Shepherd the Flock

So how did John Newton, the author of the most popular Christian hymn of all time, Amazing Grace, proclaim the gospel to unbelievers?

“A well-wisher to your soul assures you, that whether you know these things or not, they are important realities…Oh hear the warning voice! Flee from the wrath to come. Pray thee that they eyes of your mind may be opened, then you will see your danger, and gladly follow the shining light of the Word.” - R. Cecil, The Life of John Newton, quoted in The Roots of Endurance, by John Piper

Many times, men who are widely considered to be ‘heroes of the faith’ by today’s evangelical world, are revealed under closer scrutiny as firmly holding to doctrines that today’s church has largely rejected. What do we find when we examine the theology of John Newton and the foundation upon which Amazing Grace was penned? We clearly find solid, biblical, God-centered Calvinism (the doctrines of grace).

In the quote above, Newton rightly mixes compassion for the lost with an understanding that the natural man is blind and hateful towards the things of God, unless God shows mercy. Total Depravity, as the first doctrine of Calvinism is called, teaches that man after the fall is dead and lifeless to the things of God, and that sin has fully infected his entire being of heart, mind, will, emotions, soul, etc. And unless God show mercy, that Amazing Grace to the sinner, then man will perish in his iniquity.

But I point this out for a reason: is in not the rejection of this doctrine that has caused so many of our churches to go astray? Think about Newton’s words above. He does not appeal to anything good in man whatsoever. He doesn’t woo the lost with gimmicks, rhetoric, entertainment, a simple prayer of faith, or even his own niceness –in fact, he’s kind of blunt in telling them that they weren’t likely to understand what he was about to tell them! That’s certainly not how to win friends and influence people.

But my point is simple: let us learn from this wise man. Let us too place man’s deadness at the forefront of our minds when spreading the gospel. Only then we will place God’s sovereignty and glory as first and foremost; only then will we give all the credit to God alone instead of to our own efforts; only then will resist the urge to appeal to the supposed goodness of man in order to ‘win’ converts –which will end up doing much more harm to their souls than good; and only then will we walk in the example of our Savior who likewise declared such things as:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God…The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

“Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”