Episode 8
Just As I Am by Charlotte Elliott
Do you struggle with guilt? Feel that God doesn't love you? This song will encourage and remind you that He does want you, and He loves you just as you are.
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Song Lyrics
Verse 1:
Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Verse 2:
Just as I am, and waiting not To rid my soul of one dark blot, To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Verse 3:
Just as I am, though tossed about With many a conflict, many a doubt, Fightings and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Verse 4:
Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind; Sight, riches, healing of the mind, Yea, all I need in Thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Verse 5:
Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; Because Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Verse 6:
Just as I am, Thy love unknown Hath broken every barrier down; Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Verse 7:
Just as I am, of that free love, “The breadth, length, depth, and height” to prove, Here for a season, then above, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
Scripture References
Hebrews 10:1-14 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
2 Corinthians 7:5-7 For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears. 6 Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus; 7 And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.
Revelation 3:14-20 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
1 John 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Luke 15:1-3,11-32 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. 3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying, … 11 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
Ephesians 3:14-19 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 John 4:7-16 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Research Resources
- Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs by Melody Publications (#375)
- Then Sings My Soul vol 1 by Robert J. Morgan **(p113)
- A Song in My Heart by Robert J. Morgan **(May 9)
- The Complete Book of Hymns by William and Ardythe Petersen **(p345)
- The Cyber Hymnal (accessed June 24, 2024)
Transcript
In this episode of Understanding Hymns for Everyday Life, we're looking at Just As I Am by Charlotte Elliott. This song is a powerful reminder that the God of the Bible is not a God that withholds his love until we perfect ourselves. Rather, Jesus Christ loves us as we are, and then he works in us to perfect us and make us more like him.
Gregory:Charlotte Elliot had been very sick for quite some time and had become bitter at God. After all, she wondered, wouldn't a good God take better care of me? A preacher, Caesar Milan, was bold enough to challenge her after she expressed such anger and bitterness at God .
Gregory:He asked her, you are tired of yourself, aren't you? That bold challenge began a new work in her heart. And she eventually asked, If I wanted to become a Christian and to share the peace and joy you possess, what would I do? The preacher replied, You would give yourself to God just as you are now, with your fightings and fears, hates and loves, pride and shame.
Gregory:And she did so. Charlotte came to God just as she was, and experiencing his transforming love was her inspiration for writing this song.
Gregory:I didn't have time to dig further, but one source I looked at said that the famous evangelist Billy Graham got saved at a revival meeting after hearing this hymn. Let's look at it.
Gregory:The song consists of six verses, and the first demonstrates that Christ is our only hope. "Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come." There is only one hope we have, and that is that Christ shed his blood for us and calls us to a reconciled relationship with him.
Gregory:If he did not reach down to us, we would be hopeless. There is no way we can reach up to him of our own ability. It is only because he shed his blood for us that we can be reconciled to God.
Gregory:The Bible says in Hebrews that "it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. But rather, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. For by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." He needs not be offered again. His blood is sufficient to cover all sin.
Gregory:All past sin, all present sin, all future sin, every mistake that I make, every mistake that you make is covered by the blood of Jesus. And so he extends an offer to you to come to him as you are.
Gregory:The second verse highlights that we don't need to get cleaned up first. We need to go to him now. "Just as I am, and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot, to Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come."
Gregory:I hope you'd agree with me that it'd be rather silly just before you go to the hospital to have a major heart surgery that you would get all gussied up and you would do your hair and put on your nicest clothes and get yourself looking as good as you can on the outside before the doctor puts you on the operating table and opens up your heart.
Gregory:It's not that the outside doesn't matter at all, but obviously your problem on the inside is infinitely more critical. And so that's what should get the priority. Well, a lot of people think that they need to get their outside fixed first. They think they need to clean up their life and then they can come to God and start a relationship with him. And that's simply not the case. You can't clean yourself up. Not in a way that would be acceptable to God. No, you need him to operate on your heart. You need to receive him into your heart, and then he starts working from the inside out. And yes, that will affect your outside, but that's not why he accepts you.
Gregory:Stop striving to be perfect before you go to him. Go to him so he can begin his work of perfecting you.
