Jesus showed His disciples what the bottom line required when it came to trying to acquire righteousness through their works: It would demand that they be perfect. With this standard being taught, we can begin to see why many stopped following Jesus. They weren't rejecting a Christian message, but they came to realize their inability to meet the standard of perfection the law required in those commandments. Jesus did not always minister the good news gospel to His Jewish audience, but there was a purpose as to why He did this.
We can relate to Jesus being righteous, holy and perfect, but it can be quite another story when it comes to laying hold of our identity as believers. Since he abides in us, and we abide in him, we have inherited these same qualities and Jesus has become our righteousness, justification, sanctification and perfection. "By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world" (1 John 4:17).
