Christ’s Heart Toward Sinners
How Christ Regards Those who Fall
God’s attitude towards the failures of His people is very different from how humans treat those who hurt them.
For example, in the Old Testament, when God’s people were in a rebellious condition and the temple was in ruins as a result, He repeatedly sent prophets to draw His people back to Himself.
God would send the prophets to show His people that He was willing to receive them, despite how far they had rebelled against Him.
In one such instance, the prophet Micah expressed these words of confidence in God’s deliverance:
“Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness.” – Micah 7:8–9, NKJV
Micah here refers to sinning against God as “falling”. When one of God’s people finds themselves in this fallen state, God Himself still pleads their case. He still intends to bring them out of that condition.
While sin has the terrible effect of separating an individual from God, God–through His Son–works to reconcile fallen humanity back to Himself. Note John’s words to the church:
“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation (or “sacrifice”) for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” – 1 John 2:1-2, NKJV
An advocate is someone who is on your side—someone who pleads your case and wants to see you declared innocent. Immediately when humanity sinned, Jesus stepped in as our Advocate to make salvation available to us all. As our Advocate, He stands to defend and deliver us.
When a child fails or becomes disobedient earthly parents often scold and shout at the child; but that is not how Jesus treats us. Rather, in His compassion, Jesus seeks to save and restore that which is lost. We may be assured of God’s infinite pity towards those who have fallen. Christ died for sinners, and it is those who have fallen who need Him the most. This is why:
“God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” – Romans 5:8, NLT
Knowing God’s love in our fallen condition is crucial, because there will be times when we will feel the weight of our failures and find ourselves weeping at Jesus’ feet. But we must not lose heart. Even when we fall under the power of temptation, God does not abandon or reject us. Christ remains at God’s right hand, continually interceding on our behalf.
Jesus never turns His back on us, nor does He sharply cut us off when we stumble into sin. Even when we are caught off guard or deceived by many temptations, He does not forsake us or leave us to be lost. That is not who our Saviour is.
As our advocate, Jesus constantly yearns to raise up those who have fallen. No matter how deep someone has sunken into sin or how defiled they may feel, God assures us that “My grace is sufficient for you.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9
Certainly, Jesus is fully capable of saving even the most corrupt, hardened, and broken of sinners.
It was Christ Himself who made the statement that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” John 3:16.
Take a moment to think deeply about what those words mean.
“God so loved the world” speaks to the magnitude of God’s love. But consider how the world is described in Scripture–we are told that “the whole world lies in wickedness.” (1 John 5:19).
All of humanity can be described as fallen, lying in wickedness, and “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Yet God so loved this fallen humanity that He still gave all He had in His Son–because He loves us too much to see us perish.
This is critical to note from all the above: if someone takes their focus off Jesus and falls into sin as a result, Christ’s mission is to lift them up!
When such a person realises their fallen state, they are in the best position to receive and experience Christ’s restoration.
Keep this in mind: “A righteous man may fall seven times and rise again” (Proverbs 24:16). If you have made mistakes, you may still gain a victory. By recognising our mistakes and treating failures as warnings for the future, we turn defeat into victory–disappointing the enemy and bringing honour to the Saviour.
This is the most crucial point to take away:
Knowing how Christ lovingly regards us when we fall into sin is the first and most essential part of rising up from spiritual failure.