Gregory:The third verse highlights that we must approach him in faith even though we're imperfect. " Just as I am, though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears, within, without. O Lamb of God, I come, I come."
Gregory:Paul wrote to the church at Corinth: "when we were coming to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless, God, that comforted those that are cast down, comforted us."
Gregory:Life is going to present terrible circumstances to you, and you will face opposition from the outside, and you'll face opposition from your own inside.
Gregory:Don't wait to come to God until all of that is settled and the storms are calm. Go to Him so He can calm your storms.
Gregory:Bring all of yourself to God and watch what He will do in your life.
Gregory:The fourth verse highlights that Christ is all we need. " just as I am poor, wretched, blind, sight, riches, healing of the mind, yea, all I need in thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come."
Gregory:God speaks to the church at Laodicea in Revelation. And he says, "because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, I counsel thee, to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent."
Gregory:This church had collectively fooled themselves into thinking that everything was okay-- that they had everything figured out and nothing could be further from the truth. But notice what also Christ is offering. He's not merely condemning them. He's correcting them so that they will come to Him and get what they actually do need. Notice He wants to provide them the riches they think they already have. The clothing they think they already have. The ability to see that they think they already have. It requires humility to recognize that we, in fact, do not have all of these things of our own accord, but that drives us to Christ, who is all we need so that we can receive them from Him because He does want us to have them.
Gregory:He wants us to have Him.
Gregory:The fifth verse reminds us that he has promised to forgive us. "Just as I am thou wilt receive wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve because thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come."
Gregory:In the letter of 1 John, there are two verses that call out our sin. " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us." But in this reality where we need to recognize we're sinners he says, "if we confess our sins, He," God, "is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Gregory:Do you know why a lot of people live in constant guilt? It's not because God doesn't offer forgiveness. In fact, he does so perfectly faithfully and he can do so justly because of the satisfactory nature of the blood of Jesus Christ. But most people continue to live in guilt because they don't believe his promise of extending forgiveness.
Gregory:They can't forgive themselves, they say, when the reality is they're too prideful to accept Christ's forgiveness. Their doubt keeps them in their guilt because they don't believe that he actually wants to forgive them or that he can forgive them.
Gregory:Where are you in this matter? He wants to forgive you. He has the power to forgive you. He extends that forgiveness because he loves you. Will you accept it, believing him?
Gregory:In Luke 15, Jesus is teaching a group of religious leaders that were murmuring, and he gives this illustrative story that is often called the parable of the prodigal son. And the gist of the story is this, this man had two sons and the younger basically tells his dad, I don't really care if you're dead. I just want the inheritance that I'm going to get from you one day. And so the father divides out to both boys the inheritance that they would have gotten after he had passed away. And so this younger son goes out into a far country and wastes his life and riotous living doing whatever he felt like and ran out of money and famine struck the land. Which is what always happens, by the way. If you run out and try to live a life of sin and seek your own self pleasure, it'll take everything it can from you and then it will leave you empty.
Gregory:And so trying to find sustenance, he's able to get a job feeding pigs and he's so hungry he was almost ready to eat the pig slop. And then he realized something. That even the servants of his father back home had better conditions than he was living in. And so he recognizes. His terrible condition and he heads home to the father preparing this speech of sorts to beg for his father's mercy just to treat him as a servant.
Gregory:But what he wasn't expecting was that the father was looking, waiting for him to come home. And when he saw his son afar off, he came running and before the son can even finish his prepared speech of begging to be a servant, the father embraces him and kisses him and gives him new clothes and new shoes and a ring and they begin this incredible celebration.
Gregory:Jesus is telling the story to illustrate how he views us. Yes, all of us have wandered out into sin. In different ways, we have wasted our lives, but he's wanting us to come back to him to have a real relationship with him.
Gregory:He doesn't want to merely treat us as part of his creation. He wants us to become his children. And so he extends this forgiveness with open arms and he's just waiting for you to come to him.
Gregory:And in case you haven't gotten the theme yet, the last two verses of the song hammer on God's love being limitless. "Just as I am, thy love unknown hath broken every barrier down. Now to be thine, yea, thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come, I come." " Just as I am, of that free love, the breadth, length, depth, and height to prove. Here for a season, then above, O Lamb of God, I come, I come."
