Untitled Sermon (5)

LAST WEEK WE LOOKED AT ALL WHAT WAS IN PAUL’S SALUTATION. USUALLY AFTER THE SALUTATION IN PAUL’S LETTERS IF FOLLOWED ORDINARILY BY AN EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE AND APPRECIATION FOR THE READERS.

EVEN WHEN WRITING 1 CORINTHIANS, IN WHICH THERE ARE MANY HARSH THINGS SAID OF THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH, PAUL BEGINS WITH A GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THEIR WEALTH OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS.

IN GALATIANS HOWEVER, PAUL BEGINS WITH A FORCEFUL PROTEST AND PRONOUNCES IN VS8, A CURSE ON ANYONE WHO DARES TO PREACH A GOSPEL OTHER THAN PREACHED BY HIM.

IT IS HERE STARTING IN VS 6 WE SEE THE CONDITIONS AS TO WHY THIS LETTER WAS WRITTEN. IN VS 6-7 WE SEE THE DEFECTION OR APOSTASY OF THE GALATIANS. PAUL IS ALARMED AND I CANS SENSE HIS FRUSTRATION AS HE ADDRESSES THE CHURCHES IN GALATIA.

READ VS 6

IT IS HERE STARTING IN VS 6 WE SEE THE CONDITIONS AS TO WHY THIS LETTER WAS WRITEN. IN VS 6-7 WE SEE THE DEFECTION OF THE GALATIANS. PAUL IS ALARMED AND I CANS SENSE HIS FRUSTRATION AS HE ADDRESSES THE CHURCHES IN GALATIA. READ VS 6

YOU MAY FIND THE WORD ‘AMAZED’ OR ‘ASTONISHED’, OR ‘MARVEL’ IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR VERSION OF TRANSLATION. BUT EACH ONE OF THESE WORDS IS A WORD OF SURPRISE AT THE UNEXPECTED. AND THIS IS A PAINFUL SURPRISE. ONE COMMENTATOR , NORLEY, TRANSLATED IT, ‘I AM DUMBFOUNDED.’

I BELIEVE HE IS SURPRISED DUE TO THE FACT THAT THEIR DESERTION CAME SO QUICKLY AFTER THE ARRIVAL OF THE FALSE TEACHERS. PAUL IS AMAZED AT THE EASE WITH WHICH THE GALATIANS HAVE REDIRECTED THIER LOYALY. AND MOST LIKELY THIS DEFECTION WAS NOT COMPLETE; IT WAS A PROCESS STILL GOING ON.

PAUL’S HOPE IN WRITING THIS LETTER WAS TO HALT THE PROCESS AND AVERT SPIRITUAL DISASTER. THIER TURNING AWAY IS THE SAME AS A MILITARY DESERTION, OR A POLITICAL REVOLT, OR A DEFECTION IN MORALS.

THE GALATIANS WERE IN THE PROCESS OF BECOMING TURNCOATS. THEY WERE GOING TO DEFECT FROM GOD…HIM WHO CALLED YOU… TO …A DIFFERENT GOSPEL.... AND THIS DIFFERENT GOSPEL IS SAYING THAT THIS DIFFERENT GOSPEL HE DESCRIBES HAS NO RELATIONSHIP TO THE TRUTH, IT IS FULLY OF ANOTHER KIND AND IS COMPLETELY FALSE.

WHY, YOU MAY WONDER, DOES ANYONE FORSAKE THE CHRISTIAN FAITH? WHY WOULD ANYONE IF THEY TRULY ENCOUNTERED THE TRUE AND LIVING GOD TURN FROM GRACE TO NO GRACE OR FROM THE GOSPEL TO THAT WHICH IS NO GOSPEL AT ALL?

FROM WHAT WE KNOW OF THE GALATIANS’ AND EXPERIENCES OF TODAY, APOSTASY COMES OVER US, MOST LIKELY, WHEN TWO THINGS HAPPEN.

1ST: WE EXPERIENCE SOUL TROUBLE; WHICH COULD BE A PERSONAL CRISIS, HARDSHIP, TRAGEDY, OR LOSS.

2ND: WE ENCOUNTER TWISTED TRUTH; THERE IS SOME SUBTLE PERVERSION OF THE TRUTH OF THE SCRIPTURE, A SLIGHT DISTORTION OF THE GRACE OF GOD IN THE GOSPEL.

