Unraveling the Significance of Grace and God's Promise

Father, the name of Jesus, your word instructs us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

We pray in Jesus' name, for peace we pray that evil doers would be punished.

We pray that your justice would come in and we pray that you would preserve and protect

civilians and that the order of God and the plans and purposes of God would be wrought

in that place in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Welcome to the CityLight 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 CityLight Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com that

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.

Those songs that the worship team was singing, they had a theme to them, the faithfulness

of God.

There's another theme in the Bible concerning the faithfulness of God.

In fact, if you read the Bible from cover to cover, you'll see certain themes, you'll

see certain patterns, and one of the themes slash patterns that you see in the entire Old

Testament and the New is that we very quickly forget the faithfulness of God.

I've shared before I'm going through the Gospel of Mark with my nine-year-old son, Victor,

and it's just so wonderful to do that and to see him as he's reading it for the first

time to see his reactions and the questions he asks.

So in the Gospel of Mark, you see Jesus' feet 5,000 people with little boys lunch.

Then after that, you see him feed 4,000 people, which sometimes we forget that, that there

were various accounts of Jesus' feeding the multitudes and multiplying fish and loaves.

Not just one.

So in Mark, he feeds 5,000 people, then he feeds 4,000 people.

And then after that, he's teaching, and he's just teaching on the Pharisees and on Herod,

and he says, beware of the leaven of Herod, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.

He's really not talking about eating, but you can see where his disciples were.

They just made a little word association there because it actually says that he's teaching

on the leaven of Herod, the leaven is yeast, makes bread rise, but it's also a symbol

for sin.

It's not a leaven, leaven's the whole lump, and he's talking about that hidden sin that

will get you that's present in the Pharisees and in Herod, and what did the disciples do?

They totally missed the teaching, and they're like, leaven, bread.

You know, come to think of it, we are kind of hungry, and they start panicking, we have

no bread.

And you see Jesus, then the Bible says, size deeply, one of those divine exhales like, and

he says, are you so hard-hearted?

Where is your faith?

Were you there when we fed the 5,000, yeah?

How many baskets did you carry up, 12?

Were you there when we fed the 4,000, yeah?

How many baskets have left over, did we care up seven?

It goes to faithless in the first generation.

What I did before, I'll do for you again.

Now we read that and we go, silly disciples.

That could never be me, but it's us all of the time.

We experience his goodness, we experience his faithfulness, only several weeks later

he'd be presented with another crisis, and we wonder, I wonder if he'll come through

again.

Maybe he ran out, did he run out of power?

It's the same thing with the children of Israel.

They literally go through a parted red sea.

I mean, you would think if you saw that, you'd never ever doubt again, right?

But a few days later, after parting the red sea, they're out in the wilderness going,

have you brought us out here Moses that we should die?

And we laugh, go, how could that be?

That's us.

That's pointing to us.

He's faithful, he's true, he's got you, and he's going to see you through.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank God for his faithfulness.

Some of you are enjoying the series on Galatians.

What a powerful book.

We're in Galatians 3, and let me just for the benefit of everyone who has been a part

of Galatians 1 and 2, and also if you're just joining us for the first time, let me for

the benefit of everyone just to recap what we've learned.

Paul is writing the Galatians because they're in great danger.

They're in danger because mixture has been brought into the camp.

They're mixing the old covenant with the new.

And Paul says over and over again, you can't do that.

The moment you mix the old and the new, you disregard grace.

You frustrate grace or you nullify grace.

So you cannot mix the new covenant of God's grace with the old covenant of God's law.

What is the old covenant of God's law?

It is a system of order.

It is a dispensation.

Picture a canopy and you're living under this canopy and there are certain principles

and rules that govern how you can relate to God under that canopy.

And under the canopy of the law, you endeavor, you tried, you worked, you would sweat.

It's been so hard to gain God's approval by your own behavior, by your own law keeping,

by your own crossing every tea and dotting every eye.

You endeavored, you didn't get approved, but you tried, but you could never be approved

because under the law, if you break the law in only one place, you're guilty of breaking

the law in every place.

So you were never righteous, you never had right standing under the law.

Sounds depressing, just saying it doesn't it.

You say, what was the point of that?

Was God just being cruel?

No, the Bible says that the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ because we as humans

were so proud, were so arrogant, that we don't really feel that we have a need for a savior.

So the law comes like a giant magnifying glass and exposes our sin.

It exposes our weakness and it exposes that we are powerless to change for ourselves.

So what does it do?

It causes us to look up and look out at a savior who then comes and delivers you.

He saves you, he delivers you.

So that's the system of law.

You're trying to get God's approval, you're trying to be justified based on your own self

effort, but you never get it.

Under the new covenant of God's grace, you are given right standing with God.

That's what righteousness is, right standing with God.

You are justified, which means God has pronounced you not guilty.

So you're given righteousness, you're justified, you're approved unto God, not based on your

effort, not based on your behavior, not based on your works, but based on what Jesus has

already done in the finished, past tense, finished work of the cross.

And you have nothing to add to it.

Jesus plus nothing equals everything, amen.

Hallelujah, not Jesus plus what you can help out with.

There is nothing with regard to your salvation that you can contribute, amen.

So let's continue now in Galatians chapter three, but first we're better place to continue

Galatians three than in Ephesians.

