Grace that Breaks Chains

But one thing is you've got to hate to sin.

So many Christians they hate how it makes them feel,

but you actually got to hate to sin.

You've got to come to a place where you respect yourself enough

and prize his hand on your life.

And no, no matter what you're going through right,

you know God's hand is on me, and I have a destiny.

He's always loving.

He's always pouring out.

He's always engaging you.

When we're getting we go outside of his mouth,

we make shipwreck of our own faith.

Welcome to the City Light Church podcast.

Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word

and discover the hope and truth that he has for us.

If you want to connect with City Light Church,

feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com

that's citylightnyc.com.

Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe

that the power of the Holy Spirit

is already working in our hearts and minds.

As you listen to today's teaching,

remember that you are deeply loved by God,

that you are surrounded by His grace

and that He has a real hope and a future for you.

It's been nice to see a steady stream of babies at citylight.

There's just no, you're chuckling already

because you know there's no soft intro, right?

There's no, I'm trying to grow around

and we're gonna talk about sex today.

There we go.

That's the only way we're talking about sex.

All right.

I blew the intro in the first service.

I said I'd get better for the second,

but there just is no delicate way of, you know.

So praise God.

Amen.

Let's start in Hebrews chapter 13, verse four.

Hebrews 13 · chapter mention

If you're a guest, hey.

This is your first Sunday here.

Man, you nailed it today.

Praise God.

We're starting with this verse just because I want you to see

that God is not down on sex and that God actually created sex.

And not for procreation only.

Amen.

He created it to be enjoyed, created it to be pleasurable,

but within the bounds of marriage.

Amen.

I shared with you many times in the air.

It seems to suck out of the room every time I share it.

It makes me feel weird.

And then I got to go back to the Lord and I'm reminded.

I'm reminded why I share this.

Let me first share it because some people are confused already.

I just share that when I got saved,

when I was 16 years old, when I gave my life to Jesus,

the no sex before marriage thing was like a hindrance to me.

Like I didn't just go sure no problem.

I stopped and I counted the cost.

I actually argued about it.

I thought about it.

I said, well, I mean, you guys,

you wanted to become a Christian.

You're asking a lot.

And it always gets weird.

Not now though, not you're chuckling.

Where were you all those other times?

I shared the story.

And the reason why I shared is because I also do a lot of witnessing

and a lot of evangelizing.

And when you get to that point

or the person asks, that is usually the number one reason

why people don't give their lives to Jesus.

That's been my reality.

I've not had anybody say, you know,

I got a real gambling habit.

I just can't give it up.

That's why I'm not becoming a Christian.

You know, and I've never heard someone say,

you know, I just love to gossip.

I know Christians aren't supposed to gossip.

So, but many times people have said to me,

hey, no sex before marriage, are you kidding?

And yet we're living in, we're living in a culture

and you see what that's produced.

I hope you see it.

You may not see it because it's all you've ever known.

There's these men that I hang out with in my neighborhood.

They're all in their like mid 60s, late 60s.

And now that they're older, they'll complain about the culture.

You know, I look at it, everything's going down the toilet.

And I go to them, you guys help create that

back in the 60s with the sexual revolution

and the bra burning and the supposed empowerment.

And you guys created that and it went outside

of God's prescribed boundaries.

And when you do that, it allows the enemy to run a muck.

See, when I was getting witness to,

I didn't understand why God put boundaries in parameters.

I just thought, well, he's a cosmic killjoy, you know?

He just arbitrarily sits up certain rules

for no reason whatsoever.

He just wants to make sure, you know,

you're jumping through the hoops to show how much you love him.

That's not the case at all.

It says, marriage is honorable among all

and the bed undefiled, but fornicators

and adulterers, God will judge.

Why?

First Corinthians 613, we find the answer.

And by the way, when I said we're experiencing

this in culture today, right now from everything I see

with my eyes and everything I read,

the dating world is very, very difficult.

And less and less people are getting married

and even less people are having babies.

And it has a lot to do with just the way modern dating is

and what it's just devolved into.

And yes, that started in the 60s, in mass.

And so you have this whole thing that's happening right now

where men are angry at women, women are angry at men.

They can't seem to find each other,

they can't seem to meet eyeball to eyeball.

Men are very content to plan the Xbox well into the 30s.

Women are also content to say, I don't need a man.

I've got my career.

And now we find ourselves in this place

where divorce is rampant, people are in pain.

And that should not be near us, amen?

And that kind of stuff should not find its way

into the blessed and holy people of God.

So Corinth just so you know,

because we'll be reading from Corinthians,

Corinth is a lot like modern day New York City.

It was a very large city and urban center,

very multicultural, very diverse, and it was pagan.

And really it was a sin free for all.

And sexual sin in particular was running amok.

