Encontrando la libertad | Santidad | Pastor Jeremy DeWeerdt

Well, going into today's message, I have a question I want to start with today. Who of you grew up in the church in the 90s? Yes, let's see, curiously, yes, wow. Okay, well, I'm going to please your hearts today because there are some songs, songs that were played in churches in the 90s. I was a young pastor. In the 90s, we sang these songs, not just in church, but with young adults. And I want us to go back to the past and see this. Who recognizes this song here? Let's see, yes, yes, do you remember? Shout to the Lord. This was the anthem in the 90s. This was the biggest song, the Advance. Let's see, how about this one? This one is deep. I think some of you, as the little deer wants water, you say, let's see, did you sing this when you were young? And well, that was like the radio station we listened to. Do you remember this one? Well, I'm getting back to it. You're getting nostalgic, right? All right, last one. Do you remember this song? Refiner's Fire. Well, this one was deep. You sang it, do you remember?

My heart's one desire. There was no other song to this song, by the way. This is a serious song. This is a serious song. Okay, so, let me explain this song. It's called Refiner's Fire. Refiner's Fire, my heart's desire, to be holy, to be for you, my master, ready to do your will. We sang this, right? Refiner's Fire was the name of this song. And at that time, we sang this song and we were all ready to wash. And it's a metaphor because, well, it's not about a message, but it's like, for example, the gold you put on your neck or the ring on your finger, right? It was refined. We had to be refined. I mean, they took the gold, they melted it, when they put it in the heat, all the impurities go up and it only stays with the pure gold and things like that. So, it's a metaphor saying, God, I want you to remove all the impurities from my life.

And that requires God to heat certain things and remove certain things. And there's a theologian, A.W. Tozer, he says, Christians don't tell lies. They just go to church and sing them. And I'm going to confess to you that in the 90s, I sang this song, this song from Refiner's Fire and many times I was lying. Why? Because there's a reason why. Because even though I said, yes, God, refine my heart, that's my wish, my heart, to be a saint, many times my heart's wish was to do what I wanted to do, what I wanted to be. And I would sing that song and maybe, yes, yes, I was lying at that time. And well, we're going to talk about the subject of that song and several verses in the Bible and what God says in the Bible and maybe even what God said in the Testament

about holiness. Now, nobody said amen when I said we're going to talk about holiness. Because the moment I say it, everybody goes, oh, how lame. No, right? Listen, listen. I'm going to talk about this in a biblical way, maybe a little different than you've heard before. And I want you to listen to this. Holiness is the key to realizing that there is freedom in your life. Holiness produces freedom. And maybe it's not logical because living holy is actually liberating instead of restricting. Because when you hear the word holiness or being holy, you say, it's a list of do's and don'ts. And it's like there's always a limit and that's not freedom. No, no, no. Let me tell you that biblical holiness is in fact a practice of pursuing freedom.

I want to talk about it. I want to take you on a journey here. I grew up here in the 1970s, many, many years ago in the 70s. And I was like, small, right? I went to the church on Sundays. And they had a church with the little people, that's how the church was. that was like, you know, they had a church And in the 70s, I learned about Jesus. In the 80s, I continued going to church. And then I graduated from high school and then I went to high school. And unfortunately, at the end of high school, I walked away from God for about four years. I decided not to follow God and I didn't want to follow faith. And that started in my college years. I actually went on a retreat in the middle of my college career. And I went on a retreat and I saw my life back to Jesus. And that's when I tell people, that's when I said goodbye to my Savior and King.

And that's when I was saved. It was July 13th, 1990. And ever since then, since 1990, I've come to church or I've helped to be a church leader. Maybe the youth, the leadership college, maybe this church as their pastor. So ever since 1990, I've been involved. And I saw something in the 90s and the 2000s that I'm going to tell you what I've observed. Back in the 90s and the 2000s, a lot of the sermons that we talked about in the ministries at the time or in the churches in the nation, like the churches, there were a lot of sermons focused on conduct and holiness. We talked about music, about movies, about how to dress, about sexual behavior. We talked about all of that. We were evangelizing like that and those were specific. And sometimes they were very specific. For example, girls should wear skirts that go down. Or you shouldn't watch certain movies. Or you should only go to PG or PG-13 movies. Or there are books that took place in the 90s that somebody wrote a book called I Kissed Dating Goodbye about how having a boyfriend or girlfriend wasn't very good and you had one that was better to court, but not going out with a boyfriend or girlfriend. It was very, I was a young pastor. I preached some of those sermons. And you know what, I did it from a good place.

