Letters of John Newton: Grace in the Ear | Behold Your God Podcast

Grace in the Ear: Assurance and the Root of Christian Growth

Welcome to another episode of the Behold Your God podcast. I'm Matthew Robinson, director of Media Grantiae, and I'm here again this week with Dr. John Snyder, pastor of Christ Church New Albany and author and presenter and host of the Behold Your God study series by Media Grantiae.

John, this is part two of a series looking again at some letters from John Newton where John traces what he calls the progressive work of grace in the several stages of a believer's experience, and he uses a little kingdom parable that the Lord Jesus gives in Mark chapter 4 and verse 28 where he says, first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear.

And this is part two, so you can go back and listen to part one at our website at Mediagrantiae .org or TheMeansofGrace .org. This is part two on grace in the ear, and each of these letters should say you can, you should, you can't harm yourself by getting a really nice copy of Newton's letters that would include all of these.

You will benefit from these, but if you don't have access to those in a book and that's not in the budget right now, you can go again to our website, look in the show notes for this episode at Mediagrantiae .org or TheMeansofGrace .org and you can download these letters, read them, and then come back and and listen to us discuss these.

Assurance in the Ear Stage

Jumping right into this part two, grace in the ear, Newton begins by stating that this stage of Christian growth is primarily marked by a more settled assurance, and this assurance is more settled because it's built on a more mature and a more clear understanding of the truths of Christ and also more knowledge of self.

So let me get right into a quote here from the beginning of the letter. Newton says, I call it assurance when it arises from a simple view of the grace and glory of the Savior, independent of our sensible frames and feelings, so as to enable us to answer all objections from unbelief and Satan with the Apostles words, who is he that condemneth?

It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Newton.

Is going to talk a lot about assurance in this, along with that, the root of assurance, which is, you know, really so helpful for us because it's one thing to desire assurance, you know, I want to have that solid unshakable hope in Christ, I don't want to go up and down in my assurance as my performance is going up and down, you know, as my prayer times are going up and down, and that's a great desire, it's good for the Christian, it's hard to live the Christian life when you're in a puddle of despair, but if a man can show me the source of assurance, he's helped me a great deal, and Newton's going to do that here.

Now Newton starts off by wisely making a distinction between assurance and faith. You have to understand the context, in the 18th century, just about 40 years before Newton is writing these letters, George Whitefield, John Wesley, other early leaders, most of them were in their early 20s, Wesley was the old guy out, and their conversion was so dramatic that they could not imagine a person saying, I believe that I have embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ, that I've embraced Christ, and not have such an overwhelming sense of sureness about this, that I feel and know that He is mine.

So if a person would come up and say, I'm not so sure, those early evangelists tended to say, well then you probably don't have faith at all. Now you have to understand, not only is it their own experience, they were so strong that they couldn't imagine someone having a weak assurance at the moment of faith, but also they lived in a system that really gave them no assurance.

The Anglican Church saying, well you can't really have that kind of assurance, it's not really designed for life like that, you need to keep on being good, or keep on being Christian. So they reacted strongly against that, and not long into their ministries, both men changed their views and said, assurance flows from faith, but it is distinguishable from faith.

Assurance is the product of faith. So like a plant, you can have a healthy root system and a stem growing up, and there's not yet the fruit of assurance on there, but the plant's there and it's real. So the Christian has faith, looking away from self to Christ, risking everything on the fact that God doesn't lie to me.

But there are times where my feeling that I'm really His or not, that fluctuation is going to be there. So Newton says, in this second stage that we're discussing, assurance is going to be much more settled because knowledge is going to be much more clear.

But that is not to say that the baby believer whom he described as often struggling with assurance is not as much a believer as this man. Right. Well,.

Conflict, Trial, and the Battle Against Sin

If the early stage is characterized by Newton, by desire being present, this middle stage is characterized by conflict being present. And that's contrary to what we might expect. What follows these early days of conversion is not an easier life, but often more conflicts.

And God is going to allow these hard times to come into the life of the believer as he matures for reason. You know, he doesn't waste anything that he does. And some of those reasons are to show him the truth about himself, that we are still needy, and to show him the truth about God, that this God that we've come to is sufficient for us in every season of life.

