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May 9, 2023
Breaking Free from Sin's Grip: The Power of God's Grace Unleashed
Are you ready to break free from the bondage of sin? In this powerful episode, we explore the message from Pastor Bojan “Bo” Jancic as we reminisce about getting married at CityLight Church's original Queen's location and discuss the importance of placing our trust in God during difficult times. Revelation, the new covenant of grace, misconceptions about repentance, dying to sin, and God's grace are just a few of the topics we cover.
Focusing on key verses in Romans 6, we examine the powerful connection between faith, love, and grace, and how they can help us overcome the struggle of serving God in our own strength and effort. We also discuss the importance of yielding to the greater one who lives within us and the role of the law within Christianity.
Listen in as we delve into the many ways God's love and grace surround us, and remember, you are loved and surrounded by grace.
Visit http://citylightnyc.com for more information and resources.
Chapters
Transcript
Our original Queen's location, affectionately known as the little house on the Prairie Church. And this is the church where on December first two thousand and twelve, my wife and I got married with a bunch of city lighters. It was really open to the whole church right here. And we so often forget that. When I say, we, I mean, my wife and I, and then it kinda like hit me when I was ministering here on just Friday for a revival night. Oh, yeah. We got married here. I mean, we were corny back then. My little doggy was my ring bearer. I had a Tuxedo, ran right down the aisle. I trained them. It's a toy poodle. People don't know they're like the fourth not like. They're the fourth smartest dog on the planet. They come with their own library card. Train them, I said, ring my ring now boy and he went. And he had a box strapped to his back. And that's why, really, I shared this for the halls. So thank you. It worked.
0:02:01
How many of you appreciated Bonnie Andrews last week? He always brings a solid word. And so you may have heard already. He got that phone call from me at one thirty in the morning. As I was flooding again, and I asked him if he'd be if he'd be willing. I didn't wanna bother him I'd already called up several other pastors who only have evening services, but none of them could do it. Just don't tell Bonnie that it wasn't my first choice. But if you're watching Bonnie, You weren't my first choice, but you were God's choice. And so what are friends? You know? I called up faster Ernst, you know. He's got an evening service. He's one and he was in the poconos with a bunch of bros. He was like, I I'm on a retreat man having the time of my life. I can't make it back in time. I'm like, okay. No fault on him. But what's been happening is since September, we have two levels in our condo and The lower level is where we sleep, the bedrooms for us and the kids. And there's also a boiler room.
0:03:18
And in September, After a night of rain, my wife said, I hear something coming out of the boiler room and I opened the door And it was like I was teleported to a supernatural fantasy land. It was like anarnia. And there was this guy Geyser coming out of a drain hole. And I'm not a certified plumber, but I know that in a drain hole, the water should be going down, not up. And in this case, it was shooting up. So I immediately called up our building manager and they replaced one sump pump that was gonna fix it. Then it happened again a few months later whenever there's heavy rain. I'll pups the guys. So they said, you know, there's a secondary sump pump that's sold. So they replaced that? Well, that didn't fix the problem.
0:04:06
Again, after heavy rainfall, And then they kind of put it on the back burner. We'll figure this out. Well, in the meantime, then, we flooded. And by the way, when I say we flooded, I mean, we flooded It came now out of the boiler room. Some pump stopped working completely, and our bedrooms were inches underwater.
0:04:24
And then and this is where it gets really interesting. Insurance denied us because they sent their LEAP detection expert who couldn't recreate the flood. And I'm just thinking, how are you gonna recreate the flood? But because the sun pump kicked back on, all the water was out of the boiler room and so all you saw was the wet marks and they just, you know, the leak detection expert came with a hose into the back door and he sprayed the back door. And I'm going, what are you doing? I'm testing to see if rainwater will come in here. Well, of course, the little water. I mean, if you take a hose and a full blast squared it at any door, a little bit is gonna get through the crevice. And then he said, you know, this is because the rain got in through I said, I've been living here fifteen years. Rain's never got through and just noticed it's a cover door. This would have to be some magical rain that went in all these different but the insurance company was looking for any reason to deny us their claim.
0:05:22
And then, of course, it sprung up again, and the sun pump wasn't working. And I grabbed my phone and I videoed. I said, there's your recreated flood. There it is. Don't tell me that magic brain did this when there's a geyser. And so we flooded again this time only a little bit came out, didn't come out and flood flood. There's floods and there's this the one that messed this up was noah's art level flood. This was just the baby flood, but still drain shooting up water vertically.
0:05:53
And they came in and they started with a jackhammer drilling into the ground and they excavated this house trap and they did all this work only to finally tell me this is a city problem. The sewers here because they went outside, they had the key, they opened up the man holes, and they looked, and it was full of water. And they said, they're they're The water is not draining these sewers. The the the pipes and they went into details. They're only five inches wide. They should be twelve inches now. A city sewer system's falling apart. And you never wanna hear when there's a problem. This is a city problem. So I said, Now that it's a city problem, how long when you submit the request will it take to get fixed?
0:06:35
I said anywhere from five to eight months. And now we're looking at May, it rains heavily. If you look at the precipitation amounts for the year and then July, also experiences a lot of rain. And you don't want to just be sleeping where the guys are going off, wondering is it is it gonna eventually go so high that it's gonna enter into our bedroom? So why am I sharing all this? If any of you have a connection with the city, No, really. Because this is five to eight months and then he said, unless unless you know someone in the city. So NYC still operates old school. There's like the regular people and there's the one who knows someone. So if you or someone you love, know someone that works for any of the alphabet agencies connected with New York City Department of Buildings, he rattled off a few other acronyms that I forgot right now. Please let me know or email info at city light n y c dot com because I really don't feel like waiting five to eight months as black mold forms underneath the tiles of my children's bedroom, man.
0:07:46
I can laugh about it because I have a confidence in my spirit that this is gonna result in something good. And eventually, we'll look back on this and I'll be able to stand here and say, the Lord, he always makes all things work together for the good Amen. Because I have a faith goal. I I very rarely share my personal faith goals. Not for any reason other than I just I mean, sometimes I do. But I have a big faithful. I wanna purchase the condo above me because we're growing out of our current place. I wanna purchase the condo above me. And just connect them with a spiral staircase. And I'm believing God because that condo above me is not what it was when I bought my condo. Prices have tripled in that neighborhood. But who wants to purchase the condo now if you're atop a lake? So I'm trusting that this is all because the Lord is working it out, is gonna clean it up, get a solid foundation there, and then I'm gonna experience his blessing and we're gonna get that thing because I wanna forever home in New York City.
0:08:56
I don't wanna move out to Long Island. I don't know really. Our family is growing. Our kids our kids our kids basically are in a glorified walk in closet, sharing the room and bunk beds. And you don't want that into their teenage years and and and the way it's set up, they have to walk out and cross our room. So that's cute. Now when they're eight and four, it's gonna get very uncute very quickly. And right now, you know, I walk out, use the bathroom, middle of the night and go, like, you know, that bed looks more comfortable. Boom. Jump in the middle. Then we gotta wake up and then I'll go back. So I don't wanna move to New Jersey. I wanna forever home here, trusting that it's all gonna work out for the good.
0:09:42
So we're in Romans seven other than that brief flood interruption and Bonny Andrews brought the Word of the Lord We're going through Romans six, seven, and eight, and then we'll be going through Galatians because we're on a journey of grace. Why is grace so important? Because grace is what our new covenant is founded on, and we're under the new covenant. We're no longer under the old covenant of his law, we're under the new covenants of his grace, purchased and ratified with the very blood of Jesus. Yet, even though we're under the covenant of grace, so few believers, percentage wise, truly understand what grace is. And if you don't know what grace says, you're gonna or they have a cursory understanding of grace, they're gonna miss out on so much they're gonna get to heaven and realize, wow, I could have lived with so much more of heaven on earth. Instead, I missed out because I couldn't tell the difference between all the new covenants. And there is a difference.
0:10:47
And what happens in the church so often is that there is a mixing of the covenants. People take a little bit of the old covenant, a little bit of the new covenant, put it in the bag, shake together, and then come up with their own covenant. And you cannot mix the two. You're either living under the old or you're living under the new We still read the old, we still treasure the old. The old is god's word to us, but we need to read the old with the understanding that the rules are different today.
