Christ Won the Victory: A Redemption Story (Lessons from Sing Part 1)
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The first evening before the Sing Conference had officially started, I had the opportunity to attend the pre-conference concert. As the evening progressed, there was a bit of discussion from the artists about hymns and the release (scheduled for next year) of the official Sing! hymnal, which is being produced by Crossway. Keith Getty spoke about how they were attempting to make updates to some older hymns – not to really change them in structure or substance, but to tweak lyrics here and there or make things more theologically rich.
When Keith announced that one of those hymns was Victory in Jesus, I audibly said, “NO WAY!” at a volume loud enough for my friends sitting in front of me to hear, at the very least.
We exchanged some laughter, and I did a pretend outta here gif moment.
Of all the songs… well, let me explain:
Victory in Jesus
I grew up on hymns, choruses, and gospel songs. I’ve written about this many of times already. As I left fundamentalism, I readily embraced contemporary Christian music, and there was a time I would have been content to never hear a hymn again. The hymns of my past were attached to so many memories that I wanted to forget. More than that, they were attached to an ideology of self-righteousness and a faulty view of God that I no longer held to.
I began to be exposed to music from the artists like the Gettys, Kauflins, Stuart Townend, and others within that small circle. Their music falls (in my opinion) somewhere between CCM and good old fashioned fundy hymns, I’ve come to embrace music that doesn’t just feel good, but also teaches Bible doctrines. It’s been theologically rich music like this that has turned my heart back toward the hymns.
Over these past few years, there’s been a process of so many of the hymns I used to eschew have been “redeemed” for me through the music ministry I’ve been so honored to be a part of at my church. (More on that to come) Even To God Be the Glory – a hymn that was at the top of of the list of Hymns I Never Want to Hear Again In My Life – I came to appreciate anew with this arrangement by Dan Kreider.
But I had told my entire music team that if our director ever tried to get us to sing Victory in Jesus, I would quit…or riot…or maybe both. I said so in jest, but there was an element of truth there.
“Aprille, what’s the problem with Victory in Jesus?”
I’m not sure I could tell you exactly. I know it was partially association with memories. It was also overuse (something we sang so often that it became nauseating). Finally, I prefer flows and gentle hymns than hoe-down gospel songs that can easily be sung like a country bumpkin.
More than all of those things? Me probably just being stubborn. Me limiting God…believing He could redeem some things, but others were just…irredeemable. Saying, there’s the line. Beyond that line, it’s hopeless.
So, back to the pre-conference concert…of all the songs…
Yup. That was one of the hymns that they were going to update and perform that night.
The changes – including completely new verses – I didn’t fully grasp right away. All I knew is that standing there in this environment, with some of my dearest friends, and hearing Victory in Jesus performed as something kind of hybrid between a hoedown and an Irish jig, I not only didn’t bolt…I sang it! With a smile on my face and a heart full of joy.
But that was just the beginning.
_____
The next morning, our music coordinator made the comment, “It’s amazing what changing one or two words in a song can do.”
Keith shared in the 2nd Plenary Session of the conference that one of the biggest changes was changing the line “then I repented of my sins and won the victory” to “Christ won the victory,” calling the new song “Victory in Jesus (Christ Won the Victory)” which “slightly changed the emphasis of the song.” This emphasis is repeated at the end of each line verse:
I heard an old, old story
How a Savior came from glory
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me
I heard about His groaning
Of His precious blood’s atoning
Then I repented of my sin,
Christ won the victory
I hear about His healing;
All His miracles revealing
That He alone can save a soul
And set the captives free.
I’m happy in His promise
how soon He’s coming for us,
And home with Him I’ll sing again
“Christ won the victory!”
I’ll tell the old, old story
Till my Savior comes from glory.
I’ll tell of all the Lord has done
To set this sinner free!
That all who will believe Him,
By faith, can still receive Him
And share in that redemption song:
“Christ won the victory!”
The shift to focusing on Christ’s work in setting us free and winning the victory is slight but significant. It held a lot of significance to me as someone who spent far too long focused on her own righteousness and not nearly enough on Christ’s saving work.
