Sermon for Good Friday: "Experiencing Death - For You!" (Isaiah 52:12-53:12)

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5).

 

On Good Friday, we deal with death up close. We stand not beside a casket of a parent, grandparent, child, or another family member; we stand at the foot of the cross of Christ. Tonight, we experience the reality of death, His death. We realize that death does come close. Death comes close to each of us. Death is our enemy. 

 

Death would be cold and dark and empty, except that Jesus has come close to us and has faced death for us. His death changes our experience of death. Now, we stand before His cross and feel the impact of His love for us as He experienced death up close.

 

We are not immune to death. To live in this fallen world, we must face death. Death can be frightening. Sometimes death invades our lives with blazing speed. Sometimes death is slow and relentless as it stalks its target.

 

Death comes in many ways, but death still comes. It doesn’t always seem fair. Death can surprise and shock. Death can pierce like a knife. To be human after the Fall is to live a life that is fragile. Death comes close to us. And death would indeed leave us terrorized and empty, except for what took place today nearly 2,000 years ago. We call today Good Friday, because it was this day that Jesus experienced death – for us.

 

In this evening’s Old Testament lesson from Isaiah, the prophet paints a poetic picture of what Good Friday would be. Isaiah describes the Savior – the Suffering Servant – who would stand in our place and experience death up close. For fallen humanity, death is justice. Death is the verdict that fits the crime. We have disobeyed God’s commands through our thoughts, our speech, and our actions, and thus, we deserve the punishment that fits the crime: death. But for us and for our salvation, the Suffering Servant comes near. 

 

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief … surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows … He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities … the LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all … He was cut off out of the land of the living … and made His grave with the wicked” (Isaiah 53:3-9).

 

What a comfort it is that when we face danger, we have the Savior who seeks to come near! 

 

The greatest miracle of Jesus was His Incarnation. It was when God became man – Emmanuel. On Christmas, we rejoice at how much God the Father loves His creation, as God was born in human flesh. But the power of the Incarnation is not just that God became man to join us in this fallen world. No, the power of the Incarnation was so He would also join us in death. Jesus is no distant God, viewing our world from a heavenly palace. No, Jesus comes to be close to the pain. He comes to walk with us in our sorrow. He comes to carry us in our infirmities. He comes to be near to us in all that causes us heartache. He comes to be rejected by His own people as He suffers as an outcast. He comes to face it all with us.

 

The Suffering Servant knows death up close. He felt the bite of death. He winced at the piercing of the nails through His flesh and bones. He endured the taunting of the crowd and the unjust accusations. He didn’t simply view death from a casual distance. He was no simple spectator. He joined Himself to us and absorbed the blows of the hammer that should have been ours. In His death, He carried our sorrows. He came to the scene of our guilt. He stretched out His hands to receive our sin. He looked death in the eye. He left nothing undone. He said, “Tetelestai”: “It is finished” (John 19:30a). He tasted death. He “bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30b). He died.

 

At the moment of His death, all was accomplished: The obligation paid. He closed the book on our failure. The debt was settled.

 

Tonight, we stand at the foot of the cross to view Christ the Crucified, our Savior. We experience death up close – the death of our Suffering Servant. But something has changed. In fact, because of Jesus, everything has changed. By grace through faith in Jesus, we can now look into the eyes of death and no longer see a conquering Satan but an enemy who is conquered. We can now see through the eyes of faith. Tonight is a sad day, but tonight is also a great day. Today is Good Friday. Today is the day of salvation! Salvation was won for you on Good Friday! 

 

Through Christ’s death, we can now find hope in sorrow. We have the Suffering Servant who experienced death – for you! 

 

As we experience death, it is great knowing that for those in Christ, you and me, death is not the end, but only serves as the portal to eternal life. Even in our pain and suffering, Jesus is near. In those moments, Jesus is bringing that peace that passes all human understanding. In Jesus Name. Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Sermon for Good Friday: "The Seven Words of Jesus Upon the Cross"

1.    Luke 23:34 [Luke 23:32-38]

The climax of Jesus’ passion is His arrival at the place called the Skull, where He is crucified. The journey is over. Jesus has now reached His goal.

 

Jesus, who knows no sin, is among criminals. And each criminal carries forth his own cross to the place of execution. After constant mocking, insults, and flogging, Jesus is exhausted. Soon, it was feared that Jesus may die before being crucified. For this, the Roman soldiers compel Simon of Cyrene to carry His cross. Simon follows the footsteps of Jesus. This procession of cross-bearers draws a crowd. Just days earlier, the crowds had welcomed Jesus into the city with shouts of acclamation: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” (John 12:13) Now there are tears as He is led out of the city.

