The text of this hymn was written by Robert Robinson, who was born into humble circumstances at Swaffham in Norfolk, England, on Sept. 27, 1735. His father died when he was eight, and in 1749 at age fourteen he was indentured by his mother to a barber in London. While in London Robinson did not choose his friends wisely. For several years he was associated with a notorious gang of hoodlums and led a debauched life. However, in 1752, at the age of seventeen, he heard a sermon preached by George Whitefield. He and his friends had gone to the meeting for the purpose of scoffing at religion, but Whitefield's message convicted him. The sermon’s topic was on the Wrath to Come, and it’s message haunted Robinson. After three long years of spiritual turmoil, he professed faith in Christ in 1855 and shortly afterwards, at age twenty, became minister of a Methodist chapel at Mindenhall in Suffolk. However, a few months later, he left the Methodists and organized an Independent congregation at Norwich. In 1759, Robinson again changed religious affiliation and became minister at the Stone Yard Baptist Church in Cambridge, where he remained until his death in 1790. With very little formal education, Robinson became known as a prominent preacher, scholar, and writer. He wrote this hymn in 1758 as a prayer to the Holy Spirit to flood into his listener’s hearts with His streams of mercy. It first appeared in a hymnal aptly entitled: A Collection of Hymns.

The tune is a traditional American melody that first appeared in a hymnal published by John Wyeth. In the index, no composer's name is given, but it is identified as a “new tune.” Thus, it is not known precisely where the tune came from nor who was responsible for it. The song has gained a new degree of popularity in recent years, due in large part to an arrangement of it by Mack Wilberg, the new Music Director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The arrangement was first sung by the Brigham Young University Choir at the end of one of their concerts in 1994 and has become an audience-favorite.

The hymn praises the Lord as the source of everything good.

I. STANZA 1 Points out That the Lord Is the Fount of Every Blessing

"Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love.”

Robinson opens his hymn with a testimonial of praise and adoration

he has come to know the living God, and he is so exuberant with joy that he can hardly contain himself
he invites God—the Fount of every blessing—to take his heart and to teach him how to sing Thy grace

"But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You. 12For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield." (Psalm 5:11-12, NASB95)

like David, Robinson had taken refuge in the grace of God, it saved him from damnation and hell, and his new heart of flesh compels him to sing about this grace

A. GOD OPENED A FOUNTAIN FOR OUR SALVATION

"In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants ofJerusalem, for sin and for impurity." (Zechariah 13:1, NASB95)
"Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14, NASB95)

the fountain that Zechariah speaks of refers to natural springs that gush forth great quantities of water

in his mind’s-eye, Zechariah might be thinking of the headwaters of the Jordan River or the spring at En Gedi on the West side of the Dead Sea
there is a time coming, he predicts, when the a fountain will be opened that will wash away, once and for all, all of Israel’s sin and impurity

ILLUS. William Cowper, a 19th century English poet and hymn writer, using this passage as his text wrote. “There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.”

Jesus picks up on Zechariah’s theme in his dialogue with the Woman at the Well when he offers her living water that will be like a well of water springing up in her life

that phrase well of water springing up refers to an artesian well
these are places where the water pressure in rock strata is high enough to force the water above the water table out into a natural spring

as long as the aquifer the well draws from remains steady, the flow of water will remain steady—you can’t turn it off

Jesus uses this picture to describe God’s saving grace in the sinner’s life

God’s grace is an aquifer of love that produces never ceasing streams of mercy

on the day of Christ’s crucifixion the fountain of God’s forgiving grace was opened for all who repent and call upon His name

that fountain turns into streams of mercy that never cease to flow to the beneficiaries of God’s grace

"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, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:3-9, ESV)

once experienced, this grace puts our heart in tune with God

His will becomes our will
His agendas become our agendas
His desires become our desires

"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb." (Psalm 19:7-10, ESV)
/"In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul."' (Isaiah 26:8, ESV)
"You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing." (Psalm 145:16, ESV)

B. THIS FOUNT OF BLESSINGS CALLS FOR SONGS OF LOUDEST PRAISE

"Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name." (Hebrews 13:15, NASB95)

God’s fountain of grace is a blessing to us

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ," (Ephesians 1:3, NASB95)
"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." (James 1:17, NASB95)

Robinson ends the first stanza with a note of triumph

he has climbed the Hill of Calvary, firmly planted his feet upon the mount of God’s redeeming love

ILLUS. Mercy there was great, and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me; There my burdened soul found liberty, At Calvary.