Christus Victor
This theme would be repeated again and again throughout the conference. It was particularly strong in the new song written by the Getty team (yet to be officially released) called Christus Victor:
O most High, King of the ages, Great I Am, God of wonders
By the blood You have redeemed us, led us through mighty waters
Our strength, our song, our sure salvation
O most High, dwelling among us, Son of man, sent for sinners
By Your blood You have redeemed us, Spotless Lamb, Mighty Savior
Who lived, who died, Who rose victor’ous
O most High, King of the nations, robed in praise, crowned in splendor
On that day who will not tremble when You stand Christ the victor
Who was and is, and is forever
Now to the Lamb upon the throne be blessing, honor, glory, power
For the battle You have won, hallelujah
With ev’ry tribe and ev’ry tongue
we join the anthem of the angels
In the triumph of the Son, hallelujah, amen
Sing the vict’ry of the Lamb, hallelujah, amen
This song was the cream that rose to the very top of the Sing Conference and emerged as a heavy favorite new release (at least for our group). We are already pairing it up in our minds with other songs from our repertoire and I’ve already crafted a whole-step key change between the last bridge and chorus.
It’s a musical masterpiece. It’s a lyrical masterpiece that spans the entirety of the Bible, linking the very first song (Exodus 15) and the very last song (Revelation 14) mentioned in the Bible. More on the significance of that in a later post.
The theme of victory
Both Victory in Jesus (Christ Won the Victory) and Christus Victor were sung at least four times (each). As the theme of Christ’s victory began to emerge more and more apparent, I began to see it in so many other songs we sang that week, many that are already so dear to our hearts.
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
The Lord is my salvation
Quakes as it’s Maker bows His head
Curtain torn in two, dead are raised to life
Finished the victory cry
This the power of the cross
And Christ became sin for us
He took the blame and bore the wrath
We stand forgiven at the cross
When filled with fear I claim His peace.
Though I am weak, I stand in victory
In His name, in His name.
~But for the Cross of Christ
Christ, the Lord upon the tree
In the stead of ruined sinners
Hangs the lamb in victory
See the price of our redemption
See the Father’s plan unfold
Bringing many sons to glory
Grace unmeasured, love untold
The theme of Christ winning the victory for us over sin ran present through the entire conference, although I’m not sure the Gettys planned it that way.
A personal celebration of Christ’s victory in my life
This theme of victory was particularly meaningful to me because of something that happened over a decade ago. In 2012, at the Gaylord in Nashville (the same venue as the Sing Conference), I attended a Christian conference for a military wives organization called Protestant Women of the Chapel. I will not go into full detail about what happened there, as I’ve done that in past posts, but I’ll share a few exerpts.
That conference was the beginning of my having a deeper understanding of the gospel of grace. It was the moment I let go of my own self-righteousness and trying to earn God’s favor by my works and embraced Christ’s righteousness as my own. At that conference, I attended a breakout session where I began to understand the concepts that I now know by the theological terms of regeneration and justification.
…the speaker gave some of her personal testimony. She had been the good girl. Obedient. Checked all the boxes. Obeyed all the rules.
Boy this is starting to sound familiar.
But then sin dragged her down. She realized that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t keep the rules placed upon her by legalism. And more than that, she didn’t want to.
Then she gave one of the most profound object lessons that I have ever heard. She had three sweaters: one pure white, one black, and one beige. She put on the black sweater, saying that it signified the sin nature. Then she held the white sweater over her as if it were an umbrella and said something to this effect (paraphrasing very loosely here):
Kim: I had always been taught that Christ’s righteousness covers my sin. God can’t see my sin, because Christ’s righteousness is in the way. It blocks God’s view. God only sees me as holy…only loves me because He sees Christ. But underneath my sin is still there. And I feel like my sin is more who I am than Christ’s righteousness is. If God could see who I really am, He probably wouldn’t love me. I still want to sin, but I know I shouldn’t. So I feel like I can’t be myself. I know I should try to be good. And I especially want other people to think I’m good. So I keep trying harder.
Then she put on the beige sweater, over the black.
Kim: The beige signifies my righteousness. What I can do in my own power. Keeping all the rules, checking the boxes. I try to hide my real sinful self behind a veneer of good works because I’m scared that if people see the real me, that they wouldn’t love me. But then it’s hard because I feel like I’m being a fake all the time. That I can’t be myself!!!
