Great sinner, great Savior!

“My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.”

—John Newton, quoted in Jonathan Aitken, John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007), 347

Based on this quote, Michael Tinker has written these words:

Our King is a king of mercy
He gave the blind their sight and the dumb their speech
He healed the sick and raised the dead
Our King is a king of mercy.

Chorus:
Even though our memories may fail us
May we always remember this:
We are great sinners
But we have a great Saviour in Christ.

Our King is a king of cruel scars
He was beaten, stricken, whipped and condemned to die
Though he had done no wrong at all -
Our King is a king of cruel scars.

Our King is a king of passion
‘It is finished!’ he cried out and gave up his life
So we could be his family:
Our King is a king of passion.

Our King is a king of glory
Even death could not keep hold of this king of life
He rose triumphant from the grave
Our King is a king of glory.

(HT: First Importance, Church Matters)

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His grip, not ours!

“Our security is not our grip on Christ but His grip on us!”-D. Edmond Hiebert

“The fifth point of the doctrines of grace is preserving grace. It is often referred to as the perseverance of the saints or eternal security. Others speak of this doctrine by means of the pithy phrase “once saved, always saved.” This is the biblical truth that all those who have been brought to faith in Christ will never be lost. But this doctrine is about more than eternal security. It also includes the lifelong perseverance of the believer in the pursuit of godliness. While the doctrine of election reaches back to eternity past, this doctrine—persevering grace—reaches forward throughout the entirety of one’s Christian life and into eternity future. This doctrine simply establishes that all those chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and regenerated by the Spirit will pursue holiness and be kept secure in Christ forever. The preserving grace of God rests upon the immutability of His sovereign grace to save His elect forever. — Steve Lawson

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If only I . . . .then they would believe

Do you ever get frustrated when you share the gospel and there is no response? What do we often do? We go somewhere and think, “What could I have done differently.  Oh, if only I would have said this, brought up this point, or been able to perform some spectacular miracle. I just know he/she would have believed.”  Really?

Think of the people of Jesus’ day.  “Despite the perfection of his life, the power of His miracles, the profundity of His teaching, the testimony of His Father, the witness of the prophets, and the preaching of John the Baptist, the world didn’t know Him [Jesus],” Steve Lawson writes. WOW!  Or as John puts it, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” (John 1:10-11, ESV).

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