And these realities, when they're learned, not just assented to, but they're learned through repeated experience, they will be for the believer's ultimate good and for the Lord's glory. Yeah, and Newton raises a.

Question in his letter. And he is writing a letter. This isn't a theological.

Lecture. Right, it's not a systematic theology. Right, this is a letter in response to a.

Man that said, could you explain these things? So Newton says in this letter, there's a question that comes to my mind. If God really hates sin as much as the Bible says He does, why doesn't He just lift the believer out of a sinful environment where we can still sin, immediately take us from conversion to heaven?

Now, we hear that question a lot in our own culture, you know, but it's generally, often it's a different, presented a different way. It's almost an accusatory. Yeah, it's accusatory, or even like, hey, you know, heaven's going to be great, so why not, why didn't you just take me there immediately?

Why do I have all this? Life's kind of rough, you know. But Newton says, it's a bit better in his day. If God hates sin, why does He leave us in a sinful environment where we can sin? And Newton says, it's true that God does infinitely hate sin.

Therefore, the fact that we're still here and that He is taking us through these various experiences, all the scenes of life, show us that there is something very valuable that is to occur while we're here, that will be, as you just said, Matt, for our good, making us like Christ and for God's glory.

Yeah, and.

Since God does hate sin, there must be a reason for leaving the Christian here to battle with it. Right. And in that word, battle, is so important to our understanding. We're not here to be passive. There's a command and a desire for the believer.

And so reading from Newton's letter here, he says, it is, however, his command and therefore their duty. Yea, further from the new nature he's given them, it is their desire to watch and strive against sin and to propose the mortification of the whole body of sin and the advancement of sanctification in their hearts as their great and constant aim to which they are to have an habitual persevering regard.

Yeah, and now at this stage of life,.

Newton says that the believer sets out on to, you know, sets his aim to do these things that you just read, and suddenly he's faced with quite a shocking reality that it's not easy. In fact, sometimes the Christian doesn't even want to do that, you know.

It is in our nature now that we ultimately want to be conformed to Christ's image, but in the day-to-day, moment-to-moment battles, there are times where the Christian is tempted to just say, you know, I'd really like just to let this one pass.

Just, you know, I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of saying no to the old desires, or I'm tired of saying yes to the next command. And we really have to bring our souls back to the King and plead with Him to give us everything we need to follow Christ in each moment.

But it's not going to be easy. It is going to be a mortification. We're going to have to murder the old sinful habits. We're going to have to kill all sin that we see in us, and we're not allowed to leave any of them, you know, we're not allowed to give any of them sanctuary.

So Newton says the believer will find, to his dismay, it's not easy, and he gives some reasons. We still have a sinful nature, and the work of grace has begun, and regeneration is spreading the realities of Christ, you know, in very practical ways to every area of our life.

We are to work out or work outward our salvation, because God is at work in us, both to desire and to do His will. But there is still a sinful nature that, you know, performs kind of like guerrilla warfare, Lloyd-Jones says.

And then we live in a world that's full of snares that seem to be perfectly designed to really just, you know, stick the match to the black powder, to the gasoline of our old nature, you know, that are designed, these snares are designed to call forth, Newton said, our old corruptions.

And then finally, he says, we're surrounded by invisible enemies. So the Christian has to believe what God says, he has to do what God says, he'll have these wonderful experiences, but it's always going to be on a battlefield.

He'll have to believe while surrounded by enemies that are screaming that God is lying. He'll have to obey while every step forward, not only does he find in his own heart sometimes a reluctance to obey, but he will find an external enemy pushing back, and he will experience these things, you know, while surrounded by forces that would destroy him.

So, Newton says, he's not ignorant at this stage. He does know certain things. He knows he's sinful. He knows his heart can be deceitful. He knows he has a right to live on Christ for righteousness, for our standing, and for strength.

But, Newton says, it is God's will, and we see this especially in this stage of the Christian life, that through trials, he.

Learns these very things in a much deeper way. You know, he uses a word there that it's to his dismay. It's to our dismay when we discover this, and that's especially true for those who are, you know, you're coming out of the blade stage where you've been drinking cordials.

As you remember from our last episode, these sweet seasons of walking with the Lord when you think, you know, there are certain sins that I'm never going to be tempted toward again, and the Lord has to show you.

