Frustrate The Grace

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Looking at our world from a theological
perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast

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making Theology Central. Have you ever
been frustrated? Have you ever been really

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really frustrated? I mean, come
on, I mean really frustrated. No,

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no, no, not you're little
pretend frustrated. I mean real frustration,

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like an overwhelming sense of frustration.
You can be honest, hey,

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hey, hey, look, no
one is looking. You can be oh,

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okay, I see that hand.
Oh I see that hand. Okay,

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see when nobody you don't think anyone's
looking. Everyone's like, Yeah,

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I've been frustrated a lot. In
fact, I'm very frustrated at this very

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moment. Hey, I feel you. I hear you. I hear you.

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Okay, but we'll talk about frustration. But before we do that,

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I'll get extremely frustrated if I don't
give a proper introduction, and I don't

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want any I don't want to add
any frustration to my frustration. So let's

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do this. Good afternoon, everyone. It is Saturday, July the sixth,

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twenty twenty four. It is currently
three forty two pm Central Time,

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and I am coming to you live
from the Theology Central studio located right here

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in Abilene, Texas. Now,
if you have a notebook, If you

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have a notebook, I want you
to open that notebook. I don't really

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care what you write with today.
Typically I would say it has to be

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a pencil. I don't care.
You can use crayon, you can use

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a marker, sharpie, I don't
care what you use. You can use

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whatever you want. Just write in
the notebook. I want you to write

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down. I want you to write
down the number, not just the number

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one. I want you to write
down a number of things that frustrate you

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and your Christian life. I want
you to write down maybe the top four,

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top five things. I want you
to write down a number of things

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that bring great frustration into your Christian
life, that as a Christian, that

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these are frustrations that are specifically they
frustrate your Christian life. They frustrate you

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as a Christian, that they're very
much related to your Christian life, your

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spiritual walk. What are the things
that bring great frustration to your spiritual walk?

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What are some of those things what
frustrates you the most? Come on,

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be honest, Look, some of
you may not even want to write

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this one down, but I think
if we're honest. Sometimes you know what

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frustrates me about the Christian life.
God himself can be frustrating, Kenny.

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Not, Here's God, all powerful, omni present, all knowing. Well,

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I think you would want God to
use that power and that knowledge and

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that, I don't know, to
fix a whole lot of things. I

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mean, do you ever feel that
way? I mean, if God is

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all powerful, he can remove our
sinful nature. Therefore we could all just

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be perfect and holy. I mean, here's the thing, an all powerful,

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all knowing, all present God.
I don't know. How about you

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just fix the church where we could
all I don't agree on something? I

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mean, could there just be like
one thing Christianity could agree on? I

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mean, sometimes I get a little
frustrated with God. Oh come on,

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don't act all spiritual. You have
to have frustrations with God sometimes, right?

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Never? Okay? Well, okay, I guess you're more spiritual than

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me. If I'm going to be
honest with I've been frustrated with God many

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times in my Christian life. I
get very frustrated about Christianity itself, especially

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when it comes to this. So
I'll try to make it more specific,

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because just saying Christianity itself. That's
kind of vague. I get very frustrated

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that Christians can't agree on anything two
thousand years of church history. Do we

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agree on baptism? No? Do
we agree on the Lord's Supper? No?

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Do we agree even on the definition
of the word repentance. No?

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Do we agree on salvation? No? Some people say yes we do.

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No, we don't. We got
everything from Pelagianism semi Pelagian Pleagianism, to

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Arminianism, to Calvinism to Augustinianism.
I mean, just on and on.

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No, no agreement on No agreement
on eschatology, no agreement on ecclesiology.

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Literally, no agreement on anything.
Take any verse of the Bible and go

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to fifteen Christians. You'll get forty
seven different interpretations. We don't even agree

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on which hermeneutical system is correct.
We don't agree on how to interpret the

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Bible. We don't even agree on
the system we should use to bring about

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an interpretation. We don't agree on
anything. Does that not frustrate you as

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a Christian? Oh? It frustrates
me to it. You know what else

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frustrates me in the Christian life?
Me? Are you not frustrated at yourself?

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For being a Christian, because I
mean, sometimes self can be so

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frustrating, because on one hand,
don't you want to serve God and glorify

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him and live for him and please
him. On the other side, don't

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you want to sometimes glorify you and
live for you and please you? Is

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that not frustrating? There are so
many things, but I want you to

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identify. I don't know how many
will actually participate, but identify those things

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that greatly frustrate you in your Christian
life. Be very honest about it.

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Now you may be asking, well, why why are you talking about what

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is frustrating? Why are you talking
about frustration? Why do you sound so

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frustrated? Well, many of you
know that. A couple of weeks ago,

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for our Sermon's two point oh apps
sermon challenge, remember I told everyone,

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starting at the beginning of the year, really the end of last year,

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download the sermons two point oh app
Every single day, choose a random

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sermon, listen to the sermon,
right down the name of the broadcaster,

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and then write down a summary of
the sermon. The goals. By the

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end of the year, you have
one sermon for every day of the year,

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and in some weeks I'm giving you
specific themes to look up, or

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or sermons on specific topics, et
cetera, et cetera. Well, a

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couple of weeks ago, because I'm
participating in the same challenge, I was

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going to have to be driving around. So what did I do. I

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grabbed my iPad and I downloaded some
sermons and I ended up choosing a random

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sermon called the Coming Middle East War. Now, I thought that was great,

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right, the Coming Middle East War
where we've been doing a series on

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eschatology. This may fit in.
I can add this to supplement our series

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on eschatology. This should be interesting. And then I clicked on the sermon

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and saw the full title Psalm eighty
three The Coming Middle East War, And

