The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Jesus said in John 539, you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, but these are they which testify of me.

Christ in the Old Testament and the Purpose of the Law

If you don't read through the Old Testament and see Jesus on every page, you're not understanding the Old Testament. He's on every page. That's one thing we've learned. Wednesday nights going through Genesis and Exodus, Jesus is all throughout those books, all throughout those chapters.

Amen? So it's about faith in the Lord. The purpose of the law of God is to point to the Lord and his grace. To show people God's perfect standard of righteousness and how they not only have fallen short, we have fallen far short.

It's the law that tells us that. You've heard the expression, maybe you've said it at some point in your life. Laws were made, what? Laws were made to be broken. Wait a minute. Is that true? I'm pretty sure laws are made to be followed, but inevitably, if you pass a law or God gives a law, what are people going to do?

They're going to break it. You know that's true, and you know that's true even in your own heart. We just have something within us that we were tempted to break, to break the law. Verse 19, it was added because of transgression till the seed should come to whom the promise was made.

And that again is Jesus. You know, you drive down the road and you see the law posted 65 miles an hour. Now if you like driving 65, then you're happy to obey that, but when you see 65, you think, well that means 70.

That means 75. And we could give a whole list of examples when you hear a rule. Well, yeah, maybe this, right? Or we have a perfect group who never does anything wrong. I don't think so. We know better.

It's within us. And then he says, talking about the covenant, it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Okay, who is the mediator that he's speaking of? The old covenant of the law, who is the mediator?

Moses. We don't know what role the angels played. God usually works in and through his servants though, but the law was given through Moses. But don't miss this. The covenant that God made with Abraham is completely different.

If you remember the covenant that God made with Abraham, what did God do to Abraham before the covenant was made? Abraham wasn't the mediator. Abraham was put to sleep. Abraham was not involved. The New Living Translation puts verse 20 this way.

I think it helps to clarify. It says, now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham. And because God did it that way, because Abraham was not involved, he had to keep up his end, the covenant was what?

Unconditional. That makes that covenant superior. Why? Because it all depends on God. It all depends on God who is faithful. And the promises of God in Christ are in him, yes, and in him, amen. The promises of God will not fail because they cannot fail.

The Israelites who tried to justify themselves by works, they failed, didn't they? And if we depend on ourselves or if we depend on men, if we depend on anything or anyone other than the Lord, we will let ourselves down, they will let us down.

God will never let you down. You may have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but what's the promise of God that you should fear no evil? Why? Because God has promised to be with you. Christ has redeemed his people from the curse of the law.

And that means full forgiveness. A full pardon in everlasting life is offered and given to the one who would trust in Jesus and in Jesus alone.

By faith.

So no matter who you are, no matter what you have done, no matter how great your sins may be, your sin may be great, but Jesus is a greater savior. His grace is greater than all your sin. What does Psalm 103 verse 12 say?

As far as the East is from the West, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. So the law was added because of sin. The law is not for the righteous. The law is for those who need it. The law is for the lawless.

Preaching the Law to Expose Sin and Point People to Christ

Look at verse 21. So when you preach the gospel to somebody, if somebody doesn't want to receive Christ, I said this a while ago, preach Christ. If they don't want to accept Christ, preach Moses. Preach the law.

Look at verse 21. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. I've told this story before.

I'll just never forget it. I was talking to a man trying to lead him to faith in the Lord. And he was one of these hard cases and just wasn't getting through. So I started in with the law. You know, the Ten Commandments.

And he looked right at me and he said, oh, I keep the Ten Commandments. He said, I don't do anything wrong. Of course, in that moment, he was lying to me and it kind of proved the whole point. Here's the thing.

People who do nothing wrong, good people don't need Jesus. Good people don't need Jesus. A person who never sins, never does anything wrong, they don't need Christ. They don't need forgiveness. The problem is that nobody like that exists.

That's the problem. So we need to help people see. And it's not a matter of just picking on somebody. We need to help people see their need. Some people don't accept Christ. They know they're a sinner.

They just love their sin too much. Other people are really just blind to it all. They simply don't see the need. They think that they are good. This is why when we preach the gospel, you have to preach the law.