IN YOUR OWN LIFE; WHEN WE ARE SCARED, HURTING, DISCOURAGED, OR DISILLUSIONED, WE ARE OFTEN MORE OPEN TO CONSIDERING SOMETHING IN ADDITION TO THE GOSPEL WE FIRST RECEIVED. WE MAY HAVE FOUND JESUS SUFFICIENT UP TO THIS POINT. BUT GIVEN THE WAY THINGS ARE NOW, WE WONDER IF IT IS TIME TO LOOK ELSEWHERE.

THE REALITY IS THAT ONE DOESN’T WAKE UP ONE MORNING AND DECIDE TO FORSAKE THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. INSTEAD DEFECTION, OR APOSTASY HAPPENS MORE SUBTLY AND SLOWLY.

TODD WILSON WRITES...APOSTASY, IN OTHER WORDS, MEANS SLOWLY DRIFTING FROM THE SEASHORE OF FAITH ON A RAFT OF DOUBT, DRIVEN BY THE WINDS OF DISAPPOINTMENT AND CARRIED BY THE CURRENTS OF FALSE TEACHING.

SO HOW DO WE AVOID DRIFTING?

FIRST WE MUST HOLD FIRMLY, TENACIOUSLY TO WHAT THE WORD OF GOD TEACHES. READ

DON’T LET GO OF THE GOSPEL; IT WILL HELP US STAY THE COURSE AND FINISH THE RACE.

SECOND: WE MUST LET THE SCRIPTURES BE OUR FINAL AUTHORITY IN MATTERS OF FAITH. WE MUST LET THE BIBLE RULE IN OUR LIFE.

LUTHER WROTE: THIS QUEEN (THE BIBLE) MUST RULE, AND EVERYONE MUST OBEY, AND BE SUBJECT TO HER. THE POPE, LUTHER, AUGUSTINE, PAUL, AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN; THESE SHOULD NOT BE MASTERS, JUDGES, OR ARBITERS BUT ONLY WITNESSES, DISCIPLES, AND CONFESSORS OF SCRIPTURE. NOR SHOULD ANY DOCTRINE BE TAUGHT OR HEARD IN THE CHURCH EXCEPT THE PURE WORD OF GOD. OTHERWISE, LET THE TEACHERS AND HEARERS BE ACCURSED ALONG WITH THEIR DOCTRINE...

THIRD, WE AVOID DRIFTING BY HEEDING BIBLICAL WARNINGS; THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE BY THE GALATIANS BUT THEY FAILED TO DO SO. PAUL TOLD THEM TWICE BUT THEY WOULD NOT LISTEN.

I KNOW THAT NO ONE LIKES TO BE WARNED. WE OFTEN FEEL LIKE WE’RE BEING TALKED DOWN TO. AND SO OUR OWN PRIDE AND SENSE OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY RESISTS WARNINGS.

EVEN WHEN THE WARNING IS THE BEST THING FOR US. HUMAN BEINGS DON’T LIKE WARNINGS, WHETHER IT’S A WARNING FROM OUR PARENTS OR A WARNING IN THE BIBLE.

BUT THE REALITY IS THAT WARNINGS SAVE LIVES OR KEEP US FROM GETTING INJURED. WHEN YOUR PARENTS TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH THE HOT STOVE, BUT YOU DID IT ANYWAY, BUT ONLY ONCE, RIGHT!

ONE WARNING LABEL I CAME ACROSS WAS FOR AN IRON ON DECAL AND THE WARNING WAS ; DO NOT IRON ON DECAL WHILE WEARING SHIRT!

ANOTHER WAS THE PICTURE OF A MICROWAVE OVEN WITH THE WORDS; DO NOT USE TO DRY YOUR PETS!

SO, HOLD TIGHTLY TO WHAT WE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT, HEED THE WARNINGS OF SCRIPTURE AND HAVE CONFIDENCE IN JESUS. FOR WE ARE SECURE IN THE FATHER’S HAND.

LINDA LEE JOHNSON WROTE IT THIS WAY IN A HYMN. # 476 ‘BE STRONG IN THE LORD’ READ

JESUS SAID…MY FATHER, WHO HAS GIVEN THEM TO ME, IS GREATER THAN ALL; AND NO ONE IS ABLE TO SNATCH THEM OUT OF THE FATHER’S HAND…

AS WE MOVE ON TO VS 7 WE GET OUR FIRST HINT OF THE DIFFICULTIES FOR THE GALATIANS BECAUSE OF OUTSIDE AGITATORS. THE AGITATORS ARE SAID TO BE WANTING TO CONFUSE THE GALATIANS BY PERVERTING THE GOSPEL. WHICH WAS SUBSTITUTING A DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY WORKS FOR A DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY GRACE.