So it's good to know that in a city like that,

that you can have a thriving church, amen?

Because there was one.

Sure needed some correction,

and that's why we have the two letters to them that we have,

but it is possible.

And Paul begins by saying foods for the stomach

and stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it

and then he's carrying through from another thought

about foods offered up to idols.

And then he says, now the body is not for sexually morality,

but for the Lord and the Lord for the body.

And God both raised up the Lord

and will also raise us up by His power.

Do you not know that your bodies are members?

What's a member?

That word has been cheapened because we have gym memberships,

lounge memberships, some of you may even remember

video store memberships.

But a member actually means a body part.

When you dismember someone, you go to jail, amen?

That's not because you kicked them out of your gym.

So you are body parts of Christ body.

Shall I then take the members of Christ

and make the members of a harlot?

What?

Seems like he's jumping around from subject to subject, right?

So in that time, really not just in Corinth,

but all throughout the pagan world,

you had these pagan temples.

And right outside the pagan temples,

you had temple prostitutes.

Next verse, you had temple prostitutes.

It's interesting how Satan set that up.

When you need a spiritual transfer,

when you need the wrong kind of impartation,

it's actually done sexually.

He says, or do you not know that he who is joined

to a harlot is one body with her?

For the two, he says, shall become one flesh.

Now you notice there wasn't anybody

who officiated over that marriage of Adam and Eve.

And really all throughout those times,

there wasn't a wedding of fission.

You say, well, how did they get married?

They didn't go around to city hall

and get the marriage certificate?

No, they were physically intimate.

The Bible says that Adam knew his wife, Eve,

and through that act of physically joining together,

they were joined together as husband and wife.

So Paul here is really bringing point to his home

that sex is not inconsequential

and sex is not only a physical act,

but there is a spiritual transfer during sex.

There is an impartation one to another.

There is emerging and a meshing.

And in this case, he uses the example of temple prostitutes

and he's saying, hey, how can some of you

go to these temple prostitutes?

You're joining yourself.

You're a part of Christ's body.

You're joining yourself to them.

What are you doing to Christ's body?

Now that's an extreme example.

You could be looking at me and going,

well, I'm off the hook.

I don't go to any temple prostitutes whatsoever.

But I want you to take home the greater point

because the world has a message.

And by the way, I know people, this message is different.

And if this is your first Sunday, you can rest assured.

I definitely won't be preaching about this next Sunday,

but this is necessary.

And the world has criticized the church before.

You know, saying, oh, they just talk about sex and purity.

Why are they so obsessed with sex?

What?

Why are you so obsessed with sex?

You're the ones bringing the worldly version,

the carnal version, the perverted satanic version,

through media, through printed page,

through every television show, every movie,

all of the time.

So let's bring up God's word, amen.

And let's take a look at what God standard is

because he's not a cosmic killjoy.

He actually put these things in place

because he loves us.

And this great gift, call sex, that he gave humanity.

Also, when you indulge in it, outside of his boundaries,

is destructive, amen.

As much as it is a blessing, and it's joyful,

and it's pleasurable, hallelujah,

within the bounds of marriage.

Whoever said, amen, God bless you.

We got a honest person.

Thank you for lightening the air a little bit.

Next verse.

He says this, flee sexually morality.

Verse 18.

Now note, it is the only sin that God tells you to flee from.

Did you know that?

That word flee in the Greek.

It's even more descriptive.

It says run away as if in terror.

It's a call back to Joseph getting hit on by Padafra's wife.

She tried to seduce him, and he fleed.

You know, I got a picture of her grabbing his robe,

you know, his outer jacket, and him just shedding.

Like, phew, I'm out of here.

Cause I know this is gonna destroy my life

if I engage in this.

Why is it the only sin the Bible tells you to flee from?

Well, Paul is explaining it right there.

There is a transfer.

It's deep.

It's meaningful.

It's significant.

Why?

You know, people are fond of saying, well sin is sin.

Yeah, on a cosmic level, like, you know, birds I view,

sin is sin, and Jesus died on the cross for all sin equally.

That's fine.

But the consequences of different sins are different, amen.

If I gossip, that's sin, sin is sin.

Depending on who I gossip to, what I gossip about,

there's different consequences.

That's not the same as murder, amen.

And sexual violence is not the same.

And sexual immorality or going outside of the boundaries

of the Lord has special consequences

that are detrimental to your success, to your victory,

to your growth.

So that's why he tells the Christian flee.

It's different.

Really, it's like you have all these other sins.

And you have this sin.

Mm.

I'm just saying the quiet part out loud.

Now, everything that's being presented in the media,

everything we're fed all the time,

the message is all it does doesn't matter.

And if you say what I just said, you're such a prude,

you're one of those Christian guys, you're hung up on this

and just relax.