!II. STANZA 2 Points out That the Lord Is Our Helper

"Here I raise my Ebenezer: Hither by Thy help I've come;

And I hope by Thy good pleasure Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God;

He to rescue me from danger Interposed His precious blood."

Robinson begins his second stanza by remembering how he arrived at Calvary

it was not by his own desire, or power, or ability
he understands that his salvation is by Thy help, and that it is only by Thy good pleasure that he will safely ... arrive at home

Robinson understands the great truth that was re-captured by the Protestant Reformation—that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone
to commemorate this moment of grace when God came pouring into his life like a great fountain breaking forth, Robinson is going to raise a spiritual Ebenezer

A. GOD, IS THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR SALVATION

"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:31-32, NASB95)

many of the hymns that we sing contain specific scriptural allusions and seek to make application of those

allusions to us

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing is one a perfect example

it refers to an event in the life os Samuel.

the Hebrews had once again fallen into sin, and abandoned the worship of Jehovah

Samuel challenged the people of Israel to prove their loyalty to the Lord by abandoning their foreign gods and turning to the Lord

"Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines." 4So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the Lord alone." (1 Samuel 7:3-4, NASB95)

Samuel next summoned the people to Mizpah, some seven miles north of Jerusalem, and there prayed for them and offered sacrifice to the Lord on their behalf

when the Philistines learned of the assembly, they attacked Israel at Mizpah
but the Lord, in a mighty demonstration of power defeated the Philistines and saved Israel
in commemoration of this great triumph Samuel erected on the site between Mizpah and Shen (whose location is unknown), a monument which he called Ebenezer

literally it means stone of God's help

God is our great Helper

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling." (Psalm 46:1-3, ESV)
"Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” 6so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6, NASB95)

the psalmist calls God a “very present help in trouble”

the Hebrew word translated trouble literally means a tight space

have you ever been in a tight space, where you felt pressed on every side, where your options are limited, where your freedom was restricted, or your progress is arrested?
the psalmist specifies two such places

Uncontrollable Circumstances–verse 2: “We will not fear even though the earth be removed, and though its mountains be carried into the midst of the sea”

this verse describes a natural disaster involving storms, seas, and earthquakes
because God is my help, I will not fear when the foundations are shaken
when we face circumstances over which we have no control, God is our refuge

Insurmountable Opposition–verses 8-9, the psalmist speaks of war, bows, spears, and chariots

he is saying that when he faces an army against which he has no ability to fight, he still will not be afraid

Why? Because God, his refuge and strength, fights for him

B. GOD’S HELP RESCUES US FROM DANGER

"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10, NASB95)
"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:7, NASB95)
ILLUS. John R. W. Stott, an Anglican clergyman and one of the leading Evangelicals of our day, has said, “Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues.”

the greatest threat that God has delivered me from is death and damnation

it is by God’s grace, and God’s grace alone, that I hope to safely ... arrive at home
like Robinson, I understand that I have been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone
deliverance can come to us only by the defeat of our old life

safety and peace come only after we have been forced to our knees
God rescues us by breaking us, by shattering our strength and wiping out our resistance

when we were strangers to God, when we were like lost sheep wandering from the fold of God, God sent His Son to become the Shepherd of our Souls

the means of grace came when God interposed Christ’s precious blood between us and His wrath

"But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." (Ephesians 2:13, NASB95)
"Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, 21equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:20-21, NASB95)

III. STANZA 3 Points Out Our Great Debt to Christ

"O, to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, O, taken and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above."

A. GRACE TURNS US INTO DEBTORS

/"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, NASB95)

that grace ought to constrain us to daily bind ourselves to the goodness of Jesus Christ

B. GRACE KEEPS US FROM WONDERING

"‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’" (Matthew 6:13, NASB95)

Preaching the Pastor’s Favorite Hymns - Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing