Trusting others presents massive challenges in our fallen world. Everyone has been corrupted by sin, and therefore fails to be fully faithful or trustworthy. As Proverbs 20:6 says, “Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man?”

While humans prove to be both distrustful and untrustworthy, God presents Himself as the One we can supremely trust for everything in this life and beyond the grave. We see an intentional emphasis in Scripture on the trustworthiness of God, but Scripture does not command us to have a blind faith. The Lord instructs us to trust Him, and then He demonstrates He is worthy of our trust. God never speaks, then fails to act. He always proves Himself faithful. 

Despite this truth, we often struggle to trust God, which manifests itself when we give in to sin in times of various trials and temptations. So how do we grow our trust of our Lord and His power over our sin? 

We find a helpful answer to this question in Isaiah 53. Here, God reveals His Suffering Servant, the Lord Jesus as eminently trustworthy. Whether we suffer because of trials or temptations, Jesus can be trusted to see us through and bring God’s covenant promises to fruition. 

There are four ways Isaiah shows Jesus’ trustworthiness in this passage.

First, Jesus humbled Himself when we were proud.

At the start of this chapter, Isaiah laments Israel’s unbelief. Just before, in Isaiah 52, we learn that the Gentiles would marvel at the exalted Servant. Yet when the scene flips to Isaiah 53, regardless of the magnificent salvific promises of the previous passage, we observe the ongoing disbelief of people who have had a front-row seat to God’s work. What makes God’s promises so difficult to trust? Isaiah answers by showing us the Servant’s humility alongside the pride of sinners who reject God’s word. 

Whether we suffer because of trials or temptations, Jesus can be trusted to see us through and bring God’s covenant promises to fruition.

Isaiah gives a description of the Servant’s humility, using agricultural pictures to convey Jesus’ outward appearance as useless and unfruitful. The Servant came in the humblest of ways, and His circumstances and appearance made Him look dispensable. People would have contempt for God’s Messiah and suffering Servant.

Thus, we see both the humiliation of the Servant and the pride of man. God in human flesh descends to us, and we despise Him because He does not meet our ideals. God, however, sees us in our pride, knows how we will respond, and still comes to save us from sin. 

Jesus proves Himself trustworthy in His willing humiliation for prideful sinners. Isaiah includes himself in those who thought little of the Servant, saying, “We did not esteem Him.” We must include ourselves in that we. Apart from God’s grace, we rejected Him. Christ, though, condescended to save us, showing He is trustworthy. 

Second, Jesus was faithful when we were not.

Isaiah paints a rather ugly picture of us. The Servant was carrying our griefs and sorrows, but we saw His suffering and said, “God has rightly stricken Him for His sins.” We were unfaithful hypocrites, thinking we stood blameless before God’s law as we cast condemnation on His very own Christ! 

The reality is Jesus was pierced and crushed for our transgressions, our iniquities, and our acts of ungodliness! He took the punishment we deserved so we might have peace, wholeness, and well-being. He healed us of our sins by enduring the scourging. We thought we could condemn God’s Servant, but we were actually under God’s curse.

This, though, was God’s purpose and plan, according to Isaiah. That plan involved Christ suffering and dying for us. God Himself caused our unrighteousness, sins, and disobedience to fall on Jesus. God imputed our sins to Jesus on the cross. Jesus stood in our place, took our sins and the wrath of God, and bore our punishment so we could have shalom with God.

The irony here is stark. The prophet says we looked at Jesus and thought, “God punished Him because of His sin,” but God did this to Him because of our sin. Jesus faithfully submitted so we could be forgiven, stand righteous before God, and be made whole again. Jesus’ faithfulness, even while we were faithless and lost, inspires confidence and trust in Him.

Third, Jesus submitted to death when we deserved it.

Verses 7-9 are remarkable in portraying our Savior’s substitutionary death on the cross.

Jesus was treated with contempt, but He was silent like a sheep before shearers.  He suffered horrifically, received no justice, was humiliated, and died childless, a sure sign to that culture that God’s displeasure rested upon Him. His separation from sinners, even though He identified with them, was made clear in His burial.

Isaiah then inserts the phrase, to whom the stroke was due, referring to the utter condemnation God brings down upon sinners. This is another reminder of Jesus’ faithfulness. We should have suffered the wrath of God, but Jesus absorbed the condemnation we deserved.

Jesus’ victory over sin is assured in His success in justifying sinners.

Think about the ways we are tempted not to trust Jesus, Christian. Jesus took our place and bore in His own body our sins, sorrows, griefs, and condemnation; and He went to this extreme to bring us peace, to free us from the guilt of sin, and to save us from eternal punishment. The question is never, “Is Jesus going to provide everything we need to live before Him and attain salvation on the last day?” The question is always, “Do we trust Him?” He died for us when we deserved death. We have every reason to trust Him. 

Finally, Jesus gained the victory over sin when we were the transgressors.

The resounding theme of verses 10-12 is the Suffering Servant, though crushed and stricken, was ultimately victorious. 

We see Jesus’ victory over sin in His resurrection in verse 10. The Lord was pleased with the Servant’s suffering because Christ’s death was an offering to remove our guilt.

God was pleased because the cross was not the Servant’s end. Through His death, Jesus was fruitful, and the things that please God would flourish through Christ’s work. He would live forever, even though He died a horrific death. 

Jesus’ victory over sin is assured in His success in justifying sinners. The result of Jesus’ anguish would be satisfaction for Him, and justification for us who trust in Him. Jesus was victorious over sin, not in some abstract sense, but in the very real sense that our sins are forgiven, cast into the depths of the sea, as far as the east is from the west; and we are now one with the Righteous One, so that His righteousness has become ours. 

We also see Christ’s victory in His exaltation. He, who appeared to be nothing more than a cast off, was the mighty warrior who leads the conquerors in celebration over their enemies. Why? Because He bore our sin and interceded for us, the transgressors, which is the strongest word Isaiah could have used to picture someone’s wickedness.

Jesus showed Himself trustworthy by gaining the victory over sin when we were the transgressors. Through His resurrection, justifying work, and exaltation, Christ is worthy of our trust and confidence. When the apostle Peter read Isaiah 53 and saw what Jesus had done for His people, his response was to see Jesus’ suffering as a model of His faithfulness, so that no matter what we are experiencing or facing, we can trust ourselves to Him. 

This month we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Over the next several posts, we will look at different passages of Scripture relating to the purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The first is Genesis 3, which is the account of humanity’s fall into sin through Adam’s transgression and the place where redemption and salvation became necessary. Prior to Genesis 3, we did not need a crucified and risen Savior because there was no sin. 

When sin entered the world, though, everything changed, and it required radical action from God if humanity was to be rescued from destruction and death. The only solution to the problem of sin was a crucified and risen Savior. 

The key verse in the passage is Genesis 3:15. God said to the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”

Here we have, what theologians call, the first Gospel proclamation. Immediately after Adam sinned, God promised there would be warfare between the offspring of the devil and the offspring of the woman, and the offspring of the woman would prevail. 

We know the offspring of the woman ultimately refers to Jesus Christ. One of the surest evidences of this fact is the battle Jesus waged against Satan throughout His earthly ministry, culminating with the cross. The crucifixion, then, was not merely a work of men against Jesus, but an epic battle between Satan and Jesus. Satan, the serpent of old, sought to crush Jesus but only bruised His heel. Jesus, though, on the cross and through the resurrection, crushed Satan’s head.

Let us look, then, at four problems caused by sin that are presented in Genesis 3 and consider why Jesus had to die and rise again to resolve them. 

First, when sin entered the world, humanity believed Satan’s lies.

Satan’s strategy in the garden was to distort the Word of God and to call God a liar. Eve believed this lie, and she was deceived disobeying God. Paul wrote in Romans 1:25 that mankind has “exchanged the truth of God for a lie.” When sin entered the world, humanity fell into deception, no longer believing God’s Word, but Satan, the father of lies. 

The good news of the gospel, though, is that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil – his lies and deceit! The world is hostile to God because people believe the devil’s lie that God is out to suppress, harm, oppress, and stifle humanity. At Calvary and the empty tomb, however, this lie is completely undone. 

When sin entered the world, all humanity fell into the devil’s deception; but Jesus died and rose again to overcome Satan’s lies.

In 2 Peter 1:4, Peter writes, “For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature.” Satan says, “God doesn’t want any rivals, so He is suppressing you.” God’s gospel promise, however, is that in the resurrection we will be made like Jesus in every way possible for a creature to be like his Creator. We will be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29); and God in Christ will give us all things. When sin entered the world, all humanity fell into the devil’s deception; but Jesus died and rose again to overcome Satan’s lies.

Second, when sin entered the world, humanity became alienated from God.

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, shame entered into their experience, and intimacy with one another was broken. Adam’s first response to God was to hide out of guilt and fear. Adam also compounds his first transgression with the sin of lying about why he will not come before his Creator. Later, Adam blames God, saying Eve, whom God had created, was the source of the problem. This is how sinners always relate to God apart from Christ. Option one: Hide. Option two: Lie. Option three: Make excuses to shift blame.

God, however, didn’t accept any of Adam’s tactics. Instead, God promises to redeem Adam through Eve’s offspring by defeating and condemning the serpent. God promises reconciliation. How do we know God promises reconciliation? Because the offspring of Eve and her children are going to be enemies of Satan, not of God.

In 1 Peter 3:18, Peter writes, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.” We were alienated from and hostile toward God because of sin; but God gave His Son for us, and Jesus rose from the dead to end the hostility and bring us to Himself. 

Third, when sin entered the world, humanity incurred guilt before God for sin.

After Adam’s transgression, sin became a barrier between man and God. The problem sinners have with a holy God is not a psychological problem, or something internal we merely need to convince ourselves to get over. Rather, the problem is sin and the guilt we incur because of sin. God is so holy that He cannot even look upon evil.

Christ’s death and resurrection guarantees our future resurrection.

To reconcile us to God, Jesus had to deal with the problem of sin. He took our guilt and very sin upon Himself and paid its penalty so we could be reconciled to God.

In Galatians 3:13, Paul writes, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’”  The curse we deserve was borne by Jesus when He hung on the cross and dealt with our objective guilt before a holy God.

Finally, when sin entered the world, humanity became subject to death.

With guilt incurred because of sin and with alienation from the life of God came death. As Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” When Adam sinned, the entire human race was subjected to death.

But the curse doesn’t end with death; Jesus died and rose again to give eternal life! Incredibly, Adam somehow knew this was the meaning of God’s promise in Genesis 3:15. When God vowed to defeat Satan through a man, Adam knew it meant life for his posterity. That’s why after God pronounces the sentence of death on Adam and all humanity, Adam names his wife Eve “because she was the mother of all the living.” Even in the face of death, Adam had hope that God promised life. 

This is why we need a crucified and risen Savior. Sin created problems that human nature could not solve. Adam’s response was not to solve the sin problem, but to hide from it. The only one who can solve the problem of sin is God, and He has done so through His Son. Christ’s death and resurrection guarantees our future resurrection.

This month as we reflect on Jesus’ death and resurrection, we should remember what He accomplished for us. Consider how hopelessly condemned we were without Christ. Rejoice that He loved us and gave Himself for us, so we might have life and a real relationship with the Lord, that we might even know God Himself. This reality should cause us to live even more for Him who died and rose again on our behalf.

The call of pastoral ministry should never be taken lightly. Certainly, this does not mean we should look for perfect men to fill our pulpits. Only One lived perfectly and then died for sinners, including pastors, and rose again to justify us by His grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Nevertheless, it is a high and serious calling to be a pastor. There are many reasons this is true, but one significant purpose is because pastors are to model what an active living faith looks like before their people. Consider Hebrews 13:7 –

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

God has appointed qualified men to shepherd His churches, in part, so that His people could have a tangible example of what it looks like to trust the Lord. This type of example is important in every season but is particularly necessary in tumultuous days like the present.

