Do Not Frustrate the Grace of God Gal 2:21 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Paul said, I do not frustrate the grace of God. That is he didn’t try to make himself righteous by keeping the law since, by the grace of God, he was already righteous in Jesus Christ. You and I often frustrate the grace of God by trying to work out things in our lives that have already been freely given to us by God in salvation. We do this by trying to perfect in us something that God has already done for us. You frustrate the grace of God:
By trying to save yourself – we are saved by the Grace of God – Eph 2:8-9. We are born again by the Power of God [Jn 1:12-13] not by something we do [like baptism or church membership] or something we keep [like sacraments, laws or traditions]. In other words, there is nothing you can DO to save yourself. If you want to be saved then you must trust what Jesus Christ has already done for you and what God is willing to freely give you in Jesus Christ. Otherwise, you frustrate the grace of God.
By staying stuck in your sin – we are sanctified by the Spirit of God – 1 Cor 6:9-11, 2 Thes 2:13. In other words, when you are saved, you are no longer what you used to be. You are now a new creature in Christ [2 Cor 5:17]. When someone is saved and they are in a sin that they cannot imagine ever changing, they are frustrating the grace of God. This is particularly true of the sins listed in 1 Cor 6:9-10. We are made free by the truth of God [Jn 8:32]. We are truly free from sin and no longer have to serve it when we believe the TRUTH of what God said. In other words, there are many who use the Bible but not correctly [2 Pet 3:16-18]. They quote it incorrectly and they are believing what it doesn’t say rather than what it really says. Or else they don’t apply certain verse to themselves and so they frustrate the grace of God because they CAN be free but they refuse to be free.
By exhausting your conscience – our consciences are purged by the blood of Christ – Heb 9:14. His blood that he shed is God’s blood [Acts 20:28]. Now you can scrub and rub and fret with it all you want and you will never clear your conscience completely. Or you can let the blood of Christ clear your conscience completely and rest in that. When you have been forgiven by God, those things that happened are in the past and you can truly move on. If someone else wants to hold it in their memory that’s their problem. The Lord has chosen to forget it.
By trying to do right – we are righteous by the Son of God – Rom 5:18-19. In other words, our righteousness is not measured by how good we are. It is measured by how good Jesus Christ is. People get really frustrated when they know they should be “perfect” and they are not. They try really hard to be as good as they think Jesus Christ wants them to be and they are never quite good enough. So, they stay frustrated all the time. You are frustrating the grace of God. He has already given you Christ’s righteousness. Yield to his righteousness in you and obey him. He’ll grow you up in his righteousness.
By trying to clean yourself up – we are washed by the word of God – Jn 15:3, Eph 5:26. You are going to mess up each day and the Lord has given you the word of God to get you cleaned up each time you get messed up. When you live you need a shower, and your clothes need to be washed. Jesus washed his disciples’ feet because the ministry gets you dirty. The word of God cleanses you. Don’t frustrate the grace of God by trying to clean yourself up. You can’t do it. His word does.
Conclusion: don’t frustrate the grace of God by refusing to get saved. Don’t frustrate the grace of God by staying stuck in your sin, your past or you failure yesterday. God says that his salvation, his Spirit, his blood, his righteousness and his word are sufficient to satisfy him. If they are good enough for him, why are they not good enough for you? You are a new creature in Christ and this is a new day!! Do not frustrate the grace of God.