But they claimed that tone in the church in that era was making it kind of dreadful. A lot of people started questioning like, wait a minute, is this all about following the rules? How do you dress? Or where do you go? Is following God all about rules? And as long as you have the rules, God will love you and if you don't follow them, no. So people started questioning this. And then in the 2000s and 2010s, there were people who started questioning against that kind of evangelism. And people were questioning what was called a culture of purity, you could say. And then the next decade or so, we were wrestling because people were asking questions. Like, wait a minute, is this all about legalism? Is this all about grace? And there were all kinds of discussions about these legalistic sermons. And it was worth listening to them. And like everything else, when something is at the extreme, the way many people try to correct it is going to the opposite extreme. Let me give you an example. I'm going to bring my friend up here. This is a pendulum. I'm going to take you through the science class, right? Thank you, Levi.

And this is basically, we made it for the sermon, right? This pendulum. And if something is here, it goes to the other side. It goes up and down until it suddenly stops, it loses momentum, right? The momentum, and it starts to balance. And sometimes what was happening, this is my opinion. I'm doing what I've observed 35 years ago in the church. In the 90s, or maybe the beginning of the 2000s, there were sermons that were at this extreme of conduct, of behavior, of holiness. And sometimes some of that maybe had a little bit of a legalistic tone, I don't know if it was on purpose, but what happened is this, questioning that it was healthy, it grabbed and moved my opinion, now the pendulum, or the ball, up to this extreme, what was here of the rules is now, no, it's not rules anymore. It's grace and no more rules. God loves me and I can do whatever I want. And it's interesting to me because it started maybe here by mistake, in my opinion, it's gone here and it's a mistake also. Like, so we don't talk about holiness anymore. And when I say holy, many of you think this, some of you think, well, it's so archaic, it's so restricted. And it feels like they're oppressing you,

an issue that oppresses you. It's like, don't tell me how to live. The culture says, if I want to do my truth, don't tell me how to live. Don't impose, don't tell me what you want to impose on me. What happens is what was here by mistake, in my opinion, has gone here by mistake. And we haven't found the balance. Look, one of the strongest attributes of God is his holiness. In fact, he is a God of love, he is a God of grace. But in Isaiah chapter six, there's a story of Zed, and he's a prophet, and he had a vision, and he was brought to the throne of God, and he saw God on the throne, and there was these angels, and this view was like, there were thousands of seraphim, right? And these angels are singing, these seraphim are on this throne, and they're all singing in union. It was so trembling. They were shaking the temple. They were shouting, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of the heavenly armies,

who else it is and is, right? And he kept saying it over and over, and every time he said holy, you can imagine, everything, everything was planted, right? It was heard, it was trembling, that there are angels in this place, because they were saying, angels, listen to me, you are a God of love and of grace, and those are strong attributes. In fact, love is the strongest attribute of God. But he's also a holy God. He's not one or the other. He is love, and he's holy. He's grace, and he's also justice. See, he's all of this. And so, this is the thing. In my experience, being in church for decades, decades after decades, and most of the time, in some leadership position, I can tell you this is what I've observed. What the church used to cry for, now participate in that. And I sense though, that there is a change. In the 90s, in the early 2000s, I was here.

And someone would say, in the early 2010s, in the early 2020s, they come over here. But look, this is what I'm observing, especially in the younger generation. I'm feeling that there is a desire to come back to the balance. Not to come back to legalism, but to say, we're not going to live the way we want to live. Why? Because society is telling the young people, well, you can live the way you want to live, and you're going to be happy. And people have tried, and they're not happy. You know, if there's something as living, as wisdom, which means you live with restrictions. It doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. Ask those who live the way they want to live, and they want to do what they want to do. And I'm going to tell you, they have a something. They have a something, an emptiness. And they don't have a healthy soul. Why? Because living the way you want to live, it gives you memories you don't want. It gives you regrets you don't want to carry.

And really, in the long run, it doesn't make you happy. So, here's the thing. You have to understand that the message today is, I'm speaking as a church. I'm not talking about culture. I'm not talking about people who don't know Jesus. Culture always can try to divide what the Bible calls pleasant sins. So, today, the holiness of this message is for you and me. It's not for Larry, for Bob, or the people you work with, it's for all of us. And the holy message is not just one, where God is talking to you and making you feel good. Are you a person that bores people and wants to make your life miserable? It's a whole message. No, the truth is not like that. And the holy message is not just one. Holiness gives you freedom. It's the way you were designed to live. You know, I may want to, I may be hungry and I want to eat a bag of Doritos. At first, it tastes good, but then I regret what I ate. And if you live your life like that, you say, I'm hungry for whatever it is that I want to do, you're going to fill up and then you're going to have regret. So here's the thing. We're going to talk today about living a life

with walls of contention, with limits. And it's the best way to live. In fact, the Hebrew word for holiness means this in English. It means you're distinguished. It means separated from the purpose of God. So translate that into, you have to be separated from the purpose of God. This is not a list of doing and not doing. This is not a religious activity. The difference between religion and relationship is that religion says, do this and don't do that. But relationship is that you have a relationship with God and that you become more and more and more like him as the day goes by. Or at least you try. We get the word, Anglo-Saxon word for holiness, or half, H-A-L, and it means, it means whole. It means complete. So as I say, we have to be complete, translate it into, you have to be complete. Your life has to be complete, not fragmented. Holiness is not a loss. It is a recovery of holiness. It is the recovery of holiness. It is separating myself from the old self, the old self, who I was. I'm separating myself from who I was

and I'm surrendering myself to God and from sin. If you look at the last 2,000 years, this has been what the church is. People who are told they're Christians. I'll even go back. Maybe there was a man named Justin. He was a Greek philosopher, he was a Christian. He was born in Samaria, and now what we call Israel, right? And he was trained in Greek philosophy. And he spent years trying to find various things and various teachings. And the only, the only thing he considered that really answered his question was Christianity. That's why he became a Christian. And in about 155, more or less, he became a Christian. And a lot of persecution happened, mainly because they were being lied to and persecuted. So, in the Roman time, well, imagine in Europe, more or less what we call the Middle East, the Romans had some misbelief about the Romans. First of all, that the Christians were atheists. And you say, why? Well, it's because the Christians didn't want the Roman gods. So, the Romans said, they're atheists. No, that's not true.

That's not the correct definition. But the Romans also believed that the Christians were cannibals. Why? Well, because they were practicing communion. And when they were eating the bread and they drank on the name of Christ, the Romans heard that and they said, these people are eating people. And then, well, the Romans believed that the Christians were immoral because they were in secret. Why were they in secret? Because they were being killed. And so, the Romans were a little bit suspicious and they believed that the Christians created a lot of social interruptions and that the Christians were disloyal to Caesar. And so, many times, Christians were condemned to be Christians. And so, Justin wrote a letter and it's called, The First Forgiveness is in this. You can have a look through this. And he addresses it to the Roman Emperor and he addresses it to the Roman Emperor and he addresses it to the Roman Emperor and he addresses it to the Roman Emperor and what he does is he writes this letter and it's called, The First Apology. It doesn't mean that he's so sorry.

He's saying that all it means is a reasonable defense. In other words, what he's really doing here is he's trying to protect something. He's trying to defend faith, reason, logic, because he was trained as a philosopher. And he basically said this to the emperor. He said, hey, investigate Christians honestly. Don't just listen to the rumors. Don't just listen to the gossip. But instead, look around. Look at his life. Look at how he treated others. This was revolutionary. And let me tell you, we're going to get to Rome in 255, right? And imagine, what did you see? They were killing the kids. And this was strange. It was strange. And it wasn't really, really common. But it was happening. And especially if a family had girls, the girls were much less important than the kids. And so, many times, there would be a Roman family that didn't want the girls and they would throw them in the street or they would throw them in the river. This happened all the time. And so, what did the Christians do? They go rescue those kids. Another thing in Rome, you see sexual exploitation, especially the women.

You would see violence. People were dying. People would go to the hospitals and watch it. And you would see that as entertainment. You've seen that. You've seen that. The person dies, the person lives. This was very common. You see also, do you see the classes, how they would fight each other, how the rich would treat the poor and the middle class horribly, like garbage. Also, they would worship Caesar. There was pluralism. There was slavery. And so, all of these things, and then there were these Christians that were in the community. And you know what they would do? Those Christians would remain sexually unfaithful to their husband or their wife. They weren't unfaithful. Because, you know, in that time, you had your wife. If you had your prostitute, you had your baby mama. And even mothers of other children. And these Christians, no. They just only were faithful. They stayed with that person. They would rescue and adopt abandoned children.

They would take care of them. And the Romans, the Christians would care for the poor. And the Romans would sometimes discard their babies. And the Christians treated slaves like animals. This was very equal to me. Not only less than me, like all Romans believed. The Christians refused to worship Caesar. Because they said, we're going to respect Caesar, but we worship God. And so, pardoning their enemies, giving their things, they didn't get into the entertainment of that day, of that world. So, in fact, if you were a Christian in Rome, you were different. And you were considered, perhaps, strange. And here it is, well, it says, judge the tree by its fruit. Look at the good that the Christians are doing. It's a good faith. And it says that Christianity produces transformed people. And I will tell you that now, in 2026, Christianity produces transformed people. Real Christianity. Because Christianity is not a label. It's not something that I just say, I'm nothing. But no, Christianity means being different from the culture around us. We live in such a way that we bring good things into our environment.

You are the best you. When you live in holiness according to God's structure. God's not creating rules to be a cosmic God that kills freedom or joy. No, he gives you rules because it literally is the best way to live. And it was the way he designed you to live like this. And so, we give something, that once we give our life to Jesus, it's only the beginning. But then we start to process it. And that's the way it's a lifelong process. So, he said that word, sanctification. Sanctification means this. It means a life, a long journey that lasts a lifetime. but all my life I've been trying to be more like Jesus and I lived by his word. I'm on this journey, you're on this journey, I don't care if you're 89 years old, you're still on this journey, we haven't been able to be like Jesus. We all need to be more and more like Jesus. What does that mean? That we need to be more and more holy every day. In fact, in 1 Peter, in Peter, right? In this chapter, he says, you have to be holy because I'm holy. It's a promise and also a commandment. I know they're quiet in here, because I don't know how to do that. This is because I have habits that haven't died.

I got anger problems, I get angry fast, I get lusty, whatever it is. I mean, you've got these habits and you say, oh, I don't know how to do this. Well, I'm glad you're asking this question because we're going to talk about that. And some of you might be listening to this and you're like, well, a holy life, do I have to sit at home and read the Bible every night? No, a holy life is not a life of being alone, of being bored. No, the enemy's lie, I don't know if you're in church or not, is you do what you want and you will have a lot of fun. That's the lie of the enemy. You just have your own lie that you're going to have fun. But the truth is that if you violate holiness, eventually it may take a week for you to be happy. It may take a week, a month, a year, a decade, but if you continue to feed the wrong-minded desires in your life, without walls of contention, without limits, your happiness will begin to shrink. And it's the same thing, the Bible says in Hebrews, it says, well, you have to run to the pleasure of sin. And yes, it's pleasant, but over time, happiness begins to leave a void in the heart. It's impossible, like, it's impossible to become more holy, to become more holy. In fact, in 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about temptation. He says this, there is no temptation in your life, no temptations that are different than what others do.

Whatever tempts you, you want to see, you're tempted to see adult movies, or you're tempted to lie or to be unfaithful. You've felt that way because others feel that way too. But God is faithful, says Paul. He's not going to allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. In other words, you can always have the ability to say no. And when you are tempted, God is going to show you how you can get out of this, because that's a good promise. That means I'm not, you don't have to be in this sin alone. I remember a pastor said this, he said, you can't keep the little birds that fly near you, but you can stop them from making a nest in you. In other words, the temptation is going to be around you, but you can get out of that, you're going to be able to get out. He understands that old habits are difficult to undo, but God is in that process. And it's a marriage of two things. It is not here in legalism, and it's not here in living the way you want to live. But right here in the middle, between holiness and grace, is where you find God. You find him right here, between holiness and God. And you know, if you believe that maintaining rules makes God love you more, if I do all the rules, if I do everything right, God is going to love me more.

