Charles Wesley 1707-1788, John Newton 1725-1807, William Cowper 1731-1800
Amazed by Grace
CHCC: July 6, 2008
INTRODUCTION:
This summer I’m preaching some sermons about the history of church music. Last time I preached we talked about the changes that came in church music when Isaac Watts started writing songs like WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS and O GOD OUR HELP IN AGES PAST. Before Watts, most English and American congregations sang only from the Psalms … and the style of singing was more of a chant than a melody.
Watts’ hymns met with plenty of opposition from church members who believed it was wrong to sing anything other than the Psalms. They didn’t approve of what they called “human” lyrics. They didn’t like what they called “worldly” melodies. Some of them refused to sing these new songs of faith. But those people didn’t prevail. And I don’t know about you, but I’m glad most Christians were willing to sing these new songs!
You see, Watts opened the door for what became a flood of new Christian music. He opened the door for hymnwriters like the 3 men I want to talk about this morning: Charles Wesley, John Newton, and William Cowper (pronounced: Cooper). Now, I did some research on Charles Wesley and John Newton so I could decide which one to talk about. I found out about William Cowper because Newton collaborated with him to create a hymnbook.
In the process, I saw that these were three VERY different guys. Wesley was brought up in a wonderful Christian home. Newton went to sea at age 11 and lived a rough life full of adventure. Cowper lived a quiet life that was full of tragedy and sorrow.
It was what they shared in common that caused these three very different men to write hymns of faith that people still sing today. All three men were touched by God’s Amazing Grace. When I read about their lives, I discovered that each man had what he considered a “conversion” experience. In all three cases, they came face to face with the Grace of God. This is what inspired the songs that they wrote.
I decided to talk to you about all three of these men because their stories are OUR stories. You see, one of these men was a religious man … a good fellow who was trying to be good enough for God by his own good deeds. One was a "bad" guy … so bad he though he was beyond the reach of God. And one was a sad guy … a man who lived with loss and battled with depression. All of them needed the same thing: God’s Amazing Grace. When you hear their stories, see which one YOU identify with.
1. The Religious Man - Charles Wesley
Charles Wesley was the youngest boy of 19 children born to Samuel and Susana Wesley. (Only 10 of the 19 survived infancy.) At the age of 28 Charles was ordained and left England with his older brother John Wesley to do mission work in America. Charles didn’t last long on the mission field. When he returned to England a year later, he was sick, discouraged, and depressed.
Up to that time, Charles Wesley relied on the doctrines of someone named Rev. William Law. This man had the right name because he taught that salvation could come through obedience to the Law of God. But while Charles was seriously ill, he spent time with two Godly men who talked to him about salvation by grace rather than by our own works.
Charles says that his eyes were opened to the fact that in himself he was not capable of being GOOD enough to earn his own salvation. He’d lived the best life he could. In fact, Charles and his brother John were called “Methodists” because of the methods they had developed for the disciplines of prayer and good deeds. (In case you didn’t know it, John and Charles were the early leaderes of the Methodist church.)
There was nothing wrong with the Methods, but trying to be good enough was an impossible task. Charles Wesley said that his life changed forever on May 21, 1738 when he stopped counting on his own self-righteousness and put ALL his trust in Jesus Christ alone for his salvation. For the rest of his life, Charles pointed back to that day as the moment when he trusted fully in God’s Grace through Christ.
Charles continued to live a good life … as he had before. But now he lived with peace and joy that he had never experienced before. He began to travel all over England, Wales, and Ireland, preaching this wonderful Gospel of Grace. And it was after this conversion experience that Charles Wesley started writing hymns. The songs just seemed to pour out of him. He carried note cards with him so he could write down lyrics as soon as they came to mind. Some of his songs were written while he was on horseback or in a carriage. In all, Charles Wesley wrote almost 7,000 hymns. Dozens of them are still in use today … hymns like:
Jesus, Lover of My Soul
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Love Divne, All Loves Excelling
O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
And what would Easter be like without "Christ the Lord is Risen Today"?
Or what would Christmas be like without "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"?
All of these songs were created by a Religious man who realized his Righteousness was nothing compared to the Amazing Grace of a Perfect God. Charles Wesley was arguably one of the most admirable Christians who ever lived … but this was not what gave him joy. The words of his songs tell where he put his trust.
O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise
The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.
He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free
His blood can make the foulest clean; His blood availed for me.
My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim
To spread through all the earth abroad, the honors of Thy name.
2. The Sinful Man - John Newton
It would be hard to find anyone whose life was more different from that of Charles Wesley than the life of John Newton. John went to sea at the tender age of 11. He was badly abused by the sea captain he served. Eventually he tried to escape and was captured as a deserter. Newton was then forced to serve with the crew of a slave ship and after many years, he was promoted to captain of a slave ship.
