since then. What made this so
different from every other crucifixion was who it was being crucified.
The attraction is the gospel himself. It's he, it's Christ,
the man made like to his brethren. This is what's amazing and grabs
the heart when the Lord speaks into the heart, is that God came
down and took flesh. He came down and became a man
like unto his brethren. Men sinned and He came to save
His people from our sins. Men sinned, so a man is going
to have to answer to God for the sins of men. A man has got to obey the law.
A man has got to fulfill all righteousness. So it had to be
a man that did this work in the place of men. He had to be a
just man. He had to be a holy man. He had
to be a sinless man. if He is going to bear the sin
of His people and be made a curse for His people. This is the amazing
thing of the cross. There is a man laying down his
life for men, for sinners. The man Christ Jesus. And here
is another thing about that. He is God. He had to be God. Justice demands eternal death. That means an eternal suffering
forever. and in order to satisfy that
eternity of justice, He had to be eternal God. If He's going
to bring in an everlasting righteousness, the one that's dying has to be
everlasting. So it's God in human flesh. He could die and by His death
He could accomplish eternal redemption because He's the God-man. That's
the attraction of the cross. Look over at Hebrews 2. Hebrews
chapter 2. I think it's interesting in Hebrews
that He repeatedly speaks of Christ Himself because they were
taken up with the form. They were taken up with the ceremony
and with the law and He keeps pointing out Christ Himself.
Christ Himself. Look here at Hebrews 2.16. He
says, For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels,
but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. elect people, wherefore
in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For
in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to
succor them that are tempted. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that
appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house."
The attraction is the person. It's the person. He's God in
human flesh. It's beholding God's grace, and
God's love, and God's justice, His righteousness, His mercy,
all in this fact that Christ Jesus was willing to lay down
His life and die in place of His people. This is the attraction. If we ever see we're sinners,
I mean, died in the wool, through and through, ruined, depraved,
totally totally unable to do one thing to save ourselves and
then to see this one go to the cross and lay down his life for
us. That is what draws you to him. That's what draws you to him.
He left glory and he came down. He left the riches of glory and
came down and became a poor man, despised and rejected of men. And why? He's laying down His
life for worms like us. He come to lay down His life
to be despised and rejected for you and I who despised and rejected
Him. Sinners who took His own law,
took His word and His law and used His word and His law to
exalt ourselves and say we're righteous and we're holy and
condemn Him as a sinner and a blasphemer. And yet for some that did that
very thing, I'm one of them. You're one of them. For sinners
that did that very thing, he laid down his life. He laid down
his life. He loved us, though we were his
enemies. The sinless one giving himself
to die in place of the ungodly, that he might make us godly like
him. The power of the cross is the
love of that person who laid down his life. It's the righteousness
of that one who's so righteous that though he loves with a perfect
love and it's an everlasting love, he will not love anybody
at the expense of his holiness. He's going to love in a way that's
consistent with his holiness so that he came himself to die
and satisfy His own justice to save us from ourselves, to fulfill
His own righteousness for His people. What I'm saying to you
is what Jacob prophesied. Shiloh, that's Christ, and it
says to Him shall the gathering of the people be. My righteousness
is not adoption. My righteousness is not... My righteousness is a person.
It's a person. Our holiness is a person. It's
Christ. Our salvation is a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And He's the banner. It says,
In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an ensign, a banner of the people. And to it, to Him, shall the
Gentiles seek. His rest shall be glory. He's
my rest. He's my rest. He's my Sabbath.
He's my rest. He's everything to His people.
It's a person we're coming to. So that's the first thing. He's
the attraction and He's the one doing the attracting. It's the
person, the God-man mediator Christ Jesus. And then secondly,
the attraction is the work He finished. He says there, and
I, if I be lifted up from the earth. He had said earlier in
John 3, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Now why was the necessity
of this? Well, serpents had bitten the
children of Israel and they are dying because of the serpents.
