I had the privilege in 1993 of succeeding Dr. N.Burnett Magruder in the pastorate of Redeemer Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky. It also was my pleasure to serve as his pastor the last few years of his earthly pilgrimage.
During a certain worship service, and after the congregation had sung a hymn in which the Christian expresses his devotion to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Dr. Magruder said aloud, “Hymns make liars of us all!”
How true!
Many churches in their worship services sing ... Tell me the story of Jesus; / Write on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious, / Sweetest that ever was heard. ...
And their preachers lead them in singing ... I love to tell the story / Of unseen things above, Of Jesus and His glory, / Of Jesus and His love. ...
However, these same preachers preach some other story to their congregations, perhaps with but a passing mention of Jesus and his love. And their congregations love to hear that other story, and would not walk across the street to hear another preacher telling that sweet and precious story they claim to love to hear. Their hymns make liars of them!
Many preachers posit what they suppose to be the freewill of man, and set forth what they purport man with that freewill can do for his own salvation, and tell their hearers what they can do to find the Lord. Then they sing a hymn that makes liars of them all: Amazing grace! how sweet the sound / That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found; / Was blind but now I see.
Hymns have made a liar of me, particularly those expressing the Christian’s devotion to Jesus Christ. For example, I have been convicted when singing ... My Jesus, I love Thee; I know Thou art mine. For Thee all the follies of sin I resign. ...
When singing that first line, I truthfully acknowledge that I love Jesus. But at the same time I am convicted of the inconsistency of that love. I often have felt Jesus was speaking to me when He says to His church, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4).
When singing that second line, I truthfully acknowledge that I have resigned from sin for Jesus. But at the same time I am convicted of continuing to sin. I identify with Paul the apostle when he laments his indwelling sin (Romans 7:15, 19, 24).
But this also I acknowledge: This wretch is not lying when he sings “Tell me the story of Jesus ....” – for the gospel of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the only truly good story for sinners like me. And this wretch is not lying when he sings “Amazing grace! how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! ...” – for that grace must be amazing if it finds and saves this chief of sinners. And this unworthy preacher is not lying when he sings “I love to tell the story ...” – for the glory and love of Jesus is the story I love most to tell. And I look forward to the day when I shall stand before my Lord and Savior and sing with glorified lips and a sinless body, in all truthfulness and without the least hint of a lie, “My Jesus, I love Thee ...”
Thanks to the grace of Christ, no hymn I sing in heaven will make a liar of me.
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