I witnessed with my own eyes where I come from,

Montenegro, small country, 630,000 people,

seemingly inconsequential country.

But for decades, I tell you what Montenegro had,

strong marriages and strong families.

And as a result of strong families,

you had order in society, you had peace in society,

you had safety, where I could go out as a seven-year-old,

I can go down to the water to the beach alone.

And if I fell and sprayed my knee, 10 strangers

would interrupt me and wash the wound up

and put a bandaid on me.

It was a cohesive society.

Divorced was almost nonexistent.

I said, I don't actually don't know anybody

out of hundreds and hundreds, cousins, aunts, uncles,

am I anybody who got divorced?

Now, divorce is rampant.

And I asked them, I said, what did it?

I was really what happened in this phenomenon

that you go from no divorce to divorce that mirrors American statistics,

yet it took us like a century to get there.

How did you get there so quickly?

All of them, women and men, answered the same way.

You're going to laugh if you want to tell you what they said.

They said around 06, 07, sex, and the city came.

That one show.

And what it did is it specifically attacked the female psyche.

That you really don't need a man, you don't need a husband.

Your great quest in life is your career to be a girl boss

and spend your 20s, spend your 30s, building your career

and also hopping around from relationship to relationship

to relationship, just both of you ride that dating carousel

and then eventually maybe, maybe in your late 30s

if you're lucky you'll settle down with someone

and if you don't, who cares?

There's just a bunch of problems anyway, right?

And because during sex there is an exchange.

People would want to argue with me on this, yet I'm sorry.

I've been in my office weeping with too many people

who one moment or so it doesn't matter,

oh the church is so hung up on sex and then they're weeping.

If it doesn't matter, if it's inconsequential,

why are you so depressed and why are you weeping?

Because it hurts, right?

Because you gave a piece of yourself away,

then you went to another person, gave a piece of yourself away

and then you told yourself it doesn't matter

and you tried to drown down the pain, a little weed,

a little alcohol, some other kind of meds

that scrolling, whatever thing you can do to distract yourself

with to numb the pain and then just repeat the cycle

and where has it gotten you?

What good is it doing in your life?

You're still lonely, you're still hurting,

you still feel empty on the inside

and God loves you and he's got a better way, amen?

And everything I've said, everything I'm saying,

and I'm going to say it should not, it should prick you,

if it applies to you, it should not produce any condemnation on you.

And you should not be, oh I'm ashamed now, I'm giving,

Christ died on the cross to tear your shame away

and He's clothed you if you believe in Him

and His substitutionary death on the cross,

He's clothed you with His righteousness.

And so this is just, I'm just out loud because I want your success,

I want your victory, I see the demonic agenda

and attack coming in from the outside,

we need to be walking in lockstep,

this is something that we're to aspire to, sexual purity, amen?

Married, unmarried, yeah.

Flea, run as if in terror, sexual immorality.

Every sin that a man does is outside the body

but he who commits sexual immorality, what?

Sins against his own body

when I pastored in the East Village for 17 years

all over the East Village where these help lying posters.

This was specifically from the gay community to the gay community.

This isn't just a gay community thing,

but in this example it was a gay poster.

Let me just, because I don't want to get it wrong,

it's specifically said on the poster as the advertisement,

it was the advertisement for a help lying

and saying that active gay men are many times more prone

to depression, despair, and suicidal thoughts.

All over for 17 years.

And we just, you may have seen them and you go,

oh, that's bad, that's, I wonder why?

Whether you're gay or you're straight

or when you go outside of God's boundaries,

you sin against your own body.

Then you get sleepiness or you get sleeplessness

or you get people that are saying,

oh, why do I have this unexplained anxiety?

Why do I get the press?

You're inviting all of these things.

That's why Paul said, flee, run as if in terror.

You're inviting all of these.

Really, it's like swinging a door wide open for Satan

to come into your life.

God has provided the solution, amen.

In case anybody's getting down right now,

and God has a better way.

In the movies, music videos online,

you see casual sex treated lightly.

You never see the emotional aspect later,

the depression, the despair, the guilt,

the physical angst.

And by the way, nothing will depress the Christian,

knock them off course and really strip them

of the anointing of God quicker than sexual sin.

Aren't you glad that you're always a breath away from Jesus?

Aren't you glad that you don't have to live that way?

That when you get sick and tired of being sick and tired

and you say, oh, I missed the father's house,

you look to the father and he's running back at you.

Not holding a record of wrongs

and not holding your sins against you.

Hallelujah.

I thought I shared this in the church.

But then this morning, I was told I didn't.

But I first had my first experience with pornography

when I was in the third grade.

Not with the video porn, but 80s style magazines, you know.

