How did the Jews regard their own law-keeping at the time of Christ?
At the time of Christ, the Jews were under the law and focused on their own self-righteousness. They boasted that they were law-keepers, and the Pharisees bragged about keeping the law impeccably. They did not yet understand that the law could not be set aside until Christ died.
Les explains that Israel was under the law at the time of Christ’s birth, and they could see nothing but their own self-righteousness. They could brag about how they were law-keepers, and the Pharisees in particular bragged about how impeccably they had kept the law. Jesus never told the Jews of His day to forget keeping the law or that they were under grace, because Israel was not yet in a place where the law could be set away. That could not happen until He died; the cross is where the law was finally crucified.