Grace that Breaks Chains

00:00 - Speaker 1 But one thing is you got to hate the sin. So many Christians they hate how it makes them feel, but you actually got to hate the sin. You got to come to a place where you respect yourself enough and prize his hand on your life. And no, no matter what you're going through right now, you know God's hand is on me and I have a destiny. He's always loving, he's always pouring out, he's always engaging you when again we go outside of his bounds, we make shipwreck of our own faith. 00:26 - Speaker 2 Welcome to the CityLight Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with CityLight Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightNYC.com. Pastor Bojan Jancic 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 that he has a real hope and a future for you. 01:09 - Speaker 1 It's been nice to see a steady stream of babies at CityLight. There's just no. You're chuckling already because you know there's no soft intro, right, there's no, I'm trying to go around and we're going to talk about sex today. There we go. That's the only way we're talking about sex. All right, I blew the intro in the first service. I said I'd get better for the second, but there just is no delicate way of you know. So, praise God, amen. Let's start in Hebrews, chapter 13, verse four. If you're a guest, hey, this is your first Sunday here. Man, you nailed it today. Okay, praise God. We're starting with this verse just because I want you to see that God is not down on sex and that God actually created sex and not for procreation only. Amen. He created it to be enjoyed, created it to be pleasurable, but within the bounds of marriage. Amen. 02:23 I shared with you many times and the air seems to suck out of the room every time I share it. It makes me feel weird, and then I got to go back to the Lord and I'm reminded why I share this. Let me first share it, because some people are confused already. I just share that. When I got saved, when I was 16 years old, when I gave my life to Jesus, the no sex before marriage thing was like a hindrance to me, like I didn't just go, sure, no problem, I stopped and I counted the cost. I actually argued about it, I thought about it. I said well, I mean, you guys, you want me to become a Christian. You're asking a lot and it always gets weird. Not now, though. Now you're chuckling. Where were you all those other times? 03:12 I shared this story, and the reason why I shared is because I also do a lot of witnessing and a lot of evangelizing, and when you get to that point or the person asks, that is usually the number one reason why people don't give their lives to Jesus. That's been my reality. I've not had anybody say you know, I got a real gambling habit. I just can't give it up. That's why I'm not becoming a Christian. You know, and I've never heard someone say you know, I just love to gossip. I know Christians aren't supposed to gossip, but many times people have said to me hey, no sex before marriage, are you kidding? And yet we're living in a culture and you see what that's produced. I hope you see it. You may not see it because it's all you've ever known. There's these men that I hang out with in my neighborhood. They're all in their mid-60s, late-60s and now that they're older then they'll complain about the culture you know. Oh, look at it, everything's going down the toilet. And I go to them. 04:20 You guys helped create that back in the 60s with the sexual revolution and the bra burning and the supposed empowerment, and you guys created that and it went outside of God's prescribed boundaries. And when you do that, it allows the enemy to run amok. See, when I was getting witness to, I didn't understand why God put boundaries and parameters. I just thought, well, he's a cosmic killjoy, you know. He just arbitrarily sets up certain rules for no reason whatsoever. He just wants to make sure you're jumping through the hoops to show how much you love him. That's not the case at all. It says marriage is honorable among all and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers, God will judge why. First Corinthians 6.13,. We find the answer. 05:19 And, by the way, when I said we're experiencing this in culture today, right now, from everything I see with my eyes and everything I read, the dating world is very, very difficult and less and less people are getting married and even less people are having babies, and it has a lot to do with just the way modern dating is and what it's just devolved into. And yes, that started in the 60s en masse. And so you have this whole thing that's happening right now, where men are angry at women, women are angry at men. They can't seem to find each other, they can't seem to meet eyeball to eyeball. Men are very content to play on the Xbox. Well, into their 30s. Women are also content to say I don't need a man, I've got my career. And now we find ourselves in this place where divorce is rampant, people are in pain, and that should not be near us. Amen, and that kind of stuff should not find its way into the blessed and holy people of God. 06:34 So Corinth just so you know, because we'll be reading from Corinthians Corinth is a lot like modern-day New York City. It was a very large city, an urban center, very multicultural, very diverse, and it was pagan and really it was a sin free for all, and sexual sin in particular was running amok. So it's good to know that in a city like that that you can have a thriving church. Amen, because there was one. Sure it needed some correction and that's why we have the two letters to them that we have. But it is possible. 