(July 28, 2025) Robert and Maureen McQuillan share…

As most of you know we like relaxing by watching old movies… especially these days as I (Robert) can’t do much as a result of that very bad fall I had early this month (Thanks to the many friends who are praying for me.. and Maureen, my first-aid specialist ‘nurse!’).

Yes, just to please me Maureen still lets me suggest watching old John Wayne movies! (and yes, she enjoys them too!). And yes, since I was a kid the Duke has been ‘my hero’… even beyond Batman, Flash Gordon, Cagney and Bogart.

Discovery
But… better still, and more meaningful, both Maureen and I at a very young age, five or six, discovered the greatest ‘hero’— Jesus Christ! And recently in my taking it easy to recover, we discovered the brilliant Rosemary Siemens singing those precious old hymns that so many Christians and churches don’t sing or even know these days! And what a precious gentle voice and her mastery of integrated violin playing. We’ve been so blessed!

And we’ve also been finding really good Christian movies on YouTube and thoroughly enjoying them. One Christian-based classic that we’ve watched a few times is a DVD I purchased when I was ministering in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia enroute to Dr Sam Selva Raj and ministry in India.

It’s Amazing Grace, the story of William Wilberforce, that evangelical Christian, who at personal cost dedicated himself for 18 tough years to lobbying the British parliament to abolish the slave trade.

The slave trade was finally abolished in 1807, but the fight went on to free those who were already slaves or another 26 years before an act was passed giving freedom to all slaves in the British Empire.

Declaration
Although this great movie is filled with Christian principles,  one scene always sticks in our mind. It’s when Wilberforce (actor Ioan Gruffudd) calls on his old mentor John Newton (played by the inimitable Albert Finney) who as they converse makes a Christ-honouring declaration.

Now most readers will recall Newton as the converted slave ship captain… we were even told about him back in schooldays when we were kids!

In the scene we would highlight here to readers, the Reverend Newton, rector of London’s St. Mary Woolnoth, is now virtually blind and is having troubling his memories of his old slaving days.

So mindful of the ‘20,000 nameless ghosts of slaves’ still haunting his mind, he encourages the young Wilberforce  to continue his God-directed calling of lobbying parliament to end slavery not only in England but across the empire.

Something that really hits home every time we watch this great movie is the dramatic comment Newton declares regarding his harrowing memories: ‘Although my memory is fading, two things I remember quite clearly— I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Saviour!’

Although Newton actually didn’t say that until nearer his death, its reality is very powerful, very striking, very true! The apostle Paul wrote quite strongly about our sin and our Saviour: ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 6:23).

Definition
What great declarations by both Paul and John Newton about the grace of God! Let’s define four words here—

• Great 
  A number of NT Greek words such as megas to indicate vastness ‘of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above average’ (Such as Matthew 8:24’s great tempest; Ephesians 1:19 description of God’s incomparable power and strength; Titus 2:13’s declaration about God and Jesus).
• Sinner
  Harmartolos— ‘offence.’ Think in terms of someone who transgresses against divine law by committing an immoral act or acts. The word comes from hamartánō, to forfeit by missing the mark and thereby not share in the prize— in our case the prize of eternal life… loss caused through falling short of what God approves ie God expects us to acknowledge our shortcomings (our sins) and ask forgiveness and be cleansed by the power of Jesus’ shed blood on Calvary’s cross.
  ‘Sin’— parabaino (contrarily going against, violating)— is anything we do that transgresses, breaks God’s law! 1Peter 3:4 NLT spells it out clearly: ‘Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God.’ Sin is an offence against the very nature of God, bringing eternal separation. God expects us to honour both Him and ‘our neighbours.’
• Saviour
  John 3:16 is one of the most well-known verses in the entire Bible: We’ve even come across nonChristians who know it by heart! Its precious words sum up the New Testament redemption message— God loved the world so much that He sent His Son Jesus to redeem each individual who puts their faith in Him.
  Speaking about our one and only Saviour, our only means of redemption, the Greek here is soter— ‘deliverer… saving someone from danger or difficulty.’ Scripture declares Jesus as the redeemer of sin and saver of souls, not some human or church system (Galatians 4:5, Ephesians 1:7, 1Peter 1:18-19).

• Grace  
  This is charis— best succinctly defined as ‘the unmerited favour of God.’ Scripture is loaded with incidents where individuals were blessed by God’s grace, His favour.
  For example Mary when she was chosen to bear Jesus, Saviour of the world (Luke 1:30); The disciples discovered that God’s grace enable them to achieve success as they shared the gospel with power (Acts 4:33; 6:8;11:23;13:43;14:26;20:24).

It’s reckoned that of the approximate 150 times that grace appears in the New Testament, Paul highlights this word grace so many times in his writings (examples Romans 3:24; 2Corinthians 8:6–7). Peter used charis in 1Peter 5:5,10,12, Titus in his chapter 2 verse 11; James in James 4:6, the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 2:9; 4:16;12:15NLT.

When we understand what God’s grace through Jesus’ accomplished Calvary mission, we particularly know that it’s all about salvation… the merciful act of God through Jesus Christ by which human beings are saved, redemption, justification, sanctification, and glorification. We are indeed so blessed!

