Grace Over Effort: Unpacking the Old and New Covenant

0:00 The more time you spend with him and a place of boldness, you'll realize that it doesn't matter at all what other people think. You'll realize it doesn't matter. The only one you need to live for is the Lord. The only one you need to please is the Lord. Listen, it is vital in the season that we're moving in as a world, as a country, as a Christian people, at a pivotal time, that the fear of man be broken off of you. In Jesus' name. 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 CityLightNYCcom.

0:41 That's CityLightNYCcom. 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. We're in Galatians, chapter four. I believe this is part five because some chapters have been split up into two messages, but we're in Galatians, chapter four. We're in the middle of this series called Clash of the Covenants, because it is vital, it is foundational.

1:22 It is absolutely a necessity that we know what covenant, what arrangement we have with God. And there is an old covenant, there is a new covenant and you must pick one that you want to live under. And you cannot mix the covenants. And that's what you find most often in the church A little bit of the old, a little bit of the new. Come up with your own non-biblical, confused covenant and then wonder why prayers aren't getting answered, wonder why you feel distant from God, wonder why you feel shame, guilt and condemnation, wonder why you're walking civil war and there's no peace and you never feel at rest in your relationship with the Lord. The answer is you haven't fully discovered grace yet.

2:03 You're living under mixture. And the whole of Galatians is Paul trying to wake the Galatians up who started off in grace. But very quickly the Judaizers came who added to the completed work of Jesus, because the gospel is Jesus plus nothing equals everything. Judaizers come in and they bring in mixture and they say well, jesus, plus stuff that you do equals everything. Well, you don't have to do anything, he already did it all. He cried out it is finished, paid in full as far as your salvation goes. You don't have to lift a finger.

2:44 Hallelujah, amen. So I used to read Galatians in my late teens, early 20s, before the Lord opened my eyes to Galatians. I had a really hard time getting into it. The gospel is I got into because Jesus is speaking to you right where you are. You can always and the words of Christ in red and I mean it's all the word of God. But sometimes as a teenager, and you really say you just want to read those words in red and they're like water to your soul. But then I get to Galatians and Paul's talking about these Judaizers and they want him to circumcise people. And I'm sorry but I couldn't relate to that problem. Feel me, and there's nobody here in 2023 chasing you around, going.

3:27 You got to get circumcised in order to be accepted by Christ and I'm going. What's? Some guys are cringing at me right now Just the very mention of it. I believe he used that example of circumcision not because that was. It's a metaphor for mixing of the covenants. But that face, that should be the face, a cringe, like what I have to do. What now? You're telling me? Jesus didn't do it all, and so I couldn't relate until I realized the Judaizers are everywhere. It wasn't a first century problem, it's an everyday problem. A Judaizer could be a person, could be a church, could be a doctrine. Oftentimes, most often, it's the voice of our own head.

4:08 A Judaizer tells you that you, you, oh, god, something, and that you have to help out with salvation, that you have to add to the already completed work of the cross, because the whole Old Testament, the whole system of the law there was an emphasis on you, on me, hint. That's why it didn't work. It always failed because it depended on humans. Have you discovered yet that humans tend to fail in trying to please God? So the whole old system of the law was based on you working really hard, trying to keep religious, trying to keep holy crossing every T, dotting every I in an attempt to get God's righteousness, in an attempt to be found approved before God.

5:02 Yet you always failed. Why? Because if you're guilty in breaking the law in one part, you're guilty of breaking the entirety of the law. It's a rough system. It's like you write a 5,000 word essay it's perfect, it's brilliant, but one comma you put in the wrong place. Your points are awesome, your spelling is immaculate, Sentence structure one. You put a comma in the wrong place and you get an F on the test. That's what it's like to live under the law, Under grace. However, living on the right side of the cross, you're not endeavoring to gain God's approval with your own self effort.

5:45 You already have all of God's approval. You have all of your sins forgiven. You are adopted into the family of God, not based on what you do or can't ever do, but based on what already Jesus has done in the past 2,000 years ago for you Living under the law, living under the old covenant. It breeds insecurity. It breeds a performance mentality. You can never enjoy God, you can never rest. You always got to work for him and you're only as good as your last work. So you got to constantly impress him, you got to show up. It's a torturous relationship. This is why people run away from the church, because eventually they just all tuckered out.

6:29 And it's no different from paganism. We do missions trip to Guatemala, where they're new Christians. They used to be pagans, they used to. They're the Mayan and they carry that mentality into their Christianity, where they're constantly trying to and appease an unappeasable deity. And it's exhausting, torturous. Under the new covenant you have rest, amen. Yet, because that is the cross of Jesus and the grace that affords us. That's the foundation for all that we do. This is why the enemy attacks it so much and this is why Judaizers will come. Judaizers are covenant mixers.

7:13 They want you to get up from under grace and assume more responsibility. But really it sounds noble, doesn't it? But when you do that, you now move away from grace and, according to the very words of Paul, you nullify the grace of God. So pick a covenant and decide to live exclusively under that covenant. Hint, I would pick the new one, since that's what Jesus came to install and that's what he bled for. Amen, hallelujah. So let's continue in Galatians. We'll start in chapter four. That's where we are, and Paul had just finished telling us that we're heirs of God, that we're adopted into the very family of God.