Let's look at Ephesians, I want to just look at two passages of Scripture before we jump

into Galatians three, which will help shed more light on this covenant that we live under.

And this is so important for us to get this series is called Clash of the Covenants because

when you figure out what covenant you're living under and you realize the freedom that God

has given you and what he actually purchased for you with his own blood, your life will

never be the same.

Ephesians chapter two starting in verse grade eight, Paul says, for by grace you have been

saved through faith and that not of yourselves.

So this wonderful gift of salvation, forgiveness of all your sin has nothing to do with you.

It's the gift of God.

Not of works, it's not by your behavior, less than anyone should be proud in both that

they help to save you're out, that they contributed.

We have nothing to add, you already did it all.

But then he also note in verse 10, he shows this connection between grace and works.

Once you've received grace through faith and you're free and now you've been justified

and how awesome is this?

This means that when God looks at you, he cannot find any sin in you.

If you've received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, he's not barely putting up with you until

you get your act together.

He loves you now.

He approves of you now.

He said, well, God approves of everyone.

No, he doesn't.

He accepts everyone.

Doesn't mean they're approved.

His arms are stretched wide.

He'll accept whosoever will come drink of this fountain.

But it doesn't mean you have the approval of God, but when you've received Jesus, you

have His blood on you and you're sealed with the Holy Spirit and you have His approval

and that's constantly, it's like a mark of the Spirit, it's on your head.

So that when you go and talk to the Father, it's like Jesus talking to the Father.

And God's attitude towards you is like it would be towards His own Son Jesus.

This is why the gospel is great news.

And once you've received such such a grace, works would come out of you.

Works are the evidence of this transformed heart, but works don't help you get saved.

They're just evidence that you are.

Are you seeing this important nuance?

For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand

that we should walk in them.

Now let's go to the book of James.

So grace by its very nature, by its very definition is extreme.

People try to bring balance to grace because it is so mind-blowing, because it is so extreme,

they try to balance the grace message by mixing it with law.

You cannot balance the grace message by mixing it with law because then all you have is

the law.

Paul made that clear.

If you try to bring mixture, you've now nullified the grace of God.

So it's completely by grace.

But there are people who then misunderstand this, correct?

They misunderstand the grace message and I remember, here's an important question that comes

up, because there's criticism to the grace message.

They'll say, oh, you're about greasy grace, aren't you?

Easy believe is them, greasy grace.

One saved, always saved.

And that's a good question, salvation is free.

And there's nothing you could ever do that will cause God to withdraw his love, not

even one drop of his love, he won't withdraw away from you.

So can you lose your salvation?

And if you ever explore this topic, there's great tension in the body of Christ.

There's people who believe there's nothing you could ever do, nothing you could ever

become, no road you can go, you're saved.

And then there's people on the other side of the spectrum who believe that the moment you

slip up, you not have to come to the altar, repent and get born again again and get

resaved.

And all it does is produce a bunch of spiritually insecure Christians who are living in dread

and fear, don't understand that God loves them, but live in terror of him and always feel

less than, always feel like they don't measure up, are you following me so far?

But let's get back to the question, can you lose your salvation?

There's an easy answer to that.

Are you saved because of your works or because of faith, faith, right?

Not your works, not your behavior, not your doing?

Can you then lose your salvation because of works?

No.

You were saved by faith, hang on, those of you online, those of you in 2025 going back

to this video trying to catch me and label me a heretic, hang on, listen to the end.

You cannot lose your salvation because of your works, because you were saved by faith,

not works.

You can't lose your salvation because of works, but you can, because of your unfaith.

If you don't have a living faith, if you don't have an active faith or God forbid if you

get to that place of deception, once having been saved, where you outright reject Jesus,

if you don't have a living faith, faith isn't something I believed in yesterday.

A living faith is constant.

From now until we cross that finish line in ripe old age or we hear the trumpet blow

or however it is, there should be an active faith inside of us.

So here is the danger.

When a Christian falls off and goes into sin, does God leave them?

No.

He's with them.

People will say, oh, I feel like God left me.

I sinned.

I just feel like the Holy Spirit is withdrawing from me.

Are you crazy?

No.

He'll never leave you, but what's the thing I feel?

It's you.

He's now withdrawing from you.

You're withdrawing from him.

He's right there.

He'll act like the Holy Spirit is his temperamental pigeon.

I was told that.

The Holy Spirit is a dove.

No, he's not.

He's God.

He's not a dove.

He came once in the form of a dove, quit making him out to be a white bird.

But I was taught this.

The Holy Spirit is a dove.

And the moment you sin, it grieves him and he flutters away.

You know, the big thing in Bosnia, we do missions in Bosnia, the big thing in Bosnia

anywhere in the Balkans is smoking.

They smoke like it's the fifties.

Still every restaurant has an ashtray on it because so much of the population smokes and

so these men get saved and they're all addicted to cigarettes.

And then, of course, the pastor says, you got to quit, all right?

I got to quit.

Doesn't tell him how, doesn't tell him how to reach out to the Lord, but I remember one

guy when we were doing meetings there, loved the Lord, newly saved and then he got

all somber.

His hand quaking.

He didn't know, I didn't know he smoked and he goes, I have to light one up.

Now I'm going to make the Holy Spirit cry and he pulled one out.