In these menacing times, brother pastors, we must seek God’s grace in order to give our people a faith worth imitating. In today’s post, I have four areas of exhortation whereby pastors can better model a tangible faith to their people. I believe the Scriptures warrant these four areas as having particular importance to the life of the church and even more so during seasons like these.

In the crucible of perilous seasons, where flames of doubt, fear, and lawlessness seem to portend our doom, godly pastors must stand as steadfast beacons of faith, their lives and teaching a testament to trust in the face of menacing times.

Where must pastors particularly model trust before their people? Here are four areas:

The Sufficiency of Scripture

From the beginning, Satan has attacked the Word of God (cf. Gen. 3:1). In every century, God’s people have felt the unrelenting barrage of the Evil One seeking to minimize the power and efficacy of the Bible. Our day is no different.

Thus, pastors must have a ready response to the devil, to the culture, and even to the church, when asked, Hath God really said?. That answer is, “Yes He has! Here is chapter and verse.”

Pastors must demonstrate to their people that the Bible really is the inerrant, infallible, authoritative, necessary, clear, and sufficient revelation of the triune God. They do this by not only preaching weekly what the Bible says in its context, but also by seeking to have the structure, worship, ministry, fellowship, and entire life of the church conformed to the Scriptures.

We must show the world (for truly, it is watching) and broader evangelicalism, that the Word of God does not change and sufficiently addresses every issue the church may face until our Lord Jesus returns. The qualifications for a pastor do not change in any age. The definition of the church does not change. Sin always has the same remedy: repentance and faith in Christ. We have a sufficient Bible.

Pastors must demonstrate to their people that the Bible really is the inerrant, infallible, authoritative, necessary, clear, and sufficient revelation of the triune God.

Pastors must not only carry the Bible with them into the pulpit, but into homes, alongside hospital beds, and in their hearts in such a way that their people truly believe, “these men really believe this Book and I should too!”

The Suitableness of Christ

Secondly, pastors must show their people what it looks like to rest wholly upon King Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. A pastor is not more acceptable to God because of his pastoring. He, as much as any other person, stands in need of the grace of God in the gospel.

Christ shed His blood for sinners’ redemption (cf. Eph. 1:7). Thus, a pastor must never seek to be Jesus to anyone – he could never be! He too stands in need of the justifying work of Jesus as applied by the Holy Spirit.

This means pastors can and must model what it looks like to humbly rest in Jesus as our only suitable and all sufficient Savior. They are to model repentance before others and forgiveness to others. They are to model evangelism as they show forth the suitability of Christ for any sinner who will call upon His name.

And they must never forget the great love God has for them! The pastor’s identity is not first and foremost in his pastoring. It is securely in our victorious Savior. So, while a pastor cannot be Christ to anyone, he is to be in Christ to everyone.

And when Satan shoots his fiery arrows at a pastor (cf. Eph. 6:16) – and he will – we do not seek to defend ourselves by pointing to our accolades or making paltry excuses for our failures. Rather, we hold up the shield of faith, singing, “upward I look and see Him there, who made an end of all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free, for God the just is satisfied, to look on Him and pardon me!”

The Sovereignty of God

In seasons of prosperity, it seems easy to say that God is on His throne. But it is all the more necessary to show our people the sovereignty of God when the days are dark.

It is a shame that the sovereignty of God is a source of contention for many professing Christians and churches today. The sovereignty of God is not revealed to the church for her to squabble about it. It is revealed for our comfort. For our pillow at night. For our defense. For our shield (cf. Gen. 15:1).

Church members need to see what it looks like for a pastor to really believe in the sovereignty of God. Has God really chosen a people in eternity past despite their unworthiness? Then missions and evangelism will be a priority! We are guaranteed ultimate success in gospel ministry because God is sovereign (even if we do not see immediate results always in the here and now).

Has God really decreed all things and is He presently working all things out according to the counsel of His will (cf. Eph. 1:11)? Then away with all cowardice. We can stand confidently in the midst of every storm because we have a sovereign God who is in complete control and His Word reassures us that He will never leave us or forsake us.

Thus, while pastors should be good citizens of our country, and know what’s going on in our world today, they must never be immobilized by fear. They do not have to spend hours upon hours in the latest news cycle because they already know the most important thing: Christ is king! And all things are under His sovereign feet.

We can stand confidently in the midst of every storm because we have a sovereign God who is in complete control and His Word reassures us that He will never leave us or forsake us.

Further, we demonstrate trust in the sovereignty of God when we do things as He has shown us in His Word. We do church discipline, for example, because we trust a sovereign God. Obedience to God demonstrates our belief in His sovereign rule. Even when the world may say we are foolish, we do what God says because He is God and we are not.

The Success of the Church

Finally, pastors must show their people what it looks like to really believe in the importance of the local church. Whatever your eschatology may be, every pastor ought to be unremittingly committed to the local church and her success.

Christ is head of the church (cf. Col. 1:18). If Christ is the head of the church, and not the pope and not any human institution, entity, or committee, then how can the church not have victory? She is already seated with Christ (Eph. 2:4-6)! If Christ is the head and the church His body, do we think somehow the body of Christ will be defeated while the head prevails? No!

 Christ will never be severed from His Body. The Bridegroom will never be separated from His Bride. The Cornerstone will never be removed from the Building.

The church ultimately prevails because the Jesus prevails! Christ wins and so His body wins with Him and will be presented before God holy and blameless (cf. Eph. 5:25-27).

Now, it is true that individual churches may shut their doors. Conventions or denominations may cease to exist or even apostatize. Christians may face martyrdom. But the point is, as a collective whole, local churches win because they are united to Christ and He is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Friends, the church is not an afterthought to God. She is not a parenthesis to His plan. She is His plan! From the beginning, we see her, though not in her fullness, in the Old Testament saints and prophecies. We see her more clearly revealed in the New Testament. And we see that she is what God is doing in the world today (cf. Matthew 16:18).

The church ultimately prevails because the Jesus prevails! Christ wins and so His body wins with Him and will be presented before God holy and blameless.

The church is winning now. Christ is reigning now. Christ is building His church inside the enemy’s camp now. Society may be crumbling. Morals may be declining. Nations may faulter. But the Church is enduring. She is not forgotten. She is the apple of God’s eye. Local churches are enduring. The Spirit of God is working in them. The Kingdom is not retreating but advancing.

Consider that for the last 2,000 years Satan and this evil world have sought to snuff out the church. Constant berating. Constant persecution. Constant warfare. For 2,000 years. But where is the church today compared to the book of Acts? She is thriving. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth have received the gospel, and the church continues to march forward making more and more disciples for the glory of God.

The church wins. She will always face persecution in this life. She will always meet resistance. But God is building His church in the face of His enemies. No matter what may happen to one particular local church, the church as a whole, local churches as a whole, will endure.

Pastors, our people need to see this kind of belief in the church. And this is not because the church is worthy in and of herself, but because Christ holds her dear to His heart.

Conclusion

These are not the days for retreat. Before closing, let me offer these thoughts to you in a different way. Pastors,

We model trust in the sufficiency of Scripture so there is No Rerouting.

We model trust in the sovereignty of God so there is No Rattle.

We model trust in the suitableness of Christ so there is No Replacement.

We model trust in the success of the church so there are No Regrets.

The Bible is sufficient, we will walk in the way of the Lord and no other (cf. Jer. 6:16). God is sovereign, we will not be afraid. Christ is enough and there is no other. The church wins, so we will gladly spend and be spent for her sake.

Keep pressing on, brother pastors. Rest your failures in the glorious gospel. Let your people see a faith worth imitating. Christ is worthy. To God be the glory.

This article is Part 2 in a series, you can read Part 1 here.

In the last post, we considered Charles Spurgeon’s public evangelism in terms of his support and practice of open-air preaching. In this post, we will consider the other means that Spurgeon used to wield the sword of the Spirit and the gospel of salvation in the public square.

Personal Evangelism

First, Spurgeon wholeheartedly believed that sinners must be sought on a personal, one-to-one basis. In many cases, open-air preaching, and personal evangelism work in harmony together when the local church goes on mission in the public square. Spurgeon writes:

True-hearted open-air preachers will be sure to join with their preaching very much earnest private talk … Every open-air preacher should not only address the hundreds, but he should be ready to pounce upon the ones, and he should have others with him who have the same happy art. How much more good would come of preaching in the streets if every open-air preacher were accompanied by a batch of persons who would drive his nails home for him by personal conversation.[1]

Though open-air preaching can reach the masses, personal evangelism can reach the individual directly and personally: “One advantage of dealing personally with souls is, that it is not so easy for them to turn aside the message as when they are spoken to in the mass.”[2] Again, Spurgeon emphasized that “many precious souls have been brought to Christ by the loving personal exhortations of Christian people who have learned this holy art! It is wonderful how God blesses very little efforts to serve him.”[3]

Now, one may ask, did Spurgeon actually take the time to practice this “holy art” in the public square? Indeed, he did! In his autobiography, Spurgeon told of a time when he met a man on a boat. After conversing with this man for some time, Spurgeon was burdened for this man’s soul. This lost sinner was confronted with the reality of death in his own life. Prior to their encounter, this poor man lost more than thirteen children due to the cholera outbreak. Knowing this man’s greatest need, Spurgeon proceeded to ask him if he would be going to heaven or hell once he died. Sadly, the man told Spurgeon that he had no hope for life or death. Commenting on the man’s response, Spurgeon writes, “then I told him, as plainly as I could, how the Lord Jesus Christ had taken the place of sinners, and how those who trusted in him, and rested in his blood and righteousness, would find pardon and peace.”[4]

After pointing this man to Jesus Christ, Spurgeon concluded with the following statement: “I cannot say what was the final result of our conversation, but I had the satisfaction of knowing that I had at least set before him God’s way of salvation in language that he could easily understand.”[5] From Spurgeon’s example, we must learn that every conversation with sinners in an opportunity to point them to Jesus Christ.

Tract and Literature Distribution

Second, where open-air preaching or personal conversations were not available, Spurgeon saw gospel tracts as a helpful tool in the hands of an evangelist. Spurgeon loved to distribute gospel tracts:

The very first service which my youthful heart rendered to Christ was the placing of tracts in envelopes, and then sealing them up, that I might send them … And I well remember taking other tracts, and distributing them in certain districts in the town of Newmarket, going from house to house … I used to write texts on little scraps of paper, and drop them anywhere, that some poor creatures might pick them up, and receive them as a message of mercy to their souls.[6]

Spurgeon’s high view of the sovereignty of God encouraged him in these evangelistic labours. Due to his Calvinistic theology, Spurgeon had great confidence that God may use a tract to save the lost. As a result, he earnestly sought to distribute as many tracts as possible, knowing that the Lord could use this literature for the advancement of the gospel.

A gospel tract is a helpful tool in the evangelist’s pocket. Spurgeon urged his hearers to always carry gospel tracts on them: “If I walked along the street, I must have a few tracts with me; if I went into a railway carriage, I must drop a tact out of the window; if I were in company, I must turn the subject of conversation to Christ, that I might serve my Master.”[7] In other words, “when preaching and private talk are not available, you have a tract ready, and this is often an effectual method. A telling, touching gospel tract may often be the seed of eternal life. Do not go out without your tracts.”[8]

Additionally, Spurgeon wrote evangelistic letters to the unconverted, urging them to come to Christ: “There is also power in a letter to an individual … When they get a sincere letter from a respected person such as yourself, they think a great deal of it. And who knows? Perhaps, a note received by post can hit the man your sermon missed.”[9] It is important to note that Spurgeon viewed a gospel tract or letter as a means for further follow up with an individual. It should not be viewed as an exclusive action. Rather, it should be a bridge for further conversation. Spurgeon writes, “I suppose, besides giving a tract, if you can, you try and find out where a person lives who frequently hears you, that you may give him a call. What a fine thing is a visit from an open-air preacher!”[10]

To conclude, after seeing Spurgeon’s Public Evangelism in these first two posts, namely, his open-air preaching, personal evangelism, and tract distribution, we will consider in the next post how Spurgeon trained evangelists in his local church. In the meantime, may we take heed to Spurgeon’s exhortation and do everything we can to seek the lost:

“Get on your feet; ye that have voices and knowledge, go forth and preach the gospel, preach it in every street and lane of this huge city … Let every one of us who knows the Lord seek to fight under his banner!”[11]

                  [1] C. H. Spurgeon, The Soul Winner: Advice on Effective Evangelism (1992; repr., Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus, 2015), 141.

            [2] Ibid., 377.

            [3] Spurgeon, Autobiography: The Early Years, 373.

                  [4] Ibid., 375.

                  [5] Ibid.

                  [6] Ibid., 156.

            [7] Ibid., 156.

                  [8] Spurgeon, The Soul Winner, 142.

            [9] Ibid., 142.

            [10] Ibid., 142.

                  [11] Spurgeon, Autobiography: The Early Years, 154.

The sun shall soon dissolve like snow,the moon forbear to shine;but God, who called me here below,will be forever mine.

Newton’s Collage. 

Long before twentieth artists like Pablo Picasso began to use the technique of collage, employing a collection of objects in their work, and long before Charles Ives wrote his Second Symphony, incorporating quotations from America’s history like Columbia the Gem of the Ocean or the folk hymn Bringing in the Sheaves, John Newton gave us a theological collage in the hymn “Amazing Grace.”

While most hymns keep the thematic boundaries close that is not the case with Amazing Grace. It is true that the grace of God is the overarching theme.  But Newton makes clear that this grace of God had confronted him with his wretchedness and that implies the preaching of the law and the conviction that comes from it.  His heart would know fear because grace had caused him to see the perfection of the righteousness of the Lord.  He takes us from this convicting work of God to the awakening of his soul, and leads us to see where that the journey of sanctification leads.  His collage honors the word of God in the fourth verse and the sureness of the promises of the Lord to protect us in this life.  In verse five he reminds us of our mortality but like Paul sees that day as a doorway into the very presence of Christ.  It is a little strange that, with this doctrinal variety, Newton would not have celebrated the death and resurrection of Christ in an explicit way.  

But like the book of Esther which never mentions the name of the Lord directly, apparently for literary effect, Newton gives us a hymn that does not mention the cross but honors it as many others fail to do.  He has set us on the pilgrim journey and assured us that the Lord is trustworthy.  Many Christians having sung the words hundreds of times, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years bright shining as the Sun, we’ve no less day to sing God’s praise than when we first begun,” would be surprised to discover that Newton did not write them. What Newton wrote about the future is usually not sung and that is a shame because Newton’s verse is glorious. Here is how it reads, The sun shall soon dissolve like snow, the moon forbear to shine, but God who called me here below will be forever mine.

The sun shall soon dissolve like snow, the moon forbear to shine.

The End of the Present Order and the Beginning of the New

John Newton, writing over a millennium and a half after the crucifixion of our Lord, speaks about the “soon” destruction of the present order.  How can Newton speak in this way? The apostle Peter tells us that scoffers will come who question the second appearance of the Lord.  But Peter reminds us that the example of the flood should cause us to understand that the end of time will be like Noah’s day.  The flood came and took them all away.  Only Noah and his family were saved.  It is the same with our blessed hope for the resurrection of the body and the removal of the sin touched order.  With the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.  That day will come, but as a thief in the night.  The Lord Jesus Christ will appear without warning.  When the apostles asked about the destruction of the temple (Christ had said that not one stone would be left standing) the Lord gave them several signs to look for before the destruction of the temple and the horrible conquest of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.  But of the final day of judgement the Lord prophesied no signs.  He told his disciples “That day” would catch many by surprise.  Like the flood in Noah’s day many would be taken away to judgement. 

Nothing that happens at the coming of the Lord will overshadow the accomplishment of his first advent.  When the Lord first appeared on the earth almost two thousand years ago, he came to establish God’s kingdom in perfection.  He came to bring righteousness to the earth in a way that had never been known before.  He came to bring God’s eternal life to the people of God.  All these things were accomplished by his death and resurrection.  He is reigning above and interceding for his own.  The battle for the souls of God’s elect people is proceeding and Christ is going forth to conquer the foe.  Satan’s doom is sure.  The return of our Lord will bring to fulfillment all the things that were won by his death and resurrection.  But the time of the Lord’s return is unknown.  

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Matthew 24:36)

When you hear of someone who claims to be able to predict the time of the Lord’s appearance, you may write them off as a charlatan, or at best a very confused person.  No one knows the time of Christ’s return.  You may say, “but didn’t the Lord speak about earthquakes, and famines, and wars and rumors of wars that would take place just prior to his return?”  “Aren’t there signs that we can look for?”  The Lord did speak of such things but specifically warned us not to be alarmed.  These were signs of the beginning and of the sure proclamation of the gospel to all the nations. (Matthew 24:1-14)

The Lord will come at an hour which will be characterized by its normalcy.  He taught that the time of his return would find the people of this world doing the things that they were doing when the flood of Noah came upon them and took them all away. (Matthew 24:37-40) They were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage (normal human behavior).  They did these things right up until the time that Noah and his family boarded the ark.  They did not expect the judgement of God to fall on them.  They would go on doing the things that human beings do and there would be no accountability for sin.  Or so they thought.  

Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.  (Matthew 24:41) 

 Just as the wicked people of Noah’s time were “taken away” to judgment by the flood so the coming of our Lord will divide humanity into two parts, those who are taken away to judgment and those who are not.   

Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. (Matthew 24:42)

The Bible teaches the imminent return of Christ.   He may not come today, but we do not know that.  We must not think that there are so many things to be fulfilled, before his return, that we may rest a while.  We must be ready.  The Lord taught several parables which emphasize this truth.  He spoke about the master of a house that went away to a wedding banquet.  His servants were expected to be alert and ready to open the door immediately on his return. (Luke 12:35-40)   On another occasion he spoke about the owner of a house who would in time close the door of the house.  Those outside would knock and plead with him, but he would tell them “I don’t know you or where you come from.” (Luke 13:22-30)

The Lord will return in bodily form.  Luke gave us an account of the ascension of the Lord after his resurrection from the dead.  The Lord was taken up into heaven before the eyes of his apostles and hidden from their sight by a cloud.  Two “men” dressed in white appeared and spoke to the apostles in this way, 

“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?  This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11)

The clear teaching is this.  Our Lord ascended bodily and was concealed from sight, one day he will be revealed again in bodily form and will descend from above.  

And the second coming of Christ will also bring about a union of the church militant and the church triumphant. One of the oldest confessions of faith speaks of the communion of saints.This is not merely a reference to the fellowship of living Christians, but includes the common experience of salvation through Christ, which is shared by the living and the dead.  Thousands who came to faith in Christ while living here on the earth are now with the Lord.  They live in heaven with him and are far better off for it.  They have traditionally been called the church triumphant while those who are still here in this world are thought of as the church militant, the church on the march against the forces of evil here below.  The Bible teaches us that the church triumphant will return with our Lord.

We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.  According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17)

This very important passage teaches us that the return of Christ will not be a hidden event.  There will be a loud command, the voice of the archangel will be heard, and the trumpet call of God will sound.  The second coming will be a noisy event.  One cannot miss it.  All people will know that Christ our Lord has returned.  Christians will rejoice, but the lost will be terrified because of their sins and the judgement to come.  As we have seen, the dead will be raised.  This is true of both the righteous and the unrighteous.   

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will come out–those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. (John 5:28-29)

The Lord did not call the experience of the resurrected unbelievers “life.”  Only the righteous really “live.”  The wicked exist in a state of eternal torment.  Hell becomes their dwelling place forever.  But all the dead shall be raised.  The Bible does not give us much information concerning the bodily existence of those who are eternally lost.  But there is quite a bit of information concerning the future state of the redeemed.  Since we will be “like Christ,” it is instructive to remember that he even ate with his disciples after he had been resurrected from the dead.  Our existence will not be a shadowy matter but the reality of our life, in that new day, will be, if anything, far more real than life in this world.  And our new body will be one that is designed for perfect fellowship with our God.  All sin and mortality (which is the result of sin) will now be past.  The immortal life of God will be ours in truth.  As Paul said, 

 . . . we shall bear the likeness of the man from heaven.  (1 Corinthians 15:49)

The return of our Lord will also bring in the final judgment of God, which will be a judgment based on principles of righteousness. The Scriptures teach us that all must face this judgment. 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)  

Those who try to stand before the righteous judge in that day, without the grace of God to shield them, will only know the wrath of the Lamb of God.  Their sins will be judged, and their “righteous acts” will be shown to be nothing more than filthy rags in the sight of God.  Those who know Christ will also be judged on principles of righteousness but will have the continuing intercession of the Son of God.  They will be shown mercy for their sins, and their works which were done as the result of the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit, will be recognized as pure and acceptable in the sight of God.

The return of our Lord will mean the end of the present creation and the revelation of a new heaven anda new earth.  The old creation has been spoiled by Adam’s fall and the sins of subsequent generations.  It must and will be replaced.  A new creation has already come in Christ.  The death and resurrection of our Lord brought in a new and perfect order.  That new order has been advancing against the forces of evil for many years.  One day the Lord himself will return and we will see the unveiling of Christ’s perfection and the glorious character of his kingdom.  That kingdom will displace all others.  We may love the country in which we were born.  We may be strongly patriotic.  But the mature Christian comes to understand that we are first and foremost citizens of God’s kingdom, and it is the only kingdom that will endure for all eternity.  

And there will no longer be a great divide between heaven and earth. (Revelation 21:1)   In other words, the dwelling place of God and the dwelling place of man will have been brought together by the graciousness of our God.  In a sense, we will dwell on the earth forever.  Earth, our dwelling place will have been created new, and there will be no essential difference between heaven and earth.  But the significant thing is that we will be able to live in the very presence of our God because we will have been brought to perfection ourselves.  We were once justified before God despite our sins because of God’s grace given us in Christ.  We were sanctified by the continuing work of God in us over the years of our lives.  But on that day, we will be glorified. We will know the perfection of absolute holiness.  We will truly be righteous as our Lord is righteous.  There will be no more tears. (Revelation 21:4) There will be no more sin.  (Revelation 21:8) The same passage teaches that Christ will have made his church splendid in holiness.  The figures of this passage do not describe the literal streets of heaven; they set before us the splendors of the church in all her redeemed glory.  We are told that we will have entered an eternal day.  Light is a symbol of truth and righteousness in scripture.  There will be no need for the sun.  We will have the light of God’s presence forever.  And there will be perfect joy and satisfaction.  We will drink the water of life. 

And then, at the end of this most famous hymn, Newton reminds us of God’s call to undeserving sinners.

But God who called me here below will be forever mine.

The General Call

The children of God have heard the call of God.  The apostle Paul tells us that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.  The proclamation of the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection for our sins is the heart of Christian experience.  We must hear that we are sinners who have broken the laws of God and deserve hell. And we must hear that we should look away from ourselves to Christ and his perfect righteousness.  He alone has the perfect obedience that we need.  

And so, the church preaches Christ.  We preach Christ with the truth of holy scripture.  We preach the gospel events and with Paul say that these truths are the things of first importance.  As individuals we preach Christ when we are baptized.  Without a spoken word we say to those who are present, “Christ died for me to take my sins away and he was raised for me to give me eternal life.”  And when the church gathers around the Lord’s table, we preach Christ.  There we see the Lord’s body and blood, and together with all our brothers and sisters in the Lord we remember his death as our atonement.  And we eat the bread and drink the cup.  Thus, we preach his sustaining life.  As we are nourished by his body and blood, we preach again the resurrection life of the Lord.

But there is another work of the Lord, another calling of God that Newton had experienced. That work of God is the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit.

Effectual Calling

Which comes first —the new birth or repentance and faith?

