People sitting in the upper bleachers at a baseball game will have a hard time seeing the players on the field below. But if they use binoculars, their experience of the game is transformed. What was once far away and distant becomes up close and personal through the binoculars. The binoculars allow the spectator to see the action and emotions of the players on the field. The binoculars increase the level of engagement and enjoyment of the individual using them.
Here is my point, friend: the Holy Spirit pours out the love of God into our hearts by showing us the cross, which is the demonstration of God's love for us. Like the binoculars, the Holy Spirit brings the love of God "up close and personal," making God’s love real and intimate to us.
As we humble ourselves and look at the cross, the love of God comes flooding in, the reality of Jesus' death in our place gushes over our hearts by the Holy Spirit, the truth of His love fills and overflows us. The love of God captures our hearts as the Holy Spirit reveals the cross of Christ and its power to us.
Summary: if you want this personal experience of the deep love of God, the intimate fellowship of dying with Jesus so that you live in His power, come to the cross, where the Holy Spirit lives! One way to tell if you are truly coming to the cross and viewing it is to check your answers to the questions. How often do you talk about Jesus' blood that has reconciled you? How often do you speak of His wounds for your transgressions, His bruises for your iniquities, His death for your life? Your experience of freedom will directly correspond with how well you are humbling yourself to obey Hebrews 12:1-3.
Question 5. How does the work of the Holy Spirit, in making the love of God and the cross of Christ personal to us, change our hearts and our habits?
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Again, Wende's comments show just how personal and powerful the Holy Spirit makes the cross to her:
"The Holy Spirit softens and fills my heart with sensitivity and gratitude for the Blood that Jesus spilled. Jesus endured physical, mental, emotional and spiritual torture that was intended for me as a legal consequence. As I contemplate this scene, I feel my heart being in touched and I pray for the Holy Spirit to reach in and grab my entire heart today."
In closing, please take some time and consider the connection between the cross of Christ and the Holy Spirit in the following passages:
"And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power." 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV
"Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things." 1 Peter 1:10-12 NIV
"You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? 4 Have you experienced[b] so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So again, I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?" Galatians 3:1-5 NIV
Yes, if we want to walk by the Spirit so that we don’t gratify the lusts of our flesh, we must regularly come to the cross of Christ. That’s where all the love is; that’s where all the power is!