Hymn History - GRACE GREATER THAN OUR SIN

GRACE GREATER THAN OUR SIN
Julia Harriette Johnston (1849–1919)

GRACE is one of the hardest lessons for us to learn about God. Some show their ignorance of God’s grace by working hard to be good enough. They pay lip service to the idea of God’s grace but cannot stop trying to earn their own way. Others display their misunderstanding of God’s grace by concluding it’s inaccessible to them. They know they cannot be good enough for God, so they despair of ever having a relationship with Him.
It is this second group that Julia Johnston was writing for. She knew how important it was to understand and experience the simple, yet difficult, truth of God’s gracious forgiveness. Johnston was a Sunday school teacher herself and became a noted expert in Sunday school curriculum. Though she penned texts for more than five hundred hymns, this is the only one widely known. It powerfully teaches this essential Christian truth: You cannot out-sin God’s grace.

GRACE GREATER THAN OUR SIN
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured—
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within,
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater—yes, grace untold—
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide—
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! there is flowing a crimson tide—
Whiter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?