07:12 And Paul begins by saying food's for the stomach and stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. He's carrying through from another thought about foods offered up to idols, and then he says now, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord. He's carrying through from another thought about foods offered up to idols and then he says now, the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body, and God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members? What's a member? That word has been cheapened because we have gym memberships, lounge memberships. Some of you may even remember video store memberships. But a member actually means a body part. When you dismember someone, you go to jail Amen, it's not because you kicked them out of your gym. So you are body parts of Christ's body. 08:10 Shall I then take the members of Christ and make the members of a harlot what Seems like he's jumping around from subject to subject, right? So in that time, really not just in Corinth but all throughout the pagan world. You had these pagan temples and right outside the pagan temples you had temple prostitutes. Next verse you had temple prostitutes. It's interesting how Satan set that up. 08:46 When you need a spiritual transfer, when you need the wrong kind of impartation, it's actually done sexually. He says Do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her, for the two, he says, shall become one flesh. Now you notice there wasn't anybody who officiated over that marriage of Adam and Eve and really all throughout those times there wasn't a wedding officiant. You say well, how did they get married? They didn't go down to City Hall and get the marriage certificate. No, they were physically intimate. The Bible says and Adam knew his wife, eve, and through that act of physically joining together they were joined together as husband and wife. 09:33 So Paul here is really bringing Poitras home that sex is not inconsequential and sex is not only a physical act, but that there is a spiritual transfer. During sex there is an impartation one to another, there is a merging and a meshing, and in this case he uses the example of temple prostitutes and he's saying hey, how can some of you go to these temple prostitutes. You're joining yourself. You're a part of Christ's body. You're joining yourself to them. What are you doing to Christ's body? Now, that's an extreme example. You could be looking at me and going well, I'm off the hook, I don't go to any temple prostitutes whatsoever. But I want you to take home the greater point, because the world has a message and, by the way I know people, this message is different and if this is your first Sunday, you can rest assured I definitely won't be preaching about this next Sunday. 10:32 But this is necessary and the world has criticized the church before you know, saying oh, they just talk about sex impurity. Why are they so obsessed with sex? What? Why are you so obsessed with sex? You're the ones bringing that, bringing the worldly version, the carnal version, the perverted satanic version, through media, through printed page, through every television show, every movie, all of the time. So let's bring up God's word, amen, and let's take a look at what God's standard is, because he's not a cosmic killjoy. He actually put these things in place because he loves us, and this great gift called sex that he gave humanity also, when you indulge in it outside of his boundaries, is destructive. Amen as much as it is a blessing and it's joyful and it's pleasurable. Hallelujah within the bounds of marriage. Whoever said amen, God bless you, we got an honest person. Thank you for lightening the air a little bit. Next verse, he says this flee sexual immorality. He says this flee sexual immorality, verse 18. 11:52 Now note it is the only sin that God tells you to flee from. Did you know that that word flee? In the Greek it's even more descriptive. It says run away, as if in terror. It's a callback to Joseph getting hit on by Potiphar's wife. She tried to seduce him and he fleed. I got a picture of her grabbing his robe, his outer jacket and him just shedding like pew. I'm out of here because I know this is gonna destroy my life if I engage in this. 12:23 Why is it the only sin the Bible tells you to flee from? Well, paul is explaining it right there. There is a transfer. It's deep, it's meaningful, it's significant. Why, you know people are fond of saying well, sin is sin. Yeah, on a cosmic level, like you know, bird's eye view, sin is sin and Jesus died on the cross for all sin equally. That's fine, but the consequences of different sins are different. Amen, if I gossip, that's sin. Sin is sin, depending on who I gossip to, what I gossip about. There's different consequences. That's not the same as murder, amen. And sexual immorality or going outside of the boundaries of the Lord has special consequences that are detrimental to your success, to your victory, to your growth. So that's why he tells the Christian flee it's different. Really. It's like you have all these other sins and you have this sin. I'm just saying the quiet part out loud Now. Everything that's being presented in the media, everything we're fed all the time the message is oh, it doesn't matter. And if you say what I just said, you're such a prude. You're one of those Christian guys You're hung up on this and just relax. 