Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin

How shall my tongue describe it?  Where shall His praise begin?

Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free,

For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

If you know this hymn, then you know it has a joyful, upbeat tune to it.  This hymn has very powerful words to it and could easily have a more somber tune, and yet this is about the joy of grace.  The joy of a sinner saved.  The hymn writer asks, where shall my praise begin?  And then he repeats this line in all three verses – the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.  I think that’s definitely a reason for us do as Paul commands in Philippians 4:4 “rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice.”  

Wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching to all the lost

By it I have been pardoned, saved to the uttermost.

Chains have been torn asunder, giving me liberty;

For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

Uttermost is defined in the Oxford dictionary as “the greatest or most extreme extent or amount.”  Jesus reaches to the uttermost, to save me to the uttermost.  Psalm 139:9-10 says, “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”  

This matchless grace of Jesus is my surety and my hope.  Always I can come to Jesus for grace because always He is interceding for me.  Hebrews 7:23-25 says, “The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.  Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost since he always lives to make intercession for them.”  Saved to the greatest or most extreme extent or amount!

Wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching the most defiled

By its transforming power making him God’s dear child.

Purchasing peace and heaven for all eternity

And the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

And again, how can we sing these words without wanting to leap for joy?  This grace reached me, a defiled wretch, and transformed into me into a beloved, dear child of God.  He’s given me peace and heaven forever, because He loves me. Because Jesus took my sins upon Himself and gave me His righteousness.  Because of the cross, and only because of the cross, God can say in Hebrews 8:12, speaking of the better covenant he made with us through the shed blood of Jesus, “…I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”  And this grace, it reaches to the uttermost, for this wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea!

Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain, all sufficient grace for even me!

Broader than the scope of my transgressions, greater far than all my sin and shame!

O magnify the precious name of Jesus! Praise His name!