 

Amid the great noise of weeping, jeers, and rattling armor, Jesus is humble and quiet as He stumbles toward the cross. As He arrives, He is placed into position. As He stands, Roman soldiers begin driving nails through His wrists and ankles. Then the cross is hoisted up and dropped into its hole. Lifted above the crowd, Jesus peers through swollen and bloodied eyelids and with bruised ears He listens to the carnivallike scene below: the scoffing and insults of the crowd, soldiers haggling over His clothes, thieves on his left and right cursing Him. Jesus has shown nothing but God’s love to these people who treat Him with such contempt. He could call down the wrath of God on them if He chose, but instead He takes the whole wrath of God upon Himself as He says a prayer for the Father’s absolution of the people: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

 

2.    Luke 23:43 [Luke 23:39-43]

 

Two criminals are crucified with Jesus, one on His left and one on His right. No one weeps for them. The crowd likely thinks good riddance. Maybe a victim or two of their crimes is weeping, but not for the perpetrators who die, but for the stolen possessions never recovered or for the loved ones murdered. One of those criminals, who is on the brink of eternal death and hell is converted by Jesus’ announcement that sin is forgiven by virtue of the cross. This criminal expresses his repentance by confessing His sin. He fears God, unlike the other criminal, and he recognizes that his tortuous death is the just punishment for the sins he has committed. He stands under the judgment of God’s wrath, and he confesses that his guilt merits such punishment. Combined with his confession of sin is his confession of faith in Jesus: for “this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41).

 

Helpless and hopeless but for the Man who is dying beside him, the criminal cries out, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). With His arms outstretched in love, Jesus replies, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

 

3.    John 19:26-27 [John 19:25-27]

 

Jesus is fully conscious in spite of all that His body and soul had endured. He is almost unrecognizable from the brutal beatings. With nails piercing through His wrists and ankles, He is bearing the sins of the whole world upon that cross with each breath being more painful than the last. As He endures great agony, He continues to care for Mary, His mother.

 

It is a tearful thing to lose a parent. It is even more tearful to lose your child. For some time now, Scripture has had no mention of Joseph, so we assume that he is dead. Thus, the tears of Mary must now be a flood. First, she lost Joseph, and now she sees her son Jesus nailed to a cross. The oldest son is supposed to care for his widowed mother. Now, even when Jesus is dying, who will take care of Mary? Who will comfort Mary in her grief? Who will protect the mother of God? Jesus meets her need, even as He meets our needs saying to Mary, “Woman, behold your son!” And then to John, the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, “Behold, your mother!” (John 19:26-27).

 

4.    Matthew 27:46 [Matthew 27:45-49]

 

There is perhaps nothing more tearful than sensing abandonment by those we hold most dear. Before the Last Supper, Judas abandoned Jesus, and he had been one of Jesus’ twelve closest friends. It must have hurt Jesus deeply. An even deeper hurt would have been the panicked desertion of the other disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, when a mob came to arrest Jesus. Peter and John followed to the courtyard of the high priest, but here even Peter, the rock, crumbled like a handful of sand before accusations that he was a disciple of Jesus. So, Peter, too, after denying his Lord three times, fled weeping into the night. Surely the pain of Peter’s denial is greater than the nails and thorns.

 

But the most tearful moment of all is the abandonment of Jesus by His own heavenly Father. The words Jesus speaks are from Psalm 22, a Psalm of David. Jesus, like his ancestor David before Him, feels abandoned by God. In the case of David, and all of us, it isn’t true; our heavenly Father does not abandon us. But in the case of Jesus, it is true. Jesus, the innocent Son of God, hangs from the cross, bleeding, bruised, and burdened with the sins of the whole world. 

 

From noon until three o’clock that day, a strange darkness came over the earth. All astronomical learning points to the fact that this could not have been a natural eclipse of the sun. It was God who darkened the sun’s light by means of His own power just as He shook the earth and split the rocks. This darkness signified judgment. It was not a mere reaction of the natural sun, but a sign wrought in the sun by God. Darkness and judgment go together. So repugnant has Jesus become with the refuse of our guilt laid upon Him that even His own Father cannot look on Him. Thus, Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

 

5.    John 19:28 [John 19:28-29]

 

A mystery full of mysteries is how we might describe the Holy Trinity. Scripture teaches that there is One God, but that this God is forever in Three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each Person is different in role and work, yet they are not three gods, but one God. 

