Embracing Christ's Compassion: The Heart of Goodwin

"I've trusted," he said "too much to these signs. I've come to this past now -- these signs of grace in me are no sure good. No, I tell you. Christ is worth all." Now, up to this point, he had actually been a preacher and he devoted himself, he said, to a ministry of battering consciences, but at this moment, his ministry change. [00:03:19]

And from there, it was to Thomas Goodwin that Richard Sibbes said "Young man, if ever you would do good, you must preach the gospel and the free grace of God in Christ Jesus," and that's what Goodwin now did. Unlike Sibbes, he became an affable preacher. Now, he wouldn't use his considerable intellectual abilities to patronize people. [00:04:24]

And in an age of often very bitter theological dispute, nobody seems to have spoken ill of Goodwin -- a remarkable feat. If there was a contemporary Goodwin overlapped with more than any, it was John Owen. And in the Puritan heyday of the 1650's were here, John Owen would be Vice Chancellor of Oxford University and at that same time, Goodwin was President of Magdalen College. [00:06:25]

And the last twenty years of his life he spent pastoring, writing treatises and studying in London. And there was one little moment that makes me, as a fellow theologian, makes my heart go out to him -- in 1666, the Great Fire of London swept through and burned more than half of his voluminous library. My heart goes out to him in that. [00:08:13]

Hearts might be one to him. Now, through The Heart of Christ in Heaven Towards Sinners on Earth, he wanted to present the heart of the bridegroom to his bride, the church. And through presenting the heart of the bridegroom, he wanted to woo the church, the people of God to the great bridegroom. And his concern particularly was this. [00:11:20]

And his aim was to show through Scripture Christ is not now aloof from his people even though he's now in glory. He has, if anything, even stronger affections and compassion for his people. And knowing this, he said, "This may hearten and encourage believers to come more boldly unto the throne of grace, unto such a Saviour, such a High Priest, when they know how sweetly, how tenderly his heart, though he is now in his glory, is inclined towards them." [00:12:17]

And Goodwin says "Just so does he pray for us now, even though we are daily unkind to him, he remains ever kind towards us." Over the next chapters, he, Jesus, tells his disciples of how like a loving bridegroom, he is going to prepare a place for his bride. And Goodwin says, 'It as if Jesus had said "The truth is, my beloved, I cannot live without you. [00:14:16]

And these words, said Goodwin, "They do, as it were, take our hands, and they lay them upon Christ's breast, and they let us feel how his heart beats, how his bowels yearn towards us, even now he is in glory -- and the scope of these words is manifestly to encourage believers against all that may discourage them, by considering how Christ's heart now is in heaven is towards them." [00:17:51]

And if anything in particular, two things, says Goodwin, stir Christ's compassion: First, our afflictions stir his compassion; second, -- almost unbelievably -- our sin stirs his compassion. Having experienced on earth the utmost load of pain, rejection and sorrow, "In all points tempted like as we are," Christ in heaven empathizes with our suffering. [00:18:49]

And fathers, they love their children, they don't hate their children when they get sick. The sickness in their children arouses their compassion for their children -- hatred for the sickness, compassion for the child. In glory, says Goodwin, Jesus' first reaction when you sin is pity. Where you would run from him in guilt, he would run to you in grace. [00:21:11]

The beauty of Christ's heart in heaven woos ours. Now, our focus is upon Christ, but Goodwin's adamant -- he's ardently Trinitarian -- he's adamant that we should not think that here is a beautifully compassionate Christ appeasing a heartless Father. No, no, says Goodwin, "Christ adds not one drop of love to the Father's heart. All the love of Christ is the streaming of the Father's love." [00:22:04]

And if more could soak up Good's message to change like Goodwin, if preachers could preach like Goodwin, I think many more might say, like him, "Christ cannot love me better than he does. I think I cannot love Christ better than I do." [00:23:03]