The order is this, first comes regeneration or the new birth by the Spirit.  Then repentance and faith in Christ come as the result of the work of God.  The Baptist Faith and Message puts it this way, 

Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus.  It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Notice the order.  First there is the new birth.  Then repentance and faith appear.  They are “inseparable experiences of grace.” If you have been born again, you will repent.  If you have been born again, you will believe in Christ.  These things have come to us because of the grace of God.  He has given us new life.  He has given us the ability to repent when others do not.  He has given us faith in Christ when others do not believe in him.  On one occasion the Lord even told some of his enemies that the reason they did not believe in him was because the Father had not enabled them to do so.  (John 6:60-65) One might say, “But I thought that God gives us new life because we repent.  Isn’t repentance the condition for being born again?”  Not according to the Lord Jesus Christ.  He told Nicodemus,

The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John3:8)

Can you and I control the wind?  Do we arise each day and decide how fast the wind will blow or from what direction the wind will come?  Can we stop a tornado from creating havoc as it passes through a defenseless town?  Of course not.  The wind blows where it pleases. Do you see the point that the Lord is making?  We cannot control or direct the Spirit of God in his work of imparting new life to sinners.  He regenerates.  He resurrects to new life.  He causes us to be “born again.”  The wind of the Spirit must blow.  That is why we pray for the Holy Spirit to come to our friends and relatives who do not know the Lord.  We ask God to save them.   We know that if they are to come to Christ, they must be drawn to him by the work of God.  The Lord Jesus said,

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.  I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. (John 5:24-25)

The Lord was not speaking about the last day when the dead will be raised from their graves.  That is clear because, just after he spoke these words, he began to talk about that day.

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out . . .  (John5:28-29a)

We are dead in our sins.  We cannot help ourselves.  God must come to our rescue.  He has done that by sending his Son to die in the place of sinners on the cross.  But that atoning work must be applied to us individually, and that is the work of God’s Spirit.  The Father chose us in eternity.  The Son died for his people in time and history.  And the Holy Spirit brings the benefits of Christ’s death to us.  He brings with him the resurrection life of Christ.  With the same power that raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead he touches us as we lie spiritually helpless, dead before God.  Suddenly we rise from our spiritual grave.  We believe the gospel.  We believe in Christ.  We depend on him to save us. In our dead state we did not love God.  Now we love him because he first loved us.  We did not love our fellow man.  Now we love even those that we once hated.  All this is the miraculous result of the new birth.  The Lord has touched us with resurrection power.  We are truly alive for the first time.  We have been born again!  We must make clear that the Holy Spirit, in accomplishing this work of God, uses the word of God.  The preaching of the gospel is an essential part of the Holy Spirit’s regenerating work. 

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

There must be a presentation of the truths of the gospel if a sinner is to come to Christ for salvation.  But the external call to receive Christ as Lord and Savior cannot save if it stands alone.  There must also be an internal work of God.  The Holy Spirit must hover over us as surely as he hovered over the formless void.  Just as the voice of God said “let there be light” so the Holy Spirit brings light to our dark world.  He says to each of our dead souls, arise!   It is like the Lord Jesus Christ appearing before the tomb of Lazarus and shouting for the dead man to come forth.  And, just as Lazarus was called from death to life by the power of God, so we are raised by God’s powerful work for us.   But Lazarus died again.  Not so with those who are born again.  The life that began with the new birth will never end.  

John Newton had heard both the external call and he had “heard” the precious call that comes from the Spirit of God.  He could look forward to the blessings of heaven, when the earth dissolves like snow because he had been called by the Lord to an amazing salvation by grace!

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,and mortal life shall cease:I shall possess, within the veil,a life of joy and peace.

John Newton’s Amazing Grace was originally titled “Faith’s Review and Expectation.” By faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit, Newton “reviewed” his life to see it from the lens of reality: “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me!” One of the enduring qualities of Amazing Grace is that believers have identified with the brutal honesty of the text as they reflect and personalize the darkness of their past and the hope of their future in Christ.

The preacher-hymn writer beautifully and poetically captured his “life in review” and his eternal “expectation” of hope everlasting in verse five of this powerful and popular hymn: “Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease, I shall possess, within the veil, A life of joy and peace.” For Newton, there was no question as to “if” his flesh would give out and “if” his heart would stop beating; it was for him, “when” the cessation of life would take place. Indeed, the day will come when “mortal life shall cease.”

But for Newton, and subsequently those of us who have the joy and privilege of singing this hymn, there seems to be implications far beyond the ultimate last expansion of air in the lungs and the final beat of the heart. Throughout the hymn, “Amazing Grace,” the wise pastor might also be pointing worshipers to the reality that flesh and hearts fail on a daily basis. There is no lack of sin in the life any believer, and a realization of such a reality is a step toward a “life of joy and peace” through the work of Jesus Christ.

In the compilation of the Letters of John Newton, first published in 1960, Newton wrote the following in his missive titled, “Christ All-Sufficient:”

We are never more safe, never have more reason to expect the Lord’s help, than when we are most sensible that we can do nothing without him. This was the lesson Paul learnt, to rejoice in his own poverty and emptiness, that the power of Christ might rest upon him. Could Paul have done anything, Jesus would not have had the honour of doing all. This way of being saved entirely by grace, from first to last, is contrary to our natural wills: it mortifies self, leaving it nothing to boast of…in truth, such a poverty of spirit is the best mark we can have of an interest in his promises and care.”[1]

To the recipient of the letter, Newton makes it clear that salvation is “entirely by grace.” Life itself is lived in the power of Christ alone and there is reason for believers to rejoice in their poverty. As the Apostle Paul reminded the church at Corinth: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me”’ (2 Cor. 12:9).

The “life of joy and peace” will indeed come when Christ calls the believer home, but there is the very present reality that believers have a place “already” in the heavenlies seated next to Christ as they submit to the certainty that we can do “nothing without him.” As the Apostle Paul reminded the church at Ephesus and us: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-7). Newton reminds believers of the eternal “joy and peace” that will eventually come “on that day.” But there is a prevailing realism in the “immeasurable riches of his grace toward us in Christ Jesus” as we live life now.

Even though mortal life will cease and our hearts will stop, Newton turns the darkest of realities into a glorious hope in just a few choice words: “I shall possess within the veil, a life of hope and peace.” The veil refers to the curtain that functioned to separate the holy place from the holy of holies in the temple. In other words, the prohibitive function of the veil conveyed the restrictive nature placed on Israelite worship.[2] But for those in Christ, the access to God was made complete. As the writer of Hebrews describes: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22).

“Within the veil” verbalizes a metaphor as poetically intense as it is theologically profound. It carries with it an amazingly pertinent and diverse body of gracious gifts given to believers that all arise from the broken and torn body of Christ—“that is, his body”—that constituted the heart of his work of reconciliation. “Within the veil” we have forgiveness. “Within the veil” we are justified. “Within the veil” we are reconciled to our most dangerous enemy. “Within the veil” redemption from the slave-block of iniquity is executed. “Within the veil” the promise and energy for sanctification reside. “Within the veil” the certainty of perseverance is rooted. “Within the veil” assurance becomes a source of unmitigated joy. “Within the veil” the opening of death into heaven and eternal life makes that final breath an entrance to the status of “far better” (Philippians 1:23).

Another compelling word fittingly placed by Newton in verse five is the term, “possess.” In context he writes, “Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease, I shall possess, within the veil, A life of joy and peace.” Through the completed work of Christ, Newton encourages worshipers to know without a doubt that Jesus owns and holds and keeps their position for them within the veil – within the presence of the most Holy God. Believers possess their place within the veil not because of their efforts, but because of Christ’s perfect sacrifice.

And as believers look forward to the day beyond this mortal life, there is a perfect hope and perfect “joy and peace” yet to come. In another letter, Newton wrote: “The state of true believers, compared with that of others, is always blessed. If they are born from above, and united to Jesus, they are delivered from condemnation, and are heirs of eternal life, and may therefore well be accounted happy.”[3]

The truths succinctly and beautifully articulated in just a few lines of a hymn remind us to “review” our lives and live them in the light of Christ’s presence now and in “expectation” of eternity, and we will surely “be accounted happy.”

[1] Newton, John. Letters of John Newton. (London, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1960), 178.

[2] Daniel Gurtner, “The Veil Was Torn in Two: What Happened on Good Friday.” Desiring God, accessed June 26, 2023, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-veil-was-torn-in-two  2019.

[3] Newton. Letters, 148.

The Lord has promised good to me,  His word my hope secures;He will my shield and portion be  As long as life endures.

When John Newton penned his classic hymn in 1772, first sung in January 1773, the autobiographical reflections of his life to that point were clearly at the forefront of his mind. He had experienced more misadventures in his first few decades than most men, and the grace of the Lord had marvelously saved him from spiritual death as well as severe earthly danger.

In his fourth stanza Newton shifts his focus to the future, and he declares that the goodness of God which had thus far followed him through 46 years was his certain expectation for the remainder of his days. Indeed, believers should commemorate God’s previous acts of kindness and deliverance, and Newton reminds us we should also entrust ourselves to the goodness of God for all our future days. Christians should expect God’s perpetual goodness towards us. We should hold a posture of what one might call “Christian optimism,” rooted in the character and the sure promise of God.

The Truth of God’s Promise

God has promised good to his children. The reality of this statement is enough to make one marvel forever. The supreme Lord over all, who created the heavens and earth and is Himself majestic beyond comprehension, has condescended not merely to notice man, but to care for man and to devote himself to the good of man (Psalm 8). In God’s act of creation, he makes for man a good world full of blessing and wonder. When he calls Abraham, he states that his purpose is for Abraham to be blessed and to be a blessing to humanity (Genesis 12:2). Indeed, throughout redemptive history we see God dealing with his people with the design of goodness and blessing in view (Exodus 19:6, 34:10; Deuteronomy 26:18-19; 2 Samuel 7; Jeremiah 29:10-14, 31:31-34). Paul declares to us who believe in Christ that God is actively at work in our lives to bring about our good and his glory (Romans 8:28-39). We shall say more about the substance of the good that God has promised, but may we first believe this promise, embrace it, and wonder at it.

There is a danger for us who want to resist popular and pervasive caricatures of God found in modern Christian teaching, music, and subculture, which emphasize the goodness of God and his “friendliness” to the neglect of presenting his holiness, sovereignty, and righteousness. That danger is that in our efforts to champion these latter traits we can become myopic and fail to cherish and celebrate the kindness and genuine goodness of God and his delight in his people, “For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation,” (Psalm 149:9; cf. Zephaniah 3:17).

 Instead, we must not lose sight of the consistent theme of scripture that God intends to bless his people and do good to them. True, God is not a cosmic Santa Claus, but neither is he a cold and indifferent potentate; he loves his children. Calling upon God as our Father is an act of faith in his benevolent disposition toward us. Hence, Jesus compares our love for our children with that of the Father for us: “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him,” (Matthew 7:9-11). Christians ought to be the most hopeful, the most optimistic people because we know that the God who superintends the universe has a loving heart. Furthermore, the goodness of God is not a generalized intention but a personal promise; each believer can rightly say, “The Lord has promised good to me.” Believing that God is good and intends to do good to us is a matter of believing his Word.

The Surety of God’s Promise

As Newton asserts, our hope in God’s promise is a certainty because it is grounded in his Word and his character. The author of Hebrews makes this same connection in reference to Abraham’s hope and our own as heirs of the promise:

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus as gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. [1]

Our hope is for that which is certain and yet presently unseen, namely God’s future goodness towards us in this life and ultimately in the final resurrection (Romans 8:20-25; 1 Corinthians 15:19). The Word of God is the basis for our hope; we believe the promises God has communicated to us. God’s Word is also the means by which this hope is secured or brought to pass in our lives and in human history. When the Lord speaks, he is acting; unlike the mere words of a man, God’s Word accomplishes purposes and has tangible effects on his creation. God’s Word secures our hope because it is his Word that produces saving faith and repentance, and his Word is the very power of God to direct the course of human events (Romans 10:17; James 1:21; Isaiah 55:10-11; 1 Corinthians 1:18).  Though Peter was an eyewitness of Christ’s glory, he asserts that the prophetic word of the Scriptures was more certain than his own firsthand experience (2 Peter 1:16-20). Hence, when we do not see firsthand that God is being good to us, we can nevertheless believe it.

