Friday, March 29, 2013

Good Friday

Today, I praise and worship my Savior because of His sacrifice for me.  Without His love, His commitment to His Father's will in redeeming sinners, I would have remained in my sin and alienated from Him.

One hymn comes to mind.  It was written in 1945 by a man named Norman Clayton, so in terms of hymns, its pretty new.  It says powefully:




My hope is in the Lord Who gave Himself for me,
And paid the price of all my sin at Calvary.
For me He died, For me He lives,

And everlasting life and light He freely gives
.…..
No merit of my own His anger to suppress.

My only hope is found in Jesus’ righteousness.
For me He died, For me He lives,

And everlasting life and light He freely gives
.…..
And now for me He stands Before the Father’s throne.

He shows His wounded hands and names me as His own.
For me He died, For me He lives,

And everlasting life and light He freely gives
.…..
His grace has planned it all, ‘Tis mine but to believe,

And recognize His work of love and Christ receive.
For me He died, For me He lives,

And everlasting life and light He freely gives.

Hymn by Norman Clayton (1945)

Two of the greatest pastors from church history speak to the death of Jesus, commemorated today by many Christians.

Augustine
for us he was unto thee both the Victor and the Victim,
and therefore Victor, because he was the Victim
for us he was unto thee both the Priest and the Sacrifice,
and therefore the Priest, because he was the Sacrifice
...I meditate upon the price of my redemption

Confessions X, xliii

Charles Spurgeon
The Lord of life and glory was nailed to the accursed tree. He died by the act of guilty men. We, by our sins, crucified the Son of God. We might have expected that, in remembrance of his death, we should have been called to a long, sad, rigorous fast. Do not many men think so even today? See how they observe Good Friday, a sad, sad day to many; yet our Lord has never enjoined our keeping such a day, or bidden us to look back upon his death under such a melancholy aspect.

Instead of that, having passed out from under the old covenant into the new, and resting in our risen Lord, who once was slain, we commemorate his death by a festival most joyous. It came over the Passover, which was a feast of the Jews; but unlike that feast, which was kept by unleavened bread, this feast is brimful of joy and gladness. It is composed of bread and of wine, without a trace of bitter herbs, or anything that suggests sorrow and grief. …

The memorial of Christ’s death is a festival, not a funeral; and we are to come to the table with gladsome hearts and go away from it with praises, for "after supper they sang a hymn"



 

Sunday, March 03, 2013

John Bunyan on the Lord's Day




 

"Have a special care to sanctify the Lord's Day; for as thou keepest it, so it will be with thee all the weeklong. Make the Lord s day the market for thy soul; let the whole day be spent in prayer, repetitions, or meditations; lay aside the affairs of the other part of the week; let thy sermon thou hast heard be converted into prayer. Shall God allow thee six days, and wilt thou not afford him one? In the church be careful to serve God, for thou art in his eyes, and not in man's."


Psalm 95


1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.

6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.