JESUS: POWER TO SAVE

William Cowper

John Newton

Sermon by John Turner

Based on Ephesians 2:1-10

July 5, 2009

By Grace, Through Faith, for Good Works

Paul, in his Letter to the Ephesians, wrote what most scholars believe was a circular letter addressed to a general audience of primarily Gentile Christians. To those who would hear his letter read in public, he said, as I paraphrase, "You were once spiritually dead because of the sins in which you lived. You followed the devil who rules over the disobedient of this world; you were living for your own pleasure. Like all people, you were therefore children of wrath, destined for destruction. But God loved you so much, even when you were lost in sin, that he intervened by sending his Son Christ Jesus to die for your sins and to be raised and exalted so that you might follow him instead of the devil, so that you might share Christ's glorious inheritance instead of the devil's destruction. This is not something you deserved. This is a gift. You cannot buy this gift. You cannot earn it. You can only receive it through faith. You do not have and cannot have enough good works to claim this gift on the basis of your merit, but believing in this gift will put you on the path of gratefully serving God. You are saved by grace, through faith, for good works."


I do not know of any two people whose lives better illustrate this passage of scripture than John Newton and William Cowper of late 18th century Great Britain.

John Newton

Through some embittering experiences, Newton had become a hard young man. He was a drunkard, a blasphemer, a sea captain, a slave-trader. He neglected the well-being of his slave cargo to the point of being morally guilty of gross manslaughter. He raped women slaves whenever he chose, finally taking one as a common-law wife and then deserting her. At the point of deepest darkness, there was not much good about him. During a terrible sea-storm, he became desperate enough to commit his life to the Lord. He did not become a saint overnight, but, after some years of spiritual ups-and-downs, he became by degrees a good and faithful husband to a Christian woman, an honest and decent citizen, a priest in the Church of England, a quiet opponent of slavery, a mentor to an incredibly gifted and widely influential younger generation of evangelical Christians, the pastor, friend, and caretaker of one of England=s great but emotionally fragile poets, and a hymn-writer and editor. By his life's end, he was considered a gentle and loving man, a model Christian who had for many years lived a nearly unblemished life.

Amazing Grace

We know him best for one Hymn that he wrote. He titled the hymn, "Faith's Review and Expectation," meaning that it reviewed the emergence of his faith and looked ahead to the expected rewards. We know this hymn as "Amazing Grace." It is probably the most popular hymn in Christian history. Newton wrote six verses of the hymn.



If I were a betting man, I’d wager that most of you can say the first verse with me without looking. Let’s try it: "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.”


I would also wager that, if I asked you to quote Newton’s last verse to this hymn, most of you would start in, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years….” That would be wrong. Newton did not write those words.


My third wager would be that most of you do not know the last verse that Newton did write: “The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbear to shine; but GOD, who called me here below, will be forever mine.” We will sing it later just so that you won’t go through life without it.


Viewed against the history of Newton’s conversion, “Amazing Grace” is indeed a remarkable hymn. When Newton published the song, he placed with it a reference to 1 Chronicles 17:16-17: "Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, AWho am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And even this was a small thing in your sight, O God; you have also spoken of your servant=s house for a great while to come. You regard me as someone of high rank, O Lord God!"



Surely, Newton, now the beloved priest, was identifying with that great sinner David, whom God had elevated beyond all deserving. Amazing grace!

Waves of Influence

Anyone who saw the dramatic change in Newton’s life knew that he had indeed been lost and then found, and that, as a result, he had an effective passion for reaching others who needed to be found by the amazing grace of God, and for influencing those who were spiritually awakened to pursue great Christian work. Among the next generation of British leaders on whom Newton had profound influence were:

• the great missionaries William Carey and Henry Martyn,
• the great political reformer William Wilberforce who would certainly be a nominee for the greatest political reformer in history,
• the great social and moral reformer Hannah More,
• the great pulpiteers Charles Simeon and William Jay,
• the great Bible scholar Thomas Scott, and
• the great poet William Cowper.

The people Newton influenced were instrumental in reforming the dead and decadent Church of England, founding Sunday schools, invigorating hymnody, ending slavery, campaigning against all manners of social, cultural, and moral ills, promoting the humane treatment of animals, establishing foreign missions, advancing education for the working poor, deepening Bible scholarship, and on and on. And many of them had their own circles of influence on succeeding generations. It is not just when we sing “Amazing Grace”; the waves of influence that flow from Newton’s conversion have not stopped in 250 years, and those waves touch us in far more ways than we know. One conversion can make an immense difference in the course of history.

We could take it back a step further. When John Newton was a boy, his mother had patiently and ardently prayed for his Christian faith and even for his future vocation as a minister of the gospel. She died when he was seven or eight years old, but even in the depths of his sin, I believe that God was preparing the answer to her prayers. One person’s prayers can change the world.

