Let's begin for our reading this
morning in the Gospel of Luke chapter 15. This whole chapter
is dealing with a particular parable
that the Lord Jesus gave to the murmuring scribes and Pharisees. You'll look at the very beginning
of chapter 15. Then drew near unto him, that
is to the Lord Jesus, all the publicans, tax collectors, literally
in that day, for the Romans. These people were considered
the dregs of society. Then drew near unto Christ all
the publicans and sinners And the Pharisees and the scribes,
this is like the religious police department, you know, it's self-appointed
to keep everybody in line. Even though you're not a Christian,
they want you to act like one because that's what they're doing,
they're just acting. Scribes and Pharisees murmured against
the Lord Jesus. They said, this man receives
sinners. and actually eats with sinners. Of course, you understand that
they did not consider themselves sinners, though they were. And I'm sure they were well acquainted
with it, but would not admit it. Now, there are three parts
to one parable, according to the language of this Scripture.
The first part is the lost sheep, the second part is the lost coin,
and the third part is the lost son. So let's jump all the way
to verse 15. Oh, not 15. How about verse 11? Start at
11 and read through the end of the chapter, which is verse 32.
Now remember, there are three parts to this parable. The first
one involves a sheep. A sheep knows how to get lost,
but it doesn't know how to find himself. And neither do sinners. If you think you found God and
therefore He saved you, you haven't learned much. You're not acquainted
with this Bible if that's what you think. That's not what it
says. It tells us most decidedly that
God seeks us and then we seek Him. I sought the Lord and then
afterward I knew He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking. Second thing in the middle part
of the parable has to do with a lost coin. Now a coin has no
self-realization that it's lost. You know, it's as content to
be under the carpet or in the yard or anywhere. It doesn't
matter. It has no sense of itself. That's like a lost sin. We don't
know we're lost. We protest if somebody says we
are. But now we come to the third
part having to do with the lost. All right, verse 11. And he said,
our Lord said, remember what instigated this parable? The
complaint by the scribes and Pharisees that our Lord ate with
publicans and sinners? Every word of this parable comes
straight out of the mind and heart of the Lord Jesus. He puts
exactly the words in these three parts of this parable as He wishes
to be there. It's a story that He makes up
and gives characters and names in order to illustrate this glorious
truth that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
All right, verse 11. He said a certain man had two
sons. And the younger of them said
to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls
to me. And the father divided it." Now
watch this, unto them, unto his two sons, he divided his living,
his money, his assets. Maybe he wasn't stupid enough
to give them everything, you know, but he gave them their
inheritance, both of them at the same time. And not many days
after, there rose, oh I've left out something, verse 13, not
many days after the youngest son gathered all together and
took his journey into a far country. And there he wasted his substance
with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there
rose a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in want. And if you and I are ever to
be saved, God must create that famine in our souls and give
us grace and mercy to seek him. A man cannot be saved except
God perform a miracle of grace on our souls. There are no exceptions
to that either. So when he had spent all, there
arose a mighty famine in that land. The Lord sent this man
a famine and he began to be in want. in need. And he went and
joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him
into his fields to feed hogs or swine. And the man would just
as soon have filled his belly with the husk that the swine
did eat, and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself,
he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough
and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to
my father, and I'll say unto him, Father, I have sinned against
heaven and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your
son. Make me as one of your hired
servants. And he arose and came to his
father. But when he was still a great
way off, his father saw him. You know why he saw him? Because
he's bringing him to himself. He's not ignorant of what's going
on. He caused it. And had compassion and ran and
fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father,
I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. and am no
more worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his
servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put
a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring here the
fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and
is alive again. He was lost And now he's found
them, and they began to be made. Now put an asterisk by those
two verses there, by verse 24 especially. My son was dead and
is alive again. How? Through the blood and death
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're made alive. We were lost. And now by God's grace, if that
miracle has taken place in our soul, we've been found. And they
began to be merry. But the parable doesn't stop
there. Now we talk about the other brother, the older one,
that didn't leave home. Now his elder son was in the
field and he came and drew near to the house. And he heard music
and dancing, and he called one of the servants and asked what
these things meant. And he said unto him, Your brother
is come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because
he has received him safe and sound. And the older brother
was angry and would not go in. Therefore came his father out
and entreated him. And he said to his father, Here's
a very revealing statement. Lo, these many years do I serve
you. Neither transgressed I at any
time your commandment, and yet you never gave me a small goat
that I might make merry with my friends. How many years do
you say you've been tithing? God owes you, doesn't He? Yes,
He owes us eternal fire in hell forever. That's all He owes us,
deserves. I do and you do. And it doesn't
bother me if you deny what I'm saying is true of you. But if
God ever opens your eyes and has mercy on your soul, you will.
