The Grace Revolution: How Romans 8 Ignites a Spiritual Uprising Against Fear and Sin

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.

Well, are you ready for the word of God this morning?

We are on a journey of grace here, where in Romans chapter 8, and I really sense from the Lord once we completed Ephesians to take the whole church on a multi-month journey of grace.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Why is understanding grace so important? Because grace is the system under which we now operate.

Grace is the covenant, the system under which God operates. So we really should be good at understanding it, shouldn't we?

If this is a system under which God operates, under the system that we are saved under, we should be thoroughly and intimately acquainted with the ends and outs of this system.

Unfortunately, way too many Christians are not, because we still prize the old covenant as God's word, and it is. Every single jot and tidal is the word of God.

We often confuse the two systems and mix them together and intertwine them. When really we are intended to read the Old Testament and prize it as the word of God, but we are to see it through the lens of now living under a new covenant.

What the Bible calls a superior, a better covenant, and so mixtures not allowed, and after this we are going to get into Galatians where you see what was happening in the Galatians church was, they were mixing the two covenants together.

Really have to laugh when you get a revelation of Galatians and you see what's really happening there. It's not something that only happened two thousand years ago.

It's something that is always all the time happening in the church's worldwide today.

That people take a little bit of the old covenant, a little bit of the new, mix it together, and really come up with a third covenant that's always changing.

And that's a recipe for frustration. It's a recipe for disaster. The only time you see the Apostle Paul really kind of get animated and lose it.

It doesn't lose it like in our carnal set, but you just see him like, whoa, Paul.

Again, excited there was when he's rebuking the Galatians for mixing the two covenants.

The Corinthians that was a really carnal, urban church, really needed a head renewing, had lots of problems.

You see him still very fatherly, and Mr. Roger Z, very paternal. Yeah, he executes some harsh decisions there, but he's so sweet.

But in Galatians, he's like, whoa, who has bewitched you? Who has hypnotized you? Has memorized you?

And he has a really special one liner for the Judaizers that were encouraging him to mix the two covenants.

I won't get into that right now. I'm going to leave that as a cliffhanger.

But you got to come in for our Galatians series and why would Paul behave? Why? Because he understood that if you mix the two covenants, you really get the benefit of neither.

You can't mix them. You can't have 90% of one 10% of the other. You have to really be 100% under the current covenant, the new covenant.

That was bought and purchased and then ratified with the very precious blood of Jesus Christ.

And the benefits of the new covenants are superior to those of the old. And so we're studying grace now because it is the new covenant of his grace.

And the Apostle Paul is the one who received revelation of that new covenant. He's known as the Apostle of grace.

And he says when he received this revelation, it was so mind-blowing. And so unlike anything the world had ever seen, he immediately went back up to Jerusalem and consulted with all the other Apostles to make sure that he was seeing and hearing correctly.

Because grace doesn't make any sense to the natural mind. It really is mystical, bizarre, otherworldly and no other philosophy or faith or global religion, however small or however large, touches on grace.

Every other philosophy, every other religion is based on some type of system of the law. You do something then God will respond with something.

You do then he does. And you have to try and be disciplined and work really hard. I.e. be religious and then God will reward you. That makes sense to us as humans.

But it's not the new covenant way. Amen. And it is unique, strange, mind-blowing and overwhelming.

And so a common thing when people first begin to hear that we're under a covenant of grace, a common thought is, are you telling me that I can just sin as much as I want and it doesn't make a difference to God? That is a common knee-jerk reaction.

You don't just hear that today. Paul himself heard it. And that's why he began Romans chapter 6 by addressing that right off the bat.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

We're going to do a quick recap of Romans 6 and 7 and then get into a little bit of 8. But I just find this recap. It's so important.

So let's just look at Romans 6 verses 1 and verses 2. He says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Should we just continue living according to our own lives and maybe sin even more?

Romans 6:1

The previous chapter, he said, we're sin abounds. Grace does much more abounds. Grace super abounds. So somebody with an unrenued mind can think, yeah, I want more grace. So if I sin more, will more grace come? The truth is yes.

But that's not how you're supposed to live. In our hearts, if we're Christians, we all don't want sin in our lives. Why? Because we're a hoidy-toidy? No. Because we understand that sin brings death.

And we understand that even the Bible says sin may be pleasurable for a season, but then the consequences come. And they always come. They come with interest.

So I want to be free from sin. But I can't do it in and of myself. And you're not supposed to either. You're not supposed to be free from sin by trying really hard looking to yourself or being really disciplined and having lots of willpower. That is religion. And that is the same as every other religion and faith tradition out there.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? He says, God forbid. Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? And this is where for the first time he introduces this concept, this truth, that we died, our sin nature, that part of us that we inherited from Adam and Eve, that part of us that is in rebellion against God.