You have to preach the law as well. Verse 22. But the scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who do good. No, to those who do what?

Believe.

Whether, and people struggle with this, unbelievers struggle with this, skeptics struggle with this. The idea that a person is going to heaven because they believe the gospel.

That's it.

That can't be. It can't be that easy. They just won't accept it. That's how you get to heaven by faith in Christ. Nothing else. Verse 22. But the scripture has confined all under sin. The Greek word translated confined means to enclose on all sides.

One commentator says this. Paul portrays all mankind as hopelessly trapped in sin, like a school of fish caught in a net. Most of you, if not all of you, know that this is true because you've heard the repetitive teaching of what the true gospel is.

There's a lot of people that simply don't know. And that's where you come in. It's your job to let them know. It's your job to share this with them. And you've heard it. I've heard this a thousand times, right?

So you know it inside and out, and you're equipped to share that with other people. You know that's what it's all about? That's what the church and Christianity is all about. That's our mission, to spread the gospel of Christ all around the world, to make disciples of all the nations.

That's our message, the message of the gospel, salvation by faith alone. There's a lot of competing messages. And we're almost done, just a couple more minutes. There's a lot of competing messages, right?

People have the self-help message. You know, you can do it. Basically, it's a false gospel of prosperity and self-help. You can do it because you're a good person. You have that power within you. Those teachers use words like that.

Or it's a humanistic message that leaves God out of the equation completely. All of these are popular messages in our culture. The gospel isn't as popular. The law of God really isn't as popular. So there are always competing messages.

And you have to contend with that. You have to kind of figure out where each person is at. They're believing in one of those things. You just have to figure out which one. And all of those messages have their own appeal.

And many professing Christians, maybe even some true Christians, can kind of get sucked into it. It's true today. Why? Because it was true back then with the churches of Galatia. Paul calls them brethren.

Some of them were.

Some of them probably were not. But you know what? Good, and I say the word good as in, you know, not in that ultimate sense. But good Christians can get led astray. It happens. It can never happen to me.

It will never happen to me. You know, you're setting yourself up for failure. Let me just use this one illustration, and then we'll close, okay? The Judaizers, their false gospel of legalism, I said it appealed to people.

It appealed to their pride. This is what I can do. I'm saved because of what I do. So it appealed to people. It tasted good. It appealed to the flesh. It tasted good, and they were eating it up, right?

So think about a fast food drive-through for a moment, okay? Why do people eat fast food? Part of it is the convenience, and it's cheap, right? But since the pandemic started, you know, I've noticed the lines are a mile long, and with inflation, it's not all that cheap anymore.

But why do people eat that food? Even though we all know everybody knows how unhealthy it is, why do people eat fast food? Listen, I'm not saying that I've never done it. I'm gluten-free, so I can't eat most of it anyways.

Otherwise, I probably would eat more than I should. Confessing my sins before, you know, I'm just kidding. But why do people eat it? People eat it because it tastes good, and it does. It tastes good. Here's the point.

Some preachers, their words are so smooth. It sounds so good. It tastes sweet, even though it's false doctrine, and it is terrible for your soul. When a preacher like Paul preaches about sin and the law, it's like Brussels sprouts.

It doesn't really taste as good. But it's what you need. It's good for you. But then once you're used to that, and you're on that healthy diet, then that's what you crave. That's what you want. So once a person has become a partaker of the Holy Spirit and has tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, then we realize there's nothing else like it.

Preaching the law, even though it's bitter, it helps people get there. What's the purpose of God's law? We'll close with verse 24. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Justification by Faith and the Law as a Tutor

Let's close.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for the true gospel. Lord, every person here at some point in time, they were walking according to the flesh. They were maybe deceived or had bought into some false idea that, well, I'm pretty good.

I think things will be okay, or maybe even a false gospel of legalism and being saved by keeping rules, Lord. We thank you that you have saved us by your grace. And, Lord, help us to have a heart for other people, that now that we know the truth and we know the purpose of God's law, that we can take this and minister your grace to others, that they may see their need for a Savior, and that the world will be one to Christ.

Lord, we know that one day that will happen, where your knowledge will cover the earth like the waters cover the earth. Lord, may thy kingdom come. We pray it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, with the grace of God be with you.