Last week we sang William Newells hymn At Calvary, and you may recall I said there was a sermon in that hymn. Well guess what today you get to hear it. But first let’s look at the words once again. So if you have a hymn book in front of you grab it and turn to page 245. Now I know it’s not scripture, but it’s pretty close, so when you find it stand and read with me. We will only read the refrain the first time. Once again it’s on page 245. Here is what it says:
Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died On Calvary.
Refrain:
Mercy there was great, and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty At Calvary.
By God’s Word at last my sin I learned; Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned, Till my guilty soul imploring turned To Calvary.
Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus everything, Now I gladly own Him as my King, Now my raptured soul can only sing Of Calvary! Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan! Oh, the grace that brought it down to man! Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span At Calvary!
We have all heard of Calvary but where is it? Well guess what? There are a few places that the exact spot is believed to have been. But they are all within about 1600 feet of each other, so it sounds like they are just being picky to me. Basically Calvary also known as Golgotha is located in the western part of Israel, not far from the border with Jordan.
So let’s dig into this wonderful hymn. How many of us have spent years in vanity and pride, thinking that we are the most important thing on the planet? Many of us have most likely at one time or another exhibited some type of vanity or pride.
Let me explain vanity for some of our younger people that may not understand just what vanity is.
The definition of vanity is having a lot of pride or conceit in your appearance or achievements. So when you head off to school and you’re worried about what your wearing and what will people think about how you look, well that’s vanity.
But it also means worthless, emptiness, or something without value just like life apart from God is nothing. Did you catch that life without God is nothing; it is to live in vain. I don’t know about you but I can’t make it a day without God. It is God that reminds me through His word and the Holy Spirit that this life is only temporary, that what I wear and what people think about me is nothing when it comes to the love of God.
Listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter 3:3-4: 3 Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.
This may be where the old saying that what’s on the inside matters came from. Now notice it does not say it’s wrong to wear nice clothes and such, but what it is saying is that when our clothes and hair and the way we look become our focus, we loose sight of what really happened at Calvary and why it happened.
That is what the hymnist is speaking to when it says: Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died On Calvary.
In the second verse it starts out with “By God’s Word at last my sin I learned” now I know and you know that we should be in God’s word. I mean after all I have been telling you that for seven years now. And usually I am telling you to be in it to find comfort, and that is most definitely true.
But the bible is also where we learn how not to grieve God. It is in Genesis 6:6 that we read this: The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Wow, God was sorry that he had created man. Now we all know of Adams and Eve’s sin, but we also know that was not the last sin committed. In fact every single one of us in this sanctuary are sinners. Some of though are sinners saved by grace. We will examine that later. It is in God’s word where we find how we can avoid to have God look past our sin. That is what I take from the part that states: “Till my guilty soul imploring turned To Calvary”
You see when were looking at Calvary we are looking towards the cross, we are looking to Jesus and what He did there.
Which leads us straight to the last verse, if you still have your hymnals open look at again with me?
“Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus everything, Now I gladly own Him as my King, Now my raptured soul can only sing Of Calvary! Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan! Oh, the grace that brought it down to man! Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span At Calvary!”
That very first sentence screams at us today. Far too many people have only given Jesus part of their heart. Brothers and sisters that just won’t cut it. When you only give Him part of your heart there is no way he can heal your broken heart when those painful moments come your way. And if you have yet to experience one, I promise you, you will.
Listen to Psalm 34:18: The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
You want your heart healed, than give it to God, completely. That’s what Newell is saying when he pens the line: “Now I gladly own Him as my King”
That is kind of strange isn’t it? I mean you would never think that you can own a king. I mean a king owns everything right? A king has everything, so how can you own Jesus as a king. Again it I when you give Him your heart He gives you everything He has. Don’t believe me? Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 8:16-17: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Those are some very powerful words, and words that aren’t to be taken lightly. Understanding who you are in Christ is absolutely mind-blowing, and one of the most jaw-dropping revelations is understanding that we are joint heirs with Christ. However, what exactly does that mean? What does it mean to be joint heirs with Christ? I am going to spend a minute here, because it leads us to the importance of the refrain or the chorus of the hymn.
So, let’s dissect this a little bit. See how the passage flows? Let’s take a second and talk about “if we are God’s children, then we are also God’s heirs”.
It is through our faith in Jesus, we have been made children of God, and since we are God’s children, we are now also His heirs. So, what does it mean to be an heir to the throne of God?
An “heir” is a person who inherits, or has a right of inheritance, to the property of another person following their death. Children are typically always heirs to their parent’s estate. As your parent’s child, you are trusted with the ownership of what belongs to your parents, even while they are still alive. You are given the right to live in their house, eat their food, drive their car, even to spend their money. This is your right as their child. But eventually when your parents pass, and as their heir, it is your right to inherit whatever belongings to them.
In the same way, one of the rights we are given as heirs to God’s throne is an inheritance, over everything that belongs to God. So, what belongs to God? Simply put everything.
And that is hard for some people because we think we own it. We like to “think” our house, our car, our money, (you name it) belongs to us. However it’s not really ours at all. We are merely stewards of it. And the reason for this is because when we die, we don’t get to keep any of it because at the end of the day, it was never really ours, it always belonged to God.
So now, let’s look at the second part of that. If we are God’s heirs, then we are also joint heirs with Christ
Now, it’s crazy enough to think of yourself as an heir to God’s throne, but what’s even crazier is to think of whom you are heirs with! You are joint heirs with Christ Jesus, God’s only begotten Son.
Think about this for a minute, we are not God’s original children, nor the original heirs to God’s throne. The first-born son and true heir to God’s throne is Jesus.
So, as God’s only begotten son, Jesus is God’s only true “heir” and Jesus’ inheritance is everything that is God’s, which is everything that is in existence.
But wait, this verse says we are also God’s heirs, and joint heirs with Christ.
So what Paul is trying to get us to understand in Romans 8:17 is, just as Jesus is the heir to God’s throne, we are also heirs to God’s throne.
So how does this all happen? Newell tells us in the refrain where he wrote: Mercy there was great, and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty At Calvary.
We use that word great a little loosely sometimes, because there is nothing greater than god’s mercy and it’s free. We can’t buy it, Jesus already paid the price, His blood bought your pardon from the Godly law we break.
If you are heavy with guilt, worry, shame and sin, won’t you let Jesus take it from you? Leave it with him at Calvary.
Pray as led.
