Saturday, April 3, 2010

"How Could I Live Without Jesus"

Day3:  Day before Easter

1. Can I forget the price that was paid,
To save a poor sinner like me;
Can I forget the blood that was shed
To ransom this sinner from sin’s penalty.

Refrain;

How could I live without Jesus,
When He means so much to me.
How could I live with our Jesus,
the Son of God, He gave Himself for me.
There’s no other friend who could care as much as He,


There’s no other love that could set the sinner free;
I could not live without Jesus,
My very life, my ev-‘ry breath is He.

2. How can I help but love my dear Lord,
For He is the Lamb that was slain;
Willing to die a ransom for me,
My Saviour came down from Heaven’s domain.

"How Could I Live Without Jesus"
Copyright 1953 by John C. Hallett
arr. © Copyright, 1960, by the Rodeheaver Co.
International Copyright Secured.

On this day before Easter as we are reflecting on Jesus’ death by crucifixion, we can’t help but look with amazement that He willingly laid down his life for us. It has been prophesied by Isaiah, ‘He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7).

“Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:7)” The apostle Paul knew that Jesus was the Messiah and this Messiah was new Passover Lamb.

All of this pictures the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. The Passover was instituted to remind them of their deliverance from slavery.

John Hallett asks himself, “Can I forget the price that was paid….to ransom this sinner from sin’s penalty.” He understood the condition of mankind. All have sinned. Before coming to Christ, we are all slaves to sin. (See Romans 6).

But there is good news! “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possible dare to. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8 NIV).

John Hallett not only knew this love of Jesus, but he personally experienced it in his own life. That is why he could write such words. He personally knew that Jesus, “the Son of God,... gave Himself for me…care(d) as much as He.”

Most importantly, he understood that “There’s no other love that could set the sinner free.

May this be our confession, too, that “I could not live without Jesus, My very life, my ev-‘ry breath is He.”

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