And I just thought, you're not going to make it, man.

If every time you light up, I'm not pro smoking, I'm not telling you to light up.

But if in your head you think every time you light up, the Holy Spirit is boo-hoo-hooing,

how long do you think you're going to endure this?

You'll make it three months tops and then you'll get so tired of yourself and your mind

letting him down that you'll just leave the church.

And that's why for every person in here, there's 50 prodigals somewhere else.

Because they think that because of their sin, they're pushing God away, no!

God is with you.

Doesn't mean he approves of your sin, God is holy, but he's with you.

He doesn't leave you.

Well if you persist in sin, you get a hard heart.

You move away from God.

And if you continue to persist in sin, there's this thing that can happen where your affection

for the Lord, it dies.

An affection for the Lord is important.

David said, he gave all this wealth to the building of the temple.

He said, because I set my affection on the things of God.

Protect that sweet, lovy, dubby affection that you have for the Lord.

It'll make your heart cold and you open yourself up to deception.

So if you go down the path of sin, it's not your sin that causes you to get unsaved,

not your works, but then you go down this path of deception to where your faith is dying,

your affection is cold, your distance from the Lord.

It's not that he left you, you left him, and now you're in danger of not having a living

faith.

Now you're just another person who said once upon a time, I gave my life to Jesus.

Now you are a Lord, Lord Christian.

Lord Lord, did I not?

Back in 2003, fill out that connection card and say, I received you as my Lord and Savior.

Yeah.

Let's read James, because this addresses it.

This is out of this conversation when my eye was only two years, three years saved, and

I was in college and one of my sweet mates, I was witnessing to him.

And as I'm trying to witness to him, I'm witnessing to him because there's no evidence

of a Christian life.

There's no evidence that he's ever even heard the gospel.

And I'm saying, he's right for the plucking, I'm going to share the gospel with him.

And as I'm sharing, he's like, yeah, man, I'm good.

I did all this.

I said, what do you mean you did all this?

No, I've heard all this many times.

Yeah, but are you saved?

And he goes, you mean the prayer?

And I go, well, I guess, yeah, the prayer.

I said the prayer.

I'm good, bro.

I said the prayer.

My mom would drag me to church.

I said the prayer.

And I'm trying to witness it.

And he actually, he does the kind of sending shoulder slap.

And I was like, now, man, I'm going to sort of demonstrate on you past your moment.

So let's figure out, where's this guy?

What good is it, James Wright?

My brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works, can that faith, can

that particular faith, can somebody who says, oh, yeah, I believe.

But there's no evidence of the faith, works, your behavior, it doesn't help Jesus love

you more.

He already loves you.

Your works, your behavior, what you do and don't do, it does not contribute to your salvation

and to your right standing before God.

But if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you have faith in his substitutionary

death for you on the cross and you have faith that you were crucified there on the cross

with him, there will be good works.

There will be a transformation.

Holiness is one of the best evidences for the existence of God, is it not?

Holiness is what grabs people's attention, true holiness, not their knowing Christian

looking down his nose at people.

But true holiness, when you've been in darkness, you've had addiction, you were eyebrow deep

in sin and then you're transformed by the power of God and it's not because of religion,

it's not because you're trying too hard from the outside in, but from the inside out

he's transformed your life, the world takes notice and it's one of the best evidences.

And the scripture is clear, works will follow true living faith.

Don't shout me down because I'm preaching so good.

But good is it my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works, can

that faith save him?

And then he gives this example of someone who's saying, oh yeah, I believe, but there's

no evidence.

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to

them, go in peace, be warmed and be filled, thoughts and prayers.

Without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

And this is the, just keep it up there, please.

This is the first time in the scriptures we hear this concept, this term, dead faith.

And dead faith really isn't faith at all.

And what's living faith is normal faith, faith that's flowing out of your heart.

Not from two years ago, not from ten years ago, not even from yesterday, but now faith,

now faith right now.

And when you have now faith, there's going to be works.

But they flow from the inside, you know, in another place, the Bible says, work out your

own salvation with fear and trembling.

Then people who love to live under the law, they'll go, see, it's not grace, it's works,

work out, work out.

It doesn't say work for your salvation with fear and trembling, trembling.

Work out.

In other words, what he did inside of you, let there be an outworking of that now.

He forgave you, he made you righteous, he put his Holy Spirit in you, let there be an

outworking of that grace.

Are you catching what I'm pitching?

And also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead.

So proof to us, to yourself, to the world is that there is a transformation in your life.

You don't live like the world.

What's your life like?

Well, you're surrendered.

You realize my life is not my own.

You can either have your life or you can lose it.

Jesus said, if you lose your life, you'll find it.

Who finds their life here and they keep being the God of their own life, they'll eventually

lose it.

And then in the next breath, he says, what is it, profit a man?

If you gain the whole world, you got the lambo's, the forarees, the jets, you gain the

whole world.

Fame.

But then you lose your own soul.

What is your life?

It's like a vapor with every passing year.

I just realized we're here for such a, like a flicker.

And then we're gone, but your soul is eternal.

And you only have one and you don't want to play games with your eternal soul.

Soul so faith by itself, if it does not have works, is that verse 18.

But someone will say, you have faith and I have works.

I love how James words this.

Show me your faith apart from your works that's impossible, by the way.

Show me your faith.

