Amen, Richard! The gospel of God's grace reveals His character in His law and in the everlasting gospel. We need to understand Christ IN the law. Christ's character is revealed in each of the Ten Commandments, but the power to do His commandments comes from Himself--and we receive Him into the heart by believing the gospel of His grace with ALL the heart, as we behold His loveliness of character and are drawn to Him, He implants in us a new nature. The law of God is the divine nature defined, and the gospel is the divine nature supplied!
"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:4).
Jesus faced a question in His ministry that is very important:
Mark 12:28-34:
28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
I am SO thankful for The Desire of Ages as I read along in the gospels, and appreciate God's character of love more each day, as He wants us to be not near, but experientially IN the kingdom--that experience is an entire surrender of the heart to Christ for Him to indwell by His Spirit, so that all of the fruits of the Spirit are seen in our lives and we willingly follow all the light from God's law that we know because we love Him supremely and our neighbor as ourselves.
"The scribe was near to the kingdom of God, in that he recognized deeds of righteousness as more acceptable to God than burnt offerings and sacrifices. But he needed to recognize the divine character of Christ, and through faith in Him receive power to do the works of righteousness. The ritual service was of no value, unless connected with Christ by living faith. Even the moral law fails of its purpose, unless it is understood in its relation to the Saviour. Christ had repeatedly shown that His Father's law contained something deeper than mere authoritative commands. In the law is embodied the same principle that is revealed in the gospel. The law points out man's duty and shows him his guilt. To Christ he must look for pardon and for power to do what the law enjoins." {The Desire of Ages, page 608, paragraph 2}