Born in Norfolk in 1600,
Thomas Goodwin grew up somewhat religious.
That all wore off when he went as a student to Cambridge. However, when he was twenty, he heard a
funeral sermon that made him deeply concerned for his spiritual state. It took him time, but he came to truly feel
the gospel. Goodwin’s dying words were,
‘Christ cannot love me better than he doth.
I think I cannot love Christ better than I do; I am swallowed up with in
God … Now I shall be ever with the Lord.’
Where does such confidence
in the love of Jesus come from? For
Goodwin, it came from realising Christ’s love for him. This is what we will see as we examine his
most popular work: ‘The Heart of Christ’.
1.
The tenderness of Christ on earth
When we look at Christ in
the four gospels, we see someone who is meek, gentle, approachable and
tender. Goodwin explains that now that
‘he is in heaven, his heart remains as graciously inclined to sinners that come
to him, as ever on earth.’ He has not
weakened in love now that he is in heaven.
We see this tenderness
when we look at his address to the disciples in the upper room on the night he
was betrayed. How amazing that our Lord,
knowing what lay ahead of him, chose to care so kindly for the disciples. After all, he is the one with the greater
trial before him. He is the one that
could be demanding that they to minister to him. Yet he is moved with compassion when he
thinks of what the next hours will be like for them and he takes the
opportunity to both show his love and speak words of comfort.
He tells them that he
will come back for them. I will come
again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also (John
14:3). Goodwin explains that it ‘is as
if he had said, “The truth is, I cannot live without you, I shall never be
quiet till I have you where I am, so that we may never part again; that is the
reason of it. Heaven shall not hold me,
nor my Father’s company, if I have not you with me, my heart is so set upon
you; and if I have any glory, you shall have part of it.’
Not only will he come
back for them, but, in the meantime, he will send the Comforter, the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit, ‘will comfort
you better than I should do with my bodily presence.’ If ‘you will listen to him, and not grieve
him,’ he will tell you, ‘nothing but stories of my love ...’
It is not just before the
crucifixion that Jesus speaks of his love for his disciples, he demonstrates
his love to them after he was raised from the dead.
How those the disciples
had let him down! They slept in the
Garden of Gethsemane after he had asked them to pray. Peter had denied him with oaths and curses. Then when Jesus was placed in the tomb the
disciples acted with unbelief—they had seen him do miracles, they had heard him
teach on his death and resurrection, yet they refused to believe him. It would be understandable if having
witnessed them fail in him in his sufferings he remained distant from them when
he rose in glory. We might understand if
his first message for these disciples was to be irate with them. Instead, he tells Mary Magdalene, ‘Go tell my
brothers’ (John 20:17). Even though
they had been ashamed of him, he is not ashamed to call them brothers (Hebrews
2:11).
The Bible ends with an
invitation to experience such love: ‘The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let those who hear say, “Come”. And let anyone who is thirsty come; let the
one who desires take the water of life without price’ (Revelation 22:17).
2. The tenderness of Christ in heaven
Having looked at the
tenderness of Christ on earth, Goodwin now focuses on the tenderness of the
risen Christ in heaven. In particular,
he looks at a verse from the book of Hebrews, and Jesus’ role as heavenly high
priest representing us before the Father. ‘For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all
points tempted like we are, yet without sin.
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need’ (Hebrews
4:15-16). When we are tempted, we can
look for strengthening grace. When we
fall, we seek the Father’s unfailing mercy through Jesus.
The role of the high
priest involved compassion towards those who had sinned. Every high priest is selected from among
the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God,
to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going
astray, since he himself is subject to weakness (Hebrews 5:1-2). Mercy towards sinners is a part of the
qualifications of the high priest, and Jesus is uniquely qualified as our
heavenly high priest.
But how can Jesus
sympathise with my falling into sin, after all he was without sin? He doesn’t know the shame of failure. He doesn’t know what it feels like to fall
into the same trap again and again. He
didn’t have a sinful nature enticing him to sin (James 1:14-15). Yet Jesus was tempted in every way, just as
we are, and I think it is fair to say that though we may not understand
everything about how temptation worked on him, the temptations he resisted were
severe than any we will face. While he
may not have given in, he knew the tug of sin, and so is sympathetic towards sinners.
Conclusion
So, you have fallen
again, you turned on the computer and looked at those images. Maybe you remembered what they said about you,
and you became bitter with them, again.
You opened the fridge and pigged out, again. You didn’t keep that secret and gossiped,
again. Again, you find yourself being
harsh and critical. Again, you lost your
cool and said things you should not have.
How do you feel about yourself now?
You despise your weakness, you feel a failure, and you think there is no
hope.
But how does Jesus think
about you in your failure? Near the end
of the book, Goodwin writes, ‘your very sins move him to pity more than anger …
even as the heart of a father is to a child that hath some loathsome disease,
or as one to a member of his body that hath the leprosy, he hates not the
member, for it is his flesh, but the disease, and that provokes him to pity the
part affected the more.’
As you sit there feeling
defeated remember that Christ is moved with a feeling of pity towards you. He still loves you. He will not huff with you. You may not feel ashamed to look at him, but
he beckons you to come. Come to the
throne of grace, where you can find grace and mercy in your time of need.
Remember the doctor in
our opening illustration. He wanted to
see those people cured. Christ wants us
to approach him for race and mercy in our time of need. Delight his heart by coming to him!
Prayer
from the Valley of Vision
Love
to Jesus
If I love you my soul
shall seek you, but can I seek you unless my love to you is kep alive to this
end?
Do I love you because you
are good, and can alone do me good?
It is fitting that you
should not regard me, for I am vile and selfish; yet I seek you, and when I
find you there is no wrath to devour me, but only sweet love.
You stand as a rock
between the scorching sun and my soul, and I live under the cool lee-side as
one elect.
When my mind acts without
you it spins nothing but deceit and delusion;
When my affections act
without you nothing is seen but dead works, O how I need you to abide in me,
for I have no natural eyes to see you, but I live by faith in one whose face to
me is brighter than a thousand suns!
When I see that all sin
is in me, all shame belongs to me; let me know that all good is in you, all
glory is yours.
Keep me from the error of
thinking you do appear gloriously when some strange light fills my heart, as if
that were the glorious activity of grace, but let me see that the truest
revelation of yourself is when you eclipse all my personal glory and all the
honour, pleasure and good of this world.
The Son breaks out in
glory when he shows himself as one who outshines all creation, makes men and
women poor in spirit, and helps them to find their good in him.
Grant that I may distrust myself, to see my all in you.
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