“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.”
Romans 7:18a
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound/ That saved a wretch like me!” Hear John Newton’s further words:
“The gracious purposes to which the Lord makes the sense and feeling of our depravity [useful] are many. By this means His own power, wisdom, faithfulness, and love are more notably displayed. … By this means the Lord Jesus Christ is more endeared to the soul. All boasting is effectually excluded, and the glory of a full and free salvation is ascribed to Him alone.
“After a long experience of their own deceitful hearts, after repeated proofs of their weakness, willfulness, and ingratitude, [believers] find that none of these things can separate them from the love of God in Christ. Jesus becomes more and more precious to their souls. They love much because much has been forgiven them. They … will not ascribe anything to themselves, but are glad to acknowledge that they must 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.”
“The gracious purposes to which the Lord makes the sense and feeling of our depravity [useful] are many. By this means His own power, wisdom, faithfulness, and love are more notably displayed. … By this means the Lord Jesus Christ is more endeared to the soul. All boasting is effectually excluded, and the glory of a full and free salvation is ascribed to Him alone.
“After a long experience of their own deceitful hearts, after repeated proofs of their weakness, willfulness, and ingratitude, [believers] find that none of these things can separate them from the love of God in Christ. Jesus becomes more and more precious to their souls. They love much because much has been forgiven them. They … will not ascribe anything to themselves, but are glad to acknowledge that they must 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.”
Scripture Focus
Romans 7:24-8:4
Insight
“My grace would soon exhausted be,/ But His is boundless as the sea;/ Then let me boast with holy Paul,/ I am nothing, Christ is all.” (John Newton, 1775)
Bible In A Year
- Ecclesiastes 5-6
- Psalm 65
- John 5