And he is at work when he's doing that to teach us to feel the truth of sin's exceeding sinfulness. So, let me read another quote here from the letter. The exceeding sinfulness of sin is manifested not so much by its breaking through the restraint of threatenings and commands, as by its being capable of acting against light and against love.

Yeah, I mean, that's quite an insight.

There. Newton's not saying to the believer, you know, as you grow older, you're just, man, you're gonna act really wicked for a while. It's not saying there's a middle stage of teenage rebellion where you have to sow your wild oats.

It's not so much by the outward shameful activity that you become more and more aware of your deceitful, sinful, weak heart. It's the fact that you can see within the heart with an increasingly, acutely painful awareness that I am still capable of sin, but now it's sin against love.

It's sin against fullness. It's sin against truth. It's sin against him. And now that, you know, that sight of sin is a painful thing for the Christian to have.

To learn. Yeah, Newton says about his own experience that since coming to Christ that he hadn't fallen into foul, open sin since becoming a believer. And he'd not really doubted. But well, let me read the passage here.

Yet with respect to my own acceptance in the beloved, I know not if I have had a doubt of a quarter of an hour's continuance for many years past, but oh, the multiplied instances of stupidity, ingratitude, impatience and rebellion to which my own conscience has.

Been witness. Yeah. So very clear picture in his own life. By the way, one time maybe we'll be able to do a session on Newton's wife, Mary. In the last days of her life, she suffered with a terrible illness.

And this woman who had been kind of Newton's Gibraltar spiritually, that he really had helped her grow in the Lord early on. But she was always solid. And in this terrible disease, Newton said there was a span of time where she despaired that she was a Christian.

I mean, and she was completely distraught, not only physically, but she would tell him that she was afraid she was going to hell. And he, as her husband, would leave the room with his heart just shredded up.

God, comfort my wife, you know. Is this a woman saying, I'm not a Christian because she's not a Christian? Or is this the attack of the enemy when the heart is weak and the mind is distracted? And Newton describes this in his journals, how he went through that period and how the Lord gave her a solid assurance before the end.

You know, Newton says that God knowing this about us, he appoints particular seasons in life that are custom-designed to help us grow. And these are often very hard times for us. And we, you know, and we are tempted to look at hard times and say, where did God go during this time?

And Newton would say God was right there actually appointing hard times. And he says that these hard times are designed to deal with, really with our spiritual pride. That we are too quick to be self-dependent as believers.

We are too quick to embrace that empty self-confidence. We are attached, he says, to created things, to the nice things that God gives us, even in the spiritual world. So, he says, he leads us through these hard times.

Now, in the midst of the hard times, he said there can be different ways that God teaches us. One of the ways, and this is what we wish would always be the way, is that God exposes our neediness by coming alongside of us and just in such a clear way demonstrating what He can do to rescue.

So, you know, we come into a perplexing situation. We cry out to the Lord, I don't know what to do in my marriage, my family, at work, at church. God comes alongside and so clearly intervenes. It's just, you know, it's like those times where as a believer you just step back and you think, it is so amazing to see the Living God work in this way.

And so, we learn. I can't do it, but He can. But Newton says there are other times that God exposes our spiritual pride by letting us feel how completely weak we are, how little we can do, how unable we are to stand without a constant upholding from God.

Means of Grace, Providence, and Maturity in the Ear Stage

Yeah, and another thing that Newton really hints at, but doesn't go into a lot, but is a common thing, is, you know, when you are coming out of the blade stage and there's what is sometimes referred to as that honeymoon period where it feels like the Lord carries you like a babe in His arms, you know, and you feel, man, I'll never sin again.

I just, you experience this great time of the nearness of God and you can neglect, you can begin to neglect the use of the means of grace because you just think, I have direct access to the Lord. I'm just walking with Him.

And so, the Lord begins to teach His children how to use the means that He's appointed. You know, how did the Lord Jesus wake up and seek the Lord in prayer? And how did He, even, you know, reading the scriptures as a young man?

And, you know, we're not better than our Master. And so, we have to be taught that these are the means that God has appointed. And often, it's during this time that He drives us to this. But we can be sure that, you know, we can see what the result or the goal of these hard times are by something that Newton writes here.

He says, by a variety of these exercises, through the overruling and edifying influences of the Holy Spirit, the person who is in this ear stage, this second stage, is trained up in a growing knowledge of himself and of the Lord.

