How big is the Cross to you? What is the size of the Cross to us? Well, it depends upon our awareness of our sins.
Imagine a point on a blank page. Now imagine a line proceeding from that point out to infinity. In your mind place another line going out from that point at an angle. It should almost look like a triangle, but without the third line connecting the others and closing it.
Label the Top Line “Growing Awareness of God’s Holiness.” Call the Bottom Line “Growing Awareness of My Sinfulness.” The closer you are to the point, the smaller the space in between the lines. The further you go out the larger the space becomes. Imagine a series of crosses going out from that point to infinity. The further you go, the larger The Cross becomes.
I came across the Size of the Cross example in a recent sermon in which the pastor preached on Luke 7:36-50.
And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He [Jesus] was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. Luke 7:37-38
When the Pharisee objected that Jesus allowed this sinner to touch Him, Jesus responded with an illustration of debt and forgiveness (vv 41-43). If someone owes me $10, and they’re rich, they’re not likely to care that much if I cancel the debt. Yet a destitute person owing me $1000, 000 is going to be far more grateful if I annul their debt.
For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Luke 7:47
The more a person thinks they are good – and because they’re more good than bad, they’ll get a pass into heaven – the less they’re likely to appreciate Christ and the Cross. Similarly, the more convicted one is of one’s sin nature the more one grows to love Christ for what He accomplished at the Cross.
The love the Puritans had for the Lord centered on their conviction of sin and thankfulness for Christ’s redemption. Their success in revivals and reaching the lost hinged on this. In fact their writings were saturated with it.
Jonathan and Sarah Edwards developed a passionate love for Christ. They were shown the dreadful state of their own sin nature and its consequences. They were also shown Christ’s love and mercy. That Christ showed so much love and forgiveness to Sarah and Jonathan prompted them, in turn, to love unsaved sinners.
Puritan Thomas Goodwin wrote often about Christ’s love. There’s a chapter in A Puritan Theology called Thomas Goodwin on Christ’s Beautiful Heart. I love that title. You grow to recognize Christ’s Beautiful Heart as you begin to realize your sin nature. That’s what happened to Goodwin. You can read Goodwin’s little book The Heart of Christ in Heaven Towards Sinners on Earth on the Monergism website.
On his deathbed, Goodwin said:
I could not have imagined I should ever had such a measure of faith in this hour…Christ cannot love me better than he doth; I think I cannot love Christ better than I do.
We cannot ever love Christ as much as He loves us. But we can grow to love Christ all the more as we grow to realize how much He has done for us.
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Heb 4:15-16
Maranatha
Michael Reeves on Thomas Goodwin
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