The Substance of God’s Promise

God has promised good to us, but what is meant by “good?” Is it the “good” that is peddled by prosperity gospel hucksters, Word of Faith teachers, and even misguided evangelicals – namely physical health, material prosperity, and an abundance of self-esteem and self-affirmation? Does God’s word promise a life of comfort and ease to believers? Or is there a higher good which we should expect from God, one that transcends our own experience, emotions, and even existence? Newton answers this by directing our attention heavenward and insisting that essence of God’s promise for good is the promise that God would give himself to us – “He will my shield and portion be.”

Scripture declares that God himself is both the source and the substance of our good. As John Piper helpfully summarizes, “The best and final gift of the gospel is that we gain Christ… the highest, best, final, decisive good of the gospel, without which no other gifts would be good, is the glory of God in the face of Christ revealed for our everlasting enjoyment.”[2] So, what is this good that God has promised to us? It is nothing less than God himself. God calls, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies us for our good because these are the means by which we will know him, the ultimate treasure.

The world and the enemies of the gospel define “good” based upon human sensory experience: an attractive spouse, an expensive car, an adventurous vacation, a clean bill of health, successful children, worry-free existence, political power, and the list goes on. The good which God will bring about in our lives certainly permeates our human experience and is delightful to us, but it is not centered on us; it is anchored in and defined by him. This is the sense in which God is our portion. The reward of believing the gospel is that we gain Christ, and there is no possible higher reward.

We ought not expect the world to understand that supreme gladness is found only in knowing the Lord, and yet do we believers not also sometimes seek to find our chief happiness in those things which cannot ultimately satisfy us? Even good and commendable things can usurp God’s rightful place on the thrones of our hearts, individually and corporately. In Jeremiah 2:13 the Lord upbraids his people for such an exchange:

For my people have committed two evils:

They have forsaken me,

The fountain of living waters,

And hewed out cisterns for themselves,

Broken cisterns that can hold no water.

The Lord declared himself to be the shield of Abraham (Gen 15:1), Israel (Deuteronomy 33:29), and David (Psalm 3:3; 5:12, 18:2), depicting himself as the one who protected them from trouble and calamity. Each of us could undoubtedly recount myriad ways in which the Lord had delivered us from hardships, and yet the Lord has most certainly protected us from unknown and unexperienced trials about which we know nothing simply because he spared us and shielded us from them. We can be sure that God will not permit anything to penetrate his shielding except that which he designs to afflict us for our good. This is why in the face of profound loss and unfathomable suffering, those who know God can say that such afflictions are themselves good (Job 1:20-22; Philippians 3:7-11).

The Duration of God’s Promise

If the Lord were to promise us good only in this lifetime, we should be thankful for his mercy even in that short span of time. Yet God’s promise extends through the end of our days on earth and beyond, “as long as life endures.” As Jesus declared to Martha, so he promises to us, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26). To believe this promise is to echo the praise of David, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever,” (Psalm 23:6).

The comfort that is ours in knowing the promise of God to do good to us, for us, and in us is a cause for great rejoicing when we see and experience this in our times of blessing. The birth of a child, a plentiful harvest, and seasons of spiritual growth and refreshment are tangible proofs of God’s promises and his faithfulness. But it is in the valley of the shadow of death, the periods of drought and famine, and the times of spiritual despondency when we most need to be reminded of God’s promises of goodness that will ultimately prevail over the trials we experience. When our temporal vista gives way to the perspective of eternity, we shall see that all along the Lord was doing everything for our good, just as he promised. As Newton’s friend William Cowper[3] penned,

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break

In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust him for his grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour:

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower. [4]

In his summary of Newton’s life and theology, biographer Josiah Bull places a special emphasis on Newton’s optimism towards God’s providence, “But here we would especially speak of Mr Newton’s faith in the overruling providence of God. In all circumstances his soul stayed itself upon the Lord. Thus in the perils of the deep he possessed his soul in peace.”[5]

Newton saw that even the sufferings of life are part of God’s plan to bring about good, both in his own life and in the lives of others. In his deepest sorrow following the death of his wife, he remarked in his journal, “I acknowledge that it was well worth standing awhile in the fire for such an opportunity of experiencing and exhibiting the power and faithfulness of His promises.”[6] Newton looked externally to God for his support, and he was sustained through his trial by considering that others who saw both his afflictions and his steadfast trust would have reason to look to God and be comforted when their own trials came. Newton preached the funeral service for his wife, and he remarked in his journal that he expected this to bear fruit, stating, “I have reason to hope that many of my hearers were comforted and animated under their afflictions by what they saw of the Lord’s goodness to me in my time of need.” Thus, our trust in God amidst the darkness may be used to be a blessing to others if we will but have eyes to see beyond ourselves in our travails. The good purposes God has for him who is suffering extend beyond the sufferer himself (Philippians 1:14, Colossians 1:24-25).

The Christian is not called to be a Pollyanna, willfully oblivious of the troubles that beset us and blindly optimistic about happiness lying just around the corner. Neither should Christians be like Eeyore, the old perpetually pessimistic donkey, incapable of finding contentment due to an expectation of inevitable hardship. Instead, we ought to trust the promise of God, that he intends good for us and that “He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it,” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

[1]Hebrews 6:17-20

[2]John Piper, God is the Gospel (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 13.

[3]For a concise account of their friendship, see George Ella, “John Newton’s Friendship with William Cowper, https://www.christianstudylibrary.org/article/john-newtons-friendship-william-cowper.

[4]William Cowper, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.”

[5]Josiah Bull, The Life of John Newton (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2007; reprinted 2020), 317.

[6]Bull, 262.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,I have already come;’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,And grace will lead me home.

“Amazing Grace,” or “Faith’s Review and Expectation,” appeared in “Olney Hymns” in 1779, six years after it was first sung in the parish church at Olney. It was number 41 in Book One, devoted to “select passages of Scripture” the lone entry under 1 Chronicles. Newton viewed the prayer of David in that text, 1 Chronicles 17:16 and following, as a review of the operations of divine grace in his experience. David looked to the past, to the present, and then to the future. When the Christian contemplates the grace of God, he sees it in its seamless power, recognizing its effectual workings of the past, observing its sustaining power in the present, and confident of its immutable purpose in the future.

The text of “Amazing Grace” contains the word grace six times. Notably, verse two has the most direct exposition of the operation and effects of converting grace—grace to fear and grace for fears relieved. This is “grace upon grace” (John 1:16). John explains that the first grace was in this, “The law was given through Moses.” The grace that was layered on top of that was found in this: “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). The powerful grace of the Spirit in using the law to teach the fear of God and the consequences of sin led inexorably to the grace of faith in the completed work of Christ. Led to biblical belief by the Spirit of God showing the glory of Christ, the believer finds such grace as precious when the assaulted conscience under the terrors of God’s curse on lawbreakers find release by the certainty of acceptance. Verse two captures it

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,  And grace my fears relieved;How precious did that grace appear  The hour I first believed!

Verse three continues with the emphasis on sustaining grace, the necessary concomitant to saving grace. All of it is of the same quality and necessary, not only for the power and effectuality of regeneration, but for sustaining faith in a world hostile to the gospel and those who believe it.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,I have already come;’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,And grace will lead me home.

Verse four, five, and six look to the future of God’s sustaining grace in the believer’s life: “As long as life endures. … when mortal life shall cease, … will be forever mine.” Though the final three stanzas do not contain the word grace, the preciousness of the promises communicated find their origin and certain sustenance in sovereign omnipotent grace.

 Newton did not view grace as a cooperative power of God, but a unilateral and effectual exertion of power based on the eternal saving intent of God. In the preface to Olney Hymns, Newton made clear that he did not intend the hymn book to be an element of a polemical dispute with those who “differ with me, more or less, in those points which are called Calvinistic.” [Newton, 3:303] He was not out to promote controversy, but to edify the worshipper and convict the unregenerate of sin and absolute dependence on God. He claimed the freedom, however, as others of a different viewpoint claimed for themselves, to make his hymns as clear as he could on points of doctrine and Christian experience that glorified God and sent the sinner to the merits of Christ and the grace of God without reservation. “The views I have received of the doctrines of grace,” Newton explained, “are essential to my peace; I could not live comfortably a day, or an hour, without them.” As to any accusation that they promote carelessness and diminish evangelistic concern, Newton contended for an opposite viewpoint. “I likewise believe, yea, so far as my poor attainments warrant me to speak,” Newton averred, “I know them to be friendly to holiness, and to have a direct influence in producing and maintaining a Gospel conversation; and therefore I must not be ashamed of them.” {Newton, Works 3:303]

In a sermon entitled, “Sovereignty of Divine Grace Asserted and Illustrated,” Newton began his final paragraph with the encouragement, “Does it not appear from hence, that the doctrine of free sovereign grace is rather an encouragement to awakened and broken-hearted sinners than otherwise?” [Newton Works, 2:413, 414] Newton consistently encouraged his auditory to find in Christ not only a sovereign Savior, but a merciful and willing Savior. In 1800, preaching before the “Lord Maor, Aldermen, and Sherifs,” Newton closed a message on “The Constraining Influence of the Love of Christ” with an earnest appeal to flee from “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,” for “We have incurred the penalty annexed to the breach of this law.” [Newton 6:516]

To those who are sensible of their desert and danger, the gospel points out relief and a refuge. Jesus invites the weary and burdened sinner, and says, “Him that cometh, I will in no wise cast out. You have heard something of his glorious person, power, authority, and love. He is able, he is willing, he has promised to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him. Oh, that today you may hear his voice, and comply with his invitation! [Newton 5:516.]

When Newton, therefore, wrote of grace, he had in mind the sovereignly chosen, eternal disposition, of love toward sinners viewed as fallen and under just condemnation. From the unit of fallen sons of Adam, the triune God placed electing, redeeming, justifying, persevering love on particular individuals to bring them from being under a sentence of eternal damnation to inherit the status of sons of God and receive eternal life. In a hymn on Leviticus 8, Newton versed, “He bears the names of all his saints deep on his heart engrav’d; attentive to the states and wants of all his love has saved.” [Newton, 3:328] At the same time, that the gospel call is to be sent to all, Newton gave no pause. He wrote, “But Jesus invitation sends, treating with rebels as his friends; And holds the promise forth in view, to all who for his mercy sue.” [3:330] He used Samson’s lion to teach God’s protective grace for believers: “The lions roar but cannot kill; then fear them not my friends, they bring us, though against their will, the honey Jesus sends” [Newton, 3:333]. Contemplation on 2 Kings 2 in the story of Elisha’s healing the waters of Jericho with salt led to this verse. He emphasizes human depravity which can only be healed by grace.

But grace, like the salt in the cruse,

When cast in the spring of the soul;

A wonderful change will produce,

Diffusing new life through the whole:

The wilderness blooms like a rose,

The heart which was vile and abhors,

Now fruitful and beautiful grows,

The garden and joy of the Lord.

[Newton, 3:349]

The present experience of grace forms the substance of verse three. Newton viewed that experience in two parts—the dangers, toils and snares, of struggle involved in present sanctification, and second, the settled assurance that grace will lead us home. That idea is an element of and leads into the internal dominant hope (1 John 3:3) energized by the “Blessed Hope” (Titus 2:13) we find in verse 4–“His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.”

Newton described the “fears-relieved” kind of grace (verse 2) in a sermon entitled “Grace in the Blade” on Mark 4:28. Though punctuated with various manifestations of immaturity, lack of knowledge, fright, and terror before enemies, this is a time “remarkable for the warmth and liveliness of the affections.” [Newton 1:202] This new and enthusiastic believer Newton has named “A.”

