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.

Chorus
Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus, Deeper than the mighty rolling sea;
Higher than a mountain, sparking like a fountain, all sufficient grace 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.

If you are familiar with this tune, you are probably already humming the chorus in your mind.  It is one of those great old hymns that actually has different parts for the sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses (or for you Southern Gospel fans – 4 quartet parts).  It is a great tune and one of my favorite “red-back hymnal” songs.  Our fondness for the tune, however, should not overpower the truth found in the words to this great song.  It is a song about grace.  A grace that is wonderful, matchless, greater than, deeper than, higher than, and broader than.  This grace has been given to all of us, and it is definitely something to sing about. 

• “Saved to the uttermost” – This phrase comes from a passage of Scripture found in Hebrews 7:25 which reads “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”  The phrase “to the uttermost” is not something we use in our common everyday language.  I tend to think of the “uttermost” parts of the globe.  However, that is not actually what it means.  The actual Greek word means completely, perfectly, or utterly.  Aren’t you glad that your salvation isn’t a partial salvation, an incomplete salvation, or an imperfect salvation?  You have been saved to the uttermost.

• “Reaching the most defiled” – I think most of us are probably guilty at some point in our Christian walk of thinking that certain sins are worse than others, and that certain sinners are just too far gone to be saved.  In 1 Cor. 6:9-10, Paul provides a list of some of the sins that might fit that “too far gone” category – “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”  Although that list may not cover every “big” sin in our mind, it covers a lot of them.  However, to understand completely what Paul was saying in that letter, you have to read verse 11 which says “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”  Paul reminded the Corinthian church that some of the people there were part of the “most defiled.”  They had committed awful sins and that was part of their background.  However, the “wonderful grace of Jesus” washed, sanctified, and justified them.  What an amazing grace and what a reminder to us that have been given that grace.

Although I am a “numbers” person, I am not a fan of all kinds of math.  Things like geometry, trigonometry, and calculus were not my favorite subjects (with all apologies to Mrs. Wear from US Grant High School in Oklahoma City).  Sheri has been teaching math to our girls in home school, and it is interesting to watch a child’s progression from counting, to adding and subtracting, to multiplication and division.  There is another math concept that you pick up after you have mastered some of those other concepts.  I don’t know the mathematical name for the concept, but I can show you the symbols  > <  = .  You know “Greater than, Less than, or Equal to” (and various combinations of those three).  You start with two numbers or formulas on each side of an empty blank, and you have to put the right symbol in the middle.  The concept is pretty simple, but sometimes I would get confused by which symbol to use.  After some practice, though, I finally got it and it clicked.  I looked at the equation, and I knew the answer with confidence.

This hymn has a great spiritual truth in it found in the phrase “Wonderful Grace of Jesus, greater than all my sins.”  The truth that no matter how big my sins may be, His grace is greater.  So I thought it would be a good idea to remind ourselves of some other theological truths using this math concept.  I’ll let you fill in the blanks:

God’s ways                         __________     My ways

God’s thoughts                 __________     My thoughts

God’s forgiveness            __________     My faults

God’s resources               __________     My lack

God’s love                           __________     My fears

God’s strength                  __________     My weaknesses

I hope you could fill in the blanks with confidence because He is truly “Greater Than.”