My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

A hymn written in the 19th century per my quick web research has been a favorite of mine for some time, but it was all the more sweet this morning as I was singing these precious words of worship and adoration to my God and King with a couple hundred people who look, talk, and to some degree act different than I do. The beauty of the body of Christ is they all to one degree or another look like Him, we are all image bearers of the King.

This morning we visited Charles Simeon's church, whom I wrote about several days ago, and it was a privilege to worship there. The biggest pastoral exhortation for me this morning was regarding how we judge a sermon. A good sermon should not be judged by whether or not it was entertaining, rather whether it moved you to action. The pastor told another story of a person who had visited a bible study at his home but failed to show up for 6 weeks straight only to return on the 7th week. When the pastor asked him how he had been for 6 weeks, the man responded, "I've been great, I decided I wouldn't come back until I was obedient to everything I learned last time. I am back and ready to learn more.!" Then the pastor asked, "what if preached on the same text until everyone in the church was obedient to act on it?" The reality check is that God's word is meant to be acted upon, not just read or heard but to be acted on in obedience and adoration for who He is and what He has done. (James 1:22).

This evening we went to Eden Baptist Church in Cambridge, where Mark Dever served as Associate Rector (pastor) after graduating from Cambridge. From 1 John 2 the teacher tonight encouraged us to find our treasure in Christ and Him crucified not in temporal things that don't matter. We have an exaltation to not love the world because we have known Him who was from the beginning. It was sweet fellowship with the body of Christ. The teacher tonight is a New Testament Scholar from Cambridge, Simon Gathercole, and he quoted another Puritan tonight that was a breath of fresh air. I intend sometime to purchase and read Jeremiah Burroughs, Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, he truly was satisfied in plenty and in want because he was content in His Lord and Savior. http://www.amazon.com/Jewel-Christian-Contentment-Jeremiah-Burroughs/dp/1878442287/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247432115&sr=8-1

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.