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I'm like, wait, what in
the world how do you get Psalmity three

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to our Coming Middle East War?
And then it just started getting more and

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more frustrating. Right listening to that
series, I think there's now twenty five

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parts to that original series that sparked
all of this, and about twenty four

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of them I don't think has anything
to do with Saal eighty three. It's

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maddening, beyond all comprehension. It
was crazy. Then it got really frustrating

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because we had we listened to some
sermons that said, no, saw Maty

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three's that's second Chronicles twenty and I
think they said, a king Jehosaphat calls

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in Acef, the author of PSALMTI
three, to write this lament, and

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then we come to find out that's
impossible. Aceph was dead way before the

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reign of that king. What are
you talking about? More frustration, and

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then it was just like all the
different things people do with Saw eighty three

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was maddening, and then more maddening, and then more maddening. So what

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I thought would be like an easy
Hey, this will be an easy series,

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it has turned into now hour after
hour after hour after hour of work

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on Psalm eighty three. Well,
I'm here in the studio working on Saw

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eighty three for tomorrow at Victory Baptist
Church. Now find out there's going to

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be visitors and there's going to be
a lot of things going on. More

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people are going to be there than
normal, and a lot of these people

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haven't been there for any of the
Saw eighty three thing. And I'm like,

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okay, so now what do I
do? How much do I review?

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What do I do. Okay,
what do I do? I'm gonna

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have to use the first hour and
the second hour for Saw Maty three.

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All right, So what do I
cover in the first hour? What do

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I cover in the second hour?
How much do I review? How much

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do I review in the first and
second hour when the people in the second

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hour won't be the same people there
in the first hour? Oh? What

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do I do? And I and
it's part of me is like I just

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want to just give up and say, you know what, We're done.

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We finished Saw Mayty three. I
know you didn't realize it, but we

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finished it. But I know I
can't and it's just like frustration, frustration,

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frustration, What do I do?
So I was just sitting here and

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I kind of was like, you
know, just like, okay, I

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think I've done. I don't know
what else I can do if I add

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any more things to my notes.
This is We're going to finish Saw maybe

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three when I'm one hundred and fifty
two years old. We've got to finish

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this thing at some point. Stop
adding things to your notes. I'm just

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like slapping myself in the face.
Stop stop, just stop, just give

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up. You're finished, You're done. This is a train wreck. You've

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messed it all up. Okay.
So I'm sitting and then I look down

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and sitting to my left, you
know what that is, Ladies and gentlemen,

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Come on, some of you who
never listened to the broadcast. Really

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it's paper, okay now, but
some of you know exactly what newspaper I

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have in my hands. I have
an issue of the Sword of the Lord

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newspaper. And we've been you know, I told you last year every once

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you get a subscription to the Sort
of the Lord newspaper. Even though I

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don't always agree with everything in it, I always find some kind of spiritual

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food in it. So I was
sitting here now. This issue is the

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June seventh, twenty twenty four issue
of the Sort of the Lord newspaper,

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which we've been utilizing as we've talked
about Revival, as we've been we've started

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in a series on Revival, which
that's getting a little frustrated. But to

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be honest, the last the last
episode went much better than I thought.

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But I just had it sitting here, and so I'm just like I kind

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of got my you know, my
hands down on my you know, my

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face in my hands, just kind
of sitting here in a Woe is Me.

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Saw many three is gonna be trash. Saw many three is garbage.

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I'm going to delete the entire series. I'm gonna delete my entire podcast.

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I'm going to become an alcoholic.
Okay, all right, maybe it's a

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little bit of hyperbole, but I
just like, ah. So then I

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look down and then the very first
word I see, the very first word

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I see in the sort of the
Lord newspaper is the word frustrate. I'm

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like, you gotta be kidding me. Come on, now, who's messing

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with me? I'm frustrated? And
the first word I see when I look

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at the Sword of the Lord newspaper
is the word frustrate. Come on,

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now, who's messing with me?
I'm looking around? Come on, I'm

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being pranked, right, come on? So who's punking me? Here?

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Come on? Who's doing this?
So then I thought, you know what

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says I don't know what to do
with so many three. Let's take this

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concept of frustrate. Let's take this
concept of frustration. Let's see what we

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can do with it. So let's
start with some basic definitions. Frustrate to

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balk or defeat in an endeavor,
frustrated her opponents by her ball handling.

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So you can frustrate other people by
basically stopping their endeavor, by you know,

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balking at it. You're doing something
to frustrate their attempts to do something.

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You frustrate it. Sometimes in the
Christian life, you know what,

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you can be the most frustrating thing
in your Christian life or other Christians.

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They can frustrate your endeavor. They
can frustrate your attempts. They can in

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a sense, they can walk around
with a bucket of ice water to pour

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out on anything you're anything you want
to do, they will, they can.

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Just sometimes Christians are the most frustrating
part of the Christian life. Another

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definition. So there's to balk or
defeat in an endeavor, right, an

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endeavor Next to induce feelings of discouragement. Oh, all you have to do

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is be a pastor or be a
Christian broadcaster and let the Christians do their

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work, their best work, their
very best work is frustrate, to frustrate,

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to discourage, to beat you down
right, I mean, rarely are

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Christians a source of encouragement. They
frustrate. Sometimes what you just want to

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do is like I just want to
respond to some emails. Well, you

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need to step up your game a
little bit. I know you're you're going

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for frustration, but you're not quite
there yet. Put you, you go

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back to the you go back to
the drawing table, you come back.

