WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 You who've received Jesus, you've put your faith in Him. God does not find any fault in you. 2 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:12.000 What do you mean? But what about those issues I'm working on? He doesn't see them. You have non-imputation of sin. 3 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:19.000 The Bible says you have been made perfect in Him. The Holy Spirit doesn't indwell sinful buildings. 4 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:25.000 Yet the Holy Spirit indwells you. He's been given to you because your sin has been stripped away, taken completely out of the way. 5 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:35.000 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. 6 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:44.000 If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com that's citylightnyc.com. 7 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:52.000 Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. 8 00:00:52.000 --> 00:01:05.000 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. 9 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:16.000 How are you forgiven ones? Justified ones? Made righteous ones? Blessed with every spiritual blessing and heavenly places and Christ ones? 10 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:28.000 We're celebrating what Jesus has done through his substitutionary death for us on the cross in the series on Galatians. Before we begin, let me just say, I was so appreciative. 11 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:35.000 As many of you know, I experienced flooding in my Williamsburg condo. It's a duplex, but it's a ground floor duplex. 12 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:47.000 So my bedroom and our children's bedroom, it was all in the basement, and we started flooding last year. When I said flooding, I thought I knew what flooding was. It was one or two inches. 13 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:54.000 It doesn't sound like a lot, but that's enough to ruin your carpets, ruin the baseboards, ruin whatever was on the floor and require immediate repair. 14 00:01:55.000 --> 00:02:05.000 And that happened several times. The Lord moved us to Long Island. Thank God. Because this Friday, my neighbor, who has the keys to my condo, we still have it. We're waiting to either rent it or sell it. 15 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:16.000 He went in. I said, just shoot me some video footage of what it looks like. It was 18 inches of water and at the height, two feet of water, all of the ground floor units and my whole building were completely wiped out. 16 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:28.000 And I'm looking at that, and I'm sitting in a very, very dry Long Island home. And I'm looking at what my bedroom and my children's bedroom would have looked like. 17 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:43.000 I was frustrated with one to two inches, but 18 to 24 inches now, the water's up to the mattress. Now everything is ruined, the walls are ruined because when the water touches out for that many hours, you got all sorts of growth happening within the walls. 18 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:56.000 And I'm saying, Lord, you knew this would happen. And in your wisdom, you moved me out because that would have at least taken a month of my time, months most likely. 19 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:10.000 To live in a hotel during this series on Galatians, to try to prepare this series out of some economic hotel, the insurance company would have put us up in in Long Island City like last time, where it's all breakfast is included. 20 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:17.000 Yeah, breakfast is Cheerios and that six month old sausage egg and cheese sandwich you just unfroze this morning. 21 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:22.000 So God is good, isn't he? Amen. Amen. 22 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:33.000 So we're continuing our series of Galatians, we're in Galatians chapter two, before I begin Galatians chapter two, let me just give a quick recap. 23 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:46.000 Those of you who are just joining us, this series is so important, it's so pivotal because there are two distinct, two separate covenants that people can live under. 24 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:57.000 One is known as the old covenant. You can also call it the old covenant of the law. Under the old covenant of the law, you were never ever justified. 25 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:10.000 The law cannot justify you, the word justify means pronounced not guilty. Under the system of the law, you endeavored, you tried real hard to be approved unto God. 26 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:23.000 You strived to be justified and you strived according to your own self effort, according to your own discipline, according to your own religiosity, according to your own works, yet you failed every time. 27 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:31.000 That sounds depressing, just saying it, doesn't it? And a good question to ask is why have such a system, that just sounds cruel, right? 28 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:39.000 If you look at the scriptures, it doesn't seem that that was God's original intent. When giving the law, he actually seemed to have offered them a choice. 29 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:48.000 And he said, hey, this, this, this, Lord, is this what you want? And they're, and they all in unison with their pride, the children of Israel responded with, yes, this is what we want. 30 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:59.000 For we are well able to keep everything you've commanded us to do. That didn't work out too well. So God said, okay, pride. 31 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:14.000 So there's going to have to be another system where you come to the end of yourself, where you realize that you cannot do it alone, you're not all that you need a deliverer, you need a savior. 32 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:24.000 So you have the Old Testament, the Old Covenant system of law, where you endeavor to be approved unto God through your own self effort, never really were. 33 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:42.000 And then you have the new covenant, where you are fully approved, fully justified, completely, not based on your own doings, not based on your own self effort, but based completely on what Jesus has already done for you, which is keep the law and its entirety. 34 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:51.000 And become a sacrifice for your sins, your sins fell upon him and his righteousness fell upon you. 35 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:57.000 There was a divine exchange there, which system seems better? 36 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:09.000 Amen. Yet what we find is typically people not knowing the differences and mixing the two covenants. 37 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:23.000 And the whole book of Galatians is written to warn us against mixture. You cannot mix the covenants. You cannot try to balance grace out. 38 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:35.000 Grace by its very definition is extreme. It's radical. And it doesn't need us in the equation to do stuff to help us save your out in order to balance things out. 39 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:56.000 So typically, when I begin like this, the argument, the response, because this is true gospel, but it comes against what we've typically been taught, the response is, oh, so you're telling me the Old Covenant law is done with? Well, I'm not telling you, but that's what the Scripture tells you. 40 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:06.000 Well, what they hear then is, so we're not even supposed to read the Old Testament? No, you're supposed to read the Old Testament. It's still the Word of God, just as much as the New Testament is the Word of God. 41 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:14.000 In fact, in the New Testament, it says these things were written for our example. There's so much we can learn, but just know that was a different system. 