John Newton, the famous hymn writer and lesser-known Pastor, was born in 1725 in London. His mother was a godly woman who taught him to pray as a child and died when he was only seven years old. At the age of eleven his father, who was a sea captain, took him to sea for the first time. Newton’s sea-faring life is well known….it included debauchery, drunkenness, being ship-wrecked, becoming the captain of a slave-trade ship, and also becoming a slave himself off the Guinea coast in Africa.

He was rescued by a friend of his father who was a ship’s captain as well. Newton lit a fire on the shore with the hopes of attracting the attention of any passing ship. In God’s providence, this friend of his father, who was searching for him, sent a long boat ashore to investigate, and John was rescued. He was on this ship returning across the Atlantic, when it encountered a great storm which threatened to sink and kill everyone on board.

It was March 10, 1748, a day that Newton reflects upon, “as a day much to be remembered by me. For on that day the Lord came from on high and delivered me out of deep waters.” The storm was horrific: with massive billowing waves plunging the ship at points nearly completely under as it smashed to and fro against the waves—everyone on board was sure she would sink and they were all gonna die.

The hold was rapidly filling with water as Newton and the other crew frantically seemingly hopeless attempt to pump out water and Newton re-telling the story says he tells his Captain, “the Lord have mercy upon us!” And then he thought to himself, “Mercy! What mercy can there be for me?” Because it was the first thought he’d even given at God’s mercy in years.

And in that moment he reflected upon all of his sins, his immorality, and realized his own unworthiness to be the recipient of God’s mercy. Finally, at about 6 the evening, the hold was finally free from water and then came a glimmer of hope, “I thought I saw the hand of God displayed in our favor. I began to pray,” and Newton began to pray.

That was the beginning of his conversion to Christianity and testimony of faith, as on the remainder of that 4 week journey he began to read the Bible. By the time he reached home, Britain, he had come to believe and confess the biblical truths of Christianity pointing to his great sinfulness, and Jesus Christ’s great power to rescue him from it by his perfect life and atoning death for sin in the place of sinners.

And about 22 years later in 1772, reflecting upon the mercy and grace that God had extended towards him a wretched sinner who time and time again turned his face from God, even ran away from God, and yet could not finally escape the amazing grace of God, he wrote arguably the best-known Christian hymn called “Amazing Grace.” The chorus is familiar to most of us:

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.

That is the testimony of every single sinner that has experienced the sovereign mercy and saving grace of God lavished upon them to completely forgive them of the sin. That is the believer’s biography—the Christian’s confession—the saint’s story—our story—the description of who we were before Christ, wretches, where we were before Christ, lost and dead in our trespasses and sins, and what we were before Christ, blind, completely unaware that our lives and our salvation depended fully upon his saving mercy and grace.

And this morning, we find the inspiration and original man who uttered that last line that Newton no doubt borrowed from, in our story of Jesus and the man who was blind from birth, who joyfully exclaims to his neighbors, the town, and the religious leaders, “I was blind, but now I see!”

A magnificent portrait of the new identity, nature, vision, and purpose we have as Christians in the miracle of, conversion, regeneration, salvation, the moment we first believe and our nature is changed, our hearts transformed, and we’re given new eyes and can open them for the first time. “I was blind, but now I see.” “I was blind to my wretchedness and total depravity.” “Blind to the majesty and glory and beauty of a God who would condescend his eternal throne to die a criminal’s death to rescue humanity.” “I was blind to Christ the true King in all his beauty.” “I was blind but now I see.”

And as the story progresses, we’ll see that the formerly blind man spoke much more than he knew, not only going from being physically blind to now seeing, but spiritually blind to now seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus the promised Messiah…But the man’s neighbors still can’t see Jesus. The city’s religious leaders still can’t see Jesus. What about you? Can you see him? Do you see him? If you can and you do, then you too will fall down and worship him, and follow him in a life of obedience and submission to him in faith, as true worshippers and disciples always do.