 

Just as incomprehensible is the mystery of the incarnation. Scriptures reveals Jesus Christ to be fully and completely both God and Man. As eternal God, our Lord Jesus Christ created the world, set the stars in the heavens, and put the seas in their basins. He governs the passage of seasons and the course of history. He determines the length of our days. Yet, as man, like you and me, He becomes tired and thirsty. He weeps over the death of His friend Lazarus. He holds children in His arms and blesses them. He bleeds when His flesh is pierced. His mouth becomes dry. He chokes on dirt and blood that become paste in His throat. He can make rain fall from the sky, but He can’t give Himself a cup of water, for He will not use His almighty power to His personal advantage. Helplessly, the Second Person of the Trinity begs for something to drink, saying, “I thirst” (John 19:28).

 

6.    John 19:30 [John 19:30]

 

At last, the cup of God’s wrath has been drained. Jesus has swallowed the awful medicine for sin that we should have drunk. Every transgression has been atoned for – for Adam’s sin, yours, mine, the sins of the whole world for all time. From now on, you and I can know for certain that no matter what evil happens to us, it is not God punishing us. This is still a fallen world and bad things will continue to happen, but our debt has been paid in full. The devil may rant on and tempt you to think otherwise. But he’s wrong. The cross says you are forgiven; God is at peace with you. There on the cross, we receive God’s grace. And if you should ever doubt this truth, just look to the cross. For upon the cross, Jesus proclaims, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

 

7.    Luke 23:46 [Luke 23:44-47]

 

It’s 3 o’clock. Jesus has hung on the cross for only six hours. Not long, really. But it’s not the amount of time Jesus spends on the cross that atones for sin, or even the degree of pain afflicted. Rather, it is the fact that, concentrated into this time, Christ has born all the punishment that all the sins of all history deserve. God the Father accepts the suffering of Jesus as full atonement for sin.

 

In just six hours, Jesus’ suffering draws quickly to an end. Slowly the crowd still remaining begins to realize that this is no ordinary man who draws His last breaths. Since the noon hour, darkness has covered the land. There is an earthquake. The temple curtain is ripped in half. Graves are broken open. With one last great shout, Jesus cries out, “Father, into your hands I commit My Spirit!” (Luke 23:46). With those words said, He breathed His last. Jesus has died. God is dead. The Holy Trinity is fractured. Upon all that has taken place this day, the centurion standing guard confesses aloud, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39).

 

Were You There?

The stanzas of "Where You There" (LSB 456) each contain a response to the question "Were you there when..." The question ends in the following ways: "When they crucified my Lord?" "When they crowned Him with the thorns?" "When they pierced Him in the side?" "When they laid Him in the tomb?" 

The closing of each stanza is "Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble." This trembling is not a reference to fear, but rather to the emotional impact of the challenge Jesus faced in His going to the cross and most of all to the realization that the God who created the world would undergo such suffering and death to reconcile that world to Himself.

"Were you there when God raised Him from the tomb?" This causes us to tremble in awe each time we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, three days after we trembled hearing about His sacrificial death for you and me.

1 Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh . . .
Sometimes it causes me to tremble,
tremble,
tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

2 Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Oh . . .
Sometimes it causes me to tremble,
tremble,
tremble.
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?

3 Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh . . .
Sometimes it causes me to tremble,
tremble,
tremble.
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?

4 Were you there when God raised Him from the tomb?
Were you there when God raised Him from the tomb?
Oh . . .
Sometimes it causes me to tremble,
tremble,
tremble.
Were you there when God raised Him from the tomb?

Text: Public domain

Jesus, in Your Dying Woes

The hymn "Jesus, in Your Dying Woes" (LSB 447) features the seven last words of Christ upon the cross and engage the sinner in a personal way with Jesus' dying words from the cross: "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:34); "Today you will be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:43); "Woman, behold, your son!... Behold, your mother!" (John 19:26-27); "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46); "I thirst" (John 19:26); "It is finished" (John 19:30); and "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!" (Luke 23:46)

The faithful then pray, again and again, "Hear us, holy Jesus."

With Christ's sixth word, "It is finished," the vicarious atonement is accomplished, and the redemptive ransom is paid. (We will know this is truly finished in three days.)

In life or death, God supplies "grace to live and grace to die, grace to reach the home on high." And with one last plea and the promise of the Gospel, the Church sings, "Hear us, holy Jesus."