42 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:25.000 We're under a different system. God hasn't changed, but the way in which he deals with people has, and the cross of Jesus changed everything. Hallelujah. 43 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:34.000 And they hear things like, oh, you're just saying, throw out the Old Testament? No, I'm saying throw out living today like you're living in the Old Testament. 44 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:46.000 Live in light of the cross of Christ, live in light of this new covenant that we're under. Also what they hear is, oh, so you're just saying like the Ten Commandments has gone to, throw out any holiness, throw out any type of law. 45 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:54.000 And what they hear, because they don't stick around long enough, what they hear is, oh, there's a pastor who's encouraging lawlessness. He said, don't live under the law. 46 00:07:54.000 --> 00:08:03.000 He's encouraging lawlessness. And the exact opposite is true. When you live under grace, there's more holiness. 47 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:13.000 Yeah, except it comes from the inside out, from the power of the Holy Spirit within you, not the way religion brings it from the outside in. 48 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:23.000 God is not after behavior or modification. He's after heart transformation. And what's happening during this series is our believing, our faith is getting sorted out. 49 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:31.000 Because right believing leads to right doing wrong believing leads to wrong doing. Amen. 50 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:49.000 So what better place to begin the second chapter of Galatians, then the book of second Corinthians. Let's look at this first. Amen. Second Corinthians chapter three verses seven through nine. 51 00:08:49.000 --> 00:09:11.000 Just just want to show you a couple of things here. But if the ministry of death written and engraved on stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses, first notice what the Apostle Paul calls the old covenant, the system of law. 52 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:20.000 He calls it the ministry of death. Why was it the ministry of death? Does that sound like a system you want to be under by the way? 53 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:29.000 The ministry of death because the law is like a giant magnifying glass. It comes over you and exposes your cracks. It exposes your sin. 54 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:46.000 It places a demand on you, but doesn't impart unto you the power to fulfill that demand. So it just brings death. Under the new covenant, there is a demand, but you're imparted with the Holy Spirit and with the new created spirit, a born against spirit. 55 00:09:46.000 --> 00:10:06.000 You're imparted with power to fulfill that demand. But if the ministry of death written and engraved on stone, talking about the giving of the ten commandments was glorious so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses. Remember his face was shining like a light bulb. They said it was radiating like the new day sun when the law was given. 56 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:22.000 Because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, verse 8, how will the ministry of the spirit? That's what we're under now, the new covenant, the new testament. These are all synonyms, the ministry of the spirit. 57 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:34.000 How will the ministry of the spirit not be more glorious? Can everyone just say that with me more glorious? Make a choice. What side of the cross do you want to live on? 58 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:51.000 I want to live on the more glorious side, the new covenant side. I don't want to live on the wrong side of the cross, the BC side, the pre-crucifixion, pre-resurrection, pre-day of Pentecost, giving of the Holy Spirit and church being birthside. 59 00:10:51.000 --> 00:11:07.000 No, no. I want to live without balance, radically, extremely on the new covenant side. Verse 9, for the ministry of condemnation, if anyone asks you what is the law, what is the system of the law? 60 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:23.000 Oh, I know, ministry of death, ministry of condemnation. That's what it is. For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness, what's the ministry of righteousness? 61 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:39.000 The ministry of righteousness, grace, the new covenant of his grace. The ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory, so essentially the Apostle Paul is saying the new covenant is better than the old. Amen. 62 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:59.000 Now let's go into the book of Hebrews. Chapter 8 verse 6, but now he has speaking of Jesus, obtained the more excellent ministry. In as much as he is also mediator of what? 63 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:19.000 Better covenant. We as people are messed up and we have an innate propensity to gravitate towards the system of the law. 64 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:34.000 You know where you first see that in the Garden of Eden? God gave him a choice, the tree of life, which is Jesus himself. And when I talk about grace, I'm not talking about a doctrine, I'm talking about a person. 65 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:57.000 Grace has a lot of definitions. It's the means by which we are saved. God's riches are Christ's expense. But even deeper than that, it is Jesus himself because the law was given by Moses. It was a thing that was given, but grace and truth came in the person of Jesus Christ. That's what it says in the Gospel of John. 66 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:09.000 Hallelujah. Hallelujah. 67 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:24.000 But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry and as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. 68 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:41.000 I was saying that man has a natural propensity toward the law. In the Garden of Eden, he was given a choice, the tree of life, which is Jesus, which is grace, or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What is the knowledge of good and evil? It's the law. The law brings the knowledge of good and evil. 69 00:13:41.000 --> 00:14:01.000 And man, since that day, up until now, we just gravitate towards what makes sense to our carnal mind. And we've been taught by our parents, by society, by this whole world system, do good, get good, do bad, get bad. 70 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:18.000 You're saying, yeah, isn't that Christianity? No. While you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. Under grace, you do bad, you get good. See, I knew it. You say that kind of stuff. Everybody's going to lose their minds, start swinging from the light bulbs. 71 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:28.000 You'll go to the bathroom, pastor, come back up, and they'll be building a golden calf running around here, half naked, just over strength. Getting cast. No, that's not how it works. 72 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:40.000 Because when you really see his beauty, when you see the cross, when you understand what he has done for you and inside of you, you are transformed and you are changed. 73 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:52.000 All called the law, the ministry of death, the ministry of condemnation, he also said the strength of sin is in the law. The more you preach law, law, law, you know what you're going to get? Not holiness, more sin. 74 00:14:52.000 --> 00:15:08.000 The more you preach grace, true grace, biblical grace. In Romans, we learned that grace not only establishes you firmly and the new covenant declares you not guilty, but also it's an empowerment against sin. 75 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:29.000 You see, true holiness come out of you, but through actually no self-effort of your own. So you can't get religious pride. You can't become hearty of how you cleaned your life up. No. All you did was yield. All you did was acknowledge that you died with him and then his life sprang up. 76 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:45.000 But yeah, man has messed up. We always gravitate towards the law, but we need to shun it and not mix it. For if the first covenant had been faultless, the first covenant, the old covenant had been faultless, that means there was a fault with it. There was a problem. 