John Newton, Letter 25/41
In your zeal to become the best Christian you can be, have you ever imagined there must be some little-known method or resource, familiar only to the most spiritually-minded believers, by which you, too, could make amazing and speedy progress in godliness? Yes, many of us suffer that delusion early on. John Newton proved himself a true “father in Israel,” teaching us better. Scripture, prayer, obedience to God’s revealed will, participation in the church—these are the tried and true means by which solid believers learn and grow. Make patient use of them and you’ll see the Lord’s richest blessings appear more and more in your own life.
1. You asked me to write to you about certain things which I intend to address in this letter without study and as the Lord helps me.
2. A sense of spiritual safety is the first thing a sensible sinner wants. Aware of his sin and guilt by the moral law, he cries out, “What must I do to be saved?” He finds relief by trusting Jesus more and more.
3. The second thing he would know is how to experience the greatest degree possible of heaven on earth in communion with his Lord and Savior. This is the main topic you raised and I would discuss here.
4. Scripture and experience agree that our spiritual ups and downs are very nearly related to our fluctuating faith. If only we would perfectly receive the whole truth about Jesus Christ in Scripture, our doubts and fears would subside. This would make hard things easy, bitter things sweet, and obedience to all of God’s will full of cheer. So the question boils down to this: How can we grow in faith?
5. Faith, the root of all other graces, is like them in this way. It grows gradually by our use of God’s appointed means, primarily three.
I. Since faith rests upon the knowledge of Christ contained only in the Scriptures, faith grows by careful, frequent Bible study.
II. Also, we must have the illumination of the Holy Spirit (Jn 16.14; 2 Cor 3.18) who is promised to those who ask. Therefore, private prayer is indispensable for a growing faith. The Word and prayer are the two main things we need above all others. Omit prayer and you can’t expect ten thousand sermons to do you any good.
III. Faith flourishes also by faithfulness to what light you have already received (Jn 14.15–24, esp. v. 21). Faith and faithfulness are translated from the same word in the Greek New Testament. If you have secret reservations about obeying God fully and comprehensively, your faith will be stunted.
6. I have learned to distinguish between ignorance and disobedience. God blesses Christians despite our ignorance about many points of sound theology, but willful disobedience is much more serious and more injurious to our comfortable walking with God and growth in faith.
7. And so we may grow in grace by reading the Word of God, praying frequently, obeying the Lord’s will, and also by attending to the church’s public ordinances, and paying attention to our experience, with the Lord’s blessing by His Spirit upon all these. Thus we will learn more humility, selflessness, and Christ-centeredness, until we all gather around Him.
8. You also asked me about “the communion of saints,” which amounts to shared faith and experience. Daily we all meet at the same throne of grace, are influenced by the same Holy Spirit, feel the same desires, aim at the same objects, and as much as we are personally acquainted, pray for each other. When I kneel more from duty than delight, I am encouraged to remember the many who pray for me and with me as fellow members of God’s family. I also recall times of great fellowship with them, and that strengthens me, too. Soldiers take comfort from being part of a great army. How much more rejuvenating it is to recall the invisible world of innumerable hosts engaged in worship, increasing in size and gaining momentum as the ages roll!
9. This old earth is like a temporary stage erected for all heirs of glory to walk across on our way to participate in the King’s great coronation. Righteous Abel was first in the line which at times trickled to just a few souls at a time passing over, as in the days of Noah. After generations, the King Himself passed in person, suffering many things, and entering into His glory.
10. Then the Twelve crossed it, and after them the procession became ever wider, and we have reason to expect that many yet unborn shall come behind us before the stage will be taken down and burned. “Then all the chosen race shall meet before the throne, Shall bless the conduct of His grace, and make His wonders known.”
11. So let us take courage. All the saints on earth now and already in heaven, as well as the angels of the Lord and the Lord of angels Himself, are on our side. Despite the millions in glory, there is still room for more—a place for you, and, I trust, a place for worthless me. Signed, JN.
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Newton says our greatest problem is not making the best use of what we already know. Many people are information rich and application poor, and thus far worse off than others who are more faithful with less. This calls all of us to take a sober inventory of truths lying dormant in our hearts and lives, and to rouse ourselves in doing them, so we may grow. Ω