I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Galatians chapter
2. Galatians chapter 2. Brother Mitch asked me to read
Scripture he was supposed to read, and so I'm going to read
the Scripture and go ahead and preach from the Scripture that
I'll read this morning. Galatians chapter 2 beginning
in verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified,
that is, a man is not declared to be guiltless. A man is not
declared to have no guilt, no debt, He is not declared to be
without guilt by the works of the law, but by the faith of
Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. His faith. imputed to us is our ground of
justification before God. His obedience, His faithfulness,
and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. But if while we seek To be justified
by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners. Is therefore
Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again
the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
For I, through the law, am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I
am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate
the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. Let's pray together. Our Father, this morning, we
call upon you and ask you, have mercy upon us. Lord, teach us
this day, help us this day, forgive us for Christ's sake. Amen. I want to preach for a few minutes
out of the last verse that I just read, verse 21. That verse is a verse that sums
up the very heart of what has been preached here for over 60
years. God raised up a faithful pastor,
and Brother Scott preached the glorious message of God's grace. This last verse deals with three
vital issues. Now, hear me well. What I'm going
to preach for a few minutes sums up everything that we believe. This is it. If you want to know,
what are you people Katie Baptist Church, what do you believe?
This is it, right here. Three vital issues. Here's the three
issues. God's grace, man's righteousness,
and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what a verse. This
verse and the understanding of this verse, the right understanding
of this verse, is the acid test of all preaching today. Now, I want to face these three
things just very simply. I want to be simple, simple,
simple. I want you to understand what's
being said. I want to give the sense of this
verse. The Apostle Paul says, first
of all, I do not frustrate the grace of God. Now this is what
he meant. I don't want to confuse it, I
don't disagree with it, I don't want to compromise it, and I
don't want to mix it with anything, any works. When we speak of grace,
You know, we believe in grace. Grace. Now let me ask you this. What are we talking about? You
know, everybody and their brother talks about grace. Oh, we believe
in God's grace. We believe God's grace. What
do we mean? Paul said, I do not frustrate
the grace of God. Here's what I mean, here's what's
being said concerning the grace of God. We're talking about the
will and the pleasure and the character of Almighty God in
the salvation of sinners. Now, when you talk about grace,
for there to be grace shown, there's got to be a sinner. If there's not a sinner, if sin
is not involved, then what's grace? What do you do with grace?
Grace deals with God's will, God's purpose, God's character. Now here's the thing. We deal
with this all the time. And I'm going to deal with it
again, Lord willing, this morning. I want to be clear. And I don't
want to treat this lightly. I'm telling you, this is the
issue. Do we believe in grace? Do we
believe in salvation by grace? Paul said, I don't frustrate,
I don't disagree with it. I don't disannul it. I don't
try to compromise it. Now here's the very heart of
grace. Here it is. You've heard me read
this and Brother Scott read this and different men read this passage
over and over and over. Here is the grace of God. Moses said unto the Lord, show
me your glory. Romans 9.15 quoting out of Exodus
33, he saith to Moses, Now here's grace. This is grace.
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. What is the foundation of grace? God choosing to show mercy and
compassion. That's the bottom line right
there. That's where the rubber meets the road, paddle meets
the water, This is it. God said, I'm going to have mercy
and compassion. That's the basis. Now there's
coming a time, there's coming a day, when this is going to
matter to you and me fully, completely. And God help us to be truthful
this morning. All men are born sinners. When Adam died in the garden, the ability to know God was gone. He died. He died spiritually. Now, I don't want to confuse
this. I don't want to compromise this. The Lord said, John 15,
5, I'm the vine, you're the branches, He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." Now listen to this,
and listen good. For without me, if you're severed
from me, you can do nothing. You can do nothing. Now, let
me tell you what that includes. Everything. You can do nothing. Without me, you can do nothing.
So here's, when we talk about frustrating the grace of God,
I don't frustrate the grace of God. I don't confuse. I'm going
to start at the beginning and I'm going to tell all of us again. And God's people love to hear
this. They love to hear. Because they know it's so. Man
is totally depraved. Let me tell you what else we
don't confuse, don't want to be unsure on or cloudy on. That God Almighty, to show mercy,
for God Almighty to show mercy, He chose a people and placed
them in Christ from before the foundation of the world. Now
this is the grace of God. Election is the truth. Somebody said, well, I don't
believe in election. Well, then you just don't believe the Bible.
You just don't believe God. I don't believe in election.
I don't believe in predestination. If God Almighty ever converts
you, if you're ever regenerated by the grace of God, you'll believe
it. You will believe it. Because God's going to teach
you that. Paul said, I don't frustrate the grace of God. 2
Thessalonians 2 verse 13, God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. He did not do that for all men. He didn't do it for all men.