77 00:15:45.000 --> 00:16:01.000 Then no place would have been sought for a second. Yet even in the old, there's prophetic words that a new one is coming. Why? What was the problem with the old? Because finding fault with them, the problem with the old is that God found fault with them. 78 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:19.000 Do you know God doesn't have that problem under the new? You who've received Jesus, you've put your faith in him. God does not find any fault in you. What do you mean? But what about those issues I'm working on? He doesn't see him. 79 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:40.000 You have non-imputation of sin. The Bible says you have been made perfect in him. The Holy Spirit doesn't indwell sinful buildings, sinful vessels. Yet the Holy Spirit indwells you. He's been given to you because your sin has been stripped away, taken completely out of the way. 80 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:55.000 So it doesn't find any fault with you. The problem with the old is he found fault with them still because the law can never justify you. Why? Why did he still find fault with them? What was the problem with the old? The problem with the old was the problem with everything. 81 00:16:55.000 --> 00:17:19.000 We were in the equation. Under the old, God the Father had a covenant with the people. Guess who kept breaking their side of the bargain? The people. They kept messing up and messing up. So God had a solution. Under the new, it's Christ in you, the hope of glory who's keeping your side of the covenant intact. 82 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:38.000 So you have God the Father. He made a covenant. And on your behalf, Jesus is forever keeping your end of the bargain. He's forever upholding the covenant in your place so that God will not find fault and so that you cannot take any credit. And guess what also you can then do? 83 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:56.000 Rest. Rest. It can be a piece that he's got you. You won't mess this thing up. Because finding fault with them, he says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord. 84 00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:16.000 When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, says the Lord. Hallelujah. 85 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:32.000 Well, let's begin in Galatians chapter two, starting in verse one, we're going to go line upon line, precept upon precept. I encourage you to pay attention, rewatch the broadcast on YouTube, listen to the podcast. 86 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:39.000 This isn't something that you'll get overnight. For a lot of you, a lot of questions will be raised. This is a journey our church has been on for decades. 87 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:47.000 Just this year of 2023, we went through Roman six, seven and eight. If you haven't watched those sermons, they're online. 88 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:53.000 We had summer life groups all based on grace, and now we're doing this whole series. 89 00:18:54.000 --> 00:19:05.000 Because a church that's fully living with no mixture and the new covenant is a blessed church. It's a church that knows all the things that have been freely given to them by God. It's a victorious church. 90 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:17.000 You want to see a church that has a mixture. You're going to find Christians who have a spiritual insecurity. They're living under condemnation. They're living under shame. They don't have boldness. 91 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:26.000 And they constantly, they may not admit it, but secretly just seems like they're trying to appease an unappeasable master. 92 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:34.000 But when you understand grace, you can rest and know that he looks at you through the blood of Jesus and you are well pleasing to him. 93 00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:45.000 And no, this does not produce laziness. It doesn't. I know. I know who gets most excited about this message of grace. 94 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:56.000 If we had evangelism right after service, they'd be the first ones to say, I'm going to. If we had 40 days of fasting, they'd be the first ones to fast. If we had a building campaign, they'd be the first ones to give. 95 00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:06.000 From the outside, someone would say, I feel like they'd be the last ones because you just, you keep preaching God will love you whether you do it or not. Yeah, grace blows your mind. 96 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:16.000 Grace is upside down, topsy-turvy. Grace is unlike anything the world has ever, ever seen before. It's the mystery of grace. 97 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:22.000 I tell people that they're not cursed by God if they don't have and are giving goes up. 98 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:29.000 Hallelujah. 99 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:36.000 So here, what's happening with the Galatians? A group called the Judaizers has crept in. 100 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:45.000 And the Judaizers are Christians, in a sense, they believe in Jesus, but they also believe you had to keep the law of Moses. 101 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:53.000 So they crept in and they told, as an initial thing, they told all the men you have to get circumcised because that's the right of passage to becoming a Jew. 102 00:20:53.000 --> 00:21:01.000 And Paul loses his mind. It's the angriest you ever see him. The most passionate, the most emotional you ever see him. 103 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:12.000 Because he realizes if you mix even a little bit, it's like drinking a glass of water that's 99% pure water, but 1% arsenic. Would you drink that water? No. 104 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:21.000 He says, mixture will nullify. It will frustrate the grace of God. You cannot have any mixture yet. 105 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:25.000 Way too many Christians are actually living with mixture. 106 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:33.000 So he's bringing some order here and some much-needed correction here. And we left in Galatians chapter 1. 107 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:39.000 He's essentially telling you his travel plans, not because he needed filler material to fill up the New Testament with. 108 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:49.000 But he's just, he wants everybody to know. He wants his listeners to understand that he got the gospel of grace supernaturally, directly from God. 109 00:21:50.000 --> 00:22:00.000 But he didn't get it alone in some bush in the wilderness. But that he actually went to Jerusalem and met with all the top apostles and they confirmed. 110 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:07.000 They said, yeah, that thing that you got, that's what we got. We're under a different dispensation, we're under a different system of order. 111 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:15.000 It's no longer us endeavoring to be approved unto God based on our own effort, but it's through Jesus and what he did for us. 112 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:24.000 And that's essentially what he's getting into now. Then after 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and also took Titus with me. 113 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:34.000 And I went up by revelation. That doesn't mean he teleported out of his body into Jerusalem. It just means that nobody invited him. He didn't get any invite. 