Amazing Grace 

Someone mistakenly claimed that the man who wrote "Amazing Grace" was a slave trader. But on his tombstone are these words: "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 labored to destroy." John's mother died when he was six, and after only two years of formal schooling he joined his father's ship at the age of eleven. His early life was one of immorality, debauchery and failure.

He was rejected by his father, in trouble with all his employers, and finally jailed and degraded. In later years he served on slave ships, where he so incurred the hatred of his employer's negro wife that he became virtually a "slave of slaves."

This miserable seaman was finally brought to his senses one day. His actual conversion was the result of a violent storm in which he almost lost his life. At the age of thirty-nine, John Newton became a minister and gave the rest of his life to serving God in the church.

"Amazing Grace" is Newton's own testimony of his conversion and of his life as a Christian.

In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career."

"God's grace" has been defined as His "undeserved favor", and it was this wonderful loving grace that reached out to John Newton. When he learned that Christ loved him and had died for him, he was AMAZED. It was this grace which made him conscious that he was a sinner ("grace that taught my heart to fear") and then assured him that his sins were forgiven ("grace my fears relieved").

And so it is with all of us. We are all "great sinners", not only because of transgressions committed, but also because we fall short of God's standard for our lives. And this "AMAZING GRACE" is available to all of us. Over his mantelpiece, John had inscribed: "Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable (Isa.43:4). But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee (Deut.15:15)."

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. --Richard

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.

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

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

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 we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun.