Tag Archives: john newton

Charles Spurgeon, John MacArthur

Charles Spurgeon – A mighty Saviour

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“Mighty to save.” Isaiah 63:1

Suggested Further Reading: Hebrews 7:23-28

Remember the case of John Newton, the great and mighty preacher of St. Mary, Woolnoth,—an instance of the power of God to change the heart, as well as to give peace when the heart is changed. Ah! dear hearers, I often think within myself, “This is the greatest proof of the Saviour’s power.” Let another doctrine be preached: will it do the same? If it will, why not let every man gather a crowd round him and preach it? Will it really do it? If it will, then the blood of men’s souls must rest upon the man who does not boldly proclaim it. If he believes his gospel does save souls, how does he account for it that he stands in his pulpit from the first of January till the last of December, and never hears of a harlot made honest, nor of a drunkard reclaimed? Why? For this reason, that it is a poor dilution of Christianity. It is something like it, but it is not the bold, broad Christianity of the Bible; it is not the full gospel of the blessed God, for that has power to save. But if they do believe that theirs is the gospel, let them come out to preach it, and let them strive with all their might to win souls from sin, which is rife enough, God knows. We say again, that we have proof positive in cases even here before us, that Christ is mighty to save even the worst of men—to turn them from follies in which they have too long indulged, and we believe that the same gospel preached elsewhere would produce the same results. The best proof you can ever have of God’s being mighty to save, dear hearers, is that he saved you.

For meditation: Does the church today lack the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ (Romans 15:29) because the church is ashamed of the fullness of the gospel, which is God’s power to save all who believe (Romans 1:16)?

Sermon no. 111
4 January (1857)

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Self-sufficiency slain

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CharlesSpurgeon

“Without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5

Suggested Further Reading: 2 Chronicles 32:20-31

You are not capable of performing the lowest act of the divine life, except as you receive strength from God the Holy Spirit. And surely, my brethren, it is generally in these little things that we find out most of all our weakness. Peter can walk the waves of the sea, but he cannot bear the derision of a little maid. Job can endure the loss of all things, but the upbraiding words of his false friends, though they be but words, and break no bones—make him speak far more bitterly than all the sore boils which were in his very skin. Jonah said he did well to be angry, even unto death, about a gourd. Have you not often heard that mighty men who have outlived hundreds of battles have been slain at last by the most trivial accident? And has it not been so with professed Christians? They stood uprightly in the midst of the greatest trials; they have outlived the most arduous struggles, and yet in an evil hour, trusting to themselves, their foot has slipped under some slight temptation, or because of some small difficulty. John Newton says: “The grace of God is as necessary to create a right temper in Christians on the breaking of a china plate as on the death of an only son.” These little leaks need the most careful stopping. The plague of flies is no more easy to be stayed than that of the destroying angel. In little as well as in great things the just must live by faith. In trifles as well as in nobler exercises the believer should be conscious of his own inability,—should never say of any act, “Now I am strong enough to perform this; I need not go to God in prayer about this; this is so little a thing.”

For meditation: We need to bring everything to God in prayer, not only the things which worry us (Philippians 4:6); the apostle Paul had learned how to face all situations and how to do all things in Christ who strengthened him (Philippians 4:13).

Sermon no. 345

12 November (Preached 11 November 1860)

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Letting Go of the Past

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Charles Stanley

2 Corinthians 5:17-19

John Newton worked in one of the vilest businesses of his day—slave trading. But later, after receiving Jesus as his Savior, he penned the now familiar words to “Amazing Grace” as well as these lines: “In evil long I took delight / Unawed by shame or fear / Till a new object met my sight / And stopped my wild career.” Faith in Christ separated Newton from his dark past. The hope of a bright future is also ours if we accept God’s offer of new life.

No sin is so great that God will not forgive. Certainly some sins wreak havoc on our life as the consequences are played out. We will have to deal with whatever fallout our wrong choices bring, but we don’t have to live with guilt and shame. And when there are repercussions, we don’t have to face them alone.

First, we must accept responsibility for our sin. Confession and repentance mean we must drop our guilt burden at the foot of the cross. Only when we are willing to lay aside the sin and its accompanying shame can we take the second step—accepting forgiveness. We could never do enough to earn God’s pardon, so He freely offers mercy to anyone who will receive it. Christ’s death at Calvary bought every person a life free from the weight and wages of sin, but each individual must accept that salvation gift for him- or herself.

Our newfound liberty is maintained by taking a final step: believing we have a new life in Christ. If we will face our sin, accept forgiveness, and look toward the future, we cannot be weighed down by wrongs of the past.