13:54 I witnessed with my own eyes where I come from Montenegro, small country, 630,000 people, seemingly inconsequential country, but for decades. I'll tell you what Montenegro had Strong marriages and strong families and, as a result of strong families, you had order in society, you had peace in society, you had safety when I could go out as a seven-year-old. I can go down to the water, to the beach alone, and if I fell and scraped my knee, 10 strangers would erupt to me and wash the wound up and put a bandaid on me. It was a cohesive society. Divorce was almost non-existent. I actually don't know anybody out of hundreds and hundreds cousins, aunts, uncles anybody who got divorced. Now divorce is rampant and I asked them. I said what did it? I was really what happened in this phenomenon that you go from no divorce to divorce. That mirrors American statistics. Yet it took us like a century to get there. How did you get there so quickly? All of them, women and men, answered the same way. You're going to laugh when I tell you what they said. They said around 06, 07, sex and the City came. 15:10 That one show and what it did is it specifically attacked the female psyche that you really don't need a man, you don't need a husband. Your great quest in life is your career, to be a girl boss and spend your 20s, spend your 30s building your career and also hopping around from relationship to relationship to relationship. Just both of you ride that dating carousel and then eventually, maybe, maybe in your late 30s. If you're lucky, you'll settle down with someone, and if you don't, who cares? It's just a bunch of problems anyway. Right, lucky you'll settle down with someone, and if you don't, who cares? It's just a bunch of problems anyway. Right, because during sex there is an exchange. People would want to argue with me on this, yet I'm sorry. 15:57 I've been in my office weeping with too many people who, one moment, oh, it doesn't matter, oh, the church is so hung up on sex. And then they're weeping with too many people who, one moment, oh, it doesn't matter, oh, the church is so hung up on sex. And then they're weeping. If it doesn't matter, if it's inconsequential. Why are you so depressed and why are you weeping? Because it hurts, right? Because you gave a piece of yourself away. Then you went to another person, gave a piece of yourself away and then you told yourself it doesn't matter and you tried to drown down the pain A little weed, a little alcohol, some other kind of meds, scrolling, whatever thing you can do to distract yourself, to numb the pain, and then just repeat the cycle. And where has it gotten you? What good is it doing in your life? You're still lonely, you're still hurting, you still feel empty on the inside and God loves you and he's got a better way. 16:42 Amen, and everything I've said, everything I'm saying and I'm going to say. It should not, it should prick you. If it applies to you, it should not produce any condemnation on you and you should not be. Oh, I'm ashamed now. Christ died on the cross to tear your shame away and he's clothed you. If you believe in him and his substitutionary death on the cross, he's clothed you. If you believe in him and his substitutionary death on the cross, he's clothed you with his righteousness and so this is just. I'm just out loud because I want your success, I want your victory. I see the demonic agenda and attack coming in from the outside. We need to be walking in lockstep. This is something that we're to aspire to. 17:20 Sexual purity amen, amen. Married, unmarried yeah, flee Run as if in terror. Sexual immorality Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality, what Sins against his own body? When I pastored in the East Village for 17 years, all over the East Village for 17 years, all over the East Village, were these helpline posters. This was specifically from the gay community to the gay community. This isn't just a gay community thing, but in this example it was a gay poster. 18:01 Let me just because I don't want to get it wrong. It specifically said on the poster as the advertisement it was the advertisement for a helpline and saying that active gay men are many times more prone to depression, despair and suicidal thoughts. All over for 17 years, and we just you may have seen them and you go. Oh, that's bad. I wonder why, whether you're gay or you're straight, or when you go, oh that's bad. I wonder why, whether you're gay or you're straight, when you go outside of God's boundaries, you sin against your own body. Then you get sleepiness, or you get sleeplessness or you get. 18:36 People are saying oh, why do I have this unexplained anxiety? Why do I get depressed? You're inviting all of these things. That's why Paul said flee run, as if in terror. You're inviting all of these. Really, it's like swinging the door wide open for Satan to come into your life. God has provided the solution. Amen, in case anybody's getting down right now. And God has a better way. 19:05 In the movies, music videos online, you see casual sex treated lightly. You never see the emotional aspect Later, the depression, the despair, the guilt, the physical angst. And, by the way, nothing will depress a Christian. Knock him off course and really strip them of the anointing of God quicker than sexual sin. Aren't you glad that you're always a breath away from Jesus? Aren't you glad that you don't have to live that way, that when you get sick and tired of being sick and tired and you say I miss the Father's house, you look to the Father and he's running back at you, not holding a record of wrongs and not holding your sins against you. Hallelujah, I was. I thought I shared this in the church, but then this morning I was told I didn't. 20:00 But I first had my first experience with pornography when I was in the third grade, not with video porn, but 80s style magazines. You know Grew up in Forest Hills, in Parker Tower. Some of you know where that is. Back in the 80s we just ran around, played all day, not like today. Everyone just keeps, slaps their kid with an air tag and keeps them indoors. Back then we were just told to go out and play, come back when the streetlights come on. And I remember one day we were all playing. We'd go play in the different playgrounds around the buildings and it got really cold so we'd go back in the buildings. There were like six stairwells in the buildings. The doorman would always scold us, tell us to go back outside, but we'd sometimes sneak past them, play hide-and-seek in the stairwells or whatever, and then we ended up in the basement and there was a superintendent's office and several handyman's offices of six or seven of us and we gathered around and said, oh, what does he got? What does he got? We didn't even know and I remember opening up that magazine and seeing those images for the first time. 21:14 I didn't believe in God back then. Nobody told me it was wrong. I didn't even know what it was, but I remember it was like demonic hot lava being poured on me. I remember that spirit. I remember how it made me feel. I remember my innocence evaporating. I disdain that spirit because I see what it does to people. I know what it did to me. I know what it was like to be only in the third grade and continue on and then several weeks later I didn't know anything about renewing the mind. I didn't know anything about the power of the Holy Spirit. I carried those images with me. They messed me up. That's why I'm preaching this, and now we have phones. 22:08 Back then you had to do hard work. If you wanted to look at illicit material, you had to go out of your way. Now you have all the smut of the world in your back pocket. Whenever I say this, I have to look at the chandelier, because people you say why are you saying this? How many people does it affect? I've been doing this now for 23 years. Don't look at your neighbor weird. But it affects everybody. Everybody at one point or another. It affects everybody. My biggest shock as a pastor was how many women would confess, because I always thought it was just a man's problem. You have books like Every Man's Struggle. It is an equal opportunity, demonic attack. 22:54 Hear the myths about sex. It's good to see nobody running for the exits. Hear the myths about sex that sex is no big deal. Hear the myths about sex that sex is no big deal. The truth is, your sexual decisions will leave lifelong memories, lifelong consequences. 23:17 The myth is that sex is purely physical. It's a lie. It's spiritual. Satan knows very well that it's spiritual. That's why he pushes it outside of God's bounds. That's why thousands of years ago they had prostitutes, not in some hall or some house somewhere, but right in front of the temple. So the demonic activity in the temple could spread quicker. How, through the open doorway of illicit sex. 23:44 A myth is that God is down on sex, which he's not. He created it, as we said earlier. Another myth is that it's impossible to live pure. I don't say this ever arrogantly or to boast, but I've been porn-free not even one glimpse for years and years, and years, and years, and years and years. You know how the Lord did that. I'd love to know. He just did it. It's like there was this thing and he just. 24:25 But one thing is you got to hate the sin. So many Christians they hate how it makes them feel, but you actually got to hate the sin. You got to come to a place where you respect yourself enough and prize his hand on your life. No matter what you're going through, you know God's hand is on me and I have a destiny. I am not going to derail myself. Notice, I said not derail myself. It's not that God gets disgusted with you, gets fed up with you and says, oh, this person, what a perv. You know what? I'm just turning my back on them and let them just wreck their own lives. No, he's always loving, he's always pouring out, he's always engaging you. But when again, we go outside of his bounds, we make shipwreck of our own faith, we derail ourselves from the destiny he's put on us. And, yes, he's always a breath away. Thank you, Jesus, hallelujah. 25:24 Let's go to Romans, chapter 1, verse 18. I got set free, exactly how I preach. Any sin you get set free from, it's not from you now doing a bunch of hard work, it's from you yielding and beholding Jesus on the cross and then by faith. By faith, you acknowledge that your sin nature, that part of you that's rebelling against God, that wants to do wrong to God, that part of you the Bible says was crucified with Christ 2,000 years ago. In Romans. Paul says put it on your account, reckon yourselves dead, indeed to sin. In other words, believe that you might go. You don't know what's going through my mind. How do I believe that by faith, forget what you're experiencing in the natural. And by faith, you say, Lord, I didn't save myself, you saved me. I can't sanctify myself, you sanctify me. And I hate this sin, not just how it makes me feel. Anything that is an affront to you. I hate- Lord, work in my heart, work in my life. You say, oh, I did that, then I fell Great. Do it again. Oh, I did that twice, then I fell Great. The Bible says a righteous man falls down seven times. Each time gets back up again. I mean, what is the option? What is the other option. I want the purity of the Lord. I don't want to be spiritually castrated. I don't want to be a powerless Christian. I don't want to be always tripping myself up. 26:59 Sexual sin that's what destroys churches. It's what destroys kingdoms. It's what's derailed politicians. Look at that. One guy who's flying high CEO, doing great, kissed the wrong girl at the wrong concert, gets canned the next day. She's canned the next day, though. Everything falls apart. Wow, what a service. Today there's only one place to go after I've said all that, and that's Romans, chapter one. Hallelujah, you know who? This is gonna help a lot Men. No, not because men have a bigger problem with it, but because I found something, because I'm listening. 