The Cross Still Speaks

John Bunyan writes a wonderful sentence in his book The Pilgrim’s Progress: “He hath given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death.”

This quote is a constant reminder to me of the assurance we can find in Christ. Rest does not come because Christian, the main character in the story, has explained his burden or his sins well enough, or even eloquently enough. Life does not come because he has shown himself to be worthy enough. The rest and life that Christian encounters come only from the crucified Christ upon the cross.

The problem we find ourselves in is that we come to the cross carrying the constant sins we have committed against God. We are sorrowful. We are filled with regret. Yet we often return to the same patterns of life, where these sins keep overcoming us.

The issue, for the most part, is not that we are careless about sin. We are painfully aware of it. We have prayed the same prayers time and time again. We have made repeated promises, only to stumble, rise, and stumble again. After a while, we become worn out in our repentance. We become speechless in our prayers. We begin to feel like hypocrites, or at least that is how shame defines us in that moment.

This leads us to a deeper problem: we not only begin to feel that God must be tired of listening to us; we begin to live as though the cross itself has lost its power.

This is where the gospel not only speaks, but must speak to us. The cross must speak in such a manner that we are brought close to Christ upon the cross and reminded of the words of His servant John:

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”— 1 John 2:1

In this passage, John is not encouraging sin, whether by telling us to ignore it or remain in it. He is writing so that we may not sin. Yet, at the same time, he knows that as followers of Christ, we will still need comfort.

This comfort comes not only from John directing our attention to a Saviour who advocates with the Father on our behalf, but also from the way he begins this chapter. He starts with deep affection towards his readers: “My little children.”

John writes with the tenderness of an aged apostle: not excusing sin, but comforting the children of God with Christ.

John does not leave us merely with the truth that we have an advocate, a representative before the Father. He goes on to say in verse 2:

“He is the propitiation for our sins.”

John is directing our attention from the fact that Jesus is our advocate to the reason Jesus can be our advocate. He shows us what Christ has done in order to advocate for us.

Jesus became our atoning sacrifice. He took upon Himself the fullness of our sin, experienced the fullness of the wrath of God, and, by His sacrifice, turned that wrath away from those who are in Christ. Through Christ, God is shown to be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. And in Christ, we become the righteousness of God.

This matters greatly in light of our struggles, our anger, our confusion, and our sins. Although we may still experience these things, they no longer rule over us. They no longer reign in us. Instead, the righteousness of Christ reigns and rules over us.

We know this because upon the cross Christ cried out, “It is finished.”

He has dealt with sin completely and fully, not in part. The Greek word is τετέλεσται (tetelestai). It means completed, accomplished, brought to its appointed end.

In other words, Christ has completed, accomplished, and brought sin, death, and the grave to their appointed end. Christ’s work of atonement is complete.

The invitation for us, then, is that, like Christian in The Pilgrim’s Progress, we simply come.

Do not make peace with your sin. Confess it. Fight it. Bring it into the light. Seek help where help is needed.

But do not believe the lie that your struggle has placed you beyond the reach of Christ.

The presence of a battle does not mean the absence of grace. Dead hearts do not grieve over sin. Those made alive in Christ do.

So come again to the cross.

Come weary.Come ashamed.Come with trembling faith.

But come.

Your sin is real, but it is not greater than His blood. Your repentance may feel weak, but your Saviour is not weak.

The cross still speaks.

And to the Christian tired of saying sorry, it still says: “It is finished.”