It's just faith.

I just believe.

But there's no evidence.

It's not possible.

Show me your faith by your works and I will show you my faith by my works.

You want to see what I believe, examine my life.

You want to know if I have a living faith?

Look at how I treat people.

Look at how I go to church.

Look at how I give.

Look at how I evangelize.

Look at how I pray.

I don't do those things because they contribute to my salvation.

This is the key.

All these good works.

Such attendance, sharing your faith, studying the Bible, praying, being kind to others.

You don't do those things to score points with the big guy.

You don't do those things because you're trying to add to the finished work of the cross.

That's already settled.

You do those things because you've reckoned yourself dead to sin and alive unto God.

You do those things now out of a gratitude.

And guess what?

You don't do them alone.

You don't do them with self-effort.

Are you hearing me here?

The supernatural power of the Lord produces this fruit.

Religion makes you— I feel hard to be fruitful.

You don't have to try.

Please don't try.

I feel like Yoda.

Don't try.

Do.

One of the worst things I hear people say is I'm going to go to work on myself.

No!

You've tried that already.

You've tried working on yourself.

Didn't work.

If we could fix ourselves in Christ's died in vain, if you could go to work on yourself.

She says, what should I do if I work on myself?

I told you.

Die!

It's much simpler.

Die.

What does that mean?

Well, 2,000 years ago in the mind of God, you were crucified with Christ.

And Paul and Romans, he says, wreck in yourself.

That's an accounting term.

Put it down that it's so.

Consider yourself dead.

That's why Paul said, I am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live.

You're not I.

But it's Christ who lives in me, who loved me and gave himself for me.

So you wreck in yourself dead.

And alive unto God.

That means you surrender your life.

You're not your own anymore.

You surrender to His Lordship.

Yeah, but I still have issues.

I know.

Me too.

And then as you walk with Him, holding His hands, He'll straighten you out.

As you walk with Him, He'll produce.

You know what kind of church this kind of preaching produces?

It produces more honesty in church.

Because when you don't preach this way, people still have struggles.

They just hide it from everybody else.

And that's how you get that glazed over church face.

Hey, how are you?

Fine.

Praise the Lord.

All as well with my soul.

Hallelujah.

Rando Shando.

Bap-bap-bap.

It's like the Christian T1000.

Hello.

Praise him.

Oh, deep up.

When you realize that no, we're not excusing sin.

We're not making light of sin.

Sin is serious.

Jesus died for sin.

But I'm not a fool.

I recognize this sin in some people's lives that they're struggling with.

But now you don't have to hide.

You know that not only does God love you through it,

but the pastoral team will love you through it.

Your life group will love you through it.

You're in a community that realizes you haven't fully arrived yet.

In God's mind you have, He sees you perfect.

He sees you sinless.

He sees you without fault.

But experientially in your everyday life, you are working progress.

And we give space for that.

Is this making sense?

Which environment do you think is actually healthier and more conducive to true holiness?

Or do you want a bunch of people just hiding and pretending everything's okay?

Not even being able to find a brother or a sister in church to open up to and say, you

know what?

I've been hit in the bottle.

I wish I hadn't.

But this is the thing that's, and you have someone to help you, remind you of grace,

remind you that the answer isn't in words, but it's in grace.

Love you.

Take your hand.

Which one is healthier?

Which one is more biblical?

Well, you may not know yet, but by the time we're done with Galatians, you'll know which

one is more biblical.

Amen.

Verse 19, and then He says, to those who just would say, I believe, this isn't real faith.

This person was never saved.

The person who says, oh, yeah, I believe.

And there's no fruit.

No, they really need to believe.

All they have is a mental ascent.

They just agree, mentally, like intellectually, just, oh, yeah, I believe in Jesus.

You don't believe.

You believe in a historical Jesus, another Jesus.

You believe within aggressive faith.

You grab a hold of Him, then you're born again, then your heart is transformed.

You believe, he says this, you believe that God is one.

You do well, even the demons believe, and at least they tremble.

Demons believe they're not saved.

They tremble at least, but you, when you believe, it's a different kind of belief.

It's a faith, it's a now faith that lays a hold of and produces fruit.

Amen.

Did that help you a little bit before we jump into Galatians?

God is good, isn't he?

And the gospel is good news.

Let's begin now with Galatians chapter 3.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

Oh, hallelujah.

Galatians chapter 3 and verse 1.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

Paul had just finished reading how to win friends and influence people.

So he begins with oh, foolish Galatians.

And you'll see if you read the other, excuse me, when you read the other epistles of Paul,

this is the most upset, really the most unhinged you ever see Him.

Why?

Because mixing covenants nullifies grace.

Mixing covenants, there is no mixing that you may think you're mixing,

but the moment you start mixing, you're 100% under the old and not under the new.

And the old is the old for a reason.

Under the old you were cursed.

Under the old your sins were never forgiven.

Under the old the Holy Spirit didn't live in you.

Under the old you were not a new creation.

You were not born again.

Oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

Who has hypnotized you?

Who has cast a spell on you?

That you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed

among you as crucified.

So just as a recap, what were the Galatians up against?

A group known as the Judaizers.

The Judaizers were Jewish believers in Jesus, but they came in and they said, hey, it's

wonderful that you Gentiles believe in Jesus.

