Amazed by Grace

AMAZED BY

GRACE

AMAZED BY

GRACE

EDITED BY ELIZABETH KEA

Copyright © 2003 by W Publishing Group

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by W Publishing Group, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, Tennessee 37214.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from THE KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible.

Grace, from AMAZING GRACE by Kathleen Norris, copyright © 1998 by Kathleen Norris. Used by permission of Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Will God Forgive What I’m About to Do? Five Polluted Words, and Dispatch from the Culture Wars: from FINDING GOD IN UNEXPECTED PLACES by Philip Yancey, copyright © 1995 by Philip Yancey. Used by permission of Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Amazed by grace / edited by Elizabeth Kea.

            p. cm.

    ISBN 0-8499-1807-3

    1. Grace (Theology) I. Kea, Elizabeth Bonner, 1976– II. Title.

  BT761.3.A45 2003

  234—dc22                                                                2003017821

Printed in the United States of America

03 04 05 06 07 BVG 5 4 3 2 1

Contents

HOW SWEET THE SOUND

Grace Greater Than Our Sin / Julia H. Johnston

Grace, Enough for Me / Edwin O. Excell

Grace, ’Tis a Charming Sound / Philip Doddridge and Augustus M. Toplady

Grace Is Always a Surprise / Stormie Omartian

Victors / Donald McCullough

Growing in Grace / Hannah Whitall Smith

Amazing Grace / John Newton

The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32)

Amazed by Grace / James Montgomery Boice

His Grace Is Sufficient for Me / Leila N. Morris

Call It Grace / Max Lucado

Grace / Kathleen Norris

Saved by Grace / Karl Barth

Humble Beginnings / Brian D. McLaren

From Sin Set Free / Amy Carmichael

Grace Communicated / Jonathan Edwards

The Motivation of God’s Salvation / Charles Stanley

Righteous Grace / Horatius Bonar

It Is Well with My Soul / Horatio Spafford

Too Good to Be True / Madeleine L’Engle

Ungracious Grace / G. K. Chesterton

The Day That I Was Crowned / Emily Dickinson

JESUS: THE PERSON OF GRACE

He Became Flesh / Max Lucado

He Is Grace Indeed / John Bunyan

Must Be a Woe / Emily Dickinson

Grace Is Jesus / Barbara Johnson

Look to Christ / Robert Murray M’Cheyne

How Sweet the Name / John Newton

And God Became Man / Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Alas and Did My Savior Bleed / Isaac Watts

The Woman Caught in Adultery (John 8:2–11)

A Violent Grace / Michael Card

Clothed in His Righteousness / John Calvin

A Sinful Woman Forgiven (Luke 7:36–50)

His Mercy and Love / Charles Dickens

Quick-Eyed Love / George Herbert

I Came for the Sick (Matthew 9:9–13)

Christ Our Mediator / John Owen

Christ and the Pagan / John Bannister Tabb

BY GRACE ALONE

Dependent on Grace / Susanna Wesley

Nothing but the Blood / Robert Lowry

Striving Less / Cynthia Heald

Free Grace / J. I. Packer

Give Up and Wake Up / Nicole Johnson

The Hospital / Charles Spurgeon

Alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4–10, 19–22)

A View of Grace / Daniel Defoe

Rock of Ages / Augustus M. Toplady

Relying on God’s Grace / R. C. Sproul

Generous Grace / Bryan Chapell

The Seal of Grace / Michael Green

The Fountain of Grace / Dwight L. Moody

The Mover / A Puritan Prayer

Clothed with Christ / Max Lucado

By Grace Through Faith / Charles Spurgeon

Out of the Depths / Martin Luther

SUFFICIENT GRACE

Grace Enough / George MacDonald

Come to the Throne of Grace / Cynthia Heald

Grace Active / A Puritan Prayer

Timely and Needed Help / F. B. Meyer

My Shepherd Will Supply My Need / Isaac Watts

In Boldness I Come / John Chrysostom

From Every Stormy Wind / Hugh Stowell

Grace upon Grace / Max Lucado

There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy / Frederick William Faber

Restraining Grace / Samuel Rutherford

A Hymn to God the Father / John Donne

Grace for Living / Dwight L. Moody

Do Thou for Me / Amy Carmichael

The Death of Sin (Romans 6:8–11, 14; 11:6)

Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat / John Newton

But for the Grace of God / Martin Luther

He Giveth More Grace / Annie Johnson Flint

GRACE THAT TRANSFORMS

The Grace Which Costs / Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Will God Forgive What I’m About to Do? / Philip Yancey

Grace Reigning / Scotty Smith

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing / Robert Robinson

The Most Amazing Grace / Os Guiness

Leave Your Life of Sin / James Montgomery Boice

The Grace of Wonder / Brennan Manning

Manifold Grace / Amy Carmichael

All of Grace / Os Guiness

Appreciating God’s Grace / Thomas à Kempis

Effective Grace (Ephesians 3:1–12)

The Covenant of Grace / Andrew Murray

Blessed Assurance / Martin Luther

Grace for Service / Dwight L. Moody

Galilean Grace / Max Lucado

A Drop of Grace / John Tauler

A Holy Sonnet / John Donne

Further Up and Further In / C. S. Lewis

The Reign of Grace / Scotty Smith

INSTRUMENTS OF GRACE

Beggars in Need of Bread / Max Lucado

Five Polluted Words / Philip Yancey

A Prayer for Grace / Jane Austen

The Law of Love / Cynthia Heald

The Temper / George Herbert

Love Your Enemies (Matthew 5:38–48)

Responding to Grace / Brennan Manning

How the Great Guest Came / Edwin Markham

The Divine Nature of Grace / Thomas à Kempis

Dispatch from the Culture Wars / Philip Yancey

Abounding Grace for Abounding Work / Andrew Murray

Grace to Others / Jerry Bridges

Grace at Work / Charles Spurgeon

The Potter and the Clay / George Whitefield

Make Me an Instrument / Francis of Assisi

Notes

Acknowledgments

HOW

SWEET THE

SOUND

The sun of righteousness will rise

with healing in its wings.

