John Newton: Plead Our Cause

"He will plead our cause, and fight our battles; He will pardon our mistakes, and teach us to do better."

John Newton: Little in our own eyes

"Oh! to be little in our own eyes! This is the ground-work of every grace; this leads to a continual dependence upon the Lord Jesus."

John Newton: Who Are We?

"Who are we, that the Most High should thus notice us; should visit us every morning, and water us every moment? It is an astonishing thought, that God should dwell thus with men; that He, before whom the mightiest earthly potentates are less than nothing and vanity, should thus stoop and accommodate himself to the situation, wants, and capacities of the weakest, meanest, and poorest of his children."

John Newton: His Glory, Our Safety

"His own glory is most displayed, and our safety best secured, by keeping us quite poor and empty in ourselves, and supplying us from one minute to another, according to our need."

John Newton: Bounty

"The believer lives, like Israel in the wilderness, upon mere bounty; but then it is a bounty unchangeable, unwearied, inexhuastible, and all-sufficient."

John Newton: The Privilege of a Believer

"How great and honourable is the privilege of a true believer! That he has neither wisdom nor strength in himself is no disadvantage; for he is connected with infinite wisdom and almighty power."

John Newton: The Thought of Him

"The thought of him who is always near, and upon whom we do and must incessantly depend, should suggest a powerful motive for the closest attention to his revealed will, and the most punctual compliance with it."

John Newton: New Service, New Supply

"For every new service I stand in need of a new supply, and can bring forth nothing of my supposed store into actual exercise, but by his immediate assistance."

John Newton: Better Than I Deserve

C.J. Mahaney is well-known for responding to questions of how he was doing with "Better than I deserve." What he meant by that was, "As a sinner I deserve absolutely nothing from God, so every good thing in my life is sheer grace; and as a child of God in the recipient of extravagant merciful promises like Romans 8:28, so every hard thing in my life is planned and purposed by my Father for good." Truly, I'm doing better than I deserve. 

"Under all trials and afflictions, the believer should look to the hand of the Lord, and lay his mouth in the dust, acknowledging that he suffers much less than his iniquities have deserved."

John Newton: Humility

"Whoever is truly humbled will not be easily angry, and will be compassionate and tender to the infirmities of his fellow-sinners, knowing that if there be a difference in him it is grace that has made it, and that he has the seeds of every evil in his own heart."

John Newton: Would Have Perished

"Believers dare not, they will not ascribe anything to themselves, but are glad to acknowledge, that they would have perished (if possible) a thousand times over, if Jesus had not been their Saviour, their Shepherd, and their Shield."

John Newton: Nothing Can Separate

"But when, after a long experience of their own deceitful hearts, after repeated proofs of their weakness, willfulness, ingratitude, and insensibility, believers find that none of these things can separate them from the love of God in Christ, Jesus becomes more and more precious to their souls. They love much, because they have been forgiven much."

John Newton: Unchangeableness of Love

"The unchangeableness of the Lord’s love, and the riches of his mercy, are more illustrated by the multiplied pardons He bestows upon his people, than if they needed no forgiveness at all."

John Newton: In the Beloved

"Believers are not considered as in themselves, but as one with Jesus, to whom they have fled for refuge, and by whom they live a life of faith. They are accepted in the Beloved."

John Newton: Overruled

"If the evils we feel were not capable of being overruled for good, He would not permit them to remain in us."

John Newton: A Gospel Irony

It's a sad irony in our response to the gospel that, though we claim God's mercy is free, we keep trying to pay for it. We say the cross opens access to the throne of grace, yet whenever we stumble we are afraid to approach. We say that nothing we can do can earn God's favor which is already ours in Jesus, and yet we are still insecure in his love. Do we really believe this gospel?

"I am invited to take the water of life freely, yet often discouraged, because I have nothing wherewith to pay for it."

John Newton: The Pleasure and Business of My Life

"I embrace it as a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; and it is the main pleasure and business of my life, to set forth the necessity and all-sufficiency of the Mediator between God and Man, and to make mention of his righteousness, even of his only."

John Newton: Vile in Our Own Eyes

One of John Newton's recurring themes, well-proved in his own life, is that the more we know of our sin, the more we will love our Savior. This is not to say that a morbid depression over our failings is what is in order; no, every look at our sin should be accompanied by a look to the cross. If we even scratch the surface of self-awareness of our sin, that should mean many, many looks at the cross every day. "The one who is forgiven much, loves much."

"The more vile we are in our own eyes, the more precious He will be to us; and a deep repeated sense of the evil of our hearts is necessary to preclude all boasting, and to make us willing to give the whole glory of our salvation where it is due."

John Newton: Indwelling Sin

"Even the distressing effects of the remnants of indwelling sin are overruled for good. By these experiences the believer is weaned more from self, and taught more highly to prize and more absolutely to rely on him, who is appointed to us of God, Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption."

John Newton: Mark Driscoll

The evangelical blog, Twitter, Favebook circles that I run in, as well as (sadly) the secular news, has been alight the last few weeks over the reported failings of Mark Driscoll, pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. His fall from prominent Refirmed pastor, speaker, and author to current pariah has been grievous and, apparently, a long time in the making. While we may be saddened when our faith heroes fall, we shouldn't be surprised. John Newton, 250 years ago, had similar experiences, as has the Church throughout her tumultuous, sinful history. Newton's advice on this subject is particularly timely:

"When we hear that others fall it should make us thankful and watchful for ourselves. Thankful, for it is grace alone that makes us to differ. Watchful, for our hearts are equally deceitful and Satan is continually plotting and practicing against us likewise."