0:11:21
So things that you read in the old covenant, you always read through the lens and in light of the finished work of the cross. Like for example, in the Old Testament, It says that the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. And then you have new testament Christians quoting that for themselves today. Or you can't trust the heart. It's desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. But under the new covenant, you've been given a new heart. A born again heart, a heart, a spirit that's filled with his holy spirit. So when you're living out of your inward man, you're no longer desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. Hallelujah.
0:12:08
You read some of David's prayers like in Psalm fifty four, Take not your holy spirit from me. That's an old covenant prayer. You never have to enter the new covenant, but God, don't take your holy spirit from me. Under the new covenant, he's not going anywhere. He's in you. You've been sealed with him, and you can have that confidence and that assurance And one good indicator, speaking of confidence, one good indicator for what covenant you're living under is your confidence level before god. If you're under shame, if you're under guilt, if you're under condemnation, if you don't know how to boldly come before his throne of grace, Your confidence is hit because you're trying to serve god in your own strength under the law. But under the covenant of grace, you know who you are. Amen. You know that you don't have to rely on yourself, but you can lean on what he's already done for you.
0:13:08
So we're gonna just quickly because we had a week break I wanna just quickly recap, I say, quickly in quotes, recap Roman six. It's just some key verses. The world on the same page, because Roman six seven and eight are all connected. So Romans six beginning in verses one through two, just to recap, so we're all on the same page. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for revelation. Thank you, Lord, for that eighteen inch descent from our head down to our heart These things concerning grace, they are not naturally discerned.
0:13:52
They are spiritually learned and discerned and understood. When I pray for revelation, I don't just do that because it's cute in a church setting. We need revelation, the word, apocalyptic, the peeling back of the curtain. The removing of the veil so that we can see. Because the way we're all wired, no matter what religion we've come out of, what faith tradition, what country, what culture, what remote island were all wired as fallen man for legalism and religion and to live under the law. Another synonym for living under the law is trying to please god in your own strength. Trying to serve him with your own effort. And so, Paul begins to preach and declare this new covenant of grace. And it's mind blowing for people. And he says we're sin abounds, grace super abounds. It abounds much more and he's really being true to grace and he realizes his audience is freaking out as people tend to do.
0:14:58
When they first hear that nothing you could ever do will cause god to take one drop of his love away from you. And when you first hear that there is nothing you can add to the finished work of the cross and that you don't enter into heaven based on your performance. But through faith in Jesus' perfect performance on the cross. And there is initially it could just cause your brain to go untilt, does not compute, does not compute. And you a typical response when first hearing graces, you mean that if God not only will forgive me, but you're telling me he has already forgiven me. Everything past the present and future you have right now.
0:15:44
And many preachers are afraid to say this, You have non imputation of sin. That was first prophetically called forth by David, blessed is the man whom The Lord does not imputes sin to. And then under the new covenant, Paul several times says ye should you fall, should you sin. It doesn't even go to your account. So to a new testament believer who's struggling and saying things like, I don't know if the Lord has forgiven me. I've done some things after I got saved. Could he You don't understand. He he already has. Well, then I apologize enough. Well, before you even said, I'm sorry. He forgave you. In fact, this is why people confuse repentance with asking for forgiveness.
0:16:33
The word repentance is often phrase and used like as a synonym for ask for forgiveness. Did you repent of that sin? The churchyard was saved and then they repented out. Like, it was something in me and I needed to repent it out. Expungent. But repent is the Greek word, Matanoia, means to change, to change your mind.
0:16:57
So when Jesus came with a message of repentance, his message was repent and believe the gospel. He was speaking to a religious people who trusted in themselves saying repent do a one eighty. Change your mind. You can't help yourself. Repent and do what? Believe the gospel. That I have done it all for you. So change your mind. So when you repent, you're not asking for forgiveness because as it is, all your sins have already been forgiven you. Past the present and future. Yeah. It's amazing this glorious message is one that bound Christians will fight you the most on.
0:17:37
Like some people have an addiction to their prison cell of religiosity. Or they just feel like it's too radical? I can't make any apologies for the Lord. He is radical. And he's extreme. And his blood has purchased more than many of us could ever realize. So Romans six verses one through two, obviously, when you hear something so radical and so extreme, there's this error that people can go through in thinking.
0:18:11
So is God just saying we could sin and do whatever we want? And the reality is is when when you've been made new from the inside, what you want changes. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid or certainly not? How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
0:18:43
So Paul, the first time that we're coming up on in the new covenant, he introduces this concept, also very mind blowing. That we die to sin? A great question to ask is when did that happen? When did we die to sin? Two thousand years ago, on the cross, your sin nature, my sin nature, was nailed there with Jesus. And he says that as a fact. You died there with him. You were crucified, and there's that word that's repeated many times, together. You were crucified together with him. You say I wasn't even born yet. God exists outside of time. In the mind of God, you were there in Christ. So when he looks at the old you, he sees Jesus on a cross. When he looks at you today, now, born again. He sees you as Jesus resurrected and sitting at the right hand of the father. Hallelujah.
0:19:53
Verse six. Just going through some key verses in Romans six. Verse six is a key verse. Knowing this that our old man. What is the old man? It's our sin nature. A part of us that is against god, the part of us that is contrary to god, a part of us that first entered men with the fall of Adam and Eve and was passed down to us, knowing this that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves of sin. So just say this with me right now, and this is something that you might wanna say daily. This is what all the old songs. That's so much the new stuff, but all the old hymns.
0:20:36
This was always a central theme. Why? Because it is the very foundation of the new covenant. This is why we take communion to remind us of what happened on the cross. It wasn't it was several things, but it wasn't just our sin being punished in Jesus. It was our sin nature being killed there with him. By the way, this stuff, it doesn't land until you Meditate on it, repeat it to yourself, read it for yourself, pray these verses, ask for god to make it real to you. And when you understand that your old nature was crucify there with him, then you'll no longer be a slave to sin.
0:21:24
Verse eleven, Likewise, you also reckon yourselves. It didn't just become southern and say reckon. I reckon. That's an accounting term. It means put it down that it's so. It's a fact. It's so. It's marked to your account. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin. But alive to god in Christ Jesus are lord. So in that verse is a key on how to live free from the enslaving bondage of sin.
0:22:07
Anyone who is a Christian, though they may be caught up in a sin cycle, Though they may have some type of synodiction, their inward man, to reel them, doesn't want to have anything to do with sin, though they may be caught up in it. And I asked this question just a couple of weeks ago and through Romans six, I said, how many of you If you could hit a button, you'd never ever sin again and hands went up all over the room because you don't wanna sin. But often, we don't know how to stop. I'll tell you how you don't stop. You don't stop by really, really trying hard. You don't stop by willpower.
0:22:49
Oftentimes, in churches, the way the gospel is presented It's it's presented like we're in the setting of a giant Like, get forgive me the words. The words are failing me, but Like like we're in a setting, we're we're all together to just work on ourselves, and that's so exhausting. That's the very definition of religion. Trying to change with your own self effort. In your own strength with your own power. Is there any wonder why people leave the church? Because there's so many times you can fall down and get back up and fall down after having kissed the pavement and you constantly feel a shamed and condemned and like you can never change and never measure up. And then it just gets exhausting and the whole time Satan is whispering in your ear, you might as well just give up It's too hard. It's too hard. God's displeased with you. You might as well give up and then you eventually eventually leave. That's why.
0:24:02
For every one of us, the statistic is there's fifty protacles that no longer come to church. That's too many. They never say that's the reason. They say other things, like you offended me pastor when you said that. The usher didn't smile at me when I came in. I can't believe you only have one bathroom in this little house on the Prairie Church. They'll say those things, but they'll never say, you know what? I really got sticking tired of myself because I felt like I couldn't please an unpleasable god. So what is the answer?
