human performance?  But why is the Holy Spirit's role in conversion eliminated in this way? I think it is because of a deep-seated fear of the inability to control Him. That's not a good feeling for most folks.  As natural humans, we want some five step formula to deal with our needs.  It doesn't matter if it's easy or hard, as long as we can control it.

But the whole point of the law was to teach us we are failures at that sort of control.  Not only can we not control God.  We can't even control ourselves. Sin comes unbidden to the mind in a thousand different ways, and everyone reading this has no doubt experienced that truth. So we need a supernatural intervention from God Himself to get out of this mess.  Words alone will not do it. We need God's miracle-working Messiah.  Without the miracle of the new birth in our lives, we are truly lost.

At that point we have two choices.  We can, like the man whom Jesus said went home justified, beg for mercy, offering nothing of our own performance as even close to pleasing God.  When the people came to Jesus for miraculous healing, did they presume, any one of them, that they had earned it by their performance? Not. One. Person.  We are in the same boat.  We come to the same Jesus, and appeal for the same miracle power to heal us of our sins, and wash away all our guilt in the blood of the cross.  Jesus has already told us all who come to Him will in no way be cast out. It is the one miracle we can have total assurance God will perform on our behalf.  We only need to ask for it, in faith believing.

Or we can find ways to take back control, to assert that if we, in our own natural powers, do x, y, z, God should be satisfied with that. But that is a losing proposition. As Paul says, trying to strike such a bargain with God turns grace into debt, and we will always come up short at the end of that sorry game. Always.

Peace,

SR