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Author: Unknown Tune: Majestic Sweetness

1. When all Thy mercies, O my God,

My grateful soul surveys,

Transported with the view, I’m lost

In wonder, love, and praise. (Repeat)

2. When in the slipp’ry paths of youth,

With heedless steps I ran,

Thine arm, unseen, conveyed me safe

And held me in Thy hand. (Repeat)

3. When worn with trouble, oft hast Thou

With love revealed Thy grace;

And when in sin and sorrow sunk,

In mercy took my place. (Repeat)

4. Through all eternity, to Thee

A grateful song I’ll raise;

For O, eternity’s too short

To utter all Thy praise. (Repeat)

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The moment a man believes in the Lord Jesus Christ he is in, of, and blessed with the righteousness of Christ (Romans 4:3). He is perfectly holy before God! Long ago Pastor Weaver of London, England, told about a friend who was very poor and dressed practically in rags. The Pastor took him to his home and gave him a shirt and a suit of clothes. When the man was fully dressed in Pastor Weaver’s suit, he stood before the Pastor and asked, “Well, Mr. Weaver, what do you think of me now?” Mr. Weaver replied, “I think you look very respectable.” The man wisely said, “Yes I do; but it is not me. I am not respectable; it is your clothes that are respectable.” My friends, it is not you, but the righteousness of Christ which makes you accepted before God. “Your renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty; for it was PERFECT THROUGH MY COMELINESS, which I put upon thee, saith the Lord God” (Ezekiel 16:14). --Henry Mahan

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If we have problems forgiving others, loving or receiving others, it is because we have not seen ourselves. The person who has seen himself as the vile, corrupt sinner that he is, will have no problem with anyone else. When we see the great grace that God has shown to us, we will be gracious to others. If we know something of what He has forgiven us, we will find no difficulty in forgiving others. And if we learn that God has loved us without any merit or cause on our part (loved the unlovable, one who hated Him), we shall be able to love others even as He has loved us for Christ’s sake. The one who cannot do these things has never really seen himself.

When I hear preachers today talking about rules of life and guidelines for practical living, I want to cry out, “What about the new birth?” Does it not produce in the believer a new nature that will both seek and do the will of God? Does not the Holy Spirit indwelling the child of God produce those graces that men are trying to create through laws and rules? Is not the law of God written on every believer’s heart? The law which never produces righteousness in an unbeliever’s heart will never produce holiness in the believer’s heart and life. The Spirit by the new birth will and does.

You say, “My debt is paid;” but I find no comfort nor assurance of it if I do not have the receipt. If I cannot read the legal declaration, “Paid in full,” my guilt remains and my conscience condemns. So it is with our sin debt. Only when we look to the precious blood of Christ does our conscience find relief. Real sin finds real satisfaction in real payment. The debtor can only be at peace when the creditor is paid. And this Christ accomplished at Calvary. --Pastor Gary Shepard

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Himself

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