I grew up in Forest Hills in Park of Towers.

I mean, you know where that is.

Back in the 80s, we just ran around, played all day.

I like today everyone just keeps,

slaps their kid with an air tag and keeps them indoors.

Back then we were just told to go out and play.

Come back when the street lights come on.

And I remember one day we were all playing.

We'd go playing the different playgrounds around the buildings

and it got really cold.

So we'd go back in the buildings.

There were like six stairwells in the buildings.

The dormant would always scold us to go back outside

but we'd sometimes sneak past and play.

I didn't sneak in the stairwells or whatever.

And then we ended up in the basement

and there was a superintendent's office

and several handyman's offices.

And we ended up in one and saw just a brown box

and it was loaded with the magazines.

It was like a group of six or seven of us.

And we gathered around and said,

oh, what is he got?

What is he got?

We didn't even know.

And I remember opening up that magazine

and seeing those images for the first time.

I didn't believe in God back then.

Nobody told me it was wrong.

I didn't even know what it was.

I remember it was like demonic hot lava being poured on me.

I remember that spirit.

I remember how it made me feel.

I remember my innocence evaporating.

I disdain that spirit

because I see what it does to people.

I know what it did to me.

I know what it was like to be only in the third grade

and continue on and then several weeks later.

I didn't know anything about renewing the mind.

I didn't know anything about the power of the Holy Spirit.

I carried those images with me.

They messed me up.

That's why I'm preaching this.

And now we have phones.

Back then you had to do hard work.

If you wanted to look at illicit material,

you had to go out of your way.

Now you have all the smud of the world in your back pocket.

Whenever I say this, I have to look at the chandelier.

Because people...

They say, why are you saying this?

How many people does it affect?

I've been doing this now for 23 years.

Don't look at your neighbor weird.

It affects everybody.

Everybody at one point or another.

It affects everybody.

My biggest shock as a pastor was how many women would confess.

I always thought it was just a man's problem.

There are books like every man's struggle.

It is an equal opportunity, demonic attack.

Here are the myths about sex.

It's good to see nobody running for the exits.

Here are the myths about sex.

That sex is no big deal.

The truth is your sexual decisions will leave lifelong memories.

Life-long consequences.

The myth is that sex is purely physical.

It's a lie.

It's spiritual.

Satan knows very well that it's spiritual.

That's why he pushes it outside of God's bounds.

That's why thousands of years ago they had prostitutes not in some hall

or some house somewhere but right in front of the temple.

So the demonic activity in the temple could spread quicker

how through the open doorway of illicit sex.

A myth is that God is down on sex,

which he's not.

He created it as we said earlier.

Another myth is that it's impossible to live pure.

I don't say this ever arrogantly or to boast,

but I've been porn-free.

Not even one glimpse for years and years and years and years and years and years.

You know how the Lord did that?

I'd love to know.

He just did it.

It's like there was this thing and he just...

But one thing is you got to hate the sin.

So many Christians they hate how it makes them feel,

but you actually got to hate the sin.

You got to come to a place where you respect yourself enough

and prize his hand on your life.

And no, no matter what you're going through right,

you know God's hand is on me and I have a destiny.

And I am not going to derail myself.

And notice I said not derail myself.

It's not that God gets disgusted with you, gets fed up with you and says,

oh, this person, whew, what a perv.

You know what?

I'm just turning my back on them and let them just wreck their own lives.

No, he's always loving.

He's always pouring out.

He's always engaging you.

But when we again, we go outside of his bounds,

we make shipwreck of our own faith.

We derail ourselves from the destiny he's put on us.

And yes, he's always a breath away.

Thank you, Jesus.

Hallelujah.

Let's go to Romans chapter 1 verse 18.

Romans 1:18

I got set free exactly how I preach any sin you get set free from.

It's not from you now doing a bunch of hard work.

It's from you yielding and beholding Jesus on the cross.

And then by faith, by faith, you acknowledge that you're sin nature,

that part of you that's rebelling against God,

that wants to do wrong to God.

That part of you, the Bible says,

was crucified with Christ 2,000 years ago.

In Romans, Paul says,

put it on your account,

wrecking yourselves dead indeed to sin.

In other words, believe that.

You might go, you don't know what's going through my mind.

How do I believe that?

By faith.

Forget what you're experiencing in the natural and by faith.

You say, Lord, you didn't...

I didn't save myself.

You saved me.

You didn't sanctify myself.

You sanctify me.

And I hate this sin.

Not just how it makes me feel anything that isn't a front to you.

I hate Lord working my heart, working my life.

You said, I did that, then I fell.

Great. Do it again.

I did that twice, then I fell.

Great.

The Bible says the righteous man falls down seven times.

Each time gets back up again.

I mean, what is the option?

What is the other option?

I want the purity of the Lord.

I don't want to be spiritually castrated.

I don't want to be a powerless Christian.

I don't want to be always tripping myself up.

Sexual sin, that's what destroys churches.

It's what destroys kingdoms.

It's what's derailed politics.

Look at that one guy who's flying high, CEO, doing great.

Kiss the wrong girl at the wrong concert.

Gets canned the next day.

She's canned the next day.

Everything falls apart.

Wow.

What a service today.

There's only one place to go after I've said all that.

And that's Romans chapter one.

Hallelujah.

You know who this is going to help a lot, men?

No, not because men have a bigger problem with it.

But because I found something.

Because I'm listening.

I'm really paying attention to women's complaints about men.

And men's complaints about women.

You know, men's complaints about women

is that they're like these sects in a city just unsubmissive.

Want to do their own thing, etc.

But women's complaints about men in general

are that they're just weaker.

They're just wondering where did this test wrong go?

I've come to a theory.

See, for 6,000 years of human history,

men had to work really, really hard to see a woman's breasts.

They had to work really hard.

Listen, they had to go to war and come back alive

and learn a craft and a trade and a skill.

And build their lives up and have something to show

the father of the woman he had his eye on.

And after much self-sacrifice and hard work,

he will be privileged to see his wife's breasts.

But today, there's just too much breast viewing

without the hard work.

Just take out your phone.

And you've just seen too many breasts for your own good.

You need to go on a breast fast forever.

And then your mojo will get activated again.

And you'll say, oh, you know what?

I'm going to serve the Lord with more vigor.

I'm going to make more money.

I'm going to do something in my life

that I'll just have to beat them off with a stick

because I'm going to be a more refined package.

Amen.

Hi, every eight men I heard was female.

Amen.

Romans 118.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven

against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men

who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

Now, the book of Proverbs says something interesting.

It says, buy the truth and sell it not.

That means you've got to be a lover of truth.

In order to get free, in order to be walking aligned with God,

you've got to quit repeating the lies of the world.

Let God be true and every man alive.

Let his word be true and not what they're...

We're all indoctrinated to a large degree

because we live in this world.

We really do need a mental cleansing.

And it's only given to us by the word of God.

But what buy the truth and sell it not means

is that you prize truth, you love truth,

and you don't accept half truths.

You startl and don't accept lies.

You don't even accept one percent truths or 99 percent truths.

You just want God's truth.

That's the starting point. Amen.

Because I know when I was presented with the word

at 16 years of age after seeing pornography

since the third grade and growing up completely secular.

My parents never said, just completely secular.

They never provide any boundaries.

I think once I just heard, like,

make sure you don't get anybody pregnant.

That's like the secular boundaries.

And then I hear God's standard for sexuality.

You better believe I fought against them.

I fought. I tried to, like,

redefine print and find the loophole.

And when I found there wasn't one I had to buy the truth

and sell it not. Amen.

And by the way, statistically,

when you look at the stats,

the happiest and healthiest sex lives are in couples

who are married and particularly in those who waited.

I understand. Some of you came saved later in life.

Some of you blew it. You messed up whatever.

There should not be any condemnation on you, any guilt on you.

But at least know how the ones who did wait statistically

when they report what they're saying.

Hallelujah.

And thank God God is a cleanser.

And God is a forgiver.

And you could have been outside giving pieces of yourself away

and away and away and away thing.

Goodness God can refill you.

Restore to you what the locusts have eaten.

Yeah, he can. Hallelujah.

He's wonderful. Hallelujah.

All right, next verse.

Because what may be known of God is manifest in them

for God has shown it to them.

For since the creation of the world

his invisible attributes are clearly seen

being understood by the things that are made

even his eternal power in Godhead

so that they are without excuse.

So he's saying there's these people.

Interesting. Roman says nothing to do with this.

Yeah, this is how he opens up the whole book of Romans.

He's saying there's these people just by virtue of looking at nature

and looking at the universe that God created.

They see the order of God. Amen.

By the way,

I'm just was reminded in the first service

I was just about 10 years ago that there was this...

Do you remember the big scandal with the Christian bakery

that wouldn't bake a gay cake?

What's a gay cake?

You know what I mean.

And even mega church pastors were upset.

They were like, oh, Jesus would have baked a cake.

And back then I was a complete ignoramus when it came to...

Honestly, I just focused on the Word of God

and even prided myself on it.

It wasn't good.

But it was God and God's people and His Word.

And I just didn't pay attention to what was happening outside of culture

because frankly, I didn't know my head was in the sand.

I didn't know that I was smack dab in the middle of a major cultural shift.

You know, the 80s, we didn't see culture shift that much.

We didn't see it in the 90s.

We slowly in the 2000s.

