Matthew 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

We are to be examples to those around us of the commands of God. God has established certain rules by which HE expects us to live our lives. When we choose to take on HIS name and call ourselves Christians, we have a responsibility to demonstrate to the world and our fellow brethren a life that is pleasing to God.

The world does not like hypocrites and neither does God. In this passage, Christ is teaching us that HE did not arrive to destroy the law but to fulfill it. Commands regarding murder, adultery, honoring your parents are still in effect, even though Jesus came. Jesus did not want us to think that just because HE had come to earth, the basic commands of God had changed.

Instead, it is more important than ever for you to live your life so that the light of God can reflect through your life. The world knows the basic commands of God. While the world does not obey commands like you are to only serve one God, they expect you to only be worshiping one God. However, when they see you living a double standard, they know that you are not properly modeling the life of a true Christian and as such, they are not interested in following your example because they know that you have nothing to offer.

The world has heard that God is love. The world has heard that you are to love your neighbor as yourself. However, when the world looks at you, do they see you loving them? Do they see you looking after the needs of others? Do they see you being a friend to them when they have a problem? Do they see loving the sinner but hating the sin?

You are to be an example to the world around you about how God has changed your life. Jesus once taught that an individual who caused a little one to stumble should be thrown into the sea with a mill stone tied around his neck. So likewise, you must be careful that your life does not cause a young Christian in the Lord to stumble. A young Christian will not have a deep knowledge of the ways of God and thus can be easily influenced by a mature Christian. If you as a mature Christian lead them astray, you will be accountable to God for your actions.

In this passage, Christ reminds us of the significances of what we teach others. If by our example or words, we live a life of hypocrisy, God will judge us and we will not hold a high position in heaven. However, if both our words and actions are in accordance with the principles of God, then God will put us in a position of high esteem in heaven.

How are you going to obey and teach the commands of God if you do not understand them yourself? You must spend the time in the Bible studying the ways of God if you are going to teach others how God expects them to live. The more time you spend adding knowledge of the ways of God, the better your understanding will be as to who God is and what HE expects.

How do you want to live in heaven? Do you want to be least or do you want to be great? Christ has shown us what we must do in order to be great in heaven. It is now up to you to determine how you are going to live. Are you going to take the time to understand the ways of God so that you can not only obey them but teach them to others? Are you going to be an example so that God through you might be glorified?

John 8:5-6 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

The scribes and the Pharisees came to Jesus with a woman who was caught committing adultery in the very act. The religious leaders were so concerned about trapping Jesus that they did not care about what happened to the woman. They had no compassion for the woman nor did they have any desire to help her, they simply were rejoicing in her iniquity because it gave them the opportunity to try to catch Jesus.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:6 that love rejoices not in iniquity. The religious leaders were so concerned about their rules that they failed to love their neighbor as themselves. Jesus on the other hand demonstrated great compassion for the woman and when her accusers had left, Jesus forgave her and admonished her to go and sin no more.

It is said that the hand of God writes three different things in the scriptures. The first time we see the hand of God comes when God gave us the law by writing the 10 Commandments. The second time we see the hand of God comes in the book of Daniel when God writes the judgment. The third time we see the hand of God comes in this passage where Jesus writes something in the dirt. While we do not know what Jesus had written, we do know that afterwards, Jesus forgave the woman and showed her mercy. Jesus had every right to condemn this woman for violating the law, but instead Jesus did not rejoice in her iniquity.

As Christians, we need to change our thinking so that we do not rejoice when someone fails and falls short of the glory of God. Instead, while it should grieve us, we should use this as an opportunity to help them see the error of their ways and encourage them to go and sin no more. The sinners need to understand God’s judgment, but they also need to see God’s love and mercy.

Psalms 80:19 Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Are you ready to repent of your violations of God’s perfect law? Are you ready to live your life in the fullness of God’s glory? The world does that which is right in their own eyes. Many lukewarm Christians live their lives for themselves. God however has a higher plan for your life; God desires that you live your life according to HIS’ purposes.

You cannot repent until you first understand that you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Until you understand the consequences of your violations of God’s perfect law, you are not ready to seek God’s forgiveness and change your life so that it is once again pleasing to God.

In this Psalm, the Psalmist is doing more than just asking God to forgive him. He is asking God to put him back on the path that God intended all along. It is one thing to ask someone to forgive; it is another thing all together to change. While God will continue to forgive you for your continual violations of his perfect law, it is much better to not only ask for forgiveness but also ask that God change you.

You have sinned and as such, you now have a propensity to commit that same violation of God’s law again. Unless you are willing to change, your life will enter a spiraling cycle that will destroy your effectiveness for God. Do not just come to God and ask HIM to forgive you; take the extra step and ask God to change you so that you do not continue to violate God’s perfect law.

One portion of Jabez’ prayer was “that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!” (1 Chronicles 4:10). Jabez understood the destructive nature of not being in the will of God. Jabez did not desire to keep coming back to God for forgiveness. Instead, Jabez desired to be free from sin and as such, his prayers centered on God protecting him from continual violations of God’s perfect law.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us that we were to pray “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13). God will forgive you, but you need to take the time to ensure that you are spiritually ready not to yield to temptation. How many sins would you not have committed if you had taken the time to ensure you were spiritually ready for the day ahead of you?

The Psalmist desired to be in the center of God’s will. He understood that by his willful disobedience to God’s law, he had turned his back on God’s will and he needed God’s help to bring him back into HIS’ glory. God will forgive you if you will but ask HIM; however, why just ask for forgiveness when you can have restoration also?

How do you respond to the conviction of sin in your life? Do you simply try to cover up the conviction or maybe do a quick apology so as to erase your guilt or do you humbly seek God’s face and ask HIM to forgive and restore? If you have virtue in your life and you think upon the things of God, your response will be like the Psalmist here and you will not only seek forgiveness but also restoration.

Psalms 1:1-2 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Virtue is thinking upon that which is true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of a good report. Adding virtue to your life gives you the moral power to do that which is right in the sight of God. However, without virtue, you will lack the strength to overcome the wicked one. Without virtue, you will find yourself yielding to those temptations that you should have the power to overcome.

In this Psalm, David shows you a man who is blessed of God. This man chose not to follow after the counsel of the ungodly. This man chose not to place himself with the sinner and scornful men but instead he chose to put his relationship with God first. The man who is blessed of God is the man who put the law of God first in his life. The man who does not simply read the law but meditates upon God�s word and fills his life with his relationship with God.

David goes on to give a word picture for what it is like for a person who makes God a priority. David tells of a tree planted by the river. The tree is able to constantly enjoy the nourishment that the river brings and does not have to wait on the next rain in order to receive its nourishment. So also, when you fill your life with the things of God, it will not matter what kind of famine is going on around you, as long as you continue to tap into the truths of God word, you will not lack God’s direction, provision, and protection.

Because this tree is planted by the river, it will bring forth fruit in due season. So also, if you ensure that you constantly are filling your life with the things of God, your life will bring forth spiritual fruit. You understand that God is looking for those individuals whose life brings forth abundance fruit for HIM.

You desire to claim the promises of God that whatever you do shall prosper but are you willing to first add virtue to your life to ensure that you fill your life with the things of God? Are you willing to abstain from the things of this world in order to obtain the things of God? The things of God are precious but they do require a sacrifice on your part. You cannot continue to live your life as you have. You must choose to put aside the things of this world and to fill your life with the things of God.

Is your delight in the things of God? It is one thing to eat your vegetables because they are good for you; it is a different issue to enjoy eating the vegetables. God does not want you meditating upon HIS word because you “have to” or because you want the benefits of meditation. Instead, God desires that your heart be right before HIM and that you choose to put your relationship with HIM first because you enjoy being in HIS presence.

The real benefits of meditation will come when you are able to delight in the things of God. You can force yourself to add virtue to your life by thinking upon the things of God, but the real change in your life will occur when you think upon the things of God naturally because it is the desire of your heart. Plant yourself where you can daily receive nourishment from the Lord and learn to delight in HIS law.

I Timothy 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

Paul is reminding Timothy that if he trace the law to it root, he would find love as the foundation. Jesus told us when asked what the greatest commandment was that we are to love the Lord with all our heart and the second commandment is to love our neighbor as ourself. We learn from John 3:16 that the whole foundation of the salvation message begins with God�s love for us.

Timothy had served with Paul and thus was pretty knowledgeable on Paul’s teaching of the importance of love in the church. In this passage in addition to love, there are two other things other then love that are a purpose of the law. The second purpose of the law is so that we can maintain a good conscience and the third purpose is so that our faith is not compromised.

As for a good conscience, as we obey the law, this enables us to worship God and have fellowship one with another not fearing the consequences of our actions. When one sins, they have a guilty heart and they are not free to openly fellowship with others because sin has a way of destroying not only your fellowship with God but with other Christians. When you violate the law, the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin and Satan is working on you to try to cover up your violation so that no one knows of your wrong.

The law is also designed to ensure that your faith is not compromised. No one likes a hypocrite. In fact, the world is watching you to see if there are any areas of your life that do not match up to the high standards that you propound. The world does not mind if someone who does not hold high standards does not live up to high standards, but it does have a problem when someone purports to live by a higher standard and then fails to live up to that high standard.

When you live according to the law, you are living your life pleasing to the Lord. Your testimony is uncompromised, you have a clear conscience, and you are demonstrating to the world the love of God. You cannot afford to be a fake Christian. In the world that you live in today, they are quick to pick up if you can only talk the talk but not walk the walk. It does not matter if you have been going to church your entire life and you know the meaning of all theological terms if your life is not a demonstration of the power of God in your life. The world sees your love for them and the world sees the demonstrations of your faith.

Just as one of the purposes of the church is edify the members, so also the purpose of the law is to demonstrate to the world the love of God and their need for a savior. The law is not only designed for the sinner but also for the saint. The law is your guide to maintaining a good conscience before both God and man. The law is your tool to ensure that when the world looks at you, there is nothing that they can see that hinders your testimony or the power of your faith. You should live your life pleasing to the Lord. God is placing people in your life that you can touch. However, you have a duty to God to follow HIS law so that your faith is uncompromised and so that when the world looks at you they do not see anything that causes them to reject the truth that you demonstrate.

