STUDY–>SEE–>SAVOR! Session #6
The song, “Amazing Grace” begins with these words,
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.”
A wretch? Me? Am I really THAT bad? What is the extent of my sin? What does the Bible say about the state of our hearts, our inclinations? To what degree has sin affected me? Has sin affected my abilities, choices, desires? In order to really comprehend the AMAZING grace of God, we must first understand the depths of our deplorable, depraved, sinful condition.
We met Sunday evening, June 22 for the sixth session. To begin, I shared a reminder of some basic truths guiding this study…
1. The Bible is the Word of GOD, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Bible has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. In this Bible study, we seek to STUDY the Word of God and when we are confronted with what it says that differs from our preconceived notions, we will follow God’s Word.
2. Doctrine and Biblical teaching about God and man and salvation really matters. In these days, many people think doctrine and theology don’t matter. But we are instructed in the Bible NOT to be tossed about by various doctrines, and we need to KNOW the truth of Scripture if we are to be discerning disciples.
3. The Holy Spirit, (and we, in prayer asking for His help to SEE), is essential for grasping the truth of Scripture.
John 16:13-14
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
1 Corinthians 2:13-16
We impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit. The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
4. Thinking hard is crucial for understanding Biblical truth.
1 Corinthians 14:20
Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
2 Timothy 2:7
Think over what I say, for the Lord will grant you understanding in everything.
5. How do we grasp and apply the truth of Scripture? God provides teachers to help. But God cautions that teachers will be judged more strictly.
Ephesians 4:11-12
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.
Hebrews 13:7
Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.
James 3:1
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
So with that sober reminder, we dug in to God’s Word to see what it has to say about our natural spiritual condition, apart from Christ. How BAD are we anyway?
BIBLE STUDY:
Look at the following Bible verses and tell the state of our heart, the “bent” of our heart, how “bad” are we? What is our degree of our sin?
- Genesis 6:5
- Genesis 8:21
- Psalm 51:5
- Ecc 9:3
- Jer 13:23
- Jer 17:9
- Mark 7:21-23
- John 3:19
- Romans 3:10-20
- Eph 4:17-19
- Titus 1:15
- Titus 3:3
What do the following passages say about our ability, choices, wishes, and mind-set?
- Proverbs 20:9
- Matthew 25: 41-46
- John 6:44
- John 6:65
- John 8:44
- Romans 8:5-8
- 1 Cor 2:14
- Gal 5:19-21
- Eph 2:1-3 *(Note: this was as far as we got through the Bible Study June 22. SEE THE NEXT POST FOR MORE INFO……The rest of the verses can be read and studied independently, or in small groups on your own.)
- 2 Tim 2:25-26
What do the following verses say about OUR role in regeneration and OUR cooperation in producing spiritual life?
- Ps 51:10
- John 1:12-13
- John 3:3-6
- Eph 2:4-6
- 1 Pet 1:3
What do the following verses say about GOD’S role in regeneration and HIS purposes in giving us salvation?
- Ez 36:26-27
- John 1:12-13
- Acts 13:48
- Acts 16:14
- Romans 9:11-13
- Eph 1:4-6
- Col 2:13-14
- 2 Thes 2:13-14
- 2 Tim 1:9
How complete is the new life that God produces? What can we learn about assurance and security from these verses?
- Matt 18:12-14
- John 6:35-40
- John 10:27-30
- John 17:11-12, 15
- Romans 8:29-39
- Eph 1:5, 13-14
- 1 Thes 5:23-24
- 1 Pet 1:3-5
- Jude 24-25
How does your understanding of the extent of our true natural condition without Christ affect your gratitude to God for saving you?
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ’d!
Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be forever mine.
Filed under: Sunday Study, Theology | Tagged: Amazing Grace, depravity, sinful nature, wretch
Amazing Grace by John Newton is a classic evangelical hymn that was written by a man whose life was transformed by God’s power and grace. Pastor Newton, were he able, would likely be quick to point out that the grace that God showed him was in the form of some of the severest trials of body and spirit, trials that did not end with his conversion. This is important because we moderns are so quick to attribute all “bad” things that happen to God’s wrath and all “good” things to God’s grace. This is a dangerous mistake. We must remember that ALL things work together for the GOOD of those who are called by God. Accordingly, ALL things that happen to these elect are GOOD, irrespective of our opinions about the subject.
I once heard it said that if you step off into the dark. God will give you a place to stand or teach you how to fly. This is an incomplete and dangerous understanding of grace. the third possibility is that God may permit you to plunge to your death, for your GOOD. We must ALWAYS trust God to define what is and what is not good.
My reason for commenting here is to point out that the beginning of the second verse of this great hymn is “T’was grace that taught my heart to fear”. This is not true if we use the modern “daffynition” of grace. In that definition, grace and wrath are wrongly opposed. To the modern ear, it would be better to sing “T’was law that taught my heart to fear”. I have even done this when singing this solo just to shake up the hearers and remind them of God’s sovereignty. The point here is that God’s law IS grace, for it points to our need and our insufficiency.
A last point, many will say that their favorite verse of this hymn is the “final one”, “When we’ve been there 10,000 years, bright shinning as the sun, we’ve no less [sic] days to sing his praise than when we’d first begun”. I find it interesting that their favorite verse is one that Newton did not write (hence the grammatical error) and that is focused, unlike the others, in large degree upon the pleasure of the saint rather than the greatness of his God. This is a small point, but one must always ask the motive of one who adds to the comments of older saints in order to somehow strengthen those comments. May I ask what is really added by this false last verse to the real last verse shown here?