This week (since we’re back home now), we will be continuing our series of sermons dealing with songs that we sing. This series is called “Singing with the Understanding.” Enjoy and use to God’s glory!
Introduction:
If you look through your songbook at the names of the songwriters, you’ll notice that some people appear semi-frequently. L.O. Sanderson and Tillet S. Teddlie are two that come immediately to my mind. Another one that you are probably more familiar with is Fanny J. Crosby.
Mrs. Crosby wrote hundreds of hymn lyrics, and others put them to music. One thing that you might not know about her is that she was blind. One of the things that stands out in her songs is that in most of them, she mentions seeing. For example, in the song “To God be the Glory,” the last verse says “our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.”
Today, we will be taking a look at another song she wrote, and the Biblical truths expressed in it. The song is “A Wonderful Savior.”
Verse 1 – In Jesus we have safety.
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord.
Jesus died to rescue people from sin. His is the only sacrifice with any true power—power enough to cover the sins of all those before Him and all those after Him (Hebrews 9:15). He died for the sins of the whole world! (I John 2:2)
Truly, there is no other Savior like Jesus. And there is no other Savior BUT Jesus (Acts 4:12).
A wonderful Savior to me.
He is not just the general savior of the whole world; He is our personal Savior as well. He didn’t get a huge net and gather up everyone at once to safety—He saves people individually.
He’s my Savior. He saved me. He can save you too. He’s waiting at the water to save you. There ain’t nothin’ like being saved—freed from the sins that were holding you down and trying to kill you.
Jesus is my wonderful Savior. Is He yours?
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
This is safety. This is protection. It’s as though you are in the midst of a storm of sin, and there is a crevice cut into the side of a mountain—a place of refuge—a place of safety from the storms of life.
God is our refuge—Jesus is the one who brings us to that place of safety.
Where rivers of pleasure I see
Joys indescribable can be ours if we are in Jesus. Only in Jesus can we have salvation. Only in Jesus can we get to heaven, for He has blazed the trail for His people (Hebrews 6:20). Only those in Christ can answer “yes” to the question “shall we gather at the river that flows from the throne of God?”
In Christ, we can see the glories of heaven and the joys that can be ours here and in the world to come!
Verse 2 – In Jesus we have strength.
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, He taketh my burden away.
You’re walking around, carrying a burden of sin. It’s overwhelming, and it drags you down to the point where you can’t even move—you’re trapped. Then Jesus comes and removes the weight—suddenly you’re free! You’ve been liberated!
My friends, that’s what Jesus does for you when you are baptized into Him. He washes away all of your sins (Acts 22:16). The burden is gone!
He holdeth me up
It’s as though we are walking side by side with Jesus; and He’s supporting us, holding us up. We don’t have strength on our own to walk right—we can’t get to heaven on our own strength. Jesus is there helping us along—when we stumble, He’s there to keep us from falling (Jude 24).
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
The problem comes when someone lets go of Jesus, quits leaning on His everlasting arms, or even pushes Him away. But so long as you are holding on to Christ, trying to walk in the steps of the Savior, He will keep you from falling.
And I shall not be moved.
When we are walking with Jesus, nothing has the power to knock us over. More powerful is He that is in you than he that is in the world (I John 4:4). Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39).
If we are in Christ and walking in the Light, then “like a tree planted by the waters,” we can say “I shall not be moved!”
He giveth me strength as my day.
We lean on Jesus for our strength, for we have none on our own. He is the one who gives us strength.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13)!
Verse 3 – In Jesus we have reason to sing.
With numberless blessings, each moment He crowns.
Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done!
We are given constant blessings from God—from Jesus Christ our Savior. We have access to God in prayer, we have the confidence of our salvation, we have the fantastic family of God—the church—to help us through each and every day. Numberless blessings given to us every day!
And they only come through Christ (Ephesians 1:3).
And filled with His fullness divine.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly (Colossians 3:16). When we fill ourselves with the word of God, then the power of Christ is in us. And when Christ shall come again, we shall be changed as He was and ascend to our heavenly home!
I sing in my rapture, o Glory to God
When we examine the great blessings that God has given us, and the even better things that await us, it causes us to be overjoyed. We sing “Hallelujah, praise Jehovah!”
We sing “Thank you Lord for loving me and thank you Lord for blessing me, thank you Lord for making me whole and saving my soul!”
Even when things aren’t going well for us here on earth, we can still sing, joyfully remembering what awaits us up there (remember Paul and Silas in Acts 16:22-25—singing in prison).
For such a redeemer as mine.
We sing glory to God because “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Glory to God for sending the One who paid the price to save our souls from eternal damnation!
Verse 4 – In Jesus we have eternal salvation.
When clothed in His brightness,
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory (I Corinthians 15:51-54).
We will be clothed in glory, clothed in brightness!
Transported, I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words (I Thessalonians 4:16-18).
When Christ comes back, all of His people will meet Him in the air, and be escorted to heaven!
His perfect salvation
When Christ comes again, salvation is completed! When Christ comes again, our battles will all be over, and heaven will be our eternal home!
His wonderful love
He loved us enough to die for us, and “greater love hath no man that to lay down his life for a friend” (John 15:13).
I’ll shout with the millions on high!
There will be an innumerable amount of people surrounding the throne of God in heaven, singing praises to God the Father, and Jesus the Christ throughout eternity.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be, when we all get to heaven, we’ll sing and shout the victory!
Conclusion:
Do you want to be one of those joyful millions who can’t help but singing in heaven? Jesus invites you to join Him, to become one of His people.
He said, “come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy-laden (carrying a heavy burden) and I will give you rest…for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-30). And when you do that, it’s as though—even though you are in a dry desert—Jesus has given you shade and protection, and provides all the water you could ever need.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand.
The words here seems to be taken from when God allowed Moses to see Him from behind as He walked by (Exodus 33:20-23), where God showed His love and respect for Moses by letting him see His glory as He passed by. But the idea in the chorus is that Jesus holds us close and protects us.
For the great invitation to have any power, you have to first hear it, and believe that it is real. Then make that decision to take Jesus up on His offer, leaving your past sins in the past. Confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and be baptized, washing away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Jesus invites you, and so do we.
-Bradley S. Cobb