David Diga Hernandez - The Secret of Spirituality

When I first became a believer, I experienced many wonderful things with the Holy Spirit, but there were also some areas where I needed to grow. One of those areas was my understanding of my salvation and my relationship with God as it pertained to my actions. Many people believe in a works-based salvation, and many people believe in liberal grace, or «sloppy grace,» as some would call it. I want to talk to you today about the two extremes of living out your Christianity and the one place where you can find balance in all things—a Christianity that never knows burnout or apathy, that is always filled with a passionate, fiery love for Christ. When you walk with the fire of the Holy Spirit and in this newness on a daily basis, you’ll never know what it is to sense powerlessness; you’ll never know what it is to backslide. I don’t believe that backsliding is a phase that Christians must go through. We talk about the backsliding phase as if it’s something every believer must experience at one point in his or her walk with Christ, but this is not the case. In fact, when God calls us to follow Him, He calls us to a wholehearted commitment to follow Him with all that we are, from that moment until we go home to be with Him.

I want to get into the scripture in a moment, but first, I want to talk about the two extremes: liberalism and legalism. Liberalism is something we see portrayed in the lives of those who believe in inclusion, where they don’t believe there are any actual eternal consequences for sin and that everyone ultimately ends up in heaven. These people believe that you can live however you want, and that no matter how you live, there will be no eternal consequences. This is not the case; in fact, if someone is truly a Spirit-filled believer, he or she is going to walk in holiness and righteousness. Grace is not an excuse; grace is not a license, as the cliché says, to sin. Grace is the power of God coming upon a life, giving that individual the strength to gracefully resist the lure and seduction of sin. I do not side with those who believe in liberal Christianity.

On the other extreme, we find those who also do not understand how salvation comes about, and this group believes in what I call legalism. It is a works-based mentality. I believe that, as a believer, I must portray and exemplify the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but I am also not a slave to works-based Christianity. My performance did not save me, and my performance cannot keep me saved. When I talk about the righteousness of God and the holiness empowered by the Holy Spirit, I am not advocating working for salvation. Salvation is not produced by good works, but good works are produced by genuine salvation. That is a distinction that many people have trouble making. Whenever I say that, people accuse me of being a works-based believer, but that is not the case at all.

In my early Christianity, I oscillated between the two extremes—liberalism and legalism. In liberalism, I had no power; in legalism, I had no peace. I would go back and forth between the two, finding seasons of my life where I leaned toward works-based Christianity, then other seasons where I leaned toward liberalism. I said, «Lord, I don’t ever want to get to a place where I grow so comfortable with where I am that I lose all fear and reverence for You. I also don’t want to be bound by fear, living a life that is tormented and lacks peace and clarity. I want to find that place where my passion and love can be genuine.» This is the key: it is not found in legalism or liberalism. The answer, the truth, rests in love.

You see, legalism is motivated by fear; liberalism is motivated by apathy; but love is motivated by selflessness. Legalism brings about works-based slavery; liberalism brings about unholiness rooted in apathy; but love brings about production and Kingdom expansion through love and service. That love reciprocates; when I give my love to God, He gives it right back to me. The scripture says in Romans 5:5 that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works in us to produce, create, cultivate, and fan into flame a love for God. You don’t have to know burnout; you don’t have to know apathy; you don’t have to lose your passion for Christ; you don’t have to backslide.

You may be in a season right now where the circumstances of life are pressing against you, where the pressures and responsibilities of all that you have to do lead to overthinking and fear. You may feel like quitting after serving the Lord and working in ministry for so long, trying to see results that never seem to come. There may be thoughts in your mind telling you that nothing will ever happen and that you will never receive the breakthrough. I am here to tell you today that you don’t have to live in that apathy; you don’t have to lose that passion.