But that's not enough, have you ever heard that before that's not enough?

My crew, preachers, pastors, we're the most guilty of telling people that's not enough.

You got to do more.

You got to work more.

It's really at its foundation, it's to exercise and exert control over the people.

And they don't trust the Holy Spirit under the new covenant in people to cause them to

rise up into the fullness of Christ, they feel they have to control them by putting them

under a works program and giving them a work's mentality.

But what it produces is miserable Christians who are never at rest, they never enjoy the

love of God.

They're just a hamster on a treadmill, working for salvation.

Jesus, he stopped working.

It says after his crucifixion and resurrection, he presented his blood in the sanctuary of

heaven and then sat down, sitting down as a posture of rest.

And now it says, you're seated in heavenly places in Christ.

You don't have to work for your salvation.

You don't have to work for God's love or for his approval that's forever settled.

Now all the works, and by the way, we're church that's big on works.

And the more I preach that you don't have to work to be loved by God, the more works come.

Isn't that mind blowing?

We have volunteers, awesome worship team, whatever we got.

We have to say, no to people to come on a mission strip with us.

This church gives, like it's three times the size, generous people who tithe, they don't

have to be manipulated into giving, all because they appreciate their salvation and they love

Jesus.

Hallelujah.

So this group was coming in and telling them they had to mix and pulses, it's like you've

been hypnotized.

By the way, just so you know, Paul is talking about this group called the Judaizers.

This happened 2,000 years ago.

Don't think this is a 2,000 year old problem.

Judaizers exist today in the form of pastors, preachers.

They come in and they want to get you to mix covenants to control you, to rob you of

the liberty that you have in Christ.

Sometimes the Judaizers is you yourself to you.

Because we are our own worst Judaizer.

What's a Judaizer?

Anyone who would say anything other than Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

Jesus plus my effort, my strength, my doing, no, it was done at the cross.

Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed, he uses this Greek term for portray.

It means a very large portrait that everybody would see like a billboard.

Paul is saying Jesus died in such a way and this is how I preach him that everybody saw

him like on a billboard, the power of the cross, the blessings that come as a result of the

cross.

This is a good reminder for me because Paul and another place said when I came among

you, I resolved not to know anything other than Christ crucified.

That tells me what I should be preaching about all the time.

So many, especially in the Western Church, we have deviated into all these different topics

and subjects.

Some are valid for a little bit, but you always get to come back to Jesus.

But if in our Christian bookstores we have Christian cookbooks, I think we've crossed

the line.

What should I preach about every time I preach Jesus?

What if the people want to Jesus?

Well, what about when it's Christmas?

Jesus.

But what about when it's Halloween?

Jesus.

What about when it's November?

Jesus.

In the middle of summer.

Jesus.

When the people need exactly the answer is in Jesus.

Every topic, every subject, everything has been addressed by Jesus at the cross.

We can unpack it forever, but he has to be the central figure of this thing, clearly

portrayed, placarded, like on a billboard for everyone to see.

The answer for everything is Jesus.

Where in the middle of this series, I preach Christ and Christ crucified because everything

you're looking for, whether it's deliverance from an addiction or sin or breakthrough,

whether financial or in your soul or in your family or physical, it's all coming out

when you see Jesus and understand what really happened on the cross.

And so many people are living with a mixture and one of the tell-tale signs that'll alert

you that you're living on your mixture is you have shame in your life.

You're condemned, you feel guilty, you feel like, well, God kind of loves you because

He has to, but it doesn't really like you.

Red flag.

That's your hard attitude, that means you're not getting the cross, but what should I

do to better get the cross?

Well, sit under series' regulations and then in your spare time, memorize God's Word.

Dig into it, explore, unpack it for yourself.

What happened at the cross?

Oh, he who knew no sin, that's Jesus, never once knew sin was made into sin.

There's Christians who don't know the depth of that verse.

Jesus was turned into sin.

Think about that.

Jesus said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of

man be lifted up.

The serpent literally Moses took up a pole with the serpent on it.

That was a picture of Jesus.

This might sound extreme to you, but he was made into sin like a serpent.

Look, he took on the qualities of Satan himself, sin, and that was punished and thoroughly

hammered by God so that now there's no more hammering or wrath or punishment for you.

He who knew no sin was made sin, that we, full of sin, might be made into the righteousness

of God in Christ.

Woo!

That's the gospel and it is great news.

So to move away from that, I would tell somebody too, who is bewitched you, verse two.

This only I want to learn from you.

Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

Let me ask you that question.

How many of you are filled with the Holy Spirit?

You receive the Holy Spirit?

Did God fill you with the Holy Spirit because of your adherence to the law?

Did you have every teacross, every eye-dotted, because you just had such exemplary behavior

in your life?

Is that how we filled you with the Holy Spirit?

No, he came in the midst of your mess, didn't he?

He came when you were totally upside down, topsy-turvy messed up.

He came when you responded in faith.

When I think about when I was 16 years old, how jacked up I was, how crazy my worldview

was, come from former Yugoslavia, totally atheistic, slash agnostic, you say, no, how could

it be both?

That's how confused we were.

Secular humanistic, atheistic, agnostic, just messed up.

I get sick.

He comes into me, not because I kept the law, but because I just responded in faith.

Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

And then he asked this very important question, are you so foolish?

