Amen. Keeping the commandments of Christ (including the ten commandments) is not the same thing as trying to keep the old covenant. Keeping the commands of Christ to love God and neighbor is possible only because of the holy spirit as a gift of Christ living in you. So the old covenant said to keep the commands to earn God’s favor; the new covenant says to keep the commands because God has favored you.
One parable that makes clear the transition from old to new, is when Jesus talks of the wedding banquet… the invited guests were the privileged, we could say those expected to be invited, such as the Jews, or anyone else who assumed a “right” to be invited. But Jesus said they found excuses not to come… in other words, they were having other priorities, worshiping other gods and serving themself, which Israelites had done. The invitation then went out to those who did not “deserve”, who did not have an apparent right (the gentiles, the poor, the common people), and they came. But even of them, they had to put on the robe of righteousness. The man who did not put on the robe of righteousness, but thought he was just okay the way he was, did get thrown out and punished. So here you have the whole thing in a nutshell.
Faith is first. But James says that faith without works is dead, and Paul said to work out your salvation in fear and trembling. Jesus saved us; we do not save ourselves. The works (obedience) we do will not save us, but they acknowledge our faith. They prove our faith, and they are evidence of our love for Christ. Works (obedience) done outside of faith are useless in God’s eyes, partly because they are imperfect, and partly because they are overshadowed by the larger disobedience of pride and rejection of God. Works and obedience done in faith bring us closer to communion with God, and allow the Spirit not to be quenched in our lives.