Then by around 2015, culture was changing so rapidly.

So it started off with, hey, just bake a macaque, right?

And now here we are 10 years later.

And there's 20 shows on Netflix specifically for children specifically for cartoons

that have trans characters, gay characters, video games.

My son is playing the Spider-Man video game and now they made a black cat gay.

She has a girlfriend.

It's everywhere.

I go take them to Walmart, to the book section,

and then there's a whole section for children.

But it started little, right?

And when the Christians flipped out about it, I honestly...

I thought, oh, it's those ultra conservative, prude, weirdo Christians.

They always got a problem with something.

They're always saying everything's a slippery slope.

I repent.

Turns out they were right.

Because also what you have coming up now, while everyone...

I mean, the greatest sin is not being judgmental.

Don't judge.

I mean, you judge me.

I like sexual purity.

You judge me for it.

You're intolerant of me for it.

But right when that whole thing was happening, I started hearing about maps,

MAPs, MAPs, minor-attracted persons.

Because pedophiles who want to be recognized,

they want their own letter after the...

That's part of the plus, in case you didn't know.

And I had friends who 15 years ago were saying,

that's where it's heading and I said, you guys are crazy.

Nobody who wants that, nobody,

and then that's in the background trying to get in the foreground.

I mean, if I told you 30 years ago,

the men would marry men and women would marry women, you say you're nuts.

That's crazy.

Some of you, you actually...

It's amazing.

You're so programmed.

You're hearing what I'm saying and you're clinging for your life.

Yet you believed up until about five minutes ago.

Yeah.

You believed exactly as I believed.

But you got...

In five minutes time.

And you may hide it under...

Oh, but I just love everybody.

No, that's not love.

That's not love.

That's cowardice disguised.

That's some kind of love.

That's you compromising eternal principles.

Here, Paul is addressing a bunch of unbelievers, a bunch of pagans,

and he's saying, hey, you got no excuse.

You actually look at nature.

It's a mommy bird and a daddy bird.

And they make little baby birds.

And the mommy alligator and the daddy alligator

are saying, you got all of this and God's cosmic order.

And yet you still do the opposite.

And that's exactly what any kind of sexual perversion is.

It's an affront to the very order of God.

The first order that he established when he made a male,

he made him female, and he said, go forth, be fruitful and multiply.

Satan always wants to mock that order of creation.

I'm happy.

Hallelujah.

Just in case you're wondering.

I'm just pleading with some of you in the spirit.

Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God,

nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts

and their foolish hearts were darkened,

professing to be wise, they became fools

and changed the glory of the incorruptible God

into an image made like corruptible man,

and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things.

Therefore, God also, now this is a terrifying verse.

Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness.

Notice it doesn't say God gave up on them.

It says, God gave them up.

In other words, when you persist in rebelling against God's order

and doing your own thing, God will never quit on you.

And should you ever want to repent?

He's always right there.

You don't have to suffer and work your way back to Him.

He is amazing.

He's so merciful.

He's so kind and compassionate and loving and gentle.

But when we persist in doing our own thing,

God will allow you.

God won't give up on you, but God will give you up to

the unholy desires of your own hearts.

That's why you can have people completely rebelling against God

and they claim, well, I don't even have a problem with it.

Nobody should have a problem with it.

Satan's whole agenda is to blur the lines and make nothing deviant.

Nothing perverted.

You can see that, right?

I mean, stuff that's in the calm and culture right now

wouldn't have happened even during the crazy 80s when I was a kid.

But when I was in the 80s watching shows from the 50s,

they wouldn't even show, like, I love Lucy.

They slept in two separate beds next to each other

because it was considered so scandalous to show them on TV

because kids might see that then under the covers of the same bed.

Some of you, if you don't have kids,

you don't know why I'm so fired up about this.

And when you have kids,

and you see how they say, I don't want my son or my daughter

to go through what I went through in the third grade,

or what I later went through in the sixth grade.

I talked to my son about pornography when he was eight, nine years old.

Not in great detail, but I let him know.

There's pictures of naked people on the internet.

If you ever stumble upon that,

well, if your friends ever show that to you, let me know.

I didn't treat it like something to be hidden

or to be, I just openly talked,

so he would very just naturally come to that.

If you ever encountered that, see, I couldn't do that.

There was so much shame when I was exposed to it.

But I don't want my son and my daughter going down that road.

And it's easier than ever for them to.

Because it's so easy, right?

Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness

in the lust of their heart to dishonor their bodies

among themselves who exchanged the truth of God for the lie

and served the creature rather than the creator

who's blessed forevermore. Amen.

And that's really what all sexual sin is.

It's exchanging the truth of God for lie.

The truth of God is you feel empty.

I want to fill you up.

The lie is you feel empty.