Verse 30, But as soon as this your Son was come, which has
devoured your living with harlots." Now remember, the older son got
his inheritance the same time the younger son did. And you've
killed for him the fatted calf? Have you lost your mind? And
the father said, son, you are ever with me and all that I have
is... Now remember, here's the rule
of thumb about parables. You can't always make them walk
on four legs. And here's one of those legs.
This does not mean that this boy knows and loves God and His
Son, the Lord Jesus. He despises his own brother and
the Bible says that loving our brother is proof that we indeed
love God by the grace of God in Christ. He said, Son, you're
ever with me and all that I have is yours. It was fitting, it
was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this, your
brother was dead and is alive again. And he was lost and is
found. Now I want you to turn in your
Bibles and hang on to this particular passage or verse it is of Scripture. And it's found in Galatians chapter
2, Verse 21, the last verse in Galatians
chapter 2. Now before we begin to read this
statement, let us beg the Lord to bless His Word to us today. O Lord God of heaven and of earth,
The God who ordains everything that comes to pass in this entire
world and universe. Nothing transpires without your
permission, your direct action. This is true in every country
on the face of this globe. It's true in the east, it's true
in the west, it's true in the north and in the south. You're
the God of this universe. the Maker of all things, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Lord, we open Your book this
morning seeking an understanding in the depths of our soul and
our mind, seeking to understand a statement in Your Word. That statement is so profound
and yet so short it defies our ability to fully understand.
We do not ask you for intellectual per se. We beg of you to give
us a simple understanding and that you would acquaint us with
whether or not we are indeed yours. And if it be true of me
that I only think I belong to you. I only think I've been converted
by your almighty grace. Lord, if I'm not saved, I beg
to be saved today. We do not use in this place because
it is an awful, awful dishonor to yourself We do not use the
methods employed by most churches in America to add to the roles
of the congregation and be able to get more money and do more
stuff. Lord, we beg simply to know you, the God of heaven and
earth, through your Son, the Lord Jesus, the only Savior of
sinners. Because without you, we cannot
do except sin. We beg in Christ's name. All
right, the first statement is here in front of us. In Galatians
chapter 2 and verse 21, Paul declares to the Galatians. Remember,
they are various congregations in a certain part of Asia Minor
that were being attacked by people that have come to be called Judaizers,
people who claim to be Christians, but are looking for converts
to Moses. Because in reality, they are
not Christian. They're still unbelieving Jews. And that's pretty much the character
and makeup of all. But here are three things. I
do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness come
by the law, then Christ is dead. Three simple phrases, yet they
are infinitely beyond our ability to think. Now, when Paul talks
about the grace of God being frustrated, And especially when
he talks about Christ being dead in vain, he means that men wish
it to be so, but they have no power or ability to make it so. But the attempt is worth exactly
what it would mean if you could make it so. The guilt is the
same, the sin, the rebellion against God is the same. So Paul
is defending himself in the eyes of the Galatians, telling them
plainly, I do not frustrate the grace of God. I want to talk
to you about what that is. For if righteousness comes by
the law, now what kind of righteousness can you and I have from the law? The ceremonial law, the moral
law, which is the Ten Commandments or whatever set of rules and
regulations people want to invent. If righteousness comes by the
law, what kind of righteousness would that be? If you could earn
it and merit it. Remember this statement. Righteousness. There ain't but two kinds in
this whole world. One is the righteousness of God
in Christ and one is self-righteousness. Every false religion in this
whole world is being ruled by self-righteousness. They're making people good, damning
their souls, mind you, but making them good in the eyes of men.