27:45 I'm really paying attention to women's complaints about men and men's complaints about women. You know, men's complaints about women is that they're like these sex in a city, just unsubmissive, want to do their own thing, etc. Etc. But women's complaints about men in general are that they're just weaker. They're just wondering where did the testosterone go? They're wondering where did the testosterone go? 28:15 I've come to a theory. See, for 6,000 years of human history, men had to work really, really hard to see a woman's breasts. They had to work really hard, listen. They had to go to war and come back alive and learn a craft and a trade and a skill and build their lives up and have something to show the father of the woman he had his eye on and, after much self-sacrifice and hard work, he would be privileged to see his wife's breasts. But today there's just too much breast viewing without the hard work. Just take out your phone and you've just seen too many breasts. For your own good, you need to go on a breast fast, forever, and then your mojo will get activated again and you'll say oh, you know what. I'm going to serve the Lord with more vigor, I'm going to make more money, I'm going to do something in my life that I'll just have to beat them off with a stick, because I'm going to be a more refined package. Amen, every amen I heard was female. Amen, amen. 29:36 Romans 1.18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Now the book of Proverbs says something interesting. It says buy the truth and sell it not. That means you gotta be a lover of truth In order to get free. In order to really walking aligned with God. You gotta quit repeating the lies of the world. Let God be true and every man a liar. Let his word be true and not what they're. We're all indoctrinated to a large degree because we live in this world. We really do need a mental cleansing, and it's only given to us by the word of God. But what buy the truth and sell it not means is that you prize truth, you love truth and you don't accept half-truths. You certainly don't accept lies. You don't even accept 1% truths or 99% truths. You just want God's truth. That's the starting point. 30:43 Amen, because I know when I was presented with the word at 16 years of age, after seeing pornography since the third grade and growing up completely secular, my parents never said just completely secular. They never provided any boundaries. I think once I just heard like make sure you don't get anybody pregnant. That's like the secular boundaries. And then I hear God's standard for sexuality. You better believe. I fought against them. I fought, I tried to like read the fine print and find the loophole. I fought, I tried to read the fine print and find the loophole and when I found there wasn't one, I had to buy the truth and sell it, not Amen. 31:24 And, by the way, statistically, when you look at the stats, the happiest and healthiest sex lives are in couples who are married, and particularly in those who waited. I understand Some of you came saved later in life, some of you blew it, you messed up, whatever. There should not be any condemnation on you, any guilt on you, but at least know how the ones who did wait, statistically, when they report what they're saying Hallelujah and thank God. God is a cleanser and God is a forgiver. And you could have been outside, giving pieces of yourself away and away and away. Thank goodness, God can refill you, restore to you what the locusts have eaten. Yeah, he can. Hallelujah, he's wonderful. Hallelujah, hallelujah, all right. 32:17 Next verse, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. So he's saying there are these people. Interesting Romans has nothing to do with this. Yeah, this is how he opens up the whole book of Romans. He's saying there are these people just by virtue of looking at nature and looking at the universe that God created. They see the order of God, amen. 32:57 By the way, I just was reminded in the first service how it was just about 10 years ago that there was this do you remember the big, the big scandal with the Christian bakery that wouldn't bake a gay cake? What's a gay cake? You know what I mean? And even mega church pastors were upset. They were like, oh, Jesus would have baked a cake. And back then I was a complete ignoramus. When it came to, like I mean, honestly, I just focused on the word of God and even prided myself on it. It wasn't, it wasn't good, but I just it was God and focused on the word of God and I even prided myself on it. It wasn't good, but I just it was God and God's people and his word, and I just didn't pay attention to what was happening outside of culture Because, frankly, I didn't know. 33:46 My head was in the sand. I didn't know that I was smack dab in the middle of a major cultural shift. You know the 80s, we didn't see culture shift that much. We didn't see culture shift that much. We didn't see it in the 90s. We slowly in the 2000s, then by around 2015,. Culture was changing so rapidly. 34:01 So it started off with hey, just bake them a cake, right. And now here we are, 10 years later and there's 20 shows on Netflix specifically for children, specifically for cartoons that have trans characters, gay characters, video games. My son is playing the Spider-Man video game and now they made Black Cat gay. She has a girlfriend. It's everywhere I go. Take them to Walmart to the book section and there's a whole section for children. But it started little right. 