O Wondrous Love

I Will Rejoice

I Will Rejoice

Though the trees shall not bloom
And the vine bears no fruit
Though the fields shall fail and yield no food
Though the flocks are cut off from within the fold
And though all is destroyed both young and old

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord
Yes I will be joyful in God my Saviour
I will rejoice in the Lord
Yes I will be joyful in God my Saviour
I will rejoice in the Lord
I will rejoice in the Lord

Though the winds rise up and the rivers roar
Though the thunder may crash and storms destroy
Though the mountains may fall and seas rush in
And though nations invade by the hand of evil men.

And the Sovereign Lord is all my strength
And He makes me to walk upon the high place

For a related post from Habakkuk:

Our Greatest Reward

There is a Fountain – T4G 2008

There is a Fountain

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy power to save,
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.
Lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave;
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.

Words: Will­iam Cow­per, in Con­yer’s Col­lect­ion of Psalms and Hymns, 1772.

Gospel Is The Means Through Which God Actually Saves Sinners

“In preaching, not only is the minister giving us doctrinal and moral instruction (though that is involved), but God is actually killing us and making us alive, writing us out of the “in Adam” story and into his new script of the new creation.

Throughout the Scriptures, God’s Word through the lips of sinful ambassadors is spoken of as “the power of God for salvation” (Rom 1:16,cf. Mark 8:38. 1 Cor 1:18, 24; 2:9) and effective in every mission for which it is sent (Isa 55:10-11). The Word of God is inherently “living and active” (Heb 4:12), judging and justifying (vv.13-14). Peter tells us that we have been “born again …..through the living and abiding word of God……..And this word is the good news that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:23,25). The gospel does not merely tell us how to “get saved”, as though it were an instruction manual (another command); it is the means through which God actually saves sinners.”

p 169 “The Gospel Commission: Recovering God’s Strategy for Making Disciples”  By Michael Horton

Jesus Is The Gospel

 

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ……Jesus came ……, proclaiming the gospel of God,  and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:1, 14,15

Tell Me, What Is The Gospel ?

“This is not an invitation to moral apathy but to godly sanity. The bad news is far worse than occasionally failing to live up to my potential. The smallest sin in my eyes–not only what my hands have done, but what I’ve conceived in my heart–is sufficient to banish me from God’s holy and joyful presence forever. But the good news is far greater than the bad news is bad. The good news is far greater than “just try harder next time.” In fact, that is not good news at all because I know that God does not grade on a curve and he has not asked me to try harder. He demands perfect righteousness, not good intentions. The harder I try to cover up my nakedness in God’s presence, the more I hate God, fleeing in self-deceit from his terrifying presence. Left to myself, I will always accuse God and excuse myself–even using religion to hide my ineradicable guilt. The good news is that Christ’s righteousness is greater than my sin. Fully absolved in Christ, I am free to confess my sins, receive the assurance of pardon, and go on in my imperfect yet Spirit-led obedience.”

- Michael S. Horton, Christless Christianity, 121.

God’s Sovereignty in Salvation

“This is the issue: Is it a part of God’s gift of salvation, or is it in our own contribution to salvation? Is our salvation wholly of God or does it ultimately depend on something that we do for ourselves? Those who say the latter, that it ultimately depends on something we do for ourselves, thereby deny humanity’s utter helplessness in sin….in effect, it turned faith into a meritorious work, … denied the sovereignty of God in saving sinners,…………Until we humble ourselves and understand that no man is an island and that no man has an island of righteousness, that we are utterly dependent upon the unmixed grace of God for our salvation, we will not begin to rest upon grace and rejoice in the greatness of God’s sovereignty, and we will not be rid of the pagan influence of humanism that exalts and puts man at the center of religion.”

Dr R C Sproul, The Pelagian Captivity of the Church ( from Modern Reformation, Vol 10, Number 3 (May/June 2001), pp. 22-29.)

Not What My Hands Have Done

Not What My Hands Have Done

Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul;
Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God;
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load.

Your voice alone, O Lord, can speak to me of grace;
Your power alone, O Son of God, can all my sin erase.
No other work but Yours, no other blood will do;
No strength but that which is divine can bear me safely through.

Thy work alone, O Christ, can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God, not mine, O Lord, to Thee,
Can rid me of this dark unrest, And set my spirit free.

I bless the Christ of God; I rest on love divine;
And with unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt; I bury in His tomb
Each thought of unbelief and fear, each lingering shade of gloom.

I praise the God of grace; I trust His truth and might;
He calls me His, I call Him mine, My God, my joy and light.
’Tis He Who saveth me, and freely pardon gives;
I love because He loveth me, I live because He lives.

