Hello OCBC family,
“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth.” (Ephesians 3:17-18).

Can you measure the love of Christ? No, we cannot, because His love is infinite and eternal. This means that we are not outside of the love of God, He saved us and kept us in His love.

A favorite hymn of our congregation, paints a vivid picture of God’s love, and this hymn is “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.” The author of this hymn is Samuel Trevor Francis, born in a village north of London on November 19, 1834. His father was an artist, and Samuel, under his father’s influence, became a poet himself. He wrote several poems. But his talent was not in writing poems only but in music as well. He joined the choir of his church at the age of nine.

When he reached his teenager age, he went to London to work, and he was far away from the Lord, nevertheless, he knew that something was not right in his life.

Several years after, he wrote that while he was going home, he was feeling unhappy with his life, and he was ready to kill himself, jumping from the London’s Hungerford Bridge to the Thames River. Then he remembered his early years and his devotion to God, and his life changed. And he wrote this hymn.

“O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me.
Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of Thy love;
Leading onward, leading home-ward,
To my glorious rest above.”

Francis became a London merchant, but his real passion was kingdom work. He wrote several hymns and preached on the streets. He preached around the world for the Plymouth Brethren.

“O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth,
Changeth never, nevermore.
How He watches o'er His loved ones,
Died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth,
Watcheth o'er them from the throne!”

The melody was composed by Thomas J. Williams and first appeared as a hymn tune in a Welsh hymnal around 1890. The name of the tune is EBENEZER.

“O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Love of ev'ry love the best!
'Tis an ocean vast of blessing,
'Tis a haven sweet of rest.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
'Tis a heav'n of heav'ns to me;
And it lifts me up to glory,
For it lifts me up to Thee.”

Please, use Francis’ hymn during your quiet time to remember the love of God to us.
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In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19 – ESV).

Reading this passage, we can see that Paul is telling the believers to know the love of Christ, not the love believers have for Christ, but the love of and from Christ that He places in their heart even before they can fully love Him or anyone else. But also, we can see that this love of Christ surpasses knowledge, meaning that unbelievers cannot experience this love of Christ, just the true believers.

This is the thought that Bernard of Clairvaux had when he wrote his famous hymn, “Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee.”

Who is Bernard of Clairvaux? Born in 1090 near Dijon and died in 1153. He was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercian Order. He had a difficult personality, having problems with many leaders of the church. Nevertheless, the catholic church called Doctor of the Church, for his studies and writings. But besides being a saint of the Catholic Church, we can rescue few things from him, and one of them is the famous hymn written by him, “Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee.”

Its original name is Jesu dulcis memoria (“Jesus, the sweet remembrance”), and we can notice that this hymn, rather than being a theological document (the hymn has several passages full of sound doctrine), is more like a devotional reading.

“Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills my breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see,
And in Thy presence rest.”

The lyric in English was made by Edward Caswall (1814–1878), and the melody was created by John Bacchus Dykes in 1866, the same composer that wrote the melody of another famous hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

“No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
Nor can the mem'ry find
A sweeter sound than Jesus' name,
O Savior of mankind!”

The Christian's joy is not ultimately found in blessings from Christ, but in Christ Himself. You can see that Bernard of Clairvaux is focusing a lot in the name of Jesus, and the devotion that we must have to His precious and perfect name.

“O Hope of every contrite heart!
O Joy of all the meek!
To those who fall, how kind Thou art!
How good to those who seek!”

What a beautiful picture we see that Jesus is the Hope for sinners that come in repentance because, He is the only Hope. And then, Jesus is the Joy for the believers.

“But what to those who find? ah! this,
No tongue or pen can show
The love of Jesus, what it is--
None but His loved ones know.”

The hymn closes with this idea, is something about communion with Christ that cannot be adequately expressed in human language.

Please, use this hymn from 12th century as a devotional reading during your quiet time, and use the words of Bernard of Clairvaux as yours.
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In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1).
Perhaps you are very familiar with this passage, because Martin Luther used this verse to write his famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” But this same verse was the inspiration for another hymnwriter to create a very powerful and loving hymn. I will tell you later about the author and the hymn’s name.

This psalm is not by David, but the sons of Korah. The choirmaster or chief Musician (KJV) was the music minister, and he used the sons of Korah to sing this psalm. The son of Korah was a division of Levites. This psalm is to be used in public worship, proclaiming that God is the strength and refuge of His people. Christians don't need to trust in armies, fortresses, or castles, but in Jehovah, the God of armies. Enemies will not be a threat to them, because God will fight the battle.