34:32 And when the Christians flipped out about it, honestly I thought, oh, it's those ultra-conservative, prude, weirdo Christians. They always got a problem with something. I actually thought that they're always saying everything's a slippery slope. I repent. Turns out they were right, because also, what you have coming up now while everyone, I mean the greatest sin is not being judgmental, don't judge, don't. I mean you judge me. I like sexual purity. You judge me for it, you're intolerant of me for it. 35:07 But right when that whole thing was happening, I started hearing about MAPS, m-a-p-s MAPS Minor Attracted Persons Because pedophiles who want to be recognized, they want their own letter. That's part of the plus, in case you didn't know. And I had friends who 15 years ago, were saying that's where it's heading. And I said you guys are crazy, nobody who wants that. That's in the background, heading. And I said you guys are crazy, nobody who wants that, nobody. And then that's in the background, trying to get in the foreground. I mean, if I told you 30 years ago that men would marry men and women would marry women, you'd say you're nuts. That's crazy. Some of you you actually. It's amazing. You're so programmed. You're hearing what I'm saying and you're clinging for dear life. Yet you believed up until about five minutes ago. Yeah, you believed, exactly as I believe. But you got in five minutes' time and you may hide it under. Oh, but you know, I just love everybody. No, that's not love. That's not love. That's cowardice disguised as some kind of love. That's you compromising eternal principles. 36:22 Here Paul is addressing a bunch of unbelievers, a bunch of pagans, and he's saying hey, you got no excuse. You actually look at nature. It's a mommy bird and a daddy bird and they make little baby birds. Right, you got the mommy alligator and the daddy alligator saying you got all of this in God's cosmic order and yet you still do the opposite. And that's exactly what any kind of sexual perversion is. It's an affront to the very order of God, the first order that he established when he made a male, he made him female and he said go forth, be fruitful and multiply. Satan always wants to mock that order of creation. I'm happy, hallelujah, just in case you're wondering. 37:21 I'm just pleading with some of you in the spirit Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore, God also. Now, this is a terrifying verse. Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness. Notice, it doesn't say God gave up on them. It says God gave them up to uncleanness. Notice, it doesn't say God gave up on them. It says God gave them up. 37:59 In other words, when you persist in rebelling against God's order and doing your own thing, God will never quit on you and should you ever want to repent, he's always right there. You don't have to like, suffer and work your way back to him. He is amazing. He's so merciful, he's so kind and compassionate and loving and gentle. But when we persist in doing our own thing. God will allow you. God won't give up on you, but God will give you up to the unholy desires of your own hearts. 38:33 That's why you can have people completely rebelling against God and they claim well, I don't even have a problem with it. Nobody should have a problem with it. See, satan's whole agenda is to blur the lines and make nothing deviant, nothing perverted. You can see that, right, I mean stuff that's in the common culture right now wouldn't have happened even during the crazy 80s when I was a kid. But do you know, when I was in the 80s, watching shows from the 50s, they wouldn't even show like I Love Lucy. They slept in two separate beds next to each other. Because it was considered so scandalous to show them on TV because kids might see that them under the covers of the same bed. Some of you, if you don't have kids, you don't know why I'm so fired up about this when you have kids. You don't know why I'm so fired up about this when you have kids and you see how they see. 39:21 I don't want my son or my daughter to go through what I went through in the third grade or what I later went through in the sixth grade. I talked to my son about pornography when he was eight, nine years old, not in great detail, but I let him know there's pictures of naked people on the internet. If you ever stumble upon that or if your friends ever show that to you, let me know. I didn't treat it like some thing to be hidden or to be. I just openly talked. So he would very just naturally come to dad if he ever encountered that. See, I couldn't do that. There was so much shame when I was exposed to it. But I don't want my son and my daughter going down that road and it's easier than ever for them to Because it's so easy, right? 40:10 Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and served the creature rather than the creator, who's blessed forevermore. Amen. And that's really what all sexual sin is it's exchanging the truth of God for a lie. The truth of God is you feel empty. I want to fill you up. The lie is you feel empty. You can have that need, that deep hunger, that inner need met. Go on Tinder, swap left, swap right, end up in somebody's room. You know that didn't make you happy. Maybe try it again. Maybe next time it'll work. And it doesn't. Verse 26, please. 