“I Bring My Sins to Thee”

"I BRING MY SINS TO THEE"
"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many…" (Heb. 9.28)

     INTRO.: A song which reminds us that because Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many we can come to Him for all our needs is "I Bring My Sins To Thee" (#516 in Sacred Selections for the Church). The text was written by Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879). It was produced in June, 1870, and first published under the title "Resting in Jesus" in an issue of the Sunday Magazine that year. The tune (Clearfield or My Sins) was composed for this text by Philip Paul Bliss (1838-1876). It first appeared in the 1876 Gospel Hymns No. 2 edited by Bliss and Ira David Sankey (1840-1908).

     Among hymnbooks published by members of the Lord’s church during the twentieth century for use in churches of Christ, the song appeared in the 1921 Great Songs of the Church (No. 1–with a different tune) and the 1937 Great Songs of the Church No. 2 both edited by E. L. Jorgenson. Today it is found in the 1971 Songs of the Church, the 1990 Songs of the Church 21st C. Ed., and the 1994 Songs of Faith and Praise all edited by Alton H. Howard; the 1986 Great Songs Revised edited by Forrest M. McCann; and the 1992 Praise for the Lord edited by John P. Wiegand; in addition to Sacred Selections and the 2007 Sacred Songs of the Church edited by William D. Jeffcoat.

     The song refers to several things that we can bring to Jesus because of what He has done for us.

I. Stanza one mentions our sins
"I bring my sins to Thee, The sins I cannot count,
That all may cleansed be In Thy once opened fount:
I bring them, Savior, all to Thee, The burden is too great for me."
 A. All responsible human beings have sins that cause them to fall short of God’s glory: Rom. 3.23
 B. These sins need to be cleansed: Eph. 5.26
 C. We can bring them to Jesus because He came to seek and save the lost: Lk. 10.9

II. Stanza two mentions our grief
"I bring my grief to Thee, The grief I cannot tell;
No word shall needed be, Thou knowest all so well:
I bring the sorrow laid on my, O suffering Savior, all to Thee."
 A. Every life will have its share of grief in various forms: 1 Pet. 2.19
 B. However, Jesus knows all our griefs because He Himself suffered as we do being tempted: Heb. 2.18
 C. Therefore, we can bring the burden of sorrow and cast all our cares on Him: 1 Pet. 5.7
    
III. Stanza three mentions our heart.
"My heart to Thee I bring, The heart I cannot read;
A faithless, wandering thing, An evil heart indeed.
I bring it, Savior, now to Thee, That fixed and faithful it may be."
 A. God wants us to bring our hearts to Him: Prov. 23:26
 B. The reason that we need to give our hearts to God is that we cannot always read them clearly and they can faithless, wandering things: Jer. 17:9
 C. However, when we bring our hearts to the Lord, He can perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle us: 1 Pet. 5:10

IV. Stanza four mentions our care.
"To Thee I bring my care, The care I cannot flee;
Thou wilt not only share, But bear it all for me.
O loving Savior, now to Thee, I bring the load that wearies me."
 A. All of us have cares in this life that we sometimes cannot flee: Lk. 21:34
 B. However, we can bring these cares to the Lord and He will shear them because He cares for us: 1 Pet. 5:7 
 C. Therefore, we should cast the loads that weary us on the Lord and He will sustain us: Ps. 55:22

V. Stanza five mentions our joys
"My joys to thee I bring, The joys Thy love has given,
That each may be a wing To lift me nearer heaven:
(One source said: "That cause me here to sing And make me think of heaven:")
I bring Them, Savior, all to Thee, Who hast procured them all for me."
 A. Life is not all grief; there are also joys because every good and perfect gift comes from God: Jas. 1.17
 B. If we will consecrate these joys to Jesus, they can serve as a wing to lift us nearer heaven where there will be no sorrow or pain:
Rev. 21.4
 C. We should consecrate them to Jesus because He is the One who has procured them all for us because all things were created through Him and He continues to uphold all things by His power: Jn. 1.3, Col. 1.16, Heb. 1.2-3

VI. Stanza six mentions our life
"My life I bring to Thee; I would not be my own.
O Savior, let me be Thine, ever Thine alone:
My heart, my life, my all I bring, To Thee, My Savior and my King."
 A. We need to bring our lives to Christ because even our lives are not our own but belong to God by reason of creation: Acts 17.24-29
 B. Therefore, to be what God wants us to be, we must belong to Christ alone by being crucified with Him and having Him live in us:
Gal. 2.20
 C. We do this by bringing our hearts, lives, and all to Him that we might love Him with our heart, soul, mind, and strength: Mk. 12.29-30

     CONCL.: Life will have its portion of good and bad, but for the Christian whatever happens should be committed to the Lord. We can learn from both. From the good, we can learn to be thankful for what we have. From the bad, we can learn to trust in the Lord. Sometimes the bad will result from evil in the world and even the persecution of evil men. The Lord will bless His children when they suffer for righteousness’ sake. Sometimes the bad may result from my own wrongs. When that is the case, the best that I can do is to repent, bow before the Lord, and say, "I Bring My Sins To Thee."