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You can do you can do much
better. I got three emails before years

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that is so much better and frustrating
and frustrating and discouragement. You're kind of

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you're kind of just playing at the
game, all right. Sometimes I wanted

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to help the church members. Okay, I know you're trying. I know

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it's Monday. Maybe you should just
start calling me a Sunday night at midnight

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to frustrate because you're really not putting
forth and night. I'm really disappointed in

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your game. You should be able
to step it up, but be a

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little bit more frustrating, be a
little bit more discouraging. So to frustrate

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is to induce feelings of discouragement.
So in a sense, what is it

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in the Christian life that leads to
feelings of discouragement? Next is to make

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an ineffectual. To make ineffectual bring
to nothing illness. Frustrated his plans for

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college, that's the idea of frustrate
or frustrated or frustrating. Now the idea

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is sometimes you're trying to do something
and you are frustrated. So and for

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me, for the saw mayty three, I'm just frustrated. I'm frustrated at

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all the nonsense of all the different
interpretations of Psalm Madi three that literally make

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no sense. I'm frustrated that now
I'm so far into this there's no way

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out. I gotta bring this to
some kind of conclusion. And I don't

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even know, you know, am
I even accomplishing anything. So there's that

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frustration. But what was the sort
of the Lord talking about when they talked

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about frustrate or frustration. Well,
I picked up the paper after I saw

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the word frustrate, and I read
this, Are you ready? Quote?

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I do not frustrate the grace of
God, for if righteousness come by the

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law, then Christ is dead in
vain Galatians two twenty one. I do

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not frustrate the grace of God.
I do not frustrate the grace of God.

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Now this is Paul affirming that he
does not frustrate the grace of God.

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So then immediately I stopped. Didn't
even read anything else. I folded

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the paper over so I would not
see anymore, and I set it down.

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And then I said to myself self, how do you frustrate the grace

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of God? Do you frustrate the
grace of God? And I said to

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self, or myself said back to
me myself did not answer myself. Myself

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basically said, that's an interesting question
and would probably make for a great podcast

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episode. So what you should probably
do is take all of your frustration,

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go live on the air, ask
everyone what frustrates them in the Christian life,

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and then ask everyone this very profound
question. Do you I'm not speaking

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to me now, I'm speaking to
you. Do you frustrate the grace of

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God? Do you frustrate the grace
of God? What does it mean to

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frustrate the grace of God? Well, obviously we know the New Testament.

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If we're going to try to understand
that word frustrate, let's probably need to

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look it up and see how it's
using an antilinear and what is the Greek

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word? Right? Don't you think
that's probably a good idea? So well,

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I think it's a great idea.
Okay, even if you think it's

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a bad idea. I think it's
a great idea. So we're going to

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go to the blue letter Bible.
App. I'm going to go to the

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antilinear. Okay, I'm going to
pull up the text Galatians two twenty one.

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I do not frustrate the grace of
God. Paul doesn't frustrate, but

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do you? And do I frustrate
the grace of God? So I clicked

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on the verse or tapped on the
verse. There's the antilinear, a tap

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on intilinear, and then here it
is. It's the Greek word basically is

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translated. The one Greek word is
translated I do. It's interesting, I

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do frustrate is how I would all
put together. But then you have to

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put the other Greek word and then
you get not. Okay, So yeah,

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we could break it all down and
how it would look. But here

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is the Greek word. Are you
ready? Here is the Greek word.

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Here we go, stronge geen authi
taio authi tail authoritaio authititaio? Do you

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authoritaio the grace of God? Do
you authoritaio the grace of God? I

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need you to really contemplate that today, right on this afternoon a day of

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Maybe maybe you're not frustrated. Maybe
you are frustrated. Maybe you get frustrated

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by many things in your Christian life. But do you forget about those things

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that frustrate you? Do you authoritail
the grace of God? Do you frustrate

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the grace of God? Forget?
I know it's easy for us to to

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think of all the things that frustrate
me. And my list is long,

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all right, it is long.
But do i authoritaio? Do I frustrate

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the grace of God? Well?
The word is you sixteen times? Eight

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times? It is translated spies.
That's interesting. Do you despise the grace

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of God? Oh? Now this
may ge a little bit more uncomfortable,

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right for reject? Do you reject
the grace of God? Do you despise?

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Do you reject? Bring to nothing? Now that's kind of a Now

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that kind of goes back to the
English definition. Remember the English definition,

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if I could find it, the
English definition to make ineffectual, bring to

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nothing? Do you make the grace
of God ineffectual? Or do you bring

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the grace of God to to basically
be nothing? Oh? That's that would

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be that would be a bad thing. All right, So let's go back

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to the to the uh Anti linear. Do we off the tail the grace

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of God? Do we despise it? Do we reject it? Do we

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bring it to nothing? Do we
frustrate? Desinal cast off? Strong's definition?

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Okay, and there's a whole lot
of interesting here to set aside,

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to disesteem, to neutralize, to
violate, cast off, despise, frustrate,

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bring to not to reject. Do
you do these things to the grace

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of God? Now I know where
you're gonna say, no, no,

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no, no, no, I
never do this to the grace of God.

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I love the grace of God.
I rejoice in the grace of God.

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But is there parts of us that
despise, reject, bring to nothing,

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frustrate, disinal, cast off,
reject the outline of biblical usage,

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to do away with, to set
aside, to disregard, And what ways

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in your Christian life are you doing
away with? You're setting aside, you're

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disregarding the grace of God. Now, as soon as you start talking about

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the grace of God, the grace
of God, the grace of God,

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the grace of God, sooner or
later, someone's gonna say, well,

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I understand God's grace, and I
understand God's unmerited favor. I know God

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doing that that you know, we
do not earn or we do not deserve.