114 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:46.000 No singing telegram. No card in the mail. The Lord told him to go and he says, I went up by revelation because the Lord told me to go and communicated to them that gospel, the gospel of grace. 115 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:53.000 I let him know what I was preaching. I was preaching Jesus plus nothing equals everything. 116 00:22:54.000 --> 00:23:01.000 Mixture comes in and says, Jesus plus, well some stuff you got to do to help save your out equals everything. No! 117 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:13.000 When it comes to your approval and justification before God, there's nothing you can contribute. This either relieves people or to the religiously proud it upsets them. 118 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:23.000 It upsets them because they realize, wow, that scorecard they were keeping, that they thought God was keeping, doesn't actually exist. 119 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:35.000 And really exposes your motives. That gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who are of reputation, 120 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:44.000 unless by any means I might run or had run in vain. Here's what Paul is saying. I'll let you know when the next verse. 121 00:23:49.000 --> 00:24:01.000 He's saying, I met with the head apostles in Jerusalem. This is like the original 11 plus a few more. The 18. They were in Jerusalem. 122 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:08.000 And I came to check out this gospel of grace. I wanted to make sure I wasn't off. I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. 123 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:15.000 But to those who are of the highest reputation, I did it privately. He's not saying I did it privately because if they rebuked me, I didn't want to get corrected in public. 124 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:25.000 He's saying, in case there was some debate, in case there was some arguing, we won't cause a ruckus amongst all the Christians in Jerusalem, but it was done privately. Are you catching that church? 125 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:30.000 Okay. Verse 3. 126 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:51.000 You're not even Titus who was with me being a Greek was compelled to be circumcised. And verse 4. And this occurred because of false brethren. He doesn't say confused brethren. He doesn't say well intentioned, well meaning brethren. He calls them false brethren. 127 00:24:52.000 --> 00:25:06.000 Not even Christians. False brethren secretly brought in who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. 128 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:18.000 By the way, that very word religion, the root of it is back to bondage. Religion is bondage. Why? Because religion takes your eyes off of Jesus and puts them on you. 129 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:28.000 Religion says you have a part in a role to play in your own salvation. You have to help save your out. You have to contribute to the already finished work of the cross and nothing can be further from the truth. 130 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:33.000 Oh Lord. 131 00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:42.000 Listen, here I am in 2023 talking about Judaizers and you can almost feel, well okay, how does this apply to me today? 132 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:52.000 Because we're not in the first century dealing with a group who's going to come in and ask men to be circumcised, but we are dealing with modern day Judaizers all of the time. 133 00:25:53.000 --> 00:26:11.000 Anyone who would get you to do stuff to earn God's favor, to be more loved by God, to be more approved unto God is a Judaizer. Any teaching that puts a burden on you, to do things, to win God's affection more, to do things that will come to you. 134 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:19.000 To contribute to your own right standing with God is a false teacher, Judaizer. 135 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:26.000 Because Jesus plus nothing equals everything and it comes in all different shapes and sizes. 136 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:37.000 Here's a very, very subtle one, a teaching I heard all of my Christian life. When the praises go up, the blessings come down. How many of you heard that? 137 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:51.000 And you may even believe it, but it's not true. It's a very initial Judaizing move. Because what that does is it makes you really important. 138 00:26:52.000 --> 00:27:02.000 And it sets up God the Father in this strange, bizarre, transactional way. Like God the Father is really, really insecure. He needs to be reminded how awesome He is. 139 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:14.000 And He's got these blessings though, He's insecure but almighty. And He's keeping them from you. But if you tell Him, you're awesome enough. If you worship Him loud enough, if you praise Him enough, He'll come around to you. 140 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:28.000 And so as your praises go up, He'll be like, you know, this guy's not so bad. He's going to change my mind. All right, He just kicks down, have some crumbs. Here you go. 141 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:41.000 And we're like, it's this weird old covenant, appeasing a God that can never be a peace type system that's being communicated through that. 142 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:51.000 What's the reality? The reality is, is that you have already, according to Ephesians 1-3, you have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. 143 00:27:51.000 --> 00:28:08.000 When you praise, praise is the language of heaven. Praise causes you to come on the same frequency, the same vibration, the same divine stream as heaven. And as you praise Him, you're not paying God for blessings with your praises. 144 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:15.000 You're not putting in self effort to, now He loves you more and He's going to throw down something to you that He wouldn't normally do. 145 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:21.000 You're just becoming more aware when you praise, you're becoming more aware of what you already have. 146 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:30.000 In fact, Paul says, the Holy Spirit has been given to you that you may know the things that have already past tense been freely given to you by God. 147 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:39.000 Like fasting, people think fasting changes God. No, that's a hunger strike. And nothing you could ever do can cause God. 148 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:48.000 Fasting doesn't change God. That's a law way of looking at it. Fasting changes you. And now you can receive what He's already given you better. 149 00:28:49.000 --> 00:29:03.000 Praise doesn't change God. It doesn't change His mind about you. It changes you. It seems so subtle. But beware the Judaizers. Don't give Him space even for a little bit. 150 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:13.000 And there's Judaizers out there in the form of compromised teaching, legalistic pastors because they don't really trust the Holy Spirit in you. 151 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:26.000 So they feel that they got to put you under the law to extract the right kind of behavior from you. No, there's a better way, the Jesus way, the new covenant way. 152 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:38.000 And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, religious people hate freedom, the hate liberty. 153 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:48.000 So we have in Christ Jesus that they might bring us back into bondage to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour. 154 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:57.000 And that's how you need to be in your life. Do not yield submission to anyone who will try to get you to mix systems, mix covenants. 155 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:09.000 You know there are red flags to know when you're accidentally or inadvertently mixing covenants. If you're under guilt, shame, condemnation, you're mixing covenants. 