John Newton tells of the amazing grace shown to him by a Sovereign God

John Newton, Clerk,
Once an infidel and libertine,
A servant of slaves in Africa,
Was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ,
Preserved, restored, pardoned,
And appointed to preach the faith he
Had long laboured to destroy …

It goes without saying, almost, that a man who could write such an epitaph for himself as the one which John Newton wrote above would be a man who would be more than persuaded that if he had been saved at all, then, he had been saved by the free, unmerited mercy and love of God; that he had been saved by Grace. And it's the theme of that saving grace that I want us to look briefly at this edition in the lines from John Newton's hymn as he tells of God's graciousness dealings with him that astounded his soul and fills his heart with the music of mercy.

"Amazing grace! (How sweet the sound!)
That saved a wretch like me."

John Newton Author of the Hymn Amazing Grace

And surely one of the deficiencies of our present mode of thinking with regards to the grace that saves our soul is that it fails to "amaze" us. We have learnt to take salvation for granted and forgotten that the free gospel was the most costly thing ever purchased by God. John Newton, perhaps, was in no way mistaken about the wonder of his salvation because he viewed it in the light of his "wretchedness" before the Lord. As he says in his epitaph, he was an "infidel and libertine." He could boast that none could swear as he could, and he did become "a servant of slaves in Africa," because at one point in his life he had sunk so low as to become a slave's slave. The grace, then, that "saved a wretch" like him was "amazing grace" and the sound of it sweet.

But, it's the "inner" wretchedness that Newton is especially speaking about here, and this is something every redeemed sinner ought to know something about and so, magnify the grace that has redeemed their soul: –

"I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see."

But Newton was never "blind" as far as his physical eyesight goes, but he was inwardly blind until the Lord of Glory "anointed his eyes with eye salve" and "now I see," he says.

And how did he come to realise that he was spiritually "blind" and spiritually "lost"? Well, says Newton, it, too, was "by grace," for, as Paul says, "it's all of grace."

"Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved."

"Thou hast wounded and thou must heal," as the prophet humbly acknowledges before his God in heaven. Grace shows us our need of Christ and grace extends the hand of mercy to meet that need. No wonder Newton sings out in the last two lines of that verse –

"How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed."

It's only the believer in Christ who can see the preciousness of God's unmerited Sovereign grace that has brought redemption to his soul, but who, then, like the believer should bow beneath the rod of God's Omnipotence which is the sceptre of His grace.

This is the theme of John Newton's testimony hymn. Grace has saved him, and grace will keep him: –

"Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace has brought me safe this far,
And grace will lead me home."

And so on to the end of the hymn. The great poet of Olney can write "How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds," and here is why he can write it; it's because grace has established its throne in his heart and he has learnt through God's merciful dealings with him that "Christ is precious."

This is what is meant by "Sovereign" grace. Once it was Sovereign "Sin," – " as sin reigned unto death," says the great apostle Paul. But now, it's Sovereign Grace – "Even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Indeed, indeed, the grace of our redemption is "Amazing Grace." May its sound be sweet to our ears if we have received this "grace of God" from "the God of grace."