0:24:33
Now, typically, we're taught that justification you being pronounced not guilty. That's what justification is. Is by faith and everybody will go yeah. But then sanctification, the process of being made holy It isn't by faith. It's by your own strength, your own effort, and your own will power. Isn't that how it's presented? And it's not justification is by faith, and sanctification is by faith. Yeah. Faith in what? That's a good question to then ask. Alright? I can be set free from this vicious cycle of sin. I love the Lord. But it seems like sin's gonna hold on me. How do I change? I tried. How do I get set free? Faith and what? Faith in what we just read that your sin nature was killed, was crucified there together, co crucified with him. And that's why he says reckon yourselves.
0:25:37
I reckon, put it down that it's so when you see yourself by faith, no matter what you're going through, no matter what you're struggling with, by faith, believe, Some sins will drop off for you like flies. In one of those little other sins, it may take some time. And no matter what you're going through, up or down, all around, you keep on reckoning yourself dead. And the whole time, you said, what should I do in the meantime? Enjoy your salvation. Enjoy enjoy him. Oh, but I feel like God is displeased. No. That's just your head warring with you. And you might be tired of you, but he's not tired of you. And he's not displeased with you. You keep on enjoying him.
0:26:38
Now, can you see how this is completely different than what religion will tell you? And it's completely different than the way we're wired as human beings. There is a proud part of us as humans that likes to work and perform for God because then we get some of the credit. We get to help us save you out. We get to add to the finished work of the cross, and then we can pat ourselves on the back and tell people, you know, the reason why my life changes.
0:27:04
I fasted so many times. And those all night prayer meetings, first one there, last one to leave. In my spare time, I was on the subway handing out tracks. And nothing you do will cause that transformation in you. It's always through the finished work of the cross. Even the laying out of hands or being in a service where the holy spirit is moving, the holy spirit didn't set you free from sin. Jesus set you free from sin two thousand years ago. It may be you entered into the anointing and it was made real to you and something clicked, but it always goes back to the cross. I'm not negating the work of the holy spirit, I'm just elevating the finished work of the cross, say men, and they go hand in hand. But the origin, the source of it all, is what what Jesus did on the cross That's why he said the holy spirit won't even come until first time glorified. He was and this he spake of his crucifixion.
0:28:06
So reckon verse fourteen, is this ending up even a longer recap than the first service recap? It's just this good foundational stuff that you should hear, not just that, an Easter service or one of special speakers in town. And you need to hear This is what Martin Luther said. He said concerning himself, I need to hear the gospel every day because I forget it every day. Do you know if I don't remind myself of the gospel consciously every single day? I've had this happen. And, you know, two days turn into three. And for two weeks, I'll go off on some other topic. Then when it's time to recall the gospel, I start to stutter. Just in my prayer and my and I have to remind myself of these gospel truths because Satan is working overtime to cause you to forget them. And this verse will end a recap of Romans six. Paul says for sin, shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace. Keep that verse up there, please.
0:29:17
So when you're talking about grace, people get very nervous. What kind of people? Well, preachers, pastors because When you have people under the law, they're much easier to manipulate and control because they're afraid and anyone who's afraid is easy to control. No, I'm not talking about the COVID epidemic. But it worked then too. Let me repeat that. People who are afraid are easy to control. People who are afraid are easy to manipulate and control. And if you're quivering and quaking and not understanding that you've been thoroughly forgiven, thoroughly accepted, totally justified, not trying to get sanctified, but he's already working it out in you. You're gonna be confident. You're gonna be bold. You're gonna be a true new covenant member of a church.
0:30:10
So they come up with all these false terms, weird terms like hypergrace. Do you do you teach the grace message? What do you mean the grace? Like, there is a different mess. There's not the grace message. There is the gospel. And the gospel is the grace message. And then there's these terms like hyper grace. Don't go too far in grace. What is hyper grace? I don't even know. I know I'm really hyped up about it. Really excited. And all of it is a fear that if you tell people just how love they are and how past tense forgiven they are, that they're gonna lose their minds and start swinging from the light bulbs and having an old testament golden calf party, strip off their clothes, and whoa, dance around naked. Yeah.
0:31:02
When the Bible says the exact opposite that verse has been behind me this whole time, what does the Bible say? Send won't have dominion over you. Why? Because you're in a good legalistic church where the pastor beats you every week? No. Because you're under grace. Because you're under grace. Conversely, sin will have dominion over you if you're under law.
0:31:27
Now here's where a big problem arises. That word law has multiple definitions. And the moment you'll I've quoted this verse to pastors, a verse from the scripture, and they'll miss that. It's in the description. Look, you're just saying throw out the law? You're just saying, Google, you're an antinomist. You're you're saying, have a disregard for God's law. No. The law could mean several things. Listen now. It has multiple definitions. The law could mean the word of God in general. That's not what we're talking about right now. Like when God commanded Joshua and Joshua one eight, to meditate, don't let the part out of his mouth, all the words of the law. It wasn't talking about Joshua, read the ten commandments over and over again. The law just meant the whole word of God, the whole counsel of God. The law could also mean the ten commandments. You could also refer to the four hundred and thirteen commandments that came after the ten commandments. And when we speak of the law, we're speaking together of the ten commandments and also The system, the old covenant system.
0:32:41
What is that whole system they were under? The old covenant law system is trying to be approved unto god based on your self effort and your performance. That's an antiquated system. Because we're now under grace, where we're approved and accepted, not based on our performance, but based on Jesus' performance, which is what? Perfect, complete. It is finished, done. And when you're under grace and you know you're under grace, You're looking at Jesus. Jesus is always before you.
0:33:14
Sin loses its power. When you're under law, sin gains its power. And that's why church that's exceedingly legalistic will have a lot of secret sin. Everybody will come all printed up and they'll have that's why they're also the more legalistic the churches, the fonier the churches. Because you can't show any weakness to anybody, so you just come in. Praise the Lord, hallelujah. How'd you we go? All as well with my soul and you speak in his Christian euphemisms and it's all so phony and so fake.
0:33:53
And there's people who are huge law adhering and, you know, it's really funny because Jesus when he was talking about the law and that system. For example, he he was talking about adultery. He said, alright. You who really want to fulfill the law, It says, don't commit adultery, but really if a man lusts in his heart after another woman, he has committed adultery already. He's saying this is what my father and I had in our hearts. This is actually the spirit of the law. It goes deeper than the letter of the law, thereby putting everybody under condemnation. In need of a savior, thank god we have one. His name is Jesus. Hallelujah. So nobody can pat themselves and say I was perfectly kept the law. And with that, let's begin Romans seven amen. And I'm not because I realized I did such a it was necessary. I I did such a such a long recap of Romans six. I'm gonna give you the greatest hits of Romans seven. Okay? Everybody, good so far.
0:35:14
Romans seven, Or do you not know brethren for I speak to those who know the law? That the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives. Verse two, for the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if While her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulturist. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law so that she is no adulturist. Though she has married another man. What? What is all this about? And people have used these verses to argue that if you're ever divorced, you can't remarry. If the person you divorced from is still alive and all these debates, Paul is just using this as an example that a covenantal obligation ends when a party is dead. That's it.
0:36:18
Three verses explaining to you that if there's a contract or covenant and they're not they're not synonymous A contract is between two humans because of mutual distrust. A covenant is between two parties because of mutual trust. The covenant you have with God is not a contract. It's mutual trust. So here's where for the first time we hear, not only is your sin nature, eradicated and killed at the cross, but also your relationship to the law, your relationship to that system, whereby you try to be approved unto god based on your own strength and your own self effort. And I just keep repeating this. I know. I'm gonna keep repeating it. Because when you get this, That's when your relationship with the Lord comes alive. That's when you start receiving answers to prayers. That's when the power of the holy spirit starts moving through you.
0:37:20
Listen, the Bible says, faith works. It works. How does faith work? It works by love. Everything you'll ever receive from the Lord. You're gonna receive it by faith. Your salvation, you received by faith, blessing, you received by faith, healing, you received by faith, a breakthrough, you received by faith. But faith works by love, What does that mean? If you don't get grace, if you don't get the foundation of the new covenant of his grace, you're never gonna fully and truly understand God's love. And as you receive God's love, the portal to his love is grace. As you receive his love, now your faith, all of a sudden, will start to work. Until then, it's like two wires close together, but they're not connected. When you get his love, You get his grace, faith sores, and your Christianity begins up hopping.