156 00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:15.000 If you get a religious pride from your good works, you're mixing covenants. 157 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:21.000 If you ever feel far from God, you're mixing covenants because you've been brought near. 158 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:33.000 But Pastor, what if I fall away? What do you think you abandoned you? You think he's a fair weather friend? 159 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:39.000 I forgot how I stumbled upon this. There was something from some witch's coven and they were partnering with the enemy. 160 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:43.000 And I remember all the phrasing was, this is getting a little odd. 161 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:53.000 But all the phrasing was, they were listing different spirits and they were saying how they will borrow your power. 162 00:30:53.000 --> 00:31:00.000 How you will borrow their power, borrow their power. And I just thought, you know that's interesting. The Lord never lends. He only gives. 163 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.000 A demon will come and loan you its power, but it's on loan. 164 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:12.000 Do you know God never even loans you anything? He just gives. That's why some people say, hey, that was a preacher and he had a crazy sinful life. 165 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:22.000 And meanwhile, he built a giant church, mega ministry, God flowed through him. How did that happen? He had a secret dark side because that's how God is. 166 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:29.000 The Bible says that the gifts and the callings of God are irrevocable. No backsees with God. 167 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:37.000 He doesn't even loan. He just gives you. You want to be a knucklehead? You want to mess that whole thing up? That's on you. But God just gives. 168 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:41.000 Oh hallelujah, man, you can feel the wheels grinding right now. 169 00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:51.000 This is why we're doing eight weeks for six chapters. I'm going to try to hit. 170 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:59.000 And if you have any questions, fill out a connection card, email us. We'll review the questions. I want to answer some of your questions. 171 00:31:59.000 --> 00:32:09.000 This should rattle you. They should honor you. They should even anger you. Should anger you that you weren't told this sooner. 172 00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:13.000 Verse six, please. 173 00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:17.000 But those who seem to be something, Paul's just talking about what went down in Jerusalem. 174 00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:25.000 But those who seem to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me. God shows personal favoritism to no man. 175 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:34.000 I just chuckle at that verse. You just picture Paul in Jerusalem in the green room. A bunch of celebrity apostles walking around. 176 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:41.000 There's Paul still has missionary dust on his face. And he's like, you know, these guys don't add anything to me. 177 00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:48.000 They seem to be something, whatever they were. It makes no difference to me. God shows personal favoritism to no man. 178 00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:56.000 For those who seem to be something, added nothing to me. He's saying they didn't add anything to this gospel of grace that I received by revelation. 179 00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:05.000 But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised, that's us, Gentiles, had been committed to me. 180 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:19.000 As the gospel for the uncircumcised was to Peter, for he who worked effectively in Peter, for the apostleship to the circumcised, also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles. 181 00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:32.000 And when James, Seifas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me in Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. 182 00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:43.000 That we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. What is all this about? Paul, he realizes he has a battle here. The Galatians have been compromised. 183 00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:54.000 He even says later, Google, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Who has hypnotized you that you did not obey the truth? You actually allowed covenant mixture into your community. 184 00:33:54.000 --> 00:34:04.000 He realizes he's going to have to set a posture where they understand who he is and why he's preaching this gospel. 185 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:11.000 So he reminds them, hey, I didn't get this revelation again out in the wilderness, sleeping in some cave. 186 00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:19.000 But I got it from the Lord and then I went to Jerusalem and submitted it to the other chief apostles. And they all agreed with me. 187 00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:30.000 They said that what you got, we got, and they laid hands on me in Barnabas and blessed us, will go out to the Gentiles, Peter will go out to the Jews, but it's a big confirmation of this message. Are you catching that? 188 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:41.000 He's essentially name dropping a little bit and saying, I'm not just in a bad mood writing to you out of nowhere, this is confirmed. 189 00:34:41.000 --> 00:34:50.000 Verse 10, they desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. 190 00:34:50.000 --> 00:35:01.000 Can you just go back to verse 5, please? Just go back to verse 5, because I wanted you to see that phrase that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. 191 00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:09.000 This is what has Paul so up in arms. This is the entire theme of the book of Galatians. 192 00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:19.000 What is the truth of the gospel? The truth of the gospel is Jesus plus nothing equals everything. Get that. 193 00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:26.000 What a relief will come to you when you get that. What a peace and arrest will come to you when you get that. 194 00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:33.000 What a sweet intimacy that will develop between you and the Lord when you get that. 195 00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:43.000 When you're weak, when you fall short, Satan who comes with a hiss, his name in the Hebrew is Hassatan, the accuser. 196 00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:49.000 Who does the accused you to? Well, the accused is you to God, but you know what else the accused is you to? 197 00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:58.000 He accuses you to you. Masquerading as your own internal monologue. This is your weak. You always fail. You're dirty. You're no good. 198 00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:05.000 You can't live up to God is tired of you and you think it's you thinking that. Some people think it's God talking to them. 199 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:13.000 This is why, by the way, this is why. This is a statistic from the decade and a half ago. It might be even worse now. 200 00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:19.000 For every person, every Christian sitting in church, there's 50 prodigals who fall in a way. 201 00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:27.000 Do you know why they fall away? They fall away because they get tired of themselves doing Christianity under the old covenant. 202 00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:36.000 And they feel that God has given up on them. They've given up on them. So what's the point of going to church? And they just backslide. 