Great Hymns of Easter — “And Can It Be That I Should Gain?”

Text: Romans 5:8

Theme: How can it be that God would die for me? Amazing love!

"And Can It Be That I Should Gain?" is a Christian hymn written by Charles Wesley in 1738 to celebrate his conversion, which he regarded as having taken place on 21 May of that year.

I was first introduced to this hymn twenty years ago at a yearly Bible Conference I attended in St. Louis. I immediately fell in love with it — not because it’s such a catchy little tune, because it’s not — but because the words of this hymn come as near as any hymn I’ve ever sung of expressing my awe and wonder at the grace of God.

Charles Wesley’s was experiencing a crisis of body and soul in the early months of 1738. He had developed Pleurisy and for a time friends and family despaired for his life. Peter Boehler, one of those friends, and a Moravian Christian, would be instrumental in Charles’s conversion. Boehler had visited Charles in his sickness at Oxford, but Wesley was somewhat offended when his German friend just shook his head upon learning that Charles’s hope of salvation rested on "his best endeavors." Charles wrote of that visit, “Bro. Boehler stood by my bedside, and prayed over me, that now I might see the divine intention in this and my late illness. I immediately thought it might be that I should again consider Böehler’s doctrine of faith; examine myself whether I was in the faith; and if I was not, never cease seeking and longing after it till I attained it.”

After Charles had regained his health, Boehler visited him again, in London, and Wesley began seriously to consider the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. In late May, Charles came to faith in Christ, Jesus.

Of his conversion, Charles would write in his Journal: “At midnight I gave myself up to Christ: assured I was safe, sleeping or waking. I had continued experience of his power to overcome all temptation; and confessed, with joy and surprise, that he was able to do exceedingly abundantly for me, above what I can ask or think.”

A few days later, his journal reported that he had begun writing the hymn, "And Can It Be." It was a vivid testimony of his new-found faith in Christ, and the third stanza in particular, expresses his awe and amazement at the saving grace of God. This hymn would be just one of the 6,500 hymns that Charles Wesley would write during his lifetime. Over one-dozen of his hymns are in our hymnal!

The hymn has been sung to a number of tunes over the centuries. The tune we now `sing Wesley’s hymn to is called Sagina, and was written by Thomas Campbell of whom we know absolutely nothing.

"And Can It Be" was first published in John Wesley's Psalms and Hymns in 1738. The 1991 edition of our hymnal was the first Southern Baptist hymnal to contain the tune. (Goodness, what took us so long?)

I. STANZA 1 Focuses on Christ's Blood

"And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Savior's blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain--for me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, should die for me?”

A. THE INDIFFERENCE OF THE SINNER

1. Wesley begins with a self-incriminating confession

a. outside of the irresistible calling of God in the sinner’s life, the sinner is uninterested in the things of God and unable of coming to Christ

b. Wesley opens his hymn with a rhetorical question: And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Savior’s blood?

1) the answer to the question is “No” Wesley and every other lost person has no interest in the Savior’s blood

2. the Scriptures repeatedly affirm the corruption and depravity of man’s nature

"as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God." (Romans 3:10-19, ESV)

a. because of our spiritual and moral corruption, no one seeks for God

b. if you’re a believer, it’s only because God sought you, called you and redeemed you by His grace that you are a believer

3. none of us is as good as we think we are

a. we’ve been taught for generations that there is so much good in the worst of us that man is not so bad off after all

ILLUS. Henry King Ketcham was the creator of the comic strip Denise the Menace. Denise is not really a menace, but he is “all boy” as the saying goes. In one strip Denise comes running into the house. He’s been playing outside and he is filthy dirty. Alice, his mother, command, “Young man, you march right upstairs and take a bath.” To which Dennis replies, “Ah mom. I don’t want to take a bath. Can’t you just dust me off?”