And you will go out and leap

like calves released from the stall.

—MALACHI 4:2 (NIV)

Grace is not about finishing last or first;

it is about not counting.

—PHILIP YANCEY

Grace Greater Than Our Sin

JULIA H. JOHNSTON

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,

Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!

Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,

There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,

Threaten the soul with infinite loss;

Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,

Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide.

What can we do to wash it away?

Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,

Brighter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,

Freely bestowed on all who believe!

You that are longing to see His face,

Will you this moment His grace receive?

Grace, Enough for Me

EDWIN O. EXCELL

In looking through my tears one day,

I saw Mount Calvary;

Beneath the cross there flowed a stream

Of grace, enough for me.

Grace is flowing from Calvary,

Grace as fathomless as the sea,

Grace for time and eternity,

Grace, enough for me.

While standing there, my trembling heart,

Once full of agony,

Could scarce believe the sight I saw

Of grace, enough for me.

When I beheld my every sin

Nailed to the cruel tree,

I felt a flood go through my soul

Of grace, enough for me.

When I am safe within the veil,

My portion there will be,

To sing through all the years to come

Of grace, enough for me.

Grace, ’Tis a Charming Sound

PHILIP DODDRIDGE AND AUGUSTUS M. TOPLADY

Grace, ’tis a charming sound,

Harmonious to mine ear;

Heaven with the echo shall resound,

And all the earth shall hear.

Grace first contrived the way

To save rebellious man;

And all the steps that grace display

Which drew the wondrous plan.

Grace first inscribed my name

In God’s eternal book;

’Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb,

Who all my sorrows took.

Grace led my roving feet

To tread the heavenly road;

And new supplies each hour I meet,

While pressing on to God.

Grace taught my soul to pray

And made mine eyes o’erflow;

’Twas grace which kept me to this day,

And will not let me go.

Grace all the work shall crown,

Through everlasting days;

It lays in heaven the topmost stone,

And well deserves the praise.

O let Thy grace inspire

My soul with strength divine

May all my powers to Thee aspire,

And all my days be Thine.

Grace Is Always a Surprise

STORMIE OMARTIAN

I’ve spent fifteen years learning to understand what was accomplished on the cross, and it simply means that Jesus took all that I have coming to me—pain, failure, confusion, hatred, rejection, and death—and gave me all that He had coming to Him—all His wholeness, healing, love, acceptance, peace, joy, and life. Because of God’s grace, all we have to do is say, Jesus, come live in me and be Lord over my life.

Grace and mercy are much alike. Grace happens when God refrains from punishing a person who is guilty. Mercy is God’s compassion for our misery beyond what may be expected. We need both.

If it weren’t for God’s grace and mercy, we wouldn’t even be saved for the Bible tells us, "by grace you have been saved (Eph. 2:8) and according to His mercy He saved us (Titus 3:5). Before we met Jesus we were guilty and miserable, but His grace and mercy" have saved us.

Grace has to do with it all being Him. He does it. Not us. Grace is always a surprise. You think it’s not going to happen, and it does. Pastor Jack Hayford teaches about grace that When the humble say, ‘I don’t have it and I can’t get it on my own,’ God says, ‘I’ve got it and I’m going to give it to you.’ That’s God’s grace.

—from Finding Peace for Your Heart

Victors

DONALD MCCULLOUGH

Grace means that in the middle of our struggle the referee blows the whistle and announces the end of the game. We are declared winners and sent to the showers. It’s over for all huffing, puffing piety to earn God’s favor; it’s finished for all sweat-soaked straining to secure self-worth; it’s the end of all competitive scrambling to get ahead of others in the game. Grace means that God is on our side and thus we are victors regardless of how well we have played the game. We might as well head for the showers and the champagne celebration.

—from Waking from the American Dream¹

Growing in Grace

HANNAH WHITALL SMITH

What is meant by growing in grace? It is difficult to answer this question because so few people have any conception of what the grace of God really is. To say that it is free, unmerited favor, only expresses a little of its meaning. It is the wondrous, boundless love of God, poured out upon us without stint or measure, not according to our deserving, but according to His infinite heart of love, which passeth knowledge, so unfathomable are its heights and depths.

I sometimes think we give a totally different meaning to the word love when it is associated with God, from that we so well understand in its human application. But if ever human love was tender and self-sacrificing and devoted; if ever it could bear and forbear; if ever it could suffer gladly for its loved ones; if ever it was willing to pour itself out in a lavish abandonment for the comfort or pleasure of its objects—then infinitely more is Divine love tender and self-sacrificing and devoted, and glad to bear and forbear, and to suffer, and to lavish its best of gifts and blessings upon the objects of its love. Put together all the tenderest of love you know of, dear reader, the deepest you have ever felt, and the strongest that has ever been poured out upon you, and heap upon it all the love of all the loving human hearts in the world, and then multiply it by infinity, and you will begin perhaps to have some faint glimpses of what the love of God in Christ Jesus is. And this is grace. And to be planted in grace is to live in the very heart of this love, to be enveloped by it, to be steeped in it, to revel in it, to know nothing else but love only and