So what is the cure going to be? The Lord told Moses, you
make a serpent and lift it up on a pole. Lift it up high enough
so everybody can see. and whosoever looks to that serpent
shall be cured. That's the cure. What's the significance
of that? It was sin that was destroying
us. The bite of the serpent had destroyed us and our Lord Jesus
Christ came and He who knew no sin was made to be the very thing
that was killing us to satisfy justice for us, lift it up for
all to see and whosoever looks to Him shall live, shall live. The sinless Lord Jesus was made
sin for us, lifted up on the cross, the just one dying for
the unjust. That's the only way peace with
God could be made for His people. 1 Peter 3.18 says, Christ also
has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He
might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit. And Him being lifted up like
this, He didn't try, He accomplished it. Colossians 1.14 says, In
whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sin. He said in Colossians 1.20, He
made peace through the blood of His cross. He reconciled all
things to Himself. All His people, whether they
were already in heaven or in the earth, He reconciled them
all to Him. You that were sometime alienated,
enemies in your mind by wicked works. Separated from God by
sin and in our minds considering God to be our enemy while He
is doing that for us. While we heard about Him doing
this, we were still enemies in our minds toward Him who had
done this for us. And yet now, has He reconciled
us to Himself. by the death of His Son, by Him
coming and laying down His life to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. It's what He accomplished on
the cross. No wonder sinners aren't coming
to Christ and really believing the true and living God if they're
not being told that He accomplished this on the cross. If they're
just being told, well, He made a shot at it and you've got to
do something to make it effectual, He did it. He accomplished it. And here's what else, being lifted
up from the earth, it also refers to His resurrection from the
dead. Scripture says, Romans 4.25, He was delivered for our
offenses and was raised again for our justification. God the
Father declared by raising Him from the dead that He is who
He said He is. He is the Son of God with power
and He accomplished the work He came to accomplish. He was
raised again to declare to this whole world that He justified
His people. He couldn't be kept in the grave.
He could not be kept in the grave because when He put away sin,
the law had no more claim on Him and death had no more claim
on Him. And the law has no more claim on His people and death
has no more claim on His people. And that's what God declared
by raising Him from the grave. He's lifted up from the earth.
Why? He accomplished the work He came
to accomplish. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. That's
what stings about death is sin. That's what makes you fearful
is sin. But He came and put away sin.
Put it away completely. The strength of sin is the law.
He satisfied His own law. put away sin and satisfied His
law. Thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory, freely gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Being lifted up also refers to
His ascension to the right hand of the throne of God. He was
lifted up on the cross, He accomplished the work, He cried, It's finished,
He was buried, He rose up from the grave, appeared to men, showed
that He was risen from the grave. And then he ascended up to heaven,
entered into his glory as the glorified God-man. I really believe,
I mean heaven is a place and Paul was called up to the third
heaven. We've never been to the third
heaven. We've supposedly gone pretty far out in space. We've
never been to the third heaven. Paul was called up to the third
heaven and wherever that is, there is a glorified God-man
sitting there. on a throne with all His saints
that He's called there. And it's real. He's really glorified. He is really in heaven, the glorified
God-man. And Scripture says where the
forerunner is for us entered. Even Jesus made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. That means we're going there.
