Category: Hymns

How sad our state by nature is!

Isaac Watts

How sad our state by nature is!
Our sin, how deep it stains!
And Satan binds our captive minds
Fast in his slavish chains.

But there’s a voice of sovereign grace
Sounds from the sacred word:
“Ho! ye despairing sinners, come,
And trust upon the Lord.”

My soul obeys th’ almighty call,
And runs to this relief;
I would believe thy promise, Lord;
O help my unbelief!

To the dear fountain of thy blood,
Incarnate God, I fly;
Here let me wash my spotted soul
From crimes of deepest dye.

Stretch out thine arm, victorious King
My reigning sins subdue;
Drive the old dragon from his seat,
With all his hellish crew.

A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On thy kind arms I fall;
Be thou my strength and righteousness,
My Jesus, and my all.

Isaac Watts: Ju­ly 17, 1674 – No­vem­ber 25, 1748.

 

Lost History Lecture by Paul Cook

English: Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-1778)I just started reading Paul Cook’s book Fire From Heaven: Times of Extraordinary Revival (book link) and I recalled a lecture he gave way back in 1980 on Augustus Toplady ‘The Saintly Sinner’. I looked for it on my Website but couldn’t find it. After some searching I realised it was uploaded but the link was missing and it wasn’t even listed. Anyway, it’s now fixed and available for download.

I have great memories of Paul and his ministry. The lecture on Toplady will not disappoint. FYI, Paul Cook is married to the author Faith Cook.

Go here to download. Visit my website for full listing of lectures.

Here’s the first verse of Toplady’s ‘A debtor to mercy alone’

A debtor to mercy alone,
Of covenant mercy I sing,
Nor fear, with God’s righteousness on,
My person and off’rings to bring.
The terrors of law and of God
With me can have nothing to do;
My Savior’s obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions from view.

 

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Brief Comments on the hymn ‘Trust and Obey’

We sang the following hymn at the service Sunday evening. Though well loved by many, I’ve felt uncomfortable about this hymn for a while so I’d like to briefly explain my problems with it. Let me just emphasise and underline that I have no problem with the command to trust and obey, these are entirely scriptural. It’s the setting of other aspects of the hymn and when it gets used in any Gospel context, any context. Period. It just didn’t sit well within the overall message. It was a good message, but with serious problems that demand another post – more later.

Here’s some of my problems with the hymn.

The overall concept it seems to me is to produce happiness. Of course there’s nothing wrong with being happy and only someone with serious problems would not want to be happy. We all want to be happy. And, it does to some extent depend on how many footnotes you put round the word. To be fair, the song speaks of being ‘happy in Jesus’ which may be an entirely different concept to a worldly description of just being happy per-se. A better word might have been ‘Blessed’ but that wouldn’t fit and is more positional than experiential.

When you look through the song it’s basically about me and my trusting and my obeying. There’s no objective truth about Jesus that might draw out from Christians a desire to Trust and Obey but the end result of happiness. Thinking back to the History lecture about Andrew Fuller, he suffered the terrible loss of his daughter and it completely rocked him. His diary entries stopped. Here’s an extract from the lecture concerning this period of Fuller’s life.

On 30th May 1786, Fuller’s daughter, Sally, died at the age of six and a half years. This was one of several deaths close to the man at the same period, but surely the most painful, and it is a measure of his sensitivity of soul that within a few days his diary entries dry up, only a few torn leaves indicating the heart trouble of the following months. The diary does not open again until 3rd October, 1789:

‘For above a year and a half I have written nothing. It has seemed to me that my life was not worth writing. Two or three years ago my heart began wretchedly to degenerate from God. Soon after my child Sally died, I sunk into a sad state of lukewarmness; and have felt the effects of it ever since. I feel at times a longing after the lost joys of God’s salvation; but cannot recover them. I have backslidden from God; and yet I may rather be said to be habitually dejected on account of it than earnestly to repent of it. I find much hardness of heart, and a spirit of inactivity has laid hold of me. . . . [After recording some sermon preached:] These subjects have tended sometimes to make me long after that joy and peace in believing which I have heretofore found. But joy of heart is a feeling I cannot yet recover.’

Jeremy continues; The climb out of this period of spiritual dullness and desolation was painfully slow and difficult, but the Lord was upholding and helping his servant.