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But almost inevitably you're gonna hear some
preacher or some Christians but but,

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but there may be grace, but
and then they'll start saying, there's got

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to be these other things. Now
the minute they say but, they've just

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completely rejected, completely, just thrown
out everything that comes before, which is

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the grace of God, to do
away with, to set aside, to

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disregard, to thwart the efficacy,
to nullify, to make void, to

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frustrate. Do we thwart the efficiency, the efficacy, uh the efficiency the

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effects of God's grace? Let me
put it that way. Do we reject?

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Yet? Do we refuse to slight? Those are all some of the

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outlines of biblical usage. What do
we do with the grace of God?

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Now Paul's are obviously writing to the
church Galicia, and again he says,

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I. Now Paul's telling him,
I do not frustrate the grace of God,

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for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

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Now, clearly he's seemingly to imply, I don't frustrate the grace of

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God, but I think there may
be an implication that they do, are

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in danger of, or are doing
it currently. Now the article says this

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frustrate means to put aside. So
Paul said, I do not put aside

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the grace of God to teach salvation
by keeping the law by human righteousness.

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So Paul is saying, hey,
guys, I do not set aside the

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law of God when teaching I do
not. I'm sorry, I do not

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set aside the grace of God when
teaching salvation. I therefore, because I

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would be setting aside the grace of
God if I taught salvation had anything to

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do with what you do and keeping
the law. Remember, we cannot keep

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the law. We cannot keep the
law before we're saved. We do not

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keep the law after we save.
We're in violation of the law perpetually and

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perpetually in some way, shape or
form, because the law demands a perfection

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internally externally. If you violate one
point of the law, you're guilty of

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all of it. We're always guilty
of the law. So if you if

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you set aside the grace of God
to teach salvation and connect it to anything

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related to the law. Well,
nobody's going to be saved. It's only

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going to bring condemnation. But you're
setting aside the grace of God. He's

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like, Paul's like, I do
not do that. So let me read

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again how the sord of the Lord
paper puts it here. Frustrate here means

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to put aside all said, I
do not put aside the grace of God

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to teach salvation by keeping the law
by human righteousness. The paper adds a

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little bit more. The Galatian Christians
fell into into the sin, and so

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do many other Christian people and preachers. Now what sin The sin of frustrating

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the grace of God, the sin
of rejecting the grace of God, the

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sin of bringing the grace of God
tonight, the sin of setting it aside.

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How do you do that with the
grace of God in your life?

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Or how do you do that when
it comes to other people? Now,

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this is the sort of the Lord
newspaper I quote. They frustrate the grace

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of God or put aside the grace
of God and pervert the plan of salvation

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by having people either number one,
work to get saved. Number two,

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work to keep saved. Or number
three, work to prove they are saved.

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Uh oh, that just got serious
and that just w will offend all

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kinds of people. Let me read
that to you again. The article says

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that many people, many Christians and
many pastors and many churches, they frustrate

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the grace of God or put aside
the grace of God and pervert the plan

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of salvation by doing one of three
things. Are you ready? Number one,

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they tell people they have to work
to get saved. Number two they

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say you have to work just keep
saved. Or number three, you have

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to work to prove you are saved. Now, some people can say,

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but works prove you're saved. Works
proved you're saved, The works of Christ

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prove I'm saved. Whatever you say, well, you have to do this

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or you have to do this.
You have to do this in order to

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prove that you're saved. And I'm
saying Christ did it for me, because

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if I look to my life,
I'm never going to do those things perfectly

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or even come close. So then
you get upgraded on a curve, it

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all falls apart. You will ultimately
frustrate the grace of God. You're setting

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it aside. You're taking the grace
of God, casting it aside, to

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turn to some kind of law based
works based system. The Galician the Christians

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at Galicia had been led astray by
those who taught them that they must keep

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the ceremonial law or they would not
be saved. Thus they frustrated the grace

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of God. Paul said to them
who were depending on salvation by works,

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you are fallen from grace. That
is, they have fallen from the biblical

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doctrine and the biblical truth of salvation
by grace by grace, and going away

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to that ancient carnal heresy of getting
saved by good works. We like to

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find. We like to put ourselves
in it somehow to get some kind of

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credit something that we do now we
now typically we're very good at not saying

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we do it in order to be
saved, but we do it because we

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say, therefore, I prove that
I'm saved by what I do. So

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it still becomes about you. And
then if you don't do it, but

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then you're not saved, meaning you
have to do it in order to be

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safe. You're just playing a game
of semantics. You're still making works essential

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to salvation. Work is essential to
salvation, the work of Christ, which

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then is imputed to me. How
do you set aside and frustrate the grace

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of God in your own life?
And how do you do that when it

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comes to other people? So then
I set aside all of my other frustration.

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I'm like, well, let me
do a little work here, let

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me do a little work here on
this subject. So I started trying to

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put some things together from some different
sources. Here's one source, Paul's statement

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in Galatians two twenty one, and
then they quote it this way, I

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do not nullify the grace of God
is a powerful declaration of his understanding of

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the central role of grace and salvation. I think it is a powerful statement,

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and I do believe that it is
Paul emphasizing the central role of grace

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and salvation. Paul emphasizes that salvation
is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ,

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not by the works of the law. He asserts that if righteousness could

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be gained through the law, then
Christ died for nothing. His death is

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in vain. This verse Galatious to
twenty one underscores the foundational importance of God's

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grace and the life of a believer. Let's do a little bit more on

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Galatians two twenty one. Paul is
contrasting Ungalatians to twenty one the concept of

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grace with the idea of trying to
earn salvation through the adherence to the Mosaic

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law or any form of self righteous
works. He firmly believes that salvation is

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a gift of God's grace, freely
given, and not something that can be

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earned by human effort. And because
we are saved by God's grace, we

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are saved by an imputed righteousness which
you cannot do anything to demonstrate or prove

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you have it. Because it's imputed. It doesn't do anything into it to

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you practically, but it does everything
for you positionally. By Paul stating that

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he does not frustrate the grace of
God, Paul affirms the sufficiency of Christ's

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00:28:34.680 --> 00:28:40.279
sacrificial death on the Cross for the
forgiveness of sins. He recognizes that if

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the righteousness could be attained through the
law, then Christ's death would have been

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in vain. So, in a
sense, if you're frustrating the grace of

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God, you're denying the sufficiency of
Christ. At the same time, when

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Paul says, I do not frustrate
the grace of God. I do not

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set it aside, I do not
nullify it, Paul basically is declaring by

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that he does not frustrate the grace
of God. He's expressing his reliance on

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God's unmerited favor and love. He
encourages believers to trust in God's grace for

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salvation and to not add unnecessary burdens
of legalistic requirements. He's embracing that salvation

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00:29:22.359 --> 00:29:26.599
is by the unmerited favor of God. Paul's statement also serves as a warning

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against falling into legalistic tendencies, where
individuals might think that they can achieve salvation

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00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:37.079
by following a set of rules or
rituals. The legalistic mindset frustrates the free

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gift of grace that God offers through
Jesus Christ. Now, the way many

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00:29:40.839 --> 00:29:42.279
churches do so is they don't say
you do it to get it, but

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you got to do this, this, this, this, this, and

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00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:45.920
if you don't do this, and
if you don't do this, and if

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00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:48.640
you don't do this, and if
you don't do this, then you were

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00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:52.240
never saved. Making then it all
about you and what you do. Now,

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00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:56.839
everything you tell me I must do
to be saved, Christ did for

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00:29:56.279 --> 00:30:00.240
me by faith, His righteousness is
imputed to So I do all of those

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00:30:00.279 --> 00:30:07.400
things. So back off. But
how do we frustrate the grace of God

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and our own life? How might
we frustrate the grace of God? Well,

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00:30:15.640 --> 00:30:22.319
I think one could be legalism.
Right by adopting a legalistic mindset that

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seeks to earn salvation through adherence to
rules, rituals, or self righteous acts,

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we can frustrate the grace of God. I think we can become legalistic

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and say why I got to do
this or do this, or I do

396
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this, or I do this or
I do this, Therefore I proving I'm

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00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:37.240
saved. When you start looking the
list of rules and things you do to

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00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:41.680
prove anything, people say, well, I'm not saying you have to do

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00:30:41.720 --> 00:30:44.599
it to be saved. I'm saying
you have to do it to prove that

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00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:47.440
you're saved. I've said this a
million times and I'll continue to say it.

401
00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:51.039
That's just saying the same thing,
because if I don't do it,

402
00:30:51.119 --> 00:30:52.559
then I'm not saved. So not
only do I have to do it to

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00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:56.440
prove that I'm saved. I have
to do it in order to be saved,

404
00:30:56.519 --> 00:30:57.720
because I have to do it to
prove that I'm saved. Therefore,

405
00:30:57.720 --> 00:31:03.319
it's a requirement. Now, whatever
requirement you give me. If I'm frustrating

406
00:31:03.400 --> 00:31:07.480
the grace of God, if I'm
looking to myself as the one who's doing

407
00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:11.359
it, I look to Christ that
He's already done it on my behalf.

408
00:31:12.440 --> 00:31:18.519
So any legalism frustrates the grace of
God. How about self reliance? When

409
00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:21.920
you rely on your own efforts,
your own achievements, your own merits for

410
00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:26.640
salvation instead of acknowledging our complete dependence
on God's grace, you're frustrating his grace.

411
00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:41.480
You are you frustrating the grace of
God today? How do we frustrate

412
00:31:41.559 --> 00:31:45.720
the grace of God when we lack
humility? You see, pride and self

413
00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:48.880
sufficiency can hinder us from fully embracing
and experiencing the grace of God, as

414
00:31:48.920 --> 00:31:52.480
they prevent us from recognizing our need
for His mercy. When you can't just

415
00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:59.680
acknowledge how messed up you are,
When you can't just acknowledge how totally sinful

416
00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:02.599
we still are. So much of
Christianity, everybody wants to pretend to be

417
00:32:02.759 --> 00:32:06.960
godly and to be better than everyone
else, and we always refer to that

418
00:32:07.400 --> 00:32:13.200
those people them, they all those
bad people, But we are so good.

419
00:32:13.720 --> 00:32:16.559
You're out of your mind. You're
frustrating the grace of God because you're

420
00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:21.720
looking to yourself and pretending to be
better than you are. Humility will acknowledge

421
00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:23.640
your own failure, your own weakness, your own sin, and you'll be

422
00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:28.440
like man, I can't frustrate the
grace of God. I am desperate in

423
00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:38.319
need of the grace of God.
Now do we frustrate the grace of God

424
00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:45.200
if we fail to forgive? I'm
gonna put that as hypothetical. If we

425
00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:51.799
hold on to grudges and resentments and
unforgiveness towards others, does that not hinder

426
00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:54.480
us from fully receiving and extending the
grace of God in our lives. Now,

427
00:32:54.519 --> 00:32:58.680
I don't think it stops. I
don't think it hinders us, because

428
00:32:58.759 --> 00:33:02.240
I receive God's grace by faith alone, and God is the one who gives

429
00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:06.160
me the faith, so I receive
it. I think what I'm doing is

430
00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:10.160
I'm frustrating God's grace. I am
because I'm not extending it to someone else.

431
00:33:10.359 --> 00:33:15.319
I'm frustrating God's grace from being extended
to someone else. I think in

432
00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:22.039
that sense, right, and if
I'm so forgiven, should I not be

433
00:33:22.240 --> 00:33:27.559
that forgiving? So then I am
I does that frustrate God's grace in my

434
00:33:27.640 --> 00:33:30.720
life? To some level? There's
there's something frustrating going on when those who've

435
00:33:30.759 --> 00:33:37.880
been forgiven of so much will not
forgive others. And what we tend to

436
00:33:37.160 --> 00:33:43.680
we tend to be very vengeful.
We want revenge, we want to destroy,

437
00:33:44.359 --> 00:33:47.119
we want to shame, we want
to humiliate because I didn't get it

438
00:33:47.240 --> 00:33:52.400
my way, it didn't go my
way, So now I take down that's

439
00:33:55.319 --> 00:34:00.079
that. Yeah, there's something now, I know there's some ways I think

440
00:34:00.119 --> 00:34:06.440
that's frustrating. Now, what happens
if as a believer we neglect, say,

441
00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:12.119
prayer, reading the Bible, we're
not really pursuing a relationship with God?

442
00:34:13.320 --> 00:34:19.239
Is that Is that frustrating the grace
of God? So I don't know,

443
00:34:22.639 --> 00:34:24.760
I don't I don't know if that
is really frustrating the grace of God.

444
00:34:25.079 --> 00:34:30.679
I think that's demonstrating a lack of
maybe gratefulness. You know, if

445
00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:34.280
we're grateful for what God did for
us, and we would pursue everything to

446
00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:39.039
bring draw that would draw us closer
to God. Right, how about if

447
00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:45.320
we refuse to acknowledge and change our
mind about sin, and we refuse to

448
00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:50.239
try to pursue godliness versus sin?
If we if we don't, if we

449
00:34:50.360 --> 00:34:54.000
don't struggle with sin, are we
are we frustrating the grace of God?

450
00:34:54.039 --> 00:34:59.039
Are we nullifying the grace of God? Are we setting aside? I think

451
00:34:59.079 --> 00:35:01.159
the issues is not so much if
we turn against if we turn from sin.

452
00:35:01.400 --> 00:35:08.280
I think I think the issue is
if we don't admit our sin.

453
00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:15.400
See, I'm frustrating the grace of
God because if I don't acknowledge it's a

454
00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:19.159
sin, then I'm basically saying I
don't need God's grace here and I'm holding

455
00:35:19.239 --> 00:35:22.039
on to the fact that it's not
as sinful or that I'm better than I

456
00:35:22.159 --> 00:35:24.039
am. What in reality, if
I will just acknowledge how sinful it is,

457
00:35:24.239 --> 00:35:28.280
I think it's it's not I don't
think we frustrate the grace of God

458
00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:34.159
if we don't necessarily stop the sin, because we frustrate God's grace when we

459
00:35:34.239 --> 00:35:37.519
don't acknowledge that it is a sin
and we are not and we're and we

460
00:35:37.559 --> 00:35:39.480
don't come to God with it.
I think that is, in a sense,

461
00:35:39.559 --> 00:35:47.519
how we frustrate the grace of God. So Galatians two twenty one,

462
00:35:52.199 --> 00:35:59.320
Paul writes these words, I do
not set aside the grace of God,

463
00:35:59.800 --> 00:36:06.360
for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. Now

464
00:36:06.360 --> 00:36:12.400
I'm gonna throw out an idea here. Now. Remember, whenever I do

465
00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:14.519
these messages, I love to give
you. I like to leave it a

466
00:36:14.559 --> 00:36:15.960
lot in your hands to see what
you can do with it. Right.

467
00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:23.480
That's why, That's why maybe perpetually
my podcast leads to frustration, because I

468
00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:30.400
really leave every episode with not a
closed circle, because you're the one who's

469
00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:31.920
supposed to come along and say,
Okay, I worked on this and this

470
00:36:32.119 --> 00:36:36.599
was my conclusion. I leave it. I leave you a major part of

471
00:36:36.679 --> 00:36:38.280
it. I'm hoping you're doing that
part of it. I just never know

472
00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:42.000
about it, so I never know
then, okay, what it accomplished.

473
00:36:42.039 --> 00:36:45.480
But I'm just gonna throw this out
there. Just read that verse again,

474
00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:52.679
I do not set aside the grace
of God, for if righteousness comes through

475
00:36:52.840 --> 00:37:04.239
the law, then Christ died in
vain. I will argue that modern day

476
00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:14.840
evangelical fundamentalism is in a perpetual state
of frustrating God's grace because it typically seeks

477
00:37:15.880 --> 00:37:28.880
or it promotes a system of obtaining
righteousness through lawkeeping. They connect righteousness with

478
00:37:29.119 --> 00:37:35.000
doing right. They connect righteousness with
obeying the law. But we cannot obtain

479
00:37:35.239 --> 00:37:39.039
righteousness through the keeping of the law. Why because we never will keep it

480
00:37:39.239 --> 00:37:43.119
enough to ever be righteous. Remember, just think the way this. You

481
00:37:43.199 --> 00:37:45.599
can take all the laws of God
and say, while I'm keeping this and

482
00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:49.280
keeping this, it doesn't matter if
you break one, You're guilty of all

483
00:37:49.440 --> 00:37:53.599
of them. You're in a perpetual
state of unrighteousness. I know this goes

484
00:37:53.679 --> 00:37:59.360
against every Christian think, well every
modern day Christian thinking. If you go

485
00:37:59.440 --> 00:38:01.599
back to the inf this is really
the heart of the Reformation, right,

486
00:38:01.880 --> 00:38:08.559
remember the argument versus imputed versus infused
righteousness. Modern evangelicalism has created a system

487
00:38:08.760 --> 00:38:14.679
that righteousness is obtained by law keeping. Keep the law, be righteous,

488
00:38:14.840 --> 00:38:17.760
be righteous by obeying the law.
Everything about be holy, be righteous.

