Sunday's Hymn: Wonderful Grace of Jesus

Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Greater than all my sin;
How shall my tongue describe it,
Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden,
Setting my spirit free;
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

Refrain

Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus,
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea;
Wonderful grace, all sufficient for me, for even me.
Broader than the scope of my transgressions,
Greater far than all my sin and shame,
O magnify the precious name of Jesus.
Praise His name!

Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Reaching to all the lost,
By it I have been pardoned,
Saved to the uttermost,
Chains have been torn asunder,
Giving me liberty;
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Reaching the most defiled,
By its transforming power,
Making him God’s dear child,
Purchasing peace and heaven,
For all eternity;
And the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

—Hal­dor Lil­le­nas

I didn’t know there were so many ways to show off with a gospel song until I searched YouTube for this one. Whew!

I picked one of the few simple and genuine versions for you.

If you must have a few flourishes, try this.

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

• Nearer My God to Thee at By Grace Alone
• O Thou Who by Thy Star Didst Guide at Conjubilant with Song
• The Lord Will Provide at Gospel Grace
• As the Sun Doth Daily Rise at The Happy Wonderer
• Voices From the Past #1 at Tried With Fire 
• Lord’s Day 1, 2013 at The Thirsty Theologian
• Your Weekly Dose of Spurgeon at Pyromaniacs: Better late than never? Better never late!
• Drawing Near at The Upward Call

Have you posted a hymn (or sermon, sermon notes, prayer, etc.) today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by contacting me using the contact form linked above, and I’ll add your post to the list.

This Week in Housekeeping

I finally had time for a little fixing and updating of old theological terms. Here’s what I did.

progressive sanctification

• Added a link to Tim Challies’ The Essential: Sanctification.

idolatry

• Added a link to Tim Challies’ The Essential: Idolatry.
• Added related terms atheism, polytheism, and worship.
• Added Filed under God’s Nature and His Work.

external call

• Removed dead links.
• Fixed the link to Wayne Grudem’s The Gospel Call and Effective Calling (mp3).
• Added links to Wilhelmus a Brakel’s The External and Internal Call, and John Bonar’s The Universal Calls of the Gospel.
• Added related terms effective call and gospel.
• Added Filed under Salvation.

Thankful Thursday

I may or may not do Thankful Thursday posts this year. I haven’t decided. Maybe I’ll do them sometimes, when I’ve got something I’m especially thankful for.

Tonight I’ve been thinking about the physical world, and what a good gift it is. I’ve been thinking particularly of our physical bodies. What would be the fun of trudging through the snow if I couldn’t feel it in my feet and legs? Where the joy of a winter walk without cheeks to feel the cold? And the babies—how could I cuddle them without arms and a chest? What if I couldn’t touch their smooth skin and silky hair?

I’m thankful that God gave us bodies. I’m thankful for arms and legs so I can get where I want to go and do what I want to do. I’m thankful for touch so I can know hot and cold, soft and hard, smooth and rough. I’m thankful for taste, so I can experience sweet and sour and spicy. I’m thankful for eyes to see and ears to hear. And for a nose that tell me when the compost needs to be emptied and a diaper needs to be changed.

I could go on and on. Embodied is so much better than disembodied. I’m thankful that God created us with bodies and put us in a physical world. I’m thankful that in eternity, I’ll have a body, an even better one than I have now, and that I’ll live in a physical world, a redeemed and perfected world.

I’m thankful that we grow old and that our physical bodies grow tired. It helps us to know more surely what a gift our bodies are, and it causes us to long for our resurrection bodies.