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Amazing Grace

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Our Daily Bread

Ephesians 2:1-10

For by grace you have been saved through faith. —Ephesians 2:8

Pressed into service in the Royal Navy, John Newton was dismissed for insubordination and turned to a career trafficking in slaves. Notorious for cursing and blasphemy, Newton served on a slave ship during the cruelest days of trans-Atlantic slavery, finally working his way up to captain.

A dramatic conversion on the high seas set him on the path to grace. He always felt a sense of undeservedness for his new life. He became a rousing evangelical preacher and eventually a leader in the abolitionist movement. Newton appeared before Parliament, giving irrefutable eyewitness testimony to the horror and immorality of the slave trade. We also know him as the author of the lyrics of perhaps the best-loved hymn of all time, “Amazing Grace.”

Newton described any good in himself as an outworking of God’s grace. In doing so, he stands with these great heroes—a murderer and adulterer (King David), a coward (the apostle Peter), and a persecutor of Christians (the apostle Paul).

This same grace is available to all who call upon God, for “in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7). —Philip Yancey

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. —Newton

Lives rooted in God’s unchanging grace can never be uprooted.

Bible in a year: Isaiah 7-8; Ephesians 2

Insight

Here in Ephesians 2, Paul contrasts a person’s life before being saved by the grace of God to life after salvation by grace through faith. The first contrast is in verse 1: We were once “dead in trespasses” but have been made alive. Another contrast is in our behavior. We once “walked according to the course of this world” (v.2). Now, as believers, we walk according to good works prepared by God (v.10).

 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — All We Need To Know

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Our Daily Bread

Romans 7:18-25

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells. —Romans 7:18

In a Fernando Ortega rendition of “Just As I Am,” Billy Graham’s voice can be heard faintly in the background. Dr. Graham is reminiscing about an illness during which he believed he was dying. As he mused on his past, he realized what a great sinner he was and how much he continues to need God’s daily forgiveness.

Billy Graham was putting an end to the notion that apart from God we’re okay. We can feel good about ourselves, but that confidence must come from the knowledge that we’re greatly loved children of God (John 3:16), not that we’re very good children (Rom. 7:18).

The first step in becoming a truly “good” person as a follower of Christ is to stop pretending that we’re good on our own and to ask God to make us as good as we can be. We will fail many times, but He will keep growing us and changing us. God is faithful and—in His time and in His way—He’ll do it.

In his final years, the writer of “Amazing Grace,” John Newton, suffered from dementia and lamented the loss of his memory. Yet he confided, “I do remember two things: I am a great sinner, and Jesus is a great Savior.” When it comes to faith, those are the only things anyone needs to know. —David Roper

The Lord has promised good to me,

His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be

As long as life endures. —Newton

God’s grace accepted is God’s peace experienced.

Bible in a year: Psalms 66-67; Romans 7

Insight

The Christian life is one of struggle with sin and growth in holiness. On this side of heaven, we will not be totally freed from this struggle (James 3:2; 1 John 1:8–2:1). In today’s text, the apostle Paul writes of the war between good and evil that wages within him. Elsewhere Paul explains, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want” (Gal. 5:17 NIV). Yet we can take comfort in the fact that Jesus delivers us from this “body of death” (Rom. 7:24).

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – David’s dying song

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CharlesSpurgeon

“Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.” 2 Samuel 23:5

Suggested Further Reading: Colossians 3:1-4

If God were to put my salvation in my hands, I should be lost in ten minutes; but my salvation is not there—it is in Christ’s hands. You have read of the celebrated dream of John Newton, which I will tell you to the best of my recollection. He thought he was out at sea, on board a vessel, when some bright angel flew down and presented him with a ring, saying, “As long as you wear this ring you shall be happy, and your soul shall be safe.” He put the ring on his finger, and he felt happy to have it in his own possession. Then there came a spirit from the vast deep, and said to him; “The ring is nothing but folly;” and by deceit and flattery the spirit at last persuaded him to slip the ring from off his finger, and he dropped it in the sea. Then there came fierce things from the deep; the mountains bellowed, and hurled upward their volcanic lava: all the earth was on fire, and his soul in the greatest trouble. By and by a spirit came, and diving below, brought up the ring, and showing it to him, said, “Now thou art safe, for I have saved the ring.” Now might John Newton have said, “Let me put it on my finger again.” “No, no; you cannot take care of it yourself;” and up the angel flew, carrying the ring away with him, so that then he felt secure, since no deceit of hell could get it from him again, for it was up in heaven. My life is “hid with Christ in God.”

For meditation: Satan is unable to snatch anyone from the mighty hand of God (Job 1:12; 2:6; Luke 22:31,32; John 10:28,29). But he still has the unbeliever in his grasp.