Don’t know what happened to the Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament Vol. 21 we used to have… but glad that we noted what pp138-9 specifies about  grace (charis)— the ‘spontaneous act of God that came from the infinite love in His heart, in which He stepped down from His judgment throne to take upon Himself the guilt and penalty of human sin, thus satisfying His justice, maintaining His government, and making possible the bestowal of salvation upon the sinner who receives it by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who became a sin-offering for him on the cross.’

Danger
Realising how heavy his sinning was, John Newton was under heavy duress. So was the prodigal son in in Jesus’ Luke 15 story, although perhaps not as heavily. Verse 21GNB reveals that the repentant young man deeply confesses, ‘Father … I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.’ He has realised that while he has hurt his earthy father, he has firstly offended and hurt his heavenly Father!

Offending God is dangerous! Remember what happened to Adam and Eve? Ever realise that sin primarily hurts God before it hurts others (and of course ultimately hurts ourselves!)? Have you ever considered that our all-powerful, almighty God could be hurt because His creation sins in some capacity?

Read Genesis 6:5-6Mge… these verses reveal that almighty Father God can be heartbroken because of sin: ‘God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil— evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that He had made the human race in the first place; it broke His heart.’ Other translations say God was grieved— atsab— so hurt in His heart!

But equally to be noted is the welcoming ever-loving father’s reaction and response at seeing his wayward son return. Luke 15:20Mge says it all in a nutshell: ‘When he [the penitent returning prodigal] was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him.’ How God and all heaven rejoices when we turn to Him (Luke 15:7,10)!

Deliverer
Remember the heydays of the Billy Graham crusades; we were always reminded of the great truth of a great salvation for even the greatest of sinners.

Material with illustrations similar to this bridge one made it clear that that sin was at the heart of the world’s troubles, that the vast gap between a righteous God and unrighteous sinners could only be bridged through acceptance of the person who’d been crucified on Calvary— Jesus our Saviour.

Sin has always been an extremely unpopular subject— few people will admit to being ‘bad.’ Sin, in a nutshell, is doing, saying and thinking wrong (bad) things. But note: This is not ‘big bad wrongs’ and ‘little bad wrongs such as ‘white lies.’ This confusingly makes one think that there’ll be small punishments and big heavy ones. Sin, in God’s eyes, is sin no matter the ‘size’!

And now we’re preaching here! In short, sin is the breaking of the laws (commandments, directions) of a holy, righteous God which reflect the moral purity of His nature, reflecting His very character. God’s laws are His perfect standard of moral purity and separation from Him is the result of sin— when we fail to keep the law, we so offend God resulting in judgment and severe penalty! Even the Old Testament makes this clear— ‘It’s your sins that have cut you off from God’ (Isaiah 59:2 NLT), as does the New Testament in Romans 6:23 quoted above.

Scriptures such as 1Peter 2:24-25 boldly declare we have a great deliverer: ‘He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By His wounds you are healed. Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your shepherd, the guardian of your souls.’

Anyone who trusts in what Jesus accomplished on the cross can, by genuinely repenting, have sins forgiven and be saved from eternal separation from God!

Dignification
And so, thanks to our great Saviour we are redeemed, made worthy, dignified before our heavenly Father. Hallelujah, we can praise God too for His amazing great grace!

It’s still a dark world indeed… but anyone who seeks peace of mind and a brighter life, can discover a meaningful relationship with a loving God, and a purpose in life itself all because of God’s love and grace.

Hey… we may even feel like John Newton with harrowing ghosts from the past. But, dear readers… know two things in your heart and mind:
(i) God’s grace is great and…
(ii) Jesus is our great Saviour!

‘Know’  meansbe aware of through observation, enquiry, or information. It also means ‘have developed a relationship with (someone) through meeting and spending time with them; be familiar or friendly with.’
Do chat with redeemed Christians, talk to God by praying, read His word, find a Bible-based church.

Amazing Grace, John Newton’s 1779 hymn, is still so popular with words so relevant. Each line is choice but we highlight verses three and four in closing –
‘The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
as long as life endures.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come;
’tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.’

Praise God that we are not slaves to anyone, nor to Satan’s demonic forces, the flesh or the past with its haunting memories. Jesus declared ‘If the Son sets you free, you are free through and through’ (John 10:26).

More than ever before, we’re hearing people exclaiming ‘My, how time flies!’ Yes it is… August come this Friday and we’re not jesting when we say, ‘It’ll soon be Christmas!’ Been so since January!

Come Christmas we’ll be thanking God for the gift of the child borne by Mary… but can we suggest that you do so right now as you reflect on this article— give God thanks for His great grace and our great Saviour.

_________________________________________

Dr Robert and Pastor Maureen McQuillan’s links are OnlinerConnect@gmail.com and Facebook. Interestingly a number of contributors this month talk about God’s great grace and our great Saviour— Brian Bell (Heartfelt Declarations/), Dr Richard Winter (Let Christ Take Over-Embrace God’s Amazing Grace/), Pastor Angeline Selvakumari (You are Chosen by God for His Purposes), Mama Lava (The Company we Choose to Be and Keep/), Dr Sam Selva Raj (The Company we Choose to Be and Keep/), Dr Sam Selva Raj ( In the Hands of Our Wonderful God/)
_________________________________________