John Newton: God Overrules Our Sins for Good
Recent letters from Newton to this unnamed nobleman have discussed the frustration of Christians whose lives do not measure up to what they know. Today, he helps us to see ways that God overrules our sin to bring good from it. He reminds us that God hates sin and loves His people. If this is true, then He would not allow their sin to continue if He could not use it for a more perfect purpose.
Letter 6
April, 1772
My Lord,
My last two letters were devoted to a sad subject—the depravity of the human heart. Every time we want to do good it hinders us and pollutes our best intentions. Because of this, we have a good reason to walk carefully for as long as we live. But we don't need to grieve like those who have no hope. The Lord has provided relief for His people under these circumstances, and He helps us to learn from them. If the evils that we feel could not be overruled for good, then He would not allow them to remain in us. We can infer this from His hatred of sin and His love for His people.
As to the cure, neither our standing before Him nor His honor is affected by sin that remains in the hearts of Christians—the people whom He has taught to wrestle and mourn because of what they feel. Although sin wars against us, it shall not reign; and though it disturbs our peace, it cannot separate us from His love. It is also not inconsistent with His holiness and perfection to show favor to such poor, defiled creatures, or to allow them into fellowship with Himself. He does not look at them as they are in themselves. He looks at them as they truly are—one with Jesus, the one to whom they have fled for refuge and by whom they live a life of faith.
They are accepted in the Beloved! They have an advocate with the Father. He made atonement for their sins, and now He lives forever to intercede for them. They cannot keep the law, but He has fulfilled it for them. The obedience of Christ the Head is spotless and complete. Even though there is much evil in His people, there is also something good—the fruit of His own gracious Spirit. Their actions are motivated by love for Him, they aim at nothing less than His glory, and the longings of their hearts are supremely fixed upon Him. There is a difference in kind between the feeblest efforts of faith in a real believer and the highest and most artificial accomplishments of those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. Yet this conflict inside believers will not continue for long, and the enemy will not win in the end. They are supported by Almighty power and led on to certain victory. They will see Jesus as He is and be like Him and with Him forever.
The Lord uses the sense and feeling of our depravity to accomplish many gracious purposes. In our sin and failure, we see His own power, wisdom, faithfulness, and love displayed. His power is displayed as it continues His work in us in the midst of fierce opposition. It is like a spark that can burn in the water, or a bush that is not burned up by flames. His wisdom is seen as He defeats and controls all the plots which Satan is encouraged to enact against us. Our Adversary has overthrown many who seemed to be good Christians, and like Goliath, he goes on to challenge the whole army of Israel. Yet this Enemy finds that there are some against whom he cannot prevail, even though he fights relentlessly. In spite of the victories he sometimes appears to win, God's people are still delivered, for the Lord is on their side. The unchangeableness of the Lord's love and the riches of His mercy are also more clearly seen by the many pardons He grants to His people than if they needed no forgiveness at all.
Through these mercies, the Lord Jesus becomes more lovely to His people. Through them, all self-righteous boasting is effectually excluded, and the glory of full and free salvation is attributed to Him alone. Imagine a sailor who is surprised by a storm, and spends a dangerous night on the water. If he's rescued and brought safely home, he might rejoice in being saved. But he will not be affected by this like he would if he were rescued after being tossed in a storm for months and escaping many life-threatening situations. Peter says that "it is hard for the righteous to be saved." He doesn't say this because their salvation is uncertain, but because to them the dangers along the way will make it seem impossible.
Yet after repeated proofs of their weakness, willfulness, and ingratitude, they will find that none of these things can separate them from the love of God in Christ. For this reason, Jesus will become more and more precious to their souls. They love much, because much has been forgiven them. They will not dare to ascribe anything to themselves; instead, they are glad to acknowledge that they would have perished a thousand times over, if Jesus had not been their Savior, their Shepherd, and their Shield. When they were wandering He brought them back, when fallen He raised them, when wounded He healed them, when fainting He revived them. By Him, out of weakness they have been made strong. He has taught their hands to fight, and protected their heads in the day of battle. In a word, some of the clearest proofs they have had of His excellence have resulted from the proofs they have had of their own sinfulness. They would not have known so much of Him, if they had not known so much of themselves.
Additionally, a spirit of humility—which is both the strength and beauty of our faith—is greatly enhanced when we feel that evil is present with us when we want to do good. A broken and contrite spirit is pleasing to the Lord. He has promised to dwell with those who have it. Experience shows us that the more we sense our sinfulness, the more inclined we are to strive for holiness. But none of us has ever learned how depraved we are just by being told about it. Indeed, if we could receive and consistently maintain a right assessment of ourselves, by what is plainly declared in Scripture, it would save us many tears of grief. But experience is the Lord's school, and those who are taught by Him usually learn by their mistakes that they have no wisdom, and by their slips and falls they learn that they have no strength.
Every day shows us some new sin that we hardly noticed before, or at least shows it in a stronger light than before. This is how God, by degrees, weans us from leaning to any supposed wisdom, power, or goodness in ourselves. We feel the truth of our Lord's words: “Without Me you can do nothing," and the need of crying with David: “O lead me and guide me for Your name's sake." It is mainly by this frame of mind that one Christian can be distinguished from another. Although these are inward feelings, they have very observable outward effects. God says that the knowledge of his full and free forgiveness, which was given to Israel after her constant backslidings and transgressions, will make her ashamed and will silence the unruly thoughts of her heart (Ezekiel 16:63). You will open your mouth in praise; but you will no longer boast in yourself, or censure others, or murmur at the way that I deal with you.
In these respects we are exceedingly prone to speak unwisely. But a growing sense of our great unworthiness and awareness of God’s great forgiveness inhibits these evils. Whoever is truly humbled will not be quick to become angry and will not be rash, but will be compassionate and tender to the weakness of his fellow-sinners, knowing, that if there is a difference between him and them, it is grace that has made it, and that he has the seeds of every evil in his own heart. Under all trials and afflictions, he will look to the hand of the Lord, and lay his mouth in the dust (Psa. 22:15), acknowledging that he suffers much less than his iniquities have deserved. These are some of the advantages and good fruits which the Lord enables us to obtain from that bitter root, indwelling sin.