AND IN VS 7 WE GET OUR FIRST HINT OF THE DIFFICULTIES FOR THE GALATIANS BECAUSE OF OUTSIDE AGITATORS. THE AGITATORS ARE SAID TO BE WANTING TO CONFUSE THE GALATIANS BY PERVERTING THE GOSPEL. WHICH WAS SUBSTITUTING A DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY WORKS FOR A DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY GRACE.

AND IN VS 7 WE GET OUR FIRST HINT OF THE DIFFICULTIES FOR THE GALATIANS BECAUSE OF OUTSIDE AGITATORS. THE AGITATORS ARE SAID TO BE WANTING TO CONFUSE THE GALATIANS BY PERVERTING THE GOSPEL. WHICH WAS SUBSTITUTING A DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY WORKS FOR A DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY GRACE.

AND WE CAN SENSE A FURTHER FRUSTRATION AND THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE SITUATION WHEN HE PRONOUNCES A CURSE ON THESE JUDAIZERS. WE SEE THE SERIOUSNESS OF THIS PERVERSION OF THE GOSPEL BECAUSE PAUL SAYS TWICE, LET THEM BE ACCURSED.

WITH THESE STATEMENTS WE DO NOT NEED ASSUME THAT PAUL IS ANGRY BECAUSE OF HIS EGO. NO, HE IS MERELY STATING THE FACT AHT THOSE WHO ARE FOUND ADVOCATING A FALSE VIEW OF THE WORK OF CHRIST ARE NOT MISTAKEN, THEY ARE LOST.

IN V8 WE NEED TO PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO PAUL’S STATEMENT

…BUT EVEN THOUGH WE, OR AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN, SHOULD PREACH TO YOU A GOSPEL CONTRARY TO THAT WHICH WE HAVE PREACHED TO YOU, LET HIM BE ACCURSED…V8 AND REPEATS THIS IN VS9!

LOOK AT IT, EVEN A MESSENGER CLAIMING THE HIGHEST CONCEIVABLE AUTHORITY MUST BE REJECTED IF WHAT HE SAYS IS CONTRARY TO THE GOSPEL ORIGINALLY PREACHED TO THEM BY THE APOSTLES.

THE MORMAN RELIGION GETS THEIR BOOK OF MORMAN FROM THE ANGEL MORONI! AND ISLAM GETS THEIRS THROUGH THE ANGEL GABRIEL.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN; ATTENTION: ‘ ANY GOSPEL OTHER THAN THAT WHICH WE PREACHED’, PAUL WRITES TO LET US KNOW THAT ANY GOSPEL BESIDES OR IN ADDITION TO WHAT THEY PREACHED AND ANY GOSPEL CONTRARY TO WHAT THEY PREACHED.

SIMPLY PUT; NOTHING, OR NO ONE, HAS THE AUTHORITY TO OVERRIDE THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL; INCLUDING PAUL HIMSELF OR EVEN ANGELS!! WHY MENTION ANGEL? IT WAS COMMON JEWISH BELIEF THAT THE MOSAIC LAW HAD BEEN GIVEN THROUGH ANGELIC MEDIATORS, AND THESE NEW TEACHERS MAY HAVE STRESSED THIS POINT WHEN URGING THE SIMPLE GENTILE XIANS TO KEEP THE MOSAIC LAW.

FRIENDS, IT IS NOT THE PREACHER TO WHOM YOU SHOULD GIVE YOUR ALLEGIANCE, BUT TO THE PREACHED WORD OF GOD. THERE IS ONLY ONE GOSPEL. ANYTHING ELSE IS FALSE!

THEN PAUL MOVES ON TO THE FACT THAT HE IS NOT PREACHING, OR WRITING OR DOING ANYTHING THAT IS NOT PLEASING TO GOD.

WE HAVE ASKED RHETORICAL QUESTIONS BEFORE; PAUL IS DOING SO HERE IN THE FIRST PART OF VS10. HIS REPLY TO THEM IS …IF I WERE STILL TRYING TO PLEASE MEN, I WOULD NOT BE A BOND-SERVANT OF CHRIST...

PAUL WAS NOT SERVING PEOPLE; IT WAS GOD. IT MADE NO DIFFERENCE TO HIM WHAT PEOPLE SAID OR THOUGHT ABOUT HIM; HIS MASTER WAS GOD.

