Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

We all have a hope in  Jesus; if fact Jesus is our only hope. For any who respond to God’s drawing and honestly seek Him, Jesus provides the only hope and the only way. There is no other hope, no other way. Jesus Himself told us I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jesus told Peter at one point that the rock upon which He would build His church, was in fact Himself as he told Peter the following: And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Later as Peter and John were brought before the Council at Jerusalem, Peter preached this, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

What are the heights of God’s love for us? Even though all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, He loved us while we were yet sinners. Even though our sins had separated us from a perfect and holy God, and we are sinners by birth and by choice, God loved us so much that He that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

Jesus Christ was 100 percent man and 100 percent God; Not part of each, but fully each. As the song says: the fullness of God in helpless babe. Why fully man? It was man who sinned, and man who had to pay. Of course, we could each pay our own debt for our own sin, as the wages of sin is death. But, that is the problem; we can only each pay for our own sin; I can’t pay for you and you can’t pay for me. We each are accountable and can only pay for our own transgressions. Who, then, could pay for us all? Well, God can of course! As God, Jesus could pay the infinite price presented by mankind’s infinite sin, and He did just that.

Yet, our Lord was scorned by the ones He came to save: That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 

Till on that cross as Jesus died,The wrath of God was satisfied;For ev’ry sin on Him was laid— Of all of the things Jesus said on the Cross of Calvary, none are more important than this: It is finished. Our debt, the debt of sin owed by every man, woman, and child was “paid in full, tetelestai.” As an accounting term, this simply means exactly what it says. Our debt was paid in full, and nothing more is owed. All accounts have been settled. Because Jesus paid the debt owed, we who were dead can be make alive again. as  you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. And we can be made alive, because as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

There in the ground His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain; All of the “founders” of various “religions” have died, every single one of them. But our Lord’s death is far, far different than any of those. First, they all died normal, regular deaths; old age, sickness, being murdered; the list goes on and on. The death of Jesus, however, was God’s plan from eternity past for the redemption of mankind. We know from reading that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that the wages of sin is death. Jesus death was no unexpected event, to afterthought God came up with when our sin surprised HIm. God planned this event before the very foundation of the world to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Then bursting forth in glorious day,Up from the grave He rose again!And as He stands in victory,Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me; Remember those “founders” of those other “religions?” They are still dead. Not our Lord, however, as we know he rose from that tomb on the third day and again walked among us for 40 days. We know what happened when the women went to prepare Jesus’ body for burial, found the tomb empty, and were told by the angel He is not here: for he is risen, Why did Jesus rise? Without a bodily resurrection, our entire faith simply melts away. Without the Resurrection, Jesus was not God; he was just a martyred prophet. Without the Resurrection, every single prophecy about it is false; that renders the Bible false. Without the Resurrection, even Jesus’ own prophecies about His death and Resurrection were false, making Him not even a real prophet, but a false one. Without the Resurrection, we cannot be justified and cleared of our sin; If Jesus is still dead then we are still dead in our sin. Without the Resurrection, there is no hope. If Jesus died and stayed dead, then we also will die and stay dead. For that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow’r of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—

Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand

No guilt in life, no fear in death— We have all sinned, and one of the results of sin is guilt. We need never feel guilty for the things our our past as they are forgiven, as God has told us the following, For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Our pasts? Gone, with the wind.  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. That is a pretty impressive list of the forgiven ones!

Sometimes Satan, accuser of our brethren still attacks, both our past and our now. The past is gone, but even our sins of today are forgiven and washed away by the blood of jesus Christ. Our guilt over our current sin my be in order, and may simply be telling us of our need for confession to our Father. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand; Once we belong to Jesus, we belong to Jesus. Just as we never need to feel guilty about our pasts, we never need to worry about the security of our future. Grace saved us, and grace keeps us. Nothing we have done worked us to heaven, and nothing we can do will ever take that away from us either: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. We were given to Jesus by the Father and nothing can ever take us away; Jesus assured us that My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

Are you in Christ alone? Or are you still burdened by the guilt of your past? Has the Holy Spirit reached out and convicted you of your need for forgiveness? If he has, listen to what He is telling you. Repent and believe today.

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow’r of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—

Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Sung by Kristyn Townsend