Oh how I have felt this way a million times over!!
Then she gave a second, more accurate illustration. She put the pure white sweater on first:
Kim: Christ’s righteousness doesn’t just cover us or hide our sin from God. We HAVE been made a NEW CREATURE. This righteous, born-again being IS who we really are. The saved, blameless-in-Christ Kim is the most REAL Kim that I can be.
Then she put on the black sweater, and the beige overtop:
Kim: Yes, our sin nature is still apart of us and always will be. And it gets in the way of Christ’s righteousness shining through and being accessed. And we still continue to put on our own righteousness through legalism and good works to cover it up. But in reality, what we need to do is this: Peel back our own righteousness. Peel back our sin. And let the light of Christ’s righteousness shine forth.
The truth is, that to the outside observer, no one can really see the difference. No one can know if we are doing things out of Christ’s power or our own. But God does.
Later on that day, I spent several hours with this woman over dinner and dessert. Finally, she prayed with me and for me. Then, we went back into the main session:
I wiped the tears from my eyes, hugged her, and then we went into the service, just in time for Laura Story to take the stage to lead worship. She started off with the song Forever Reign. I had never heard it before. I tried to sing…but then was just overcome by the lyrics and had to just be silent and cry, all the while Kim sang next to me with a strong and beautiful voice praising God.
You are good You are good
When there’s nothing good in me
You are love You are love
On display for all to see
You are light You are light
When the darkness closes in
You are hope You are hope
You have covered all my sin
You are here You are here
In Your presence I’m made whole
You are God You are God
Of all else I’m letting go
Oh, I’m running to Your arms
I’m running to Your arms
The riches of Your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign
My heart will sing no other name:
Jesus, Jesus!
In that moment, I felt myself truly let go of “all else.” All the rules. All the guilt. All of the self-righteousness. All of the self-deprecation. All the voices from my past telling me that I’m a disappointment because I didn’t end up “in the ministry” or married to a pastor. All the fear of messing up or displeasing God…all the fear of being hurt that cripples me from approaching God’s throne each day. I felt myself running to his arms. Accepting his love, his peace, his forgiveness, and his grace.
In November of 2012, we had just left what would end up being the last Independent Fundamental Baptist church we ever attended, although I don’t think either of us knew at the time that it would be our last.
The next twelve years were filled with so many changes that impacted my faith: moving (again, and again, and again), my husband leaving the military, us leaving another church, church hopping, writing about my experiences with faith, becoming a special needs mom, having another baby, and finally ending up at our church home.
It was in the midst of all of these experiences that I began to re-learn and understand the gospel – not just for salvation, but for daily living in Christ’s righteousness. Being involved in our church’s music ministry has been a big part of that.
In 2012, even being at that conference was somewhat of an act of rebellion against the sheltered and conservative way I had been raised. I was completely a fish out of water in such an ecumenical environment.
But in 2024, I was there as an attendee who could sing both Victory in Jesus and Christus Victor with joy and confidence – without guilt or shame. In many ways, being back in this same venue again, it was a culmination of the last twelve years: a celebration of Christ’s victory in my own life and the joy that I have in HIM and HIS righteousness, not my own.
Another special aspect of this connection between the two conferences was that Laura Story was in attendance at both of them. At the PWOCI Conference, she was the worship leader. At Sing, she was one of the collaborative writers and performers on the Getty songwriting team. I was able to attend one of her sessions, Songs and Stories (which she co-hosted with Jordan Kauflin). I had actually signed up for a completely different session, but as I was perusing some of the booths in the Sing Village, I saw her session getting ready to start. I made a split second decision to find a seat there instead, and I’m so glad that I did!
Afterward, I was able to speak with her briefly and tell her about the PWOCI Conference and what that moment – when she sang Forever Reign – had meant to me.
Apropos are the lyrics from a song by the Getty team called I Am Not My Own: There is nothing broken that You cannot repair
The mеasure of my worth is His love alone
He declares my standing, and He declares my state
So I will know myself by the name He gave
I am not my own and now my heart is free
O Maker come and make what You will of me
There is nothing broken that You cannot repair
So Lord I leave my life in Your loving care
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