Judges 16:28 And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

Samson had lost his strength and was now a prisoner of those whom he was suppose to destroy. The Philistines for 20 years lived in fear of Samson but now they enjoyed mocking him. It was at one of there feast days when 3,000 men and women were in one building a feast that they called for Samson. The lad who led Samson helped him find the support pillars. Once Samson found the pillars, he asked God to give him strength one more time and he bowed himself bringing down the pillars and the entire house.

Samson had violated God’s commandment for his life and he lost his gift from God that enabled him to do the will of God. Samson saw and lusted after Philistine women and he destroyed the ministry God had for him. Samson not only lost his strength but God allowed the enemy to pluck out the eyes also. Samson no longer had his strength nor his eyesight and he was just betrayed by the person whom he loved.

Samson had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God punished Samson for this sin. However, by faith, Samson believed that God would show him mercy one last time and give him the gift of strength so that Samson could do that which he was given strength to do, destroy the enemies of the Lord. Samson understood God’s purpose for his life and while Samson knew that he could no longer fulfill the purpose of judging Israel, Samson had boldness and asked the Lord to return and give him the strength so that he could fulfill part of his purpose.

Samson was the strongest man in the Bible yet he sinned and fell short of God’s purpose for his life. Just because you are not the strongest person that ever lived, it does not mean that you are immune from Satan’s attempts to cause you to sin and violate God’s purpose for your life. The higher your purpose, the more Satan would like to make an example of you to destroy your ministry for God. When you sin and fall short of the glory of God, you must repent. God is just and there are consequences to your sin. This means that HE must punish you for your willful violations of HIS perfect law.

Nonetheless, just because God has punished you for your willful violations of HIS perfect law, do not hide and assume that God no longer has any use for you. Instead, demonstrate your faith like Samson who looked for a opportunity for God to use him again. Your sin may result in a diminishing of your ministry, but do not allow Satan to win the last battle by your giving up on God using you at all. God still has work for you to do.

Satan will try to remind you of your willful violations and try to convince you that God no longer desires to use you. However, you must remember that the blood of Christ completely washes away your sin. You have been forgiven and it is time for you to spend time seeking the Lord and find ways that you can use your present situation to do God’s will. If Samson had not sinned, he would not have been in the position to destroy 3,000 Philistines. Samson killed more Philistines after his sin then 20 years prior to his sin. God can still use you to do great things for HIM. You too can still be used of God no matter what your sin was. God will forgive, have faith and ask HIM to use you for HIS glory.

Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Jesus is condemning the scribes and the Pharisees because they obsessed over ensuring that everything that came into their possession was tithed upon that they failed to fulfill other portions of the law including judgment, mercy and faith. Jesus taught that if one breaks the law in one point, he is guilty of breaking the whole law. You cannot be pardon from one sin just because you have mastered one area of the law. God expects and demands from you that you keep the whole law. This means you cannot pick and choose which laws you will obey and which laws are not applicable to you.

Could you imagine if a web page designer decided that one particular code was the most important code and that he was going to incorporate that code in everything he did at the expense of following the program code for everything else. The odds are, if someone visited his web site it would not be very pleasant to the eye and it would not be practical regardless of the content. If a trained web site designer were to look at the source code behind the web site, he would immediately recognize that this individual understood that one particular rule, but it would be obvious that this person was not qualified to design web pages or even teach others how to design web pages because the person not only failed to obey all of the code, but failed to implement the code in his own life.

Judgment, mercy and faith are to be a part of our everyday Christian life. This means that we must incorporate them into our life and live them so God can use us to work with others. If we do not have them apart of our life, how can we expect to be used by God to teach others any aspect of the goodness of God? This does not mean that you are perfect. God knows that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Just because a web designer makes one mistake on code, does not preclude him from ever teaching others how to design a web page. However, hopefully the web designer learned from his mistake and will use that humbling experience to enable him to be a better teacher. However, if the web designer has not learned from his mistake, and continues to make the same mistake, why would you want to learn from such an individual?

Jesus tells us that faith is a weightier matter of the law. It is an important part of our daily walk with the Lord. One cannot focus solely on faith at the expense of everything else in the law, but one should definitely not be like the scribes and Pharisees who ignored it all together. We know that faith is simple obedience to God. Faith is believing what God has promised will come true regardless of the storms that seem to surround us. Faith is keeping your focus fixed upon God and not allowing your trials to worry you.

God desires obedience to HIS entire law, not just parts. This means, faith is to be an active part of your life. God expects you to exercise faith in your life so that HE might be glorified and so that HE might use you to spread HIS light to the world that needs a Savior. The scribes and Pharisees desired to be teachers of the law of God, but because they failed to incorporate the entire law into their life, they were condemned. So too will you be condemned by the Lord if you try to teach others the law and you have failed to obey the law by incorporating into your life the basic commandment of faith.