1 First Word: Luke 23:34
Jesus, in Your dying woes,
Even while Your lifeblood flows,
Craving pardon for Your foes:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

2 Savior, for our pardon sue
When our sins Your pangs renew,
For we know not what we do:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

3 Oh, may we, who mercy need,
Be like You in heart and deed,
When with wrong our spirits bleed:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

4 Second Word: Luke 23:43
Jesus, pitying the sighs
Of the thief, who near You dies,
Promising him paradise:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

5 May we in our guilt and shame
Still Your love and mercy claim,
Calling humbly on Your name:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

6 May our hearts to You incline
And their thoughts Your cross entwine.
Cheer our souls with hope divine:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

7 Third Word: John 19:26–27
Jesus, loving to the end
Her whose heart Your sorrows rend,
And Your dearest human friend:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

8 May we in Your sorrows share,
For Your sake all peril dare,
And enjoy Your tender care:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

9 May we all Your loved ones be,
All one holy family,
Loving, since Your love we see:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

10 Fourth Word: Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34
Jesus, whelmed in fears unknown,
With our evil left alone,
While no light from heav’n is shown:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

11 When we seem in vain to pray
And our hope seems far away,
In the darkness be our stay:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

12 Though no Father seem to hear,
Though no light our spirits cheer,
May we know that God is near:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

13 Fifth Word: John 19:28
Jesus, in Your thirst and pain,
While Your wounds Your lifeblood drain,
Thirsting more our love to gain:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

14 Thirst for us in mercy still;
All Your holy work fulfill;
Satisfy Your loving will:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

15 May we thirst Your love to know.
Lead us in our sin and woe
Where the healing waters flow:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

16 Sixth Word: John 19:30
Jesus, all our ransom paid,
All Your Father’s will obeyed;
By Your suff’rings perfect made:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

17 Save us in our soul’s distress;
Be our help to cheer and bless
While we grow in holiness:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

18 Brighten all our heav’nward way
With an ever holier ray
Till we pass to perfect day:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

19 Seventh Word: Luke 23:46
Jesus, all Your labor vast,
All Your woe and conflict past,
Yielding up Your soul at last:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

20 When the death shades round us low’r,
Guard us from the tempter’s pow’r,
Keep us in that trial hour:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

21 May Your life and death supply
Grace to live and grace to die,
Grace to reach the home on high:
Hear us, holy Jesus.

Text: Public domain

On This Holiest of Weeks...

In times of uncertainty, we can still be certain of something. We have the sure and certain hope of eternal life, salvation and the forgiveness of our sins by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone!

Beginning with Palm Sunday, throughout Holy Week we remember what the Son of God has done for all of humanity. Now, we remember this all the time, but as the Church, we focus on Christ’s Passion this week.

• §  We remember how Jesus entered into Jerusalem, not upon a war horse, but upon a humble donkey.
• §  We remember how Jesus displayed His love for His disciples on Maundy Thursday as He said, “Take, eat; this is my body” and “Drink of it , all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:26, 27-28).
• §  We remember how Jesus washed His disciples feet following the institution of the Lord’s Supper when Peter asked Him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand” (John 13:6-7). Christ later says, “For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15).
• §  We remember how Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, prayed at Gethsemane, was denied by Peter three times, was judged by Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and buried.

To be continued...

Upon the Cross Extended

The Apostle Peter writes, "[Jesus] Himself born our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24). Lutheran hymn writer Paul Gerhardt's depiction of the crucifixion in "Upon the Cross Extended" (LSB 453) leads us to the same place, to the healing of the wounds of sin (stanza 5), then to eternal rest in Christ (stanza 7). 

Here are some of the vivid pictures that Gerhardt paints: "Your Lord suspended" (stanza 1), "Your Savior yields His breath" (stanza 1), "To shame and blows and bitter death" (stanza 1), "Blood streams from each pore" (stanza 2), "From His great heart came flowing sighs welling from its deepest core" (stanza 2), "Your head with thorns surrounded" (stanza 5).

The saving power of the cross restores, guides, and sustains each Christian, even in the test of life (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). And even when life is ending, Jesus has led the way to God's great eternal rest (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).

Today, we remember what is so good about Good Friday.

1 Upon the cross extended
See, world, your Lord suspended.
Your Savior yields His breath.
The Prince of Life from heaven
Himself has freely given
To shame and blows and bitter death.

2 Come, see these things and ponder,
Your soul will fill with wonder
As blood streams from each pore.
Through grief beyond all knowing
From His great heart came flowing
Sighs welling from its deepest core.

3 Who is it, Lord, that bruised You?
Who has so sore abused You
And caused You all Your woe?
We all must make confession
Of sin and dire transgression
While You no ways of evil know.