You can have that need, that deep hunger, that inner need met.

Go on Tinder.

Swap left, swap right, end up in somebody's room.

You know they didn't make you happy.

Maybe try it again, maybe next time it'll work.

And it doesn't.

Verse 26, please.

This reason, again, God gave them up.

He didn't give up on them.

He gave them up to vile passions.

For even their women exchanged the natural use

for what is against nature, likewise also the men.

Specifically, he's talking about homosexuality here.

But this is for any kind of out-of-bound sexual sin.

Leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another,

the men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves

the penalty of their error which was due.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,

God gave them over.

Now this is terrifying also.

Three things in these first few chapters, this first chapter of Romans.

Twice it says God gave them up.

What did He give them up to?

Their own desires, their own lust.

And then it says God gave them up or God gave them over to a debased mind.

Or in the King James, it says reprobate mind.

What is a reprobate mind?

See, there was a fellow that came up to me after service.

This is about a year ago when I was mentioning something like this.

And he came up to me and he said, you know, I can't believe you said that.

Like, about gay people.

What about gay pastors?

And I went.

Gay pastor.

Is that like the Mafioso Deacon?

Is that like the Elder Crackhead?

That's an oxymoron.

But I couldn't even engage in that conversation.

Why?

Because he had a reprobate mind.

What the Bible calls a debased mind.

That's when you've persisted so far in the lie running from the truth.

You've made every excuse for yourself.

And you've surrounded yourself in an echo chamber with people to cheer you on in your own debauchery.

That now you have a reprobate or debased mind and you cannot tell the difference between wrong or right.

And we, we're not only living such a city.

We're called to love well in such a city.

Care for those who are that way.

Not judge them.

And I think we're superior to them because they're but by the grace of God, go why?

If anyone of ours, I mean, imagine if we all walked around with a three inch by two inch LED screen on our forehead.

That showed every sexual thought we ever had.

Oh, my goodness.

Masking would come back real quick, except we'd pull the mask up right to our foreheads.

So we're all in need of the grace of mercy of God.

But specifically, we're here in the city to love people who have a reprobate mind.

And be on guard that we don't develop a reprobate mind.

Because I've seen it happen to Christians.

You guys are taking us really well.

Thank you.

You know, this is not like the message of my life.

So I don't know how I'm delivering it.

Like you got me preaching on faith.

I got a good handle on that.

God's grace, a good handle.

God's abundance.

I know how that comes through.

This.

I don't have much practice.

So I thank you.

It shows the spiritual health of city life.

Church is good.

But I've seen with this whole deconstruction movement.

You know, there's this way of people deconstructing their faith because they got hashtag church hurt.

And then I listened to what they have to say.

And then I realized very quickly, nine out of ten times, the church hurt resulted in somebody telling them about God's sexual standards.

And they didn't like that.

And then they got hurt.

And then when they started deconstructing.

And now they're doing whatever they want, whatever's right in their own eyes, and apparently have a debased mind.

But no one is ever going to say that.

Why'd you leave church?

Because sexually I wanted to do whatever I felt I'm doing there.

Nobody says that.

So they go, well, the pastor was really mean to me.

I went to the associate pastor.

He was even meaner.

And now I'm deconstructing my faith because nothing makes sense anymore.

They broke my heart.

No, they just told you what the Bible said.

And you got hashtag church hurt.

Thank you, Jesus.

And even as they did not like to retain God and their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Worship team, come on up.

First Corinthians chapter 6.

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

And let's start in verse 9.

So here's where I want to land.

We all have been exposed to this in one form or another.

I tell you what, there is no kind of freedom like sexual freedom.

And if you're in bondage, you know that actually.

Because you know, if you're here, that means you love Christ, you love the Lord and you know that sexual bondage is just particularly torturous.

And God doesn't want you to be tortured.

He loves you and don't you stop loving you.

And a lot of times people fail in this area because they don't want to address it because it's so shameful to them.

God is not put off by you.

God knows you.

God knows you thoroughly inside and out and still loves you.

Hey, get this and likes you.

Can you believe that?

That always blows my mind.

God actually enjoys you.

You may not enjoy you, but God actually sees his fingerprints on you and enjoys you.

It loves you.

And freedom comes from not trying to sanctify yourself,

but yielding to Jesus and beholding the finished work of the cross.

Continuously.

And whatever helps you behold the finished work of the cross, worshiping him, praying to him daily,

being in his word, not because you're trying to be good because he's already good.

And you're just eating the daily bread that he wants to feed you with.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

And I hope that you've been encouraged to take these things seriously in your life.

If you have a problem with pornography,

get whatever apps, whatever filters, whatever that make it impossible for you to view it.

Because pornography will numb your mind to where nothing gives you pleasure anymore.

