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Robert Cottrill

About Robert Cottrill

http://wordwisebiblestudies.com

Posts by Robert Cottrill:

Just When I Need Him Most

Words: William Charles Poole (b. Apr. 14, 1875; d. Dec. 24, 1949)
Music: Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (b. Aug. 18, 1856; d. Sept. 15, 1932)

Note: William Poole was a pastor with the Methodist church in America. He also wrote quite a number of hymns, including this one in 1907. It was his very first attempt, and he sent the text to Charles Gabriel to fit it with a tune.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Being properly prepared for a particular experience, good or bad, is a great thing. But being human, and with our limited knowledge of what lies ahead, sometimes we aren’t. Take a simple example. Suppose you are walking through a park, and you see a cute little child playing with her dog. You pause for a moment to watch them, as the child laughs in delight, and you think, “Oh, if only I had my camera with me!”

In a more serious vein, the Bible reminds us, “You do not know what will happen tomorrow” (Jas. 4:14). Unexpected blessings and unanticipated trials may lie ahead. How can we be equipped to make use of the one, and cope with the other? For the Christian, the most basic answer is that the Lord is with us, every step of the way, and we can look to Him for what we need. He is “a very present help….The Lord of hosts [Commander of all the armies of heaven] is with us” (Ps. 46:1).

Annie Hawks gave us the hymn I Need Thee Every Hour, and I’m sure that expresses the thought of each of us, as we consider the future. And “He’s only a prayer away,” says another gospel song. “The LORD is near to all who call upon Him” (Ps. 145:18).

William Poole approaches the same subject, but in a slightly different way. The song is not complicated. It has a simple message, and it’s simply put. But it’s important. In the four stanzas of his song, Pastor Poole reassures us by looking at several aspects of his subject. First of all:

(1) Just when I need Him, Jesus is near,
Just when I falter, just when I fear;
Ready to help me, ready to cheer,
Just when I need Him most.

There are times when we’re anxious and afraid, times when we falter and stumble on the path of life. But the Lord is “ready to help [us], ready to cheer.” The fearful disciples could testify to that. They were caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee. But the Lord Jesus came to them in the storm, walking on the sea [showing His power over it] and called to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” Good cheer. It’s a phrase that expresses courage, confidence, and comfort.

(2) reminds us that “Jesus is true,” meaning faithful to His promises. He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). We can count on that.

(2) Just when I need Him, Jesus is true,
Never forsaking all the way through;
Giving for burdens pleasures anew,
Just when I need Him most.

(3) reminds us of the power of God. He has the ability to lift our burdens, and give us a song of joy, even in trying circumstances. In Acts 16:25 we see missionaries Paul and Silas singing hymns of praise in a prison cell. And in the book of Philippians, written from prison, Paul has a lot to say about joy and rejoicing. There’s reference to it in every single chapter (Phil. 1:4, 18, 25, 26; 2:2, 16, 17, 18, 26; 3:1, 3; 4:1, 4).

In (4) the author sums up his message with “He [Christ] is my all.” He watches over me and He answers prayer when I call upon Him. As Hebrews tells us, Christ is our great High Priest in heaven. He sympathizes with us in our weakness and distress, and we can obtain mercy and grace for the asking (Heb. 4:14-16).

(4) Just when I need Him, He is my all,
Answering when upon Him I call;
Tenderly watching lest I should fall,
Just when I need Him most.

Questions:

  1. In what particular circumstance did you find the Lord a “very present help” in the past week?
  2. If you were adding a stanza to Pastor Poole’s hymn, what would its subject be? “Just when I need Him…” what?

Links:

Forth in Thy Name, O Lord

Words: Charles Wesley (b. Dec. 18, 1707; d. Mar. 29, 1788)
Music: Duke Street, by John C. Hatton (b. Sept. ___, 1710; d. Dec. ___, 1793)

Note: Originally called, “Before Work,” this is possibly the finest work-day hymn in the English language. It should be far better known and more often read and sung than it is.

