Grace That Is Truly Amazing

John Newton was a slave trader, a male prostitute, a man involved in the worst sins of degradation imaginable to man. Although his mother tried to impart her Christian convictions to her son, those efforts appeared to be wasted. But everything changed for John Newton on May 10, 1748. He was sailing his ship home when he encountered a violent storm that threatened him. All he could do was cry out, “Lord, have mercy on me.” Once the storm passed, he reflected on what had happened and always looked back on that day as his “great deliverance,” and God began to work in his life.

He became a disciple of the great evangelist George Whitfield and an admirer of John Wesley.  Newton eventually pastored a little church in Olney, England, and while there, penned the words of perhaps the most loved hymn of all time. “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.”

Some years ago, I had the chance to visit Newton’s church in Olney, England, and stand behind the pulpit he preached from for so many years. What made an indelible impression on me was walking behind the church to the small cemetery where he was buried and reading his epitaph on the grave stone: John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.

God’s amazing grace instantly transformed John Newton from being a trader of slaves to being a slave of Jesus Christ. And God’s grace can perform the same dramatic transformation in your life as well.

In Colossians 2:13-15, we discover the indescribable power of God’s amazing grace. Paul wrote this letter to a church being invaded by false teachers, claiming that God’s grace is important but not enough to save you. It takes God’s grace plus your efforts to earn your way to heaven.

On Good Friday, we remember the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. There are some who would hang a placard on the cross that says “Necessary, but not enough.” You need Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, plus baptism, plus church membership, plus keeping the law.

But Paul says “no.” We are saved by God’s grace alone. Now in verses 13-15, Paul is going to illustrate the power of God’s grace with a simple 2-point sermon.

First, Paul is going to contrast our past condition before we were saved to our present condition now that we are saved. 

1. Our Past Condition 

• Dead in Your Transgressions (Colossians 2:13a, 1 John 4:10; Ephesians 2:1-9; John 6:44a)

Before you were a Christian, the Bible says you were spiritually dead. The word “dead” has several implications.  

First, it carries the idea of separation. “Thanatos” means separation. Physical death is the separation of the body from the spirit. Spiritual death is the separation of the spirit from God. If you are not a Christian, you are spiritually separated from God. Your sins are a barrier between you and God. That separation exists now and will extend into all of eternity.  

But, there is a second implication of death—one that I believe is primary in Paul’s mind because of his argument. That is “unable to respond.”

A dead person is totally incapable of making any response. They are lifeless. You can kick them, yell at them, or slap them—no reaction.

That is true of us in our relationship with God. Before we are Christians, we are totally incapable of making any response toward God.  Some people like to say, “I found God.” No, you did not find God; God found you!

That is why we have absolutely no right to be proud of our salvation. We had nothing to do with it. It is totally a gift from God.

The Bible teaches that when we are born into this world, we are born spiritually dead—separated from God, and incapable of making any response toward God. Not, as if that were bad enough, Paul adds a phrase to compound our desperate situation.

• Dead in the Uncircumcision of Your Flesh (Colossians 2:13; Ephesians 2:11-12)

Now remember, Paul is talking to the Colossian Christians—mostly Gentiles—and is trying to demonstrate to them that they don’t need to add circumcision and keeping the law to their experience—Christ has already done it all.

So, Paul says, before you were a Christian, you were separated from God, you were spiritually unresponsive, and if that were not enough, you weren’t even circumcised. That is, unlike the Jews, you weren’t even a part of God’s covenant blessings. 

2. Our Present Condition (Colossians 2:13-15)

Four Results of God’s Grace in Our Lives

• Alive (Colossians 2:13b)
• Forgiven (Colossians 2:13c; Psalm 32:1)
• Debt-Free (Colossians 2:14; Psalm 51:1-2)
• Victorious (Colossians 2:15)

Pamela Hemphill was a 67-year-old grandmother from Boise, Idaho, who had breast cancer. Nevertheless, she travelled to Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, to protest the election results. She was arrested and charged for entering the Capitol illegally and was sentenced to two months in prison, serving her time at the notorious Dublin Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, and given three years’ probation.

She was called the “MAGA Granny,” and some were outraged by her sentence. Finally, after she had served her term, she was offered a presidential pardon in order to eliminate her criminal record.

Surprisingly, she rejected the pardon—not out of anger but out of repentance. She said that what she had done was wrong and that accepting the pardon would be an insult to the Capitol Police officers, one of whom rescued her from being crushed to death.

Nevertheless, refusing a pardon wasn’t as easy as Pamela thought it would be. Finally, a representative of hers reached back in history to the first time someone had tried to reject a pardon. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon to a man named Charles Wilson for shooting a man while robbing a train. Wilson rejected the pardon, and the case went to the Supreme Court. The court ruled that Wilson could reject the pardon, and in this historic case, which still applies today, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote:

“A pardon is an act of grace, but delivery is not completed without acceptance. It may be rejected by the person to whom it is tendered.”

And what is true on earth is true in heaven. Although you and I deserve God’s punishment for our sin—God has offered to pardon you for your sin. His son Jesus Christ has already paid the price for your sin so that you can experience eternity in heaven rather than hell.

But to be pardoned for your sin, you must accept God’s pardon. “As many as have received Jesus, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe His name” (John 1:12).