IN OTHER WORD; IN PAUL’S DAY SLAVES HAD THEIR MASTER’S NAME AND SIGN STAMPED ON THEM WITH A BRANDING IRON; PAUL HIMSELF HAD THE MARKS OF SUFFERING ON HIS BODY, HIS BRANDING OF SLAVERY TO CHRIST. THE FACT THAT HE WAS MARKED THIS WAY WAS THE FINAL PROOF THAT HIS AIM WAS TO SERVE CHRIST AND NOT TO PLEASE OTHERS.

HOW ABOUT YOU AND ME? ARE WE BRANDED A SLAVE FOR JESUS? ARE WE WILLING TO DO ANYTHING FOR JESUS NO MATTER WHAT THE WORLD WILL SAY OR THINK ABOUT US?

WILLIAM BARCLAY WRITES...IT IS WHEN PEOPLE SEE THAT WE ARE PREPARED TO SUFFER FOR THE FAITH WHICH WE SAY WE HOLD THAT THEY BEGIN TO BELIEVE THAT WE REALLY HOLD IT. IF OUR FAITH COST US NOTHING, OTHERS WILL VALUE IT AT NOTHING.

NOW STARTING IN VS11 THROUGH 24 WE HAVE A DEFENSE OF PAUL’S MINISTRY.

WE ARE AWARE THAT PAUL HAD A PERSONAL TRANSFORMING EXPERIENCE: BUT FROM WHERE DID THAT EXPERIENCE COME FROM? AT THIS POINT PAUL OUTLINES THE STEPS THAT LED TO HIS CONVERSION AND THE EXPERIENCES THAT FOLLOWED, TO PROVE THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

‘FOR I WOULD HAVE YOU TO KNOW’ OR HE WANTS TO REVEAL OR TO MAKE IT CLEAR. THEN PAUL DECLARES THE GOSPEL HE PREACHES COMES NOT FROM MAN. WHAT PAUL IS SAYING IS THAT HE DID NOT RECEIVE HIS MESSAGE FROM THE TRADITIONAL TEACHINGS OF MAN OR OF LEARNING BY ROTE REPETITION.

PAUL WANTS TO SHOW THAT NO ONE CAN BE EDUCATED INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. PAUL HAD NOT, HE SAYS LEARNED HIS GOSPEL IN THE PRESUMED SCHOOLS OF JERUSALEM. WHERE DID HE LEARN IT THEN? IT CAME DIRECTLY THROUGH A REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST; AS VS12 REVEALS.

THE BEST WAY FOR PAUL TO PROVE HIS POINT IS TO REMIND THE GALATIAN XIANS OF THE WAY GOD HAD DEALT WITH HIM. PAUL’S PAST WAS KNOWN BY HIS READERS BUT IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT THEY DID NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THOSE EXPERIENCES MEANT.

THE BEST WAY FOR PAUL TO PROVE HIS POINT IS TO REMIND THE GALATIAN XIANS OF THE WAY GOD HAD DEALT WITH HIM. PAUL’S PAST WAS KNOW BY HIS READERS BUT IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT THEY DID NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THOSE EXPERIENCES MEANT.

VS 12

MAY I REMIND US THAT THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH MANY PEOPLE HAVE FALSELY CLAIMED SUCH REVELATION, AS MANY DO TODAY. BUT PAUL WAS NOT CONTENT MERELY TO MAKE THE CLAIM. NOR DID HE EXPECT HIS READERS TO BELIEVE HIM SIMPLY ON THE BASIS OF HIS WORD.

IN THE FOLLOWING VERSES PAUL PROCEEDS TO SUBSTANTIATE HIS CLAIM BY PRESENTING IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE OF THAT DIVNE REVELATION AND OF HIS APOSTOLIC CREDENTIALS.

IN THESE VERSES WE ARE GIVEN THE PRESCRIPTION ON HOW WE ALSO CAN GIVE OUR TESTIMONY TO SOMEONE WE ARE SHARING THE GOSPEL WITH. WE NEED TO DISCUSS THREE POINTS OF OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE, JUST AS PAUL DOES HERE.

