Here is the final word against those who decry godly obedience as “legalism"

“Here is the final word against those who decry godly obedience as “legalism.” The incarnate Son walked according to His Father’s commandments. He “pleased not himself” (Romans 15:3). His meat was to do the will of the One who had sent Him. And He has left us an example that we should follow His steps.

“He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even
as he walked” (1 John 2:6).

The one who disregards God’s “commandments” is not walking as Christ walked; instead, he is walking as the world walks. Let no one heed the idle quibble that the “commandments” of Christ are opposed to or even different from the commandments of the Father. Christ and the Father are one — one in nature, one in character, one in authority.

“The commandments of Christ include the whole of the preceptive part of the inspired volume, with the exception of those ritual and political statutes which refer to the introductory dispensations which have passed away” (Dr. John Brown).

And let it be said again, that no Christian can abide in Christ’s love unless he is keeping Christ’s commandments!” ~ A. W. Pink