Through everything that comes our way, be glorified today. Father, as we come before You, we ask that, Lord God, You speak to us, we ask that You revive us, we ask that You strengthen us, we ask that You strengthen our faith to remember that no scheme of man, no power of hell, nothing can take us away from you. Thank You Lord, for in Jesus name we have prayed. Praise the Lord!
I want to take this time to thank God for the opportunity and to appreciate our father in the Lord, Pastor Tunde Netufo, and the pastorate for this opportunity, it is divine, so I’ll tell you why. When we had an evening of hymns, I was asked to share, I thought I had 15 minutes, it was reduced to 10 minutes, and the last component of what I prepared to share had this hymn and it was to just encourage us and let us know that hymns actually strengthen our faith.
So last Sunday or Sunday before last, as I was seated here, I just thought about it, I wish I had shared this part and the Holy Ghost asked me to prepare a sermon for it. And so this week when Pastor called me and said you will be sharing, I knew God prepared it for somebody, God wants somebody to be encouraged, He wants to remind us that indeed we are unshakable, unstoppable, and unafraid. That’s the theme of this sermon – Unshakable, Unstoppable, and Unafraid. Praise the Lord!
The world we live in today offers a lot of reasons to worry; if it’s not the Iran US war, it is that fuel price is going up and you can’t control it, it is that there’s agbero on the highway, it is that police is disturbing you, it is that there’s flood, the coastal road has now blocked access of water, there’s too much palava, and do we think it will end? I don’t think it will end, as the world continues, there will be trials, there will be issues. Praise the Lord.
We carry the guilt of our past also, there are many who cannot enjoy salvation because the guilt of the past is what the devil has used to just enslave them. And there are some, they have anxiety for what will happen tomorrow; tomorrow is in God’s hand but we worry, ‘will my children do well? This career, will they fire me’? You are not there but you’re already worrying and is stealing from your life.
But for believers and I believe for every one of us, we must look at this differently, radically differently. The fourth stanza of this hymn, ‘in Christ alone’, it gives us a breathtaking picture of the absolute security, the peace and the ultimate victory that we have in Jesus. I love that stanza, when it’s sang, it’s like nothing can hold me bound and I hope that’s the way you feel when you sing that song.
So when you belong to Christ, your life is anchored in a power that cannot be shaken. I hope you believe that because if you don’t, it’s an opportunity today to come and be part of this family and this family is anchored in Christ.
When I was in the boy’s brigade, our theme is, He’s the anchor of the cross – sure and steadfast; Christ has paid the price for everything that you worry about and then He has given you a future, that’s a guarantee. Praise the Lord.
So really, our sermon today takes from the fourth stanza of ‘in Christ alone’, and the first message is that we are free from guilt and we are delivered from fear. I am free from guilt and I’m delivered from fear (please speak that out of faith); it says no guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.
No guilt in life, which means it doesn’t matter what you have done before, the enemy will remind you of that abortion that you committed 20 years ago and he says you think you’ll go to heaven? He reminds you of that thing you stole when you were 10 years old, talkless of that office issue that you got involved in; he (the devil) reminds us, he’s there accusing us every day. That’s his job because he has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy.
And then for folks who are alive, he says, there’s death coming, so in addition to the past, he’s saying ah you don’t know something, there’s an accident; there’s so much fear in the system, or will I have food to eat tomorrow? And yet every day we live, we are managing, we are doing it. Praise the Lord. No guilt in life, no fear in death, that is the power of Christ in you and I hope we remember this whenever the devil comes our way.
We’ll take a few scriptures, we’ll look at Romans 8: 1 – 2, 14 – 18, 29 – 39; “There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”. Praise the Lord.
14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Are you led by the spirit of God? You are the son of God). 15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. 17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint – heirs (what a privilege) with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified to You (you will be glorified with Him).
18For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time (you hear that? All the palava) are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, (you’ll be glorified in Jesus name). 29For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (There’s a glory ahead of you in Jesus name). 31What shall we then say to these things? (And that’s the question for us today, what shall you then say to all the palava, all the anxieties, all the guilt?) If God be for us, who shall be against us? Nobody.
It says, no guilt in life, no fear in death, if God be for you, if God be for me, who is that bagger that can be against me? That’s the question the Bible is asking you, and then it answers the question. 32He that spared not his own Son (think about it, He came Himself because He’s an extension of God and He took on flesh), he delivered Him up for us all (you and me for me), how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
33Who (He’s asking the question) shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? (He elected you, He called you, He sanctified you, He glorified you, by faith you must take it, you must live in it, you must accept it. Is a positional thing, it is not because you are weak in the flesh, because you sinned yesterday, it is done). It is God that justifieth.
34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, (nobody can condemn you, Christ has paid the price), yea rather, that is risen again. There’s resurrection. Praise the Lord! He died for your sins but He rose again; He says if you believe you will live again. And I pray for anyone here who the devil has tormented with fear of death, say I will not die. You know eventually you will leave this world but you will not die, is a confession of the now and the future. Praise the Lord. It says, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercessions for us.
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword (or politics, or hunger)? 36As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded (are you persuaded?), that neither death, nor life, nor angels”. Let’s stop there, even angels are included.
So let’s think about it, it’s not just only negative things, some things that appear positive could actually want to dissuade you from the truth in Christ. Nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. 39Nor heights, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Praise the Lord.
Do I need to preach more? The word is true, the word has gone forth, it says nothing shall separate you from the love of God. What does that mean? Your past sins are gone and your future is guaranteed. Remember I said the past, the present, and the future, so when you sing that stanza in Christ alone, it is biblical, it is sound, it is based on this scripture. Praise the Lord.
First of all, you are free from guilt and delivered from fear, Hebrews 2:14-15, forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. 15And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. You are free indeed.
So the two biggest thieves of human peace are past guilt and future death, yet the power of Christ addresses them perfectly; through the cross, your past is forgiven, and then through resurrection, your eternity is secure, because if Christ did not rise from the dead, our faith will be in vain. Praise the Lord.
Because Christ paid your debt, guilt has no legal right to hold you, and because Christ defeated the grave, death has lost his sting. It says death, where is your sting? You know when people die and we are burying them, we say, “Death, where is your sting?” There is no more sting, it’s just that we have to leave this world eventually, but there’s no more sting for those in Christ Jesus. Praise the Lord.
The second thing that we have in Christ is that He is sovereign over every season of our lives. Our father in the Lord talked about the sovereign God, you need to understand that I am His and He is mine, and when you are in One who is eternal, there is no fear because you know that my tomorrow is in His hand. He says what can separate you from the love of Christ? That’s the question we answered, and it goes, the future, the past, angels, father, mother, it said nothing shall separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 139: 16, your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. God knows your end, He is the end, so why are you afraid? It says because I am His and He is mine, I’m already in Him.
Revelations 1:17 – 18 (I’ll paraphrase), it says do not be afraid, I’m the first, I’m the last, I am He who lives and was dead and behold I am alive forever more; and He says, where I am, ye will also be. Praise the Lord. So your life is not an accident nor is it subject to luck, is not subject to betting or fate or chance, he says chance happens to them all, but we are not subject to chance.
From the moment you took your first breath to the moment you took your last, your timeline is held firmly in the hands of a sovereign God. Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith, He has already written your days and He commands your destiny. That’s the second part of this verse four in Christ alone, it says from life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny; you must remember that you are in Him, say in Him you live, in Him you move, in Him you have your being. Praise the Lord.
And the third truth in that verse is that we have absolute unbreakable security in Him. You know the part that says no power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand, think about it; hell is conspiring because the devil is accusing us, but men are also scheming, in your office they are scheming, family, they are scheming, where will the schemes end and can you fight them? Do you know those schemes?
But it says no power of hell, no scheme of man can ever block me. I think we need to make that confession again, I said no power of hell, no scheme of man can ever block me from the hand of my Lord Jesus Christ.
John 10:28-29, it says, (I’ll just paraphrase because we don’t have too much time), and I give them eternal life; and they shall not perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. And it ends saying, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. Double clutch. It says my life is hid with Christ in God, before they touch me, they will first touch Jesus Christ and then touch God before they reach me. That is for the believers, those that are in Christ Jesus.
So when we live in spiritual war zone as we are right now, people may plot against you, spiritual forces of darkness may rage but they all share the exact same limitation, they cannot snatch you away from God, they don’t have the power. You are sealed, you are guarded and locked in the grip of the Almighty God, who can open His hands and take you from His hands? He says your name is written on the palm of my hands, who is the person? They will plan, but when they come one way, the Bible says they flee seven ways. The enemy can shout, but it cannot block you from the Father’s hand, they will make noise, but it’s for nothing. Praise the Lord.
So, I would like us to just conclude and then pray. It says till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I will stand. What does that mean? You know when you have faith, trials of life, the fears the enemy throws, they are all meant to reduce your faith, to remove you from that position that God has placed you in Jesus Christ and so you have to stand.
The Bible says after you have done everything, stand. Stand in this truth that you receive, stand in your faith in Christ Jesus, no shaking because you’re unshakable, your calling right now is simply to stand, you don’t have to fight in your own strength anymore. Whether Christ calls you home through death or return in glory, your position is fixed, you stand victorious, you stand justified and perfectly safe in Him. Praise the Lord.
And now there might be some in this place, you might be here and the enemy has used different lies to keep you bound, but Christ has delivered us from bondage. He might use the guilt of the past, as I mentioned, there are so many things, if I look at my life, I wrote in my little book – the barracks boy, of some of my escapades as a young boy, I have done everything a young boy could do negatively. Is it stealing? What haven’t I done? Yeah, I did everything, but when I met Christ, when I came to the knowledge of Him, my life changed.
So the guilt of the past could still hold us down, it’s not far past. I was talking of a young boy of last year, the lies we told, because remember all liars too go to hell, it’s not only big sin, there are ‘small sins’ – white lie, yellow lie, they are lies. Praise the Lord. So the devil might have told you lies, holding you bound with the guilt of past life or are you afraid of your future?
You know I’m privileged to be part of our adult literacy program here and when people come, I am so privileged to interview them to find out why they didn’t complete education, you could hear stories. Some, parents gave them out as housekeepers at age 10 and they never went to school thereafter; one was married out at 17, abused, she ran away at 21 or 27 (something like that), and now she’s a happier woman because she ran away.
So the enemy might use your past to hold you bound, or might tell you because you didn’t do what others did when they were young, your future is jeopardized, that’s a lie from the pit of hell..Yesterday I was privileged to receive one of our students who we sponsored to do NECO after he went through WAEC classes and he came back, he’s in his final year, Industrial Mathematics. Praise the Lord.
Nobody can hold you bound when you’re in Christ Jesus, so if you are in either category, the enemy has used the past to hold you bound and told you, you cannot be forgiven, that sin is too much, is a lie from the pit of hell, or you are afraid of the future and so you haven’t committed your life to Christ.
[Altar call]
Let’s rise up. Book of 1 John 4: 18 says there’s no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. Let’s say Father, I.thank You for the blood of Jesus that has cleansed me from all guilt, I break every agreement with any spirit of condemnation or fear of the future. Father, fill me with the power of Your Holy Spirit and let Your perfect love cast out all fear from my heart today.
Pray that the Lord will fill you with the Holy Spirit and every fear will be cast out in Jesus name. Psalm 31:15, it says my times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me; and Romans 8:28 that we read, it says, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
Say Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that You command my destiny, from my first cry to my final breath, my times are in Your hands. (Is a confession, can you confess it again?) I surrender my plans to You, I surrender my worries to You, I surrender my timeline to You, I trust You that You work all things together for my good, oh Father, I surrender my plans to You, my worries I surrender to You.
Father, my timeline, my plans, my thoughts, my imaginations, those grand plans, I surrender them to You. Oh Father, Lord God, I surrender, please just work all things for my good, in Jesus name we have prayed.
Isaiah 54:17, we know that scripture, no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise up against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.
Say Almighty God, I thank You for my absolute security in Christ, (just thank God because we are secure in Christ), thank You for my security in Christ, I declare that no weapon formed against me shall prosper and no scheme of man, no scheme of hell, no conspiracy of man can pluck me from Your hand.
Father, please cancel every assignment of the enemy against my life, against my family, against my destiny, against my business, cancel every appointment, cancel them now, in Jesus name we have prayed.
The last set of prayers, Ephesians 6: 13, it says, wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. I told you, all we need to do now is to stand, but standing in a turbulent world requires grace.
So we’ll say Lord Jesus, give me the grace to stand firm until the very end. Lord Jesus, give me the grace to stand firm in the truth You have revealed until the very end; until the very end, I will stand, I will not fall, in Jesus name we have prayed.
Say Lord Jesus, whether You return today or call me home tomorrow, keep my faith unshakable, in Jesus name we have prayed.
And lastly, say Father, let me live boldly, let me walk fruitfully and let me rest entirely here in the power of Christ.