PRECONVERSION 2. CONVERSION 3. POSTCONVERSION

PAUL BEGINS WITH HIS PAST CONDUCT AS AN UNCONVERTED JEW. (IF YOU WOULD LIKE A MORE DETAILED ACCOUNT I SUGGEST READING , , )

PAUL USES THE WORDS…MY FORMER MANNER OF LIFE… TO DESCRIBE HIS JEWISH FAITH. WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT JUDAISM WAS NOT A MASK TO BE WORN AND TAKEN OFF AT WILL. JUDAISM WAS A WAY OF LIFE, INVOLVING ALL OF LIFE, AND THIS WAS HIS LIFESTYLE. HAVE YOU HEARD THAT STATEMENT BEFORE? SOMEWHERE?

THIS IS THE SAME FOR US TODAY AS BELIEVERS AND FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST. WE DO NOT AND CANNOT COMPARTMENTALIZE OUR FAITH. IT MUST BE EVERYTHING WE ARE; OUR LIFESTYLE, OR WE ARE JUST PLAYING A GAME. WE NEED TO STOP PLAYING THE GAME PEOPLE!! WE NEED TO JESUS UP AND LIVE FOR JESUS!!

WE SEE TWO ASPECT OF PAUL’S FORMER LIFE; FIRST HE PERSECUTED THE CHURCH AND HE ADVANCED IN THE TRADITIONS OF JUDAISM WELL BEYOND THOSE OF HIS OWN AGE. IN BOTH OF THESE ASPECT PAUL WAS A FANATIC. WE SEE THIS IN THE WORDS HE USED IN VS14

…BEING MORE EXTREMELY ZEALOUS FOR MY ANCESTRAL TRADITIONS...

NOW IF YOU TAKE A LOOK AT PAUL’S OVERALL LIFE YOU SEE THAT THIS ZEAL THAT FIRED UP PAUL IN PERSECUTING THE CHURCH, GOD USED THAT ASPECT OF HIS PERSONALITY IN MISSIONARY EFFORTS.

BY LOOKING BACK BEFORE HIS CONVERSION AND PAUL’S ZEAL FOR THE PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH AND THEN SEE WHAT HE IS DOING WITH THAT SAME ZEAL FOR THE LORD; HIS CONVERSION COULD NOT HAVE COME FROM SOME HUMAN.

GOD HIMSELF IS THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD HAVE ACCOMPLISHED THIS FEAT! PAUL SPEAKS OF HIS CONVERSION, POINTING OUT THAT GOD DID IT ENTIRELY APART FROM ANY HUMAN INTERVENTION.

LOOK CLOSELY, DO YOU NOT SEE THE CONTRAST IN THE SUBJECT BETWEEN VS13-14 AND VS15-16? IN 13-14 PAUL HIMSELF IS THE SUBJECT. YOU SEE THE USE OF THE PRONOUN ‘I’. LOOK AT WHAT HE SAYS, I PERSECUTED, I ADVANCED JUDAISM.

BUT IN 15-16 GOD IS THE SUBJECT AND GOD’S GRACE IS EMPHASIZED. ALSO, LOOK AT THE THREE THINGS GOD DID FOR PAUL:

GOD SET HIM APART FROM BIRTH: GOD CHOSE TO USE PAUL AS AN APOSTLE BEFORE HE WAS EVEN BORN.

GOD CALLED HIM BY GRACE: THIS IS REALIZED BY PAUL AT THE MOMENT OF HIS CONVERSION.

GOD REVEALED HIS SON IN PAUL: PAUL BECAME AWARE THAT THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT DWELT WITHIN HIM AND THAT GOD WAS GOING TO USE PAUL TO REVAL JESUS CHRIST TO OTHERS.

GOD’S REVELATION OF JESUS IN PAUL WAS AN INNER REVELATION CONCERNING WHO JESUS TRULY WAS AND WHAT HIS LIFE, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION SIGNIFIED.

THIS MADE SUCH A HUGE IMPACT IN HIS LIFE THAT PAUL IMMEDIATELY BEGAN TO SHARE THIS REVELATION OF CHRIST TO OTHERS. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE DEMONSTRATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD.

A PHARISEE, A CHIEF PROSECUTOR OF THE CHURCH NOW TURNED PREACHER AND ADVOCATE OF WHAT HE ONCE TRIED TO DESTROY! DID THIS CHANGE TAKE PLACE OR WAS IS IT ACCOMPLISHED BY MEN? NO, AS PAUL WRITES…HE DID NOT IMMEDIATELY CONSULT WITH FLESH AND BLOOD OR EVEN FROM THE APOSTLES THEMSELVES WHO WERE IN JERUSALEM BUT HE WENT TO ARABIA...