Gregory:We've looked at this concept of God's existence as love before multiple times, but I hammer this point because most people still don't get it. God is love, and he actively loves you. He's waiting for you to come to him. He's not folding his arms, standing back, giving you the cold shoulder. He loves you so much that he desires this relationship with you, even though we don't deserve it.
Gregory:John Lennox is a mathematician and apologist and I love the way he describes this nature of God's acceptance. This isn't a quote, but I'll paraphrase for you. He describes how he met his wife and how it didn't go like this. He did not come to his wife with a cookbook and hand it to her and turn her to the page where it shows the recipe for chocolate cake. And show her the recipe, the instructions, if you will. And he did not look at her and say, Thou shalt do this with the eggs, and do this with the flour, and do this, and do this, and do this, and make this delicious cake for me, and do all of these things perfectly, and then once I've tasted of it, then I might accept you.
Gregory:And of course people laugh, because, of course, that's no way, to start a relationship with someone. And yet most people think that that's how they're supposed to approach God. They see the Bible as this cookbook of do this and this and this and this and if you do all these dozens and in fact hundreds of things and God has tasted of your obedience, then he might accept you.
Gregory:But that's not true. You see, every other religion in the world does present that kind of idea. There's some type of way much like a college classroom. And maybe the divine being tries to help you much like a professor would teach the classroom. But even in universities, the professor cannot guarantee that you pass because you have to follow the class material and do your best. And the grades you get on the tests along the way are actually what will define whether or not you pass. And that is ultimately outside of the professor's control.
Gregory:That's not how it is with the God of the Bible. It is not that he gives you all these tests, and if you do well on all the tests, then hopefully you'll pass the class and get into paradise.
Gregory:No, the God of the Bible accepts you first. Yes, he has a way that he designed us and wants us to live and his way is best. However, that's not where the acceptance comes from. He doesn't accept us after we've impressed him with our good deeds. He accepts us as we are right now. And because he loves us, he then goes on to create in us a greater spirit like him. He conforms us to the image of Jesus Christ.
Gregory:That is what life is really about. The God of the Bible loves you now and wants you to approach him just as you are.
Gregory:Some of you, you know right now that you're living a life of sin, that you're out in the world just like the prodigal son, doing whatever you can to fulfill your own lusts.
Gregory:Some of you have been doing that and you've already reached that rock bottom point where you realize, this life is not presenting you all you had hoped it would. Because Satan is deceptive. And he wants you to stay away from God. In either case, would you come back to the Father? To establish a real heart relationship with Him? It's what He wants for you. It's what He extends to you. Because He loves you right now.
Gregory:For others, there's a second half to that parable that is often overlooked. And that is that the older son also did not have a right heart between him and the father. When the father divvied out the inheritance, he accepted it too. He stayed at home, but he also effectively treated the father like he was dead.
Gregory:In fact, he's angry that his younger brother is returned and is accepted back into the family. He does not share the father's heart. And so while the celebration is going on inside, the father comes outside to encourage and challenge his son to participate because it's right to celebrate that the younger had come back home.
Gregory:Really, that's the whole reason Jesus is giving that parable in the first place because the audience he's talking to is like the older son in the story, having believed they've done everything perfectly this whole time. But that wasn't true. Because they did not share the father's heart. Yes, they were physically present at home. But in heart, the older son was just as far away from the father as the one that went and lived out in the world.
Gregory:This is more dangerous because it fools you into thinking everything is okay when it's not. Could I challenge you, would you consider where you truly are in relationship to him? Some of you may be saved, but you have put distance in between you and him.
Gregory:You may have truly trusted him at one point, but you are not currently sharing his heart. You too have the invitation to come as you are with all of your fears, your struggles, your hate, your love, the things that you pursue and the things that you despise, all of it, bring yourself to God and let him begin and continue to do his work in your life.
Gregory:Come as you are, but don't leave as you came. Let Him change you, grow you, mold you to the image of His Son, of Himself. He calls us to a closer relationship with Him. He calls you. What will you do with His call?