0:38:19
Verse four. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ. So you're dead to that antiquated system. You're dead to covenant one point o. You've been made alive through covenant two point o, what in the book of Hebrews is called a better covenant. And we'll get into why it's better. Paul talks about it.
0:38:49
You also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ that you may be married to another to him who was raised from the dead that we should bear fruit to god. For when we were in the flesh. So note that you're not in the flesh anymore. It is impossible for a new covenant believer to be in the flesh. Because that's another thing new covenant people will say, oh, god in the flesh there. No. You're not in the flesh. You can do fleshly things, but in the mind of God, you're not in the flesh anymore. 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. So if you are trying to serve god in your own strength, In your own effort, there is gonna be a fruit. It's gonna be a fruit to death. This is about the time where I hope you start to think, you know, sounds like Christianity is a lot about yielding. And letting go to the greater one who lives in me. And, like, you know, people say, die to self, die you're already dead, acknowledge yourself. Appropriate that by faith, reckon it's so, put it down to your account and believe you've died to sin.
0:40:19
Verse six, which is basically a summation of the first five verses. But now we have been delivered from the law. All this is really alive to you right now. I've sat down with pastors and said you've been delivered from the law. And I go, where does it say that? They're so in love with the law. What does it say there?
0:40:41
There was a couple who really got angry with me because I called the new covenant, a better covenant. How can you We still didn't and I and I I just calmly took out Hebrews and began to read, and you should have seen their faces. And these are verses. They've read probably a hundred times before. Where in those exact words, it says a better covenant. And he was just and they were, I don't know, angry with me or themselves or the whole situation. And then started to stutter and stuff. Hey. Take it up with the author. Hey. Where are we? Verse six. But now we have been delivered past tense from the law, having died to what we were held by. So that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oneness of the letter.
0:41:36
Verse seven.
0:41:36
What shall we say then? Is the law, sin. So now he's just addressing this. You keep saying we're delivered from the law and we're no longer under the law. The law must have been bad. Right? No.
0:41:49
The law is holy, and I'm not gonna go through all the verses now. I'm just gonna explain them to you. The law is holy. The law is good. The problem with the law is that it doesn't empower us to be justified before god. The law exposes us. It shows us up. You can go and get an MRI. And it'll reveal a disease. Is the MRI bad? No. It just exposed the bad thing that was there.
0:42:18
And what the law did was expose our propensity to sin. What the law did was show us that that's all we do. Is the law bad? No. The law is good and the law is holy, but it showed us up. But in so doing, it served the purpose. It was our tutor that took us by the hand and led us to Christ. The idea being when you fall down enough times, trying to do it in your own strength, you'll eventually quit looking at yourself and look to Jesus the savior. Hallelujah. So we're gonna fast forward now.
0:43:02
To verse, Fourteen. Because all of us can relate to this. These next few verses describe every Christian, and this is what's happening here. Every Christian who tries to serve God in their own strength in their own effort, AKA, under the law. For you know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. Sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that is what I want to do. That I do not practice. But what I hate that I do, does this sound like a good time to you? This sounds like torture. To live this way is to be a walking civil war, to have no peace, and to live this way is the very dish definition of religion. And many of us unfortunately can relate to this.
0:44:04
And Paul was saying, this was me. This is the Christian life. When you're first just getting it and you're still trying to serve a new covenant god under an old covenant. Is everybody getting this? Could you let your faces know it? Man, this is the blood of Jesus. This is why if if if you're struggling here, if you find your mind wandering, come and be a part of our summer life groups. There is an enemy of your soul and he does not want you to get this message. And so he will send you delusion. He will distract you. He'll put a spirit of stupor on you. All you see is my arms flailing around and my mouth moving, but nothing's hitting because you're just and this is the stuff that'll set you free.
0:45:02
For what I'm doing, I do not understand. For what I wanna do that I do not practice, but what I hate, I do. Verse sixteen, If then, I do what I will not to do. I agree with the law that it is good, but now it is no longer I who do it. But sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. Just pay attention to how many times Paul says I. I. I. I. Forty times since verse thirteen. He says I. That is how you know you're under the law. That is how you know you're trusting in eye. That is how you know you're struggling with eye because You're essentially an old covenant narcissist. You're obsessed with yourself and you're putting all the pressure on you. Doesn't matter that he already did the work It's a matter that he said it is finished. You're trying to do it all by yourself. Who wouldn't get frustrated with that? Who wouldn't get exhausted and tired living like that? Who wouldn't eventually then leave the church except the few that under the system remain and they got something wrong. They're going for punishment. Oh, there's enough truth in life that they cling to and drink from that while at the same time going to sleep hating themselves every night. For I know that in me that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells for to want to do right. It's a present with me. This is a Christian. I wanna do what's right. I wanna do what's right, but how to perform what is good. I don't find. Verse nineteen. For the good that I wanna do, I do not do. But the evil I will not to do that I practice. Just look at verse nineteen.
0:47:01
There is a disproportion of mount that their their faithful can be summed up with this one verse. Do you think that this is what the lord intended for Christianity to be like? Which church should be like. And this is why there's some people that come every Sunday vibrant, happy, laughing, And once I'm coming once a month and sit down and try to hide and don't look anyone in the eye, And and if you think I'm talking about you, I'm not. As people always think I'm talking about them, I'm talking about you, yes, and a hundred of you, This is a this is the real pandemic. This right here. I'm not talking about you, but this is a that would be awful. But yet, this is what people think Christianity should be like, and this is actually is cruel and unusual punishment. It should be nobody's normal. What a hell? The good stuff that I wanna do, I just don't do. And the bad stuff that I don't wanna do, oops, I just find myself doing. What is the answer? Let's keep reading.
0:48:18
Verse twenty. Right? Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I. Is that what we were up to? But but sin that dwells in me, I find in a law that evil is present with me. The one who wills to do good for I delight in the law according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind. And bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. And then verse twenty four, Finally, he collapses exhausted.
0:48:58
And he says, oh, wretched man that I am. At this point, he had used the word I forty times. And that word wretched, it doesn't mean wretched like amazing grace, how sweet the sound, it saved the wretched like me. Richard there in the Greek is to have been exhausted from intense labor. Like a coal miner coming up after a sixteen hour shift, ratchet.
0:49:26
People who leave the church Often, it's really one of two reasons. They wanna compromise their walk with the Lord, and they've been living under the law don't even realize if they wanna go and sin and be held unaccountable, or they get exhausted and they're wretched. And sometimes it's a combination of both. Because if you eventually get exhausted through the labor of trying to please the God who to you is unpleasable, then you're gonna go back off into the world and you like the man that an unclean spirit was cast out of and then seven wicked spirits worse than the previous ones, enter the man, and the latter state is worse than the first. A ratchet man than I am.
0:50:09
Who will deliver me? Remember who's this talking? A Christian, Paul, but not living under the new covenant. Trying to serve God with an old covenant mentality. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Paul was talking about and calling to a a way that ancient kings had of torturing their prisoners where they would take a corpse and tie it back to back to the back of a prisoner. So the corpse would be facing outward and everywhere the prisoner went there to have a corpse and everything would stand for months at a time.
0:50:45
Decomposing, decaying, putrefying, stinking, torture, Anything when you're trying to do Christianity under an old covenant mentality, you got a body of death attached to you. And he cries out who? Who's gonna deliver me from his terrible condition? And then he gives the answer. You see how beautifully Paul leads us from the frustration that we all experience when we don't get it? Who's gonna deliver me from this body of death? I thank god, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, hallelujah.
0:51:25
If your Christianity is I, I, I, I'm gonna better myself. I'm gonna try real hard. I'm gonna get disciplined. You're gonna eventually realize that you got a body, a death attached, and all you're doing is failing. But what happened here? He's leading us through the press eventually you fall on your face enough times and you realize the answer isn't with me. It's not through me doing anything. Who's gonna deliver me?
