Why I Love the Old Hymns

I love the old hymns, and have grown especially attached over the last few years to several of them. (Many of them are written below, if you wish to see them) In these particular hymns, the message of the cross, the gospel, is clearly explained. That is, there is only one way to attain righteousness in the sight of God, which is through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

I could try to be a good person, but I cannot keep it together well enough. Even on my best days, I fall short of God's perfection. But praise God that in His mercy and love He provided a way. While the world was still in sin, God sent His only Son Jesus to be born of a virgin, so that Jesus would live the perfect sinless life we cannot. Then Jesus Christ was crucified, and there he took on Himself the sin of the world. There, He paid the price we could not pay; He paid the debt He did not owe.

As He died, He called out "It Is Finished!" His work was complete, and it is still complete. All that God requires for a sinner to be made righteous is to believe in Jesus. All God requires is that a sinner puts his/her faith in what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and God looks upon their sin no more.

That is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; that is the beauty of God's love, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us that we might be restored to a relationship with God. Jesus Christ bore our sin and shame so that we could stand before God the Father without either. And it has nothing to do with our accomplishments, but everything to do with what Jesus accomplished for us.

Will you believe? Will you put your faith in Jesus? You don't have to wait until you're a better person - in fact, you can't even become a better person. The only righteousness that God considers in His perfection - and that is given as a free gift by God Himself. Willl you receive that gift by faith? It is all that God requires, to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead so that you would have life and peace. Only faith in the Son of God can make a person right with God, and God has made that completely free. The blood of Jesus that washes away our sins has been made available - the question is, will you believe and receive it?

========================================
"Jesus Paid It All"

I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed is small,
Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me thine all in all."

(Chorus)
Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

Lord, now indeed I find Thy power, and Thine alone
Can change the leper's spots, and melt the heart of stone.

(Chorus)

For nothing good have I whereby Thy grace to claim -
I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary's Lamb.

(Chorus)

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,
"Jesus died, my soul to save," My lips shall still repeat

(Chorus)

==================================
"Nothing But the Blood"

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

(Chorus)
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other found I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon this I see - Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing, this I plea - Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

(Chorus)

Nothing can for sin atone - Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done - Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

(Chorus)

This is all my hope and peace - Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness - Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

(Chorus)

=====================================
"Are You Washed in the Blood?"

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

(Chorus)
Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are you garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you walking daily by the Savior's side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

(Chorus)

When the Bridegroom cometh willl your robes be white?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?

(Chorus)

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;
There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
O be washed in the blood of the Lamb.

(Chorus)

======================================
"Glory to His Name"

Down at the cross where my Savior died,
Down where for cleansing from sin I cried,
There to my heart was the blood applied;
Glory to His name!

I am so wondrously saved from sin,
Jesus so sweetly abides within,
There at the cross where He took me in;
Glory to His name!

Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin,
I am so glad I have entered in,
There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean;
Glory to His name!

Come to this fountain so rich and sweet;
Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet;
Plunge in today and be made complete;
Glory to His name!

This is Love...

It's amazing how complicated we make things. So many truths are so plain and simple, and the freedom is in its simplicity. For example, I was making my way through 1 John last week and I came across this verse. "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

I don't know how many books exist about what love is. And I'm not sure how many sermons or Sunday school lessons pertaining to love. All I know is I've heard a lot of stuff.

Lately I've been wrestling through the whole thing of love and obedience. To clarify, I'm not second-guessing my need to obey the Lord. I'm not questioning how love and obedience go hand-in-hand when walking with the Lord. I've just been finding myself in a place of thinking... "I'm so imperfect! How could I love God?"

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

But since I've been saved, I've slipped up and screwed up so many times. I can't seem to stay on my feet long enough to take the next step, let alone think about where I'm heading...

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

But... but... I find myself with so many but's, and all I keep finding is grace, grace, and more grace. I never earned my salvation; I'm unable to maintain it. After all, Jesus is "the author and perfecter of our faith..." So the fact that I'm a screw up doesn't disqualify me from anything. It's because I'm a screw up and a sinner that I needed Him in the first place. And I still need Him; I need Him desperately. I need and want to be changed into His image. But let me not forget...

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

I'm sure I've got more screw ups ahead of me; I think it's a part of that whole humanity thing... But I will remind myself whenever the enemy comes against me, that it all started with Jesus. It will be sustained in Him; it will be perfected in Him. I can rest in His love, because I know my love for Him exists only because He loved me first. "But God demonstrated His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

And I will remind myself, and hold to that truth... I will cling to it. My life depends on it. Not understanding this, or rather, not holding to it left me in despair and condemnation.

I have much more need to understand the grace of God. And each time some of it is revealed to me, I will cling to it. I need it.

And if you are wanting to read some more concerning the grace of God, my friend Sheila has written some about it in her blog "A Season of Harvest." There should be a link on this page... There's nothing quite like freedom, and I can't wait to be freer still.