Tuesday, June 26, 2012

I Will Praise My Dear Redeemer

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 15:57

I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant power I’ll tell,
How the victory He giveth
Over sin, and death, and hell.

We have countless things to praise God for - He created our beautiful world, He fulfilled His plan that He promised through the ages - sending Jesus Christ our Redeemer - and we praise Jesus for obediently going to the cross, humbling Himself and willingly taking my place.

One thing that is totally amazing to my finite, human mind is that through His death and resurrection, Jesus gives victory over sin, and death, and hell.

Jesus paid the price for my sin on the cross. After He died and was buried, God brought Him back to life, because He was pleased with Jesus' sacrifice. Death could not hold Him!

This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. Acts 2:23-24

He has triumphant power because of His resurrection!

...who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord... Romans 1:4

Death no longer has victory over anyone who confesses Jesus as Lord and Savior. Isn't that great news? That is something to sing about! Jesus gives us victory over sin and the law through His death on the cross.

"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 15:55-57

I will sing of my Redeemer! And like Paul, I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection so that I, too, may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10-11

I Will Sing of my Redeemer
Words by Philip Bliss

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free.


Refrain
Sing, oh sing, of my Redeemer,
With His blood, He purchased me.
On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free.


I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save,
In His boundless love and mercy,
He the ransom freely gave.


I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant power I’ll tell,
How the victory He giveth
Over sin, and death, and hell.

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His heav’nly love to me;
He from death to life hath brought me,
Son of God with Him to be.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

I Will Tell the Wondrous Story

And the ransomed of the LORD will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:10

I will tell the wondrous story how Christ came to save my lost estate. This is the reason Jesus came to earth - to save those who are lost!

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke 19:10

Jesus, because of His great love for us, freely gave His life up for me, paying the ransom to save me from death.

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Matthew 20:27

This idea of paying the ransom did not originate with Christ - we see many examples in the Old Testament of "ransoming" - paying to free someone or something from death. God uses these examples in the life of His chosen people to point them to the Savior who would come to ransom them from their sin - saving them from death.

If a man's animal killed a person, that man was sentenced to death. However, he could pay a ransom to redeem himself and save himself from death.

If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him. Exodus 21:29-30

Jesus paid our ransom! He went to the cross and died in my place so that I could live.

For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. Timothy 2:5-6

I will sing of my Redeemer!

I Will Sing of my Redeemer
Words by Philip Bliss

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free.


Refrain
Sing, oh sing, of my Redeemer,
With His blood, He purchased me.
On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free.


I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save,
In His boundless love and mercy,
He the ransom freely gave.

I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant power I’ll tell,
How the victory He giveth
Over sin, and death, and hell.

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His heav’nly love to me;
He from death to life hath brought me,
Son of God with Him to be.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

I Will Sing of My Redeemer - Refrain

Sing, oh sing, of my Redeemer,
With His blood, He purchased me.
On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free.

Why do I sing about Jesus? Because He purchased me with His blood.

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. Acts 20:28

When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” Revelation 5:8-10

He sealed my pardon on the cross. Jesus, fully God and fully man, does not retain His anger forever - He pardons iniquity and delights in unchanging love.

Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. Micah 7:18

He paid the debt that I owe.

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14

He made me free.

But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:22-23

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1


I Will Sing of my Redeemer
Words by Philip Bliss

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free.


Refrain
Sing, oh sing, of my Redeemer,
With His blood, He purchased me.
On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free.

I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save,
In His boundless love and mercy,
He the ransom freely gave.

I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant power I’ll tell,
How the victory He giveth
Over sin, and death, and hell.

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His heav’nly love to me;
He from death to life hath brought me,
Son of God with Him to be.

Monday, June 4, 2012

I Will Sing of My Redeemer

As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Job 19:25

This is a wonderful old hymn with good reminders of why we are to sing and give praise to our God. These are basic truths of the Christian faith, but even these simple truths deserve to be revisited and meditated on - for the beauty of the gospel is that it is not complex - but it is significant.

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free.

Our God is our Redeemer - even in ages past, His people knew Him as their Redeemer, as He had rescued them from Egypt.

You, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is Your name. Isaiah 63:16

From "of old" God had promised His people that their Redeemer was coming - a Messiah who would deliver them. After waiting for thousands of years, God sent His son Jesus to fulfill his promise. Jesus, fully God and fully man, was born a man and grew up just like we do, except without sin. And then He obeyed His Father by going to the cross and dying in our place.

God, our Redeemer, showed His love for us by giving us His only son.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, showed His love for us by humbling Himself and suffering on the cruel cross to pay the debt that He did not owe.

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

This love of our Redeemer was demonstrated through that selfless act, the sinless God-man dying for the sinful people. God didn't wait for us to "get better" or become sinless on our own - He knew that was impossible, and as sinners, we really had no hope in the world. Even so, Jesus went to the cross while we were still in our sin-sick condition.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

God's redeeming love sent Jesus to the cross to pay for the world's sin once and for all. In the "old way," unblemished animals would be sacrificed for different sins - there were all kinds of offerings dependent on the situation. These offerings are described by God to His people as a "soothing aroma." In the new plan, Jesus took the place of the lambs, bulls, goats and doves. He gave Himself up for us, offering Himself as a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma!

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2

I will sing of my Redeemer!

I Will Sing of my Redeemer
Words by Philip Bliss

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free.

Refrain
Sing, oh sing, of my Redeemer,
With His blood, He purchased me.
On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free.

I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save,
In His boundless love and mercy,
He the ransom freely gave.

I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant power I’ll tell,
How the victory He giveth
Over sin, and death, and hell.

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His heav’nly love to me;
He from death to life hath brought me,
Son of God with Him to be.