Listening to “Amazing Grace” performed by Forrest Frank is a perfect place to begin.

• Amazing Grace.
• Amazing Grace.

AMAZING Grace.

AMAZING Grace.

• Amazing GRACE.

“AMAZING GRACE that saved a wretch like me.”

• From the beginning, man’s sin brought DEATH.
• From the Garden of Eden, mankind’s sin brought SEPARATION.
• From the onset of humanity’s existence, “For the wages of sin are death.” (The Letter of Paul to the Romans 6: 23a)

BUT GOD!

BUT GOD DID NOT GIVE US DEATH—THAT WHICH MANKIND DESERVED BECAUSE OF SIN!

BECAUSE GOD, THROUGH HIS AMAZING GRACE, BROUGHT REDEMPTION THROUGH JESUS!

Years ago, I taught junior English, and within this setting, I taught my high schoolers poetry, but I did not want them to just read poetry; I wanted my students to see and to experience the poems.  One particular poem assigned was one filled with imagery, a poem about a fly and a spider.

So, on the day we were going to study that poem, I brought in four items:

• Numbers cut apart for drawing out and forming our classroom groups.
• Large chart paper, big enough to cover four student desks pushed together.
• Markers for drawing (many colors) &
• And copies of the poem.

My students arrived that day, drew out their number, formed into groups, and then took their place at their assigned group of desks pushed together, where the large chart paper lay.  Each group was responsible for one stanza of the poem, and the groups were not aware of the whole poem or of the other stanzas.  Each group was only gifted with the lines of their particular stanza.

The poem reveals a spider creating a web.  As the web is spun during the dark of the night, a fly buzzes around the room, unknowing that the spider is spinning his web.  As you might expect, the fly, even though he has physical eyes to see, does not SEE the web and becomes trapped.  The fly becomes caught in the spider’s web.  The spider has been waiting for the fly to become trapped, and now the spider waits a bit longer, for he knows DEATH will now come to the fly who is trapped and unable to escape.  Then the spider methodically crawls across the web he has spun, moving toward the fly, toward the one (the fly) who will be consumed.

The imagery was easy for my students to see.  The Spider—the devil.  The web—sin. & The fly—mankind.

In 1779, John Newton penned a lyric poem, the hymn the world still sings today.  It is fitting for us to pause to read, to really read & listen to the words found in these three verses of Newton’s lyric poem.

1. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
   That saved a wretch like me!
   I once was lost, but now am found;
   Was blind, but now I see.
2. ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
   And grace my fears relieved;
   How precious did that grace appear
   The hour I first believed.
3. Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
   I have already come;
   ’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
   And grace will lead me home.

God is Spirit! & God is Righteous! & God is Eternal! & God is Infinite!

& Man is finite and mortal flesh, formed from the dust of the ground & in desperate need of God!

What this means is that within our physical, earthly bodies, we are walking toward our demise, our death, and there is not a single thing we can ever do to stop our walk toward death.  Also true is the fact that there is not a person alive who could stand in the gap, who could pay the price of our sin, for mankind has been born in iniquity (in sin).  The Word of God says so!  We are sinful from the time of our conception inside our mother’s womb, and the price (the cost), “the wages of sin are death.”  The Bible says so!

All of us have fallen short of the perfect standard of Righteous God.

• Holy God knew from the beginning mankind would need a Savior.
• This was God’s Plan from the creation.

from the beginning, it was His Plan.

What makes Christianity distinct?

We only need to look to God’s Holy Word to see the answer.

• Jesus came to earth from Heaven.
• Jesus took on human flesh.
• Jesus was tempted like mankind but He remained sinless.
• Jesus was sent by the Father to die for our sins, “for the wages of sin are death.”
• Jesus was crucified upon the cross of Calvary.
• Jesus died.
• Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb.
• Jesus remained dead for three full days, proving to the world that HE WAS DEAD!

BUT GOD—raised His only begotten Son to new life!

HALLELUJAH & PRAISE ALMIGHTY GOD!

DEATH IS CONQUERED & Satan has been rendered powerless.

• We need to keep the ‘old’ me nailed to the cross & allow the ‘new’ me (in Christ) to abide in Him, to Trust Him, so that we may live & walk in a newness of life in Christ Jesus.
• May we mindfully & prayerfully share God’s Amazing Grace with someone today.