203 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:44.000 But when you know he's with you, a friend that's six closer than the brother. When you know that even if you're in the sewers of sin, I brow deep. 204 00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:56.000 He's still loving you and he's still holding your hand pulling you through. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. 205 00:36:56.000 --> 00:37:03.000 Okay, let's go to verse. I think we were on 11, 10, about the poor, and then 11. 206 00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:12.000 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I would stood him to his face because he was to be blamed. 207 00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:19.000 So we have the Judaizers, but the Apostle Paul is saying, Peter, yes, our Peter, the disciple with the foot-shaped mouth from the gospels. 208 00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:26.000 He's saying, he's a big problem in all this. So I would stood Peter. What happened? Verse 12. 209 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:34.000 For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles. 210 00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:41.000 Under the law, you're not supposed to eat with Gentiles, but Peter knew he wasn't under the law anymore. He knew he was under grace. 211 00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:48.000 But when they came, whoever these certain men were, he liked them. He wanted to impress them. He wanted a good reputation with them. 212 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:59.000 But when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. Holy cow, this is deep. 213 00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:06.000 First of all, it's a public rebuke, and it's a public rebuke forever immortalized in the Holy Scriptures. 214 00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:13.000 What could have warranted that? What happened at that? You know what it was? It was a church potluck dinner. 215 00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:18.000 It was what these had to have, and a Gapet feast. This wasn't some fancy ceremony. Church potluck dinner. 216 00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:27.000 And Peter goes, oh, look, there are those guys. They're under the law. If I eat with Gentiles, they're going to look at me funny, 217 00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:35.000 so I'll separate myself and I eat with the Gentiles. And Paul says, that is horrible. What a message you're sending out, Peter. 218 00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:40.000 If anybody should have known. If anybody should have stood strong, it's Peter. You know why? 219 00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:49.000 Peter was the first person to get the revelation that the Gentiles were also welcome into the kingdom through Jesus. 220 00:38:49.000 --> 00:38:53.000 He should have stood strong, but you have a little bit of the old Peter coming out, don't you? 221 00:38:53.000 --> 00:39:02.000 The Peter who was a man-pleaser, the Peter who wasn't completely set free from the opinions of others, the fear of man-Peter. 222 00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:09.000 And Paul says, this is so bad because what you're essentially saying is you have to keep the law of Moses, 223 00:39:09.000 --> 00:39:15.000 and we know we're no longer under a system where we have to do things to be approved. 224 00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:20.000 Hey. You know what's also encouraging there? 225 00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:29.000 The Peter, this was like over 10, 15 years after, on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached that fiery message, and 3,000 were saved. 226 00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:34.000 And he still was a work in progress. Amen. 227 00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:43.000 Okay, I guess I'm just excited about that. Everybody else has arrived. So they're like, good news for you, pastor. Me? I'm all right. 228 00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:48.000 Four before. 229 00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:57.000 Well, next verse, verse 13, and the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him so that even Barnabas, now if anybody should have known, 230 00:39:57.000 --> 00:40:08.000 it was Barnabas. Barnabas was Paul's sidekick. They're like the Holy Ghost dynamic duo. Barnabas got that same gospel of grace alongside with Paul, 231 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:15.000 Barnabas fell into it and played the hypocrite with them so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. 232 00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:26.000 Verse 14, but when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, 233 00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:33.000 you got to love Paul. 234 00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:42.000 Listen, this is the minister of grace. You'd look how he acts sometimes, and during the lockdowns and all that, 235 00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:51.000 I would people were just, remember how brainwashed people were, and how angry people were, and how fascistic some people became. 236 00:40:51.000 --> 00:41:01.000 And there was a woman, who'd been with me for years sat in a second row, and I thought it was my imagination. She would start to distract me every time I talked about the lockdowns or COVID or what was happening. 237 00:41:01.000 --> 00:41:09.000 And at first I thought it was just my imagination, but she was visibly distracted. She hated it. She sent messages to Pastor Mel, can he just stick with the word? 238 00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:17.000 Yeah, I'm sticking with the word. So out of my spirit, I didn't get in the flesh, I promise, I get in the flesh, I'll let you know. 239 00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:23.000 I get in the flesh, media team will let you know, get in the flesh all the time. This wasn't me getting in the flesh, but the Bible says, 240 00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:30.000 Paul says, rebuke publicly that the others may fear, even under grace there is an element, and I rebuke you publicly. 241 00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:39.000 You just, you want to distract me publicly? You'll get rebuke publicly. Hallelujah. Amen. 242 00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:47.000 That we would preserve what the Lord is doing here. 243 00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:55.000 Paul, he rebuke some publicly and says to Peter, if you being a Jew live in the manner of Gentiles, and not as the Jews, here's what Paul is saying. 244 00:41:55.000 --> 00:42:04.000 Paul is saying, Peter, you're living under grace, you're Jewish, and you've been set free, and you don't live as a Jew anymore. 245 00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:13.000 I know what happened, Peter. Remember, Peter, in order to understand that Gentiles were welcomed into the kingdom, he had a vision of a large sheet descending from heaven. 246 00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:19.000 And in the sheet was all manner of animals, and he heard a voice. It was the Lord's voice saying, rise, Peter, kill any. 247 00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:28.000 And Peter being a holy Jew said, no, no, Lord, nothing unclean has ever touched my lips. And the Lord thundered back what I have cleansed, call not thou one clean. 248 00:42:28.000 --> 00:42:37.000 Remember that from the book of Acts? And what there really was, it wasn't so much about the dietary law, it was the Lord saying, Gentiles whom you call unclean are now welcome into the kingdom. 249 00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:46.000 But it also meant the dietary law was wrong. And Paul is saying, Peter, you had that vision on Tuesday, on Wednesday in the morning, I saw you having bacon and eggs. 250 00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:54.000 You don't even live as a Jew, you were so happy, that night you went to a restaurant, you ordered shrimp and lobster. I saw you. 251 00:42:54.000 --> 00:43:02.000 You, a Jew, don't live like a Jew, you're living in freedom, but you compel others to live under bondage. 