The Cyber Hymnal (see link below) offers a variety of tunes suitable to the hymn. The tune Duke Street is also traditionally used with Isaac Watts’s hymn, Jesus Shall Reign. Though we have no precise date for his death the funeral service for John Hatton was held on December 13th, 1793. There is a report that he died of injuries suffered from being thrown from a stagecoach.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

We may sometimes think of work as part of the curse–and once in a while it feels like it must be! When Adam and Eve sinned, God put a curse upon the ground that has brought toilsome labour ever since. The Lord said to Adam:

“Because you have heeded the voice of your wife [cf. 3:6], and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’ [2:17]: cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

Gen. 3:17-19

The wearisome struggle to subdue nature and draw sustenance from it became an ongoing object lesson and reminder of the destructive effects of sin. However (and it’s an important “however”), this is not the point at which man’s work began. Before the fall, Adam was placed in Eden and commissioned by the Lord “to tend and keep it” (Gen. 2:15).

That shows us that work itself is not part of the curse, but only the weariness and frustration of it, the danger and discouragement of it. And notice what the Bible says of that future day when Almighty God creates a new heaven and a new earth for us, and the curse is no more.

“And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.”

Rev. 22:3; cf. Rev. 21:1-3

Even after the curse is removed, God’s servants (the redeemed saints, along with the holy angels) “shall serve Him.” There will still be work to do, in the eternal kingdom. Work, in itself, is neither good nor bad. It is morally neutral. It is things like the before and after that colour it one way or another. It’s the intended purpose, the chosen means, and the outcome make it good or evil.

Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, was a carpenter (Matt. 13:55). It seems also that in His boyhood, the Lord Jesus, the sinless Son of God, was taught the carpenter’s trade (Mk. 6:3). Honest, wholesome and productive labour is surely sanctified by this. We are also told that the Apostle Paul used his craft and training as a tent maker to augment his income from time to time (Acts 18:1-3; cf. 20:34; II Thess. 3:8). And there are others in Scripture with a variety of occupations.

We have no trouble seeing pastoral work, or that of missionaries to be holy labour. Certainly it is. But the fact is that honest, wholesome, productive work of many different kinds is sanctified when we do it for the Lord. We are to “do good [that which is pleasing, honourable and beneficial] to all” (Gal. 6:10), and doing good and sharing are said to be sacrifices well-pleasing to God (Heb. 13:16). The exhortation of God’s Word given to bondservants serves as well for modern employees.

“Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”

Col. 3:23-24

Thus the lawyer and the cashier at the grocery store, the farmer and the teacher, the waitress in the diner, and the brain surgeon and the babysitter, can all do their work as an offering to the glory of God. It’s with a sense of these things that Wesley writes his hymn. And I encourage you go to the Cyber Hymnal link below and read the whole hymn.

(1) Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go,
My daily labour to pursue;
Thee, only Thee, resolved to know
In all I think or speak or do.

(2) The task Thy wisdom hath assigned,
O let me cheerfully fulfil;
In all my works Thy presence find,
And prove Thy good and perfect will.

(4) Thee may I set at my right hand,
Whose eyes mine inmost substance see,
And labour on at Thy command,
And offer all my works to Thee.

Questions:

  1. What will you be doing today that you can offer to the Lord, for His glory?
  2. Explain, in terms of your own occupation, the insightful warnings of stanza three: “Preserve me from my calling’s snare, / And hide my simple heart above, / Above the thorns of choking care, / The gilded baits of worldly love.”

Links:

Moment by Moment

Words: Daniel Webster Whittle (b. Nov. 22, 1840; d. March 4, 1901)
Music: Whittle, by May Whittle Moody (b. March 20, 1870; Aug. 20, 1963)

Note: May Whittle Moody was Daniel Whittle’s daughter, who married William Moody, the son of evangelist Dwight L. Moody. Mrs. Moody composed the tunes for a number of her father’s later songs. As the first Wordwise link shows (see the bottom of this post), the inspiration for this song grew out of a criticism of another gospel song (a fine song, in its place).

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Daniel Whittle was a unique servant of the Lord. A Civil War hero, who lost an arm in the Battle of Vicksburg, Major Whittle later became and effective evangelist and a hymn writer. Here, in his own words, is how he first met Dwight Moody a century and a half ago.