0:51:49
He finally looks not to himself, not eye eye eye eye, but he looks up and out, looks out to someone, not something, someone. Jesus I thank god through Jesus Christ, my lord. He's done it all. What's my job? If you did it all, what's my job? Believe and yield. Believe and surrender. Believe and wrecking yourself dead to sin. Hallelujah. Will this happen overnight? No. But there'll be an outworking of your grace. James said, work out your salvation with fear and trembling and legal and say, see, grace message is wrong. You gotta work. No. It doesn't mean that you gotta work. It means when you're on your grace, now let there be an outworking of that grace. And again, some of this in your life may take time. What should I do? Enjoy the journey. Hallelujah. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy him. Hallelujah.
0:52:59
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 Bojan Jancic in city light church. Visit us at http://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 rounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to CityLight NYC church podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.
0:02:01
How many of you appreciated Bonnie Andrews last week? He always brings a solid word. And so you may have heard already. He got that phone call from me at one thirty in the morning. As I was flooding again, and I asked him if he'd be if he'd be willing. I didn't wanna bother him I'd already called up several other pastors who only have evening services, but none of them could do it. Just don't tell Bonnie that it wasn't my first choice. But if you're watching Bonnie, You weren't my first choice, but you were God's choice. And so what are friends? You know? I called up faster Ernst, you know. He's got an evening service. He's one and he was in the poconos with a bunch of bros. He was like, I I'm on a retreat man having the time of my life. I can't make it back in time. I'm like, okay. No fault on him. But what's been happening is since September, we have two levels in our condo and The lower level is where we sleep, the bedrooms for us and the kids. And there's also a boiler room.
0:03:18
And in September, After a night of rain, my wife said, I hear something coming out of the boiler room and I opened the door And it was like I was teleported to a supernatural fantasy land. It was like anarnia. And there was this guy Geyser coming out of a drain hole. And I'm not a certified plumber, but I know that in a drain hole, the water should be going down, not up. And in this case, it was shooting up. So I immediately called up our building manager and they replaced one sump pump that was gonna fix it. Then it happened again a few months later whenever there's heavy rain. I'll pups the guys. So they said, you know, there's a secondary sump pump that's sold. So they replaced that? Well, that didn't fix the problem.
0:04:06
Again, after heavy rainfall, And then they kind of put it on the back burner. We'll figure this out. Well, in the meantime, then, we flooded. And by the way, when I say we flooded, I mean, we flooded It came now out of the boiler room. Some pump stopped working completely, and our bedrooms were inches underwater.
0:04:24
And then and this is where it gets really interesting. Insurance denied us because they sent their LEAP detection expert who couldn't recreate the flood. And I'm just thinking, how are you gonna recreate the flood? But because the sun pump kicked back on, all the water was out of the boiler room and so all you saw was the wet marks and they just, you know, the leak detection expert came with a hose into the back door and he sprayed the back door. And I'm going, what are you doing? I'm testing to see if rainwater will come in here. Well, of course, the little water. I mean, if you take a hose and a full blast squared it at any door, a little bit is gonna get through the crevice. And then he said, you know, this is because the rain got in through I said, I've been living here fifteen years. Rain's never got through and just noticed it's a cover door. This would have to be some magical rain that went in all these different but the insurance company was looking for any reason to deny us their claim.
0:05:22
And then, of course, it sprung up again, and the sun pump wasn't working. And I grabbed my phone and I videoed. I said, there's your recreated flood. There it is. Don't tell me that magic brain did this when there's a geyser. And so we flooded again this time only a little bit came out, didn't come out and flood flood. There's floods and there's this the one that messed this up was noah's art level flood. This was just the baby flood, but still drain shooting up water vertically.
0:05:53
And they came in and they started with a jackhammer drilling into the ground and they excavated this house trap and they did all this work only to finally tell me this is a city problem. The sewers here because they went outside, they had the key, they opened up the man holes, and they looked, and it was full of water. And they said, they're they're The water is not draining these sewers. The the the pipes and they went into details. They're only five inches wide. They should be twelve inches now. A city sewer system's falling apart. And you never wanna hear when there's a problem. This is a city problem. So I said, Now that it's a city problem, how long when you submit the request will it take to get fixed?
0:06:35
I said anywhere from five to eight months. And now we're looking at May, it rains heavily. If you look at the precipitation amounts for the year and then July, also experiences a lot of rain. And you don't want to just be sleeping where the guys are going off, wondering is it is it gonna eventually go so high that it's gonna enter into our bedroom? So why am I sharing all this? If any of you have a connection with the city, No, really. Because this is five to eight months and then he said, unless unless you know someone in the city. So NYC still operates old school. There's like the regular people and there's the one who knows someone. So if you or someone you love, know someone that works for any of the alphabet agencies connected with New York City Department of Buildings, he rattled off a few other acronyms that I forgot right now. Please let me know or email info at city light n y c dot com because I really don't feel like waiting five to eight months as black mold forms underneath the tiles of my children's bedroom, man.
0:07:46
I can laugh about it because I have a confidence in my spirit that this is gonna result in something good. And eventually, we'll look back on this and I'll be able to stand here and say, the Lord, he always makes all things work together for the good Amen. Because I have a faith goal. I I very rarely share my personal faith goals. Not for any reason other than I just I mean, sometimes I do. But I have a big faithful. I wanna purchase the condo above me because we're growing out of our current place. I wanna purchase the condo above me. And just connect them with a spiral staircase. And I'm believing God because that condo above me is not what it was when I bought my condo. Prices have tripled in that neighborhood. But who wants to purchase the condo now if you're atop a lake? So I'm trusting that this is all because the Lord is working it out, is gonna clean it up, get a solid foundation there, and then I'm gonna experience his blessing and we're gonna get that thing because I wanna forever home in New York City.
0:08:56
I don't wanna move out to Long Island. I don't know really. Our family is growing. Our kids our kids our kids basically are in a glorified walk in closet, sharing the room and bunk beds. And you don't want that into their teenage years and and and the way it's set up, they have to walk out and cross our room. So that's cute. Now when they're eight and four, it's gonna get very uncute very quickly. And right now, you know, I walk out, use the bathroom, middle of the night and go, like, you know, that bed looks more comfortable. Boom. Jump in the middle. Then we gotta wake up and then I'll go back. So I don't wanna move to New Jersey. I wanna forever home here, trusting that it's all gonna work out for the good.
0:09:42
So we're in Romans seven other than that brief flood interruption and Bonny Andrews brought the Word of the Lord We're going through Romans six, seven, and eight, and then we'll be going through Galatians because we're on a journey of grace. Why is grace so important? Because grace is what our new covenant is founded on, and we're under the new covenant. We're no longer under the old covenant of his law, we're under the new covenants of his grace, purchased and ratified with the very blood of Jesus. Yet, even though we're under the covenant of grace, so few believers, percentage wise, truly understand what grace is. And if you don't know what grace says, you're gonna or they have a cursory understanding of grace, they're gonna miss out on so much they're gonna get to heaven and realize, wow, I could have lived with so much more of heaven on earth. Instead, I missed out because I couldn't tell the difference between all the new covenants. And there is a difference.
0:10:47
And what happens in the church so often is that there is a mixing of the covenants. People take a little bit of the old covenant, a little bit of the new covenant, put it in the bag, shake together, and then come up with their own covenant. And you cannot mix the two. You're either living under the old or you're living under the new We still read the old, we still treasure the old. The old is god's word to us, but we need to read the old with the understanding that the rules are different today.
0:11:21
So things that you read in the old covenant, you always read through the lens and in light of the finished work of the cross. Like for example, in the Old Testament, It says that the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. And then you have new testament Christians quoting that for themselves today. Or you can't trust the heart. It's desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. But under the new covenant, you've been given a new heart. A born again heart, a heart, a spirit that's filled with his holy spirit. So when you're living out of your inward man, you're no longer desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. Hallelujah.
