All right, brethren, let's turn in our Bibles to Galatians chapter 2. I ended up last night, I preached to the church in the Philippines, and I did not preach from Galatians. I preached from Matthew. But I want to preach this for us today. And I'm really torn on which one of these to preach first, but I want to preach this one, I believe, first. Galatians 2. Just want to look at one verse here. Verse 21. Galatians 2, 21. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ He's dead in vain. I've titled this, Never Frustrate Grace. Never Frustrate Grace.

Sinners are saved by the grace of God. We're saved by the grace of God. And it's interesting when you hear, you hear people speak and preach sometimes, and they speak of the grace of God, but what they're saying is not the grace of God. But salvation is by the grace of God, and that grace is in the Lord Jesus, it's by the Lord Jesus, and it's given to us from the Lord Jesus. Everything God has for a sinner is in Christ, and it's all by God's grace. A sinner, if he adds his works in anything, it's not grace. It ceases to be grace. It's frustrating the grace of God to do that. So to do so is to say Christ died in vain. So let's look at this and see what we can learn from the Lord's word.

First of all, just simply put, salvation is by the grace of God. Salvation is by the grace of God. Grace is God's free favor. Free favor, unmerited favor to undeserving sinners. Now, no true sinner has a problem with God's grace. A person that's truly made to know they're the sinner has no problem with being saved by God's grace. In fact, we rejoice that we're saved by God's grace. We're thankful that we're saved by God's grace. When a person is made to know they are the sinner, they'll have no problem with grace. To know that God chose a people by grace, that Christ redeemed us, we're freely justified by grace, that were called by grace and kept by grace, that is the greatest news, a true sinner, that's the greatest news he could hear, salvation by grace.

Now, it's God's glory to be gracious to whom he will be gracious. That is God's glory. I wanna go to Exodus 33, and I want you to see something. You're very familiar with this.

Now, Moses asked to see God's glory, but I want you to notice something here, and I believe it's why the Lord said what he said here. And this is where Paul was writing when he wrote Romans 9.

But look here now, in Exodus 33, verse 5, you know, everybody the Lord brought out of Egypt, the children of Israel, God's elect Israel. You know, Romans 9 tells us that. They were not all God's elect Israel. And God called them a stiff-necked people, and he told Moses to tell them that, and to tell them that God was gonna consume them. He says that in Exodus 33, five.

And then Moses began to pray to God for them. He began to pray to God for them. It's a good picture of Christ right there, but what I want you to focus on is what Moses said when he began to pray for them. He began to speak as if all the children of Israel were God's people.

And he said in verse 12, Moses said unto the Lord, see thou sayest unto me, bring up this people. Thou sayest unto me, bring up this people. and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me, yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now, God had told Moses that. You've found grace in my sight. I know you, God said, Mr. Moses.

Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people.

This nation, this nation's your people, Moses said. And he said, the Lord said, my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight. Is it not in that thou goest with us?

Everybody that finds grace in God's sight, God's with them. And he's gonna make his presence known that he's with them. So shall we be separated, I and thy people. The only way we can be separated. But notice Moses had just said, this whole nation is your people. And he said, and this is how I and thy people will be separated from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

And the Lord said to Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, Moses said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Here's God's glory. And God says, I will. He says, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee.

But it comes to me that this might be a little bit of a correction for Moses. And the Lord said, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And while I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. In other words, the Lord is saying, I'm going to be gracious. I'm going to make my presence known. I will sanctify my people. But I will do it to whom I will do it. I'll be gracious to him, I'll be gracious. That's God's glory. See, he's sovereign God. He is sovereign God and it's his right to do with his own what he will. That's who he is. The whole creation is his, he created it. And it's his glory to do with his own what he will. He said, I will be gracious to him, I will be gracious. I'll have compassion on him, I will have compassion.

Go to Ephesians 1. And notice here that this is the glory of God. He said in Ephesians 1-3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. He's speaking to God's saints. This is only true of God's saints. He said, he blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ How, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without laying before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glory. To the praise of the glory. of his grace. This is the whole purpose for God choosing whom he will. This is his glory, and he's gonna have his people praise him in his glory, and it's wherein he's made us accepted.

When a sinner frustrates God's grace, when we frustrate God's grace, when a sinner kicks against God's electing grace, he's kicking against God having all the glory. robbing God of his glory as God. Now, you do with your own what you will. Your property is yours and you do with it what you will. How would you react if your neighbor comes over out of the blue one day and said, that's not right for you to do with that item right there what you're doing with it. Or, it's not fair that you're doing that You're not coming over here and doing it on my property with my, you know, just some absurd thing like that. You would say, this is mine. Well, that's what God said. God said, Christ said, is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is your eye evil because I'm good? He's the creator. We're the creature. We're the creature.

Go with me to Romans nine. The whole purpose of God in choosing whom he will is clearly, clearly set out right here. Right here in Romans 9. In verse 11, he's speaking of how he chose Jacob and didn't choose Esau. And here's the purpose of God. For the children, verse 11, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, a purpose of God in electing a people. This is his purpose, that it might stand, here's his purpose, not of works, but of him that calleth. In other words, that it might all be by grace. It was said to her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it's written, Jacob have I loved, but he shall have I hated.

And you and I know, who've been made to know something of our sin, Jacob was a sinner like Esau. The marvelous thing here is not that God hated Esau. That's not surprising at all. It's that God was gracious to Jacob and that he would be gracious to Jacobs like us.

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. He said to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy.

He gives another example. Even for this same, if the scripture says of Pharaoh, even for this same purpose, the same purpose, have I raised thee up that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Thou wilt say then, why does he find fault for whose resisted his will? I've had men say that to me. You declare this gospel to them, and they say, well, if you're saying it's all of God's sovereign power, then why does he even find fault with it? We can't do anything but what he wills. Well, nay, old man, who art thou to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Had not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel into honor and another to dishonor?

Here's God's purpose now. What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fit to be destroyed? And that he might make known the riches of his glory. See, this is his glory. He's showing the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had before prepared unto glory, even us whom he's called, not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles.

By election of people, by grace in Christ, God prepared us before the foundation of the world. and it was to exalt his name and exalt his power and exalt his glory, his grace. So frustrating God's grace is to despise God's glory. It's despising God's glory, his goodness, his name, his grace, his power, his mercy. God's gonna be praised by those he saved.

And you know, and I'm saying, think about that. Folks who are religious, but are just giving themselves a little credit for some part of it, they're not glorying in God's grace. They're stealing God's glory. This is his glory. So the grace of God and the works of a man, they can never mix. They will never mix. You know Romans 11 and five. At this present time, there's a remnant according to the election of grace. That's so right now because this world's held in store. And if it's by grace, then it's no more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it's works, it's no more grace. Otherwise, works no more work. In other words, it's like light and darkness. They can't coexist. If it's light, it's not dark. If it's dark, it's not light. If it's grace, it's not works. And if a man trusts in the slightest work, No grace involved. Now, that's the first point. It's all of grace, and that's why it's his glory.

Now second, how does a person frustrate the grace of God? How does a person frustrate the grace of God? That word frustrated is translated in another place, reject. You know, when we saw last week in Luke 7, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God's counsel against themselves, not being baptized of John. They frustrated God's counsel against them, they rejected it. Another place is translated despiseth. Christ said, he that heareth you, heareth me. When he sent his preachers out, he that heareth you, heareth me. And he that despiseth you, despiseth me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me. Another place is translated disanulleth. Right there in Galatians 3, in verse 15, I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disanulleth are added thereto.

So to say that righteousness, or holiness, or election, or preservation, or any aspect of salvation, to say it's of a man's work, that is to Frustrate, reject, despise, and attempt to disallow God's grace in Christ. That's what it is, that's serious, isn't it? And it's adding man's filthy works to Christ's work. That's what, that's how men are doing, adding their filthy work to Christ's work.

Now, understand this, this also needs to be stated when we talk about frustrating God's grace. No sinner is going to ever frustrate God's grace in the sense that they're gonna stop God from saving who he will save. You're not gonna frustrate God and reject God and him not save you if he's purposed to save you. Because if we had that ability, nobody would be saved because none of us wanted God to save us. Well, our nature's enmity. But God is so powerful and so gracious that those he's chosen to save, when we fail, it didn't change grace. That's the thing about grace. It's not based on you, so nothing you did changed it. And he's so powerful that he's able to make you, give you a new heart, a new spirit, a new will, and make you rejoice that he's gracious to you. And that's what he has to do.

So no sinner's gonna stop God from saving by grace. That's not what it means. But sinners frustrate God's grace when they say that salvation, now what's that include? That's His election, that's Christ making us righteous, Christ making us holy, the Spirit regenerating us, the Lord preserving us, the Lord resurrecting us, glorifying us, A to Z, salvation, to frustrate God's grace is to say some part, any part, big or small, is partly due to the sinner doing something or because of some merit in the sinner. To have that idea and that thought and to promote that, that's frustrating God's grace. To say God foresaw good in us, that's why he chose us, that's rejecting the grace of God. Listen, that needs to be stated clearly, emphatically. To say that, to make election, men will try to preach election so they can show you, see, we preach election. They change the meaning. They say, God foresaw you'd believe, that's why he chose you. That's rejecting God's grace. That's not grace.

Scripture says, the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that didn't understand and seek God. They're all gone aside. They're all together become filthy. There's none that doeth good, no, not one. But that didn't have any bearing on what he was going to do by his grace. that he didn't choose anybody or reject anybody because of man. Grace has nothing to do with you.

I'm just saying, that shows you he didn't look down through time and see you'd believe, because that's what God says about us. Grace cannot be based on God foreseeing something in you. It's because everything about you believing is of his grace. We're saved by grace through faith, that's not of yourself. It's the gift of God, lest any man should boast, lest any man should reject God's grace. It has to be all of God.

To say that we did something to be born again, that's frustrating God's grace. A dead sinner cannot make himself alive. A dead man cannot make himself alive. A man spiritually dead cannot make himself alive any more than a Physically dead man can make himself alive. An unbeliever cannot make himself believe.

To say, now listen, this is where, we're great at finding loopholes, you know, and here's one of the loopholes, is down where I come from they'll say, God irresistibly regenerates you by grace. And then once he does, you can either accept Christ or you can reject him. To say that the sinner has the ability to accept Christ of himself is not grace. To say he can reject Christ is not grace. That's not mm-mm. It's all of God's grace. If he's gonna save you, he's gonna save you.

Man will say, well, that's high doctrine. That's hyper-Calvinism. No, that's the Bible. That's the Bible. But chiefly now, here's what our text's dealing with, chiefly. A sinner frustrates God's grace when he says righteousness is legal, standing before God, before the law. Righteousness, or holiness, the state of his heart, to say that that is partly something owing to what he did. If he says he has a part in that, making himself righteous or holy, that's frustrating, rejecting, trying to disannul God's grace.

That's why later Paul said, if you're circumcised, you're fallen from grace. You've left it. We're guilty sinners. You know, before you were even conceived in your mother's womb, you were a guilty sinner. in God's, because we were all in Adam. And then so when we came forth at being born, we didn't sin to become sinners, we sinned because that's what we were. We were already guilty sinners.

The very fact that a sinner would boast that he, by his works, trying to obey the law or obey the precepts in the new covenant or anything, a believer says his righteousness is partly due to him doing it, that is a clear evidence that he is a sinner. Right there, that's sin. To say he made himself holy by something he did is a very clear indication that his heart is defiled and has not been sanctified.

Do not fall on our face and give God all the praise and all the glory for saving such a rotten sinner as I am to do anything but that and give him all the glory and all the praise and be so thankful that he saved a sinner like me. To not do that is frustrating His grace. That's all you can do when you see what a sinner you are. So that's what frustrating grace is.

Now thirdly, and here's the key thing, the crime of frustrating God's grace is that it declares Christ died in vain. That's serious. That's serious. Everything God has for a chosen sinner is in Christ. Everything. And it's to give his son the preeminence. Colossians 1, let's look at it. Colossians 1, and we saw this in our study of Colossians. Colossians 1.18. He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all, things is added, in all means in all his works, and it means in all his people, in all, that he might have the preeminence, the preeminence. be high and above everybody, be exalted, be glorified, get all the praise, all the glory. That's God's purpose for his son.

For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Everything about salvation is in Christ. And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself, that's all his people, all his doctrine, all his all his prophets, his law, everything. He did it. He reconciled all to himself, by him I say. Paul just keeps saying it's all in Christ, it's all by Christ, by him I say. Whether they're in earth or they're in heaven. You and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. See, all fullness is Christ, and it's His glory to lay down His life, save His people, call His people, keep His people, and bring us to God, and present us to God, holy and unblameable. Perfectly holy, perfectly sanctified, and unblameable. Perfectly righteous by what He did, and nothing about what we did. That's His glory. That's what pleased the Father. And that's so with everybody He saves. It's all due to His righteousness and His holiness alone. And it's His blood, His blood. Without shedding of blood is no remission. He shed His blood. It's through His blood, through Him justifying us, that we're given the Spirit and sanctified.

Look at Galatians 3, look at verse 13. What I'm trying to show you here is it's not, when we talk about righteousness and holiness, And especially since Paul just says righteousness. People try to say that doesn't include holiness. It doesn't include sanctification. It's all connected and it's all in Christ and it's all by Christ and it's all from Christ. And the only reason he gave you the spirit and regenerated you and sanctified you is because Christ justified you. It's all of Christ. Verse 13, Galatians 3, 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Why? Verse 14, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive, be given the promise of the Spirit through faith. See, he justified us in order to sanctify us. And when he justified us, he sanctified us. It's all in him.