4 I caused Your grief and sighing
By evils multiplying
As countless as the sands.
I caused the woes unnumbered
With which Your soul is cumbered,
Your sorrows raised by wicked hands.

5 Your soul in griefs unbounded,
Your head with thorns surrounded,
You died to ransom me.
The cross for me enduring,
The crown for me securing,
You healed my wounds and set me free.

6 Your cords of love, my Savior,
Bind me to You forever,
I am no longer mine.
To You I gladly tender
All that my life can render
And all I have to You resign.

7 Your cross I place before me;
Its saving pow’r restore me,
Sustain me in the test.
It will, when life is ending,
Be guiding and attending
My way to Your eternal rest.

Text: Public domain

Jesus, I Will Ponder Now

The hymn "Jesus, I Will Ponder Now" (LSB 440) is personal. Note the lyrics: "I will ponder now... Your Spirit me endow... that I in love and faith... that I may not perish. Make me see... make me see... ah! I also and my sin... Grant that I your passion view with repentant grieving." This is an expression of personal faith.

The first stanza is a prayer for the Holy Spirit to help the singer meditate or ponder on the Passion of Christ. The second stanza proceeds to review the facts of the Passion. The third stanza identifies the sin of the world as the cause of Christ's Passion.

The last three stanzas are a prayer for Christ's Passion to have its proper effect as a help in fighting against sin, overcoming the grieving of conscience, and enduring suffering with a thankful heart.

Although we do not deserve forgiveness, Jesus accomplished forgiveness for our sake upon the cross and with His resurrection from the grave. We each receive this forgiveness by grace through faith in Jesus alone. Because of this, Jesus, I will ponder now.

1 Jesus, I will ponder now
On Your holy passion;
With Your Spirit me endow
For such meditation.
Grant that I in love and faith
May the image cherish
Of Your suff’ring, pain, and death
That I may not perish.

2 Make me see Your great distress,
Anguish, and affliction,
Bonds and stripes and wretchedness
And Your crucifixion;
Make me see how scourge and rod,
Spear and nails did wound You,
How for them You died, O God,
Who with thorns had crowned You.

3 Yet, O Lord, not thus alone
Make me see Your passion,
But its cause to me make known
And its termination.
Ah! I also and my sin
Wrought Your deep affliction;
This indeed the cause has been
Of Your crucifixion.

4 Grant that I Your passion view
With repentant grieving.
Let me not bring shame to You
By unholy living.
How could I refuse to shun
Ev’ry sinful pleasure
Since for me God’s only Son
Suffered without measure?

5 If my sins give me alarm
And my conscience grieve me,
Let Your cross my fear disarm;
Peace of conscience give me.
Help me see forgiveness won
By Your holy passion.
If for me He slays His Son,
God must have compassion!

6 Graciously my faith renew;
Help me bear my crosses,
Learning humbleness from You,
Peace mid pain and losses.
May I give You love for love!
Hear me, O my Savior,
That I may in heav’n above
Sing Your praise forever.

Text: Public domain

Go to Dark Gethsemane

When James Montgomery (1771-1854) wrote "Go to Dark Gethsemane" (LSB 436) he first called it "Christ our example in suffering." The author wrote his text as a meditation upon the Passion of Christ that we remember especially each Holy Week.

In the hymn, the Gospel invites us to contemplate Christ in His Passion as our Savior from sin. The Law is also presented as a model for Christian living. Each stanza concludes with a final command that presents a lesson to be learned from critical moments in Jesus' life from Maundy Thursday to Easter.

1 Go to dark Gethsemane,
All who feel the tempter’s pow’r;
Your Redeemer’s conflict see,
Watch with Him one bitter hour;
Turn not from His griefs away;
Learn from Jesus Christ to pray.

2 Follow to the judgment hall,
View the Lord of life arraigned;
Oh, the wormwood and the gall!
Oh, the pangs His soul sustained!
Shun not suff’ring, shame, or loss;
Learn from Him to bear the cross.

3 Calv’ry’s mournful mountain climb;
There, adoring at His feet,
Mark that miracle of time,
God’s own sacrifice complete.
“It is finished!” hear Him cry;
Learn from Jesus Christ to die.

4 Early hasten to the tomb
Where they laid His breathless clay;
All is solitude and gloom.
Who has taken Him away?
Christ is ris’n! He meets our eyes.
Savior, teach us so to rise.

Text: Public domain

See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIFUJFj833k for an instrumental version of this hymn.