Being begun, this journey began, not because of you doing such a good job and because

of your behavior, it started in the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Most Christians hear me out now would say yes to that because we're taught a wrong message.

We're taught that justification is by faith.

Justification, once again, is the act of God pronouncing unibilty.

That's by faith and that's for free, right?

Easy.

You can justify it with a five second prayer.

But then sanctification, which is the process of you becoming more Christ-like, it's the

process of you becoming more holy.

We're taught that while justification is by faith, sanctification will require a lot

of hard work.

It will require you being like MJ and taking a good long hard look at that man in the mirror

and promising him, you're going to make a change.

And this is why men in particular run from church, they actually want God, they actually

crave God, but then they look at their secret sins and they go, I don't have the stomach

to go up against these goliaths that have been hunting me all my life.

So they say no, I can't imagine, because I've tried, this is what they'll say in private,

I've tried, but there's no relief.

So why just go into a system where I'll constantly disappoint God and disappoint myself?

But that's not the gospel.

The gospel is justification is by faith, you start off in this spirit and guess what?

The process, sanctification of being made holy is also by faith, not by works, not by

you trying.

If you could try to be a good person, if you could try to live holy, you wouldn't have

needed Jesus, you would have just tried and you would have changed yourself.

No.

Sanctification is by faith.

Faith and what?

Faith that Jesus died for you, faith that Jesus has forgiven you of all your sins, faith

that he put a new spirit inside of you, then faith that he put the Holy Spirit inside

your spirit, the whole gospel, the more you meditate, and the truths of the gospel, the

more you realize what exactly happened on the cross, that's where the process of sanctification

gets its fuel.

And then it's not you, so you can boast the most annoying true holiness, not annoying

Christians who are full of the annoying and not the anointing, and they look down

at you, and they're so proud, I don't even watch our rated movies, that's good for you,

you missed out on some pretty funny movies, but really now you're just religiously proud.

By the way, I'm really, I didn't have a TV from 1994 till 2009, I didn't listen to

secular music, nothing, from when I was in my early 20s to my mid-30s, I did, and while

and I'm saying that's bad, that was one, the Lord did that, the Lord's super nut, he

wanted to shield me, I'm not suggesting this for somebody, but I'm saying, when I would

take my eyes off of intimacy with Jesus, all that was left was a stinky religious pride.

I come into a church, they don't know where real holiness is, that was the secret in

my heart, it wouldn't come out, but it was there, then I had to fall on my face and

for the Lord to show me just how desperately I needed him, and that the things I boasted

of in my holiness was all like filthy rags to him, that's scripture by the way, hallelujah,

is this good news or what?

This is good news, let's just admit that we're works in progress, we're no make excuse

for sin, but under grace we realize grace is an empowerment for holiness, it's empowerment

to escape the clutches of sin, but you're not going to escape sin by trying and working

really hard, that, and this was the point I was making, that only messes people up and

they become worse sinners, I cut my teeth, I'm ministries of the poor, in my early 20s,

the first four years of ministry I'd be in the trailer parks and in the projects in

Tampa, Florida, and I would find people so down on their luck, and I kept seeing the

same story over and over again, that person whose life was devastated and in shambles many

of them would have a Christian past, but they lived under the law, and here's how that

story went, they lived under the law, and they felt they had to change their life, not

that the Holy Spirit was going to do it, they weren't told to look at the cross and to yield,

and they guess what, they kept on failing, and as they kept on failing, they kept on being

more and more condemned and hating themselves more and more until they finally just gave

up and said, I'm such a mess, I'm such a sinner, I'll never ever please God, I'm just

going to go the way, the devil all the way, so the worst sinners I've ever seen are former

Christians, maybe that's what Jesus meant, when he said go and sin no more, let's the worst

thing come upon you, and when the devil comes out and he returns, he brings seven others

with him, and the latter state is worse than the former, hallelujah, that's not your

story, because even if you fall, you know he loves you, verse four, have you suffered

so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain, because they were actually persecuted

for living under grace, and he's saying, you already were persecuted for living under

grace, was all that for nothing? Therefore he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles

among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Now, a couple of

things in this verse, he shows you what a new covenant church should be like, I noticed two

things, there should be a generous supply of the Holy Spirit, and he should be free to move

among God's people and work miracles among them, hallelujah, and when he does that, it's

not because the people have every T cross and every I dot it, but it's because they're

responding to him in faith, and that's what I see at city light church, I want more of

it, I want 100 times more, but I keep my pulse, my finger on the pulse, very close lip,

are people experiencing the miraculous, and when I say miraculous, I don't mean to come

out in a white bedazzle suit, lights all on me, I lift up my right hand, hydraulic lift

in the stage goes up, 50 person choir singing near my God to thee, yeah, that can miracles

can come that way, but there's other ways miracles come where I'm preaching the word,

and the Holy Spirit, the unseen one is moving up and down the aisles, laying his hand on

people, depositing caruses and graces and speaking and changing lives, I hear all the time,

I just came into church, hadn't been in a while, just came into church, and I started

singing, and God did something, and they talked to their journey beginning there and God transforming

their life, wow, what happened, the Holy Spirit, and by the way, did he do that because

of their works? No, every testimony, right past your mouth, I came in, busted and disgusted

with nothing to offer God, and I was shocked that that's how he met me and gave me miracle.

