Let us compare sin to the very earth on which we live in all its mass and grandeur, to the valleys low, mountains high and storms that rage within. Beyond all argument mortal men cannot overcome the earth. We might domesticate its tracts of land, tame its animals, or destroy its face, but it will never wear our leash, jump when we say jump, nor fetch what we throw.
It is bigger, stronger, and older than we. To triumph with the earth as your adversary, to triumph over its strength by your own strength, is hopeless. This, then, is sin, massive in scale and beyond all reckoning. Not one person nor the combination of many will overcome the earth, will overcome sin. That is how things stood — ’til Calvary.
To what shall we compare the sacrifice of Christ? To what shall we compare the grace of God? We shall compare it to the universe or the extended untold and uncharted galaxies. The sacrifice of Christ (without minimizing sin) dwarfs sin. Of course, we in proportion and power to sin, are still small indeed. But Christ, owing to WHO He is, coupled with WHAT He did, dwarfs sin. “The divine dignity of Christ gives to His death infinite worth, eternal validity as a sacrifice, inexpressible sacredness.”*
Without minimizing sin, we must still place Christ on His throne and understand the fullness of His sacrifice in order to fully worship Him. A richer understanding of His sacrifice, a deeper understanding of grace will lead to deeper worship. I love this math:
“The value of Christ’s sacrifice was equal to His divine dignity, multiplied by His perfect obedience, multiplied by His infinite love, multiplied by suffering in body and soul carried to the uttermost limit of what a sinless being could experience.”*
This then is a debt-free life: a life consumed with the magnitude of the sacrifice. A life consumed with the holiness of that sacrifice. A more and more aware of the love demonstrated in the act by a God so mighty as to fill the entire universe and still caring enough to notice the plight His frail creation. Your crime is not so great that grace cannot cover it nor your sins too much for God to forgive. This God, this grace, ours, debt free.
John 1:16, Rom. 5:20, Heb. 10:26
*Alex B. Bruce, The Humiliation of Christ, 3rd ed. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1889), PP. 342, 346.