252 00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:16.000 That's like a message for ministers, ministers who fought, they themselves know the freedom of grace, but they manipulate people with that spirit of old testament bondage. 253 00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:31.000 That's why I never hide what I have. I'm talking about materially. There are preachers, they are so blessed, because look, when you plug into Jesus, you may not like, when you plug into Jesus, he's the God of abundance, he's the God of prosperity, 254 00:43:31.000 --> 00:43:51.000 you're going to be financially blessed, but they hide it, because they're afraid of what people will say, and they're going to stand before God and God, they will have to give an account on why they didn't let other people have access into that prosperity and abundance, but they played like they were poor, but secretly they were hiding things. 255 00:43:51.000 --> 00:44:12.000 No, I'm not going to hide, I'm blessed. That is blessed me. Amen. He's blessed me, so I in turn can preach to you, bless you back and tell you about a wonderful, wonderful, generous, opulent God. Hallelujah. I'm free. 256 00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:33.000 I'm sin-free. I know that I'm beloved, so I'm not going to manipulate you and tell you God's not going to be pleased, you're going to be angry if you miss church on Sunday. He'll love you the same. You lose out, you miss out. See, this is where people miss it with works. You're not saved by your works. 257 00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:54.000 You don't score points with God with your works, but works, such as church attendance, being nice to people, tithing, praying, Bible study, evangelism, those are all phenomenal things. Those are things we should do, but not to gain God's favor, we already have it. 258 00:44:54.000 --> 00:45:04.000 Not to gain justification, as it is, we've already been justified and declared not guilty. They're now a thank you back. Hallelujah. 259 00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:10.000 And again, somebody who doesn't get grace, they'll be like, I can't believe he's preaching that. He's not going to have anybody in church next Sunday. 260 00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:20.000 You know, we just keep getting bigger, more financially. The more I tell people, you're not cursed if you don't hide, the more finances go up. Amen. 261 00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:25.000 Grace does not make sense. Go blow your mind. 262 00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:44.000 Another reason why he's talking about all, let me just, we're going to get back to Peter. Another reason why he's getting into all the history of how he went to Jerusalem and met with all these people, he's establishing some facts. He's saying, this gospel of grace, the world has never seen anything like it. 263 00:45:44.000 --> 00:46:04.000 It's brand new. Every single world religion in essence function the same. It's an unappeasable God or God's and they say, you do good, you get good, you do bad, you get bad. There's like a million world religions that that's their foundation. 264 00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:20.000 Grace is the exact opposite. Never before, never since has the world seen a faith like this. And Paul is saying, I got that. Mind blowing. I went to Jerusalem and a whole other group of people got the same thing and we never even conversed. 265 00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:29.000 We never communicated. That's why he's writing all this. He's saying, we know it's from the Lord. We know it's divine just how it came to be. 266 00:46:29.000 --> 00:46:45.000 Hallelujah. But when I saw that they were, oh, I missed that part. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, that's the second time the possible Paul uses that phrase, the truth of the gospel. 267 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:58.000 What's the truth of the gospel? Say with me, Jesus plus nothing equals everything. All right, if you being a Jew living the manner of Gentiles and not as a Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? 268 00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:14.000 We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. 269 00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:25.000 So we are not. We cannot be justified by the works of the law. 270 00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:45.000 Even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. 271 00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:59.000 Can you just leave it on that? I'll let you know when to turn. 272 00:48:29.000 --> 00:48:43.000 There's a giant scale in heaven. And on one side, all the good deeds of their life fall. And on the other side, all the bad deeds of their life fall. And if they're good deeds, outweigh their bad deeds, they go to heaven. 273 00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:53.000 If they're bad deeds, outweigh their good deeds, they go to hell. And usually they say, I think I'm going to heaven. I believe so. I hope so. I mean, I'm no Hitler. 274 00:48:53.000 --> 00:49:14.000 There's always a joke. Everybody thinks that God is going to compare them to Hitler. God doesn't compare you to Hitler. God doesn't compare you to Manson or some other serial killer. God compares you to Himself. He compares you to his son, Jesus. So we're all found lacking. 275 00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:26.000 If you put your confidence in your own works, your own good deeds, your own behavior, you are in big trouble. You kid right now, sell everything you have. 276 00:49:26.000 --> 00:49:50.000 Withdraw money on your credit cards. Go into debt. Move out of America and pull a mother to reason and go to Calcutta. And spend the rest of your days clothing, the poor, and feeding the hungry. Spend decades like that. And guess what? It will not be one notch on your belt. It won't be one credit to you if you're thinking that's going to help with your salvation. 277 00:49:50.000 --> 00:50:04.000 If you think that's going to put you in better standing with God, you wasted so many years. You cannot help us save you out. You cannot add to the already finished work of the cross. It didn't cry out. It is almost finished. 278 00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:18.000 The old covenant is called the old covenant for a reason, because it's done with. When I first got saved, I thought the old covenant was older covenant. 279 00:50:18.000 --> 00:50:33.000 You know, like we got a newer one that was written like a couple of thousand years after the older one. So that's why we call it the new. No one explained to him, you know, the old isn't an older and the new, a newer version of the old. The old is called the old because we don't live under it anymore. 280 00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:40.000 And the new is called the new because that's the system, the umbrella that we're under now. And it's such a better system. 281 00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:53.000 It's a system where there is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. It's a system where you are already blessed. It's a system where you don't have to try to earn his favor. 282 00:50:53.000 --> 00:51:14.000 But grace is already undeserved, unmerited favor that he lavishes you with. Hallelujah. That whole story of the prodigal son and the older brother, that older brother is the picture of a religious, judyizing church person who gets upset that some ex-druggy came in and got saved. 283 00:51:14.000 --> 00:51:29.000 The next month has everything they've been praying for years for. And they start listing their good deeds. Well, don't you know, I ushered in church and I cleaned up that. I was a part of the worst team that set up tear down team. We all know that's the hardest team. 284 00:51:29.000 --> 00:51:44.000 Lord, because you trusted in your own stuff that you did to score points. But if you know you're already, already fully qualified. And now you still do these things. Why should I do them if I'm not earning something? 