Sermon Tone Analysis

/“Ye monsters of the bubbling deep, Your Master’s praises spout; Up from the sands ye coddlings peep, And wag your tails about.”/

Believe it or not that was a stanza from a popular hymn at the turn of the 18th century.

We can thank Isaac Watts that we do not sing hymns with stanzas like this anymore!

The story goes that one Sunday after church, the eighteen-year-old Isaac complained to his father about the slow, monotonous, way Christians sang in English-speaking churches.

At the time, congregational singing was a ponderous affair.

A Deacon or Clerk would first read the verse that was going to be sung, followed by the droning of the congregation—usually without benefit of musical instruments.

It was called lining-out.

Thus the singing of a long psalm could become extremely tedious with every line of every stanza being repeated twice.

It was hardly satisfying or spiritually edifying to sing in such a fragmented way.

All they sang were Old Testament psalms, and hymns that young Isaac termed “deplorable.”

Isaac’s father, a leading deacon in the church, snapped back, “Well then, young man, why don’t you give us something better to sing?”

By the next Sunday, Watts had produced his first hymn.

The hymn was such a success with the congregation, that for the next two years, he wrote a new hymn for every Sunday.

By the time he died, he had over six hundred hymns to his credit!

He truly deserves the title The Father of English Hymnody.

One church historian said we ought to instead call him “the liberator of the English hymn.”

Not only did he produce superlative examples of his new approach to congregational song, he also opened the way for others to follow.

His hymns quickly became popular throughout England, and for American Presbyterians and Congregationalists his psalms and hymns were almost the only songs they sang in their worship.

If Isaac Watts were alive today and we could test his IQ level he would probably register off the charts.

At the age of four he was learning Latin and by the age of nine had learned Greek.

By the age of 11 he had added French to his list of languages., and by the age of 13 Hebrew.

He was also a student of theology and philosophy.

Even as a child he had a passion for poetry and rhyming in such mundane things as everyday conversation.

It kinda drove family and friends nuts.

At one point, his serious minded father, after several warnings, decided to spank the rhyming nonsense out of his son.

After the spanking a tearful Isaac replied to his father:

‘Oh father do some pity take,

and I will no more verses make.’

It seems that verse just flowed from Isaac Watts.

Many of the hymns that Watts wrote—including When I Survey the Wondrous Cross—were controversial among the churches of his day.

It was the practice of that era to put the Psalms to music, and it was considered blasphemous to sing anything other than the Psalms.

The controversy was the “worship war” of that day, and divided congregations just as the “worship wars” of our day are dividing congregations between contemporary and traditional worship styles.

Though Watts also followed the tradition of his day and put many psalms to music, he also believed that one could compose hymns that reflected one’s own thoughts and feelings.

These hymns were termed “hymns of human composure” and they stirred up great controversy.

Thankfully Watts did not acquiesce to the critics of his day, or we might not have hymns such as “Joy to the World!”, or, “Our Help in Ages Past,” or “Am I a Soldier of the Cross.”

Isaac Watts wrote "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" in preparation for a communion service in 1707.

Originally, the hymn was titled "Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ," following the practice of the day to summarize a hymn's theme in the title.

To this day many hymnologists consider "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" one of the finest Christian hymns ever written, and the very best hymn in the English language.

It’s the first known hymn to be written in the first person, introducing a personal religious experience rather than limiting itself to the musical exposition of doctrine.

Watt’s hymn-writing reshaped the future of church music, and inaugurated what is considered the golden age of hymn-writing.

Using only 16 lines of verse, he paints a soul-stirring picture of the Savior’s death on the cross coupled with the whole-hearted response of the believer to such amazing love.

The tune that we traditionally sing this hymn to is entitled Hamburg, and was arranged in 1824 by Lowell Mason who is often referred to as The Father of American Church Music.

Almost single-handedly, he transformed American church music from the practice of using only auditioned professional chancel choirs to congregational singing accompanied by organ music.

He was also largely responsible for introducing music into American public schools, and is considered to be the first important music educator in the United States.

Southern Baptists have been singing this hymn ever since it first appeared in the 1850 hymnal The Baptist Psalmody.

A few years ago, composer Bruce Greer, a graduate of Baylor University, arranged the verses of Isaac Watt’s hymn to an old Appalachian Folk melody that is becoming increasingly popular.

!

I. LET ME WONDER

* When I survey, the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride

#.

Watts begins his hymn by encouraging us along with him to survey, the wondrous cross

#. the word survey means to consider in a comprehensive way

#. he implies that we need to take more than just a passing glace at the cross

#. when the sinner makes a detailed and critical inspection of the cross they will wonder with amazement

* /"For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."/

(Colossians 1:19-20, ESV)

#. a thousand years before the Messiah was born, the prophet Isaiah had prophesied that a time would come when peace would be proclaimed to those who were far off

* /" ... Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him."/

(Isaiah 57:19, ESV)

#. this was a reference to the Gentiles and predicted that one day, they too, would be included in God's plan of grace

#. this is the message that Jesus preached during his public ministry on Earth

* /"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”/

(Mark 1:14-15, ESV)

#.

Paul proclaims in Colossians 1:19-20 that through Christ, God has chosen to reconcile men unto Himself

#. how is He going to do this?

#. by the cross

#.

Paul says that God gives us peace ... through the blood of His cross; through Him ...

!! A. THROUGH THE PRINCE OF GLORY GOD’S CHOSEN ARE RECONCILED TO GOD

#. our Lord Jesus shuts the door in no one's face who would come to him in faith

#. indeed, according to the Apostle John in the book of Revelation, Jesus stands at the door of sinner’s hearts and knocks, to gain entrance

#. the blood of Christ opens the way for all who would call upon the name of the Lord

* /"For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”/

(Romans 10:13, ESV)

#.

He invites both Jew and Gentile, male and female, bond or free, the mighty or the lowly to accept the peace that God offers

#. here is the amazing wonder of the cross that we must survey

#. when we were the enemies of God, Christ dies for us that we might be reconciled to Him

#. how has God accomplished this work of reconciling us to Himself?

* /"For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,"/ (Ephesians 2:14-15, ESV)

#. through his death on the cross, Christ abolished the need for the Jewish ceremonial law and its rituals of animal sacrifice

#. sacrifice and ritual no longer bring a man into right relationship with God

#.

only a humble faith the pours contempt on all one’s pride will suffice

* /"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ."/

(Philippians 3:7, ESV)

!

II.

LET ME NOT BOAST

* Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ, my God; All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood

* /"But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."/

(Galatians 6:14, ESV)

#. the second stanza is both a prayer and a response to the first stanza

#. in stark contrast to human pride, Watts calls us to look at the cross and see our champion

#.

His name is Jesus, and He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God

#. the Cross of Christ does not allow for boasting

#. and if are going to boast, it should only be in the death of Christ, my God

#.

Jeremiah the Prophet shared a similar thought with the Israelites long ago

* /"Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.

For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”/

(Jeremiah 9:23-24, ESV)

!! A. A PROUD MAN CANNOT KNOW GOD

#.

Jesus was very clear about this

#. he told his disciples and the crowds that only the ‘poor of spirit' will make up the kingdom of God

#. pride, on the other had, makes us arrogant and in that arrogance we boast of our self-sufficiency seeks independence from God

#. pride says "I am the master of my own fate."