Grace! ’tis a charming sound

Revised version:

1. Grace rises, ousting sin,
To in my spirit reign,
Frees me from might and pow'r of sin,
My nature and its stain.

Chorus 1:
All-sufficient grace!
Never powerless!
It is Christ who lives in me,
In His exhaustlessness.

2. This grace empow'rs my feet
On pathways heavenly;
His grace, abundant, timely, sweet,
Has never failed me.

3. This grace, what can surpass?
'Tis God, with man to be,
God manifested in the flesh,
God living now in me.

Chorus 2:
I am what I am
By God's grace today!
Grace is manifest in me,
This God-man's share for aye.

In Colossians 3:16 Paul exhorted the believers in Colossae to sing with grace in their hearts when the word of Christ dwelt in them richly in all wisdom by their teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We are short in our experience of Christ because we do not sing that much with grace in our hearts. We do not have much experience of teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Mostly we sing only when we come together. We need to sing in our daily life. Perhaps a wife could sing to her husband, "All sufficient grace!/Never powerless!/It is Christ who lives in me,/In His exhaustlessness" (Hymns, #312). Then the husband can sing another chorus. If a husband says to his wife, "Dear, you should not give your long face to me so many times every day" the wife may say, "Then you should not come back home so late every day!" Instead of speaking in this corrupt way, the husbands and wives should sing and minister grace to each other.

We live by grace. The grace for the believers' living is spoken of in Romans 1:7 and in the beginning of all of Paul's other Epistles except Hebrews. In our Christian living, our daily life, we need the grace. Everyone has a problem with his temper. No one can overcome his temper except by grace. Who can be humble? We are always proud. We can be humble only by grace. The Lord said, "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Cor. 12:9). "All sufficient grace!/Never powerless!" (Hymns, #312).

When circumstances arise to cause us to react, we have to tell ourselves to be quiet, be slow, and wait. We should not say anything or express any kind of attitude for a short time. Then the grace of God will be applied to us, and we will spontaneously become humble. Who can control his loose speaking? Some people speak quickly all the time. It is impossible to control our tongue without grace. Proverbs speaks repeatedly about the taming of the tongue. If we can control our tongue, we can reduce ninety percent of our sinfulness. The tongue can never be controlled by us in our own strength. We need the grace of God for overcoming in all the details of our daily living.

This hymn concerning grace contains expressions that cannot be found in ordinary Christian books. What is grace? Grace is actually God Himself. Then what is God? God is the New Jerusalem. However, whether it is grace or God or the New Jerusalem, actually they are just one.

...

Since we are speaking concerning God's righteousness, why do we refer to a hymn on God's grace? My intention, my burden, is to show you that the entire Bible speaks of only one thing—grace, which is God, who is the New Jerusalem. Grace is the manifestation of the Triune God in His embodiment in three aspects—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Regardless of what subject the Bible touches, it is concerned with the Triune God in His embodiment in three aspects—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—being manifested as grace consummating in the New Jerusalem. This is the highest and central revelation shown to us in the entire New Testament. Hence, we cannot touch the righteousness of God without touching grace. God's righteousness and God's grace are not two different things. Romans 5:17 refers to both the abundance of grace and the abundance of righteousness. Righteousness always accompanies grace and is its result.