In Christ: Know It, Live It - 25 (Me, B.C.)

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. (John Newton)

John Newton was that truly wretched sea-captain and slave trader whose sin took him to such a depth of depravity that he ended up a destitute slave himself before God mercifully saved him by Amazing Grace.

He said of himself: "I was capable of anything, I had not the least fear of God before my eyes, nor (so far as I remember) the least sensibility of conscience." He wrote for his last will and testament: "I commit my soul to my gracious God and Savior, who mercifully spared and preserved me, when I was an apostate, a blasphemer, and an infidel, and delivered me from the state of misery on the coast of Africa into which my obstinate wickedness had plunged me; and who has been pleased to admit me (though most unworthy) to preach His glorious gospel."

Was Newton alone in his wretched condition before God? Did it take a MORE amazing grace to save him out of his sin than it did to save you and me? Can WE sing Amazing Grace with as much passion and fervor as our good brother John?

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked..." Ephesians 2:1,2a. In this opening line of Ephesians 2 the Apostle Paul reminds us of the SPIRITUAL BIOGRAPHY of ALL of us BEFORE CHRIST. We were SPRITUALLY DEAD.

What does this mean?

• To be SPIRITUALLY DEAD means that we have NO spiritual life. It means there is nothing of the life of God in us. It means we are separated from God. There is no relationship or receptivity between us and God. NONE. There is NO ability or interest in moving towards God. To be spiritually dead means that we are HELPLESS and HOPELESS. See Ephesians 2:12 and 4:18.
• To be SPIRITUALLY DEAD does NOT mean: that we are WELL but ignorant and just need more information, i.e. the Gospel. It does NOT mean that we are SICK and need a vitamin shot of truth or grace to push us over the top and to enable us to make a weak but real motion towards God from the heart. It does NOT mean that we are MOSTLY DEAD, but with just enough spiritual ability to slide the coffin lid over and croak a cry for mercy to God. DEAD means DEAD.

How did this deadness DEMONSTRATE itself? We were dead "in our trespasses and sins..." The idea here seems to be that our spiritual deadness showed itself in our REBELLION against God's commands (trespasses) and our general FALLING SHORT of God's standards (sins). If God said "DON'T" we did. If God said "Do" we didn't. Theologians call these sins of COMMISSION and OMMISSION. NOTE: we did not BECOME spiritually dead because we sinned, we sinned because we were spiritually dead. The root produced the fruit. The nature produced the lifestyle. An apple tree bears apples BECAUSE it is an apple tree by nature and NOT vice versa.

NOTE ALSO: This rebellion and falling short was not an OCCASIONAL "mistake" or "lapse." It was our LIFESTYLE. "...In which you once walked." "Walk" is a word that indicates not moving one foot in front of the other but the way we live, LIFESTYLE. Rebellion and sin was our lifestyle before Christ. It was our lifestyle because we were spiritually DEAD.

You, me, John Newton, Grandma, our 1st grade teachers, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham...we ALL share the same spiritual biography from birth...DEAD in trespasses and sins.

And...all of us who have entered into new life in Christ can sing with our long departed brother, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like ME..."