I believe some of us who, quote, unquote, have our act together, can learn how to always

come to God in and of ourselves, busted and disgusted, we'd experience the miraculous

more. Did you catch that? You come boldly, but not bold in yourself, bold in Christ,

but sometimes glance at yourself and remind yourself, Lord, I don't deserve anything

that you've given me. I am so needy, I am so Jesus, I need you, and that kind of humility

activates the power of God. Verse 6. Just as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted

to him for righteousness, now he's appealing to these Judaizers because they took great

pride in being genetically linked to Abraham. They were the offspring of Abraham, physically

Abraham seed, and he's saying, hey, remember that whole covenant that was formed with Abraham,

he didn't do anything. He just believed God. It was by faith. It was a precursor to the

new covenant, a precursor to grace. In fact, the gospel of grace is hidden in that exchange

between Abraham and God. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness,

just like a Christian today. You put your faith in Jesus, and he puts on your heavenly account

their righteous. It's reckoned and put down that it's so. Verse 7. Therefore know that

only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham, those who believe, not those who do, but those

who believe. You know what that tells me? I'm preaching a bunch of Jewish people this morning.

This is true. I need to come to terms with this. What are Jewish people? What are Jewish people?

The God's people, Israel is God's nation, and you're the Israel, Paul actually finishes

Galatians by saying blessings upon the Israel of our God, writing to a bunch of Gentiles because

you haven't been grafted in, and you're the Israel of God. You are one true Jew, amen.

And though you cannot link your genetics to Abraham, but you're of the seed of Abraham. Why?

Because Abraham believed God. Didn't do anything for God. He believed God, and it was accounted

to him as righteousness. What did you do? Did you do anything for God to help with your

salvation? No. You believed God, and it was accounted to you as righteousness. So you're

blessed with believing Abraham, and you're the offspring of Abraham, and Abraham is your

spiritual dadah. I think this would be a good time to pray for physical Israel. We are spiritual

Israel, but this is a good time to pray for physical Israel with everything that's happened,

and let's pray for that right now. Father, the name of Jesus, your word instructs us to pray

for the peace of Jerusalem. We pray in Jesus name. For peace, we pray that evil doers would be

punished. We pray that your justice would come in, and we pray that you would preserve and

protect civilians, and that the order of God and the plans and purposes of God would be

wrought in that place, in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Verse 7, verse 8, and the scripture,

foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel to Abraham before

saying in you all nations shall be blessed. When God said to Abraham in you all nations shall be

blessed, you know who was talking about us right here in Queens. Do you know how many nations are in

our church in Queens? Over 80. Look around. It's a beautiful sight. Over 80. And I'm not talking

about over it like my grandfather came from Ireland. When I say over 80, we took a survey. People

who say, no, I am an immigrant like you from Ukraine, right? And like me, from former Yugoslavia,

and where were you born, Kwak? Hong Kong. Where were you born? South Korea. Let's go, you're

American, right? But second generation, your parents immigrant. But 80, first 80, all nations,

here we are saved believing in Jesus. The gospel was preached to Abraham saying in you all the

nations shall be blessed. Verse 9. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

Say this out loud. I'm blessed with believing Abraham. Now what is the blessing of Abraham?

Righteousness, people. It is to be very accurate righteousness, justification by faith.

Abraham was justified not by doing something but by believing God and God put it on his account

that he's righteous and justified. That's the blessing of Abraham. However, there are other

blessings connected with the blessing of Abraham. Intertwined, if you will. Exam in Abraham's life,

what happened to him after he believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness? Well,

one thing that happened immediately after was it says that his sheep and his goats and his heffers

and his bulls and everything just kept multiplying and multiplying so much so that he had such a high

class problem that the grass couldn't keep up with how his animals were multiplying. So prosperity

and abundance is part of that blessing. Another thing is that he was supernaturally protected

over and over and over again. That's a part of the blessing of Abraham. So recognize that as you

say, justification by faith, don't stop there. Too many Christians stop at forgiveness.

Forgiveness is important. I preach it 90% of the time but that's not the destination. That's just

the open door through which you enter and there's a whole giant room of goodies for you to explore.

So many people don't get to explore the goodies. They're so happy with forgiveness. I'm thrilled.

I stare at forgiveness every day. What a beautiful door this is. Oh, hallelujah. This is wonderful.

But then I crossed the threshold. Amen. I feel like only 30% got that. Are you catching this? Amen.

All right. Okay. We won't judge by sight. So then those who are of faith are blessed with

believing Abraham verse 10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.

For it is written. Why are they under a curse if they're living their life under the law?

Curse is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law

to do them. That's the curse because you can't get an A minus. Can you imagine?

Imagine if you kept you can't but if you kept the law perfectly for 50 years and then in your

50 first year you slip up and now failed. Can I take a do over? Nope. By all it got an A minus. Nope.

One break of the law. One sin and you're disqualified. No wonder we need a savior. And that's the curse of

the law. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse for it is written curse

is everyone does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them

verse 11. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for the just

shall live by faith and that's a verse out of the Old Testament out of Habakkuk or Haggii. I forget

which one. One of those two. It's not in my notes. But that no one is justified.

That's the part where you just go in the Old Testament right. But I try to model transparency,

vulnerability. I try to model a work in progress so you get some of that too sometimes.