The next stage, “B,” is “Grace in the Ear.” (Mark 4:28). Whereas desire and perhaps rapidly fluctuating joy and despair characterize “A,” Newton saw conflict as the state of “B” leading to a maturing understanding of the nature of the conflict caused by the operation of the flesh against the Spirit. “Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come.” The person denominated “B” knows that grace has brought him safe thus far.

Having felt the wrath of God pacified by the blood of Christ, having achieved some spiritual equilibrium, and having seen the deadly enemies of the past held at bay, B may think that little conflict will occur in his future pilgrimage. He learns otherwise very soon. “Alas!” Newton says.” “His difficulties are in a manner just beginning; he has a wilderness before him, of which he is not aware.” God’s operations of grace will include some severe tests to “humble and prove him, and to shew him what is in his heart.” Aiming toward the “latter end” of life with more sustained comfort and anticipatory joy, this stage is designed by God “that all the glory may redound to his own free grace.” [Newton 1:205]

B learns that he lives “in a world that is full of snares, and occasions, suited to draw forth those corruptions.” [206] He is wiling to endure hardship and knows from Scripture that his heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, but he could never anticipate how deeply he could fall if left to his own devices and strength. When he finds respite from breakthroughs of perversity and malicious sin, God gives occasions in which he still will discover “new and mortifying proofs of an evil nature.” Hezekiah and Peter had exalted manifestations of grace followed by events in which, left to their own strength and determination, they fell to a sensible and distressing experience of their own evil nature when unsustained by immediate grace. A variety of experiences will teach B to be more “distrustful of his own heart” and view the way before him with ever-increasing conscious dependence on grace and “to suspect a snare in every step he takes.” [209]

As Newton described his own pilgrimage as person B, he found “multiplied instances of stupidity, ingratitude, impatience, and rebellion, to which my conscience has been witness!” [208] The person in this stage of pilgrimage in grace has a mind is more thoroughly informed by Scripture truth concerning the call to “lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us” (Hebrews 12:1). Parallel to that, and with a maturing grasp of the coordinate operations of the “renewing of the mind” (Romans 12:2) and the “renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5), he has an increased awareness and admiration of “the rich sovereign abounding mercy of the covenant.” [209] “Through many dangers toils and snares I have already come. ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far.”

When the result of grace is the “Full corn in the ear,” the Christian pilgrim can say, “and grace will lead me home.” Newton labeled this stage of pilgrimage as the experience of “C.” He more fully develops this in verse 4, but the threshold to that stage is introduced here. C recognizes more profoundly that whether living or dead, he belongs to Christ. He knows that even if he lives as long as Methuselah, and does not enter heaven for centuries, this will mean fruitful labor for him. It will involve opportunities for glorying in Christ before a wicked and perverse age. Like Paul, he desires to be with Christ, knowing that such a state is far better, but he has learned to be content in any condition in this life and to trust God’s wisdom as to the time and condition of his entry to the heavenly presence of Christ among the “spirits of just men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23), for he knows that, by invincible grace, his place there is assured. “Grace will lead me home,” and that same grace will sustain me while I am here.

Newton described this state of grace as characterized by humility, spirituality, and “a union of heart to the glory and will of God.” [214, 215] He learns humility in looking back “upon the way by which the Lord has led him; and while he reviews the Ebenezers he has set up all along the road, he sees, in almost an equal number, the monuments of his own perverse returns.” [212] He learns a deeper and more humble submission to the will of God in all circumstances. While he is impatient with his own failures in light of God’s immeasurable grace, he learns to bear with others as they also will stumble over the “snares of the world.” [213].

C learns more intensely how deeply rooted is the evil principle that clings to him in this life and thus learns to seek and value more profoundly the operations of the Spirit in mortification of the flesh. He learns how vain it is to cling to temporal things and how excellent it is to increase in the knowledge of God and conformity to Christ. As he looks with confidence to the grace that will lead him home, “He sees that the time is short, lives upon the foretastes of glory, and therefore accounts not his life, or any inferior concernment dear, so that he may finish his course with joy.” [214]

For C, grace still reminds him of the sinful pit from which he was lifted, and reminds him of the snares, dangers, and toils that once were more prominent and threatening than now. He still knows and feels the power of indwelling sin and yearns to be free of its hindrances. Increasingly diminished, however, is the fixture on oneself, and ever more prominent is a joy in savoring and contemplating the glories and beauties of God. “That God in Christ is glorious over all, and blessed for ever, is the very joy of his soul.” [216] They may have great grace for great difficulty and appear to make slow progress in their grasp of the glory of God. They may also have less intense outlays of grace for small difficulties and seem to advance rapidly. In both cases grace makes them endure.

Grace must sustain us from first to last.  Preceded by the grace of election, Christ’s condescension, and victorious resurrection, we are dependent on divine grace even prior to any experience of it in our hearts. Made by grace to fear the curse and brought by grace to embrace the cure, we find grace upon grace. Born spiritually by the Spirit’s grace and secured eternally by the Redeemer’s intercession, grace will lead us home.  The absolute and perpetual need of grace arises from the depravity of our hearts. We are humbled by this but not thrown down for an unending fountain of grace flows from the saving wounds of Christ “since Jesus is appointed to me of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; and since I find that, in the midst of all this darkness and deadness, he keeps alive the principle of grace which he has implanted in my heart.” [Newton 1:250, “On a believer’s Frames.”]

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,  And grace my fears relieved;How precious did that grace appear  The hour I first believed!

This second stanza of John Newton’s “Amazing Grace” provides Christians with a rich and subtle insight into the nature of God’s saving work in the lives of believers. The verses encourage us to consider God’s providence over both the universal, objective elements of conversion – the new birth, including conviction of sin, repentance, and faith – but also over the subjective, particular circumstances of that conversion: the events, conversations, and degrees of the conviction that all believers feel. All are under the sovereignty of God in working out His purpose to save His people.

What might surprise the reader upon closer examination of the hymn is the stanza’s first line: “’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved.” What is interesting about this line is that it at least implies that the same grace which prompts fear answers that fear. But how can the grace of God prompt fear? The fear Newton mentions is spurred by recognition of the Law’s demands and the wrath of God imminent upon a sinner. The Scriptures reinforce this fear of God’s wrath. As far back as the Exodus, Moses observes, “Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of You?” (Psalm 90:11-12). In the New Testament, the writer of Hebrews rhetorically declares, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31). This fear from God’s righteous standards is succinctly articulated by Abraham Booth, the great English Particular Baptist:

“[W]hen the Spirit of God convinces of sin by the holy law, and manifests its extensive    demands to the conscience of the sinner; when he is informed that every sin subjects the offender to a dreadful curse; then his fears are alarmed and his endeavours are quickened…for now, guilt burdens his soul, and conscience sharpens her sting; while the terrors of the Almighty seem to be set in array against him. The duties he has neglected, the mercies he has abused, and the daring acts of rebellion he has committed against his divine Sovereign, crowd in upon his mind and rack his very soul.”[i]

But again, how can fear be gracious? It is gracious in hindsight when considered as part of the process through which God redeems a Christian. It could be said that God prepares a person for salvation through an awareness of the guilt and judgment impending upon him as a sinner before God. The fear of God’s Law can precede the comfort of God’s Gospel as day follows night.

Newton’s own life and conversion provides a concrete example of just this kind of providential work. While a sailor at sea, living in “carnal security,”[ii] Newton was awoken by a violent storm that threatened to sink them, and though working frantically to exhaustion to save the ship, he despaired of any hope of deliverance:

“As he was returning, [Newton] said, almost without meaning, ‘If this will not do, the Lord have mercy upon us!’…[s]truck with his own words, it directly occurred to him, What mercy can there be for me!”[iii]

Ultimately, the ship and crew were spared, but it was through these circumstances that Newton came to reflect on the Scripture’s teaching of his need for Christ and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit within him, and during this trial became a follower of Jesus. Yet, it should be clear, it was not ultimately physical death that concerned Newton – he was terrified that, were the Scriptures true, his soul would be lost, condemned before a holy God. It was precisely this experience of fear before the terror of God’s holy wrath that John Newton learned about the allaying power of the Gospel.

Nor is Newton’s life an anomaly in redemptive history. The book of Acts especially provides examples of fear preceding the comfort found only in Christ. There is the record of Pentecost. After hearing Peter’s preaching, the Jews were “cut to the heart” (Acts 2:37) – that is, they were filled with anxiety and remorse over the realization that they had been responsible for crucifying the Lord’s Christ.[iv] In their desperation they cried out for some source of hope – “Brothers, what shall we do?” – recognizing that they had no apparent hope for redemption against the God they had offended. Yet they received the words of Peter to repent of their sins and became devoted to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship (2:42). Another example can be found in the Philippian jailer. He too, upon learning of Paul and Silas’ presence in the cell, became filled with fear and trembling, and not merely due to his concern for his life, but clearly through the witness of their praying and singing hymns (Acts 16:25).

The idea that God prepares sinners for conversion prior to regeneration has roots in Protestant history. Particularly during the Puritan era, as Scriptural truths were being rediscovered and developed, it was a topic of discussion how much of God’s illumination merely convicted of sin and how much actually saved a person.[v] They astutely observed that Law works in the hearts of men so as to deprive them of any sense of hope to stand before God in their own righteousness and power, and it is through that helplessness that the sweetness of the Gospel message is tasted. For example, in Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, we see in the early pages that the pilgrim Christian is tormented by the burden of his sin lashed to his back. He is aware of his guilt, and desires to be free of its ponderous weight. Yet it will be some time in the narrative before Christian is free of his burden. In fact, it will not be removed until he enters the Wicket Gate and the place of deliverance beyond. Consequently, the reader may infer that, though we cannot know for certain how long it is, there is sometimes distance between a believer’s awareness of his burden (the fear of God’s Law) and that burden’s removal (the power of the Gospel to save).

Yet this fearful sensitivity, called conviction of sin, cannot be identical with regeneration. It is not clear merely from conviction whether the Spirit’s work is completed, or whether this constitutes earthly fears of heavenly realities now considered. John Owen, reflecting on the work of the Spirit in regeneration, observes, “ordinarily there are certain previous and preparatory works, or workings in and upon the souls of men, that are antecedent and dispositive unto it. But yet regeneration doth not consist in them, nor can it be educed out of them.”[vi] Newton himself concurs, “We may be unable to judge with certainty upon the first appearance of a religious profession, whether the work be thus deep and spiritual or not; but ‘the Lord knows them that are his.”[vii] Though the outside fear may not be infallible as to its origin, it is nevertheless true that such fears can be and often are expressive of a heart in the process of being converted. This makes the nature of when regeneration takes place imprecise. The divine aspect of regeneration, the work of God, is internal; we only see external aspects – conviction of sin, repentance, faith in Christ. The new birth, in Jonathan Edwards’ words, may come in “a confused chaos…exceeding mysterious and unsearchable.”[viii] B. H. Carroll further articulates this imprecision:

 “[c]onviction, repentance, and faith are the constituent elements of regeneration; that is, they are the elements within our range of vision. We can see only the under side of what is above us. When we describe it, we describe it as we see it. As the view is partial, the description is partial.”[ix]

Occasionally, some Puritans steered into language and concepts of God’s convicting work prior to conversion that were unhelpful and imbalanced. A particularly famous example is the New England Puritan Thomas Hooker. In some of his works he asserted that an acute sense of fear from God’s Law is a necessary qualification to repentance and faith: “[the pre-regenerate person] must be a lost man in his own apprehension…All men must thus be disposed before they can be saved.”[x] However, many contemporaries challenged Hooker’s suggestion that godly terror must first precede regeneration. From the earlier quote from Owen, we can see how he qualifies his observations with the word “ordinarily.” Preparatory works resulting in fear can certainly be present, but that is not a necessary precondition for the Spirit to work. Notably, the early Particular Baptist William Kiffen found Hooker’s thoughts distasteful, and his thoughts are reflected in Article 25 of the First London Baptist Confession of 1644 (1646 revision): “The preaching of the gospel to the conversion of sinners, is absolutely free; no way requiring as absolutely necessary, any qualifications, preparations, or terrors of the law, or preceding ministry of the law.”[xi]

