Whats so Amazing about Amazing Grace, part 4

Continuing on with my series of posts on the song Amazing Grace, I would like to take a look at verse 3 and some of the sound doctrine found in it. If you missed the start of this series, you can find it here.

Verse 3
Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home

Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares I have already come

Have you ever noticed that many of the Christians who you meet will tell you how often they came close to death in one way or another before they were saved? I could relate a number of instances from my own life in which I could just as easily died as remained unscathed. Was it just luck that I lived long enough to become a Christian at the ripe old age of 44?

‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,

No, I really don't believe in luck. Proverbs 16: 33 says: "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD." That's right, according to the book of Proverbs, "chance" is not an issue. God truly is sovereign!

and grace will lead me home

It is the free and unmerited gift of God that sanctifies the Christian. As Phillipians 1: 6 states: "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" It is God who begins the good work in the Christian in saving him, and it is God who continues that good work in the Christian in sanctifying him. God does not save us and then leave us to our own devices to "keep" our salvation by our own right acts. No, it is he that continues to work in us to cause us to persevere.

But is it possible to lose your salvation? Certainly, if it depended upon our own weak flesh, it would not only be possible, but it would be inevitable. But as this song states (and more importantly the Bible teaches), it is grace which keeps us, and leads us home.

In John 10: 27-29 Jesus said: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."

It is God’s grace that keeps his elect safe through those dangers, toils and snares before salvation, it is God’s grace that saves us, and it is God’s grace that will keep us safe through the dangers, toils and snares after salvation. It is God' grace that leads us safely home to heaven.