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According to Christian tradition, the Law is holy, spiritual, and good, yet still imperfect. Like a tutor it shows what must be done, but does not of itself give the strength, the grace of the Spirit, to fulfill it. Because of sin, which it cannot remove, it remains a law of bondage. According to St. Paul, its special function is to denounce and disclose sin, which constitutes a "law of concupiscence" in the human heart. However, the Law remains the first stage on the way to the kingdom. It prepares and disposes the chosen people and each Christian for conversion and faith in the Savior God. It provides a teaching which endures for ever, like the Word of God.

The Old Law is a preparation for the Gospel. "The Law is a pedagogy and a prophecy of things to come." It prophesies and presages the work of liberation from sin which will be fulfilled in Christ: it provides the New Testament with images, "types," and symbols for expressing the life according to the Spirit. Finally, the Law is completed by the teaching of the sapiential books and the prophets which set its course toward the New Covenant and the Kingdom of heaven.

There were . . . under the regimen of the Old Covenant, people who possessed the charity and grace of the Holy Spirit and longed above all for the spiritual and eternal promises by which they were associated with the New Law. Conversely, there exist carnal men under the New Covenant still distanced from the perfection of the New Law: the fear of punishment and certain temporal promises have been necessary, even under the New Covenant, to incite them to virtuous works. In any case, even though the Old Law prescribed charity, it did not give the Holy Spirit, through whom "God's charity has been poured into our hearts."

I'm sure you will recognize the excerpts above as taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

mm:Because the intent of the Law was to lead us to Christ, not to save us.

et: Never heard of that one. Do you have a source?

I'm not surprised. People like to teach that by keeping the Law we can be made right with God, but that was never the intent. It was God's way of dealing with sin until Christ came, in the fullness of time.

The Law revealed sin for what it was, foreshadowed Christ, and showed us our need for atonement

Galatians 3:24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.

http://biblehub.com/galatians/3-24.htm

All the book of Galatians deals with faith and the Law and the relationship. The problem is, one sin, and we're toast. So even if someone could keep all the Law perfectly except for ONE sin, they still wouldn't get into heaven.

James 2:10-11 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

God's requirement is perfection. Be ye holy as I am holy. ANY sin is enough to condemn someone, just as it did with Adam and Eve.