God as a Refuge was the theme that Charles Wesley used to create his hymn, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul.” Charles Wesley, John Wesley’s brother, wrote thousand of hymns, and this particular one was written in 1740, during the early years of the Methodist revival.

Chrales Wesley’s hymns frequently take biblical doctrines and turn them into personal prayers of faith, and “Jesus Lover of My Soul” is a good example of this. Read the first stanza.

“Jesus, lover of my soul,
let me to Thy bosom fly,
while the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high:
hide me, O my Savior, hide,
till the storm of life is past;
safe into the haven guide,
O receive my soul at last!”

This is a supplication of Wesley to go to Jesus and take refuge in Him. The shelter is Christ, no other.

“Other refuge have I none,
hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
leave, ah! leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me!
All my trust on Thee is stayed,
all my help from Thee I bring;
cover my defenseless head
with the shadow of Thy wing.”

Even though Wesley has an Arminian theology, in the second stanza we can read a strong statement about Solus Christus, one of the five Solas of Reformation.

In the third stanza, Wesley is telling us about the contrast between the perfect Savior (Jesus Christ), and the imperfect man. Wesley recognized his sinful condition and Christ’s righteousness. For him, Jesus is sufficient for every spiritual need.

“Thou, O Christ, art all I want;
more than all in Thee I find:
raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is Thy name,
I am all unrighteousness;
false and full of sin I am,
Thou art full of truth and grace.”

In the last stanza we can see the work of Jesus and the perseverance of the saints. According to Wesley, Jesus gave us justification but also gave us sanctification and will preserve our condition until we reign with Him in glory.

“Plenteous grace with Thee is found,
grace to cover all my sin;
let the healing streams abound;
make and keep me pure within:
Thou of life the Fountain art,
freely let me take of Thee,
spring Thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity.”

Please, use this hymn as part of your quiet time, remembering the work of Jesus on the cross for us.
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In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 – NKJV).

This sweet call from our Lord Jesus Christ is because He knows we are in spiritual bankruptcy. He knows that humanity tries to save itself, following its own rules, or precepts that rather than bringing it closer to God, distance it from its Creator, and become a heavy burden. Pay attention that His first sentence in this passage is, “Come to Me.” This is an invitation to trust in Jesus personally and not just to know about Him. He will deliver us from a heavy laden, but in the next verse He tells us to take His yoke upon us. Is this a contradiction? By no means. Heavy laden is the Law and its precepts, hard to carry, but Jesus’ yoke is to be His disciple, and this will give us rest through simple commitment to Him.

Jesus’ invitation is to hear His voice and obey. This verse was the inspiration to Horatius Bonar to write down his hymn, “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say.”
I heard the voice of Jesus say,

“Come unto Me and rest;
lay down, thou weary one, lay down
thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
so weary, worn, and sad;
I found in Him a resting place,
and He has made me glad.

Horatius Bonar was born on 19 December 1808 in Edinburgh. His education was obtained at the High School, and the University of his native city. He was ordained to the ministry in 1837. He was pastor of the Establish Church of Scotland, but later he became a pastor of the Free Church of Scotland. In his family there was a long list of ministers and pastors.

He married Jane C. Bonar, and they had nine children, but sadly, five of them died in succession. He became very popular as hymnwriter and wrote several books for devotional reading.

In the hymn that we are checking today, Horatius wrote this poem as a testimony, but not focusing on him but in the work of Jesus Christ. Notice that Bonar starts each verse with “I heard” but suddenly he turns the attention to Jesus and His words and call.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
the living water, thirsty one;
stoop down, and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
of that life-giving stream;
my thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
and now I live in Him.

Horatius had a great love for children, and his goal was to make many of his hymns easy to understand to little ones. We must use this hymn to teach our little ones about biblical truths.

 First verse "Come unto Me and rest" — based on Matthew 11:28–30.

Second verse "I freely give the living water" — based on John 4:10–14 and John 7:37–38.

Third verse "I am this dark world's Light" — based on John 8:12.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s Light;
look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
and all thy day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
in Him my Star, my Sun;
and in that Light of life I’ll walk,
till trav'ling days are done.

Let us continue singing this hymn that is more than 175 years old.
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In His service,
Israel