You that believe on it, you're going there. Why? He's the forerunner. He's already gone. He made the
way for us to go. He's able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth
to make intercession for us. That's what He's doing. He's
living forever. He's there making intercession
for His people. He's saving His people to the
uttermost. He gives us an entrance. We have
an entrance. Hebrews 10, He said, This is
our entrance. He broke, the veil split from
top to bottom. No man but the high priest could
enter that holiest of holies, but Christ, when He said it's
finished, that veil, that thick veil split from top to bottom,
declaring that that's not the holy place. That's not it. That work is finished. That shadow
is accomplished. It's completed. Christ is the
one all pictured. And Christ, our great high priest,
has entered into the holiest of holies. He's entered into
heaven. He's consecrated for us a new entrance through His
flesh, by His flesh. That's the veil that was broken,
His flesh. And it's by His blood that we
can enter into God's presence, holy God's presence. By the blood
of the Lamb, by having a high priest there for us. Do you realize
For us to be able to pray, you and me to be able to pray, and
God our Father hear us, there is only one way that we have
liberty and boldness to come to His throne of grace and pour
out our hearts to Him with some confidence in our heart that
He will hear us and receive us. There's only one way a sinner
like you and me can do that. It's by being made holy and righteous
by Christ Jesus our Lord and by having Him, our High Priest,
being there with the Father interceding for us. But with Him there, we
have boldness to enter. Boldness to enter. Come to His
throne of grace to His throne of grace that you may find help
in time of need. And then here's the end purpose.
Here's the end purpose. The attraction is the person.
It's Christ Himself. If I, if I be lifted up, He said,
it's a person. It's a person. And the attraction
is what He accomplished on that cross. He was lifted up to put
away the sin of His people and He did it. He was lifted up to
justify His people and He did it. He was lifted up, glorified,
alive, entered into God's presence to give us entrance into the
holy place. He did it. He's accomplished
it. There He lives. So what's He doing right now?
Here's the end purpose for it all. He's calling His people
to Himself. He's calling and drawing us to
Himself. And this is the end purpose.
He said, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all
unto Me. I love to hear the Lord say,
I will. That means there's no maybes
about it. There's no possibilities. I will. That's what he said.
I will. The gospel is not an offer. And that's not just splitting
hairs. And here's why. You offer somebody
something. You're giving them the option
to receive it or reject it. Well, the gospel is not an offer.
It's a declaration of what God in Christ has accomplished what
He has done and what He shall do by His power and grace. That's
what the preaching of the gospel is. There would be no need for
Him to draw us if we would come to Him. He didn't say, I'm going
to offer it to them. He said, I will draw them. I
will draw them. Just look at what he said there.
The truth is right there in the text. He must draw all because
we will not come to Christ of ourselves. He would never say,
I will draw all if there was any that would come to Him of
our own will. There's none that seeketh after
God. That ought to settle it. Romans
3.11. There's none that seeketh after
God. By nature, we'll seek idols, we'll seek every other way of
salvation, but we won't seek Him. Listen to Isaiah 31.1, Woe
to them that go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses,
and trust in chariots, because there are many, and in horsemen,
because they're very strong. That's another way of saying,
woe is to them that look to their walk in the Nile, and to their
decision for Jesus, and to their works they've done, and to their
will, and to all the other things that they worship. And He said,
but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the
Lord. That's what He said. That's why
we have to be drawn. The people turneth not unto Him
that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts. The pride of our sin nature won't
let us seek Him. He said this in Psalm 10, verse
4, The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek
after God. God is not in all his thoughts.
And so God our Savior must draw us to Him. Look back there at
John 6. Our Lord said this in verse 44. And this is no different
from what He is saying in our text because He and the Father
are one. He and the Father are one. He says here, No man can
come to Me except the Father which has sent Me draw him. and
I will raise him up at the last day. It's written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. That's the glory that
belongs to him, to teach his people. And all of his people
shall be taught of him in spirit, in truth, in the heart. And he
says, And every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned,
been taught of the Father, cometh unto me. In verse 65 he said,
Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except
it were given unto him of my Father. And so Christ says in
our text, If I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all unto me. By the Lord, by His Spirit, the
messenger he sends will exalt Christ, he'll lift Him up in
the preaching of the gospel. He wants all to look to Christ
only. And by His Spirit, He lifts up
Christ in the heart of His people. He said, if I be lifted up, He's
going to have Himself lifted up in the preaching of the Word,
and He's going to come by the Spirit and lift Himself up in
the heart of His child. And when He does that, the sheep
behold our shepherd, and you can't keep the sheep from the
shepherd. They're coming to Him. They have to have Him. They can't
resist Him. They're coming to Him. They're
coming to Him. And He keeps drawing us, and
He keeps saving us this same way from beginning to end. from
beginning to end. You that have been called through
the preaching of the Word know the value of the preaching of
the Word. You're the only ones that do.
People that haven't been called by the preaching of the Word
don't value it. They just don't. They can take
it or leave it. But when you've been called by the preaching
of the Gospel, you know how valuable the preaching of the Word is.
It's by this Word that you were given life. It's by this Word
that Christ spoke into your heart. And you have to have it. It's
called in Scripture, bread more necessary than the bread on our
table. We don't go without bread on
our table. We can't go without the preaching
of the bread from Heaven. Look over at 1 Corinthians 1.
This is exactly what Paul is saying here. 1 Corinthians 1
verse 18. Let's read verse 17. Christ sent
me not to baptize. He didn't send me just to make
converts. You can make a bunch of converts, and if you hadn't
preached Christ, it's a total failure. If Christ hadn't been
exalted. He didn't send me to make...
He sent me... to preach the gospel, to exalt Christ. And if nobody's
called, if He doesn't call a soul, but by His grace you preach Christ,
it's been a successful ministry no matter if He didn't call anybody.
Ask Jeremiah. Look here. Lest the cross of
Christ, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should
be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
It's the power of God. For it's written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. That's how He did it in our heart, right here,
by this word. Where's the wise? Where's the
scribe? Where's the disputer of this world? Had not God made
foolish the wisdom of this world? Weren't we all disputers? Do
you remember when you would hear somebody try to declare the gospel
and you just, but, but, but, but, but? He makes you quit disputing. He makes you take sides with
God against yourself and declare Him just when He says, you're
the sinner condemned. I must do the saving. And He
makes you take your place right there. Say, Lord, have mercy
on me. Takes away your wisdom. We thought
we were so wise and so smart. And He makes you see we just
was ignorant and dumb and undone. And He had to come and make you
understand. And he says here, look, have
not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? It all seems like
foolishness to you now, don't it? The wisdom of this world
and what men are doing in religion, that seems like utter foolishness
to us now. What we're doing seems like foolishness
to them. But what they're doing now seems
like foolishness to us. Because God made it so. Look
here, for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. please God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness.
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness
of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God stronger
than men. Now let me say this, there is a great difference between
drawing and driving. There is a great difference.
Vain religion drives sinners into a form. They are trying
to drive sinners into a form. Love draws his children to worship
and follow Christ from the heart. There is a difference, big difference.
He is not only the attraction, he is the attractor. He is the
one who is drawing. And He does it with love. He
said in Hosea 11, verse 4, I drew them with cords of a man, with
bands of love. And I was to them as they that
take off the yoke on their jaws. He took the bit out of our mouth. He took the yoke off of us that
was being used to try to tame us. And I laid meat unto them
and gave us bread. He said in Jeremiah 31.3, The
Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved
thee with everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn
thee. Drawn thee. It's his lovingkindness
that brings you to repentance. Song of Solomon 1.4, The bride
says, Draw me. Draw me. And then she says, We
will run after thee. When you draw me, we will run
after thee. The king hath brought me into
his chambers. That's how it's brought. The
king brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in
thee. We will remember thy love more
than wine. We upright love thee. Now notice
who he draws. He says, I will draw all unto
me. All. Now one, that means all
the elect. All the elect, all that the Father
gave to Him, all for whom He laid down His life, He shall
draw all to Him and shall not lose one. He said that in John
8. He won't lose one. John 10. And two, it means this. There
are all kinds of sinners. There are all kinds of sinners.
There is no exclusion of any class or race or sex or degree
of sinner from the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. If I be lift
up, draw all unto me. I love this in the law. You find
this in Leviticus 1. God provided a sacrifice where
they could bring a lamb. He provided a sacrifice where
they could bring turtle doves and pigeons. Why the difference? There was sacrifice provided
for those that could afford a lamb and there was sacrifice provided
for those that were too poor to bring a lamb. Our Lord, by
the way, when Joseph and Mary came to the temple after our
Lord's birth, you know what they offered? The poor man's offering. That's
what they offered. But He's saving all kinds of
sinners. That's what He means over there
Paul said to Timothy, he will have all men to be saved, he'll
have us to pray for all men, kings in authority, paupers,
because he's going to save all kinds of sinners. He got some
rich, some of the richest ones have come to Christ, and some
of the poorest have come to Christ. But you know what they all found?
Christ alone was their treasure. Some of the most educated have
come to Christ, and some of the most illiterate have come to
Christ. And you know what they all were made to know? Christ
alone is their wisdom. Some who were just wicked, vile,
profligate sinners, and some who were wicked, vile, profligate
sinners, but appeared like they were holy and righteous trying
to come to God by their works. But you know what they all were
made to see? Christ alone is our righteousness. We don't have
any other. None other. He says, and I will
draw all to Me. He ends right where it begins,
doesn't He? If I be lift up, will draw all to Me. Salvation
begins and ends with God. He's the author and finisher
of salvation, the Alpha and Omega. Justice called. You hear justice
called. And it makes you hear justice
and justice says, you're the sinner. And you hear justice
call. But then you hear mercy answer.
And justice and mercy come into the heart like familiar friends
in harmony with each other, making you see that justice and mercy
have kissed in Christ Jesus the Lord, so that the law is honored,
the law is satisfied, The justice is upheld by Christ and now He
can justly be merciful to you. And you realize that is the power
and wisdom of God. That's the wisest, most powerful
thing I ever heard of in my life. That God figured out a way to
make justice and mercy meet in harmony. And He had the power
to come and lay down, become a man. and be made sin for us,
and lay down His life for us, and accomplish this work, go
into the grave, come out of the grave, arise to the Father, and
call me to Himself. That's wisdom and power. He is
the wisdom and power of God. It's to Him we come. And He just
keeps calling and calling and calling. Let me read you this.
This is what Spurgeon said. This is good. He said, the old
theme is always new, it's always fresh, it's always attractive.
Preach Jesus Christ. Christ in Him crucified charms
the heart of the believer. His ear waits for it as the morning
hour waits for the sun, or as the parched earth waits for the
shower. Ring out the name of Jesus. It's
the sweetest carol ever sung. Ring it out without fear or stint,
for it is always welcome as the flowers in May. Men will never
tire of it till the flowers are satiated with sunlight and the
grass grows weary of the dew. That's why Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
by whom the world's crucified under me. and I unto the world."
Look to Christ. Sinner, believer, believing sinner,
look to Christ. And look to Christ. And look
to Christ. And keep looking to Christ. And
don't stop looking to Christ. And he says, it's the same as
it was the first hour, and it's always this way. He says, come
to me, you that labor and are heavily laden. And we come there
laden down with our sin and our trying to keep the law and all
these things in the beginning. And then we get laden down with
our sin and our self-righteousness. And then we go a little further
and we get laden down with our sin and our self-righteousness.
And He keeps calling you to Him. And He keeps giving you rest. And making you know He's your
rest. He's your rest. He's your rest. Don't stop looking
to Him. Don't stop looking to Him. All
right. Father, we thank You for this
Word. We pray now You bless it. Make every heart look only to
Christ. Rest in Him. Trust in Him. Thank
You, Lord, for this. Send in Your only Son. Thank
You for accomplishing this work. Thank You for calling Your people.
Lord, we owe everything to Your mercy and Your grace. How we
do praise You. We thank You. Thank you for this
day and for this message, Lord. In Christ's name, amen.