285 00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:59.000 You're missing it. You do them because you've already been blessed. And when you do those things, not trying to earn, but because you've already, you're already blessed. You're in the zone. You're in the good receiving zone. 286 00:51:59.000 --> 00:52:20.000 That last sentence for by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. Verse 17. But if we notice it's in quotes. Paul is quoting a question that probably came up at that potluck. 287 00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:40.000 That argument that they had. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners. Is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not. What a kind of a confusing verse. What does that mean? 288 00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:55.000 He's saying, if under grace, we still have issues in our life. Does that mean that Christ is a minister of sin? He echoed the same sentiment in a different way in Roman six when he said, 289 00:52:56.000 --> 00:53:08.000 Where's the sin is grace abounds? Should we continue to sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. Because that's the first question that's going to cross all of our minds when we initially hear grace. 290 00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:20.000 Is will then is Jesus an enabler? Does he just turn a blind eye and enable us to do wrong? Absolutely not. The exact opposite happens under grace. 291 00:53:21.000 --> 00:53:40.000 Oh, hallelujah. Certainly not. Verse 18. For if I build again those things which are destroyed, if I build again the teaching of the old covenant of law, then I myself am a transgressor. 292 00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:55.000 For I, through the law, died to the law that I might live to God. Verse 20, I encourage every single person your homework this week is to memorize Galatians 220. 293 00:53:55.000 --> 00:54:03.000 I believe it was either the first, definitely the second verse in the Bible I ever memorized. Even back then the Lord knew this would be my life message. 294 00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:23.000 I didn't even know what it meant. I was just listening to the old bishop preach on my walkman and I loved the way he quoted it. So I memorized it in his voice. Seriously, I remember pacing around my parents bedroom with a walkman and I was like, I have been crue... I won't do it. 295 00:54:24.000 --> 00:54:37.000 But he was, he was an aha preacher. So it was 16 year old me. Yeah, that's true story. But I did it over and I just loved. He had this texture in his voice. It just was like with the richness of God. 296 00:54:37.000 --> 00:54:44.000 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. 297 00:54:45.000 --> 00:55:00.000 So you might say now, Pastor, this freedom, this victory over sin, this whole new covenant thing, how is it activated? Well, we established it's not activated by you trying really hard. 298 00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:09.000 So what do you do? You yield. What do you yield to? You yield to the past tense fact that you died. 299 00:55:09.000 --> 00:55:21.000 You died 2000 years ago. You died three ways to three things. You died to the law. You died to sin and you died to your sin nature. 300 00:55:21.000 --> 00:55:36.000 Now, you go, I don't know, my life doesn't always reflect that. I know that. But the more you believe that, the more you appropriate that by faith, the more you will experience that. 301 00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:54.000 You want more freedom? You want more new covenant realities in your life? Focus on Galatians 220. Really? Think about the cross. Study the cross. Become an expert on the cross. Become an expert on Jesus, the person of you, what actually transpired on the cross? 302 00:55:54.000 --> 00:56:06.000 Met it, fill your spirit and your soul with that. And that will activate the power. Remember, your life is transformed. How? By the renewing of your mind? 303 00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:12.000 I have been crucified with Christ. Let's all say that actually. I've been crucified with Christ. 304 00:56:12.000 --> 00:56:28.000 I died to the law. I died to sin and I died to my sin nature. And he says, in the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me. 305 00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:40.000 You know, you'll often hear me say, on the cross, Jesus knew you. Jesus thought of you. Jesus remembered your name. You said, well, are you just being poetic and emotional pastor? Why do you say that? 306 00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:51.000 I say that in part because of here how Paul words it. He doesn't say who loves me, present tense. He specifically said past tense, who loved me in that moment. 307 00:56:51.000 --> 00:57:02.000 In that historic moment on the cross when he took on your sin and gave you his righteousness in that moment, he loved you. 308 00:57:02.000 --> 00:57:17.000 He loves you perpetually all the time. But in that moment of the divine exchange that started it all, he loved you, who loved me and gave himself for me. 309 00:57:17.000 --> 00:57:29.000 Let's all shout hallelujah. Worship team, come on up. Let me finish with 221. Hallelujah. 310 00:57:29.000 --> 00:57:46.000 I do not set aside. The old King James says it better. He says, I do not frustrate the grace of God. I do not set aside the grace of God. God's grace is everything. 311 00:57:46.000 --> 00:57:56.000 So I don't want to frustrate God's grace either. How do you frustrate God's grace by being a mixing judyizer? No mixture allowed. 312 00:57:56.000 --> 00:58:06.000 By looking to yourself, looking at yourself, look to Jesus by trying no yield. 313 00:58:06.000 --> 00:58:20.000 Let the Holy Spirit empower you. I've been doing this a while, so I reckon we have a lot of new people. I know a lot of you, your mind is untilt right now. 314 00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:28.000 When I first 20 years ago started digging and uncovering these truths, it also messed me up. It's a radical thing to believe. 315 00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:35.000 I take the Lord's hand and do a deep dive of your own and realize we're on a journey. 316 00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:47.000 Paul said grace is a mystery. It's at times perplexing. It'll make you question so many of your belief systems, so many of the ways you relate it to God. 317 00:58:47.000 --> 00:58:59.000 And yes, there is a danger to grace. If it's not preached right, people can go off. Even Peter gives a warning saying there are people who distort Paul's teaching. They misunderstand it to their own detriment, to their own demise. 318 00:58:59.000 --> 00:59:09.000 He's talking about the grace message, but that doesn't mean we back off of the thing that Jesus died for. Hallelujah. 319 00:59:09.000 --> 00:59:24.000 I do not frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through my behavior, my works, my good deeds, through my keeping of the law, then Christ died for nothing. 320 00:59:24.000 --> 00:59:33.000 Isn't that a brilliant thought? If you could fix you, then you would have fixed you already. 321 00:59:33.000 --> 00:59:39.000 Can you imagine all the suffering, the pain that Jesus went through? Not just the physical, but the perfect being made sin. 322 00:59:39.000 --> 00:59:46.000 He's saying all that was for nothing if you could get God to change his mind about you by trying to really be a good person. 323 00:59:46.000 --> 00:59:56.000 Then why did he have to come? You either need a savior or you don't need a savior. But most people are like, I need a savior a little bit, but I also got to help him shoulder the load. 324 00:59:56.000 --> 01:00:02.000 No, he did it all. You have the humble position of just receiving. 325 01:00:02.000 --> 01:00:17.000 This is the City Light Church Podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message, or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boy on Jansik in City Light Church, visit us at citylightnyc.com. 326 01:00:17.000 --> 01:00:23.000 Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. 327 01:00:23.000 --> 01:00:31.000 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. 328 01:00:31.000 --> 01:00:39.000 Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.