To Christ Be the Glory TUNE TO HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION WORDS BY JIM BYRD
1. Bless-ed Jesus, the Savior, Redeemer and King, By His blood He has saved us, His praises we sing. To Him Who has loved us and washed us from sin, To Christ be the glory forever. Amen.
2. Precious Fountain of cleaning for guilt and our sin, For it washes vile sinners without and within. To Him Who has loved us and washed us from sin, To Christ be the glory forever. Amen.
3. O what power and virtue there is in His blood, Our transgressions are drowned neath that infinite flood! To Him Who has loved us and washed us from sin, To Christ be the glory forever. Amen.
4. Though our sins be like crimson and black as the night, He has washed and redeemed us by blood and by might! To Him Who has loved us and washed us from sin, To Christ be the glory forever. Amen.
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"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD" (Psalm 27:13-14).
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NOW I SEE David Brainard was a missionary to the American Indians many years ago. He described his experience of God’s saving grace by declaring that five powerful truths dawned upon his soul, by which all his carnal hopes were slain, by which he was at last brought to faith in Christ.
1. I saw my sin. God the Holy Spirit convinced me of my sin (John　16:8), of the sinfulness of my sinful deeds, the sinfulness of my heart and nature and the sinfulness of my righteousness. I saw that even my noblest deeds are filthy rags in God’s sight.
2. I saw the infinite holiness of God’s law. The law of God requires perfection. God cannot and will not accept anything less than absolute perfection (Leviticus 22:21). Whatever I bring to God, if He accepts it, it must be perfect.
3. I saw that the only hope for sinners is a perfect Substitute. I must have someone to obey the law and accomplish righteousness for me. I must have someone to make an infinite, justice satisfying atonement for my sins. That Substitute I found in Jesus Christ the Son of God (Romans 3:24-26; 2　Corinthians　5:21).
4. I saw that faith in Christ is the only way a sinner can ever find acceptance with God. God’s gracious salvation comes to sinners through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8). All who believe on the Son of God have everlasting life (John 3:36). But I could not believe. I could not muster faith from within myself.
5. And I saw that faith in Christ is the gift of God. Faith in Christ is not within the realm of human ability. It is the gift of God (John 1:12-13; Ephesians 2:8-9). Faith is the operation of God, the work of grace in a man’s soul (Colossians 2:12). It is not the result of man’s free will. Faith is given to sinners according to God’s sovereign will (Romans 9:16).
By these five truths I was slain; all hope within myself was gone. And I was compelled to fall down before Christ, suing for mercy, crying, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner...Lord, if You will, You can make me whole."
Now, "I through the law am dead to the law," because I have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:19-21), dead to the law absolutely! There is no hope held out to any man in the law. The sinner’s only hope of salvation is faith in Christ. You must trust the Son of God. By faith in Christ, we who believe fulfill the law of God (Romans 3:31). We must never allow anyone to bring us back under the yoke of the law (Galatians 5:1). –copied *****
A RIGHTEOUSNESS PLEASING TO GOD Although I am a sinner, yet I despair not; for Christ, Who is my Redeemer and my Righteousness, liveth. In Him I have no sin, no sting of conscience and no fear of judgment. In Christ there is no condemnation. I am indeed a sinner as touching this present life, but I have the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD which is above this life, Who is CHRIST MY LORD. In Him I rejoice. –Martin Luther *****
A VIPER TO THE HEART (The following is from Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, "Safety, Fulness, and Sweet Refreshment in Christ") Sin is the most evil and odious thing, as well as the most mischievous and fatal. Sin is the most mortal poison. Sin, above all things, hazards life and endangers the soul. Sin exposes to the loss of all happiness, to the suffering of all misery, and brings the wrath of God. All men have this dreadful evil hanging about them, and cleaving fast to the soul, and ruling over it, and keeping it in possession, and under absolute command. Sin hangs like a viper to the heart! Sin holds us powerfully, as a lion does his prey.
How can a poor worm bear the wrath of the great God? O prize that Savior, Who keeps your soul in safety, while thousands of others are carried away by the fury of God's anger, and are tossed with raging and burning tempests in hell! O, how much better is your case than theirs! And to whom is it owing but to the Lord Jesus Christ? Remember what was once your case, and what it is now, and prize Jesus Christ!
***** PROPHET, PRIEST AND KING The offices which Christ sustains toward us are such as have been in the highest repute among men. Prophets, priests, and kings have always been accounted worthy of honor. We should give the highest honor to Christ, Who, as a prophet, is superior to Moses; as a priest, superior to Aaron; and as a king, the Lord of David. These offices, as exercised by Christ, deserve our honor, not only because of their excellence, but also because of their adaptedness to us. We are, by nature, ignorant, guilty, and depraved. As ignorant, we need Christ the Prophet to teach us; as guilty, we need Christ the Priest to make atonement for us; and as depraved, we need Christ the King to rule over us, and bring all our rebellious passions into subjection. These offices of Christ are also adapted to the graces which distinguish and adorn the Christian character. The chief of these, as enumerated by Paul, are faith, hope, and love. In the exercise of faith, we receive the truth, revealed by Christ, the Prophet. In the exercise of hope, we follow Christ, the Priest, Who has entered into the holiest of all to appear before God for us. And we submit to Christ the King in the exercise of love, which is the fulfilling of the law, the principle and sum of all holy obedience. –J. L. Dagg
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