You ought to run from that. If you were a rabbit and somebody
had a shotgun, you ought to run just about that fast to get away
because he ain't telling you the truth. So the first thing
I want to do is talk about self-righteousness just for a bit. Now this righteousness
that comes by the law is salvation by works, which is self-righteousness. First of all, self-righteousness
is extremely devious and subtle. People who hold on to such a
thing often deny that they have any idea about what you're talking
about. They want you to know they're a wonderful Christian.
But inwardly, they think themselves awfully good in their own sight.
Second thing is, this righteousness by the law is extremely belittling. If the Lord doesn't keep you
and me from it, We'll fall in it hook, line, and sinker. You
know why? Because we're all born self-righteous. That's natural to our human nature. Fallen humanity. That's natural
religion. You don't have to do anything
to get that kind of religion. Just be born. I mean physically
be born into this world, into Adam's race. This righteousness
called self-righteousness, I had to put this one in, comes from
absolute ignorance. Absolute ignorance. We believe
the best about ourselves in spite of what we read in our Bible.
But most Bible readings Most Bible reading ain't Bible reading
at all. Had a guy call me just a day
or two ago and he wanted, I've known him for some years, not
that I'm better off for it, but anyway, he wanted to know if
I wanted my birthday verse out of the Bible. Well, my birthday
was last October. I really wasn't interested in
talking about it. But he insisted, so he read me or at least a version
of what he thought he was reading me, John 10, 14. And I said, well, what does it say
before that, John chapter 10? Oh, I don't know. What does it
say after that? He didn't know. I said, you ought
to spend your time reading the whole chapter to see if God will
have mercy on your soul and open your eyes, because all you're
doing is playing games. Religious games, but just games.
That's how most of their people read their Bible. Somebody dies,
pull it off the shelf. Somebody gets sick. You know
how it works, don't you? Self-righteousness is born out
of pride. And surely we have an overabundance
of that. But it is also derived from wicked
Unbelief. Just flat, not believing. If we believe what we read, we
could not possibly be victim of sin. I mean, God says it so
plain in so many different places. There's none righteous, no, not
one. There's none that doeth good. There's none that seeks
after God. And then we walk up and say,
well now, God, I found you on my own. We don't even think or try to
find out what other scriptures had to do with this particular
issue. Self-righteousness is absolutely
evil because it makes light of sin. And in its final analysis,
it is, after all, nothing. Self-righteousness ain't nothing
but pure selfishness. It's rooted. in selfishness. Now I need you to turn a little
bit with me. Try not to do as much of it as I'd like, but I'll
just, maybe three scriptures, can we handle that? Looking at this statement again,
verse 21 in chapter 2 of Galatians, there are two crimes described
in this verse. The first is the crime of frustrating
the grace of God, which nobody can truly do, by the way. Satan
himself did his dead level best and he couldn't do it. And he
can do a lot more things than you and I can. We ain't nothing
compared to him. First crime is frustrating the
grace of God. And the second one is making
Christ to be dead to tell men that there's another door. It's
called keeping the law. It's called self-righteousness,
which ain't no righteousness at all. Okay, the first one,
frustrating the grace of God. Paul said, if righteousness comes
by the law, the grace of God is no longer needed. Why? Would the Lord Jesus come
to this world to die if men could be saved by keeping some set
of rules or regulations? Do we think God to be stupid
or blind or not be able to tell what would take place down the
road from when this world was first begun? Most people would
say, yeah, God couldn't see. Well, you're welcome to keep
that God because that ain't no God at all. Well, he won't violate
our will. Well, if he doesn't, we're all
going to hell. I'm dead serious now. That's the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth. But most people, when it comes
to self-righteousness, to frustrating the grace of God, they have a
milder form of what I've just described. They make the grace
of God to be a secondary thing and not a primary one. On the
primary level, you do your best. And on the secondary level, Christ
will make up the difference. Well, I'd like for you to find
that in this book because I can't find it. Oh, I thought I had
found it many years ago. And I preached that junk. But
I was dumber than a box of rocks, and still am, for that matter.