And it's a giant lie anyway.

None of it is real.

Thank you, Lord.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God,

do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor satamites,

nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you.

Here's the key. This was me, even if it is you right now in the natural.

You're confession ought to be. This is no longer my identity.

One of the biggest tricks Satan did with that LG,

you know, I have to use the same verb, do you know the term gay is like a hundred years old?

Nobody went around and the 1800s going, I'm gay. It's just how I am.

Why was that so important to Satan? Because when you say I am,

you're now wrapping your identity around it.

You're claiming that as your person. I mean, nobody says I'm a thief.

I feel sometimes. I've stolen in the past. I repent.

Nobody, oh, I told a lie. Nobody goes, I am a liar.

And I have a liar's pride parade. And all the other liars come out.

And we tell everybody we're not ashamed that's who we are.

Right, a hundred years ago, what that was called was your satamite.

You're a dude who has a proclivity towards satamite.

And you need to correct that asap.

So when you're renewing of the mind, don't identify with past sins.

Don't identify with these ungodly labels.

In whatever area you struggle, you know, and by the way,

I've had so many people, I guess I'm preaching this passionately,

because I've had a lot of people come to me over the years,

especially pastoring in the East Village.

I always know right away, because they're always nervously looking around.

And then they always tell me, and I can tell everybody,

when they tell me, they always think they're the first and only person

that's ever confessing to me.

I feel like they're the dirtiest, and I'm like,

all right, take a number and just exhale,

because this whole thing isn't unique to you.

We live in this fallen world.

The enemy's right, he wants to rob your joy,

and he wants to destroy families.

This is a major, if not the major doorway.

So that's what you're experiencing.

There's a battle, but good news.

Jesus has already purchased the victory.

Let's help you tap into that victory.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

And such were some of you.

Save us with me, but I am washed.

I am sanctified.

I am justified in the name of the Lord Jesus,

and by the Spirit of God.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Thank you, Lord.

You say, how will I find somebody?

It's what I actually heard when I say you say,

it's what I feel like I hear something in the Spirit.

How will I find somebody if I don't play that game,

the world game?

You will actually find the right somebody

when you don't play that game.

They exist.

Don't swallow the lie that everybody out there is just godless.

There are Christians.

Even if they're temporarily trapped in a sexual sin cycle,

the cry of their heart is, Lord, I want to be free.

And I actually desire purity.

I actually desire wholesomeness.

Do you know how wonderful it is?

She's not here because she thought this would be too awkward

so she didn't come.

No.

Because my daughter had a temperature this morning.

But you know how wonderful it is

to never ever have to worry.

She never has to worry like what I'm doing.

Where you know what I'm talking about, right?

I don't know if you...

I had a relationship where,

momentarily, I'm like, you know,

it's a very terrible thing to be in a relationship

where you're wondering what they're doing

the moment they're out of the door.

I was in one like that.

That's torture.

Because there's already been so many lies told

and so many compromises that there's no trust.

How do you have a marriage without trust?

But I only, you know, I read things online

and to me, you know, they're asking questions like,

well, how many of your passwords should your wife have?

How many...

Hey, they're wondering how many...

She has everything of mine.

I have everything of hers.

Never once used them.

But we have, we're like one person.

I can leave.

I can go, do, go, go.

Go, go, go, leave for a week.

She's never going to wonder,

I wonder how easy she behaves.

She knows who I am.

I know who she is.

I wasn't here.

That's what God wants for every marriage.

So you can trust, you know, in Proverbs 31.

That chapter that describes the ultimate woman.

And what a woman she is.

Read Proverbs 31.

She makes things happen.

She's got intelligence and wit.

But one of the things in there that says about her husband,

his heart trusts safely in her.

And for women, you know, same thing.

You want your heart to trust safely in your man.

You don't want some bad boy player.

It's sexy on the first two dates.

Afterwards, you got to deal with the repercussions.

Then he's out somewhere and you're wondering,

I wonder if he's doing with someone else,

what he did with me, which is lying, being in the shadows,

being disingenuous, using.

Hallelujah.

Well, thank for coming to my TED Talk today.

We're going to just allow the worship team to play the song

and encourage you to allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you.

God come by your anointing in Jesus' name.

We cannot do it for ourselves, but you can.

You are God Almighty.

We love you and we trust you.

And we thank you for your love for us.

No matter where we are right now, you love us.

And we're not too far, God, when we entrust ourselves to your capable hands in Jesus' name.

This is the City Light Church podcast.

If you've missed any part of today's message,

or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jansik in City Light Church,

visit us at citylightnyc.com, that's citylightnyc.com.

Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime.

We would love to connect with you.

We pray that you have been encouraged today,

that you have been reminded how much God loves you,

and that you are surrounded by grace.

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