WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS – I SACRIFICE MY VAIN THINGS TO HIS BLOOD:
The second verse of Isaac Watts’ great song reads: “Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ, my Lord. All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.”
In what can we boast? We boast in our talents and skills, in our money and lifestyle, in our beauty and our education, in our wit and wisdom. Yet, there is not a single thing we can boast in, when we look at Christ hanging on the cross, that could motivate God to save us from our sins. Jesus does not save us based on our talents, our skills, our lifestyle, our beauty, our education, our wit or wisdom. We are not saved “as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:9).
Paul understood this so he wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:17, where he actually quotes from Jeremiah 9:24, which shows us that this principle goes back into Old Testament times: “If any man boasts, let him boast in the Lord.” Man has no room to boast and when we look at Christ hanging on the cross, we understand that we have nothing of which to boast before God.
What this means is that all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to the blood of Christ. Isn’t “vain” the key word and key idea of the book of Ecclesiastes? “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity,” (Ecc. 1:2). That is especially obvious when we survey the wondrous cross. So we are not saved by anything that originates within ourselves, not by our wisdom and knowledge, and certainly not by our ignorance! If man could be saved in ignorance, then Jesus died pointlessly.
All the vain things that charm us, we sacrifice them to the blood of Christ. Again, take a look at the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 12:1-2:
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“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Isaac Watts says that when we survey the wondrous cross, we sacrifice to His blood the things in which we boast. Paul says that we offer our bodies as living sacrifices when we survey the wondrous cross.
In what can we boast? We boast in our talents and skills. Let us sacrifice them in service to the blood of Christ. We boast in our money and lifestyle – let us sacrifice them in living service to the blood of Christ. We boast in our beauty and our education – let us sacrifice them in service to the blood of Jesus Christ. We boast in our wit and wisdom. Yes, let us sacrifice them in service to the blood of Jesus Christ.
When we survey the wondrous cross, we sacrifice our vain things to His blood.
Paul Holland
