Galatians 3:22

Galatians 3:22

But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe

The classic hymn “In Christ Alone” seems to perfectly capture where our faith is to stand…”In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song…'Til on that cross as Jesus died, The wrath of God was satisfied, For every sin on Him was laid, Here in the death of Christ I live…Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.” It captures the reality that any hope we have for salvation rests solely in our true belief that Jesus, and Jesus alone, paid the price for our souls. We were mired in hopeless sin, completely unable to make things right, so God showed incredible mercy and sent his Son. And his Son took the beating and death that we were due. And it is only through our belief that his Son died on our behalf, and rose in victory over sin, that we can be seen as washed clean before the Father. It is only through this true faith in the Son alone that we are spared the fires of hell. But this is not my idea or some cooked-up notion fed to me by church leaders. Rather it comes straight from God’s very Word, as noted in just a few examples below:

John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life

John 3:36 - Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

John 7:38 - Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Romans 10:9 - because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Galatians 2:15-16 - We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

John 11:25-26 - Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Ephesians 2:8 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Jesus didn’t say “put your faith in my disciple Peter and he will help you get into heaven”. Jesus doesn’t say “complete these 10 prayers and you will make the list”. Jesus doesn’t say “Make sure you go to church at least once a week and complete this list of good works and you will get to be with me in heaven.” No, he simply says believe in me…believe in me with all your heart that I am your one and only option…that I am YOUR one Savior. That’s it! If we put our hope of salvation in anything other than Jesus, we are absolutely going to be let down. We are going to be incredibly disappointed, fully dumfounded, and completely devastated when we stand before the Father, he looks at Jesus, and Jesus says “I don’t know this one”. There is absolutely nothing else that we can put our hope in…no rituals and practices, no saints or legends of the Bible, no man or woman alive…and expect to receive salvation. It is Christ and Christ alone…nothing else. Period. So today, if you come across a message of salvation that deviates from the one of Christ-alone, open God’s Word and do some digging for yourself…uncover the Truth, live in the Truth, and give thanks to the Lord for this one great Truth! To God alone be all glory!