Hymn 96

we sang hymn 96 tonight at the hymn singing session

all of us were touched with the words, actually they are quite deep and profound

stanza 1 says 

"My song is love unknown,
My Savior’s love to me;
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O who am I,
That for my sake
My Lord should take
Frail flesh, and die?"

our Savior's love is love unknown, also knowledge-surpassing. to us, who are loveless, i think which means, first, we are not lovable or lovely, second, we do not have love. but to us, the loveless, this unknow, knowledge-surpassing love has been shown, so that we might become lovely, because of His love. for us, loveless ones, the Lord even took frail flesh, and died on the cross. 

stanza 2 says:

"He came from His blest throne
Salvation to bestow;
But men made strange, and none
The longed-for Christ would know:
But oh, my Friend,
My Friend indeed,
Who at my need
His life did spend."

the Lord stepped out of His glory, left His throne, laid aside all His spendor, so that He could accomplish full salvaton for us. but like the gospel of John chapter 1 says, though the Lord came to His people, His own even did not know or receive Him. but this One, who was called the friend of sinners and tax collectors, who is the good Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep. 

stanza 3 says:

"Sometimes they strew His way,
And His sweet praises sing;
Resounding all the day
Hosannas to their King:
Then “Crucify!”
Is all their breath,
And for His death
They thirst and cry."

it is a super sharp contrast to see here. when the Lord first entered into Jerusalem, all the people welcomed Him, put their own garments with palm tree branches to pave the way for Him, shouting Hosannas to Him. but soon, later on, their cry turned to be "crucify Him!" 

stanza 4 says:

"They rise and needs will have
My dear Lord made away;
A murderer they save,
The Prince of life they slay.
Yet cheerful He
To suffering goes,
That He His foes
From thence might free."

the second half of this stanza is amazing. the Lord cheerfully went to sufferings, so that His foes, which are us as His enemies, might free from sufferings. He drank the cup of God's wrath, so that we may drink the cup of blessing. this is the Lord's heart, the Lord's love for us, and this is what He accomplished for us on the cross. for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame. 

stanza 5 says:

"In life, no house, no home
My Lord on earth might have;
In death, no friendly tomb,
But what a stranger gave.
What may I say?
Heav’n was His home;
But mine the tomb
Wherein He lay."

while the Lord was living on the earth, He said that foxes have homes, but the Son of Man has no where to lay His head. even after He died, there was no tomb for His buriel. but Joseph offered His new bought tomb to lay the Lord's body. the heaven was His home, while for us, our final destination is the tomb. but the Lord laid in the tomb on behalf of us. 

stanza 6 says :

"Here might I stay and sing,
No story so divine;
Never was love, dear King,
Never was grief like Thine.
This is my Friend,
In whose sweet praise
I all my days
Could gladly spend."

we wil spend our days in eternity, full of our praises to our Lord, our King, who is worthy of all our praises. 

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/96

Hymn 73

during our hymn singing time tonight, this hymn was called.

i was touched by this stanza

"Jesus! Jesus! Name most precious.

Balm in pain or mighty sword:

in Thy name, we live and conquer,

Blessed, glorious, coming Lord."

this hymn is written by sister M.E. Barber, who was very experienced and deep in the Lord. that is why she could write that the name of Jesus, is on one hand, balm in pain, to His believers, to those who love Him and trust in Him; on the other hand, is a might sword to the enemy. it is in the name of this most precious Jesus, that we can live and conquer. in stanza 2 it also says " But forgiven sinners only, know the balm of Jesus' name". the name of Jesus is the highest name, above all other names, full of power and authority. but only forgiven sinners know the balm of Jesus' name. this is a mighty name, but when we have difficulties and hardship, we can flee into this name of Jesus, and then this name will become balm in pain to us, to be our comfort in trials, and healing to our wounds. Also, this name is a life-giving name. We can drink of life abudant by tasting this name of Jesus. 

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/73

Hymn 482

the chorus of hymn 482 says, 

"Oh! it is so sweet to die with Christ,

To the world, and self, and sin;

Oh! it is so sweet to live with Christ,

As He lives and reigns within."

this is never never my concept "so sweet". the author of this song must have had a lot experience, even sweet experience, of the death and resurrection of Christ, that he could write such lines. to me, the cross always means sufferings, like that I need to force myself to not do what I want, and to "so-called" take the cross with bitterness and teeth-biting. but according to this hymn, it should be sweet, so sweet to die with Christ, and to live with Christ. the first two lines of this hymn even says, that the cross sets me free. to me, it is like what???? the cross sets me free??? probably most of the time, to me, the cross just limits, restricts, and does not allow me to do what I want. 

I appreciate this hymn, because this hymns shows me the experience, the deeper and more advanced experience of the Lord, in His death and resurrection. 

