Sovereign Grace Music – All I Have Is Christ

Sovereign Grace Music, much like Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation Worship, is a church-based organization that releases their own music. Beginning in 1984, They released more than 50 albums!

Also, check out my reviews of Show Us Christ, He Is Worthy, Lord, Have Mercy, Let Your Kingdom Come, and Turn Your Eyes.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Sovereign-grace-music-all-i-have-is-christ-live-lyrics.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site!  Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

It contrasts Sovereign Grace Music’s sinful lifestyle that led them to destruction with their newfound faith in Jesus that leads them to eternal life.  It also presents other supporting facts, including:

• They love God because He loved them first.
• Jesus led them to Himself through the cross.
• They surrender to Jesus.
• Their power comes from the Son of God.
• Their boast is Christ alone.

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

The entire song is Biblical.

Side Note: Although not appearing in the lyrics linked above, the structure is as follows: Verse 1, Verse 2, Chorus X2, Verse 2, Chorus X2, Verse 3, Chorus X5.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1-6: Sovereign Grace Music were rebellious fools, thinking that their sinful lifestyle was freedom.  Yet, they realized that their choices, left to their own devices, would lead them to eternal separation from God (Matthew 18:8, Matthew 25:41, Matthew 25:46, Mark 9:43, Romans 6:23, Jude 1:7, and Revelation 14:11).

Lines 7 and 8: Based on 1 John 4:19, they conclude that our love for God is preceded by His love for them.  Had God not intervened, Sovereign Grace Music would not worship Him.

[Verse 2]

Lines 1 and 2: See Verse 1, lines 1-6.

Lines 3 and 4: While Sovereign Grace Music were sinners, Christ died for them (Romans 5:6-8) and led them to Himself (John 12:32).

Lines 5-8:  The last line indicates that they did not merely look at God’s love for them.  They also accepted it, receiving grace in return for their sin; the Great Exchange (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24).

[Chorus]

Lines 1 and 2: The word ‘Hallelujah” is a compound Hebrew phrase, with “hallelu” meaning “a joyous praise in song” and “jah” or “yah”, which refers to the Tetragrammaton YHWH. Put together, Sovereign Grace Music sings “we joyfully praise God in song” when they use this word.  They praise God because they received Jesus, counting everything else as rubbish compared to knowing Him (Philippians 3:8).  Their entire lives are dedicated to serving Him, following Jesus’ example (1 John 2:6) when He served the Father (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, and John 13:1-17).

[Verse 3]

Line 1: This requires complete and total surrender to God (Psalm 43:5, Isaiah 64:8, Matthew 10:38, Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34-38, Mark 10:28, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27, John 15:1-11, Romans 6:13, Romans 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 11:6, James 4:7-10, and 1 Peter 5:6).

Lines 2-4: Sovereign Grace Music’s strength comes from God (Nehemiah 8:10, Psalm 22:19, Psalm 28:7-8, Psalm 46:1, Psalm 118:14, Isaiah 12:2, Isaiah 33:2, Isaiah 40:29-31, Habakkuk 3:19, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Ephesians 3:16, Ephesians 6:10, and Philippians 4:13).

Lines 5 and 6: See line 1.

Line 7 and 8: They will boast in Christ (Psalm 34:2, Jeremiah 9:23-24, and 1 Corinthians 1:31).

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

This song contains much Christianese language that leads unbelievers towards a Christian interpretation, including “sin”, “hell”, “cross”, “God”, “hallelujah”, “Christ”, and “Jesus”.  It also contains much everyday language, filling the gaps that might be confusing.  For example, “sin”, a word that unbelievers often define as mere mistakes, is associated with rebellion that leads to death.  Unbelievers will likely conclude that Christians, who used to live this sinful lifestyle, surrendered to Jesus and live for Him.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God that Sovereign Grace Music recognizes their faulty lifestyle and embraced Jesus, who saved them from eternal separation from God.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Sovereign Grace Music’s All I Have Is Christ is wonderful.  It shows that those who live in sin are under bondage, with freedom available through Christ’s sacrifice.  Those who receive Him surrender their lives, forsake their folly, and live for Him, the source of their power to resist temptation.  This glorifies God.  Unbelievers should have little to no problem interpreting similarly.

I highly recommend it for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: All I Have Is Christ (listen to the song)

Artist: Sovereign Grace Music

Album: The Gathering: Live from WorshipGod11

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2011

Duration: 5:24

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

Updates:

01/12/2023 – Per Aaron Gresham’s advice, I cleaned up references to Sovereign Grace Music and replaced them with pronouns.