More recent Christian theologians, especially after the First Great Awakening, have concurred with this hesitancy toward a unilateral experience prior to salvation. The thoughts of Archibald Alexander, living in the generation subsequent to the labors of Edwards, Whitefield, Rowland, and Wesley, summarize this consensus. After observing the idea of legal conviction (being convicted of the law’s curse) had “generally prevailed in all our modern revivals: and it is usually taken for granted, that the convictions experienced are prior to regeneration,” he then states, “But it would be very difficult to prove from Scripture, or from the nature of the case, that such a preparatory work was necessary.”[xii] In the present day Sinclair Ferguson observes, “Because God sees what he intends to produce in us and through is as his children, he exposes us to differing levels of conviction. Some like Peter’s sermon on Pentecost, are under conviction for minutes; others, like Paul, perhaps for days; yet others go through a dark night of the soul which seems interminable, like Bunyan and Luther before him.”[xiii]

These historical-theological accounts invite the question: if conviction of sin is a part of salvation – one sign of regeneration – why is it not essential prior to salvation? Further, how can some experience the conviction of sin and its attendant fear more acutely than others? Why do some not experience the degree of fear Newton summarizes so well in “Amazing Grace”? The answer to this lies in understanding what might be called universal and particular aspects of salvation. Every Christian is saved in accordance with God’s eternal electing plan, the universal character of this saving work between the God who redeems and the person who is redeemed. All sinners are hopeless in themselves to be saved. All three Persons of the Godhead participate in a person’s being brought from death to life; the work of the incarnate Son, accomplished in His earthly ministry, is implemented by the Holy Spirit who regenerates the believer at the behest of the Father’s effectual call. Every Christian is incorporated into the one people of God (Eph. 4:4-6). In sum, the work of redemption has a linear process, from the effective call to glorification, with regeneration, repentance/faith, justification, and sanctification falling between these (Rom. 8:30).

Nevertheless, this work of redemption, universal in character, takes place during a person’s life and experience, the particular aspect. Were it God’s will, He could simply redeem a person immediately with the fullness of Christ’s purchased salvation. This is certainly within the power of Him who called all things into being by the utterance of His Word (2 Cor. 4:6). Yet God has rarely chosen such an expeditious manner in saving sinners. Very often, in fact almost always, He works in a believer’s life through the events, circumstances, and processes unique to his life. Archibald Alexander, in his insightful Thoughts on Religious Experience, places these differences in experience within the situational, historical, and constitutional differences between each individual person, requiring pastoral wisdom in assessing a person’s spiritual state.[xiv] There is manifold wisdom in God’s way of saving sinners. Each person participates in the one salvation wrought by Christ, yet each person also contributes a distinct story of how that saving grace is manifested in him. John Murray observes, “If God has provided for the salvation of men, it must be salvation that takes effect in the sphere of human existence, that is, in the temporal, historical realm. Salvation as accomplished in time comprises a great many elements, factors, and aspects.”[xv]

The universal and particular aspects of redemption lead us to conclude that, though there is one salvation for all, the experience of one Christian in that process may drastically differ from another’s. All these circumstances, though unique, are not outside of God’s purview, but are the very means through which the Gospel, like leaven, works in the sinner’s heart to convict him of sin and bring him to faith and repentance. Whether the night of conviction is long or short, God’s grace brings a recollection of how He worked providentially in each of us to save us, drawing Christians into deeper devotion to Him for His grace, and a greater sense of our dependence on Christ for our unimpeachable hope.

“How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.”

[i] Abraham Booth, The Reign of Grace: From Its Rise to Its Consummation (reprint, Sprinkle Publications, 2017), 100. A similar insight into the uncertainty of when redemption is genuinely effected can be found in John Bunyan’s autobiographical Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. This short piece can be found in The Whole Works of John Bunyan (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1977), 1:6-65. The Banner of Truth Trust has a standalone version of this title.

[ii] The Works of John Newton (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1988), 1:25.

[iii] Ibid, 1:26, italics original.

[iv] The verb used here, κατανύσσομαι (“to be pierced, stabbed”), can mean pain in reference to anxiety or remorse. See Bauer, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3rd edition (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2000), 523.

[v] For a helpful discussion of the topic of “preparation,” see Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2012), 443-461, especially 455-461.

[vi] John Owen, The Works of John Owen (Banner of Truth, 1981), 3:229.

[vii] Newton, Letters of John Newton (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1976), 15, emphasis added.

[viii] Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections, quoted in Beeke and Jones, A Puritan Theology, 459.

[ix] B. H. Carroll, “The Human Side of Regeneration,” in J. B. Cranfill, Sermons and Life Sketch of B. H. Carroll, D. D. (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1893), 177.

[x] Thomas Hooker, The Soul’s Preparation for Christ, 170-171, quoted in James M. Renihan, For the Vindication of the Truth: A Brief Exposition of the First London Baptist Confession of Faith (Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2021), 99, emphasis added.

[xi] Quoted from Renihan, Vindication, 98. For evidence that Kiffen’s views are harmonious with the 1st London Confession, see ibid, 98-102.

[xii] Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience (reprint, Banner of Truth Trust, 1967), 15-16.

[xiii] Sinclair Ferguson, The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2017), 42. Roland Bainton provides a useful summary of Luther’s “Damascus Road” experience in Here I Stand (New York: Mentor Books, 1950), 15. It is interesting to compare Luther’s earlier experience and subsequent vow with his later wrestling over salvation seen in the same biography at 46-51.

[xiv] Alexander, Religious Experience, 32-36.

[xv] John Murray, The Collected Writings of John Murray (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1977), 2:123. Though Murray is specifying the diverse aspects of the plan of salvation from election to glorification, it is just as applicable to the personalized experience of salvation in the believer.

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,  That saved a wretch; like me!I once was lost, but now am found,  Was blind, but now I see.

Reflect on past mercies and consider future hopes so that you can sing in the present.

This year is the 250th anniversary of the writing of the hymn Amazing Grace so a little reflection on the past might prove helpful.  Knowing about the author of the text – John Newton – and what motivated him to pen those memorable words should also be an encouragement to us who still sing this great old hymn.

It would seem that Newton himself was reflecting on the biblical text, 1 Chronicles 17:16-17, on his own life and on some key doctrinal truths.  Such reflection led him to put into poetic form words and phrases that summarized biblical truth leading to a response of heartfelt worship.  Reflection on God’s revelation should lead to doxology.

Amazing Grace was first published in Olney Hymns (1779), titled “Faith’s review and expectation.”  Literary scholar Madeliene Forell Marshall described the overall message of the hymn in this way:

As usual, the original title, unavailable in our modern hymnals, provides useful direction to our reading: the hymn will look back in time, tracing the experience of faith (i.e., “review”), and forward, anticipating the future (i.e., “expectation”).[1]

Referring to Newton’s sermon notes we observe that he understood how this looking backwards and forwards assisted him in learning the rich doctrines that nourished his spirituality for the rest of his life.  He was concerned about living a life of thankfulness and gratitude in response to God’s blessings:

The Lord bestows many blessings upon his people, but unless he likewise gives them a thankful heart, they lose much of the comfort they might have in them.  And this is not only a blessing in itself but an earnest of more.  When David was peacefully settled in the kingdom, he purposed to express his gratitude by building a place for the Ark…. My text is part of his acknowledgement.  Omitting David’s personal concerns, I would accommodate them to our own use as a proper subject for our meditations on the entrance of a new year.  They lead us to a consideration of past mercies and future hopes and intimate the frame of mind which becomes us when we contemplate what the Lord has done for us.[2]

According to these sermon notes, under points two and three, Newton asks the reader to reflect on the past and then consider the future.  In the first of the two points Newton asks the reader to look back to past mercies, before conversion, at the point of conversion, and those mercies since then.  In the first of the subpoints Newton pointed to God’s providential care in preserving us from all kinds of danger by His secret guidance. The second subpoint was a reminder about the moment where the merciful God enabled us to believe; and the third subpoint was reflection on the way mercy and goodness had followed us kept us through temporal and spiritual troubles.

The third point pointed called his congregation’s attention to future grace.  “Are these small things?  Yes, compared to what follows – He has spoken for a great while to come, even to Eternity.  Present mercies are but earnests of his love, present comforts but foretastes of the joy to which we are hastening.  O that crown, that kingdom, that eternal weight of glory!  We are travelling home to God.  We shall soon see Jesus, and never complain of sin, sorrow, temptation or desertion any more.”[3]

This was a common technique in his sermons.  He would supply historical examples to help us to consider past mercies and point to the promises of God to get us to consider future hopes all for the purpose of helping us to approach present problems in a way that would honor God.  That is what he does in this hymn.He wants us to reflect on past mercies and consider future hopes so that we can sing in the midst of present problems.

Contemplate how the power of hymns might more fully develop our perceptions of God.

It is one thing to state that doxology flows as a response to God’s revelation and that the response is a reflection on the past works of God.  It is another thing to understand how both a reflection on the past and a consideration of future grace of God helps us to respond in worship to the present works of God’s providence.  I would like to add a supplementary principle to this thesis. Contemplation about the power of hymns help to form our perceptions of doctrinal truths like the grace of God.[4]  For example, not only does meditation on God’s word about His grace inform and enlarge our conception of the nature of God, but, in addition, deep thinking and singing about hymns themselves help to strengthen our views of God’s magnificent grace.

Have you not found yourself in deep admiration of God’s grace and thankfulness for His mercy and grace when you sing some great hymn?  Consider the hymn by Samuel Davies, Who is a pardoning God like Thee, and who has grace so rich and free?  The Scriptures certainly teach from Micah that God is one who pardons our iniquities.  We know that, but when we sing that truth and repeat it in the chorus of the hymn, the truth grows down deeper into our soul.  And then, we rejoice with thankfulness and gratitude that God’s grace indeed is rich and free!  We remember the thousands of times that God has pardoned our sins and our soul melts at the thought that God has lavished His rich grace upon us.  And when we sing it, not by ourself, but with other believers who understand that same truth and who sing about it with great joy in harmony with us, then our heart grows stronger and we exult in the grace of God.

Amazing grace!

Observe how Newton gets you to think with him about past mercies.  Consider the first stanza of the hymn, phrase by phrase.  Each phrase informs the singer about some essential biblical truth and how it has affected Newton.  It tells us in the very first line that after long, deep reflection Newton has discovered and glories in the fact that the grace of God that has been shown to him throughout his life should always arrest the heart as something that is truly amazing! Grace is qualified!  This sounds like Paul after meditating on grace in Ephesians 1 breaks forth in doxological wonder.  We sing because of God’s amazing grace!

This was in accord with Newton’s confessional concept of grace as found in the 39 Articles of Religion that he ascribed to as an Anglican minister.[5]  In section 17 about predestination and election the confession teaches that God’s grace enables us to obey the gospel call, justifies us, and causes us to be adopted as a child of God; and all according to the everlasting, predestinating purpose of God.[6]

Newton’s view of grace is based on Scripture and enriched by the language of the confession.  It is amazing grace and he is going to explain why in the hymn!  Newton’s sermon notes reference an initial question: Who am I?  His shorthand notes then mention:

The frame of mind: humility and admiration.  Who am I, etc.  This question should be always upon our minds.  Who am I?  What was I when the Lord began to manifest his purposes of love?  This was often inculcated upon Israel, Thou shalt remember – Look unto the pit from which we were taken.  Lord, what is man! [7]

His next subpoints are a reflection on his pre-conversion condition of misery, rebellion, and the need for mercy.  When we consider our pre-conversion we discover that we were shut up under the law and unbelief. And therefore miserable. We were also blinded by the god of this world and rebellious. We didn’t even have a desire of deliverance.  Instead of desiring the Lord’s help, we breathed a spirit of defiance against Him.  His mercy came to us not only undeserved but undesired.  And we didn’t know that it was the Lord against whom we sinned and who showed us mercy.  “What just cause of admiration, that he should appoint such salvation, in such a way, in favour of such helpless, worthless creatures.”[8]

So then, consider how fully did Newton understand this doctrine of grace.  Surely a reflection on the truth that prior to his conversion he was in a miserable situation, was a deliberate, intentional, rebellious sinner, was a sinner undesiring and underserving of any kind of mercy or grace — surely a reflection on these truths would be just cause for admiration of God’s amazing grace!

A few years later, Newton referenced this amazing grace in a letter to John Thornton, 12 Sept. 1776:

. . . surely no one could be a greater libertine in principle or practice, more abandoned or more daring than I. But I obtained mercy. I hardly feel any stronger proof of remaining depravity than in my having so faint a sense of the Amazing Grace that snatched me from ruin, that pardoned such enormous sins, preserved my life when I stood upon the brink of eternity and could only be preserved by miracle, and changed a disposition which seemed so incurably obstinate and given up to horrid wickedness.[9]

How sweet the sound

With all of this in mind it is no surprise that Newton would have tried to think of poetic ways to exult in such grace. And, thankfully, the language of grace is descriptive and doxological.  There is an aesthetic quality about it.  It is all about the truth, goodness, and beauty of our LORD and His ways. Newton uses the language of the senses to elaborate on holy things. There is hunger for the things of God and there is a taste of sweetness in the Word of God.  But the Word of God is also something that is heard with the ear, and in a beautiful mix of literary devices, there is a sweetness even in the sound of the Gospel in a believer’s ear.  The eyes are not forgotten.  I once was blind, but now I see.  Touch is also implied and employed in the idea of his being lost, but found, reminiscent of the familiar story of the Shepherd carrying the lost sheep on his shoulders or the embrace of the prodigal son in the arms of the loving Father.  You can feel the touch of His arms underneath your tired body and the loving arms of His care and love surrounding you with welcome.  The language is almost sacramental.

Notice how Newton articulated his understanding of this grace.  Consider how he describes grace as a “sound”?  How sweet the sound.  Was he not thinking about the word of grace that was proclaimed and, thus, heard?  And why does he describe the “sound” as “sweet”?  This is not the language of an unbeliever, but of a believer who understands that God has called him out of darkness into His marvelous light.  To Newton the word of grace that he heard was understood and interpreted within the context of the doctrine of effectual calling, of irresistible grace.  It is because Newton understood that God had called him in such a way that he describes this grace as sweet.  How sweet the sound.[10]

That saved

But why was the sound of the message of grace so sweet to Newton?  It is because he saw himself as one who had been delivered by the power of the gospel.[11]  Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved….  The language of deliverance or rescue was very prominent during Newton’s life.  As someone who had spent so much time on the seas he knew full well the impotence of anything seeking to overcome the dangerous, powerful waves of the ocean that would lift themselves up against the slave ships.  But he had also learned of the omnipotence of the Maker of the heavens and the earth, and that God alone, the Creator, was the only one who could rescue him from the storms. 

Newton’s scripture reference in his sermon notes, 1 Chronicles 17:16–17, poses the question from King David, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?” This is reflected in the hymn when the writer speaks of being a “wretch,” “lost,” and “blind,” yet delivered “through many dangers, toils, and snares.” The agency of that deliverance? “’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far.”[12]

It seems as if Newton understood well his salvation as a deliverance from sin and from the wrath of God.  Once again, in his sermon notes, read:

We had not so much a desire of deliverance. Instead of desiring the Lord’s help, we breathed a spirit of defiance against him. His mercy came to us not only undeserved but undesired. Yea few [of] us but resisted his calls, and when he knocked at the door of our hearts endeavoured to shut him out till he overcame us by the power of his grace. [13]

Newton often would preach of the atoning, saving grace of God that had propitiated the wrath of God.  This was a favorite theme because he understood just how wicked a sinner he had been before God saved him.

a wretch like me!

Newton never ceased to be amazed by God’s grace and told his friends, “My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.”[14]  He knew the doctrine of the depravity of mankind.  He had a fully articulated understanding of anthropology.  He knew that he was a sinner through and through; and so he worked hard at putting into poetic form a view of his own sinfulness. This is reflected in the hymn when the writer speaks of being a ‘wretch,’ ‘lost,’ and ‘blind’.

In a sermon on 1 Timothy 1:15, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I was the worst of them all!”  Newton states

Innumerable cases might be published to the honor of the great Physician; none more memorable perhaps than my own. I was laboring under a multitude of grievous evils: fired with raging madness, possessed with many devils, and bent upon my own destruction! But Jesus interposed—unsought and undesired. He opened my eyes, and pardoned my sins! He broke my fetters, and taught my once blasphemous lips—to praise His name. For the foulest of the foul—He dies! [15]

Newton often reflected on his past wretchedness: Once he described his moral condition in the words of 2 Peter 2:14, “Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin.” Newton later wrote, “The troubles and miseries . . . were my own. I brought them upon myself, by forsaking [God’s] good and pleasant paths and choosing the way of transgressors which I found very hard; they led to slavery, contempt, famine and despair.”[16]

This is the same truth found in the 39 Articles that Newton adhered to as well as the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechism that Newton’s mother had taught him as a child.  In section 9 on original sin the 39 Articles state that depravity is the “fault and corruption of the Nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit; and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God’s wrath and damnation.”[17]

One can see that this was an important truth for Newton.  In his sermons he would express what he had learned through the Scripture, through the confessions, and through his own experience.  He understood the depths of his depravity.  He had felt it; he had seen it for years.  Otherwise, why would he go to such lengths to detail the effects of sin upon his life?  Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.[18]

I once was lost, but now am found;

He also described himself as one who was lost.  He just piled up terms to make sure the fullness of his sin was adequately understood. To understand why he would use this language you should remember Newton’s understanding of the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son were important for his poetic language in the hymn.

Once again, Newton’s understanding was informed by the Scriptures and his confessional statements, not only about his sinfulness, but also about the unconditional, electing love of the Christ who saved him and who watched over him and would not let him swerve too far from His providential keeping.  I once was lost, but now am found.

    Newton was convinced of the doctrine ofunconditional election:

If any people have contributed a mite to their own salvation, it was more than we could do. If any were obedient and faithful to the first calls and impressions of his Spirit, it was not our case. If any were prepared to receive him beforehand, we know that we were in a state of alienation from him. We needed sovereign, irresistible grace to save us, or we would be lost forever! If there are any who have a power of their own, we must confess ourselves poorer than they are.[19]

Newton had an understanding of the major Calvinistic doctrines and it is obvious that he loved this doctrine of irresistible grace.  In an article printed in the Banner of Truth magazine, Dudley Reeves wrote:

The tide of the battle for Newton’s soul slowly turned with the dawning of gospel light, though for another six years he did not understand or enjoy evangelical preaching or conversation. Finally, the irresistible grace of God (or, as Newton preferred to say, the invincible grace of God) won the day — the crisis of capturing the citadel of Newton’s soul was over and the life-long process of mopping-up operations was begun.[20]

Was blind, but now I see.

Newton labored to explain the glories of this grace.  He was a wretch, yes, but he was also spiritually blind.  He was in need of the powerful operation of the Great Physician to open his eyes to see the beauty of the only One who could save him. In an exposition on Luke 24:45, Newton explains:

He opened their minds—so they could understand the Scriptures.” Luke 24:45.  When God opens the eyes of our understanding, we begin to see everything around us to be just as the Scripture has described them. Then, and not until then, we perceive, that what we read in the Bible concerning the horrid evil of sin, the vileness of our fallen nature, the darkness and ignorance of those who know not God, our own emptiness, and the impossibility of finding relief and comfort from creatures—is exactly true.[21] 

In another sermon Newton described what it was like after the Lord opened his eyes.  Newton employs the language of Isaiah 6:1-5 as his own voice and then prays for the same vision.

I saw the Lord!  “In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord! He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. Hovering around Him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the remaining two they flew. In a great chorus they sang, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty! The whole earth is filled with His glory!’ The glorious singing shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire sanctuary was filled with smoke! Then I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!’”Oh! for a glance of what Isaiah saw, and has described! Oh! that we, by the power of that faith, could behold the glory of the Lord filling this house; that we could realize the presence and the attitude of His attendant angels! [22]

According to the Dictionary of American Hymnology, “Amazing Grace” is John Newton‘s spiritual autobiography in verse.[23]  Newton himself testifies of this:

I would tell you how it is with me if I could; at the best, it would be an inconsistent account. I am what I would not, and would what I cannot. I rejoice and mourn; I stand fast and am thrown down in the same moment. I am both rich and poor; I can do nothing; yet, I can do all things. I live by a miracle. I am opposed beyond my strength, yet I am not overpowered. I gain when I lose, and I often am a loser by my gains. IN A WORD, I AM A SINNER! A vile one; but a sinner believing in the Name of Jesus. I am a silly sheep, but I have a gracious, watchful Shepherd; I am a dull scholar, but I have a Master who can make the dullest learn. He still enables me, He still owns me. Oh, for a coal of heavenly fire to warm my heart, that I might praise Him as I ought! [24]

We have considered only the first stanza of this beloved hymn but we see how many precious biblical truths are embedded in it, how many doctrinal principles are inculcated in it, and how many pastoral instructions can be gleaned from it. It is no wonder that has become one of the most popular hymns of all time.  May we take time to reflect, as Newton did, on these same biblical truths, meditate on these same doctrinal principles, and consider the many pastoral instructions.  May we learn to sing, with the rest of God’s chosen ones, just how amazing His grace has been and continues to be for wretched, lost, blind, rebellious sinners.

[1] Madeline Forell Marshall, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,” Common Hymnsense (1995), pp. 80-84.

[2] “Amazing grace: the sermon notes,” The John Newton Project.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Thanks to Tom Nettles for suggesting this thought.  “Ruminations about the power of hymns help to form our middle mental perceptions of doctrinal truths.”

[5] Note: Newton was raised by a devout Congregationalist mother who taught John the Westminster Catechism and the hymns of Isaac Watts; so he heard and recited the rich doctrinal catechism of the Presbyterians.  Cf. John Piper. https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/john-newton-the-tough-roots-of-his-habitual-tenderness

[6] 39 Articles of Religion, article 17.

[7] “Amazing grace: the sermon notes,” The John Newton Project.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Letter to John Thornton, 12 Sept. 1776, Cambridge University, Thornton Papers, Add 7674/1/B19, transcribed b Marylynn Rouse for The John Newton Project. http://www.johnnewton.org

[10] Newton seemed to like this phrase as he wrote another hymn adding extensively to the meaning of the words.  How sweet the name of Jesus sounds. This hymn is based on Song of Solomon 1:3. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds In a believer’s ear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wound, And drives away his fear. It makes the wounded spirit whole, And calms the troubled breast;‘Tis manna to the hungry soul, And to the weary rest. Olney Hymns.

[11] Romans 1:16, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation….

[12] “Amazing grace: the sermon notes,” The John Newton Project.

[13] Ibid.

[14] John Newton, Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr., Ed. Grant Gordon (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2009), 401.

[15] John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2015), 6: 203-204.

[16] John Pollock, Amazing Grace: John Newton’s Story (San Francisco: Harper & row, 1981), 62-63.

[17] 39 Articles of Religion, section 9.

[18] For further detail on this truth see Morgan Cunningham.  “A Wretch Like Me”: John Newton and ‘Amazing Grace’”  Whitworth University (2018). History of Christianity II: TH 314. Paper 22.  https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=th314h

[19] John Newton’s Letters.  The doctrines of election and final perseverance.  https://www.gracegems.org/Newton/09.htm

[20] https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2019/five-examples-of-amazing-grace-in-the-life-of-john-newton/

[21] https://www.gracegems.org/Newton/john_newton_excerpts2.htm

[22] Ibid.

[23] Dictionary of American Hymnology, “Amazing Grace”

[24] https://www.pristinegrace.org/article.php?id=51794&title=A+Testimony&author=John+Newton