In considering certain aspects of Jesus' teaching, I am confused about what His true message was on more than one occasion.

Was He preaching the Law in the sense that what He was saying was perfectly right and true, and if anyone wants to be found blameless before God that he must act in strict accordance with the Law?

Or-
Was He preaching how His true followers were to follow Him?

For example, He said that "our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees." He said "blessed are the pure in heart."

The reason it is confusing for me is because so much of the time it seems as if what He was implying was that "only those with inherently good natures" would ever be worthy of being saved, which I know is impossible and in direct conflict with so much of the NT.

When He told the rich young ruler, "One thing you still lack: go and sell everything you have and give the money to the poor," it seemed as if He was showing this man where he was not in compliance with the Law, but at the same time He did not offer "Himself" as being this man's only hope (as if He was not "calling" him to salvation).

Did Jesus preach the Law "publicly" and the Gospel only "privately" (meaning to those to whom it was ordained)?
I'm getting this sense of disconnect in His message as I read thru the Bible because His message was often "hard", and I'm having trouble reconciling that with the "free" offer of the Gospel.

Who can help me out???

__________________
Christopher Hinton
Northland, A Church Distributed;
Altamonte Springs, FL