Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
"Which ones?" the man inquired.
Jesus replied, "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' "
"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle that for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." The Gospel of St. Matthew 19:16-26,NIV)
Even though the young man had kept the commandments, he knew that he had not achieved the perfection required of us if we must earn our own way into eternal life. But when he heard what still needed to be done, he realized that he had reached the limit of what he himself was capable of doing. This is what we call a spiritual 'Achilles heel', and we all have one.
This passage is also a clear message that the keeping of laws and commandments are not enough to save us, nor is it enough to even approach the perfection that God expects of us. We as Christians must go must farther than the mere keeping of a set of laws if we are to truly say and do what God wants of us.
But we are limited by our own weakness. The 'extra mile' that we must go in order to perform as Christians is simply beyond our capabilities. Fortunately, what we cannot do because of our weakness, God can do through us because of his strength. It is our union with his Spirit that enables us to perform in ways that go far beyond the keeping of any set of laws:
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Galatians 5:16-26,NIV)
Even if we could keep the laws and commandments perfectly, but we have failed to have the 9 'fruit' as the impetus for our words and actions, we have failed to act in accordance with God's will. The old saying 'He did all the right things, but for all the wrong reasons' is applicable to us. It is only when the impetus for what we say and do is the 9 'fruit' of love, joy, peace, patience, kindess, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that those words and actions can be said to conform to God's will.