I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior.

— John Newton, in Amazing Grace

Let me confess something: I wept when I watched the trailers for the film Amazing Grace. Visit the film’s web site to see all the trailers (the quote above is from the second trailer) — but do it someplace where you can crank up the volume and feel the bagpipes and the drums and the orchestra. You may also recognize Chris Tomlin singing the movie’s theme song.

But before you go see the film — my wife and I are eagerly looking forward to it — listen to John Piper’s biography of William Wilberforce (the main character in the film). You might also want to listen to his biography of John Newton as well.

Someone once observed that in a very real sense, Hebrews 11, the “Hall of Fame of the faith,” is incomplete. Biographies of men like Wilberforce and Newton (and the list goes on) are part of the ongoing record of God’s work among men. It would be tragically ironic if we should sing of moving from blindness to sight without recognizing the Almighty God who moved in these men to do the great deeds featured in the film.