The Old Man Who Remembered Only Two Things

In December 1807, John Newton lay dying in his home on Coleman Street, London. The former slave ship captain turned Anglican clergyman was eighty-two years old, and his mind had been failing for months. He could no longer remember the names of close friends. He struggled to recall what day it was. The man who had written "Amazing Grace" could barely remember his own hymns.

When visitors came to his bedside, some suggested he had earned his rest and needn't strain himself with conversation about spiritual matters. Newton raised himself up and spoke with a clarity that startled everyone in the room: "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior."

Two things. That was enough. Not a theological system, not a list of accomplishments, not even the words to his most famous hymn. Just the raw truth of his need and the unshakable reality of the One who met it.

This is precisely what Jesus promises in John 6:37-40. "Whoever comes to me I will never drive away." Newton had come to Christ decades earlier as a wretch — his own word — and Christ had never once let go. Even when Newton's grip on his own memory loosened, the Savior's grip on him held firm. The Father's will, Jesus says, is that He lose none of those given to Him. Not one. Not even an old man who could no longer remember why he was safe — only that he was.