He chose out of every nation and kindred and tribe and tongue
a people to whom He was going to show mercy. Do you know when men that don't
believe this, do you know when they start getting upset with
you? When they understand what you're talking about when you
say election. I want you to hold your place
there and I want you to turn to Luke 4. Hold your place in
Galatians, Luke 4. Luke chapter 4 verse 16. This is concerning when the Lord
came into the temple and read the scriptures. Luke 4.16. He came to Nazareth where he
had been brought up, as his custom was. He went to the synagogue
on the Sabbath day, stood up for to read. There was delivered unto him
the book of the prophet Isaiah, And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, to recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. He closed the book. gave it again
to the minister, sat down, and the eyes of all of them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. No problem. No problem whatsoever. He began
to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your
ears. And all bear him witness and
wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth,
And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? No problem. No problem. And he said unto
them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal
thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done
in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said verily,
I say unto you, No prophet is accepted. in his own country. No problems. Everything's okay. Verse 25, but I tell you of a
truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elias. Elijah, when the heaven was shut
up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout
all the land, but unto none of them was Elias sent. save or accept unto Sarepta,
a city in Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow." He said there
was famine everywhere. But God didn't send Elijah to
any of the widows in Israel. He sent him to a Gentile. And many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Elisha, the prophet. None of them was cleansed, saying,
Naaman, the Syrian, a Gentile. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. and rose
up and thrust him out of the city and led him into the brow
of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast
him down headlong." There was no problem until he set forth
that God has a right to choose one and pass by another. When they heard that, they were
filled with wrath. Paul said back in Galatians 2.21,
I do not frustrate the grace of God. The potter has the right
out of the same lump, and we all came out of the same lump,
to make one vessel unto honor and another vessel unto dishonor.
He has the right. And there's not a spitting image
difference in one lump and another lump except the grace of God.
And he's got the right to choose and the right to pass. He's got
the right. Paul said, I do not disagree
with the grace of God. I don't frustrate the grace of
God. The Lord in His high priestly
prayer, He said, Father, I pray not for the world. But I pray
for those that you've given me out of the world. For thine they
were, and thou gavest them me." I'm not praying for everybody.
I'm praying for the sheep. I'm praying for the elect. I'm
praying for the church. I'm praying for the bride. Paul
said, I don't frustrate the grace of God. I don't disagree with
it. Thirdly, Christ died for His sheep being made sin for
them and finished the work of redemption. I lay down my life,
John 10, 15, for the sheep. Modern religion says He died
for everybody. That's not true. That's not true. If He died for everybody, then
everybody was His sheep. And there were some Pharisees
and he told them, he said, you don't believe me because you're
not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. They follow me. Whenever Jesus therefore had
finished He received the vinegar and he said, it's finished. He
bowed his head and gave up the ghost. He finished the work. Christ died only for God's elect,
the sheep. And we do not disagree with that. We do not frustrate that. We
do not fight against it. And all for whom Christ died,
are going to be brought to Christ. John 6, 37, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. When are they coming? In the
day of God's power. How are they going to come? They're
going to hear the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. And
Almighty God is not going to bless another message. He's not
going to bless a message that tells man he's got a free will.
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, the gospel
of God, it's the power of God unto salvation. Paul said, I
don't frustrate the grace of God. And the sheep are never
going to perish. How do you know? John 10, 28,
I give unto them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Listen. The grace of God is God Almighty showing mercy
and compassion to helpless, undeserving sinners in Christ, doing for
them what they could not and would not do for themselves.
Paul said, I don't frustrate that. I do not disagree with
it. I do not compromise it. And I'm
not going to mix it with works. I'm not. It is totally, totally
grace. Unmerited favor. But then he says secondly, back
in Galatians 2.21, For if righteousness come by the law, if holiness before God, That's
righteousness. If holiness, acceptance, come
by the law. If holiness or righteousness
before God comes by something that I do. Now listen, the scriptures
declare, by works of righteousness that
we've done. But according to His mercy, He
saved us. Whenever Almighty God gives a
sinner a new heart, the Scripture says in Ezekiel
36, He said, a new heart I'm going to give you. I'm going
to give you a new spirit, a new mind. I'm going to birth you
again from above. You're going to be reborn. Born
from above. When that happens, let me tell
you what a believer is going to do. He's going to confess
the Lord in baptism. He's going to confess the Lord
in baptism. But I'm going to tell you this.
