Our Schoolmaster

Our Schoolmaster

Preached at singer Hill GBC, May 27, 2007

Today I will be giving a teaching that has been well received by strangers and friends who are not church going people. I have shared the fundamentals of it in the mall, at work, on the street, at my daughter’s sporting events, and at the drivers testing center many times fearlessly.

God has called His followers to obediently go and preach the Gospel to every creature; Mark 16:15. Ladies and gentlemen, that is what I am going to do this morning.

Galatians 3:24 says; Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Likewise, psalm 19:7-8 says; The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

What is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ? The law is our schoolmaster. What is it that is perfect in converting the soul? The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The scripture is clear; the law of God plays an important role in God’s plan for your redemption.

Many of you are sitting here wondering what on earth I am talking about; maybe this illustration will help you to understand.

A knock comes at the door of a school bus driver at 3:00 am. Before he can even drag himself out of bed the police have knocked in his door and are heading toward him guns drawn. These guys mean business! They grab the bus driver, throw him to the ground, handcuff him, and take him to prison.

As the man begins to understand what is happening to him, while on his way to jail he asks; what’s going on? One of the police officers tells him that he is under arrest for running over 5 children and killing three of them who got off his bus at the last stop.

5 kindergarteners ran in front of your bus and you just drove right over them. We have many witnesses; you are in big trouble with the law!

That’s impossible, thought the bewildered bus driver! That’s when it all came to him.

You see, because it was the first beautiful day of spring, he had been preoccupied with getting home the day before to ride his motorcycle, and whenever he made his last stop he quickly shut the door and drove off, forgetting to check his mirrors or even look to see if the children were safely out of the buses way. And as he pulled away he didn’t pay attention to the noise made by the children as they went under his bus because the radio was playing and in his mind he could only hear the rumble his big motorcycle was soon going to be making on this first ride of spring.

Now, as the man was driven to the police station, he thought to himself, “stupid kids, serves them right, they should have never been in front of the bus, they knew better than that! Now I’m the one who has to suffer for their stupidity.”

Based on what you know about this story, how would you judge this man? Would you put him in prison? Would you send him to the gas chamber? How would you handle this man in your courtroom?

Now let’s take a look at some of the things that will be judged in God’s courtroom.

Exodus 20 lists the 10 commandments also known as the law of God. This is the standard by which you will one day be judged by God.

I beg you to listen very closely, and consider what I am about to say as though your life depends on it; because you will never hear anything that matters to you more!

Do you consider yourself a good person? Maybe you are according to the standards of men, but what about God’s standards? Let’s take a look.

{Go through each commandment at this point}

Isn’t it true that every time you lied, stole, or lusted, etc., you knew it was wrong? Yet you still did it.

Who of us can say we are not guilty of breaking these Commandments?

This is what the Bible means when it says, "All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God."

Romans 2:14-16 says: When Gentiles who have not the [divine] Law do instinctively what the Law requires, they are a law to themselves, since they do not have the Law. They show that the essential requirements of the Law are written in their hearts and are operating there, with which their consciences (sense of right and wrong) also bear witness; and their [moral] decisions (their arguments of reason, their condemning or approving thoughts) will accuse or perhaps defend and excuse [them] On that day when, as my Gospel proclaims, God by Jesus Christ will judge men in regard to the things which they conceal (their hidden thoughts). Amplified Bible