But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for the just shall live by

faith. Yet the law is not a faith. Law is not a faith. It's what you do. You can plainly see it.

But the man who does them shall live by them and then he says something so beautiful that we really

got to get in our heart. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse

for us. For it is written, curse is everyone who hangs on a tree. Hanging on a, don't get weird

and caught up and go, well Jesus was on a cross and what, you know, cursed is everyone on tree.

It just means somebody who didn't have a proper burial, someone who was left on a fence supposed

or a tree under the Levitical Law that person was considered cursed. And this is what's important

for us to get. Some real world daily application is when you think of yourself, think of your life,

realize that you are blessed beyond a curse. There are Christians who believe that they can be both

blessed and cursed at the same time. If they do right, they're blessed. If they mess up, God will

curse them. And they're walking civil wars. They have no peace. They don't know who they are in

Christ. Imagine living under that threat that if they mess up, you're going to mess up. You don't

have to. Don't have faith to mess up. But up until now and that day, you're going to fall. And then

you should expect the curse. God forbid. You were blessed. In Jew, it talks about don't go into the

error of bailum. The error of bailum was thinking that you could curse that which God has blessed.

So this is an actual story. In the Old Testament, bailum was a witch assassin,

hired to curse the people of God. And here's what the Bible says. It's actually quite comical.

He went to curse the people of God. When you talk about bailum, everybody wants to talk about his

donkey. Everybody remembers Shrek, the talking donkey. Oh yeah, the talking. Oh yeah, Eddie Murphy and

the donkey and the forget the donkey. Oh, which assassin tries to curse the people of God and he

can't do it. It's like he goes, I curse bless you. No way. I curse. Bless the Bible says,

God turned the curse into a blessing. Why? Because it is impossible for Satan or some witch or

anyone to curse that which God has already blessed. And you are blessed in heavenly places in Christ

Jesus. And a teaching came into the body of Christ around 20, 25 years ago, late 90s, early 2000s.

And there's these fads that come into Christianity. Nothing but fads. Sell out conferences, sell

books and there's this whole teaching on generational curses. I know why your life's the mess.

It's not a mess because you have a surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. It's not, which usually

that's why it's a mess. It's because of generational curses. So you didn't know but your great great

grandfather was a really bad guy. And then the point to the Old Testament, see God said that he would

visit your sin unto the third and fourth generation. So you now have an open door for curses and

satanic abuse and for your life to be topsy-turvy because of generational curses.

I mean like if we didn't have enough problems, right? But that's what the devil does. That's

what a religion does. It comes and puts this weight on you that's not meant for you to bear. So

literally people were spending years of their lives and inner healing courses, inner healing

conferences trying to repent for their uncle JoJo sin from 150 years ago unearthing all this

just repenting and nobody changed. Nobody got loose. Nobody got free. Just ended up in more bondage.

Christ was how much more do you want than God in the flesh? My wife told me I shouldn't

yell so much in the first service but I can't help it. God in the flesh became a curse.

He exchanged places with you so that you could be blessed. So who or what entity is going to

curse you now that you are blessed? None. And that should be the confession of your mouth. 24-7

I am blessed. I am blessed. But faster sometimes in my life it actually feels like I'm cursed.

I cannot diagnose all that but I what I do know is agree with what the word says. Amen.

Amen. Agree with what the word says. The more you agree with God's truth, the more you'll get

the reality of that in your life. Let's close with verse 14. Worship team come on up

that the blessing of Abraham. Remember what that is? Yes, justification by faith but also provision,

prosperity, protection, abundance that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles and Christ

Jesus that we might receive the promise of the Spirit not by works but through faith. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Isn't biblical Christianity so awesome? If the world could see Jesus as he really is

and see the new covenant in its true glory they would come running to Him.

And where the advertisements that Jesus has. I know. It's like Lord how are you ever going to get the

job done with us? You caught that first, huh? But he's going to do it. We're going to see his

power in New York City. We're going to see more people get say oh he's not looking for perfect

vessels. He's looking for available vessels. Let's pray. Actually let's do this. Let's read those

last two verses out loud. We do that in the first service. That'll be our prayer. Those last two

verses 13 and 14. Let's say them together. If you can get those up there again then we'll

open up the altar for prayer. Say this with me. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law

having become a curse for us. For it is written. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree

that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus that we might receive

the promise of the Spirit through faith. Hallelujah.

Ministry team come on up. Our altar is open to whoever wants prayer for anything at all.

But leave here knowing that you are loved. Leave here knowing that you are forgiven and that we are

all works in progress. Yield to the Holy Spirit. You can say you're working progress several

different ways. I could say with the attitude of well you're working progress and I kind of

dismiss your issues, dismiss the fact that you may be addicted to some sin that's killing you.

And I go out of your work and that's not what I'm doing here. I hope you realize that.

We're not just backslaping people going, ah don't worry about it. You like crack? Ah you're working

progress. Adultery? Ah don't worry about it. You're working progress. This is stuff that'll kill

you. God loves you. God's not abandoning you. He's with you. This is stuff that'll destroy your

life maybe even your kids' lives. But it's so that you understand that you are a working progress.

We don't dismiss them. But we invite Jesus in and consider ourselves dead. Amen.

This is the CityLight 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 CityLight 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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