If you tell me that I've got to be baptized in order to be
saved, then you've just made it a work of the law. Believers
are baptized in obedience to God's command. And they want
to be. I want to confess before God
Almighty, and before everybody in this congregation, and before
the world, I'm going to tell you this. This is God's prescribed
means, way, to show, to exhibit what God has done for me. Baptism
is not a work for righteousness. It is a good work because God
Almighty has done something for me by grace, apart from myself. And I confess Him in believers'
baptism. A believer comes to Christ. All
that the Father giveth me, shall come to me." How do they come? In their heart. By faith. They come in their heart. It
has nothing to do with walking from down there to here. The
only difference is right down there where Ben is and right
here is about 20 feet. It's a carpet. There's no difference. God's people come to Christ. But don't tell me that I have
to come to Christ by a work or by my own free will. Don't tell
me that I've got to come to the Lord in order to be saved. Because now what you've done
is that's righteousness by the law. That's righteousness by
my work. Believers do come. They do come. They do come. But don't make
that a work. The difference is the reason
that it's done. Either one of them is done in
order to be saved, or it's done because the Lord has saved you.
And that's night and day. One of them makes it by grace,
one of them by works. Paul said, I don't frustrate
the grace of God if righteousness come by the law. If righteousness
is by my work, If that's the truth, if righteousness is by
my work, then I'll tell you this, man is not spiritually dead.
He's not. And salvation is by man's work
and it's not by the grace of God. If man can please God by
doing something for God, then man's not saved by grace. Paul
said, I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness
come by the law. Now you listen to this last part
because I'm going to tell you something. You think about what's
being said. Then Christ is dead in vain. If you believe that you've been
converted because, because you were baptized. If you think that you've been
converted because you exercised your free will, if you think that you've been
converted because you did something in order to be saved, let me
tell you what you're saying. The death of Christ was useless.
Now that's what you're saying. You tell me I'm converted because
I, then what you're saying is Christ Died for nothing. Now
you think about that. His death, if righteousness come
by the law, his death had no purpose. He died to do what you
say you could do. By your own ability, by your
own will, by your own works. If you say that I have a free
will, I exercise my free will, I gave my heart to Jesus, therefore
God saved me. What you're saying is, His obedience
meant nothing. His blood was useless. And my friend, that's heresy. Galatians 2.20 says, I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet, not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate, confuse. I want you to understand exactly
what I'm saying. I don't think that I've been confusing. I don't think that I've compromised
the Scriptures. I know I haven't. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. He that believeth on the Son,
And that is, has no confidence whatsoever in His flesh. He that
believeth on the Son. It doesn't say, he that believeth
in the Son like a demon. A demon believes that there is
the Son of God. They believe that there's a Son.
Men say, well I believe in Jesus. Devils believe that. He that
believeth on Him. that He is the grace of God to
God's people. He that believeth on the Son
and believes nothing in Himself, is what He's saying. Believes
that Christ has ever stood as my surety. I was chosen in Him,
loved by Him. He betrothed Himself to me eternally. that He died for me as my Redeemer,
put away my guilt as my head, that He represents me before
God and suffered the total wrath due my sins, and then when it
pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by His grace and told me about it, and told me through the Scriptures,
I've everlastingly loved you. The Father chose you. I died
for you. How do you know that you're one
of God's people? Now here it is. I believe God. I believe God. I believe Him. I believe Him. I believe Him. I believe Him. I believe God. I believe that He robes me. in
His righteousness, saved by the faith of Jesus Christ, imputed
to me, accepted in the Beloved, right now. And soon, we'll see Him no more
by faith, but we're going to see Him face to face. I believe He's coming back. Now,
He may come back today and take me out of this world. Or He may
come back and receive all of His people, dead or alive, I
don't know. But I can tell you this. I can
tell you this. Frustrating the grace of God? By the grace of God, I don't.
I'm going to read this scripture to you in closing. Deuteronomy
30. This was Moses' charge to the
people. before they went into the promised
land. Here's the charge of Almighty God by His Spirit to this world,
to His people that believe Him, to those that don't believe Him.
You listen to this charge. Deuteronomy 30, 15 to 20. See, I have set before thee this
day life and good, death and evil. in that I command thee
this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, to
keep His commandments, His statutes, His judgments, that thou mayest
live and multiply. And the Lord thy God shall bless
thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine
heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn
away, and worship other gods, and serve them. I denounce unto
you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not
prolong your days upon the land, whether thou passeth over Jordan
to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record
this day against you. and that I have set before you
life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life,
that both thou and thy seed may live. That thou mayest love the
Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, that thou mayest
cleave unto him, for he is thy life. In the length of thy days,
that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto
thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. Amen. I pray the Lord bless the word,
for Christ's sake, amen.