1) when it comes to the sinfulness of our sin, most men don’t believe that they “need a bath” — just a “dusting off”

b. when we measure our behavior by the behavior of others, we can always find someone who is lower than we are on the moral or ethical scale, and the comparison gives us a feeling of self-satisfaction

ILLUS. We tell ourselves, “Yeah, but I’m not a bad as ... “ or “At least I don’t ... “

c. but God never measures our righteousness by another man’s righteousness, but by the perfect righteousness of His Son ... and that always leaves us coming up short

d. the creature is measured by the Creator and is found to be wanting

4. "And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Savior's blood?

a. outside of God’s drawing grace, “No”

"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day." (John 6:44, ESV)

B. THE INCOMPARABLE SACRIFICE OF JESUS

1. the next phrase in the first stanza moves us to consider the work of Jesus on Calvary

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace," (Ephesians 1:7, ESV)

a. Wesley understands that his sin caused our Lord’s pain — Died He for me, who caused His pain—for me, who Him to death pursued?

1) Wesley’s sin, and my sin, and your sin put Jesus on the cross

2. in spite of our sin, Christ pursues us through His Spirit

"but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:24-31, ESV)

a. in my own life, I can look back and recall how God was drawing me to faith even while I was fleeing from Him

b. theologians call it irresistible grace

ILLUS. In 1890, Francis Thompson wrote an epic 182-line poem “The Hound of Heaven”. Its subject is the pursuit of the human soul by God's love. He compares himself to a fugitive and refers to God as “The Divine Pursuer.” He opens the poem ...

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears

I hid from Him

For many years Thompson was an opium addict who wandered the streets of London. He tried to flee from God, but God was like a bloodhound on his trail relentlessly pursuing him unto death.

1) irresistible grace does not mean that God drags the sinner into the Kingdom kicking and screaming

2) irresistible grace does mean that God moves and works in such a way in the sinner’s life as to make the loving offering of His grace something the sinner cannot reject forever

c. His voice speaks to us in the shadows of our minds, letting us know that apart from Him we will never be complete

3. once we commit ourselves to Him, He keeps after us to obey

C. THE INCREDIBLE LOVE OF GOD

1. you can hear how incredulous Wesley is about experiencing the grace of God

a. again he asks a second rhetorical question: “How can it be, That Thou, my God, should die for me?”

b. there’s only one answer “Amazing love!”

"and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood" (Revelation 1:5, ESV)

II. STANZA 2 Focuses on Christ's Grace

"He left His Father's throne above, So free, so infinite His grace;

Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam's helpless race.

'Tis mercy all, immense and free; For, O my God, it found out me!"

1. in this stanza we find the echo of the Apostle Paul’s doxology to Christ found in the Letter to the Philippians

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:5-8, ESV)

a. in this stanza, consider what Christ did for us ...

A. CHRIST LEFT HIS THRONE

"He left His Father's throne above, So free, so infinite His grace;

1. here is the mystery of the incarnation — that God would become flesh and dwell among us

a. the prologue to John’s gospel opens with a look into eternity past when Christ was on His throne, next to the Father, high and lifted up

“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:9–14, ESV)

2. the verb became in v. 14 has a very special meaning here

a. the word became normally refers to someone or something that ceases to be what he was before

1) when the wife of Lot becomes a pillar of salt, she ceases to be the wife of Lot

2) but when Abraham became the father of Isaac, he remains Abraham

b. that’s the idea in vs. 14 — Jesus becomes flesh but in doing so Jesus remains God

3. the second Person of the Trinity assumed human nature, without laying aside his deity

a. and he does so that, through His life and death, he might offers sinners infinite grace, and that grace would be free to all who receive it

B. CHRIST HUMBLED HIMSELF

"Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam's helpless race;”

1. humility does not come to us naturally — it is not our default position

a. but the Scriptures tell us that our Lord humbled Himself

2. from the infinite glory of eternal delight living in the very presence of his Father, receiving the worship of the angels, Jesus willing descend into this realm of misery, to pitch His tent for a while among sinful men

a. for thirty-three years, the second person of the godhead would veil himself in flesh, and reveal the truth about His nature to a small and selected group of men

3. after the humbling of the incarnation, Jesus continued to humble Himself

a. He humbled himself by entering the human race and becoming like us

b. He humbled himself and became obedient to earthly parents

c. He humbled himself and became carpenter—an ordinary workman

d. He humbled himself and willingly took my flogging , my beating, my humiliation that I rightly deserved, but which he did not, so that I might be healed

e. He humbled himself and endured the cross, despising its shame

4. He willingly bled for Adam’s helpless race of whom I am part

C. CHRIST DID IT FOR ME

'Tis mercy all, immense and free; For, O my God, it found out me!"