Words: Ho­ra­ti­us Bo­nar
Sung By: Nathan Clark George

The Solid Rock – T4G 2008

     

The Solid Rock

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

The Solid Rock
Edward Mote, 1797-1834
William B Bradbury 1816-1868

Be Still, My Soul

Be Still, My Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.

Words: Ka­tha­ri­na A. von Schle­gel, in Neue Samm­lung Geist­lich­er Lied­er, 1752 (Stille, meine Wille, dein Je­sus hilft sie­gen);
trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Jane L. Borth­wick in Hymns from the Land of Lu­ther, 1855.
Music: Fin­land­ia, Jean Si­bel­i­us, 1899

By Faith

By Faith

By faith we see the hand of God
In the light of creation’s grand design
In the lives of those who prove His faithfulness
Who walk by faith and not by sight

By faith our fathers roamed the earth
With the power of His promise in their hearts
Of a holy city built by God’s own hand
A place where peace and justice reign

We will stand as children of the promise
We will fix our eyes on Him our soul’s reward
Till the race is finished and the work is done
We’ll walk by faith and not by sight

By faith the prophets saw a day
When the longed-for Messiah would appear
With the power to break the chains of sin and death
And rise triumphant from the grave

By faith the church was called to go
In the power of the Spirit to the lost
To deliver captives and to preach good news
In every corner of the earth

We will stand as children of the promise
We will fix our eyes on Him our soul’s reward
Till the race is finished and the work is done
We’ll walk by faith and not by sight

By faith this mountain shall be moved
And the power of the gospel shall prevail
For we know in Christ all things are possible
For all who call upon His name

We will stand as children of the promise
We will fix our eyes on Him our soul’s reward
Till the race is finished and the work is done
We’ll walk by faith and not by sight

by Keith and Kristyn Getty | from the album Awaken the Dawn

The Old Rugged Cross

The Old Rugged Cross

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

Refrain

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.

Words & Music: George Ben­nard, 1913

And Can It Be – Hymn

 

And Can It Be

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

’Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Still the small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Psalms and Hymns, 1738.
Music: Sa­gi­na, Thom­as Camp­bell, Bou­quet, 1825

When I Survey The Wondrous Cross

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Words: Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spir­it­u­al Songs, 1707

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Words: George Ma­the­son, in the Church of Scot­land mag­a­zine Life and Work, Jan­u­a­ry 1882.
Music: St. Mar­garet (Peace), Al­bert L. Peace, 1884

Do We Need To Hear And Believe Gospel To Get To Heaven?

“It would seem that everybody in evangelical Christianity, everybody who is truly a Christian, would understand that the gospel is the heart of Christianity, that the gospel is found only in the Scripture. And that the gospel must be preached to the ends of the earth. ……. The heart of the Christian faith is the gospel. The gospel is found in the New Testament. The foundations of the gospel are found in the Old Testament. And the gospel must be preached to the ends of the earth if people are to be saved. That’s essentially the Christian mission.

“That’s what the church has believed. That has compelled its life. That has been its mandate. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in My name and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” He said it another way. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”……..That has been the church’s mandate. True Christians have always believed that. The true church has always taught that. We have believed and been compelled by the fact that if people don’t hear the gospel, they can’t be saved. And if they aren’t saved, then they’ll spend eternity in hell under the judgment of God. So it is absolutely critical that the world hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. That they not only hear it but that they understand it accurately. That they believe it. That they embrace it for themselves because it is the only saving truth.”

“Compelled by this clear biblical mandate, Christians through the centuries have taken the saving message to the ends of the earth. Generation after generation they have been engaged in doing this. Preaching the gospel to every person on earth has been the goal of the church. I have told you many times that that’s the only reason we’re still here. We’re already saved and sealed for eternity. There’s no reason to leave us here except for this responsibility of evangelism.”