GOD DID ALL OF THIS AND HE DID IT BY GRACE. GOD DID AND DOES THIS WITH MANY OTHERS THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES. SALVATION IS BY GOD’S GRACE, NOT MAN’S EFFORTS OR CHARACTER.

GOD DID IT FOR THE SAKE OF OTHER; GOD CHOSE PAUL TO WIN OTHERS, ESPECIALLY THE GENTILES, TO A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS. A TASK THAT WAS EVIDENCE THAT PAUL’S CONVERSION WAS FROM GOD BECAUSE THERE WAS NO WAY A JEWISH RABBI WOULD EVER DECIDE ON HIS OWN TO MINISTER TO THE DESPISED GENTILES!

GOD DID IT ALSO FOR HIS GLORY, AS STATED IN VS 24…AND THEY WERE GLORIFYING GOD BECAUSE OF ME...

AGAIN, I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND YOU OF THE STEPS OF SHARING YOUR STORY WITH OTHERS.

PRE-CONVERSION: WHAT YOU WERE LIKE BEFORE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST.

CONVERSION: WHAT TOOK PLACE AT THAT TIME.

POST-CONVERSION: HOW IS GOD USING YOU NOW AND HOW YOUR LIFESTYLE IS DIFFERENT NOT THAT YOU HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.

I WOULD LIKE TO CONCLUDE USING TODD WILSON’S STORY OF JOHN NEWTON. NEWTON, THE 18TH CENTURY PASTOR, A MAN WHO UNDERSTOOD THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL AND THE GRACE OF GOD. HE WAS THE AUTHOR OF THE TIMELESS HYMN, ‘AMAZING GRACE,’ WHOSE LYRICS SEEM TO TELL EACH OF OUR STORIES BETER THAN WE OURSELVES COULD. BUT BEFORE JOHN NEWTON WAS THE GREAT CHRISTIAN HYMN WRITER, HE WAS A RASCAL, A SLAVE TRADER, A REBEL.

YET THE MERCY OF GOD INTERVENED IN HIS LIFE; THE LORD JESUS CHRIST INTERPOSED HIS GRACE; JESUS GOT IN NEWTON’S WAY AND ULTIMATELY SAVED NEWTON FROM HIMSELF. IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND, NEWTON DESCRIBED HIS OWN CONVERSION IN WAYS REMINISCENT OF THE APOSTLE PAUL’S.

‘I, THOUGH LONG A RINGLEADER IN BLASPHEMY AND WICKEDNESS, WAS SPARED, AND THOUGH BANISHED INTO THE WILDS OF AFRICA, WHERE I WAS THE SPORT, YEA THE PITY OF SLAVES, I WAS BY A SERIES OF PROVIDENCES LITTLE LESS THAN MIRACULOUSLY RECOVERED FROM THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE, AND AT LENGTH APPOINTED TO PREACH THE FAITH I HAD LONG LABORED TO DESTROY.’

SHORTLY BEFORE HIS DEATH, NEWTON COMPOSED HIS OWN EPITAPH; IT READS LIKE SOMETHING THE APOSTLE PAUL MIGHT HAVE WRITTEN. HE WANTED IT INSCRIBED ON PLAIN MARBLE WITH NO OTHER MONUMENT OR INSCRIPTION, LEST ANYTHING DISTRACT FROM THE GRACE OF GOD THAT MADE HIM WHAT HE WAS. IT READS:

JOHN NEWTON; CLERK; ONCE AN INFIDEL AND LIBERTINE,

A SER

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.

JOHN NEWTON’S LIFE WAS A POWERFUL ARGUMENT FOR THE TRUTH AND POWER OF THE GOSPEL!

THE SINGLE BEST ARGUMENT FOR OR AGAINST CHRISTIANITY HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE SAME: CHRISTIANS.

A SUPERFICIAL, HYPOCRITICAL LIFE IS A STRONG CASE AGAINST THE CLAIM THAT THE GOSPEL SAVES.

BUT A TRANSFORMED LIFE, LIVED TO THE GLORY OF GOD, IS POWERFUL PROOF OF THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL. WE ARE OUR BEST ARGUMENT.

MAY WE, THEREFORE, SO EXPERIENCE THE GRACE OF GOD IN THE GOSPEL THAT OTHERS MIGHT SEE OUR TRANSFORMED LIVES AND GLORIFY GOD BECAUSE OF US!!

PRAY: