What's So Amazing About Grace?

The Lord's Grace to Paul

'I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.'
1 Timothy 1:12-17

Amazing Grace, the famous hymn and the title of a Hollywood film highlights one of the greatest stories of conversion and transformation in history.

When John Newton wrote about himself as a wretch he was not exaggerating. Newton was a slave ship captain who sank to the depths of depravity with crimes against humanity.

Slaves would be bound in iron cuffs at the wrist and ankle and tightly packed below deck in tiers of platforms two to three feet high. Barely able to breathe, their legs were drawn into foetal position with their feet resting on the heads of those in the next row.

Women were routinely raped. Some slaves committed suicide by starving themselves. Many jumped overboard. Others too weak and diseased to live were thrown overboard.

For those who survived the awful three month journey at sea there was further misery ahead. Men, women and children would be auctioned in a public market. They stood naked, bound in chains and branded awaiting their new owners who would work them to death.

In the brutal traffic of human misery, Newton later confessed that he had been personally responsible for the horrors inflicted on thousands of slaves on his ships.

He called himself the African blasphemer, yet through a remarkable conversion experience he became a clergyman. He declared through his hymn that 'I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind but now I see.'

Furthermore, he helped the young Christian, William Wilberforce, on a path of service to humanity that overcame entrenched opposition and ended the slave trade.

It's a true story that cuts right to the heart of the Christian gospel. For it is this message of grace that multitudes in our world today urgently need to hear and experience.

As Christians we need to be captured by an understanding and experience of amazing grace and then to share the amazing grace of God with all that we meet.

Grace simply means to receive favour, kindness and mercy that you don't deserve. Amazing grace is when you are amazed at the blessing you receive from God.

The truth that God is a God of grace is seen all through the Bible, including the Old Testament.

The apostle Paul, perhaps more than anyone else in the Bible, understood and clearly communicated what was so amazing about grace.

In 1 Timothy 1:12-17 he tells a story every bit as dramatic as John Newton's. For he himself had undergone a turnaround in his life that was almost unbelievable. He discovered that:

1. Grace Is Amazing Because It Shows ANYONE Can Be Saved

'Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man... Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst' (1 Timothy 1:13, 15).

Paul had been a nasty piece of work. He hunted down Christians, put them in prison and consented to their deaths. He opposed the name of Jesus of Nazareth (Acts 26:9), and tried to force Christians to blaspheme (Acts 26:11).

Yet he had an encounter with the living Christ that first startled him and then revolutionised him. He realised how wrong his heart and lifestyle had been. He also recognised that 'ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God' (Romans 3:23).

The teaching of the Bible is that no matter what people may look like on the outside and for all the differences in class, status, education or wealth, everyone has a sin issue in their life.

The reality of the human condition is that, spiritually, we are in a wretched condition and estranged from God.

We are blind and lost, or to use Paul's phrase in Ephesians 2:1, 'dead in our sins' and deserving of judgement.

This can offend your pride but it is the truth. You are not as nice or as good or as civilised as you may think - nor is the world around us.

There is all manner of deceit, self-serving passion, bitterness, anger and so forth in the heart. No matter whether you are obviously down and out or less obviously up and out, you are still a sinner needing rescuing from yourself.

That is why Jesus Christ came to save and rescue sinners and get them in right relationship to Father God through His death on the Cross.

Only when you come to terms with the awful reality of sin and the way it has blinded and corroded your potential will you begin to appreciate the wonder of God's love.

That's why John Newton could say late in life, 'my memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things; I am a great sinner and Christ is a great saviour!'

The lives of John Newton and the apostle Paul show that if men like these can be saved, you can too.

When Charles Colson, the man who went to prison for doing the dirty work for President Nixon, came to faith in Christ one newspaper said: 'if Colson can be converted there just has to be hope for anyone.'

You may have done some terrible things in life. You may have made some awful mistakes. You may have committed about every sin in the book but you can be saved. You can be forgiven. You can have a new start.

2. Grace Is Amazing Because It Shows The Incredible Mercy And Patience Of God

The apostle Paul said, 'I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief' (1 Timothy 1:13).

He adds, 'But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life' (1 Timothy 1:16).

In Ephesians 2:3-7, the apostle highlights just how merciful God is even when he was living far from God.

'All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.'

Time and time again John Newton sinned yet God did not blast him away. Even though everyone else would have written John Newton off, Jesus Christ never did.

The same was true for the apostle Paul and the same is true for you and for me. God has the most incredible patience.

God has not given up on you. It's not too late to come home to Him.

3. Grace Is Amazing Because It Shows The Incredible Generosity Of God

In 1 Timothy 1:14, Paul says, 'The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.'

Paul writes in Ephesians 1:8 about the riches of God's grace that he has lavished on us.

This was what the prodigal son experienced when he returned home to his father, hungry and empty handed after he had blown his inheritance on wild living. His dad, symbolising God, gave him the warmest welcome back, way beyond what he was expecting. In the eyes of his elder brother it was also way over the top.

Look what happened to this young man who came home. Luke 15:20-24 tells the story of amazing grace.

'So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate.'

Christians will be the most joyful people on earth when they know the lavish love of God.

God wants to pour out His love on you in the way that my old Gran experienced. She once confided in me: 'I know God is not supposed to have favorites but I am one of His special ones!'

4. Grace Is Amazing Because It Shows How God Can Turn A Great Sinner Into A Great Leader

Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:12, 'I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.'

The destroyer of the church became the great apostle in the church. He planted great churches and was a spiritual father to many. He wrote books that inspire and instruct us today. What a turnaround!

So too, God does not plan to deal with your past only but also to set you up with a future of great purpose. You will touch many lives for Christ and His Kingdom. You will make a difference! God has an amazing track record of forging great leaders out of great sinners.

In the corner of an English country churchyard in Olney, Buckinghamshire lies a large tombstone with these words inscribed:

'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.'

Charles Wesley writes like this of Christ's amazing grace:

He breaks the power of cancelled sin and sets the prisoner free,
His blood can make the foulest clean His blood avails for me.

Jesus the name to sinner dear, the name to sinners given,
It scatters all their guilty fear; It turns their hell to heaven.

Oh, that the world might taste and see the riches of His grace,
The arms of love that compass me Would all mankind embrace.

Today, and every day, God wants to embrace you with His amazing grace.*

*To read more about the life of John Newton and William Wilberforce, read, John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace by Jonathan Aitken (Continuum, 2007) and William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-slave Trade Campaigner by William Hague (Harper Press, 2007).