He Will Hold Me Fast

As we often say at Faith Fellowship, songs are like sermons that you won’t forget by Sunday afternoon. That is why we want to let you know about a wide range of songs that we hope will stir your affections for Christ and encourage you throughout the week.

VERSE 1
When I fear my faith will fail,
Christ will hold me fast;
When the tempter would prevail,
He will hold me fast.
I could never keep my hold
Through life’s fearful path;
For my love is often cold;
He must hold me fast.

REFRAIN
He will hold me fast,
He will hold me fast;
For my Savior loves me so,
He will hold me fast.

VERSE 2
Those He saves are His delight,
Christ will hold me fast;
Precious in His holy sight,
He will hold me fast.
He’ll not let my soul be lost;
His promises shall last;
Bought by Him at such a cost,
He will hold me fast.

VERSE 3
For my life He bled and died,
Christ will hold me fast;
Justice has been satisfied;
He will hold me fast.
Raised with Him to endless life,
He will hold me fast
‘Till our faith is turned to sight
When He comes at last!

When Matt Merker pulled out the words of the old hymn He Will Hold Me Fast, he wanted to see the resurrection and return of Christ featured in lyrics, since our hope is guaranteed by the reality that Christ has risen and is coming again. Meditating on Jude 20, he put to tune these words that remind believers that nothing but God Himself will hold us fast in this world.

Interestingly, Merker adapted the original melodic tune from another hymn entitled “Be Still My Soul,” which happened to be the personal favorite of Eric Liddel.

If you ever saw the movie Chariots of Fire…

1. It’s the story of Eric Liddell.

   1. Eric Liddell was an Olympic sprinter and a strong believer in Christ.

   2. If you’ve seen the movie, the gold medal race was on the Sabbath

      1. And he refused to run on the Sabbath.

2. If you can imagine, there’s this immense amount of pressure on him.

   1. I mean…

      1. For your country

      2. For your family

      3. Your legacy.

   2. He is like, “No, my conviction is that I will not violate the Sabbath.”

3. The movie is about him, but it’s actually the other runner, Harold Abrahams, who gives us some real insight into making good things into a crushing weight.

   1. When he’s asked about the race, and here’s what he said: “I’ve got 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence.”

      1. See what happens? His achieved identity is…

         1. “I’m an Olympic sprinter.”

         2. Now think about this.

            1. His whole life he has been running and training.

            2. “I am an Olympic sprinter. I am a runner. It is who I am. It is my core essence. It’s what defines me. Who I most fundamentally am is a sprinter.”

         3. If he loses this race, he is done.

         4. He has no idea who he is anymore.

4. Now the reason finding your identity inside of yourself all by yourself is crushing and excluding is if my identity is that I am a salesman…

   1. Then you cannot outsell me.

   2. If you outsell me, that knocks my identity.

   3. That sends me into a tailspin where I don’t know who I am anymore.

5. If I’m a mom or a dad and I find my identity in being a mom or a dad…

   1. My kids have to be incredible and I have to be seen on Instagram as incredible

   2. If I’m not, that knocks my identity

6. You keep chasing your identity in your career and I promise you, from personal experience…it will leave you empty because one day you will retire or die and the company will go along just fine without you

   1. Well my name is on the building…

   2. Yeah well it will be until Amazon buys it next month

1. As Christians, we don’t believe you achieve your identity but rather you receive it.

   1. You don’t go achieving it in the bucket of religion

   2. You don’t go achieving it by looking inside of yourself

      1. You receive your identity from the creator God of the universe.

      2. Every single command from God in the Bible, Old Testament or New, always comes after He has said who you are…

         1. Exodus 19:4 comes before Exodus 19:5

         2. The last words that Jesus said on the cross weren’t “Go fix yourself…The last words He said were ‘It is finished.’”

            1. I’ve already done it all, I’ve already shown you how much I value you

      3. I mean this list Jesus gives of all the things that come out of our hearts…

         1. I feel like sometimes we have this weird compartmentalization thing going on where we think that God isn’t aware of all that we are

            1. Listen, God knows what’s going on in your heart

            2. Jesus knew you were going to be a mess

               1. He knew you were going to fail

            3. That’s the whole point of the cross that He knew you were going to fail and that you would feel awkward and that you would feel dirty because He knew what evil things come from within as verse 23 says

            4. And He said all these things in Mark 7 to us knowing what He was going to purchase in Mark 15 on the cross

               1. There’s no buyer’s remorse

               2. He didn’t make a mistake in dying for you

      4. See when we start to realize this…

         1. This is what you and I have longed for our whole lives…

            1. To feel whole

            2. To be secure

            3. To have a safe place

            4. To be affirmed

            5. To have a solid foundation

               1. Where we can operate and feel free to fail and still be loved

               2. Because our souls find their rest in a received identity that is given to us by the creator God of the universe.

2. This starts to solve some things.

   1. You need someone, I need someone, from outside of me to affirm and save me.

      1. It does not work for me to affirm and save myself.

      2. You are where you are, so you can read all the self-help books you want…there not going anywhere because we all feel this uncertainty

         1. But you know what’s going on in your heart

         2. You know where you doubt.

         3. You know where you screw up.

         4. You know where you’re heart is.

         5. You know this about you.

   2. God has already given us the “A”

      1. The Bible says we are esteemed by God.

      2. We are adored by him.

         1. Romans 8 says we have been adopted as sons and daughters.

         2. Zephaniah 3 says God sings over us and rejoices in us.

            1. Stop for a second.

            2. Do you believe the creator God of the universe sees you today as His Son as His daughter and sings over you, and rejoices in you?

         3. I’m telling you, most people can’t get that.

         4. In Ephesians 2, you’re holy and blameless in his sight.

         5. In Colossians 1, you are spotless.

            1. He never lets us down.

               1. We have received our identity as his sons.

               2. We are his daughters.

                  1. He delights in us.

                  2. He rejoices in us.

            2. This is an identity that is secure and unshakable.