Our hope is found in Christ alone
We continue with our theme for this year of Hope Found Here and this month we are looking at our Hope in Christ.
This morning I want us to consider together the truth that our hope is found in Christ alone.
Listen to the words of the first verse of the song 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 our hope is found, when we trust in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour we are brought out of the captivity of the darkness of our sin and into God’s marvellous light.
When we are weak, Jesus is our strength.
In every circumstance we can praise and worship our God, he fills our hearts with His love and our lips with songs of praise to Him.
Christ is our Cornerstone, He is the bedrock of our salvation, the world may try to entice us onto shifting or sinking sand but we have a firm foundation in Christ.
Whatever we face, good times or bad our hope is in Christ alone.
When we face difficulty Jesus is with us and we can trust Him to lead us through the fiercest storms of our lives.
And with just a word, Jesus can command every storm to be still.
We are loved with an everlasting love.
In Christ alone can we find true peace, you do not need to be afraid because Christ is with you.
The Holy Spirit, the paraclete, the advocate, the Comforter, dwells within you when you are in Christ.
In Christ alone, we can stand firm in the midst of all the situations and circumstances, trials or tribulations we may face in this world.
This morning, if you are in Christ, if you have trusted in Jesus as your Lord and your Saviour, you are able to stand before God as a person who has had their sins forgiven.
Because of what Christ has done for you, carrying the punishment for your sins on the cross, suffering in your place, enduring the wrath of God the Father instead of you, you have been justified by your faith in Christ alone.
Justified, theologically speaking justification happens when God pardons the sins of those who repent and believe in Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour.
Through justification, God forgives us of our sin and declares us righteous in sight.
Your relationship, my relationship with God is restored, just as if I had never sinned.
There is an important point to note here, we are not called sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners.
Because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience of God, the very nature of humanity changed, by our nature we are sinful.
Because of the fall, we are born as sinners, our sinful behaviour is a manifestation of our true nature.
But, because of what Jesus did at the cross, when you turn to Jesus your sins are forgiven and you are justified by faith in Christ alone.
Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 5:1-11 says, "Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God."
Friends of God... God is the best friend we could ever have, with us in good times and bad, snowy days, stormy days and sunny days, always with us.
Elsewhere, the Bible calls us children of God, God loves us, cares for us, provides for us, leads us, teaches us, shows mercy and grace to us, forgives us.
He is the perfect friend and the perfect Father to us.
Because Jesus went to the cross 2,000 years ago to bear the burden of your sin and mine.
We are saved by faith in Christ alone, we are justified in Christ alone, we are forgiven of our sins in Christ alone and we are restored to a right relationship with God through Christ alone.
Jesus has provided the way for our salvation.
In John 14:6, Jesus told His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to God the Father except through me.”
Jesus was incarnated into this world so that those who would believe in Him could be saved.
Peter in Acts 4:12 reminds us, “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
We are justified by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and saved by faith in Him alone.
Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only one who can give us eternal life, in Christ alone are we assured of a place in Heaven. No other way, no other truth, no other option, in Christ alone our hope is found.
There are people in this world, maybe in this room, who think that they can get themselves to heaven by being “good enough”, based on their own standards of what they consider to be good or bad.
Some people think they will get into Heaven based on what they do or do not do.
But we can not earn our way into Heaven.
It is good to be a good person but it is not good enough, It is good to help others but it is not good enough.
In our own nature, in our own efforts we could never do enough to earn our way into Heaven.
If it were possible for us to earn our own salvation, Jesus would not have needed to die in our place, Father God would not have needed to send His only begotten Son.
Jesus came to do what we could not do ourselves, Jesus came to reconcile us to God, Jesus came to save us from our sins, Jesus came because there was no other way we could be forgiven.
Jesus came to do what none of us are able to do ourselves.
As the Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans chapter 3,
“No one is righteous— not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.
All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one...
But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him...
We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin.
People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding His blood.
This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time.
God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.
Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law.
It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”
We are saved by faith in Christ alone.
Not by our works, not by our deeds, not by our own righteousness, we are saved in Christ alone.
Listen to the words of Jesus in John 3:16-18, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”
Jesus is speaking about those who refuse to trust in Him, those who refuse to repent and turn to Him, those who refuse to acknowledge their sinfulness, those who refuse to be forgiven, anyone who does not believe in Jesus has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.
Those who refuse to trust in Jesus, those who refuse to trust in Christ alone for their salvation condemn themselves to an eternity without God.
Those who place their trust in Jesus Christ, those who believe in Him as Lord and Saviour will not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 10:9-13, If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Have you called on the name of the Lord?
Have you asked Jesus into your life?
Have you repented and asked God to forgive you?
Do you have the assurance that your sins have been forgiven, that you have been justified, that you have been reconciled to God?
Do you know that faith in Christ alone is the only way of Salvation?
Hope is found here:
Jesus has suffered in your place.
Jesus has paid the price for your sin.
Jesus has done what you could never do in your own righteousness, He has guaranteed you are forgiven, He has guaranteed your place in Heaven, He has restored your relationship with Father God,
Jesus alone, through His blood has set you free.
In Christ alone, you are ransomed, you are healed, you are restored, you are forgiven.
I will close with these words from In Christ alone:
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
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 power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand
AMEN