“A big meeting of some kind was being held in the Tabernacle, and with some help I was able to attend, although I was still weak from loss of blood and with my arm in a sling. I was called upon to speak, and as I got slowly to my feet, feeling shy and embarrassed and weak, a strong voice called out, ‘Give him three cheers, boys!’ And they were given with a will, for every heart was bursting with patriotism in those days, and the sight of a wounded soldier in a blue uniform stirred the blood. And how that kindly thought and ringing cheer stirred my blood! How grateful I was to them. And the one who called out, ‘Give him three cheers!’ was Dwight L. Moody.”

Daniel Whittle

Of the two dozen uses of the word “moment” in our English Bibles, most refer to the brevity of life, and the suddenness of God’s judgment (e.g. Exod. 33:5). But there are a couple of exceptions to this that are worth noting.

  • When the Lord speaks of the future restoration of the nation of Israel, He compares her to a fruitful vineyard that He waters “every moment” (Isa. 27:2-3). The Hebrew word for moment there is rega, meaning in the blink of an eye, there giving the idea of constantly.
  • When the New Testament refers to the coming resurrection, we are told it will happen “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (I Cor. 15:51-52). There, the Greek word for “moment” is atomos, signifying the tiniest possible instant of time.

Take these thoughts, and apply them to the refrain of Major Whittle’s song: “Moment by moment I’m kept in His love.” Constantly, even down to the tiniest fraction of time, moment by moment, God’s children are kept securely in His love. And nothing can separate us from it (Rom. 8:35-39). The Saviour intercedes for us on the throne (Heb. 7:25), and He is, as the KJV puts it, “touched with the feeling of our infirmities [He sympathizes with us in our weaknesses]” (Heb. 4:14-16).

(2) Never a trial that He is not there,
Never a burden that He doth not bear,
Never a sorrow that He doth not share,
Moment by moment, I’m under His care.

(3) Never a heartache, and never a groan,
Never a teardrop and never a moan;
Never a danger but there on the throne,
Moment by moment He thinks of His own.

Is that not a cheering message! What a wonderful Saviour we have!

A couple of final notes. Whittle uses the word “weal,” in (4), saying that the Lord is with us “in woe or in weal.” The latter word means happiness or well-being. So he’s saying that God is present and at work in our lives, in both the bad times and the good.

Second, the opening line of the hymn may be somewhat obscure. “Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine.” The Major means that when we put our faith in Christ, we are, in effect reckoning or counting His death to be our own. The reason we are no longer under God’s condemnation as Christians is that we paid the price for our sins in Christ, on Calvary.

There is actually a past, present, and future of our salvation alluded to in the first stanza.

In the past, we were reckoned to have died in Christ. (“I have been crucified with Christ,” says Paul, Gal. 2:20). In the present, the life of Christ is being revealed in us, by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We are “living with Jesus, a new life divine.” “Christ lives in me, “says Paul in Galatians 2:20. As to the future, we look forward to eternal glory with Christ, when He presents us to Himself, “a glorious church” (Eph. 5:27). We belong to Him, and He cares for us, every moment.

(1) Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;
Living with Jesus, a new life divine;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Questions:

  1. What does the truth of this hymn mean to you today, in a practical sense?
  2. How might you be able to encourage someone, during the coming week, with the truths expressed in this hymn?

Link:

I Know Whom I Have Believed

Words: Daniel Webster Whittle (b. Nov. 22, 1840; d. March 4, 1901)
Music: James McGranahan (b. July 4, 1840; d. July 9, 1907)

Note: Major Whittle (his rank in the Civil War) wrote six stanzas for this gospel song. Most hymn books I’ve seen omit (4), but it has a good message for us too.

(4) I know not what of good or ill
May be reserved for me,
Of weary ways or golden days,
Before His face I see.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

It’s true. We simply don’t know the mix of bounty and scarcity, joy and sorrow, that will be part of our experience before we reach our heavenly home. Paul experienced the same, but his testimony was:

“I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Phil. 4:11-13

He further assures us, by the inspiration of God, “that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). That we do know.

(1) I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.

But “I know whom I have believèd,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that Day.”

There are other things that are uncertain as well, or things God has not seen fit to explain to us. Each stanza of the song gives an example. Then it balances that, in the refrain, with what is a certainty, quoting Paul’s testimony:

“I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”

2 Timothy 1:12

The KJV, which Whittle used, has “against that day.” The Greek word for “against” is eis, meaning for or until. The “Day” spoken of refers to the return of Christ, and the time when Paul will be summoned to stand before the Lord to give account (cf. 1:18; 4:18).

In (2), Daniel Whittle refers to the mystery of saving faith and how it works. In (3), it’s the mystery of how the Holy Spirit’s ministry. Concerning this, the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (Jn. 3:8).

Finally, in (5), the song speaks of the unknown date of Christ’s return. It’s sad when preachers (sometimes ones who are quite orthodox in other areas) suggest they know what the Bible says no one knows (cf. Matt. 24:22, 24; Acts 1:7). A popular evangelist was, in 2012, been predicting that the 21st of December of that year would be the day, but if you’re reading this, it apparently wasn’t!

Over the centuries, there have been many such incorrect guesses or calculations. All they end up doing is bringing discredit to God and His trustworthy Word. God has His own timetable; let’s leave the matter with Him. Our job is to be ready for Christ’s coming, and meantime to serve Him faithfully.

(5) I know not when my Lord may come,
At night or noonday fair,
Nor if I walk the vale with Him,
Or meet Him in the air.

Questions:

  1. What are some possible reasons why the Lord has kept the exact date of Christ’s return a secret?
  2. What should a Christian’s general attitude be toward matters on which God’s Word is silent?

Links:

Saviour, Breathe an Evening Blessing

Words: James Edmeston (b. Sept. 10, 1791; d. Jan. 7:1867)
Music: Evening Prayer (or Stebbins), by George Coles Stebbins (b. Feb. 26, 1846; d. Oct. 6, 1945)

Note: One of our most beautiful evening hymns, this one found its inspiration when Edmeston read Henry Salt’s 1814 book, Voyage to Abyssinia. There, he records, “At night, their short evening hymn, ‘Jesu Mahaxoroo’ [Jesus, Forgive Us] stole through the camp.”

The first four stanzas found in the Cyber Hymnal were written by Edmeston; the final two ((5) and (6)) were added over half a century later by Edward Henry Bickersteth (1825-1906). Though the latter stanzas are not part of the original, and are not usually included in our hymnals, they are a lovely addendum.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

This wonderful hymn–including Bickersteth’s addition–is filled with allusions to various Scripture passages.

(1) takes us to one of the post-resurrection appearances of Christ (Jn. 20:19-23). On this particular occasion, the Saviour met with the eleven (and others, Lk. 24:33). Their Master had been killed, and they were fearful for the future. They gathered in the Upper Room at evening, no doubt to discuss what to do. It was then the Lord Jesus met with them, and we read:

“He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

John 20:22

This seems to have been a special endowment in anticipation of Pentecost. The unique equipping of the Spirit of God would illuminate their understanding of all that had happened, in the light of Old Testament prophecy. They needed to comprehend that the cross was neither an accident, nor a detour in the plan of God. And it was then that Christ “opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures,” commissioning them to be witnesses of His resurrection (Lk. 24:45-48).

(1) Saviour, breathe an evening blessing
Ere repose our spirits seal;
Sin and want we come confessing:
Thou canst save, and Thou canst heal.

(2) takes us to Psalm 90:3-8 and the promise of God’s watchful care and protection. (3) alludes to Psalm 139:11-12–“the darkness and the light are both alike to You,” in the sense that His watchfulness extends to both, and nothing is hidden from God’s sight.

With (4), Edmeston ends his hymn with the possibility of an individual dying in his sleep.  Though that could certainly occur, I agree with Bickersteth that something more seems needed to be needed afterwards:

(4) Should swift death this night o’ertake us,
And our couch become our tomb,
May the morn in heaven awake us,
Clad in light and deathless bloom.

Dr. Bickersteth’s words refer to Christ with the tender line, “Saviour who hast slept our sleeping.” In His humanity, the Lord experienced weariness as we all do (Jn. 4:6). But for about 12,000 nights, the Son of Man had made his home on earth, where He did not even have a place of his own to lay His head (Lk. 9:58; cf. Mk. 4:38). It’s a sign of His humbling and condescension, that this was so. And because of it He’s able now, at the Father’s right hand, to identify with us in our weakness and weariness, and graciously come to our aid (Heb. 4:14-16).

(5) Father, to Thy holy keeping
Humbly we ourselves resign;
Saviour, who hast slept our sleeping,
Make our slumbers pure as thine

(-6) Blessèd Spirit, brooding o’er us,
Chase the darkness of our night,
Till the perfect day before us
Breaks in everlasting light.

Questions:

  1. What other evening hymns have been a special blessing to you?
  2. How else did God the Son, in the experiences related to His humanity, identify with us?

Links:

Love Lifted Me

Words: James Rowe (Jan. 1, 1865; d. Nov. 10, 1933)
Music: Howard E. Smith (b. July 16, 1863; d. Aug. 13, 1918)

Note: James Rowe wrote other commonly used gospel songs. His story is told in the Wordwise link below, as is that of composer Howard Smith. Of the latter man, we know little, other than that he served for many years as a church organist in Connecticut.

Mr. Rowe apparently claimed to have written over 19,000 song texts. This seems excessive in the extreme. It would require writing more than one song a day, every day, for the forty-eight years of his adult life! (Where are they?) I’m wondering if the short poems for greeting cards, which Rowe also composed, were perhaps included in that number. Or whether a comma was misplaced and the number is 1,900. I simply cannot see him writing more than twice as many gospel songs as Fanny Crosby.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

As I discuss in the Howard Smith link at the bottom of this article, this tune has a serious flaw. Its style does not match the message of the words at key points. The jaunty, rinky-tink rhythm is not in keeping with the sober confessing of “sinking deep in sin,” and being “very deeply stained within.”

This can be corrected somewhat if the song is sung slower, and the bounce in the rhythm is smoothed out a little. However, I suspect that many of those who sing the song do so because they enjoy the happy ump-tee-dum-dum of the beat. They will feel deprived if that is missing.

I’ve had this experience with other songs, when leading a meeting. Someone will ask for a favourite, and wanting to give the congregation a fresh look at the words, I’ve used another (familiar) tune. So often this reveals that a song is loved not for its words, but its tune. Disheartening, but true.

It’s somewhat ironic that (2) contains the insightful line, “Love so mighty and so true, merits my soul’s best songs.” That is absolutely the case, but it will also be evident to anyone who studies the subject that Howard Smith’s contribution–especially married to James Rowe’s words–would not rank as one of our “best songs.”

All of this being said, there is a simple message in this particular selection that is true to the gospel.

(1) I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more,
But the Master of the sea, heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me, now safe am I.

Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help
Love lifted me!
Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help
Love lifted me!

It’s apparent that Rowe is drawing in the opening stanza on the account of Jesus coming to His disciples, walking on the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 14:22-33). Peter called to Him, “Lord if it is You, command me to come to You on the water” (vs. 28), and the Lord did so. Bold Peter began to walk toward Jesus, with the rolling sea as his pavement. However, as he realized the fury of the gale, he got his eyes off the Lord. Beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” (vs. 30). Jesus lifted him up, rebuking him for a lack of faith (vs. 31).

The parallel is not precise, since Peter at this point was a believing Jew–one who had yet to learn to trust Christ fully–but the parallel of imminent danger certainly suits the condition of the lost sinner. (2) carries on the message with the sinner trusting in Christ and determining to live for Him and sing His praises.

(2) All my heart to Him I give, ever to Him I’ll cling
In His blessèd presence live, ever His praises sing,
Love so mighty and so true, merits my soul’s best songs,
Faithful, loving service too, to Him belongs.

Finally, the saved sinner appeals to others to do as he has done, as we return to the metaphor of the “angry waves” from which the Saviour has the power to deliver.

(3) Souls in danger look above, Jesus completely saves,
He will lift you by His love, out of the angry waves.
He’s the Master of the sea, billows His will obey,
He your Saviour wants to be, be saved today.

Questions:

  1. What are some parallels between sinking Peter and the plight of the sinner?
  2. What gospel truths might be drawn from the image of Christ walking on the stormy sea?

Links:

Only a Sinner

Words: James Martin Gray (b. May 11, 1851; d. Sept. 21, 1925)
Music: Daniel Brink Towner (b. Apr. 5, 1850; d. Oct. 3, 1919)

Note: The Wordwise link at the bottom of this post has a biographical note on James M. Gray, describing his wide interests and outstanding abilities. Dr. Gray was an innovative Christian leader, the author of about twenty books, as well as many tracts and pamphlets. He was the president of Moody Bible Institute, when my father was a music major there, in the late 1920s.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

To begin with, let’s not misconstrue Dr. Gray’s use of that word “only,” in this 1905 gospel song: “Only a sinner.” He’s definitely not suggesting that being a sinner is an insignificant thing–like a man climbing out of a wrecked car suffering “only a scratch.”

In the song, the word is meant to emphasize that the saved person can take no credit for being anything more than a needy sinner–that all the glory belongs to God for his salvation. The opening lines of the song nail down that principle. “Naught [nothing] have I gotten but what I received. Grace [God’s unearned, unmerited favour and blessing] hath bestowed it I since I have believed.”

(1) Naught have I gotten but what I received;
Grace hath bestowed it since I have believed;
Boasting excluded, pride I abase;
I’m only a sinner, saved by grace!

Only a sinner, saved by grace!
Only a sinner, saved by grace!
This is my story, to God be the glory—
I’m only a sinner, saved by grace!

Just how impoverished are we, when unsaved–a category including us all? “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23; cf. Jude 1:15). The Bible describes sinners as being “without God” (Eph. 2:12), and “without strength [spiritually]” (Rom. 5:6). Apart from God’s grace, “our days on earth are as a shadow, and without hope” (I Chron. 29:15). Yet we are also “without excuse,” since God has done all that’s necessary to reveal Himself to us (Rom. 1:19-20).

Before I came to Christ, says Gray, “sin ruled my heart” (2) and, as a result, I was on the wrong path and heading the wrong way. Just being sorry for my sin was not enough. “Tears unavailing, no merit had I” (3). I had nothing I could offer God that would cancel my debt of sin and gain me His acceptance. In fact, it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Tit. 3:5).

(3) Tears unavailing, no merit had I;
Mercy had saved me, or else I must die;
Sin had alarmed me fearing God’s face;
But now I’m a sinner saved by grace!

“Without faith” in Him, we cannot hope to please the Lord (Heb. 11:6). The sinner is “condemned already” (Jn. 3:18), and “the wrath of God abides on him” (vs. 36), and “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31). All of that, and more, is the condition that James Gray captures with his phrase, “only a sinner.” But, praise His name, God in grace has provided a remedy in Christ.

“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (I Cor. 15:3). “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). We who trust in Christ have abundant reason to rejoice.

(4) Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows,
Loving his Saviour to tell what he knows;
Once more to tell it would I embrace–
I’m only a sinner saved by grace!

Questions:

  1. What other things can you think of that are true of the sinner?
  2. How does what Christ has done provide the remedy for such things?

Links:

Love Found a Way

Words: Avis Marguerite Burgeson Christiansen (b. Oct. 11, 1895; d. Jan. 14, 1985)
Music: Harry Dixon Loes (b. Oct. 20, 1892; d. Feb. 9, 1965)

Note: The story of how this 1915 gospel song came to be written can be found at the Wordwise link below. As noted there, there, the hippity-hop rhythm of the tune can be distracting. This can be de-emphasized a little, with the help of a smoother accompaniment.

Also, I don’t think the song should be sung too quickly. It’s important not to trivialize sobering lines such as: “guilty and vile as I could be” (1); “such a sinful wretch as I” (2); and “depths of woe” (3)–all of which took our wonderful Saviour to a “cross of shame” (refrain). I’m not suggesting the song should creep along, dolefully. But it should be taken slower than many are singing it.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Love! What a wonderful word! And the Bible tells us that “God is love” (I Jn. 4:8, 16). This is not intended, of course, as a reversible equation. It is not correct to say that love is God. Rather, the intended meaning of the Apostle John seems to be that divine love is such a core quality of the character of God that every other springs from it, or is somehow rooted in it.

But, on the other hand, if you know what inspired the writing of the song you’ll also realize that “Love” in the phrase “love found a way” is virtually synonymous with saying “God found a way.” In love, God the Father sent His beloved Son to pay the price for human sin, so that through faith in Christ we might be cleansed and forgiven, and receive the gift of eternal life (Jn. 3:16).