8:00 He explained that the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ. Why was the law our tutor to bring us to Christ? He said. Well, I would not have known sin if it wasn't for the law. The law didn't say don't do that, and I then did it. I realized I have a sin nature. I realized I'm powerless against it. And so the law shows you up. It's like a giant magnifying glass and an x-ray, and it detects sin in your life. What's the point of that? For us, as people, to realize that we're powerless. We are powerless too. Stop sinning. We're in and of ourselves. We're powerless to change our own lives around, and we're powerless in and of ourselves to receive any kind of forgiveness.

8:43 We're lost, and so you get to the end of yourself. You know, to get saved or to get to the end of yourself, the doorway to salvation is one of humility. So you got to get to the end of yourself and realize I cannot do what's required of me. For many people the gospel doesn't open up until they realize that you have to be perfect to gain entrance into heaven Perfect, sin free. Whenever I explain that to someone and they get it, they all have the same look of horror on their face. Then quickly they look at me like, well, you're perfect, you know.

9:24 And then I have to explain to them no, experientially, in and of myself, I'm not perfect, but I have been perfectly forgiven. You have been perfectly forgiven. You've been given God's right standing. You've been justified, pronounced, not guilty. All of your sins, past, present and future, have been taken out of the way. You have non-imputation of sin. You have been imputed the very righteousness of God. And so that's how you're heaven bound, because when God looks at you, he cannot find one speck or a Yoda of sin in you. It's beautiful, isn't it? Hallelujah, it takes the pressure off, yeah.

10:07 And guess what? When the pressure comes off, you then live for Christ, when you truly get grace, you know, from the inside out, empowered by the engine of the Holy Spirit, the, the energio in the Greek, the energizing power of the Holy Spirit. What a difference that is when you just yield to him and now your spirit led. You're not trying to be religious, trying to be a good person, trying really hard to abstain from sin. Those people are miserable. You know they are. I tell you who knows they are. You talk to the world. They know they are. That's what they think of Christians, because they don't meet too many freed ones like you.

10:49 Hallelujah Paul says. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave. You have to establish that you are an heir, and this is under Greek and Roman rule. In the wealthy family, the young heir would have a tutor. I remember the law was our tutor, a tutor or guardian. Think of it as private school, but one on one, and this tutor or guardian would really stay close to the young child and train them and develop them and teach them, and oftentimes this child didn't have a lot of freedom. That's what he meant by. He's no different than a slave. He had to go through the process of being tutored.

11:31 As long as he's a child, it's not different at all from a slave, though in reality, he's master of all, but he's under guardians and stewards until the time this is great until the time appointed by the father. Today we have this arbitrary age 18, right, it doesn't matter where the kid is in their development at 18. Because society says they're old enough, get out the house, right? That wasn't so back in that culture. It was an appointed time of the father. The father said it might be 16 if you're really mature. It might be 25 if you're you know. It was the appointed time of the father. He decided when that child was an adult.

12:11 Verse three even so, when we were children, we were in bondage. This is so key here. He's saying when we were children. When we were children was when we were under the law, under the system of law Remember the system of law you as a hamster on a wheel trying to get God's approval, but always failing, never, ever resting because there was no finished work at the cross. He's saying we were in bondage under the elements of the world. That is the Greek tastocia to kosmu. This is I'm not trying to be fancy and show off my Greek.

12:53 This is so important because when Paul said elements of the world, everybody knew immediately what he was talking about. He used this phrase tastocia Stocia is a word that's found all over the Greek language, but especially when Plato was teaching little children the ABCs. And tastocia to kosmu is the ABCs of the universe. What are the ABCs of the universe? Paul says we were in bondage under the ABCs of the universe. Tastocia to kosmu that is something that all of his listeners would have immediately understood. This is something that Jews believed, greeks believed, romans believed.

13:35 Anyone on any continent, in any culture, innately believes this. And that's this you do good, you get good, you do bad, you get bad. Most people believe this today. Right, if someone totally secular would call it karma. Or you break the golden rule, bad things happen and grace flies in the face of this. Grace is the exact opposite of this. You got to get that. This is not how. God is, while we were yet sinners, in total rebellion to God, our backs turned to him. There is none that seeks after him, there is none that desires.

14:16 Before we came to Jesus, we didn't want him, we didn't love him, we loved our sin. But yet, while we were still sinners, christ died for the ungodly. When we were at our worst, christ came for us and it's not just at the cross. Still he does this over and over again that when you're at your lowest, when you're at your worst, when you've done bad, he'll come and give you good. So much so that Paul had to address this several times in the New Testament. Because warped people really that's us all. People will then look at that and go, wow, god is like so good, so can I do bad that even more good will come.

14:59 So everyone always goes so quiet when I. this is a real thing, you know. Every single one of you have thought this as you're being immersed in grace. I'm preaching it to you straight. There is no fine print. There is no nuance here. God is infinitely good, and God is way better to us than we are to him. He's way better to us than we are to ourselves. And some of my greatest personal breakthroughs listen, the greatest things that have come to me were not at the end of a 40-day fast, at the end of praying three hours. I've done all those things, but the vast majority of things that I will boast about that the Lord did for me.