If you believe that, you're going to live with shame and condemnation, because you're never going to be at peace. But if you're here and you say, oh, God loves me, I'm going to do whatever I want. If that's what you believe, and you believe that God is going to let you live however you want, because he loves you, then you're not going to have power. In fact, Paul says this about people who think that way. He says, people will want pleasure instead of God's lovers. They're going to have a way of wanting to be like God, but they're not going to have his power. If your God never makes you uncomfortable in the way you behave, if your God never makes you uncomfortable in the way you behave, you're probably not following your true God. My God makes me feel uncomfortable a lot of times. My God makes me feel uncomfortable in my behavior, and he also makes me feel uncomfortable in my behavior. I'm going to say, Jeremy, you wouldn't have done that. So, if you're here and you're not following your true God, And I'm like, okay, here's the thing. Holiness does not earn you God's love. God doesn't love you more or less if you're not doing the right things, because if you're not doing the right things, He loves you. The Bible says this, that God died for you when you were a sinner.

So your love for God is not dependent on what you do or don't do. But your love is not hinged on your holiness. Your love does depend on holiness. Let me give you an example. Like you can go steal, and God loves you, and God loves you. You can cheat, and God still loves you. You can be selfishly envious, and you can have sex with whoever you want, and God will still love you. You can be a person who deceives others, manipulates others, abuses others. You can be full of hate, and God still loves you. But here's the truth. Your behavior will not determine what God's love is for you, but your behavior will reveal how much you truly love Him. See, this is true, but it isn't. Because Jesus said, if you love me, you're going to do what I asked you to do. It's like Jen. I love her, and guess what? She expects me to then back up my words and actions. Because otherwise, it's just words. Jen, I love you, but I'm out there cheating her, or I'm not treating her well with respect, or I don't see her as an image of God.

I don't care about her, I don't talk to her. Oh, but I love you, Jen, and I'm out there cheating her. No, Jen would say, no, no, that's not love. Jesus is saying, if you love me, you're going to do what I asked you to do. And here's how you have to live, and holiness, as I close today, is the responsibility of God, right? Holiness is the responsibility that God does. It's not, it's mutual responsibility, the work of both God and yours. Jeremiah chapter 31 says the following, Jeremiah says the following. This is a commandment that I'm doing with people, right? It says, it's the pact that I'm going to make with the people of Israel after those days. I'm going to put my instructions in the deepest part of them and I'm going to write them in their hearts. I'm going to be their God and they're going to be my people. And you know what, that's why it doesn't feel right because God is putting his love in your heart. And that's why the way you lived before doesn't work anymore. It's like eating that bag of Doritos, right? It's making you sick. And so, more God in you, less sin. The more God you have, the less sin you're going to have in your life. I want to live your way, I want to live like you.

God is working, God is working. Your holiness is not modifying your behavior with your own effort, it's really giving yourself daily to be transformed through this work of the Holy Spirit. God cannot make you holy like that, nor can you make yourself holy either. So, I'll leave you with this last thought. This is the last thing I'm going to say today. Holiness is not to oppress you, it's not to deceive you, it's not to restrict you. Holiness is the way you can feel total freedom because holiness is filling, filling, filling your soul. And it's the way God wants you to live. So, what area do you want to work on today? Take it to God and say, God, I want you to help me. Maybe it's how you speak, your actions, your habits. Maybe it's a, I don't know, a habit that you have, it's a vice. Say, God, help me. And it's the grace of God. God is calling you to holiness. Let's pray. God, Father, I just thank you because you're a holy God. And whether we've been Christians for a second or for 20 years or more, we all have areas that we can improve, areas that we're neglecting, areas that maybe we've taken this freedom to extremes that are not healthy.

So I ask you Lord to give us strength and power and the ability to say no to temptation and yes to the way you want us to live and how you want us to live. Help us here at City First to be a holy church, not a perfect church, not a perfect church, not a legalistic or envious church. No, we want to be like you. We want to be full, a life that is full. Help us to be like that. In the name of Jesus, we all say, Amen, Amen. Give God a very, very loud applause.