No other way will do. We are not saved by being good, or doing good works. Nor are we saved by joining a church or by some kind of ritual. These things, though they may be good in themselves, are not sufficient to save. Used that way, they simply represent man’s attempts to make himself acceptable to God. But salvation is not achieved by man reaching up, but by God reaching down.

It was God alone who “found” or provided the way to be saved, through Christ, the only way (Jn. 14:6). Its significant that half a dozen times in Acts Christians are identified as people of “the Way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4, 14; 24:22). The only way is God’s way, and it was opened to us through His love.

There is so much in the Scriptures about the love of God that it would take many studies to explore all aspects of it, but here are just a few thoughts.

  • God’s love for us is a “great love” (Eph. 2:4), infinite and unmeasurable in its reach and depth.
  • God’s love is a gracious love; He loved us while we were still in our sins (Rom. 5:8).
  • God’s love prompted Him to send His Son to die for us (I Jn. 4:9).
  • God’s love, received by us through faith in Christ, unites us to His forever family as “children of God” (I Jn. 3:1).
  • God’s love for the saints is enduring; nothing can separate us from His love (Rom. 8:35-39).
  • God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5).
  • Our Spirit-inspired love is a response to His great love (I Jn. 4:19).

Harry Dixon Loes also wrote the words and music of a little children’s chorus about the latter point. It says:

Everybody ought to love Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus;
He died on the cross to save us from sin,
Everybody ought to love Jesus.

Other writers later added stanzas such as: “Everybody ought to go to Sunday School” and (of less merit I think), “Everybody ought to keep smiling.” But the original thought of Mr. Loes was that we ought to respond in love to the love that sent Christ to the cross.

(1) Wonderful love that rescued me, sunk deep in sin,
Guilty and vile as I could be—no hope within;
When every ray of light had fled, O glorious day!
Raising my soul from out the dead, love found a way.

Love found a way, to redeem my soul,
Love found a way, that could make me whole.
Love sent my Lord to the cross of shame,
Love found a way, O praise His holy name!

(2) Love brought my Saviour here to die on Calvary,
For such a sinful wretch as I, how can it be?
Love bridged the gulf ’twixt me and heav’n, taught me to pray,
I am redeemed, set free, forgiv’n, love found a way.

Questions:

  1. If God is so loving, how is it that not all will be saved?
  2. What are some of the provisions of God’s love presently enjoyed by His children?

Links:

I Am His and He Is Mine

Words: George Wade Robinson (b. _____, 1838; d. Jan. 18, 1877)
Music: Everlasting Love, by James Mountain (b. July 16, 1844; d. June 27, 1933)

Note: This hymn is also called Loved with Everlasting Love. James Mountain wrote the tune specifically for these words, when the song was first published in 1876.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

It doesn’t have to be divine love to teach us some great lessons. Guy meets gal and they fall in love. Suddenly, “Heaven above is softer blue, earth around is sweeter green” (2). Everything sparkles with new life and beauty, as though they’re seeing it clearly for the first time. And if that is true of what happens when we experience the love of another human being, to what infinite degree can it be lifted in the experience of God’s love.

Sadly, human love may not endure, but God’s always will. The Bible gives us a long list of things that might, in the thinking of some, cause us to lose the blessing of His love, saying, “[No, none of these] shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35-39).

Missionary to India, Henry Martyn (1781-1812) wrote in his diary of the transforming power God’s love in saving him. In fact, George Robinson may have got the idea for his hymn from there. Martyn wrote:

“Since I have known God in a saving manner, painting, poetry, and music have had charms unknown to me before; for religion has refined my mind, and made it susceptible of impression from the sublime and beautiful.”

Henry Martyn

The perception of God’s love comes to us through His Spirit-inspired Word, and through the gracious ministrations of the Spirit in the believer’s heart.

(1) Loved with everlasting love, led by grace that love to know;
Gracious Spirit from above, Thou hast taught me it is so!
O this full and perfect peace! O this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.
In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.

And it’s not only the world of nature that is seen with new eyes when our souls begin to appreciate the depth and enduring nature of the love of God. In addition, things that once worried and bothered us are seen in a new way. Like John, the disciple “whom Jesus loved” resting on His bosom (Jn. 13:23), we find comfort in intimate fellowship with Him.