Sermon no. 19

14 April (Preached 15 April 1855)

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – A mighty Saviour

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CharlesSpurgeon

“Mighty to save.” Isaiah 63:1

Suggested Further Reading: Hebrews 7:23-28

Remember the case of John Newton, the great and mighty preacher of St. Mary, Woolnoth,—an instance of the power of God to change the heart, as well as to give peace when the heart is changed. Ah! dear hearers, I often think within myself, “This is the greatest proof of the Saviour’s power.” Let another doctrine be preached: will it do the same? If it will, why not let every man gather a crowd round him and preach it? Will it really do it? If it will, then the blood of men’s souls must rest upon the man who does not boldly proclaim it. If he believes his gospel does save souls, how does he account for it that he stands in his pulpit from the first of January till the last of December, and never hears of a harlot made honest, nor of a drunkard reclaimed? Why? For this reason, that it is a poor dilution of Christianity. It is something like it, but it is not the bold, broad Christianity of the Bible; it is not the full gospel of the blessed God, for that has power to save. But if they do believe that theirs is the gospel, let them come out to preach it, and let them strive with all their might to win souls from sin, which is rife enough, God knows. We say again, that we have proof positive in cases even here before us, that Christ is mighty to save even the worst of men—to turn them from follies in which they have too long indulged, and we believe that the same gospel preached elsewhere would produce the same results. The best proof you can ever have of God’s being mighty to save, dear hearers, is that he saved you.

For meditation: Does the church today lack the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ (Romans 15:29) because the church is ashamed of the fullness of the gospel, which is God’s power to save all who believe (Romans 1:16)?

Sermon no. 111

4 January (1857)

 

Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon – Self-sufficiency slain

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 CharlesSpurgeon

“Without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5

Suggested Further Reading: 2 Chronicles 32:20-31

You are not capable of performing the lowest act of the divine life, except as you receive strength from God the Holy Spirit. And surely, my brethren, it is generally in these little things that we find out most of all our weakness. Peter can walk the waves of the sea, but he cannot bear the derision of a little maid. Job can endure the loss of all things, but the upbraiding words of his false friends, though they be but words, and break no bones—make him speak far more bitterly than all the sore boils which were in his very skin. Jonah said he did well to be angry, even unto death, about a gourd. Have you not often heard that mighty men who have outlived hundreds of battles have been slain at last by the most trivial accident? And has it not been so with professed Christians? They stood uprightly in the midst of the greatest trials; they have outlived the most arduous struggles, and yet in an evil hour, trusting to themselves, their foot has slipped under some slight temptation, or because of some small difficulty. John Newton says: “The grace of God is as necessary to create a right temper in Christians on the breaking of a china plate as on the death of an only son.” These little leaks need the most careful stopping. The plague of flies is no more easy to be stayed than that of the destroying angel. In little as well as in great things the just must live by faith. In trifles as well as in nobler exercises the believer should be conscious of his own inability,—should never say of any act, “Now I am strong enough to perform this; I need not go to God in prayer about this; this is so little a thing.”

For meditation: We need to bring everything to God in prayer, not only the things which worry us (Philippians 4:6); the apostle Paul had learned how to face all situations and how to do all things in Christ who strengthened him (Philippians 4:13).

Sermon no. 345

12 November (Preached 11 November 1860)

Uncategorized

Charles Spurgeon – David’s dying song

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“Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.” 2 Samuel 23:5

Suggested Further Reading: Colossians 3:1-4

If God were to put my salvation in my hands, I should be lost in ten minutes; but my salvation is not there—it is in Christ’s hands. You have read of the celebrated dream of John Newton, which I will tell you to the best of my recollection. He thought he was out at sea, on board a vessel, when some bright angel flew down and presented him with a ring, saying, “As long as you wear this ring you shall be happy, and your soul shall be safe.” He put the ring on his finger, and he felt happy to have it in his own possession. Then there came a spirit from the vast deep, and said to him; “The ring is nothing but folly;” and by deceit and flattery the spirit at last persuaded him to slip the ring from off his finger, and he dropped it in the sea. Then there came fierce things from the deep; the mountains bellowed, and hurled upward their volcanic lava: all the earth was on fire, and his soul in the greatest trouble. By and by a spirit came, and diving below, brought up the ring, and showing it to him, said, “Now thou art safe, for I have saved the ring.” Now might John Newton have said, “Let me put it on my finger again.” “No, no; you cannot take care of it yourself;” and up the angel flew, carrying the ring away with him, so that then he felt secure, since no deceit of hell could get it from him again, for it was up in heaven. My life is “hid with Christ in God.”

For meditation: Satan is unable to snatch anyone from the mighty hand of God (Job 1:12; 2:6; Luke 22:31,32; John 10:28,29). But he still has the unbeliever in his grasp.

Sermon no. 19

14 April (Preached 15 April 1855)