Look at Galatians 4.4, same thing. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might be given the adoption of sons, sanctified, made holy, brought into the family. And because you're sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, making you to cry, Abba, Father. You didn't become a son by believing. You were already a son. by His grace, already bought by Christ's blood, already redeemed by Christ's blood, and because you are His children, He sent forth the Spirit of who? The Spirit of who? The Spirit of His Son. The Spirit of His Son is our holiness. That's the holiness of our new man, the Spirit of His Son. That's the only reason we cry, I have a Father.

Men somehow think that it's robbing Christ of His glory Or it's not, they'll make sure they say this. Now we're not saying we're made righteous by anything we do. But then they act like it's not robbing his glory to say you contribute to holiness. That's robbing his glory too.

Look at Galatians 3, 3. Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you made perfect by the flesh? Look at verse 5. He therefore that ministered to you the spirit. Who's that? It's Christ. Well, how can Christ be the one ministering the spirit to me and it be the spirit of Christ that's entering in? Because it's one God in Christ Jesus and he gets all the glory. He's the one working miracles among you, the miracle of having life, the miracle of believing, the miracle of seeing him and knowing him and hearing him and delighting in him. The miracle is all of him. Does he do it by the works of the law? No, he does it by the message that declares he does it all. It's his message of his faithfulness. That's how Abraham believed God.

And it was counted to him for righteousness. God, he's only saved one way, the same way everybody's ever saved. Sinners are regenerated and they're sanctified by the Spirit to the praise and glory of Christ Jesus because that same one who enters in and gives you a holy heart and a new holy man is the one who justified us and sanctified us. How can he be our justification and our sanctification? Because he had a perfectly holy heart. Perfectly holy heart. And what he did was perfectly righteous. And he laid down his life one time and bought us. That's what Paul is saying in Titus 3, 5. He said, it wasn't by works of righteousness we did. It was God's mercy. He washed us in regeneration by the Spirit, by His grace, and He did it, He said, because we were justified, He did it through Jesus Christ, our Savior, because we had been justified, that being justified, having been justified by Christ, we should be made heirs, we should be called. And then he said this, this is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.

See, this is the big argument. Well, the reason we don't preach it like you preach it, that high doctrine, is because we want sinners to keep maintaining good works. The Spirit of God said, you preach this all the time. You affirm this constantly, that it's all in Christ, all by Christ, all through Christ, because of what he did for his people, what he's doing in his people, what he's gonna keep doing, and how he's gonna save us. You keep telling them that so that they will maintain good works. That's how he does it, is through hearing about him.

Does this message make you wanna sin? Does this message make you wanna rebel against him? One that's been so gracious and so loved you so that he laid down his life for you and bought you and is doing everything for you right now constantly. Does that make you want to rebel against him and sin against him? No, it doesn't. It's the only thing that makes me want to obey him. It's the only thing that makes me want to live to him. Listen. Perseverance. Man's gonna bring that back to a man, perseverance. Nope, you're preserved by Christ. It's all, listen. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so my grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

He's gonna make you persevere in faith. you're gonna reign by his righteousness, by him being the power, and he's gonna get all the glory for carrying you all the way through till you reach eternal life with him in glory. You have it now, but I'm saying till you get there in glory with it, it's all gonna be by his reign of grace.

He's the high priest, he reconciled us, and he comes and ministers this to us, and knows exactly what we need, because he suffered everything we suffer. He's the prophet, he's the bishop, he's the shepherd, the pastor of our souls. He's the one that speaks the word, gives you life, keeps on saving you through the gospel.

He's the prophet, and he is the king who rules everything in our life, in our body, in our day-to-day, everything. There's not a... not a microbe in your body that goes in the wrong direction. It's all ruled by him as much as the greatest, most powerful king in this world. And it's all by him. And so to frustrate grace is to deny his glory as the prophet, the priest, and the king is to reject him. That's the greatest crime there is, is to say he died in vain.

We're going to see more of that next hour. Nothing he did was in vain. Brethren, rejoice in grace and never frustrate grace. That's what you'll do. That's what all these people are going to do. We can't do anything but that because he gives you a heart to know. Oh, thank God for grace. Thank him for grace. Amen.

Father, thank you for this word. Thank you for grace. Thank you for our savior. Thank you for salvation accomplished by him. Forgive us, Lord, for frustrating this grace, and it's in our nature, and we hate any unbelief. We hate our sin. Lord, keep us looking to Christ. Do it by Christ, and do it through Christ, and bring every one of your people to give our Savior all the glory. That's what we want, Lord. kept praising only him. That's our need. Thank you for your grace. In Christ's name we ask you, amen.