But God has shown me the truth of His... I know that for sure."
This making God's grace a secondary matter. Every man is his own
Savior, and the Lord Jesus will make up the difference, whatever
it is. That's not in this book. It's
all over this world. It's in today's religion because
it is exactly their motto, though some would not speak so plainly
about it. This frustration of the grace
of God, which cannot truly take place because it's God's grace
that they're trying to frustrate and God can't be frustrated,
it gives up trusting in the grace of God altogether. There are
many people like this. Let me show you a picture. Romans chapter 11. And hang on to Romans
because we'll come back to a chapter just prior to that one in just
a moment. Romans chapter 11 verse 6. I'm leaving out some stuff I
wish I could read, but I just can't. Romans 11, 6. We ready? And if by grace, then
it is no more of works. People who know grace don't talk
of God accepting our work to somehow enable us to be justified
in His sight. If by grace, then it is no more
of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. Now listen carefully. Everybody's
singing Amazing Grace. Do not have a clue what they're
singing. This world has made that song
a popular song. And a person can bring tears
to your eyes, and it does not mean that they know anything
themselves about the grace of God. If by grace, then it is no more
of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. And that's where
we are in the religious world of 2011. That's exactly where
we are. People use grace. They name their
churches grace this, grace that, grace the other. That doesn't
make it so. And in many cases, words like
grace have been redefined to mean far less than what they
truly mean. Then it says in verse 6 of Romans
11, But if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise,
work is no more work. Now do you see that grace and
works cannot be mixed or blended. They're mutually exclusive. The next thing about the frustration
of grace is that it takes the sinner away from confidence in
Christ. And Christ must be everything
or he isn't anything. Now you know that. That's been
preached here so many times that it's almost embarrassing to have
to keep saying it. But we don't understand this.
Alright, did you stay in Romans? If you'll turn now to chapter
9. Listen to that wonderful rain.
Verses 32 and 33. That's the last two verses in
Romans chapter 9. Let me back up and pick up verse
31. which followed after the law
of righteousness has not attained to the law of righteousness."
They said they did, but they didn't. Why? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. The laws of stumbling stone If
you read in this book, and gosh, the book of Galatians is plastered
with it from beginning to end, any thought or attempt on our
part to keep the law in order to have favor with God is damning
to our souls. Which is exactly what this statement
is dealing with here at the end of Romans chapter 6. Behold, I lay in Zion. Jehovah, God, lays in Zion a
stumbling stone and a rock of offense. That's the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. And whosoever believes in Him
shall not be ashamed. Shall not be ashamed. One more
about frustrating the grace of God. My next text is going to
be in John chapter 16 if you'd like to get there, but I want
you to listen. Can you turn pages and listen
at the same time? One more thing now under this
matter of frustrating the grace of God. Beyond a doubt, works
religion, self-righteousness, frustration of the grace of God. Those things are all synonymous
in the manner in which I've used them. Has this charge laid at
its door in this book? It robs God of His glory. That's just like we said at the
beginning now. You can't steal God's glory. But if we try to,
it's the same as if we could. The crime is the same. You don't
have all this asinine legal system when it comes to God. Only lawyers
and judges and prosecutors and the people that write the laws
that they use to exercise that stupidity can't figure out why
people keep on killing. Well, I know how to stop them.
You let God save them. You can quit locking your doors
at night. This awful disease, this perverting the grace of
God, robs God. Now some people would say, Preacher,
I don't know anybody that would rob God of anything. People even
act surprised that thieves would even break into a church building.