0:12:08
You read some of David's prayers like in Psalm fifty four, Take not your holy spirit from me. That's an old covenant prayer. You never have to enter the new covenant, but God, don't take your holy spirit from me. Under the new covenant, he's not going anywhere. He's in you. You've been sealed with him, and you can have that confidence and that assurance And one good indicator, speaking of confidence, one good indicator for what covenant you're living under is your confidence level before god. If you're under shame, if you're under guilt, if you're under condemnation, if you don't know how to boldly come before his throne of grace, Your confidence is hit because you're trying to serve god in your own strength under the law. But under the covenant of grace, you know who you are. Amen. You know that you don't have to rely on yourself, but you can lean on what he's already done for you.
0:13:08
So we're gonna just quickly because we had a week break I wanna just quickly recap, I say, quickly in quotes, recap Roman six. It's just some key verses. The world on the same page, because Roman six seven and eight are all connected. So Romans six beginning in verses one through two, just to recap, so we're all on the same page. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for revelation. Thank you, Lord, for that eighteen inch descent from our head down to our heart These things concerning grace, they are not naturally discerned.
0:13:52
They are spiritually learned and discerned and understood. When I pray for revelation, I don't just do that because it's cute in a church setting. We need revelation, the word, apocalyptic, the peeling back of the curtain. The removing of the veil so that we can see. Because the way we're all wired, no matter what religion we've come out of, what faith tradition, what country, what culture, what remote island were all wired as fallen man for legalism and religion and to live under the law. Another synonym for living under the law is trying to please god in your own strength. Trying to serve him with your own effort. And so, Paul begins to preach and declare this new covenant of grace. And it's mind blowing for people. And he says we're sin abounds, grace super abounds. It abounds much more and he's really being true to grace and he realizes his audience is freaking out as people tend to do.
0:14:58
When they first hear that nothing you could ever do will cause god to take one drop of his love away from you. And when you first hear that there is nothing you can add to the finished work of the cross and that you don't enter into heaven based on your performance. But through faith in Jesus' perfect performance on the cross. And there is initially it could just cause your brain to go untilt, does not compute, does not compute. And you a typical response when first hearing graces, you mean that if God not only will forgive me, but you're telling me he has already forgiven me. Everything past the present and future you have right now.
0:15:44
And many preachers are afraid to say this, You have non imputation of sin. That was first prophetically called forth by David, blessed is the man whom The Lord does not imputes sin to. And then under the new covenant, Paul several times says ye should you fall, should you sin. It doesn't even go to your account. So to a new testament believer who's struggling and saying things like, I don't know if the Lord has forgiven me. I've done some things after I got saved. Could he You don't understand. He he already has. Well, then I apologize enough. Well, before you even said, I'm sorry. He forgave you. In fact, this is why people confuse repentance with asking for forgiveness.
0:16:33
The word repentance is often phrase and used like as a synonym for ask for forgiveness. Did you repent of that sin? The churchyard was saved and then they repented out. Like, it was something in me and I needed to repent it out. Expungent. But repent is the Greek word, Matanoia, means to change, to change your mind.
0:16:57
So when Jesus came with a message of repentance, his message was repent and believe the gospel. He was speaking to a religious people who trusted in themselves saying repent do a one eighty. Change your mind. You can't help yourself. Repent and do what? Believe the gospel. That I have done it all for you. So change your mind. So when you repent, you're not asking for forgiveness because as it is, all your sins have already been forgiven you. Past the present and future. Yeah. It's amazing this glorious message is one that bound Christians will fight you the most on.
0:17:37
Like some people have an addiction to their prison cell of religiosity. Or they just feel like it's too radical? I can't make any apologies for the Lord. He is radical. And he's extreme. And his blood has purchased more than many of us could ever realize. So Romans six verses one through two, obviously, when you hear something so radical and so extreme, there's this error that people can go through in thinking.
0:18:11
So is God just saying we could sin and do whatever we want? And the reality is is when when you've been made new from the inside, what you want changes. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid or certainly not? How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
0:18:43
So Paul, the first time that we're coming up on in the new covenant, he introduces this concept, also very mind blowing. That we die to sin? A great question to ask is when did that happen? When did we die to sin? Two thousand years ago, on the cross, your sin nature, my sin nature, was nailed there with Jesus. And he says that as a fact. You died there with him. You were crucified, and there's that word that's repeated many times, together. You were crucified together with him. You say I wasn't even born yet. God exists outside of time. In the mind of God, you were there in Christ. So when he looks at the old you, he sees Jesus on a cross. When he looks at you today, now, born again. He sees you as Jesus resurrected and sitting at the right hand of the father. Hallelujah.
0:19:53
Verse six. Just going through some key verses in Romans six. Verse six is a key verse. Knowing this that our old man. What is the old man? It's our sin nature. A part of us that is against god, the part of us that is contrary to god, a part of us that first entered men with the fall of Adam and Eve and was passed down to us, knowing this that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves of sin. So just say this with me right now, and this is something that you might wanna say daily. This is what all the old songs. That's so much the new stuff, but all the old hymns.
0:20:36
This was always a central theme. Why? Because it is the very foundation of the new covenant. This is why we take communion to remind us of what happened on the cross. It wasn't it was several things, but it wasn't just our sin being punished in Jesus. It was our sin nature being killed there with him. By the way, this stuff, it doesn't land until you Meditate on it, repeat it to yourself, read it for yourself, pray these verses, ask for god to make it real to you. And when you understand that your old nature was crucify there with him, then you'll no longer be a slave to sin.
0:21:24
Verse eleven, Likewise, you also reckon yourselves. It didn't just become southern and say reckon. I reckon. That's an accounting term. It means put it down that it's so. It's a fact. It's so. It's marked to your account. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin. But alive to god in Christ Jesus are lord. So in that verse is a key on how to live free from the enslaving bondage of sin.
0:22:07
Anyone who is a Christian, though they may be caught up in a sin cycle, Though they may have some type of synodiction, their inward man, to reel them, doesn't want to have anything to do with sin, though they may be caught up in it. And I asked this question just a couple of weeks ago and through Romans six, I said, how many of you If you could hit a button, you'd never ever sin again and hands went up all over the room because you don't wanna sin. But often, we don't know how to stop. I'll tell you how you don't stop. You don't stop by really, really trying hard. You don't stop by willpower.
0:22:49
Oftentimes, in churches, the way the gospel is presented It's it's presented like we're in the setting of a giant Like, get forgive me the words. The words are failing me, but Like like we're in a setting, we're we're all together to just work on ourselves, and that's so exhausting. That's the very definition of religion. Trying to change with your own self effort. In your own strength with your own power. Is there any wonder why people leave the church? Because there's so many times you can fall down and get back up and fall down after having kissed the pavement and you constantly feel a shamed and condemned and like you can never change and never measure up. And then it just gets exhausting and the whole time Satan is whispering in your ear, you might as well just give up It's too hard. It's too hard. God's displeased with you. You might as well give up and then you eventually eventually leave. That's why.
0:24:02
For every one of us, the statistic is there's fifty protacles that no longer come to church. That's too many. They never say that's the reason. They say other things, like you offended me pastor when you said that. The usher didn't smile at me when I came in. I can't believe you only have one bathroom in this little house on the Prairie Church. They'll say those things, but they'll never say, you know what? I really got sticking tired of myself because I felt like I couldn't please an unpleasable god. So what is the answer?
0:24:33
Now, typically, we're taught that justification you being pronounced not guilty. That's what justification is. Is by faith and everybody will go yeah. But then sanctification, the process of being made holy It isn't by faith. It's by your own strength, your own effort, and your own will power. Isn't that how it's presented? And it's not justification is by faith, and sanctification is by faith. Yeah. Faith in what? That's a good question to then ask. Alright? I can be set free from this vicious cycle of sin. I love the Lord. But it seems like sin's gonna hold on me. How do I change? I tried. How do I get set free? Faith and what? Faith in what we just read that your sin nature was killed, was crucified there together, co crucified with him. And that's why he says reckon yourselves.
0:25:37
I reckon, put it down that it's so when you see yourself by faith, no matter what you're going through, no matter what you're struggling with, by faith, believe, Some sins will drop off for you like flies. In one of those little other sins, it may take some time. And no matter what you're going through, up or down, all around, you keep on reckoning yourself dead. And the whole time, you said, what should I do in the meantime? Enjoy your salvation. Enjoy enjoy him. Oh, but I feel like God is displeased. No. That's just your head warring with you. And you might be tired of you, but he's not tired of you. And he's not displeased with you. You keep on enjoying him.