That it was actually crucified with Jesus. When, 2000 years ago, before we were even ever born in the mind of God, our sin nature was nailed to the cross there with him. And the power of sin was broken as a result. Amen.

So how do you receive freedom from sin? We already know we're forgiven from sin, but I'm talking about how do we end that vicious sin?

Oh, I'm so sorry, Lord. Cycle. That constant. It's by believing this and having faith in this. I know it sounds so, right? I felt it. You're like, I just believe that.

Yeah. You were justified by faith and you'll be sanctified or made holy by faith. What if you say, what if you don't know what I'm really struggling with?

The prescription is still the same. I can't tell you more. The prescription is still the same. It always goes back to the cross and you believing, believing stubbornly and clinging to the truth violently.

No matter what your head is wanting to do, your unregenerate mind that hasn't been renewed with the word of God, no matter what you find, your body wanting to do.

You're still saying out loud, Lord, I'm struggling now, but this is what I believe because I believe it because it's your truth.

My sin nature was killed. I died in that way and dead people don't sin. And if you're really serious about being set free, you'll say it and you'll keep saying it.

But there is this element that some Christians just really need to get sick and tired of being sick and tired. So in the beginning, you're not saying it because you're thinking, maybe I'll get away with this for a while.

Hey, take it from me. You won't. It won't be God punishing you. No, no, no, he loves you. God disciplines us very lovingly and gently, but it won't be him.

You say, well, then what are the consequences? The sin is the consequence. The result of the sin.

Hey, man. Let's go to that next verse in Romans 6. And that's verse 6, knowing this, that our old man, that's our sin nature, that part of us in rebellion against God.

It was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

And we talked several weeks ago how you will be a slave. You will either be a slave to God. That's a really good slave. Or you'll be a slave of sin and of the devil.

So choose which direction you want to go in and choose wisely. But the Bible says that sin has been dealt with already 2,000 years ago.

And this is just when our minds are renewed with this, then we know how to position and posture ourselves in prayer.

You're not somebody who's a failure and a sinner and is gross and disgusting and you're crawling back to God.

Oh, forgive me one more time. I keep failing you.

No, your posture is, I'm a work in progress, yes. But I believe that my sin nature was nailed there with Jesus.

I believe that that part of me that's in rebellion to you that wants to sin has been killed.

And I believe by the power of your Holy Spirit, you're working it out in me. There is an outworking of your grace and I'm changing.

What's the name of the game here anyway? It's to know Jesus and be conformed into his image, aka holiness.

But that's not going to come once again through us trying really hard. And that's why most people don't want to come into church or be Christians because they think it's a group of us getting together and trying really hard to better ourselves.

Seriously, I wouldn't join a group like that. That sounds. Let's get together and discuss morality and then really, really try to get better.

That's like some twisted and perverted self-help group coming together and then just crying that we just can't do it.

You're some of your looking and you're like, did you just describe the church I grew up in? I know. That's why you left that place.

Went through a period of backsliding for 10, 15 years until the Lord brought you here. Now be set free, Christian. And come out of living under the law to living under grace. Amen.

Now let me just be clear because we have new people and people forget so easily what it means to not live under the law because we're not living under the law.

You can tell yourself all you want that we're still under the law. I'll show you 20 verses that explain your debt to the law.

You're not to live under that old system. The problem is when I or the scripture say your debt to the law, some people have a need your reaction and what they hear is,

I'm dead to any kind of rules. I'm dead to any kind of regulations. I'm dead to, I could just, it's anarchy.

And that's not what the scripture saying. The scripture saying your debt to the system of the old covenant law. What was that system like?

It was a system that told you to do good and do right, but never filled you with the power from within to fulfill the righteous requirement of that system of law.

So you keep falling flat on your face and you keep working and sweating and trying hard to be approved unto God based on your own behavior and you keep falling and failing.

That's not a good system. You say, why did we even have that system? Well, a couple of reasons. One, actually if you look at what was happening on Mount Sinai, when the 10 commandments were given, it would appear that God gave them a choice.

Do you want to have grace or do you want to have the law? And you know what they did? All the Hebrews together in one voice, they said, give us the law. We're well able to keep every commandment you've given us. We can do it.

Didn't work out so well, did it? Another reason is then God gave the law because it's like an MRI or an X-ray machine. It'll show you up. It'll detect where the sin is and it'll cause you to realize you're not all that.

And that you need a savior. This is the offense of the gospel. Over and over again, we hear the offense of the cross, the offense of the gospel. And people will say, well, it's Jesus. Look, he's all bleeding. And we can't look so offensive. No, that's not the offense of the gospel.

The offense of the gospel is that it's a giant message that says, hey, hot stuff. You're not all that. You're not all that. You're guilty of sin and you're powerless to do anything about it.

You're powerless to be forgiven and you're powerless to change. So you need a savior. And that is offensive to people. That is a stumbling block. It is offense that they trip over.