Lord, bring me into such experience, that one day, I will also be able to say "it is so sweet to die with Christ; it is so sweet to live with Christ" 

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/482

Hymn 864

"Let us exhibit Christ

Let us exhibit Christ

We'll bring His surplus to the church

And thus exhibit Christ"

- Hymn 864

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/864

after the people of Israel left Egypt and entered into the land of Canaan, they would labor on the land in order to reap the harvest, so that, firstly, they could feed themselves and the families; secondly, they would bring the top portion to Jerusalem for the feasts three times a year, to offer to God, and to eat with all the others. 

this is a picture of our gatherings and meetings during the week as New Testament believers. our gatherings together should be a time of exhibiting Christ, His unsearchable riches which have been experienced and enjoyed by us in our daily life. the issue of such an exhibition is that, on one hand, God the Father will be satisfied with our offering of the Christ experienced by us; on the other hand, we also shepherd the fellow believers by bringing the riches of this wonderful Christ. 

Hymn 306

I belong to Jesus

He is Lord and King

Reigning in my inmost heart

Over everything

- Hymn 306

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/306

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts, 

to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts, is to enthrone this peace, who is Christ Himself within our heart, to allow Christ to rule and reign within us as the Lord and King, and to let Him be the decider for everything. 

the Goal of the Gospel

this song quite impresses with me the real and true goal of the gospel. we may think that to preach the gospel is to get people to believe into the Lord and be saved. this is of course correct, but not adequate. it is not enough just to believe and be saved. but as the believers of Christ, the goal is to love the Lord with our first love, and pour out all that we are and we have upon the Lord, like Mary, who broke her precious alabaster flask to anoint the head of the Lord. Mary gave all that she had to the Lord. we also need to give, to pour out everything upon the Lord, as the sweet fragrance to testify the sweetness and preciousness of the Lord, who is the most valuable Person, who is the treasure of our heart. 

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/ns/361

https://songbase.life/819

singing recording

BSB 643

Once I call His name there’s a flow within;
It turns me from my day, makes Him Lord again.
As my spirit burns, Satan cannot win!
Calling, “Oh Lord Jesus,” keeps the flow within!

- BSB 643 Stanza 3 

Christ Jesus should be our Lord, and He should be enthroned within us, ruling and reigning. but, we are so easily distracted from Christ Jesus my Lord by all other things. However, we do not lose our heart. Like this song says, there is a simple way for us to turn back to Christ and make Him Lord again. Simply by calling on His name, and the flow of life can be restored and kept within us, making us submitting to His throne, under His headship. this is what the Lord is doing right now all the time, freeing us from all distractions and bringing us back to Himself, so that Christ will be the center of our life, that Christ may have the first place in all things. 

https://songbase.life/895

Hymn 477

this is one of my favourite hymns, though I do have a lot of favourite hymns 😅 

i especially like the third stanza, which says

"To bring thee to thy God

Love takes the shortest route

the way which knowledge leads

is but a roundabout"

the Lord does not desire us to just study Him, to know about Him, or to worship Him with fear and trembling, but He desires us to love Him. He is our beloved Bridegroom and we are His corporate bride. the relationship between Bridegroom and bride, surely is a matter of love. therefore, we should give ourselves to love Him, this is the shortcut to bring us closer to our Lord. the more we love Him, the more we love to spend time with Him; the more we spend time with Him, the more we will love Him. 

Lord Jesus, I love You, and I want to love You more and more! 

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/477

recording

Hymn 448

this hymn is under the category of consecration - all on the altar.

i really appreciate the chorus, which says 

"is your all on the altar of sacrifce laid?

your heart, does the Spirit control?"

we have this indwelling Spirit, which always seeks to rule, regulate and restrict our conduct, so that we can become a proper testimony and expression of the Lord in our daily living. but most of the time we are so rebellious, not willing to obey the inner leading of the Spirit, which disqualifies us to be the children of God. therefore, we need to receive the abundance of grace so that we can reign in life (Romans 5:17), which means that we allow the Lord to reign and rule within us, which equals to let grace reign in us. In this way, we will be enabled to lay all that we are, all that we have, on the altar, and to let the Spirit fully control our heart. 

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/448

recording

Jeremiah 15:16

Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found and I ate them, / And Your word became to me / The gladness and joy of my heart, / For I am called by Your name, / O Jehovah, God of hosts.

the word of God is not just for us to study, to understand or to memorise. but the most important function of the word of God is for us to eat as our daily bread. the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 4:4 that man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. May we realise this is God's desire that we will diligently make new discoveries of His word and feed on His word, so that His word will become the gladness and joy to our heart!!

and enjoy the recording of singing this song 

your words were found