Today's passage is Jesus' introduction to what God really meant in the Old Testament.  The Law, although technically the first five books (Genesis to Deuteronomy), covered what God said was right and wrong; the Prophets told the kings and people to come back to God and how to please Him.  God wanted people's hearts to be right – desiring what pleased Him and glad to obey Him (Psalm 51:10).  

The purpose of the Law was to show people how different their lives were compared to the holy standard of God's righteousness.  The seriousness of defying the Law was graphicly emphasised, because an animal must die so that the people might live.  But even the animal sacrifices could not make them right with God: only the sacrifice of Jesus could do that (Hebrews 10:1-4).  

By His death, Jesus accepted all the punishment of the Law Himself, so that lawbreakers might be set free to worship God as holy people (Hebrews 10:5-14).  In other words, by His death, Jesus enabled people to have a relationship with God … fulfilling all the purposes of the Law and the Prophets.  Not only did His sacrifice remove the curse of sin, but also brought the blessings promised in the Law so that all God’s promises are completely fulfilled in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20)

The way forward in the Christian life is all to do with having a right heart before God.  It is easy to follow little religious rules, but so difficult to whole-heartedly love the truth.  We cannot achieve this by ourselves; we need the love of Father God to motivate us, the sacrifice of Jesus to cleanse us and the power of the Holy Spirit to energise us to live in wisdom, grace and truth.  So, wise Christians admit their weakness, confess their sin, appeal for righteousness in their hearts and boldness to live in a way that pleases God.  Where you are now is the ideal place to start practising this … today!