15:46 They didn't come then. They came when I was in the gutter. They came after a stupid mistake, after I did something I shouldn't have done, after I made some idiotic, just faux pas and I'm like, oh man, I'm just such a mess up. And then God comes and goes. I love you and I don't give you bad for bad, I give you good for bad and what that does. Then now I'm on the floor in a puddle of my own tears and God is all right, we're going to pick you up, we're going to patch you up and I can watch you a present. Look what I have for you. I'm like I will serve you forever.

16:29 That is grace. That is how God operates and that is completely opposite of to stoichiya, to kosumu, the ABCs of the universe. This is why so many people don't get the gospel. They don't get Jesus because they're approaching it in the way they've been trained by their parents, by school, by society, and that you mess up. Uh oh, the chickens are going to come home to roost now. When's the other shoe going to drop? That's when the Lord loves, loves to show himself better to you than you are to him. And the point isn't then you experience that a few times. You'll get that question wow, maybe the Lord doesn't mind sin.

17:13 You know, he's just so awesome to me to yeah, he does, his blood, takes in away. His standard is holiness and no, we don't. Then sin, the grace should abound. Paul said God forbid. But what that does, and this is how a relationship with the Lord is built. When you meet someone and they're in love with God, you know why they're so in love with God. It's not because they live their life so perfectly, it's because they didn't. And over and over and over again. God still came to them and loved them. That is grace and that is what our love for him is founded on.

17:54 And if I have this testimony, you're a better person than me. Maybe you don't, maybe your testimony's. I got saved and I've just been flawless ever since. Awesome. But yet you were born in sin and while you were still a sinner, turning your back on God. Christ died for the ungodly Amen and you're saved under the ABCs of the universe. Can you see how this is totally different than every faith system in the world, totally different than every religious? And the reason why people reject the Lord is because they've been given this false version of Christianity that's in line with the ABCs of the universe. This is why people will get saved, mess up and then run from church because they feel like they've messed up.

18:35 They can never come back to the Lord again. Meanwhile, the Father is there with open arms saying come back to me. Who are you going to do to me when I come back? Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to love you so much, I'm going to bless you so much that you will never, ever think of turning your back on me again. Do you think? When that younger brother came back to the Father, do you think he wasted any more of his money? I guarantee you the parable of the prodigal son. That father had one obedient son after that. I'm telling you right now he's overwhelmed with the love of the Father. We were in bondage under the L. So the law is the ABCs.

19:16 The system of the law is the ABCs of the universe. Do bad, get bad, do good, get good. Verse five to redeem those. Oh, but when the fullness. Verse four but when the fullness of the time had come. I study this in the Greek out also, and it means at the right time. In case you're wondering what the fullness of the time was so much funnier in the first service, you ever ask yourself why did Jesus come when he came? Well, here's the biblical answer it was the right time. It was the fullness of the time. But it also fell in line with Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks, which almost everyone agrees was 490 years.

20:03 So he came at the right time to fulfill biblical prophecy. And even if you don't believe any of that, in all of human history there was a never a better time for God to come as man than that time when he came, the Roman Empire had taken control of most of the then known world. They built roads, they built bridges, they established trade systems and commerce so that, when Jesus did come, that's how the gospel and the good news could spread in the most efficient way At that point in history. And that's when he came, god and his infinite wisdom, and that's what made it the fullness of the time. God sent amen, right. God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law.

20:50 Under the law, you were not a son, paul said. Under the system of law, you were a slave. This is why Paul is going crazy. When I say crazy, I mean all emotional. It kind of loses it. It's the most unhinged. You see, paul, because you have these Galatians, who were slaves. Then they became set free in Christ, not relying on themselves but receiving the unmerited favor that comes from the Lord through Christ Jesus. And then the Judaizers come in and start adding works and mixing the two covenants and they immediately go back to being a slave. And Paul is saying what Does this make sense to you?

21:30 Who has hypnotized you? I know silly Galatians, right, we do this nonsense all the time we do it all the time. You gauging your relationship with the Lord by how you feel. You feeling like you always got to perform so that he would love you and approve of you. You're mixing the covenants. No, you're not running off to get circumcised as an adult, but it's the same thing. You now think you have to do something to gain God's approval. You don't have to do anything. You have to be in Christ To redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons.

22:13 And why this is so important is because they understood that when you were adopted when we get this in America today but it wasn't always the case, but under Roman times, even in the first century, it was the case when you were adopted, you had the same rights and privileges as the natural born heir. Yeah, oh yeah, take that to its fullest conclusion. You have the same rights as privileges as Jesus. That's why in the book of Hebrews it calls Jesus your brother. You're all children in the family of God. And show me where there's a distinction made.

22:54 Of course, jesus is God and we worship him, but as far as our standing before the Father, we're all in the family of God. Can we go back to verse four? I wanna make sure I, that's five, four please. I wanna make sure I said God said four, but one of a woman under the law. We're good To redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, god has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying out Abba, father, this is key.

23:37 It's a key because you will know if you're mixing the covenants, you will know if you're falling into the same trap as the Galatians. You know what a good metric for it is your level of boldness, your level of boldness before God and then your level of boldness before man. Alexander Dowie said something. I learned about it in Bible school. I've kept it all these years. Alexander Dowie is where the original healing rooms that Pastor Mo leads came from. It was then from him, john G Lake in South Africa, and to this day healing rooms continue. He said this sin makes cowards out of men. When you don't know, you're totally forgiven. You're a coward on the inside.

24:18 You can see it in the way people approach God, like an old worm coming up to the throne. There's no passion, there's no boldness. They're afraid. They don't even wanna pray long. They're afraid if they spend more than 10 seconds in the presence of God, a lightning bolt will come and strike them. They come in. God, please give me X, y, z and peace out, amen, before anything bad happens. And then they're always worried about what people think, what they don't have any boldness before man. But the Bible says the righteous are as bold as a lion. When you know who you are, when you know your identity in Jesus, there is a boldness, there is a cry. Cry doesn't mean boohoohoo.

25:00 When the Bible talks about boohoohoo it says weep. But over and over again, for example, people cried to the Lord, son of David, have mercy on me. It means you speak loudly and passionately. So when you receive the spirit of his son, you're not some timid Mickey Mouse, maybe Pamby Christian, wondering who you are. Oh, father, you know, if you want, if it be your will. This is the first thing that shocked me when I got saved. I was terrified of praying. I talked to the creator oh, and my first day saved with the Christians and they're praying and they're talking to him like he's a friend and they're speaking loud and I'm going.

25:40 Do you remember the first time, if you weren't raised in Christianity. The first time you heard Christians pray, my mind was blown. I was like they talk to God as though he's a friend. They talk to God with no filter. They just seem comfortable in his presence. You know, in religious people, come on, you can't get too familiar, can't get too. They always want to create a distance. No, he's your dad, he's your heavenly father, and you now have the spirit of his son. And there is a cry, there is boldness, and it'll manifest in every area of your life. First, with the Lord, you'll know you can come to him whenever, however, and then you'll realize, the more time you spend with him and a place of boldness, you'll realize that it doesn't matter at all what other people think.

26:26 You'll realize it doesn't matter. The only one you need to live for is the Lord. The only one you need to please is the Lord. And then the fear of man breaks off. Listen, it is vital, in the season that we're moving in, as a world, as a country, as a Christian people, at a pivotal time, that the fear of man be broken off of you, in Jesus' name. It is crucial. Something will happen where the masses will say oh, this is how we should think, this is how we should go. And you need to be the person going uh-uh and they'll call you every name in the book and they'll say you're wicked, and they'll say you don't have enough love, you don't have enough compassion, whatever.

27:13 And if you know biblically that's not the way to go, you need to be the one guy saying, mm-mm, I don't care what it costs me, I won't live by lies. That is not the truth. I'm following my Savior, amen, hallelujah. As a PS, can we just put a pen and clash of the covenants and grace verse law? I just, as a PS, just look at that verse. It's so beautiful. He says God has sent forth the spirit of his son. There was a lot of words, a lot of names for Holy Spirit that Paul uses, that other writers use that, for whatever reason we just don't use too much in the church. We always call him Holy Spirit, but Paul called him the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of liberty, the spirit of his son.

28:01 Why is that important? It's important. It's important because too often we separate the Godhead to a fault. I understand that God has manifested in three persons. I believe there is a trinity, but I also believe there is a unity, and sometimes almost bordering on paganism. People separated and they've moved away from a monotheistic faith and it's like they have three separate gods and the Holy Spirit is in third place, like he's not that involved. Yeah, he kind of comes later in the Bible, in Acts. He makes people speak in funny languages and he does a few miracles.

28:41 He's been present since Genesis, hovering over the water. You know, in creation you see the entire Godhead. You see the Father speak, the word, that's Jesus, while the Holy Spirit is merahepithing in the Hebrew, hovering like a mother hen over her chicks over the water. And when the word met the spirit, creation happened. You know where else. You see him At the crucifixion. What do you think the Holy Spirit was doing at the crucifixion? Kicking back in heaven, waiting for his time. On the day of Pentecost the Bible says that Jesus offered himself up through the uses another title for him the eternal spirit. The Holy Spirit was right there and the sacrifice of Jesus was received by the Father because it was offered through the eternal spirit.

29:25 And here the Holy Spirit is called the spirit of his son and the Holy Spirit is in another place called the spirit of the Lord, is it possible that Jesus is the Holy Spirit? Yes, are they separate? Yes. Does this make sense to your carnal mind? No, welcome to my world. No, I want to say this to you because I used to be able to beautifully describe the Trinity when I was 25 years old and fresh out of Bible college Really new. And then, the older I get, the more I pour into the scripture and the more I meet God, the quieter I am.

30:06 I just go, lord. There's some things I mean I get it, but I don't get it. And there's some things. There's some things that I'm only really gonna get when I stand before you. Amen. But I am convinced too many people separate them out, and when, to the detriment. When the apostle John appeared in the book of Revelation, he said I saw the one sitting on the throne. To some people they would say I saw the three sitting on the throne, I saw the one one, god manifested in three persons. Focus also on the unity as much as you do the Trinity. Why is that important?

30:46 It's important because when you ask for the Holy Spirit to come, it's not some other guy, it's the spirit of Jesus, it's his spirit, it's Jesus, the spirit of the Lord. When you talk to the Father, you're not talking to the stern, disciplinarian part of God. Jesus said you see the Father, you see me, you see me. You see the Father, we're one. This will help you. Amen, hallelujah. Let's go to verse seven. Therefore, you are no longer a slave. What does being a slave mean Under the system of law? But now you're a son. When are you a son?

31:26 When you're completely under grace. Wow, this sounds important. I should do a whole series on Galatians. So people are no longer slaves, but sons. Amen. Then and ere. Oh, this is so. Why are you all so in such a hurry back there, always in a hurry, I'm not blown through this. Then and ere of God. Brian, was it like that? In college the professor had the little clicker in his? Remember that guy? He had the little and then he would be like next slide, I'm gonna get one of those little clickers for the verses. I'm just I wouldn't trade my media team blessings for anything.

32:12 No clicker here. The Bible calls you heirs, right, listen, listen, listen. A good question, right, if the Bible says you're in there, a good question asked is what am I in ere of? What did I inherit? Testament is like last will and testimony. The new Testament shows you what you're in ere of. We never really talk about that. What did you inherit? He said well, I guess, forgiveness of sins, yeah. Healing in my body, yes, friendship with God, yes, prosperity financial, to be clear.

32:53 So when I say prosperity, you don't think like soul prosperity. Yes, soul prosperity, pocketbook prosperity. When I talk about money, I try to say it in the most offensive way possible, to ruffle feathers yes, financial prosperity, but really that's just the fruit. What's the root? It's right there. What did you inherit? It's not what did you inherit, it's whom did you inherit? You're an heir of God. Your inheritance is God himself. He's given himself to you. How did you get such an inheritance? Jesus' blood paid for you to be an heir.

33:38 Your portion is God. You belong to him. But he says I now belong to you. Do you understand the depth and beauty of this covenant? This is why, in the song of Solomon, the bride to be cries out I am my beloved and my beloved is mine, woo. I felt the anointing on that. I belong to God, but because of the covenant, he belongs to me. He's my portion forever. He's my inheritance. You're an heir of God through Christ, verse 8. But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which, by nature, idols, pagan, false gods.

34:24 You served those which by nature, are not gods. But now, after you have known God, verse 9. And then he corrects himself or rather, are known by God. Catch that, please. Just take a moment and read that. But now, after you have known God and Paul is dictating this, by the way, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, someone else is scribing it he says after you have known God, or rather are known by God. Why? Because it's actually much more important that God know you than you know him. Both are important, but first he has to know you, and we're in the process of knowing him.

35:06 It's a journey, it's a lifelong journey. Paul said my determined purpose is to know him, but you won't really fully know him until you get there. And then it's just something so beautiful. In first or second John I forget which John but the epistles he says you will know him the same way you are known by him. Isn't that amazing? How are you known by God? Completely, thoroughly, fully and intimately? He knows everything. He knows what every cell in your body is doing right now and every thought you've ever had it says that when you stand before him you will know him, even as he knows you. Isn't that so awesome? But until then, we're just trying to bridge the gap, know him more and more so we're not totally shocked when we get to heaven.

35:52 Some Christians are going to be so shocked. They'll get to heaven with the very basic faith in the blood of Jesus, but they have all these other preconceived ideas and notions of what God is like. They're going to get to heaven. It's going to be a giant jubilant party. God is going to have a big smile on his face and they'll go who is this A freak out? And then they'll get to know him. And then they'll be like I think that's the space of half an hour where there's total silence. You're going to be like you know, that stupid theology professor totally messed me up, told me all this stuff about God. He's nothing like this. Everybody will be quiet for half an hour. They'll be like well, glad that's done with, let's move on now for eternity.

36:33 I mean, it's much more important that he know you. What you don't want to hear is depart from me. I never knew you and he knows you. When you say Jesus, I give you my life, jesus, come in. And then we go on the journey of knowing him. But now, after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements? The ABCs of the universe, the system of the law do good, get good, do bad, get bad. That's the system of the law. It flies in the face of grace, it's mixing the covenants. And Paul says how, after you've known the truth, you're now going backwards.

37:18 You want to be in bondage. I know right, silly Galatians. How could they do such a thing? This is what we tend to do every single day. You take your eyes off of Jesus and who do? You put them on yourself and very quickly you'll find you don't measure up. And then in comes guilt, in comes shame, in comes condemnation, which brings that separation, and you're wracking your brain. Okay, I know what I have to do. Don't do anything. I need to go back to church. Yes, you do, but stop before you do that. That's not what you need to do. To get your right standing before God. You need to look to Jesus, confess Him as your Lord, talk to Him and then all that other stuff, but not to gain God's approval, but because you already have it and so much of Christianity is set up with.

38:09 If this, then that. Like, if you do this, then God will do that. Like he's this easily manipulable person who you have to do, then he does something. No, it doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way. All the stuff I've ever received, and God has been so good to me, none of it I deserved Almost always came at a time that I expected, not Hallelujah. And then there's times, right, long seasons of years praying hours a day. I mean living in the glory.

38:51 I'm like nothing in the naturalist. Am I happy? Yeah, I have joy and speak, but nothing in my life is like really changing. Finance is the same. Living in the same place, emily, less broke, busted, disgusted, waiting for my Emily, and I'm like Lord, I'm doing all this stuff for you. That is my reward. And then he goes well, that is the reward you serving me enjoy. That is it. What is this? A transaction? I'm gonna pay you now for being and you go, oh, okay, and you mess up royally and you think now I'm definitely gonna lose and nothing good's gonna ever happen.

39:41 And then God says to the angels all right, boys, back up the truck now, the truck of blessings and just dump it on him. And I'm like huh. Lord, you're really messing me up here. He goes that's what I do. I'm not like you and I'm not like people and I'm not like the ABCs of the universe and every other religious system. And now I'm sitting there under a mountain of blessings and what do you think? I'm thinking? I'm thinking, lord, you are so good, by your grace, I will serve you forever because you are so good, far better to me than I am to you. Amen. But they wanna go back to the weak and beggarly elements, to be in bondage.

40:24 You observe days and months and seasons and years, so circumcision was just one of the things. They were trying to get them to keep the Sabbath. You know, certain holidays are exalted over other holidays. That's all a system of the law. Verse 12, brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. And then he says you have not injured me at all. What is Paul saying here? He's saying, hey, when you're not injured, you're not injured, you're not injured.

41:06 Paul is just saying this. He's saying, hey, we're gonna take a trip down memory lane. Look, you've seen Paul the apostle, paul the rebuke, and Paul has been very, very stern here, the sternest you'll ever see him in the scriptures. And now it's like he's like okay, let me just make a few things clear. You haven't injured me at all. In other words, I'm not writing you so sternly and rebuking you so harshly because you offended me. It's not like hey, by the way, I led you all to Jesus and then I left, and now you start listening to some other group adding to the finished work, adding to the gospel that I presented to you and I'm now jealous. So I'm really smacking you. Through this epistle he's not saying hey, let's just, let's go back down, let's go back, take a stroll down memory lane, review our relationship and let me just say you haven't injured me at all.

41:55 Next verse you know that because of I don't even know where we are right now. Is that the right verse 13? Okay, you know that because of physical infirmity, I preached the gospel to you at first. Uh-oh, physical infirmity and my trial, which was in my flesh. You did not despise or reject. So Paul had this trial in his flesh. You did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. He's reminding them of how tight they used to be, of how close they used to be.

42:37 Remember, he's just, he's letting them know. Hey look, I know I've been harsh to you, but remember, we actually have a good relationship. I had this thing in my flesh you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus, verse 15,. What, then, was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Now, this is awesome, because only an egghead theologian can mess up this particular passage. Listen, they'll come. There's whole pockets in Christianity. They'll tell you Paul had a terrible sickness. There's some people that just wanna stay sick.

43:18 Or if they're sick and they haven't received their healing, they don't know how to process that. So then they tell themselves God is doing this. Doesn't matter that everywhere Jesus went, he healed them over and over again. He says everyone, everyone, he healed them all. Doesn't matter that Jesus never, ever turned away somebody from healing. Doesn't matter that Jesus has already past tense, healed us physically, because when they whipped Him, our sicknesses, our diseases fell upon Him. By His stripes we were healed. Doesn't matter when you're sick, because pain is a very loud speaker. I've never seen people change their theology quicker than when they're sick and then they wanna justify sickness and pretend that God gave it to them.

43:59 No, if you're sick, if you're hurting, my compassion goes out to you. You're not to blame. I'm not saying you have secret or hidden sin in your life, but please don't put it on God. Please don't tell me that the one who has healed sickness when he was here in the flesh now has some spare in a spare pocket and just kinda arbitrarily doles it out to humanity. So what's going on here? Listen, this is so crazy. They'll take this apart. About Paul saying I had a trial in my flesh, and take the part where he says you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me. And then in the end of Galatians he says see with what large letters I have written you. And they say aha, he had an eye disease.

44:40 He had a terrible, disgusting. They even have a name for it. He was oozing, pussing out and that. Now a couple of problems with that. It is hard for a doctor today standing across from you to diagnose you correctly. They're trying to diagnose Paul, who's been physically dead for 1900 years. Second, that part about see with what large letters I've written you. It doesn't mean that Paul literally used 72 point font in his email as opposed to the standard 10 to 12. Dear Galatians, see with what large letters I'm writing you. It just means that he, first of all, he didn't write his epistles, he dictated them. He'll often thank the person who did the actual writing.

45:22 It just means he wrote a long letter, amen. And then, for the complete trifecta, they'll add the third part from Corinthians, the infamous Paul's thorn in the flesh. And they'll say see, his thorn in the flesh was his disgusting pussy eye. He was so ugly and he thanks the Galatians for hearing the gospel from him because he was so hideous just to even look at. I get a kick out of this. Paul's thorn in the flesh is not a sickness. Paul's thorn in the flesh is not disease. How do we know that? Because he defines so many of our problems would go away if we just continued reading. He defines what the thorn is. He says the persecutions, the persecute.

46:06 He had the gift of persecution. He calls the thorn in the flesh a heavenly messenger, an angelos, not a heavenly messenger of Satan, excuse me. An angelos, a messenger sent to buffet him. How was Paul buffeted? You see it, from as soon as he saved, he had this unique gift to get persecuted everywhere he went. No, it was a gift. Listen, in one place. No, I mean it was on the gift level because he would come into town, listen. He would deliver a sermon so anointed, so full of the fire of God. All the heathen that heard him. They said the gods have come down in the form of men to speak to us.

46:47 That's on Tuesday, on Wednesday, to the same crowd, in the same place. This is an ax. He preaches again and they all pick up stones to stone him. What happened? In less than 24 hours? An angelos of Satan, the gift of persecution. That's his thorn in the flesh. And to anybody who serves Jesus Christ fully, you're gonna notice persecution. Jesus even said no one has left mothers or fathers or houses that you want in this life and the next. Reap a hundred fold. He said that, reap a hundred fold in this life and the next. And then he said, with persecution. He added that part Par for the chorus, baby Hallelujah, the servant is not above his master, and this whole part about you would have plucked out my own eyes.

47:38 Nobody here in the first service, but maybe in the second, anybody here from Greece or Montenegro there's my. Montenegro Back me up on this one Anybody from the Balkans or Greece. So they say Paul had this bad eye and he's saying to the Galatians you would have plucked out your eye and given it to me. That's why Paul had a bad eye. Now you got two people with bad eyes you plucked out. That doesn't solve the problem. This when he said this to everybody back then. You, everybody in our region, knows. Have you ever heard this expression before? My grandmother used to say this because we're a weird emotional people, we wax poetic.

48:20 My grandma couldn't say I love you, but she would say oh, child, I would pluck my eye out and give it to you. What? Like get me a chocolate bar, tell me you love me, but we say this weird. This is where we're from, macedonia, which is all over the Bible and that was a part of former Yugoslavia. This is that same mentality, that same region across the Adriatic Sea going down into Greece. They all knew what he was talking about, but it took American theologians to go. You know, I think Paul had an eye disease. It's an expression. Who said it is? You know what I'm talking about, stella, stella Right.

49:06 All sorts of things, even like oh, you know, I would cut my arms. No, keep your arms. Give me a chocolate, grandma. Put a chocolate right down in the corner store. All right, verse 16. Have, oh, this verse If you ever want to get me a gift. Have I ever asked for a gift? But somebody's going to get this for me one day A plaque with this verse on it for my desk where I do counseling. Have I therefore become your enemy? Because I tell you the truth. I need this on my desk. I I'll do counseling with anyone. I'll meet with anyone in our church.

49:48 I actually enjoy it. The only part I don't enjoy is that it is the biggest impediment to church growth. Is me actually meeting with people? I lose more people. You think his pastor just meant more people, the church would grow. It's the opposite. Whenever I withdraw a little bit, the church grows. Then people want to meet with me. Then I have to tell them the truth and now I'm. I'm not that guy anymore. Before that I was that guy. Pastor Boyan, the way you share the gospel I'd never I didn't even know grace. I'm so grateful for you. I'm so glad. The way you deliver, you're all the compliments. Then we have a counseling session and I try to be so gentle. So, but I got to speak the truth in love the moment.

50:30 The truth oh, you're not like how I thought. Ah, oh, you're different. Listen, this is in your relationships too. Everybody's going to always like you, as long as they agree with everything you're saying. It's when you tell them the opposite of what they want to hear that you actually meet the person. Amen, and so you don't know. My greatest fans I hate to use the word fans, but I'm talking about loyal city lighters, who, who not only love the church but genuinely, I knew, loved me. They were supporting me, but when the COVID thing went down, all of a sudden I was enemy number one Because I wasn't walking around with a mask and you know hugging people with an air hug from six feet away.

51:19 Because I kept the church open and to those who didn't want to be vaccinated, we provided religious exemptions, because we don't believe the government should tell you what you should stick in your body. Amen, hallelujah. But then I became an enemy Now, so many people that God jabbed up many of you, thankfully. If you had to, let me let me not say that you didn't have to, but you did it you can say you had to. We've had people. You know who the biggest resistors of the vaccine were, where people in the medical community city light has a bunch of people in the medical. They didn't get it. And those of you who did get it, you trust the blood of Jesus to purge you, to cleanse you and, for the love of God, do not be 3X, 4x, 5x boosted, please.

52:00 Please, let them use a pin cushion of their own design, not you. Amen. But people thought I lost my mind. Now the truth is out. I notice nobody has come back to apologize. Nobody, zero. People have come back and said you know, I left the church because I was, I was scared to be associated with you. And now no one came back and said hey, you know you sounded crazy back then. Do you ever notice these supposed conspiracy theorists? It's just a matter of 12 to 18 months. And then it turns out they were right all along. Ha ha ha ha.

52:46 Random, pitter-patter of claps. Ha ha ha, random, but still is it safe to Hallelujah? Ha ha ha. All right, I think we should move on from that. I could camp around that verse for the rest of our time together. Ha ha ha, they zealously court you. You know cults have that term love bombing. That's how they get you and it's an actual term. Church of Scientology has that term love bombing. They zealously court you. They make you the center of their world. They put all their attention on you. You've never been so loved and then you do whatever the cult says to do they zealously.

53:31 The Judaizers, the covenant mixers In case you I've gone off on too many rabbit trails. The theme here is do not mix covenants, stay under grace. Covenant mixers will zealously court you, but for no good. Yes, they want to exclude you that. You may be zealous for them, but it is good to be zealous in a good thing, always, and not only when I am present with you. Now here's Pastor Paul. He's been rebuking him up and down. He shows his heart. He says my little children, I love you. Galatians, you're acting silly. You were being set free. Now you're going back into slavery. You got grace and now you're going back into bondage.

54:11 You're nuts, but I love you, my little children. But there's a key here in this verse he says for whom I labor in birth again? If he's laboring in birth again, that means he labored in birth once before. There's a key to seeing our family members saved our unbelieving spouses, that pig-headed co-worker that you love, that you've been friends with for years. There has to be a labor in the spirit, like a woman with child in labor. They're not going to get saved until something breaks in you. They're not going to be saved until you.

54:52 You know what we all have in common. Somebody labored for us in prayer to be here. We all have that in common. Somebody prayed, and by labor. It wasn't just the end, lord, please bless so and so and let them get saved. No, there was a. It could have been two minutes, it could have been 20 weeks, 20 months, 20, but somebody took you and presented you to God and said, ah, like a woman in labor. Ah, god, open their eyes, soften their heart, let the truth pierce, let them come into your marvelous light. Somebody pray that for every single one of us. And now we need to labor in prayer.

55:33 Paul did it twice once to see them get saved, the second time to see them mature in Christ until Christ is formed in them. Verse 20,. We should have at least one person that we're targeting with our prayers, at least one. I mean start with your family. You've been promised household salvation. That's in the Bible and that's supposed to get to heaven and wonder where's the crew. No, his whole house got saved. The Philippian jailer he was saved, and his whole house. When Paul talked about who he baptized, it was the house of Stefanus. He mentions whole households. Oh hallelujah, I would like to be worshiped in coming up.

56:18 I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I have doubts about you. Let's stop here. We're going to continue with Galatians 4, because this second part of Galatians 4 is awesome. Please read Galatians 4. Read it in its entirety, read it every day. It's one chapter and we'll conclude next week, but I'll just close with this. Paul said that he has his doubts about him. Isn't it wild how the Corinthian church was an infamously carnal church. They were nuts Like.

57:01 Corinth back then was an urban center and it was totally heathen and pagan. Does that remind you of any other urban center? And a bunch of people get radically saved and they all end up in the same life groups together Like two weeks old in the Lord. Guess what that produced Craziness. Paul had to write and be like hey, you want to stop getting drunk when you're taking communion. Hey, you want to stop sleeping with each other. And by the way, when he corrected people when they were in total sin, like fornication, adultery, he never said you nasty, disgusting thing, eh, repent. He would always remind them of who they are.

57:41 He would always call them to a higher purpose. What Don't you know? Your body is the temple of the living God. What? That's not who you really are. You must have forgotten. You've been cleansed, you've been made perfect. Remember who. Go back to who you really are. He was encouraging and uplifting. You never see him lose it. But with the Galatian he never says to the Corinthians you guys are so nuts I have my doubts about you. But to the Galatians he says that I got to let the cat out of the bag. He actually he gets so upset.

58:24 We'll read it. It's in the Bible. He tells the Judaizers he says I wish they would cut themselves off. You say is he talking about? Yeah, yeah, that's what he's talking about. He actually says I wish they would emasculate themselves. I don't know they're not getting what I'm saying. He says I wish that they would all put a Lorraine Bobbit on themselves. This is in the Bible. He's talking about that. He's like oh, they like to cut so much. I wish they'd cut themselves off. The holy impossible. Did you know that was in the Bible? It's in there. Get a plaque of that and put it in your front door.

59:06 To all covenant mixers Cut yourself off before you enter my house. I'm not bending the word, it's right there. This is an agreed upon thing. This isn't like some fringe belief. He says it very plainly. What would cause Paul to say that and to say Galatians, I'm concerned for you. Mixture. You cannot tolerate mixture. Jesus. Plus, nothing equals everything. The moment you put yourself in the picture, you're mixing, and that's dangerous territory.

59:49 Let's all stand to our feet, lift your hands up. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, jesus. Thank you, jesus. Thank you Jesus, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, lord, for your grace. Thank you, jesus. Say this out loud Lord Jesus, thank you for your grace. I am saved by grace, through faith. I am approved by the blood of Jesus. I am accepted, I have been made perfect, I'm a child of God, I'm heaven bound, I'm sealed with the Holy Spirit.

1:00:36 Good things belong to me because the blood of Jesus has qualified me and made me worthy. A fiery, intimate relationship with God. Yeah, that's my portion. Prosperity is my portion. Healing is my portion. Victory is my portion. Thank you, lord. The cross makes it possible, amen. This is the City Light Church Podcast.

1:01:28 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. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.