(3) Things that once were wild alarms cannot now disturb my rest;
Closed in everlasting arms, pillowed on the loving breast.
O to lie forever here, doubt and care and self resign,
While He whispers in my ear, I am His, and He is mine.
While He whispers in my ear, I am His, and He is mine.

Human frailty being what it is, we aren’t always worry-free – an idealistic idea which might be taken from Robinson’s third stanza. But we do learn to cast our cares upon the Lord, with the knowledge that He will lovingly care for His own (I Pet. 5:7).

We first encounter divine love at Calvary. He loved us so much that He sent His Son to die in our place, bearing the penalty of our sin. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I Jn. 4:10; cf. Jn. 3:16). We cling to the cross, and claim the remedy we need, by faith.

Then, as we go on in our Christian lives, we learn more. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian believers is a suitable prayer for each of us:

“[That we] may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height–to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Eph. 3:18-19

“[God] has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace” (II Thess. 2:16). Who could ask for more that to be loved forever by Almighty God?

(4) His forever, only His; who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart!
Heav’n and earth may fade and flee, firstborn light in gloom decline;
But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.
But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.

Questions:

  1. Why does God love us so much?
  2. What are some particular manifestations of the love of God in your life, right now?

Links:

Tell It Again

Words: Mary Bridges Canedy Slade (b. Jan. 18, 1826; d. Apr. 15, 1882)
Music: Rigdon McCoy McIntosh (b. Apr. 3, 1836; d. July 2, 1899)

Note: Mary Slade was born and lived her whole life in Fall River, Massachusetts. That town is notorious for another reason. It was there that Lizzie Borden (1860-1927) was tried and acquitted in 1892 of the brutal murder of her father and mother. Though Mrs. Slade died before this terrible incident occurred, she undoubtedly knew Lizzie and the family, since the town was not large.

Mary was a pastor’s wife. In addition to assisting her husband, she was a school teacher, and served as the assistant editor of the New England Journal of Education. A number of hymns also came from her pen.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Years ago, a missionary visited a dying boy in a gypsy camp in England. Bending over him, he recited the words of John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (KJV). The dying boy listened, and faintly whispered, “Nobody ever told me.”

What a heart-rending word! We don’t know all the circumstances in that case, of course. But what a tragedy, to think that there are still some who have never heard the gospel of grace. And they’re not necessarily members of some remote tribe across the sea. There may be those in our own communities who have never had an opportunity to hear the good news.

Paul asks pointedly, “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14). Mary Slade based this 1876 song on the incident described, challenging believers to tell the story of God’s great salvation far and wide.

(1) Into the tent where a gypsy boy lay,
Dying alone at the close of the day,
News of salvation we carried; said he:
“Nobody ever has told it to me!”

Tell it again! Tell it again!
Salvation’s story repeat o’er and o’er.
Till none can say of the children of men,
“Nobody ever has told me before.”

(2) “Did He so love me, a poor little boy?
Send unto me the good tidings of joy?
Need I not perish? My hand will He hold?
Nobody ever the story has told!”

This urgent call to action is rooted in what we call the Great Commission. It is found or alluded to in some form in all four Gospels, and in the book of Acts.

Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matt. 28:18-20

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature [i.e. all humanity].”

Mk. 16:15

Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.”

Lk. 24:46-48

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain….As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Jn. 15:16; 20:21

“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

Other passages echo a similar theme.

“We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God….We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.”

II Cor. 5:20; 6:1

Not all are gifted to be career evangelists (cf. Eph. 4:11). But we can tell others what the Lord means to us personally. The Bible exhorts us to be ready to give an answer to those who ask us the basis for our hope (I Pet. 3:15; cf. Jn. 1:35-49, noting the actions of Andrew and Philip).

(4) Smiling he said, as his last sigh he spent,
“I am so glad that for me He was sent!”
Whispered, while low sunk the sun in the west,
“Lord, I believe, tell it now to the rest!”

Questions:

  1. Is there someone you spoke to about the Lord during the past week? Are you praying for the Holy Spirit to use that encounter? (And how might you follow it up?)
  2. How can your church reach out to those within your reach who might otherwise say, “Nobody ever told me”?

Links:

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