“Now we believe that the Bible is very clear that salvation comes through believing in Christ. Believing in Christ comes from hearing and understanding the gospel. Being able to hear and understand the gospel can only occur if somebody takes the message. And somebody can only take the message if they’re sent with it. And that’s what Romans 10 says, “You’re saved by believing in Christ but you can’t believe in Christ unless you hear about Christ. You can’t hear about Christ unless somebody preaches. And somebody is not going to preach unless they’re sent. And that is our mandate and that has been the mission of the church since the church was born on Pentecost and Jesus said, “You’ll receive the Holy Spirit and you’ll be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth.” Since the church was launched till today, uncounted millions of dollars in every currency on the map of the world and millions of hours of effort and work and millions of Christian people through the centuries have been spent and sacrificed to take the only message of salvation to the edges of the earth. Translation work, rigorous, difficult, challenging work of taking a language that isn’t even written and developing an alphabet and developing a way to write that language and then teaching the people to read their own language when they’ve never even seen it. And then giving them the scriptures and the gospel, leading them to Christ, rigorous work that takes decades and then printing materials in every language, preaching, teaching, evangelizing…that’s what the church has been engaged in since its calling, since the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. An unrelenting effort to use every means available to reach people with the only message that can save them from eternal judgment and that’s the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.“

“Now all of that is bad enough and we’ve tried to address that. But there’s a new wave in the evangelical world that is at least as frightening, if not more frightening. And the new wave in the evangelical world is this, there are some people who are telling us it isn’t necessary to even take the gospel to the ends of the earth. It’s not necessary. People are being saved without it…without it.”

“Well what does the Bible have to say about this? Do we have a biblical case for the…for the exclusivism? Do we have a case for the fact that if you don’t know the gospel and if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ, you aren’t going to heaven?…….The answer to that is yes.“

selected quotes from The Exclusiveness of the Gospel, Part 1 -December 31, 2000 by John Macarthur.

Related Posts;

No Christ, No Heaven. Enter by the Narrow Gate

Christless Christianity: 2010 West Coast Conference – Free Viewing

Presenting the Gospel: What Are The Non-Negotiables For The Gospel?

A “Christianity” without Jesus Christ and the Gospel

The Truth of the Cross: Jesus Christ taking God’s curse and wrath in the place of sinners

The Essence of Gospel Evangelism Is To Proclaim the True Doctrine of the Cross

Who is God and how are we saved? – Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Muslims

Who is Jesus Christ ? – A former Muslim explaining the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Letting God Be God

“We are in no position as creatures to dictate to our Creator what he may or should be like. God is absolute reality. He was there before anything else was, and he did not come into being, but always was. Therefore nobody made him the way he is, and there is no reason he is the way he is. He simply is. That is his name: “I Am Who I Am” (Exodus 3:14). Our role is not to say what can and can’t be in God, but to learn who he is and who we are, and to shape our lives according to his reality – his will. We submit to the way he is. He doesn’t submit to the way we are or the way we think he should be.”

Quote by John Piper from:

The Spirit Helps Us in Our Weakness, Part 1
May 26, 2002  by John Piper  Scripture: Romans 8:25-27 | Topic: The Trinity
Series: Romans: The Greatest Letter Ever Written

Similar Posts:

God is beyond comprehension ?

Reflections on the Doctrine of the Trinity

Gospel is a Call to Discipleship – Call to Faith and Obedience

Gospel is a Call to Discipleship – Call to Faith and Obedience

“The message Jesus proclaimed was a call to discipleship – not to faith alone but to faith and obedience. Jesus gave a solemn warning: “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mathews 7:21). Obedience is the evidence of the reality of our repentance and faith. Our obedience does not achieve salvation, but it is the evidence of it.
Present-day preaching finds little place for repentance, yet without repentance there can be no regeneration. Many have been encouraged to believe that because they have come forward to an appeal or signed a decision card, or prayed to receive Christ, they are saved-whether or not there is any subsequent change in their lives.

It needs to be reiterated that “saving faith is more than just understanding the facts (of the gospel) and mentally acquiescing. It is inseparable from repentance, submission, and a supernatural eagerness to obey. The biblical concept of saving faith includes all these elements.”
It is sad but true that whenever the way of the cross and its implications are preached, superficial believers, whose conversion experience have been shallow , fall away. “

J. Oswald Sanders “Spiritual Discipleship – Principles of following Christ for every believer” page 21-22

Similar Posts:

Jesus said, “Come Follow Me. It Will Cost You Everything, Count the Cost.”

The Gospel is an invitation to be a slave of Jesus Christ

The Good Shepherd: Looking at, Turning to, Resting in, Listening for, Following after

A “Christianity” without Jesus Christ and the Gospel

No Christ, No Heaven. Enter by the Narrow Gate

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matthew 7:13-14

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly John 10-7

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:5-6

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:27-30

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. John 3:36

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40

There is a Fountain – Resolved Music

By William Cowper and Lowell Mason
Arr. by Ryan Foglesong and Brian Steckler

 

There is a Fountain

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy power to save,
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.
Lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave;
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.

Words: Will­iam Cow­per, in Con­yer’s Col­lect­ion of Psalms and Hymns, 1772.