Jesus said this...
Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Mat 23:24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Mat 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Mat 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Mat 23:31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Mat 23:32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Mat 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Thus clearly they WERE NOT obedient people as you try to imply. The Pharisees were all show, they were fake. Their hearts were evil and they pretended to be righteous with their pomp. Jesus said they "omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith."
True faith works by love (Gal 5:6) and it thus establishes the law in the heart (Rom 3:31). With the law established in the heart by faith the outward deeds of righteousness will be fulfilled (Rom 8:4).
The Pharisees WERE NOT fulfilling the righteous requirements of the law by a faith which worked by love which establishes the law in the heart. They were rigidly applying rules and regulations whilst still in rebellion to God.Applying rules and regulations apart from a faith which works by love is not obedience. That is why an outward form of obedience to the law cannot save anyone. That is why no-one is justified by the works of the law.
Paul did not throw obedience out the window and teach passive trust. Paul taught that eternal life is given to those who "patiently continue in doing good." We are to patiently continue in doing good by a faith which works by love. We abide in the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ and let God's grace work through us. We are willing vessels, crucified with Christ, we no longer live, Christ lives in us and through us. We are in complete submission to the Spirit within if we truly be of Christ's. Otherwise we be reprobates just deceiving ourselves.
We obey to be saved and we also are saved that we obey. It is not one or the other, it is both.
The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God (Acts 5:32). We are set apart unto obedience (1Pet 1:2).
God does not make us obey. He works in us the will and to do yet we have to choose this day whom we will serve, either sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness, holiness and eternal life.