This period of trial in the life of Fuller does not square with this hymn. Surely Fuller was not Trusting and Obeying sufficiently to be ‘Happy in Jesus’. And we should especially note the comment made by Jeremy Walker that the Lord was upholding and helping his servant. The hymn doesn’t tell us this at all. But I’m running a little ahead of myself.

The hymn I believe is damaging and destructive in the following ways. The tune is quite upbeat and almost triumphalistic and to the Christian that believes he is Trusting and Obeying it’s sung with great gusto – this could be a problem. But what about the Christian conscious of his sin or is walking through some fiery trial – this is anything but helpful. What would Andrew Fuller have made of the hymn? Given this biographical entry of Fullers I fail to see how verse 2 can be anything other than discouraging for one going through such a trial. This verse is just cruel to such a one. How Fuller and other suffering Christians need the Balm of Gilead pouring into their souls as they are indeed kept by the power of God and His loving kindness.

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

The hymn concentrates on the ability of the Christian to do His good will and to therefore find that ‘He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey.’ Is this true? I don’t believe it is. Are we really to believe God only abides with us when we are ‘Happy in Jesus’ and ‘trusting Him still’. The Bible says ‘He will never leave us, nor forsake us.’ It’s to the praise of His marvelous Grace that He ALWAYS abides with us still. Even though the sense of His presence or the reality of the truth is not able to be grasped. Many years ago now at an Aberystwyth Conference Douglas McMillan was preaching through Romans 8. When he recited verse 28 ‘And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose’ he leaned over the pulpit and said ‘Sin included‘. Now that’s the Grace of God at work. We do not deserve any of it including when we are not trusting and obeying as we ought to be. The hymn is pure law. There’s no Grace in it at all.

I think you get the idea now. In verse 4 we read ‘But we never can prove the delights of His love, Until all on the altar we lay; For the favor He shows, … the joy He bestows, Are for them who will trust and obey. This is not good news. I only know of one person that has laid all on the altar. We read much of Burnt offerings & sacrifices in Leviticus. And in John 1:29 we read of ‘the lamb that takes away the sin of the world’. That’s laying all on the Altar! Only Jesus has done that, otherwise we wouldn’t need a Saviour! Otherwise we wouldn’t need to repent. This why we need Jesus the only one that has kept perfectly the law of God in every way. In thought, speech, deed, behaviour, inwardly, in every way trusting and obeying the law of God. Now THAT is Good News. Even though we are so dull and wayward in our sin and rebellion God gives the desire and the power to call upon the Saviour.

The Gospel really is THAT radical! We are all self righteous at heart. Surely there’s some little thing I can do? Nope. It’s all been done. All you have to do is come – and as I say He even gives the desire and the power to do that! What a Gospel! What a Saviour! What a Salvation!

I said it would be brief so I’ll leave it at that, though more could be said. The last hymn on Sunday evening was ‘Rock of Ages’. What a contrast!

Full Text of the Hymn :

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Refrain

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

Refrain

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.

Refrain

But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

Refrain

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

Refrain

Show me Thy Face – one transient gleam

I was reminded of this hymn at our home group Bible study & prayer meeting last evening. An interesting observation about this hymn is that God or the name of Jesus is not mentioned even once. And yet, to every true believer, it’s obvious who it is about – Jesus.  2 Cor 4:6. What an effect even a transient gleam of The Lord Jesus will have on the believer.

Show me Thy face! – one transient gleam
Of loveliness divine,
And I shall never think or dream
Of other love save Thine;
All lesser light will darken quite,
All lower glories wane;
The beautiful of earth will scarce
Seem beautiful again.

Show me Thy face! – my faith and love
Shall henceforth fixed be,
And nothing here have power to move
My soul’s serenity;
My life shall seem a trance, a dream
And all I feel and see,
Illusive, visionary – Thou
The one reality!

Show me Thy face! – I shall forget
The weary days of yore;
The fretting ghost of vain regret
Shall haunt my soul no more;
All doubts and fears for future years
In quiet rest subside,
And naught but blessed content and calm
Within my breast abide.

