Hymn of the Day
Tune: Rock of Ages
Zion’s daughter, weep no more,
Though thy troubled heart be sore;
He of Whom the psalmist sung,
He Who woke the prophet’s tongue,
Christ, the Mediator blest,
Brings thee everlasting rest.
In a garden man became,
Heir of sin, and death, and shame;
Jesus in a garden wins,
Life and pardon for our sins;
Through His hour of agony,
Praying in Gethsemane.
There for us He intercedes;
There with God the Father pleads;
Willing there for us to drain,
To the dregs the cup of pain,
That in everlasting day,
He may wipe our tears away.
With resolve and love He goes,
To the cross to bear our woes,
Shows His love to full extent,
Shows the reason He was sent;
Bears the Father’s wrath alone,
And redeems His chosen ones.
Therefore to His Name be giv’n,
Glory both in earth and Heav’n;
To the Father, and the Son,
And the Spirit, Three in One,
Honor, praise and glory be,
Now and through eternity.
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Today’s Hymns: Glory to His Name – 489
Brethren, We Have Met – 15 ~ The Hiding Place – cb10
Special Dates: Dena Koedam – 16 ~ Nancy Vande Hoef – 16
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,
that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned:
for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.
-Isaiah 40:2
Once upon a time, there came one to my house of a black and terrible aspect. He smote the door; I tried to bolt it- to hold it fast. He smote again and again, till at last he entered, and with a rough voice he summoned me before him; and he said, "I have a message from God for you--you are condemned on account of your sins."
I looked at him with astonishment; I asked him his name.
He said, "My name is the Law." and I fell at his feet as one that was dead. "I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died."
As I lay there, he smote me. He smote me till every rib seemed as if it must break, and the bowels be poured forth.
My heart was melted like wax within me; I seemed to be stretched upon a rack-to be pinched with hot irons-to be beaten with whips of burning wire.
A misery extreme dwelt and reigned in my heart. I dared not lift up mine eyes, but I thought within myself, "There may be hope, there may be mercy for me. Perhaps the God whom I have offended may accept my tears and my promises of amendment, and I may live." But when that thought crossed my mind, heavier were the blows and more poignant my sufferings than before, till hope entirely failed me, and I had nothing wherein to trust. Darkness black and dense gathered round me. I heard a voice as it were, of rushing to and fro, and of wailing and gnashing of teeth. I said within my soul, "I am cast out from his sight, I am utterly abhorred of God- he has trampled me in the mire of the streets in his anger." And there came one by, of sorrowful but of loving aspect, and he stooped over me, and he said, "Awake you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light."
I arose in astonishment, and he took me, and he led me to a place where stood a cross, and he seemed to vanish from my sight. But he appeared again hanging there. I looked upon him as he bled upon that tree.
His eyes darted a glance of love unutterable into my spirit, and in a moment, looking at him, the bruises that my soul had suffered were healed; the gaping wounds were cured; the broken bones rejoiced; the rags that had covered me were all removed; my spirit was white as the spotless snows of the far-off north; I had melody within my spirit, for I was saved, washed, cleansed, forgiven, through him that did hang upon the tree! Oh, how I wondered that I should be pardoned! It was not the pardon that I wondered at so much; the wonder was that it should come to ME.
I wondered that he should be able to pardon such sins as mine; such crimes, so numerous and so black, and that, after such an accusing conscience, he should have power to still every wave within my spirit and make my soul like the surface of a river - undisturbed, quiet, and at ease. -C. H Spurgeon
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For who makes you different from anyone else? -1 Corinthians 4.7
Why is it that you and rare not sitting here in this place today indifferent to the word of God, hardened to the gospel? Why are we not at this very hour hearing the word preached with the outward ear only but rejecting it in our hearts? Why is it that we love the word preached, rejoice in the altogether lovely Redeemer, and find a peace of heart that passes knowledge? Have we made ourselves to differ? God forbid! It was as Isaac Watts wrote:
"'Twas the same love which spread the feast
That sweetly forced us in;
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sins."
-Henry Mahan
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The Lord Jesus Christ is the true Mercy seat, and sinners must flee to Him for mercy. The very word that describes the Old Testament mercy-seat (Hebrews 9:5) is applied to Christ in Romans 3:25, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (mercy-seat) through faith in his blood.” The word means that which appeases the wrath of God. Christ made appeasement by bearing the wrath of God on the cross.
There is no physical approach to Christ, the true Mercy seat. It is a mental and heart approach. If the Mercy seat were a material object like a seat of wood, stone, or gold, then the approach would be physical. We come to Christ, the true Mercy seat, when we look to Him and trust Him for acceptance with God. –C.D. Cole
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We are all helpless sinners, therefore, what could ne need more than Christ? And knowing this, what could we want more than Christ. - Joe