At Calvary

The Apostle Paul instructed the believers at Colosse to teach and admonish one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. That is what I hope to do by explaining the meaning of this hymn, against the backdrop of the Framework of Sovereign Grace.

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[An automated transcript of the teaching video]

The Apostle Paul instructed the brethren at colosse to teach and admonish one another and psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. That’s what I intend to do by explaining the meaning of this hymn—At Calvary. I’d like to explain the hymn against the backdrop of the Framework of Sovereign Grace, which is God’s master plan for the ages.

You’ll notice the hymn was written by William Newell. He was the assistant superintendent of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. I very much doubt he would’ve shared my view on sovereign grace. Nevertheless, the words of his hymn may easily be understood within the Framework of Sovereign Grace.

I’d like to read for you the words of the hymn. There’s four stanzas with a chorus or a refrain.

1 Years I spent in vanity and pride,

Caring not my Lord was crucified,

Knowing not it was for me He died—

On Calvary.

2 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.

3 Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus ev’rything,

Now I gladly own Him as my King,

Now my raptured soul can only sing—

Of Calvary.

4 O the love that drew salvation’s plan!

O the grace that brought it down to man!

O the mighty gulf that God did span—

At Calvary.

Refrain:

Mercy there was great and grace was free,

Pardon there was multiplied to me,

There my burdened soul found liberty—

At Calvary.

Well, the theme or message of this hymn describes the experience of a sinner having been born again, and is therefore enabled to see or apprehend the defilement of his or her heart and the glory of God in Christ. We are therefore, looking at the third branch of the gospel. Remember there’s three gospel branches—the electing love of the Father, the redeeming grace of the Son, and the sanctifying power of the Spirit.

Now, because of the repeated use of the word calvary throughout the hymn, you may be tempted to think that it’s a reference to the redeeming grace of the Son—the Son of God—and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, offering Himself a sacrifice at Calvary. However, that’s not the main thrust of the hymn. The main thrust of the hymn is the experience believers have, and their understanding of the distance between themselves and God as a result of their sin. And that of course falls under the experiential work and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. Just to be sure you understand the nature of the new birth, which is what we’re describing here, the Spirit of God, at the appointed time throughout the course of history, will conquer the hearts of all of God’s elect people, and He’ll unite their souls with the Lord Jesus Christ. By virtue of which, the life and graces of Christ flow into the soul—the soul is made alive unto God. There are spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear, and a spiritual sensitivity to feel. All of that is the result of regeneration. And it is only after regeneration, or the new birth, that the sinner is brought to a spiritual understanding and experience of his or her sin and the grace of God and Christ. And I believe that’s how we should understand the words of this hymn. So with that said, allow me to turn you to the first stanza.

Stanza 1

“Years I spent in vanity and pride,

Caring not my Lord was crucified,

Knowing not it was for me He died—

On Calvary.”

That’s simply saying, Hey, before I was born again, I had no care of the crucifixion of Christ; of his death, burial, resurrection; of his grace and love towards me. I didn’t care. I lived for years in vanity and emptiness and pride, and I had no clue that Jesus Christ had come into this world to do anything for me. So there’s the first stanza. It’s a recognition of my carelessness and blindness and numbness to spiritual things prior to the new birth. 

Stanza 2

“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.”

Well, a word has to be given here on this expression, “by God’s Word at last my sin I learned.” Arminians, or free will preachers, or believers, will understand this to mean some type of intellectual exercise wherein we have received the impartation of knowledge through the teachings of Scripture. And that intellectualizing of sin, having now been imparted to the mind, puts me into a position of turning to Christ for salvation. That, my dear friends, is not how we are to understand this expression. While it’s true, we all learn about our sin through the Word of God—the Word of God is a special revelation; it’s God’s revelation to us in a very particular way; God reveals Himself generally through the creation of this world; He reveals Himself generally through the providential orderings of life; He reveals Himself generally to us through our own guilty consciences (the the law inscribed upon our heart); but the Word of God, the Bible, is a special revelation; it’s a revelation from God which details certain pieces of information God would have us know concerning ourselves, and Him, and salvation, as well as damnation—And you see in that sense, we all have access to that knowledge or that information, but we do not know that information or knowledge in a spiritual and in an experiential way, outside of the new birth. That is, if you’ve never been born again, all this knowledge is able to impart to you is intellect. It’s a mental understanding of sin, not a spiritual heartfelt understanding of sin. The only way you and I can have an experiential heartfelt understanding of sin is if the Spirit of God is communicating to our souls, the life and graces of Christ. And that alone is what gives to us an experiential understanding of our sin. So, “by God’s Word at last my sin I learned” is true. I learned it intellectually, but I can only know it spiritually and experientially by the effectual power of the Holy Spirit through a new birth. 

“Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned”—the law I’d spurned is the heart law. It’s not the Ten Commandments. So many people have the idea that God holds you and I accountable for violating the Ten Commandments. My dear friend, the Ten Commandments were a special application of this (heart) law to the Jewish people as a nation. It was never given to the Gentiles of the world, nor is it given to believers today, or even to unbelievers today. What we do have, however, is a heart law. This is a law inscribed upon every soul. It’s a twofold law. First, to love God supremely; second, to love our neighbors as ourselves. And it’s when we’re born again, we are brought to a realization on how we truly have transgressed and spurned this law inscribed upon our hearts. And we can only tremble at our transgressions of that law, as a result of our new birth experience.

“Till my guilty soul imploring turned to calvary”—meaning, to Christ. And the only time a sinner turns to Christ with a heartfelt guilt over his or her sin is if Christ through the communication of the Holy Spirit has imparted to the soul saving faith. Saving faith is a fruit of our union with Christ. It actually is Christ’s faith, a virtue of Christ that flows into our souls. And only when we receive that gift through the new birth do we imploring turn to Christ as our Savior.

Stanza 3

“Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus ev’rything,

Now I gladly own Him as my King,

Now my raptured soul can only sing—

Of Calvary.”

Very true! For every soul that’s been regenerated by the Spirit of God, gives to Jesus everything. We sacrifice all things to the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s now our King. He’s our Lord. He’s our Prince. He’s our Master. And we freely yield all things to Him. We gladly own Him as our Master, Lord, Prince and King! And our raptured souls now only sing of the grace of God in the Christ of Calvary.

Stanza 4

“O the love that drew salvation’s plan!”

The love, the father’s love. He first set His love upon His elect people. He then magnified His love by giving His elect people, which were then viewed in sin, to His Son. For God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, preparing for Him a body and soul, that in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, He might save His people from their sins. Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!

“O the grace that brought it down to man!”

My dear friends, we call this agreement between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—we call it the covenant of grace. This is the grace of God that brings salvation to His people.

O the mighty gulf that God did span—

At Calvary.”

Because of the sin that violates the covenant of works, our sin. That’s the gulf! That’s the distance between us and God. And yet God has devised a plan to remove that distance. He does it first by giving His elect people to His Son. Through redeeming grace, judicial condemnation is removed and we are freely justified through the redemption that’s in Christ Jesus. The second part of His plan is to remove that spiritual corruption. And He does this by giving us to His Spirit. And the Spirit of God, by uniting our souls with Christ, via the new birth. A new nature is imparted to the soul. Actually that new nature is the soul’s union with Christ. That is the new nature. And it’s a new nature that’s created in righteousness and true holiness, without corruption and hence forth, this is the mighty gulf that God did span. He completely solved our problem of sin—judicial condemnation and spiritual corruption—all through the Son of God and the Spirit of God. 

That, my dear friends, is the meaning of the four stanzas of this Hymn.

But there is a refrain.

Refrain: 

“Mercy there was great and grace was free,”

Free indeed! No conditions under the covenant of grace. All the conditions are secured by God Himself—that’s the condition of electing love, the condition of redeeming grace, the condition of sanctifying power. It’s the conditions met by the triune Jehovah on behalf of the sinner. There’s nothing left for you and me to do in the reception of this salvation, or this gift. It’s all free. 

“Pardon there was multiplied to me,

There my burdened soul found liberty—

At Calvary.”

True liberty in Christ at Calvary. It’s a wonderful hymn, and I trust you’ll rejoice in your Savior as you sing it with me. 

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