And I just about lay on the floor laughing. You've been somewhere
for a couple of hundred years evidently. A long time at least. I don't know how long ago. You have a book in your Bible.
It's the last one in the Old Testament and it's called Malachi.
And from the first chapter, verse 1, to the last chapter and verse,
it is telling you that men rob God of His glory. Not that they
succeed, but the punishment for them is the same. Well, preacher,
the only thing I can remember, it says, will a man rob God of
his tithes and his offerings? I'm just trying to tell you this.
Robbing him of what he's given you, of material things, ain't
nothing when it comes to trying to rob him of his character and
of his being, who he is and therefore what he does. All right, the
second thing out of that verse we're looking at in the last
verse of chapter 2 in the book of Galatians is making Christ
to be dead in vain. Now one more time, We're talking
about man's attempt to do so. He has not succeeded, not one
single iota. Let me put it more plain. As
of 6 minutes to 12 o'clock, March the 6th, 2011, there's exactly
the number of people in heaven that God purposed to be there.
And they're every last one of them there. by the grace of God
in Christ Jesus. There's not one there that deserves
to be there. Not a one. And when this world
is finished, it's still there. But the awful thought, making
Christ to be dead. They put it like this, the death
of Christ is just a part of salvation. It's the centerpiece, ladies
and gentlemen. and everything else having to do with it is
attached to it. But the sinner must do something
to deserve eternal life. No, you don't, because you can't. What are you going to do to deserve
eternal life? Pray tell. Give the church a
million dollars? What are you going to do? God's
not moved by these things. The second problem with making
Christ to be dead in vain is that it rejects the covenant
of grace made in old eternity between the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, and it was sealed. That covenant of grace was sealed
with Christ's blood. Self-righteousness, if it be
true, if it really exists, If it is a real righteousness, self-righteousness
would destroy the covenant of grace. Therefore, self-righteousness
is just pretended righteousness. It is not genuine. Though people
are genuinely interested in defending their thoughts about the matter
and their belief in it, self-righteousness is a sin against the Holy Three
in One, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father gave His only
Son, the Lord Jesus, to die. If man can save himself, God
was a fool to send Christ into this world to die. But apart
from His death, there is no grace. This has been true from Genesis
1, to the end of time, it must continue to be the same. The
son paid redemption's price, and yet to say that that price
could be paid some other way, by something that we do? That's
absurd. That's utter foolishness. That's
the most anti-Christian thing a person could possibly say.
Let's take the Holy Spirit. Did you stay in John with me
or you gave up? John 16 beginning at verse 8. Now the
Holy Spirit is said to come to convince sinners of not believing
the Lord Jesus Christ. So this guise of setting aside
the death of Christ would undo all of this, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. Let me just read it to you in
verse 8, John chapter 16. And when He has come, speaking
of the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who promised the Spirit of God
in His stead to come to the disciples and upon the church as it sprang
up across the world throughout the ages. When He has come, when
the Holy Spirit has come, He will reprove the world of sin,
three things, sin, righteousness, and judgment. And here's the
grounds on which He will convince men of these things. Verse 9, of sin, what's the greatest
sin, did you say? because they believe not on me,
on Christ. The Spirit of God is sent into
this world to cause us to know this glorious truth, to believe
it and to love it. Verse 10, of righteousness, because
the only truly righteous man this world ever knew is now in
heaven. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father and you see me no more. Literally, physically,
Christ is no longer in this world. You can't capture his essence
in some stature or idol and of judgment because the prince of
this world, namely Satan himself, is judged. Let me just make one
more statement. Salvation by works shuts the
gate of mercy on all men. Therefore, leaves out the prodigal
son, yet the book leads us to believe,
believers, exactly what we read in John, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Has God done that for me and
you? I'm telling you, nothing can take its place There's nothing
more precious than Christ. There's nothing more powerful
than the blood of Christ. And there is no other salvation
but to salvage all creation.