41:11 For this reason, again, God gave them up. He didn't give up on them. He gave them up. He didn't give up on them. He gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men. Now, specifically he's talking about homosexuality here, but this is for any kind of out-of-bounds sexual sin, leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another. Men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error, which was due. And even, as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over. Now this is terrifying. Also Three things in these first few chapters of this first chapter of Romans Twice it said God gave them up. 42:01 What did he give them up to? Their own desires, their own lust. And then it says God gave them up, or God gave them over to a debased mind. Or in the King James it says reprobate mind. What is a reprobate mind? See, there was a fellow that came up to me after service. This was about a year ago when I was mentioning something like this and he came up to me and he said you know, I can't believe you said that. Like about gay people, what about gay pastors? And I went gay pastors, is that like the mafioso deacon? Is that like the elder crackhead? Like that's an oxymoron. But I couldn't even engage in that conversation. Why? Because he had a reprobate mind, what the Bible calls a debased mind. That's when you've persisted so far in the lie, running from the truth, you've made every excuse for yourself and you've surrounded yourself in an echo chamber with people to cheer you on in your own debauchery, that now you have a reprobate or debased mind and you cannot tell the difference between wrong or right. 43:15 And we not only live in such a city, we're called to love. Well, in such a city, care for those who are that way, not judge them, not think we're superior to them. Because there, but by the grace of God, go I, if any one of ours I mean. Imagine if we all walked around with a three inch by two inch LED screen on our forehead that showed every sexual thought we ever had. Oh my goodness, masking would come back real quick, except we'd pull the mask up right to our foreheads. So we're all in need of the grace and mercy of God. But specifically, we're here in the city to love people who have a reprobate mind and be on guard that we don't develop a reprobate mind, because I've seen it happen to Christians. 44:02 You guys are taking this really well, thank you. You know this is not like the message of my life, so I don't know how I'm delivering it. Like you got me preaching on faith. I got a good handle on that. God's grace, a good handle God's abundance. I know how that comes through. Got a good handle on that God's grace. A good handle God's abundance. I know how that comes through this. I don't have much practice, so I thank you. It shows the spiritual health of City. 44:24 Light Church is good, but I've seen with this whole deconstruction movement you know there's this whole wave of people deconstructing their faith because they got hashtag church hurt and then I listened to what they have to say and then I realized very quickly nine out of 10 times the church hurt resulted in somebody telling them about God's sexual standards and they didn't like that. And then they got hurt and they went and started deconstructing and now they're doing whatever they want, whatever's right in their own eyes and apparently have a debased mind. But no one is ever going to say that Why'd you leave church? Because, sexually, I wanted to do whatever I felt like doing. Nobody says that, so they go. Well, the pastor was really mean to me. I went to the associate pastor. He was even meaner and now I'm deconstructing my faith because nothing makes sense anymore. They broke my heart. No, they just told you what the Bible said and you got hashtag church hurt. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. And even as they did not like to retain God In their knowledge, God gave them over To a debased mind To do those things which, which are not Not fitting. Amen, hallelujah, hallelujah, worship team, come on up. 46:04 First, corinthians, chapter six, and let's start in verse nine. So here's where I want to land. We all have been exposed to this in one form or another. I tell you what. There is no kind of freedom like sexual freedom. And if you're in bondage, you know that actually, because you know if you're here, that means you love Christ, you love the Lord, and you know that sexual bondage is just particularly torturous and God doesn't want you to be tortured. He loves you and don't you stop loving you and a lot of times people fail in this area because they don't want to address it, because it's so shameful to them. 46:54 God is not put off by you. God knows you. God knows you thoroughly, inside and out and still loves you. Hey, get this and likes you. God knows you thoroughly inside and out and still loves you. Hey, get this and likes you. Can you believe that? That always blows my mind. God actually enjoys you. You may not enjoy you, but God actually sees his fingerprints on you and enjoys you, loves you. And freedom comes from not trying to sanctify yourself, but yielding to Jesus and beholding the finished work of the cross continuously. And whatever helps you behold the finished work of the cross, worshiping him, praying to him daily, being in his word daily, not because you're trying to be good, because he's already good and you're just eating the daily bread that he wants to feed you with. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, and I hope that you've been encouraged to take these things seriously in your life. 48:10 If you have a problem with pornography, get whatever apps, whatever filters, whatever that make it impossible for you to view it, because pornography will numb your mind to where nothing gives you pleasure anymore and it's a giant lie anyway. None of it is real. Thank you, Lord. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God, and such were some of you. 49:18 Here's the key this was me, even if it is you right now in the natural. Your confession ought to be this is no longer my identity. You know one of the biggest, one of the biggest tricks Satan did with that LG. You know I have to use the same verb. Do you know the term gay is like a hundred years old. Nobody went around in the 1800s going I just, I'm gay, it's just how I am. Why was that so important to Satan? Because when you say I am, you're now wrapping your identity around it. You're claiming that as your person. I mean. Nobody says I'm a thief. They go. I steal sometimes I've stolen in the past. I repent Nobody. Oh, I told a lie. Nobody goes. I am a liar and I have a liar's pride parade and all the other liars come out and we tell everybody we're not ashamed, that's who we are A hundred years ago. What that was called was you're a sodomite, you're a dude who has a proclivity towards sodomy, and you need to correct that. 50:28 ASAP. So we need a renewing of the mind. Don't identify with past sins, don't identify with these ungodly labels, in whatever area of struggle you know and, by the way, I've had so many people. I guess I'm preaching this passionately because I've had a lot of people come to me over the years, especially pastoring in the East Village, and I always know right away because they're always nervously looking around and then they always tell me, and I can tell everyone. They tell me they always think they're the first and only person that's ever confessing to me. They feel like they're the dirtiest and I'm like all right, take a number and just just exhale, because this, this whole thing, isn't unique to you. We live in this fallen world. The enemy is ready. He, he wants to rob your joy and he wants to destroy families. This is a major, if not the major, doorway. So that's what you're experiencing. There's a battle, but, good news, Jesus has already purchased the victory. Hallelujah, hallelujah and such were some of you Say this with me. But I am washed, I am sanctified, I am justified. In the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. 52:13 You say how will I find somebody. It's what I actually. I hear it when I say you say it's when I feel like I hear something in the Spirit. How will I find somebody if I don't play that game, the world game? You will actually find the right somebody when you don't play that game. They exist. 52:34 Don't swallow the lie that everybody out there is just godless. There are Christians, even if they're temporarily trapped in a sexual sin cycle. The cry of their heart is Lord, I want to be free and I actually actually desire purity, I actually desire wholesomeness. Do you know how wonderful it is? She's not here because she thought this would be too awkward, so she didn't come. No, she's not Because my daughter had a temperature this morning. But you know how wonderful it is to never, ever have to worry, and she never has to worry like what I'm doing. You know what I'm talking about, right. I don't know if you I had a relationship where the moment she leaves, I'm like you know what I'm talking about, right. 53:22 But see, I don't know if you. I had a relationship where the moment she I'm like. You know it's a very terrible thing to be in a relationship where you're wondering what they're doing the moment they're out of the door. I was in one like that. That's torture, because there's already been so many lies told and so many compromises that there's no trust. How do you have a marriage without trust? But I only you know. 53:49 I read things online and to me you know they're asking questions like well, how many of your passwords should your wife have? How many of? And I'm going, babe, I'm wondering how many. She has. Everything of mine. I have everything of hers, never once used them. But we're like one person. I can leave. I can go leave for a week. She's never going to wonder. I wonder how he behaves. She knows who I am. I know who she is. Hallelujah, that's what God wants for every marriage. So you can trust. 54:30 You know, in Proverbs 31, that chapter that describes the ultimate woman and what a woman she is. Read Proverbs 31. She makes things happen. She's got intelligence and wit. But one of the things in there it says about her husband his heart trusts safely in her. And for a woman you know same thing. You want your heart to trust safely in your man. You don't want some bad boy player. It's sexy on the first two dates. Afterwards you've got to deal with the repercussions. Then he's out somewhere and you're wondering, I wonder, if he's doing with someone else what he did with me, which is lying being in the shadows, being disingenuous, using Hallelujah. 55:18 Well, thanks for coming to my TED Talk today. Okay, hallelujah Well, thanks for coming to my TED Talk today. We're going to just allow the worship team to play the song. I encourage you to allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you. God, come by your anointing In Jesus' name. We cannot do it for ourselves, but you can. You are God Almighty, we love you and we trust you, and we thank you for your love for us, no matter where we are right now. You love us and we're not too far gone when we entrust ourselves to your capable hands in Jesus' name. 55:59 - Speaker 2 This is the CityLight Church Podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Bojan Jancic and CityLight Church, visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to CityLight Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.