OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE CROSS (18 OF 19)
Scripture: Romans 6:1-14
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Our Participation in the Cross (18 of 19)
Series: Cross Examination
Wyman Richardson
Romans 6:1-14
Read Romans 6:1-14
John MacArthur has offered a nice summary of the fascinating life of John Newton.
In his early teens, John Newton ran away from England and joined the crew of a slave ship. Some years later he himself was given to the black wife of a white slave trader in Africa. He was cruelly mistreated and lived on leftovers from the woman's meals and on wild yams he dug from the ground at night. After escaping, he lived with a group of natives for a while and eventually managed to become a sea captain himself, living the most ungodly and profligate life imaginable. But after his miraculous conversion in 1748, he returned to England and became a selfless and tireless minister of the gospel in London. He left for posterity many hymns that are still among the most popular in the world. By far the best-known and best-loved of those is ''Amazing Grace.'' He became the pastor of a church in England, and to this day the churchyard carries an epitaph that Newton himself wrote:
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 labored to destroy.
That is what conversion looks like: a person moving from a life of sin to a life of forgiveness and grace. Newton's story is one expression of what that can look like. If you have come to Christ, you have your own story of what that looks like. Regardless, each story should have these basic elements: (1) a person dead in their sins and (2) a person made alive by the grace of God received through repentance and faith.
The gospel is the good news that this transformation is now possible. But it must be maintained that this is, in fact, a transformation, that coming to Christ does, in fact, mean new life. If this truth is not proclaim ...
Series: Cross Examination
Wyman Richardson
Romans 6:1-14
Read Romans 6:1-14
John MacArthur has offered a nice summary of the fascinating life of John Newton.
In his early teens, John Newton ran away from England and joined the crew of a slave ship. Some years later he himself was given to the black wife of a white slave trader in Africa. He was cruelly mistreated and lived on leftovers from the woman's meals and on wild yams he dug from the ground at night. After escaping, he lived with a group of natives for a while and eventually managed to become a sea captain himself, living the most ungodly and profligate life imaginable. But after his miraculous conversion in 1748, he returned to England and became a selfless and tireless minister of the gospel in London. He left for posterity many hymns that are still among the most popular in the world. By far the best-known and best-loved of those is ''Amazing Grace.'' He became the pastor of a church in England, and to this day the churchyard carries an epitaph that Newton himself wrote:
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 labored to destroy.
That is what conversion looks like: a person moving from a life of sin to a life of forgiveness and grace. Newton's story is one expression of what that can look like. If you have come to Christ, you have your own story of what that looks like. Regardless, each story should have these basic elements: (1) a person dead in their sins and (2) a person made alive by the grace of God received through repentance and faith.
The gospel is the good news that this transformation is now possible. But it must be maintained that this is, in fact, a transformation, that coming to Christ does, in fact, mean new life. If this truth is not proclaim ...
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