Because in secret, we all want to be our own God. We all want to do it ourselves. And then we all want to take the credit for it. The offense of the gospel is you don't get any credit. That's why we sing, hallelujah. We don't get to pat ourselves on the back. He did it all. Well, I got saved. I'm the one who accepted what he did.

If you didn't get through your thick head, by the way, when I talk a little roughly like that, I'm actually talking to myself. I'm not pointing my finger at you. I can just easily replace it with if you didn't get through my thick head.

And soften my rock hard heart. I never would have believed. I can't even take credit for receiving him as my Lord and savior. He touched my heart to believe. He opened my eyes that I should see. He's the one who I didn't walk out of darkness looking for God. He plucked me out. Amen.

He delivered me. Verse 11 of Romans 6. Yeah, taking even more time than the first service. This is a recap. Likewise, you also. Once again, anyone who's a Christian inwardly, and this is what the Apostle Paul said, you delight after the law. God's standard of righteousness. According to the inner man. In your spirit, you want holiness.

And in your spirit, you hate sin. But then Paul says, if you don't understand grace, if you're still trying to do it under the system of the law, you'll want to do what's right, but you'll fail every time.

So what's the solution once again? Could it really be this simple? This is why I believe the Apostle Paul said don't be removed from this simplicity that is in Christ.

And then those authors that are selling books like hot cakes, 50 ways to eliminate sin in your life, then they won't be able to sell those books.

Because the answer is you also reckon yourselves. That's an accounting term that means put it down that it's so.

So you put it down that it's so. You settle once and for all in your heart. You reckon yourself. Dead indeed to sin, but alive to God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

So as the Lord is working out his will and his ways, remember, in Galatians, excuse me may not be Galatians, but it says that he makes us or causes us to will and do after his own good pleasure.

It's from the inside out, but that begins when you put it down that it's so that your old nature, your sin nature has been crucified with him.

You were crucified together with him, co-crucified, co-buried and co-resurected. Amen.

Verse 14.

Whoever was just randomly clapping in the back, that was a good time to clap. Verse 14.

You got to appreciate that one person was like, I don't care what anybody else is doing. This is clap worthy.

Verse 14.

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.

There was something twisted and ugly happening. And it's always been the plan of the devil. He's been doing this for 2000 years.

When you talk about grace, people who are committed to the Lord, who don't understand grace, which is a lot of people, they're committed, they're Christian, they're born again, but they don't really understand grace.

So they think when you are a quote unquote grace preacher, secretly what you're really communicating is lukewarmness and compromise.

Really, I'm a grace, which I don't even like that term, grace preacher. What does that mean?

I'm not a grace preacher. I'm a proclaimer of the gospel. The gospel is grace. Amen.

That's why the Bible says that the gospel is the power of God. Hallelujah. And this is not a grace message. This is the gospel and you cannot separate grace from gospel.

But because there are preachers who twist grace and misuse it, there are. And they're lukewarm churches and compromise churches and they're flirting with the world, some aren't flirting, some are outright just on their tenth date with the world and ready to propose.

And they'll kind of for all of their compromise and all of their lukewarmness, they slap the sticker of grace on it to give grace a bad name. But if you look at that verse, Paul said you're free from sin because you're not under the old covenant system of law.

You're not under a system where the pressure is on you. That'll make you sin more. You're not under a system where you feel you have to score points with the big guy because that system will actually bring more sin out of you.

Somebody all of a sudden your whole church life is certain makes sense. You're no longer under a system where you yourself are trying to win God's approval and acceptance based on your behavior. All that's going to do is cause you to finally fall down and say, I give up.

Go crazy in the world. And I've seen it happen all the time. That's what being under the system of law produces. But sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law, but under grace.

So being under grace means that you're set free from the power of sin. You can also say this way, grace is an empowerment against sin. And we also misuse the word grace often when we really should be using the word mercy.

Like let's say we have a meeting and you come 10 minutes late and I go, I don't worry about it. I had grace for you. I really had mercy, but I didn't have grace.

If I had grace for you, I would have sent you an Uber code and got you an Uber to the meeting. I would have given you an empowerment. Is this making sense to anyone?

That's another story over there, but I'm just explaining that we are a church of the gospel. We are new covenant church. You are, but put whatever label on it. If you know Jesus, you are a people of grace.

And so we have to become good at understanding what is this covenant that we're supposed to function under and the more you get it.

All of a sudden it will be like chains snapping off you and your prayers will be answered. So what weren't the answer before because the Bible says faith works by love. And if you don't get God's love via grace, your faith won't work.

You'll have all these questions about your worth, about your identity, about your position before God, and you'll have all these questions about the character and nature of God.

One moment you'll be saying hallelujah, the next moment you'll be going to sleep thinking, I think I hate God and I think he hates me. There's people who live this way.

There is a better way. Amen. He didn't save you that you should be tortured on this side of heaven. He saved you that you would experience all of heaven that you can, according to your faith, be it unto you.

Inak, he experienced so much heaven on this side of heaven that he didn't even die. He just walked with God and God is like, look, you're spending so much time with me.

More than you are down there, you're with me. You might as well just come right on up. And the Bible says he never died. He was just the first one to be raptured.

Hallelujah. That's a good goal. Hashtag life goals. I want to walk with God so tightly that when I get to heaven, I'm not surprised. Some people will get to heaven and have a nervous breakdown.

It's so happy and joyful and the prosperity and the peace. Look at God. All I see is love, I'm melting from love. He's so loving. I didn't know. He was like this. You should have done known.

If you spent more time with him and got ahold of grace, you wouldn't be shocked when you show up. Hallelujah.

Let's recap Roman seven now. Oh God is good. Hallelujah. This is why, by the way, Jesus said, he said, John the Baptist of all the old covenant of the law, prophets, John the Baptist is greatest.

Because he's the one who heralded the way and prepared the way for the Messiah. But then he said the least in the kingdom of heaven, those that are under the new covenant of grace, the least under grace is greater than the greatest under law.

This is why. So every day, just thank God you were born AD. You have more of the Holy Spirit than David ever had. They didn't have the Holy Spirit 24 seven living inside of them. They had temporary empowerment, coverings of the Holy Spirit to do a certain assignment.

And then he'd be messing up and cry, oh God, don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Don't you pray that prayer ever under the new covenant.

There's a lot of stuff that we say as though that reveals that we have mixture in our heart. Did you notice those of you've been coming to church for 20 years? Have you noticed that I never ever refer to this place as the house of God?

You say that's because we only rent, right? If you own your own building, then it would be no. This is not the house of God. Under the old covenant, it was a physical building.

New Testament churches all the time. Don't disrespect God's house. Under the new covenant, you are the house of God. You're the temple of God. You're a mobile, glory temple. Hallelujah.

All right, Romans 7 and verse 4, recapping Romans 7, take, go through five verses from Romans 7.

Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law. What?

Romans 6, he establishes our sin nature was killed. So just so you know, when you look at that man in the mirror, promising that you're going to make a change.

And you look at that man in the mirror.

And you feel disgusted and you know how you failed and how you fall and you remember that that part of you was killed off 2,000 years ago.

You remember that. Some of you, you got a zombie version of you that you yourself have raised up and that's your identity.

You need to see yourself as the resurrected Christ because that's where you are right now.

But now he establishes not only are you dead to sin, you're also dead to the law.

Let's make peace with it. Shall we have a moment of silence together for our dearly departed system that we're no longer under.

You're no longer under the old covenant of law. What does that mean practically?

You're no longer under a system where you are trying to win God's acceptance and approval and be justified and be forgiven of your sins based on your behavior.

He has done it all.

So Paul establishes you've become dead to the law through the body of Christ that you may be married, that you may be united, that you may be joined to another, to Jesus, to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

Verse 5, for when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.

Verse 15,

Now Paul begins to describe what it's like to be a Christian and try to serve God under the law, under the old system and that under grace.

And it sounds like zero fun at all.

And it's just that it sounds like my Christianity the first couple of years until I got a hold of grace.

And it sounds like a lot of people who go to church.

This is what 50 years, 60 years of their life has been like. Many leave. They can't handle it. The only reason those stay is they love the Lord.

They really do. And they fear hell too much. And some of them are just gluttonous for punishment.

So they just like whipping themselves and feeling like, oh, yo, yo, this is what church is like, I guess, until we get to the sweet buying buy.

Doesn't this sound like torture? Look for what I'm doing. I don't understand. It's like I'm a walking contradiction, a total civil war. I have no peace.

I'm a spiritual skidzo. For what I want to do, that I end up not doing, that I do not, that I don't practice. And what I hate, that's what I do.

That is not the abundant life in Christ. That is not what Christianity is. This is what religious torture is.

Again, what is this? It is a safe person. How do we know he's a safe person because he says, what I hate, I do.

A safe person doesn't hate sin. They hate the effects and the ramifications and the consequences of sin.

But they don't hate sin. Only a born again believer hates sin. But he's saying the thing that I hate, I still end up doing it.

Why? Because you're trying to serve God in your own strength.

You have to be a living under the law. Thank you for coming to therapy hour with Pastor Boyan Jansik.

It's been my absolute pleasure to explain the last 10 to 20 years of your life to you.

You keep falling and you keep failing because you, you, you. You keep trying to do it.

So what do we got to get good at? We got to get good at reckoning ourselves dead.

And yielding and surrendering to him, bending the knee and accepting his lordship in every area of our life.

And he will cause us to will and to do after his good pleasure.

Again, not from the outside in, but from the inside out. Religion, all it's concerned is the cosmetics, the outside.

But he's from the inside out. Hallelujah.

The Romans 24 through 25, after having used the word I, 40 times.

And that's how you know you're living under the law or trying to do it in your own strength.

You become a spiritual narcissist. You're always looking inwardly and it's all about you.

And Paul here 40 times and describing this person kept saying he's describing himself and he's saying I, I, I, I.

And finally, he's like, I keep failing. I keep falling. Oh, wretched man that I am.

Who will deliver me from this messed up version of Christianity that God never intended?

And he gives the answer. I thank God. Finally, looking up and out.

Not examining himself, but looking at the answer, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

I thank God through Jesus Christ our lord. He's the answer.

And what he did at his death, burial and resurrection, that's the source of the power.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

So what's happening here this morning and the journey that we're going on?

Because look, you've been programmed one way your whole entire life.

One sermon on this is not going to deprogramming you.

Excuse me, deprogram you.

I got to go surplunking. That's underwater cave diving.

I got to go in there with a pickaxe and a shovel, some dynamite.

Get into all the nooks and crannies of your law-based system of believing and thinking.

Set up the TNT charges.

Blow it as mithereens. And that takes some time.

Hallelujah.

So that then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin.

And now, after a good, what, 30 minute recap, let's begin Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

If you've just arrived late, you come right on time.

We're doing Romans 8. Let's begin at verse 1.

I feel like I just lost some people.

People that were here the first service of having fun.

There's some people right now like faster. I got an appointment at 2 p.m.

And you're now beginning Romans 8.

I didn't get past Romans 8 verse 1 in the last service.

Romans 8:1

So just...

Whenever you see a therefore in the Bible, what question should you ask?

Say it loud.

What is it therefore?

So he's saying therefore, because of Pastor Boyan's recap of Romans 6 and 7.

No, he's saying because of what I wrote to you about you, your sin nature being crucified with Jesus.

You not being under the law anymore. You're dead to the law.

Because of what I wrote to you about this new covenant system of his grace,

there is therefore now zero no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

Here's the sad reality.

So many Christians read that as there is therefore now less condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

It's not all taken out of the way. That wouldn't be right. I don't deserve that.

Because I just feel some Christians, I just feel he's looking at me funny.

I just feel you're a slave to your feelings.

You don't want to know how I felt when I woke up this morning.

I woke up in a room that looks like one of those,

when you watch Old World War II footage and the Berlin bombing,

and it's just, I shouldn't look at rocks and gravel that is out.

No, I don't thank you. I'm not saying this for sympathy.

I'm just saying, I'm explaining to you, I woke up and my little girl is sick.

And so my wife couldn't be there. I got very few hours.

And I woke up, honestly, I woke up and I was like, I mean, that was not what felt.

I felt awful.

Zero energy in my body.

And that was the wave that greeted me on a Sunday morning.

I'm not saying it for sympathy though, just so you understand.

I'm trying to relate to you because I know you don't feel like you're on your A game all the time.

That's how I felt. So what did I do about the first thought was,

wow, and I'm preaching, I'm not relying on yourself,

and the power of the Holy Spirit, and walking according to the Spirit.

This is a good time to actually practice what I preach. Amen.

So feeling like junk, I began to say the truth,

knowing that my feelings will soon become subject to the truth.

Amen.

So to those of you who don't feel like God loves you,

and you don't feel His grace, and you don't, you speak the truth anyhow.

Why? Because your feelings are lying to you. They're lying.

They're not accurate.

Your feelings are coming from an unrenewed mind and past experiences.

That God had nothing to do with.

You trip and fall all by yourself and Satan says, God.

And look, oh, God did that. No, you tripped and fell.

And for whatever reason you associated that with God,

He was just an heaven going, I'm here when you need me.

Just look upon me, call on me.

I even have angels that will bury you up in their hands,

let your dash your foot against the stone. Just please look at me once in a while,

and set your mind on me to activate them. Amen.

So there is therefore now no condemnation.

Why is there no condemnation?

Because your sin, all of your sin, all of my sin,

was already past tense condemned.

It was condemned in the body of Jesus.

And once that sin was already condemned and judged,

there is no more condemnation left for you.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

Do we got that gimbal?

Do you have it? Just come up real close with the gimbal.

Is that it? Is it active?

Just for the sake of the folks at home, really?

So if I do this, they get a close-up of that?

Is it on? Talk to me.

All right. See this tattoo?

It was in a restaurant yesterday, and the bartender,

I'm waiting there, and he goes, he's looking at me, he goes,

is that a martini glass?

You see, everybody looks at, thank you.

Everybody looks at, it's because it's upside down chalice.

Everybody looks at life through their own lens, don't they?

He's a bartender, is that a martini glass?

First time I ever heard that.

What I often hear is that a communion cup.

That's good. I just wanted him to see what I permanently put on my body

forever and ever.

It's an upside down chalice.

We're talking about no condemnation.

It's an upside down chalice.

Cups, chalices throughout the Bible represent God's wrath.

A full cup, wine, dregs being poured out.

That's the wrath of God.

Joseph, the most Christ-like figure in the Old Testament,

the one who pointed the most towards Jesus,

when his brothers who had betrayed him, starting to sound familiar,

come to him, he puts an upside down chalice,

silver, by the way, silver is the medal of redemption.

In Benjamin's book bag, Napsack, it says.

What is that being saying, I'm not angry with you?

It's not full of it.

It's prophetically speaking of what Jesus did.

The cup of God's wrath was thoroughly and completely poured out.

And it's empty.

There is none left for you anymore.

That's why I put that on my arm.

Amen.

All of the condemnation has been poured out on Jesus,

so zero is left for you.

That's something to celebrate.

And when you get that in your spirit,

you're going to fall in love with him.

You're going to receive from him.

Your prayers will come alive.

Your faith will soar.

You will begin to live in the land of abundance.

You can't until you get this.

Because faith, the Bible says, in Galatians faith works by love.

People always think, oh, that means I need to be nicer to people in order for my...

No, that's part of it.

That's again, everyone looks at the fruit,

but leaves the root untouched.

It's not about being nice to people, loving to people.

It's about receiving God's love for yourself.

Then you'll be loving to people by default,

and then your faith will come alive.

Faith works by love.

Why am I laboring in the spirit

to intertwine this message of grace

and the very DNA fibers of our church?

Because when you get it, you're going to get God's love.

When you get God's love, your faith will soar

and you'll be getting answers to prayers

and victory won't be something that's always in the distance.

You'll realize you have it now.

Hallelujah.

There is therefore now no condemnation

to those who are in Christ Jesus.

So you're in Him, aren't you?

Is Jesus condemned? No, He was.

On the cross, but then He was resurrected.

And He's sitting in glory, resting

from the labor of the cross.

And you're in Him.

Who do not walk according to the flesh?

Now this is where people who just don't get grace

because people will fight you.

They'll fight you for it.

And it's really funny how that works.

Again, usually it's because of pride.

People that have been wrong about something for years

can't bring it to themselves to realize,

oh wow, I really was deceived

and I was wrong for years about this.

Praise God.

We had a real life experiment with COVID, didn't we?

Didn't we? Amen.

People walking around triple masking

with gloves up to their elbows.

Do you remember how in the first few people

were hugging each other through nylon?

And then never then afterwards again,

you know what?

This is all after three years of that.

At least you should be going,

you know, I'm a little suspicious of that whole thing.

That's it.

I'm a little bit suspicious

about how that data was presented

and what they made me go through.

That's fair.

Can you turn my mic volume up please?

They'll do all these mental gymnastics

just so they didn't have to go,

I was wrong.

I wasn't, hey, I didn't get.

There were other ministers close to me

that saw right through it from the beginning.

But it took me several months.

Why?

Because I'm slow?

No.

Because actually we only need to hear a lie

repeated six or seven times before we believe it.

And I was there right along with you watching the news

and the death counterometer going.

And you have every voice telling you,

and if you're new or whatever and you say,

is this guy a COVID denier?

No.

I'm just a denier that it was a pandemic

because a pandemic is deaths of like 30% of a popular.

The bubonic plague, that's a pandemic.

30% of the population wiped out.

COVID, those are rookie numbers.

1%, less than 1%.

Why are you so quiet?

Are you afraid that they're listening?

Some of you are like,

I'll say amen when I shut my phone off

and I turn Alexa off at home.

Listen, some of you,

you're not going to make it when round two comes around

if this is your attitude.

I'm telling you.

What this exposed, I'm getting off this,

and no, no, I'm getting off grace

just because I'm seeing,

when round two comes along,

you're still going to be afraid

of what will my neighbors think,

what will other people at work think,

what will my boss think?

Who cares?

I saw good-hearted Christian people

miss their,

they're still messed up psychologically

because they were so concerned

about what will people think?

They just had to call me a grandma killer twice

and I was going to show everybody I was doing my part

and trusting the science TM.

I'm a responsible citizen.

I'm going to love my neighbor

and get quintuple vaxed and boosted

to show my love for my neighbor.

Now I feel that coming up.

Here I am.

But he said, why are you feeling...

Why?

Because I don't want to see you go down

like a lemming when round two will come

in one form or another.

Are you going to go down?

That cliff like a lemming?

And just being a slave to whatever they pipe in,

not just through the television,

but through that telephone

that knows you better than you know you.

Those algorithms have been studying you.

They know what your shoe size is,

they know what you like,

what you don't like,

where you live, what time you get up.

Do you know that one of the ways

they're wanting to measure credit worthiness?

Listen to this.

It's by whether you charge...

Because they have access to this data.

Whether you charge your phone at night.

If you charge your phone all through the night,

you're perceived to be a more responsible individual

and your credit worthiness goes up.

And if you just go to sleep,

phone fell on your head

because you were scrolling at 2 a.m.

and you woke up and you're charging

it all throughout the day,

then you're in a year's time.

It knows you.

Tell the social media people

to put that clip on Instagram.

They haven't put any of the controversial stuff.

Put that on so they know what we're about.

We're about loving the truth and hating the lie.

Amen.

Bible says in Proverbs,

buy the truth and sell it not.

Be a lover of truth.

And please don't take a hand,

understand, whenever there is truth,

people will take it to an extreme

and that'll be mixed with lies.

And so you don't know what the truth or what the lie...

All I'm saying is,

can you be a little more discerning

and a little more suspicious in a good way?

And can you please just put to death the fear of man.

Refuse now ever to do anything ever again

because everybody else is doing it.

I saw a picture of a bunch of Nazis,

thousands of them,

each one doing the sig hill,

and it was one guy like this.

Like not believing.

That's the guy I want to be.

Be that guy.

Be the guy saying,

what the heck is going on?

No, I'm not...

I'm not partaking of the lunacy.

Amen.

Romans A1.

Who do not walk according to the flesh

but according to the spirit?

So once again,

this is how I went on this deluxe rabbit trail.

Because people who love

their legalism

and they want to trust in themselves

because they can't just come to terms

that maybe they've been wrong for years

about how Christianity is to be done.

They'll say,

see,

what the Bible means,

there's no condemnation for those

who aren't sinning.

They're not walking according to the flesh, right?

Well,

if you're not sinning,

you don't need a message of no condemnation.

That's like,

duh.

You're telling me,

if I'm forever skinny,

I won't get fat.

I won't get fat.

Wow, mind blowing.

Wow, if I don't sin,

then there's no condemnation.

No.

To walk according to the flesh

doesn't mean you're not sinning.

To walk, excuse me,

to walk according to the flesh

doesn't mean you're sinning.

To walk according to the flesh

means you're living under the law.

You're trying to serve God in your strength

and then consequently,

yes,

you will be sinning

because you're trying to do it

in your own strength.

That's what walking in the flesh means.

Then what is walking in the spirit mean?

Walking in the spirit means you're walking under grace.

Walking in the spirit means you're walking

under the new covenant.

And new covenant and new creation realities

are alive and new.

I don't know about you,

but I was told walking in the spirit means

praying every day,

reading the Word every day,

witnessing every day.

Those are all wonderful fruit.

But that's not walking in the spirit.

That's a fruit and a result of walking in the spirit.

Can I show this to you?

Just real quick in Galatians.

Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Verse 16 says,

I say then,

walk in the spirit.

This is after a five chapter battle.

Paul is saying this.

A five chapter battle of trying to get these Galatians to wake up

and stop mixing the two covenants together.

And he says, walk in the spirit

and then you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Walking in the spirit doesn't mean don't sin

because then that verse wouldn't make sense.

Don't sin and you won't be sinning.

Are you all seeing this?

I'm explaining this all right.

All right.

Walking in the spirit.

I'll give you an example of walking in the spirit.

If you wake up and going,

woo, another day, Lord hallelujah, thank you.

Lord Jesus, thank you that my sin nature has been killed off

and it's dead and crucified.

Thank you, Lord, that I'm dead to that old system of the law.

I mean, while there's all this crowd going on in your life, right?

But you still, you said that, Lord, thank you.

That I'm filled with the Holy Spirit.

You fill me with your life.

Thank you, Lord.

You've gone ahead before me.

Lord, you're connecting the dots.

You're opening doors.

I'm going to be at the right place at the right time.

And, Lord, I have these other issues in my life.

But I thank you that I cannot.

I just admit right away.

I cannot overcome these things on my own.

But you can, Lord, and you're inside of me.

And on top of that, Lord, I have been made righteous.

I have rights standing.

Lord, we're best friends.

Thank you for that, Lord.

Thank you.

We have this relationship.

Thank you.

You're my father.

And I'm your child.

And I'm highly favored.

And I'm blessed.

And I'm anointed.

And Lord, good things.

They're beating down my joy.

They come from all over the place, Lord.

Now you're walking in the spirit.

Guess what happened?

Your eyes are not on you.

They're on him.

Hallelujah.

All right, I'll close with this.

Worship team, come on up.

Usher's and usher its.

Get the communion elements ready.

This is, I believe, one of the grit my opinion.

One of the greatest Old Testament passages ever.

Why?

Or is it so great because it points to the new?

It's an Ezekiel 36 and verse 26.

This is what walking in the spirit is.

It's a prophecy about the new covenant.

It's a prophecy about you.

And the system that you're going to serve God under.

I will give you a new heart.

And put a new spirit within you.

They didn't have that back then, but you do.

I will take out the heart of stone.

I will take the heart of stone, excuse me, out of your flesh

and give you a heart of flesh.

I will put my spirit within you.

I will put my spirit within you.

And cause you.

Do you see that?

I will cause you.

I will cause you to walk in my statutes.

And you will keep my judgments and do them.

Please leave that verse up there.

This is what walking in the spirit is.

This is what walking in Christianity.

Yielding to the greater one that's in you.

As you're receiving your community elements,

just listen to this story.

It's an example I have of this walking in the spirit

and how the new covenant life is to be lived.

First year Bible school.

I had this wonky, red, sanfered, and sun pickup truck.

And the tailgate was open because it was full.

Everybody over 40 joined me in singing,

and the other kids are like,

YouTube it.

At a tailgate, I was backing up,

but it was a tight squeeze in between two cars

and I had a friend from Bible school.

He was in his early 20s like me.

He had glasses.

They were like half an inch thick.

You couldn't tell whether his eyes were on the inside

or the outside.

You could never tell which way he was looking at you.

I'm just saying that because that's not the guy

that you want signalling you on how you're going to back up.

But that was my guy.

And so I'm backing up and I'm going to do a half.

And he's gone.

Like I got yard.

And I'm like, I don't have as much room as he's gesticulating

that I have.

And all of a sudden, you can't sneak up with the,

you got to slowly and then start.

But he just, he went from, come on.

And I hit the brake and I realized I hit the car.

And I'm thinking,

get out of my car and I see you.

I'm miracle.

I didn't wreck the back end of the car.

It was so bizarre.

I had a tailgate that was open to hit the tail light.

Didn't even smash or break the tail light.

But left like a pea-sized hole in the tail light.

And my first thought was,

just leave.

I don't want to get stuck with a bill for 150 bucks.

I hadn't gotten a revelation of sewing and reaping and seed time

and harvest and God's prosperity at 150 bucks.

On top of my budget, 23 year old Bible school student

that would erect me for a month.

Perfect. What's the harm?

But I just even thought that I just felt,

ah, that's not the right thing to do.

So what I did was I got out a note and I wrote my name,

what had happened, my contact information,

my phone number and left it on the windshield.

I want you to note.

They never called, by the way.

God's goodness.

But I want you to note,

when you look at the Old Testament,

there are different laws and Leviticus.

There is not one that says,

when thou art backing up thy truck

and thou smashes into thy neighbor's tail light,

make it thou sure that thy leave a note

with thy contact information.

It's not there.

What was I doing?

It's what you've done, too.

You were living out of your new created,

born again, spirit, the new heart that he has given you.

And he was causing you to walk in his statutes,

to anyone who would say the grace message

is an assault on holiness.

They don't know what they're talking about.

The exact opposite is true.

Because it actually causes you to come up

to an even greater way of hold.

There's strict law here instead of say,

hey, look, pornography is okay,

but as long as I don't cheat on my wife,

there are people who look to the long sea

because the law never says anything about that.

And God said, hey, Jesus, through Jesus,

there's even a higher standard.

You don't have to have that stuff in your head.

You don't have to put it before your eyes.

And you can be set free from that.

Hallelujah.

So grace, and by the way,

I feel like after dropping that bomb,

people just need to hear you were loved.

You were loved.

And grace is an empowered.

Grace is an empowered against sin,

and he's not put off by you

while he's working it out in you.

Can you get that?

He's not disgusted with you.

And like, he's helping out,

but man, he can't even stand the sight of you.

He's there, loving you.

And you're like, don't look at me.

I'm so ugly.

No, he's there.

He's fixing.

And do you just keep looking at him?

And he loves you more than you love you.

Is that possible?

Yes.

Hallelujah.

Well, I think we should definitely drink and eat to that.

Amen.

I want you to examine your life.

Where are you lacking?

Where are you deficient?

Where are you missing?

This is the solution.

It's Jesus.

And when we partake of communion,

according to the Word of God,

we are partaking of Him.

This morning, I woke up with some deficiencies.

I looked around at my bedroom basement.

It's normally so beautiful and put together.

It's messed up.

It's trusting.

The purpose they can't solve it.

They keep sending different people over.

Each one has a different theory.

Meanwhile, I still have the found.

Coming up, I trusted when I partake.

I appropriate the promises of God by faith.

He's got a solution.

He's going to work it out.

Hallelujah.

What are you lacking in your finances,

in your mind, socially,

in your career, in your business?

Are you missing anything?

You know who the answer is, Jesus.

And you're not eating away for drinking some grape juice.

You are partaking of the risen Lord.

And believe that His power comes upon you when you do.

Can you do that by faith?

Lord, we trust you that you are working on our behalf.

And we invite your power.

Lord, we don't receive communion in an unworthy manner.

An unworthy manner would be if we just ate and drank

and didn't think anything was going to happen.

But we believe that your power is released.

In Jesus' name, so partake.

Eat of His body and drink of His blood.

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.

Thank you for listening.

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