Most people when they look around the world can see that something is wrong. And the Bible classifies that thing as sin. That all of us have gone astray. We don’t do what God would will for us. The things that we should do we don’t do; the things that we shouldn’t do, we do do. But the Bible’s clear that the only way that that can actually be fixed is by something called “grace” —and we receive that through Jesus and through his death on the cross and his resurrection.
The song “Grace Alone” is essentially about that fact: we’re saved by grace alone. We’re not saved by anything that we do. And so I hope what you hear in this song is that your striving apart from accepting Jesus’ righteousness simply because he gives it to you, not because you’ve earned it—all of your striving apart from that is just useless.
So the key to actually being able to see the gospel is to despair of your own efforts.
“Grace Alone”
I was an orphan lost at the fall
Running away when I’d hear you call
But Father, you worked your will
I had no righteousness of my own
I had no right to draw near your throne
But Father, you loved me still
And in love before you laid the world’s foundation
You predestined to adopt me as your own
You have raised me up so high above my station
I’m a child of God by grace and grace alone
You left your home to seek out the lost
You knew the great and terrible cost
But Jesus, your face was set
I worked my fingers down to the bone
Nothing I did could ever atone
But Jesus, you paid my debt
By your blood I have redemption and salvation
Lord, you died that I might reap what you have sown
And you rose that I might be a new creation
I am born again by grace and grace alone
I was in darkness all of my life
I never knew the day from the night
But Spirit, you made me see
I swore I knew the way on my own
Head full of rocks, a heart made of stone
But Spirit, you moved in me
At your touch my sleeping spirit was awakened
On my darkened heart, the light of Christ has shone
Called into a kingdom that cannot be shaken
Heaven’s citizen by grace and grace alone
So I stand in faith by grace and grace alone
I will run the race by grace and grace alone
I will slay my sin by grace and grace alone
I will reach the end by grace and grace alone
Listen to the studio version of "Grace Alone" and be on the lookout for The Modern Post's EP, coming out August 14.
Dustin Kensrue is a deacon and the worship leader at Mars Hill Downtown Bellevue.