He learns to be more distrustful of his own heart and to suspect a snare in every step he takes. The dark and disconsolate hours which he has brought upon himself in times past make him doubly prize the light of God's countenance and teach him to dread whatever might grieve the Spirit of God and cause him to withdraw again.

The repeated and multiplied pardons which he has received increase his admiration of and the sense of his obligations to the rich, sovereign, abounding mercy of the covenant. Much has been forgiven him, therefore he loves much, and therefore he knows how to forgive and pity others.

He does not call evil good or good evil, but his own experiences teach him tenderness and forbearance. He experiences a spirit of meekness toward those who are overtaken in a fault, and his attempts to restore such are according to the pattern of the Lord's dealings with himself.".

Newton starts to draw this.

Letter together at the end by summarizing this maturation in a couple of ways. He says, we're watching the young believer move from that early zeal, that early appetite for the Word of God, you know, and we're watching him add understanding.

So, the warm heart is still there, Newton says. We don't leave that behind, but there needs to be the addition of clarity, of knowledge. So, if you're just giving a quick look at the person in this stage, you might think that the head's growing above the heart, but it's not.

And the ideal is that as that knowledge, as that scriptural knowledge, and how things fit together, and where do I fit into this, and where does my life fit into this, and, you know, every aspect of my life, how is it impacted by these truths of Christ?

The ideal is that that's like wood in the fireplace. It's the fuel for the passion. It's the fuel for the heart's warmth, not a competitor to it. You know, it's not a wet blanket that we throw over the warm heart and say, ah, now you're immature.

Here, take some doctrine, like, ah, and we almost kill him, you know. No, we want to put wood into that flame to give it something really.

To use as fuel. And if that's the effect, you're doing it wrong. Right, right. Yeah,.

True. And Newton says a couple things. He says, this understanding that we're, that's being added here is the foundation of a much more solid Christian practice and assurance. All right, so we've been talking about that.

But second, he says, it comes from Scripture, but not from Scripture alone, but from, in a sense, you could say it like this way, the child of God with an open Bible, but walking through life, and God appointing these seasons of difficulty at times to teach us things that we need to understand so that what we're reading in the Scripture really finds a place in our life.

So we're learning things we need to know so that our assurance and our practice are much more consistent and solid without.

Leaving behind the warm heart. Sure. You know, all the things we've read about in the Scriptures, maybe all the things that we've read about even in reading some Christian biography, we're beginning to walk through some of those things ourselves.

And the Lord is teaching us that it's not just ideas on a page, but that He will be our living God, and He will get us through these things, and that He will be sufficient even for us in our lives. Yeah.

Signs of Maturity in the Ear Stage

Now, Matt, in that.

Closing quote you read, there were a number of really great marks of maturity, and if we in our day say, well, how do you know a person's growing in the Lord? How do I know I'm growing in the Lord? It's not just emotions, is it?

And it's certainly we don't want to say, well, I know I'm growing because I don't have emotions anymore. I don't live on emotions. So how do I know another person is exhibiting growth? You know, how do we know our kids are growing?

Well, Newton.

Gives a number of marks. Why don't you run us through some of those? Yeah, the first is maybe a little surprising. First, he says, is knowing yourself, you know, knowledge of self, and that is so important.

But what do we know about ourselves? Well, we we know ourselves to be weak and needy and still sinful, noticing more the heart sins now, you know, the things that we thought would be so hard to let go of externally before conversion.

Those things may be absent completely from the life now, but we notice those respectable sins, as Jerry Bridges has written about. We notice those heart sins, and we're grieved by those things, and we become more and more distrusting, distrusting of ourselves and of the world that we now see, you know, full of those, as you said, seemingly custom-designed traps to draw us back into the old ways.

Yeah, really, that does demonstrate that.

Christian growth is not us climbing up a mountain. It's not us going up a ladder, becoming bigger, better versions of us. It is a downward journey. I am becoming more and more aware of how very needy I am.

You know, a thing that we say a lot at the church here is that, you know, you are as needy today. Let's say I've been a Christian for 30 years. I am as needy today as I was 30 years ago, the very first time I cried out to God and said, save me.

But that's true, but there's another thing we could add to that, but I am more aware of it now than I was then. I mean, and I thought I knew it, like all I could see, you know, the day I cried out to Christ, all I could see was shame and need all around me.

But if you were to ask me now, could you list the needs, I would say, I don't think I could list them, you know. There's just so many, and that growth down is part of.

Maturity, and it's something to be grateful for. Secondly, a sign of maturity for those who are in this second or ear stage is a prizing of the nearness of God and the light of His countenance. And of course, you know, we don't have time to get into, we know that God is with His people.

He's covenanted Himself to be His people's God. But we also begin to know something of what it means when we sin against the Lord and we feel something of His withdrawn presence in our lives. And we begin to, you know, maybe at one time we took that for granted, especially when we're drinking cordials in the early days.

We're taking those things for granted, but now we begin to hate and avoid the sin that causes His withdrawal. A third thing he mentions is the increased sense of.

Gratitude toward God for covenanted mercy. And he's not just saying we grow more and more thankful for His love, that's true, but he's saying we are more and more thankful for the love that was spelled out in Scripture and given to us in a covenant so that our weak, childlike, stumbling faith, you know, when you look in the mirror in the morning you think, I don't think He could love me today.

Well, it's reasonable to feel that way, but go back and look at the contract. Look at the covenant of grace. Look at the small print. And we become more and more reliant on what God has explained of His side of this great work.

Of salvation, you know. Yeah, that's right. And then fourth, while we don't call evil good, through this phase we learn as a mark of maturity, we learn to be meek and tender toward those who stumble morally.

Sometimes in the initial, you know, the blade stage, sometimes known as the cage stage, you know, you can be very harsh toward people, even older Christians who you may see some inconsistencies in. You may see them stumble morally and you're very harsh toward them.

You can't understand how a believer may be that way. And the Lord in this maturity begins to teach you how to attempt to restore believers in accordance with Christ's own gentle pattern and the way that Christ has dealt with us when we've sinned.

Yeah, four really simple but very biblical and.

Clear evidence of maturity. Knowing yourself, prizing the nearness of God, a sense of gratitude for how God has so clearly laid out a firm foundation of covenanted mercy, and while not treating sin as a small matter, learning to be gentle and loving in the way that we restore stumbling brothers.

American Gospel, the Prosperity Gospel, and Closing Remarks

So we're here on the last day of the Shepherds Conference 2019 at Grace Community Church, and I've run into Justin Peters. Justin is an evangelist, and you will also recognize him from the American Gospel film.

Thank you so much. You're welcome. I really appreciated your, I mean, your testimony here and your testimony to not just to be anti-prosperity gospel, but to be this is the gospel and to see how beautiful it actually is in contrast.

How did you come to be involved in this?

Well, Brandon Kimber contacted me a few years ago and told me about the project that he was working on. And when he described it to me, it sounded like it was right up my alley and something I very much wanted to be a part of.

And I'm very glad that I was. I'm glad that he reached me. I think he did a great job with the film, put together really, really well, very compelling. And I think it does put in stark relief the contrast between the false prosperity gospel and the true gospel.

That's right. Well, and this film does a great job of that. It's not just a hit piece. You know, I think he takes about the first 40 minutes and just expounds, what is the gospel? What's the message of the gospel?

And then the rest of it, you know, you just almost let these other guys talk. And the viewer says, wait a minute, they're not saying what the scripture is saying.

God and His good providence is using that film and the truth therein to open people's eyes.

Well, I know that I speak on behalf of so many of the people who will see this to say thank you. Thanks for spending time with Brandon. And Brandon, great job. We love your film. And we're grateful to see the Lord continue to use it.

For more information about American Gospel, Christ Alone, visit TheMeansOfGrace .org. We've begun to look now at these four areas of maturity where the Lord begins to work these things into His people in this kind of second stage or the ear stage, as the Lord refers to it in that kingdom parable.

And very helpful, just again, a pastoral letter written by John Newton to someone who asks him to understand the progression of the work of grace in the life of a believer. And next week, we'll look at the next level, the mature grain, or as Newton's authorized version said, the full corn in the ear.

Thanks for listening. Remember, you can go to MediaGratia .org or TheMeansOfGrace .org. Look under the show notes, read these letters for yourself, see the scripture references that we talk about and lots more.

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