Good News Indeed

The gospel is good news indeed,
To sinners deep in debt;
The man who has no works to plead,
Will thankful be for it.

To know that when he’s nought to pay,
His debts are all discharged,
Will make him blooming look as May,
And set his soul at large.

How gladly does the prisoner hear,
What gospel has to tell!
‘Tis perfect love that casts out fear,
And brings him from his cell.

The man that feels his guilt abound,
And knows himself unclean,
Will find the gospel’s joyful sound,
Is welcome news to him.
-William Gadsby (1773-1884)

Yes! The man who has no works to plead, will thankful be for it! This hymn is amazing. Thank you William Gadsby for writing it! This resonated with my heart so much as I listened to it tonight here on the ship. It is not so much because it is what I have been experiencing lately but because it is what I have been needing to hear! Poor sinners deep in debt become like the blooming spring. Deserved prisoners are set free by perfect love. A man covered in the filth of sin and knows himself unclean is the one who hears most clearly the beautiful sound of the Gospel.

This is our welcome news. To know that we are unclean and guilty and to respond by seeking no refuge but in the grace bought for us at the cross.