Show me Thy face! – the heaviest cross
Will then seem light to bear;
There will be gain in every loss,
And peace with every care;
With such light feet the years will fleet,
Life seem as brief as blessed,
Till I have laid my burden down,
And enter into rest.

Anonymous; from STOCKWELL GEMS

(Christian Hymns: 619)

I saw a new vision of Jesus

I saw a new vision of Jesus,
A view I’d not seen here before,
Beholding in glory so wondrous
With beauty I had to adore.
I stood on the shores of my weakness,
And gazed at the brink of such fear;
‘Twas then that I saw Him in newness,
Regarding Him fair and so dear.

My Saviour will never forsake me,
Unveiling His merciful face,
His presence and promise almighty,
Redeeming His loved ones by grace.
In shades of the valley’s dark terror,
Where hell and its horror hold sway,
My Jesus will reach out in power,
And save me by His only way.

For yonder a light shines eternal,
Which spreads through the valley of gloom;
Lord Jesus, resplendent and regal,
Drives fear far away from the tomb.
Our God is the end of the journey,
His pleasant and glorious domain;
For there are the children of mercy,
Who praise Him for Calvary’s pain.

William Vernon Higham, 1926-

Tune: Crugybar

Link: Vernon Higham Hymns

The Day of our Death is Unknown

As part of my regular reading plan, this morning I read these words in Genesis 27:2 ‘Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death“.

This truth was driven home powerfully when we heard last evening of the death of someone we knew and loved. Though not strictly speaking a family member, it nevertheless feels like it. Not an old man like Isaac that still had many years before him – he was in his early middle age. His wife had traveled to see her sick father and heard the tragic news while on the train back home. We are shocked, stunned & devastated by such sudden and tragic news.

Dear reader, the Christian faith is true and stands alone to declare the reality of Judgment & Salvation. Like aging Isaac I / we do not know the day of our death. Know only this ‘…it is appointed for men (and women)  to die once, but after this the judgment’. (Heb 9:27)

Also know this, ‘… the wages of sin is death…’ (Rom 3:23) and apart from Jesus alone, there is not a person that has ever lived who has not sinned and ‘earned’ their wages. Payment will come – either sooner or later – and at a time we will not expect!

But then know this, ‘the gift of God is eternal life, in Christ Jesus our Lord’. (Romans 3:23).

The message is clear then, Repent and believe the Gospel! For “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13) Don’t put it off though as Scripture also says ‘…Behold, now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation‘. (2 Cor 6:2)

I don’t say these things to scare you. And by the way, if you not have trusted in Christ, you should be scared. But to direct you to Jesus Christ, the ONLY Saviour, upon whom you must call.

1. Immortal honors rest on Jesus’ head;
My God, my portion, and my living bread;
In Him I live, upon Him cast my care;
He saves from death, destruction, and despair.

2. He is my refuge in each deep distress;
The Lord my strength and glorious righteousness;
Through floods and flames He leads me safely on,
And daily makes His sovereign goodness known.

3. My every need He richly will supply;
Nor will His mercy ever let me die;
In Him there dwells a treasure all divine,
And matchless grace has made that treasure mine.

4. O that my soul could love and praise Him more,
His beauties trace, His majesty adore;
Live near His heart, upon His bosom lean;
Obey His voice, and all His will esteem.

William Gadsby, 1773-1844

Hymns of The Incarnation – The Lord Jesus Christ

Jesus the Source of Life 04
Jesus the Source of Life 04 (Photo credit: Waiting For The Word)

After posting the previous hymn ‘Who is He in yonder stall?’ the following hymn (one of my favourites)  has been buzzing around in my head. Looking through the hymnbook (Christian Hymns) the incarnation or ‘Christmas’ hymns form quite a small section. But the fact is, there are a great many hymns (and Bible texts) that don’t seem to get a mention as it were in the ‘Christmas Canon’. What could be more Incarnational than ‘Mighty, he man’s nature takes‘! I’m reminded therefore of the following text – one of the most amazing and extraordinary texts in the whole Bible – Hebrews 10:10 speaking of the will of God in sending a redeemer – Jesus Christ. Here’s the passage in context:

Heb 10:4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Heb 10:5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;
Heb 10:6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
Heb 10:7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'”
Heb 10:8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law),
Heb 10:9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.
Heb 10:10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Heb 10:11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
Heb 10:12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
Heb 10:13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
Heb 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Heb 10:15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
Heb 10:16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”
Heb 10:17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Heb 10:18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Heb 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
Heb 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
Heb 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Note: It is not just difficult, but is impossible to find acceptance with God by any other means than the one God Himself has provided – it’s actually blasphemous to even suggest it! Jesus comes to do the will of God, and what is that will? That HE become man and offer His own infinitely valuable sacrifice – Himself. Because any other sacrifice is unacceptable. The blood of bulls and goats pointed forward to the coming of Jesus – the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. We need a mighty person to achieve this. We need a sinless person. We need a willing person. We need a Great Person. We need a resurrected person. And so to the hymn:

Mighty Christ from time eternal,
Mighty, he man’s nature takes,
Mighty, when on Calv’ry dying,
Mighty, death itself He breaks.
See His might,
Infinite,
King of Heaven and earth by right!

Mighty was He in heaven’s purpose,
Mighty, in the pledge to save,
Mighty, from His birth to Calv’ry,
Mighty, bursting from the grave.
Still will He
Mighty be When things hidden now we see.

Great my Jesus in His Person.
Great as God and man is He,
Great His comeliness and beauty,
White and ruddy, fair to see,
Great that sight,
Sovereign Might,
Throned secure on heaven’s height!

vv. 1 & 3 Titus Lewis, 1773 – 1811;
v. 2, Anonymous;
tr. Graham Stuart Harrison 1935 – 2013 (No. 117 Christian Hymns, E.M.W)

If it’s possible to post a link to how it should be sung I’ll put a link here. It’s a magnificent hymn.

Wishing you all a Blessed & Happy Christmas 2013

May everyone who reads this know who He is.

1. Who is He in yonder stall,
At whose feet the shepherds fall?

Chorus

’Tis the Lord! oh wondrous story!
’Tis the Lord! the King of glory!
At His feet we humbly fall,
Crown Him! crown Him, Lord of all!

2. Who is He in deep distress,
Fasting in the wilderness?

3. Who is He the people bless
For His words of gentleness?

4. Who is He to whom they bring
All the sick and sorrowing?

5. Who is He that stands and weeps
At the grave where Lazarus sleeps?

6. Who is He the gathering throng
Greet with loud triumphant song?

7. Lo! at midnight, who is He
Prays in dark Gethsemane?

8. Who is He on yonder tree
Dies in grief and agony?

9. Who is He who from the grave
Comes to succor, help, and save?

10. Who is He who from His throne
Rules through all the worlds alone?

(Benjamin Russell Hanby. July 22, 1833 – March 16, 1867)

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/234#ixzz2oVTspWDR

Reformation Day Thanks

Door of the Schlosskirche (castle church) in W...
Door of the Schlosskirche (castle church) in Wittenberg to which Luther is said to have nailed his 95 Theses, sparking the Reformation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

496 years ago today Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg. Not sure how many Churches mark this day as the start of The Reformation – arguably the greatest revival in the history of the Church. Even in a secularised West we still benefit from this recovery of the Gospel.

Many Churches will have an alternative to Halloween, maybe a ‘light’ party in contrast to the darkness of Halloween. But Reformation Day isn’t an alternative. It’s an opportunity to remember something that under God actually happened in history, much like the Gospel itself. As Christians we don’t have to pretend about anything, we deal in facts, things that happened.

Other Churches will have something for the kids but will also mark the day by a Historical Lecture or perhaps celebrate by remembering ‘The just shall live by faith’. Our Salvation, and your Salvation if you are not yet a Christian believer, depends not on what you do but on what God has done, what Jesus accomplished for all who will ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ’.

The Gospel is at the heart of Reformation Day and it should be at the heart of every day and especially in the preaching.

Praise God for the Gospel. Have a blessed Reformation Day.

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

Martin Luther

When Sinks Yon Radiant Sun

Took this picture on the way home after work last evening. The sinking sun made me think of the hymn below:

P1030858

 

When this passing world is done,
When has sunk yon glaring sun,
When we stand with Christ on high,
Looking o’er life’s history;
Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
Not till then, how much I owe.

Robert Murray McCheyne
1813-1843

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/545#ixzz2NQuCFW1y