Salvation First, Transformation Follows

As a mature adult, Newton was an opponent of the slavery from which he had once made his despicable living, but a largely quiet opponent. He did publish a booklet confessing and deploring his involvement in slavery, and he certainly, alongside John Wesley, encouraged his protégé William Wilberforce to fight in Parliament for abolition of the slave trade and finally of slavery itself. But Newton understood that his calling was not politics. His calling was bringing people to Jesus. He did not let his opposition to slavery stand in the way of his calling to bring even slaveholders to Jesus. He trusted that Jesus could change their hearts and lives better than he could. Salvation comes first, transformation follows. The church today needs to understand that priority. Salvation comes first, transformation follows.

That theme of the priority of salvation was evident throughout Newton’s mature years. As Newton got older, he began to have memory problems. A close friend approached him suggesting that his forgetfulness was reaching such an extent that it might be good to consider retiring from the pulpit. Newton replied something to the effect, “I may not have the memory that I once had, but I still remember that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior. What more need I remember?”


Newton wrote over 200 hymns, most of them not very good as hymns or poems, although well worth reading as rhyming devotionals, but a few stand out as quite good. We still sing "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" and “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds.”

William Cowper

One of Newton's greatest works was his aid to the poet William Cowper. Cowper was a great poet, sometimes called the first Romantic poet, whose secular work is often still published in anthologies. He was on his best days funny and loving, remarkable to his friends for his great love of animals. But he was given to bouts of severe depression in which he became convinced that he was lost, and in which he contemplated suicide. Today, he would probably be diagnosed with and treated for bipolar disorder. Newton was for several years Cowper's frequent companion and encourager. He first provided and then arranged for Cowper’s care. He would take Cowper along on pastoral calls to get his mind off his own problems. He busied him editing and publishing their combined hymns. He remained Cowper's encouraging correspondent even after duties separated them. I believe we might never have heard of Cowper without Newton's efforts.

Cowper's best-known hymn is "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood." For most people today, the hymn is a bit challenging to their aesthetic sensibilities; all that flowing blood imagery grosses them out. The Newton-Cowper hymnal heads the song with a reference to Zechariah 13:1: "In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." Cowper interprets Christ's death as providing that cleansing fountain. He affirms that Christ's redeeming love has been his theme since he first beheld it and will be till he dies. He also affirms that he will sing the song of Christ's power to save better by far in heaven than in this life. We need to remember that Cowper’s hymn is true whether it appeals to our sensibilities or not.

I am most fond of the songs in which Cowper counters his own depressive tendencies with affirmations of hope. One such hymn is, "Sometimes a Light Surprises." We will sing it to the tune of “The Church’s One Foundation.” But turn to it and let us read it aloud now so that we will be ready to sing it with meaning: "Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings; it is the LORD who rises with healing in his wings. When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again a season of clear shining to cheer it after rain. In holy contemplation, we sweetly then pursue the theme of God's salvation, and find it ever new. Set free from present sorrow, we cheerfully can say, ‘Let the unknown tomorrow bring with it what it may.’ It can bring with it nothing but He will bear us through; who gives the lilies clothing will clothe his people too. Beneath the spreading heavens, no creature but is fed; and He who feeds the ravens will give his children bread. The vine, nor fig-tree neither their wonted fruit should bear, though all the fields should wither, nor flocks nor herds be there; yet God the same abiding, His praise shall tune my voice, for while in him confiding, I cannot but rejoice."

Help with Discouragement

If you face depression or even just plain discouragement, you may find Cowper hymns that help you fight the battle. I have printed eight more such hymns as a bulletin insert. In these hymns, prayer, worship, scripture, and fellowship are the keys that sustained Cowper; in his 60 or so collected hymns, one can find each of “The 9 Ways of Spiritual Growth” providing help for him.

I wish I could say that such help and insight forever cured Cowper's depression. They did not. To the end of his life, he struggled. But the very fact that he did struggle gives hope to us all that, whatever weaknesses we have, we can nonetheless dedicate our lives to the glory of God. And, even when God does not heal us in the way we would choose, he will see us through to the glorious perfection that awaits in the next life.

God's ways are often surprising, even shocking to our hearts and minds, but God has a way of providing what is most needed, often in great contrast to the situation with which we struggle: beauty for ashes, strength for fear, gladness for mourning, peace for despair. When we are sorrowing and suffering, he offers wholeness and healing. When we are lost and bound, he causes us to be found and set free. He takes the mess we have made of ourselves and makes us instead forgiven, righteous, and a display of divine splendor.

God takes the spiritually dead and gives them life. He took a monster like Newton and a depressive like Cowper and from their lives drew forth greatness and through their lives revealed his glory! If he could do that with Newton and Cowper, he can surely work with the likes of us. To his amazing grace we must entrust our lives. “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound!”