0:26:38
Now, can you see how this is completely different than what religion will tell you? And it's completely different than the way we're wired as human beings. There is a proud part of us as humans that likes to work and perform for God because then we get some of the credit. We get to help us save you out. We get to add to the finished work of the cross, and then we can pat ourselves on the back and tell people, you know, the reason why my life changes.
0:27:04
I fasted so many times. And those all night prayer meetings, first one there, last one to leave. In my spare time, I was on the subway handing out tracks. And nothing you do will cause that transformation in you. It's always through the finished work of the cross. Even the laying out of hands or being in a service where the holy spirit is moving, the holy spirit didn't set you free from sin. Jesus set you free from sin two thousand years ago. It may be you entered into the anointing and it was made real to you and something clicked, but it always goes back to the cross. I'm not negating the work of the holy spirit, I'm just elevating the finished work of the cross, say men, and they go hand in hand. But the origin, the source of it all, is what what Jesus did on the cross That's why he said the holy spirit won't even come until first time glorified. He was and this he spake of his crucifixion.
0:28:06
So reckon verse fourteen, is this ending up even a longer recap than the first service recap? It's just this good foundational stuff that you should hear, not just that, an Easter service or one of special speakers in town. And you need to hear This is what Martin Luther said. He said concerning himself, I need to hear the gospel every day because I forget it every day. Do you know if I don't remind myself of the gospel consciously every single day? I've had this happen. And, you know, two days turn into three. And for two weeks, I'll go off on some other topic. Then when it's time to recall the gospel, I start to stutter. Just in my prayer and my and I have to remind myself of these gospel truths because Satan is working overtime to cause you to forget them. And this verse will end a recap of Romans six. Paul says for sin, shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace. Keep that verse up there, please.
0:29:17
So when you're talking about grace, people get very nervous. What kind of people? Well, preachers, pastors because When you have people under the law, they're much easier to manipulate and control because they're afraid and anyone who's afraid is easy to control. No, I'm not talking about the COVID epidemic. But it worked then too. Let me repeat that. People who are afraid are easy to control. People who are afraid are easy to manipulate and control. And if you're quivering and quaking and not understanding that you've been thoroughly forgiven, thoroughly accepted, totally justified, not trying to get sanctified, but he's already working it out in you. You're gonna be confident. You're gonna be bold. You're gonna be a true new covenant member of a church.
0:30:10
So they come up with all these false terms, weird terms like hypergrace. Do you do you teach the grace message? What do you mean the grace? Like, there is a different mess. There's not the grace message. There is the gospel. And the gospel is the grace message. And then there's these terms like hyper grace. Don't go too far in grace. What is hyper grace? I don't even know. I know I'm really hyped up about it. Really excited. And all of it is a fear that if you tell people just how love they are and how past tense forgiven they are, that they're gonna lose their minds and start swinging from the light bulbs and having an old testament golden calf party, strip off their clothes, and whoa, dance around naked. Yeah.
0:31:02
When the Bible says the exact opposite that verse has been behind me this whole time, what does the Bible say? Send won't have dominion over you. Why? Because you're in a good legalistic church where the pastor beats you every week? No. Because you're under grace. Because you're under grace. Conversely, sin will have dominion over you if you're under law.
0:31:27
Now here's where a big problem arises. That word law has multiple definitions. And the moment you'll I've quoted this verse to pastors, a verse from the scripture, and they'll miss that. It's in the description. Look, you're just saying throw out the law? You're just saying, Google, you're an antinomist. You're you're saying, have a disregard for God's law. No. The law could mean several things. Listen now. It has multiple definitions. The law could mean the word of God in general. That's not what we're talking about right now. Like when God commanded Joshua and Joshua one eight, to meditate, don't let the part out of his mouth, all the words of the law. It wasn't talking about Joshua, read the ten commandments over and over again. The law just meant the whole word of God, the whole counsel of God. The law could also mean the ten commandments. You could also refer to the four hundred and thirteen commandments that came after the ten commandments. And when we speak of the law, we're speaking together of the ten commandments and also The system, the old covenant system.
0:32:41
What is that whole system they were under? The old covenant law system is trying to be approved unto god based on your self effort and your performance. That's an antiquated system. Because we're now under grace, where we're approved and accepted, not based on our performance, but based on Jesus' performance, which is what? Perfect, complete. It is finished, done. And when you're under grace and you know you're under grace, You're looking at Jesus. Jesus is always before you.
0:33:14
Sin loses its power. When you're under law, sin gains its power. And that's why church that's exceedingly legalistic will have a lot of secret sin. Everybody will come all printed up and they'll have that's why they're also the more legalistic the churches, the fonier the churches. Because you can't show any weakness to anybody, so you just come in. Praise the Lord, hallelujah. How'd you we go? All as well with my soul and you speak in his Christian euphemisms and it's all so phony and so fake.
0:33:53
And there's people who are huge law adhering and, you know, it's really funny because Jesus when he was talking about the law and that system. For example, he he was talking about adultery. He said, alright. You who really want to fulfill the law, It says, don't commit adultery, but really if a man lusts in his heart after another woman, he has committed adultery already. He's saying this is what my father and I had in our hearts. This is actually the spirit of the law. It goes deeper than the letter of the law, thereby putting everybody under condemnation. In need of a savior, thank god we have one. His name is Jesus. Hallelujah. So nobody can pat themselves and say I was perfectly kept the law. And with that, let's begin Romans seven amen. And I'm not because I realized I did such a it was necessary. I I did such a such a long recap of Romans six. I'm gonna give you the greatest hits of Romans seven. Okay? Everybody, good so far.
0:35:14
Romans seven, Or do you not know brethren for I speak to those who know the law? That the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives. Verse two, for the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if While her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulturist. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law so that she is no adulturist. Though she has married another man. What? What is all this about? And people have used these verses to argue that if you're ever divorced, you can't remarry. If the person you divorced from is still alive and all these debates, Paul is just using this as an example that a covenantal obligation ends when a party is dead. That's it.
0:36:18
Three verses explaining to you that if there's a contract or covenant and they're not they're not synonymous A contract is between two humans because of mutual distrust. A covenant is between two parties because of mutual trust. The covenant you have with God is not a contract. It's mutual trust. So here's where for the first time we hear, not only is your sin nature, eradicated and killed at the cross, but also your relationship to the law, your relationship to that system, whereby you try to be approved unto god based on your own strength and your own self effort. And I just keep repeating this. I know. I'm gonna keep repeating it. Because when you get this, That's when your relationship with the Lord comes alive. That's when you start receiving answers to prayers. That's when the power of the holy spirit starts moving through you.
0:37:20
Listen, the Bible says, faith works. It works. How does faith work? It works by love. Everything you'll ever receive from the Lord. You're gonna receive it by faith. Your salvation, you received by faith, blessing, you received by faith, healing, you received by faith, a breakthrough, you received by faith. But faith works by love, What does that mean? If you don't get grace, if you don't get the foundation of the new covenant of his grace, you're never gonna fully and truly understand God's love. And as you receive God's love, the portal to his love is grace. As you receive his love, now your faith, all of a sudden, will start to work. Until then, it's like two wires close together, but they're not connected. When you get his love, You get his grace, faith sores, and your Christianity begins up hopping.
0:38:19
Verse four. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ. So you're dead to that antiquated system. You're dead to covenant one point o. You've been made alive through covenant two point o, what in the book of Hebrews is called a better covenant. And we'll get into why it's better. Paul talks about it.