Now, sailors back then weren’t known for being the most savory of characters. Newton lived a rough life among rough people. And commanding a slave vessel was about as low as it gets. But one night the Amazing Grace of God reached down and transformed this sea Captain’s hardened heart.
Newton said that one night his ship was caught up in a terrible storm. He cried out to God for mercy and in that moment of fear, something amazing happened in his heart and soul. On that night - May 10, 1748, God reached down in His Amazing Grace and transformed this sea Captain’s hardened heart. Newton was never the same again.
Now, of course, things are never as simple as they seem when you retell them. Newton continued to command that slave ship for a few years more. But as he grew to have more and more of the heart and mind of Christ, he found he could not continue in that ugly business.
Newton spent the last 43 years of his life preaching the gospel. At the age of 82 he is quoted as saying this: “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.” (quote this OR show a video clip from the movie AMAZING GRACE)
Newton wrote over 200 hymns … and among them was the best loved hymn of all time: “Amazing Grace.” The hymnal you see on the screen contained the first printing of “Amazing Grace.” Newton and his friend, William Cowper, published this hymnal in 1779. The proceeds from sale of the book went to feed the poor in John Newton’s parish.
John Newton, the hardened Captain of a slave ship, spent his youth mocking the things of God. But after he was born again, he spent the rest of his days testifying to God’s grace and helping God’s people. One of the Christians Newton reached out to help was a younger man who suffered from deep and debilitating depressions. His name was William Cowper.
3. The Weak Man - William Cowper
Cowper was very different from John Newton in temperament. He was a timid and sensitive child whose mother died when he was only 5 years old. William was sent away to a boarding school where he was regularly tormented by bullies. This quiet boy endured school until age 18 when he decided to study law. That’s when he fell deeply in love with a girl named Theodora. But her father refused to approve the match. Neither of them ever married.
Cowper was so terribly nervous that he was unable to face his law exams. He suffered such a major depression that he attempted suicide and was placed in a private asylum for the mentally ill. In this Mental Hospital, a Christian doctor befriended him. Cowper had been raised with a strict Calvanist background and, in his depression, he had convinced himself that he was predestined to be damned to hell. The kind Doctor tried to convince him that God’s grace was enough to save him, but Cowper simply could not believe it.
Then, in the spring of 1763, God reached down in grace and rescued this desperately unhappy young man. Cowper said he found a Bible lying on a bench in the garden of the asylum. He opened it and read about Jesus raising Lazurus from the dead. He said, “When I saw the benevolence, mercy, goodness, and sympathy with miserable man in our Savior’s conduct, I almost shed a tear. Little did I know that this was the exact type of mercy Jesus was on the point of extending toward myself.”
Cowper then turned to Romans 3:25 where he read that God has paid the full price for all sin through the blood that Jesus shed. At last he truly understood that the price Jesus paid was sufficient for everyone who would believe.
Here is the testimony in Cowper’s own words: “Immediately I received the strength to believe it, and the full beams of the Son of Righteousness shone upon me. I saw the sufficiency of the atonement He had made, my pardon sealed in His blood.”
And from that point … like Charles Wesley and John Newton before him … William Cowper started pouring out his faith in song. Listen to how these words express Cowper’s conversion experience there in that mental asylum:
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their builty stains,
Lose all their guilty stain, Lose all their guilty stains,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Ever since by faith I saw the stream thy flowing wounds supply
Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die
And shall be till I die, And shall be till I die
Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die.
CONCLUSION:
When Cowper left the hospital, he was befriended by a kind Pastor with a big heart. His name was John Newton. The two men collaborated on and published a hymnbook that contained the songs they wrote in praise of God’s Amazing Grace.
• John Newton --- the sinful man,
• William Cowper --- the weak man,
• and Charles Wesley --- the religious man
All three were transformed and saved when God reached down in His Grace and touched their lives.
What is YOUR situation?
• Are you a pretty good person … a church-goer with a good life and a good reputation?
• Have you lived through a past that was ugly and painful, full of abuse and bad choices? Are you so trapped in a messed up lifestyle that gives you no way out?
• Do you feel overwhelmed by grief and loss? Do you often feel anxious, depressed, and hopelessly lost?
Whatever your past … and whatever your present … God’s Grace is enough for YOU today. God can transform YOUR life with his Amazing Grace.
Invitation: AMAZING GRACE (My Chains are Gone)
Ideas for songs:
Prelude: O for a Thousand Tongues
YOUR GRACE IS ENOUGH