489
00:38:17.840 --> 00:38:21.719
It's all about do this, do
this, don't do this, do this,

490
00:38:21.880 --> 00:38:22.840
don't do this. And then everyone
thinks, well I don't do this,

491
00:38:22.920 --> 00:38:27.800
and I do this, so I'm
righteous. I thank you Lord that

492
00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:32.239
I'm not like all these other people
who are extortioners, adulterers, fornicators.

493
00:38:32.440 --> 00:38:37.320
I Lord, I tithe. I
do this, I go to church.

494
00:38:37.639 --> 00:38:40.920
I don't watch porn, I don't
watch rad at our movies. I don't

495
00:38:40.920 --> 00:38:45.559
wear immodest clothing. I do this, and I do this, and I

496
00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:51.320
do this and I that's evangelicalism and
fundamentalism and a nutshell. It's about righteousness

497
00:38:51.400 --> 00:38:57.159
obtained by the law that frustrates the
grace of God. Because you can that

498
00:38:57.639 --> 00:39:01.760
is obtaining a self righteousness, a
righteousness before God. You can keep and

499
00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:06.519
keep and keep and keep and keep
and keep and keep and keep, and

500
00:39:06.679 --> 00:39:10.079
you're still unrighteous. I know nobody
wants to acknowledge that. I know nobody

501
00:39:10.159 --> 00:39:15.079
wants to admit that. But look
at the standard. Love God with all

502
00:39:15.199 --> 00:39:17.440
of your heart, with all of
your soul, with all of your mind,

503
00:39:17.639 --> 00:39:21.400
with all of your body. You're
not even gonna come close to that,

504
00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:23.639
right because you have a sinful nature, So not all of you is

505
00:39:23.719 --> 00:39:27.599
ever going to love God. You're
in a perpetual status, and love your

506
00:39:27.639 --> 00:39:30.360
neighbor as yourself. Give me a
break, Okay, you love yourself so

507
00:39:30.519 --> 00:39:34.800
much, that's all you think about. That's what motivates almost everything you do.

508
00:39:35.079 --> 00:39:37.719
In fact, your love for self
is what motivates your love for others.

509
00:39:38.239 --> 00:39:42.719
Because you love others because they love
you, And when they stop loving

510
00:39:42.800 --> 00:39:45.880
you the way your then you want
them destroyed and you want to humiliate and

511
00:39:46.320 --> 00:39:50.000
kill. All right, Okay,
maybe not physically kill, but you get

512
00:39:50.039 --> 00:39:53.519
the idea. Because because it's all
about you, be ye holy as he

513
00:39:53.679 --> 00:39:58.519
is holy, that means perfection.
You're never going to do that, no

514
00:39:58.639 --> 00:40:06.840
matter how many things you do.
If righteousness could be obtained by law keeping,

515
00:40:07.199 --> 00:40:09.719
then Christ's death is in vain.
He didn't need to die. Why

516
00:40:09.760 --> 00:40:14.159
did he need to die? Because
we can never be righteous in lawkeeping.

517
00:40:14.440 --> 00:40:17.360
The law was never designed to make
us righteous. The law was designed to

518
00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:22.559
show us our unrighteousness. So what
do we need? We need not to

519
00:40:22.679 --> 00:40:28.480
frustrate the grace of God. I
come and realize only by grace faith Christ.

520
00:40:29.119 --> 00:40:32.119
By grace and faith, I put
my faith in Christ. And then

521
00:40:32.280 --> 00:40:37.719
his righteousness is imputed in my account, and nobody can see that. It

522
00:40:37.800 --> 00:40:42.199
cannot be perceived, it cannot be
tested, it cannot be challenged, because

523
00:40:42.239 --> 00:40:45.920
it's obtained by faith alone. Let
me read the verse again. I do

524
00:40:46.079 --> 00:40:51.360
not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law,

525
00:40:51.800 --> 00:40:58.360
then Christ died in vain. Righteousness
does not come through lawkeeping. I

526
00:40:58.400 --> 00:41:01.119
guess so tired of Christ thinking,
well, no, no, if you're

527
00:41:01.159 --> 00:41:06.119
a Christian, you will do this? And what am I proving? What?

528
00:41:06.280 --> 00:41:07.280
You prove that you've been saying?
What? What? So? What

529
00:41:07.400 --> 00:41:12.480
am I proving that I've been made
righteous? Oh? So you think salvation

530
00:41:12.679 --> 00:41:16.239
is about making me practically righteous?
No, Salvation is about declaring me positionally

531
00:41:16.360 --> 00:41:25.360
righteous, perfectly practically. I cannot
obtain righteousness through lawkeeping. You say,

532
00:41:25.400 --> 00:41:29.039
But the Bible tells us to do
this, and this it does, and

533
00:41:29.159 --> 00:41:31.199
that's law and gets what it does. It shows me that I don't.

534
00:41:31.360 --> 00:41:37.199
So then what's my hope? Christ? Who did it for me? Oh?

535
00:41:37.239 --> 00:41:42.079
I know that's going to be considered
radical, but it's literally it comes

536
00:41:42.119 --> 00:41:52.280
straight from the Reformation. Do you
frustrate the grace of God by thinking or

537
00:41:52.360 --> 00:41:55.239
be trying obtain righteousness through lawkeeping?
Now I'm not saying we don't try to

538
00:41:55.280 --> 00:41:59.480
obey the law. Obviously, we
try to pursue the law we are supposed

539
00:41:59.519 --> 00:42:06.760
to, But I don't become righteous
by doing it. I'm righteous in Christ.

540
00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:13.000
I try, I should try to
pursue the law out of gratitude for

541
00:42:13.119 --> 00:42:16.280
God's grace, out of a love
for God's grace. I should. Now

542
00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:19.800
I don't do it. I don't
do it enough. And so then I

543
00:42:20.039 --> 00:42:22.639
don't want to frustrate grace, the
grace of God by pretending that I am

544
00:42:22.719 --> 00:42:25.320
better than I am. I am
a mess, I'm a train wreck,

545
00:42:25.360 --> 00:42:37.199
I'm a sinner. I started by
asking you what frustrates you about the Christian

546
00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:44.280
life, But we're ending about how
you and I frustrate the grace of God,

547
00:42:44.599 --> 00:42:47.119
because that's the real question. Always
always easy to think about all the

548
00:42:47.159 --> 00:42:51.960
things that frustrate me, frustrate me, frustrate Oh, this frustrates me.

549
00:42:52.039 --> 00:42:53.800
And this frustrates me, and this
frustrates me. And this and this and

550
00:42:53.880 --> 00:42:55.960
this and this and this and this
and this. But wait a minute,

551
00:42:55.960 --> 00:43:01.199
how am I frustrating the grace of
God? And I think modern day evangelicalism

552
00:43:01.280 --> 00:43:07.400
and fundamentalism is in a perpetual state
of frustrating the grace of God, which

553
00:43:07.519 --> 00:43:15.400
leads to discouragement, disillusionment, and
and I think leads to deconstruction. Because

554
00:43:15.440 --> 00:43:20.039
you're taught all of this stuff about
what's going to happen? And then you

555
00:43:20.159 --> 00:43:23.639
realize I'm still a sinner and I
sin, and I sin over and over

556
00:43:24.079 --> 00:43:29.239
and over again, and they you
know what, so many Christian young people,

557
00:43:29.519 --> 00:43:32.519
they just think Christianity is about doing
the right thing. They just always

558
00:43:32.519 --> 00:43:37.320
think it's about moralism, it's about
rules, it's about doing. But you

559
00:43:37.519 --> 00:43:43.159
cannot obtain righteousness from lawkeeping. I'm
going to read Galatians too. I'm going

560
00:43:43.239 --> 00:43:49.519
to read Glacious two twenty one from
this translation, I do not frustrate the

561
00:43:49.599 --> 00:43:52.800
grace of God, for if righteousness
comes by the law, then Christ is

562
00:43:52.880 --> 00:43:57.559
dead in vain. I mean,
I think that's two translations making it very

563
00:43:57.639 --> 00:44:00.679
clear. And I hope people will
talk all around us and try to come

564
00:44:00.719 --> 00:44:05.920
up with a million ways to explain
this away. But I think that I

565
00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:09.360
think it's really a fundamental question.
Do you believe righteousness is obtained by lawkeeping?

566
00:44:15.119 --> 00:44:17.119
Just walk around you. I know
I say this every week and nobody

567
00:44:17.159 --> 00:44:21.360
ever does anything I ever asked.
Walk around your church tomorrow and just say,

568
00:44:21.480 --> 00:44:23.679
hey, do you become righteous by
doing right? Well? Absolutely?

569
00:44:23.800 --> 00:44:28.360
Amen. You gotta do the right
thing, stop doing the wrong thing.

570
00:44:28.760 --> 00:44:32.840
No drinking, no drugs, no
rock and roll, no dances, no

571
00:44:34.559 --> 00:44:39.920
long hair whatever. They're yelling about
it any particular time, and I don't

572
00:44:39.960 --> 00:44:45.280
do those things. So I'm a
good man. No, you're a sinner.

573
00:44:45.360 --> 00:44:52.239
You don't realize it. You can't
obtain righteousness by doing good. Why

574
00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:57.159
because God's standard for doing good is
perfection, and you're good is never good

575
00:44:57.280 --> 00:45:01.320
enough to be considered righteousness. That's
why you need a foreign righteousness, an

576
00:45:01.320 --> 00:45:08.039
alien righteousness, which is not obtained
by doing good. It's obtained by faith.

577
00:45:08.920 --> 00:45:13.840
Are you frustrating the grace of God? You can email me news I

578
00:45:14.079 --> 00:45:16.519
f at yahoo dot com. That's
the news. I f at yahoo dot

579
00:45:16.559 --> 00:45:22.800
com. That's the news I f
at yahoo dot com. Thank you for

580
00:45:22.920 --> 00:45:29.199
allowing me to take my frustration because
I was focused on my situation. I'm

581
00:45:29.239 --> 00:45:35.199
being frustrated by my situation, and
thank you for letting me process that so

582
00:45:35.320 --> 00:45:43.519
that I flip it around. So
now I'm more frustrated. And how I

583
00:45:43.719 --> 00:45:50.119
frustrate the grace of God? I
don't know if that's a good thing or

584
00:45:50.159 --> 00:45:52.199
a bad thing. It's a bad
thing that I do that, I guess

585
00:45:52.239 --> 00:45:53.519
it's a good thing that I know
I do that. Do you do that?

586
00:45:54.239 --> 00:45:57.559
I'd love to hear, Thanks for
listening. Everyone, have a great

587
00:45:57.599 --> 00:45:58.679
Saturday. God bless