In Christ Alone

God reminded me this morning that it is in Christ alone that my hope is found. He does not want my filthy rags of self-attained righteousness by the law, for they are worthless, bringing me only under the curse of the law. The promise is given to Abram and in Genesis 15 and the covenant is made to seal the deal. The promise was made in Genesis 12 & 13, a promise of a lineage, land, and much blessing on his family that will bless the whole earth.

Abram is told to get a heifer, a goat, a ram, and some birds and cut them in half and line the halves in a row across from their counterparts. In a normal covenant between 2 people this would be done and they would walk through the rows of animals as a symbol that if either party broke their side of the covenant, what was done to the animals should be done unto them.

And so we have Abram with this bloody mess of animals awaiting a walk-through. He waits all day chasing off the vultures from the corpses of the animals and at sunset the LORD himself shows up in holy terror. He puts Abe to sleep and tells him to "know for certain" that his offspring will be sojourners in a land not their own and be afflicted for years and then the LORD would come out with great possession and attain a promised land.We know in the literal text of scripture that God is referring to the slavery of Israel to Egypt. On a symbolic level He is referring to the captivity of sin, their redemption from it and the struggle against thoughts of wanting to go back to it through their long walk in the desert that would bring them to the promised land. In Hebrews 11 we are told that ultimately Abraham was looking forward to a city and a land promised but that it was not an earthly one but a heavenly one. So in a sense Egypt is our captivity to sin, the wandering in the desert our time on earth, and finally the promised land our heavenly Jerusalem, Mount Zion. All this of course made possible by God's redemption, the point of the promise.Christ himself, on the cross, the propitiation of our sins, and by this promise we are carried on to completion to perfection (eph 1:6).

So the LORD shows up on the seen as a smoking fire pot, a flaming torch and passed between the two rows of dissected animals. He walks the covenant isle alone, with Abram watching. The LORD swears by himself. Abram has no part in it. The LORD alone takes full responsibility for all, a unilateral covenant. A covenant of grace. All the stipulation is on God himself. Compare this now to the Mosiac covenant. It was a bilateral covenant. Both parties were obligated. The Law was given and the God promised blessing but the people promised to obey. They were not able to obey, so therefore the wrath of God was due to them. And what does Moses do when the wrath of the LORD is burning against Israel because they made a golden calf? He claims the promise given to Abraham, the promise of grace. He does not claim the law. The law could not save because the people could not obey.

And so it is with me. All my striving for self-attained holiness is cursed. I am only blessed on the basis of the promise. The promise of unmerited favor and grace. His works alone, none of mine. Just as Abe stood on the sidelines, so must I humble myself, laying down my filthy rags of my own righteousness and claim his.

Pride is a killer of the promise. When we try to earn merit by the law we are ignoring the promise and setting ourself up for the curse of the law. I must remember that all the good I do in the body is Christ's; it is not from my own self. It belongs to me only because it was given to me, not that I have attained it of myself. The LORD has been calling me to lay down my life, to follow him, take up his cross. I'm realizing that the burden that makes me heavy laden is my striving to conquer sin on my own because I think that it will please God when I attain self-perfection. God is pleased only by himself and his own works. His love is a gift in spite of my sin. He gives freely his righteous to me if i would only lay down my own means of attaining it because I never will unless its on the basis of his promise. And what is this promise, this ultimate reward?

Genesis 15:1 “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
It is the LORD, himself. He give himself to us exceedingly, freely. He is the gospel. Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness. He believed God, set his hope that God would fulfill all in a Savior, and longed for the holy land promised to him that was not of this world, namely the heavenly Jerusalem in which God dwells with his church and creation in their completion of holiness in the gift of Christ and riddance of the struggle of sin in his presence. Let us humble ourselves and long for HIS righteousness and perfection that is ours through grace.

This basically sermon notes for Mark Gibson's Sunday sermon. Listen here:
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonsspeaker&sermonID=11206204244

Not only is our sin ugly in his sight, so is our own "goodness."

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 and striving ceased.
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 every sin on him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground his body laid
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 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