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you," (1 Peter 1:3-4, ESV)

1. again, we hear in Wesley’s hymn the author’s utter amazement over the extent of God’s infinite, matchless grace

a. that grace is immense

b. that grace if free

c. that grace is a result of God’s mercy toward sinners

2. and it found Wesley out in May 20 of 1738

III. STANZA 3 Focuses on Christ's Freedom

"Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature's night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke, the dungeon flamed with light.

My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed Thee."

1. in this third stanza we catch a glimpse of the inner spiritual struggle that Wesley was experiencing in his life

ILLUS. Charles Wesley was the son of a clergyman. His parents were pious and godly people and they both encouraged him to enter the ministry. While at Oxford, he and his brother John and several friends began a methodical study of the Scripture and sought to apply them to their lives. This group was jeered at and ridiculed with the nickname methodists! He was ordained an Anglian Priest, went as a missionary to Georgia in the American Colonies where he profoundly failed. He came home to England and began pastoring a church and that didn’t go well either. In all of this he had no spiritual peace, because Wesley had only a head-knowledge of Jesus and not a heart-knowledge. That is until his Moravian friends shared the gospel with him, and he was born again.

A. SIN IMPRISONS US

"Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature's night;

1. in sin, we are imprisoned and bound as slaves to the world, the flesh, and the devil

"Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (Romans 6:16, ESV)

2. as prisoners of sin we are broken by sin, in bondage to sin, and blinded by sin

B. THE SPIRIT’S ILLUMINATION AWAKENS US

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke, the dungeon flamed with light.

1. here is the moment of Wesley’s conversion

a. with the line "Thine eye diffused a quickening ray", Wesley describes the liberating power of God descending on the captive soul

ILLUS. “At midnight I gave myself up to Christ: assured I was safe, sleeping or waking. I had continued experience of his power to overcome all temptation; and confessed, with joy and surprise, that he was able to do exceedingly abundantly for me, above what I can ask or think.”

2. the Word of God opened his eyes to Truth and His soul was quickened with eternal life

"But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." (Matthew 13:16-17, ESV)

3. God’s Holy Spirit is a spirit of illumination who opens the Scriptures up to us and helps us to see the truth of the Gospel story

"But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual." (1 Corinthians 2:9-13, ESV)

C. GRACE FREES US

My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed Thee."

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1, ESV)

1. in Christ we’ve been set free

a. we are no long slaves to sin and self

2. we freely follow Christ, taking up our cross and becoming his disciples

IV. STANZA 4 Focuses on Christ's Crown

"No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!

Alive in Him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach th'eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own."

A. A NEW ASSURANCE

1. to those who come to Christ on His terms and receive pardon, there is no condemnation

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1, ESV)

a. our flesh condemns us ... the world condemns us ... Satan condemns us

1) these three constantly remind us how evil and unrighteous we are

2) say the wrong thing or even think the wrong thing and your life is canceled

2. but when we trust our life to Christ, the one who has every right to condemn us does not because all becomes him is all of mine

B. A NEW ATTIRE

"The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels." (Revelation 3:5, ESV)

1. Jesus cloths us in righteousness — his righteousness, not ours

a. nothing can be added to God's grace to make it more effective, and noting can be subtracted from God's grace that will diminish it in any way

ILLUS. The 16th century reformer, Martin Luther, calls the righteousness that comes from God through sheer grace an alien righteousness — a righteousness from outside ourselves.

b. the theological word for this is imputation — God attributes righteousness to us by faith, and it is ours always and forever

c. and even the faith required to believe on Christ, and receive God's grace is a free gift

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8–9, NIV84)

1) God leaves nothing to chance in the sinner's salvation! (arn’t ya glad)

2. on the basis of that imputed righteousness, God declares you justified at that very moment, so that if you died you would go heaven right then because you've received all the righteousness you'll ever need to get there

“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,” (1 Corinthians 1:30, ESV)

C. A NEW CROWN

"For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:6-8, ESV)

Four times the chorus rings out Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me!

As we approach the Easter Season, this chorus reminds us of the greatest event in history — That God the Son became flesh to become a ransom for many? Are you one of the many?