"Be thou exalted, LORD, in Thine own strength: so will we sing and praise Thy power." (Psalm 21:13)
When John Newton was eighty, he was nearly deaf and almost blind yet he continued preaching. Toward the end of his ministry, however, he would use an assistant who would read to the old preacher the next point of his sermon outline and the pastor would expound on that particular point. One Sunday, well into the 82nd year of his life and not long before his death on December 21st, 1807, the assistant read the first point and Newton said to the congregation, "Jesus Christ is precious." He paused for a little while and then repeated his words, "Jesus Christ is precious." The assistant then politely reminded the old preacher that he had already said that. "Yes, I said it twice," the aged preacher replied, "and I’ll say it again, Jesus Christ is precious!" He then asked the congregation to join him in singing "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds" which he had written in 1779.
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.
It makes the wounded spirit whole, and calms the troubled breast, ‘Tis manna to the hungry soul, and to the weary rest.
Dear name! The rock on which I build, my shield and hiding place; My never-failing treas’ry filled with boundless stores of grace.
By Thee my prayers acceptance gain although with sin defiled; Satan accuses me in vain and I am owned a child.
Jesus, my Shepherd, Husband, Friend, my Prophet, Priest and King; My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring.
Weak is the effort of my heart, and cold my warmest thought; But when I see Thee as Thou art, I’ll praise Thee as I ought.
‘Till then I would Thy love proclaim with every fleeting breath, And may the music of Thy name, refresh my soul in death.
"HIS OWN" "Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end" (John 13:1). In no sense whatsoever is the Father’s love, the Son’s death or the Holy Spirit’s work in the hearts of sinners universal. The affection, reconciliation and revelation of the Lord is restricted and specific, being only for "His own." Who are "His own?" In this passage, "His own" does not mean all mankind, the Jewish people or just the Lord’s eleven apostles who believed Him. Yes, there is a sense in which all people belong to Him by creation, and so we read"He came unto His own (world, nation, family) and His own received Him not" (John 1:11). "His own" in the text, however, refers to those who were chosen unto salvation before the world was made (2 Thessalonians 2:13), being His by the Father’s gift. They are "His own" for He purchased them from the claims of divine justice which held them for ransom, the cost of deliverance being "His own blood" (Acts 20:28). "His own" will be confronted with the true gospel, born again by the power of the Holy Spirit and brought to receive Him as Prophet, Priest and King (John 1:12-13). Without question, God’s mercies are universally bestowed for He sends the sun and rain upon the just and the unjust. All men receive good things from the hands of the Lord for "in Him we live, move and have our being" (Acts 17:28), but all men are not the recipients of "spiritual blessings" (Ephesians 1:3) which are in Christ. All men do not know the joy of the forgiveness of sins nor are all men "made the righteousness of God" in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). All men are not made alive by the power of the Holy Spirit or granted "repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). Those benefits are reserved for "His own." The good Shepherd "calleth His own sheep by name" and "putteth forth His own sheep" (John 10:3-4). –Pastor Jim Byrd
Paul determined to know nothing else but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But many manage the ministry as if they had taken up a contrary determination, –even to know anything save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. –Robert Traill, 1690
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