0:38:49
You also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ that you may be married to another to him who was raised from the dead that we should bear fruit to god. For when we were in the flesh. So note that you're not in the flesh anymore. It is impossible for a new covenant believer to be in the flesh. Because that's another thing new covenant people will say, oh, god in the flesh there. No. You're not in the flesh. You can do fleshly things, but in the mind of God, you're not in the flesh anymore. 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. So if you are trying to serve god in your own strength, In your own effort, there is gonna be a fruit. It's gonna be a fruit to death. This is about the time where I hope you start to think, you know, sounds like Christianity is a lot about yielding. And letting go to the greater one who lives in me. And, like, you know, people say, die to self, die you're already dead, acknowledge yourself. Appropriate that by faith, reckon it's so, put it down to your account and believe you've died to sin.
0:40:19
Verse six, which is basically a summation of the first five verses. But now we have been delivered from the law. All this is really alive to you right now. I've sat down with pastors and said you've been delivered from the law. And I go, where does it say that? They're so in love with the law. What does it say there?
0:40:41
There was a couple who really got angry with me because I called the new covenant, a better covenant. How can you We still didn't and I and I I just calmly took out Hebrews and began to read, and you should have seen their faces. And these are verses. They've read probably a hundred times before. Where in those exact words, it says a better covenant. And he was just and they were, I don't know, angry with me or themselves or the whole situation. And then started to stutter and stuff. Hey. Take it up with the author. Hey. Where are we? Verse six. But now we have been delivered past tense from the law, having died to what we were held by. So that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oneness of the letter.
0:41:36
Verse seven.
0:41:36
What shall we say then? Is the law, sin. So now he's just addressing this. You keep saying we're delivered from the law and we're no longer under the law. The law must have been bad. Right? No.
0:41:49
The law is holy, and I'm not gonna go through all the verses now. I'm just gonna explain them to you. The law is holy. The law is good. The problem with the law is that it doesn't empower us to be justified before god. The law exposes us. It shows us up. You can go and get an MRI. And it'll reveal a disease. Is the MRI bad? No. It just exposed the bad thing that was there.
0:42:18
And what the law did was expose our propensity to sin. What the law did was show us that that's all we do. Is the law bad? No. The law is good and the law is holy, but it showed us up. But in so doing, it served the purpose. It was our tutor that took us by the hand and led us to Christ. The idea being when you fall down enough times, trying to do it in your own strength, you'll eventually quit looking at yourself and look to Jesus the savior. Hallelujah. So we're gonna fast forward now.
0:43:02
To verse, Fourteen. Because all of us can relate to this. These next few verses describe every Christian, and this is what's happening here. Every Christian who tries to serve God in their own strength in their own effort, AKA, under the law. For you know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. Sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that is what I want to do. That I do not practice. But what I hate that I do, does this sound like a good time to you? This sounds like torture. To live this way is to be a walking civil war, to have no peace, and to live this way is the very dish definition of religion. And many of us unfortunately can relate to this.
0:44:04
And Paul was saying, this was me. This is the Christian life. When you're first just getting it and you're still trying to serve a new covenant god under an old covenant. Is everybody getting this? Could you let your faces know it? Man, this is the blood of Jesus. This is why if if if you're struggling here, if you find your mind wandering, come and be a part of our summer life groups. There is an enemy of your soul and he does not want you to get this message. And so he will send you delusion. He will distract you. He'll put a spirit of stupor on you. All you see is my arms flailing around and my mouth moving, but nothing's hitting because you're just and this is the stuff that'll set you free.
0:45:02
For what I'm doing, I do not understand. For what I wanna do that I do not practice, but what I hate, I do. Verse sixteen, If then, I do what I will not to do. I agree with the law that it is good, but now it is no longer I who do it. But sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. Just pay attention to how many times Paul says I. I. I. I. Forty times since verse thirteen. He says I. That is how you know you're under the law. That is how you know you're trusting in eye. That is how you know you're struggling with eye because You're essentially an old covenant narcissist. You're obsessed with yourself and you're putting all the pressure on you. Doesn't matter that he already did the work It's a matter that he said it is finished. You're trying to do it all by yourself. Who wouldn't get frustrated with that? Who wouldn't get exhausted and tired living like that? Who wouldn't eventually then leave the church except the few that under the system remain and they got something wrong. They're going for punishment. Oh, there's enough truth in life that they cling to and drink from that while at the same time going to sleep hating themselves every night. For I know that in me that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells for to want to do right. It's a present with me. This is a Christian. I wanna do what's right. I wanna do what's right, but how to perform what is good. I don't find. Verse nineteen. For the good that I wanna do, I do not do. But the evil I will not to do that I practice. Just look at verse nineteen.
0:47:01
There is a disproportion of mount that their their faithful can be summed up with this one verse. Do you think that this is what the lord intended for Christianity to be like? Which church should be like. And this is why there's some people that come every Sunday vibrant, happy, laughing, And once I'm coming once a month and sit down and try to hide and don't look anyone in the eye, And and if you think I'm talking about you, I'm not. As people always think I'm talking about them, I'm talking about you, yes, and a hundred of you, This is a this is the real pandemic. This right here. I'm not talking about you, but this is a that would be awful. But yet, this is what people think Christianity should be like, and this is actually is cruel and unusual punishment. It should be nobody's normal. What a hell? The good stuff that I wanna do, I just don't do. And the bad stuff that I don't wanna do, oops, I just find myself doing. What is the answer? Let's keep reading.
0:48:18
Verse twenty. Right? Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I. Is that what we were up to? But but sin that dwells in me, I find in a law that evil is present with me. The one who wills to do good for I delight in the law according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind. And bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. And then verse twenty four, Finally, he collapses exhausted.
0:48:58
And he says, oh, wretched man that I am. At this point, he had used the word I forty times. And that word wretched, it doesn't mean wretched like amazing grace, how sweet the sound, it saved the wretched like me. Richard there in the Greek is to have been exhausted from intense labor. Like a coal miner coming up after a sixteen hour shift, ratchet.
0:49:26
People who leave the church Often, it's really one of two reasons. They wanna compromise their walk with the Lord, and they've been living under the law don't even realize if they wanna go and sin and be held unaccountable, or they get exhausted and they're wretched. And sometimes it's a combination of both. Because if you eventually get exhausted through the labor of trying to please the God who to you is unpleasable, then you're gonna go back off into the world and you like the man that an unclean spirit was cast out of and then seven wicked spirits worse than the previous ones, enter the man, and the latter state is worse than the first. A ratchet man than I am.
0:50:09
Who will deliver me? Remember who's this talking? A Christian, Paul, but not living under the new covenant. Trying to serve God with an old covenant mentality. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Paul was talking about and calling to a a way that ancient kings had of torturing their prisoners where they would take a corpse and tie it back to back to the back of a prisoner. So the corpse would be facing outward and everywhere the prisoner went there to have a corpse and everything would stand for months at a time.
0:50:45
Decomposing, decaying, putrefying, stinking, torture, Anything when you're trying to do Christianity under an old covenant mentality, you got a body of death attached to you. And he cries out who? Who's gonna deliver me from his terrible condition? And then he gives the answer. You see how beautifully Paul leads us from the frustration that we all experience when we don't get it? Who's gonna deliver me from this body of death? I thank god, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, hallelujah.
0:51:25
If your Christianity is I, I, I, I'm gonna better myself. I'm gonna try real hard. I'm gonna get disciplined. You're gonna eventually realize that you got a body, a death attached, and all you're doing is failing. But what happened here? He's leading us through the press eventually you fall on your face enough times and you realize the answer isn't with me. It's not through me doing anything. Who's gonna deliver me?
0:51:49
He finally looks not to himself, not eye eye eye eye, but he looks up and out, looks out to someone, not something, someone. Jesus I thank god through Jesus Christ, my lord. He's done it all. What's my job? If you did it all, what's my job? Believe and yield. Believe and surrender. Believe and wrecking yourself dead to sin. Hallelujah. Will this happen overnight? No. But there'll be an outworking of your grace. James said, work out your salvation with fear and trembling and legal and say, see, grace message is wrong. You gotta work. No. It doesn't mean that you gotta work. It means when you're on your grace, now let there be an outworking of that grace. And again, some of this in your life may take time. What should I do? Enjoy the journey. Hallelujah. Enjoy the journey. Enjoy him. Hallelujah.
0:52:59
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 Bojan Jancic in city light church. Visit us at http://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 rounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to CityLight NYC church podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.
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