John Newton who wrote so very,
very many excellent hymns wrote these words. In evil long
I took delight, unawed by shame or fear, till a new object struck
my side and stopped my wild career. I saw one hanging on a tree,
and agonies in blood who fixed his languid eyes on me as near
his cross I stood. Sure never till my latest breath
can I forget that look. It seemed to charge me with his
death, though not a word he spoke, my conscience felt and owned
the guilt and plunged me in despair, I saw my sins. His blood had spilt and helped
to nail him there. A second look he gave, which
said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for thy ransom
paid. I die that thou mayst live. Thus, while his death, my sin
displays in all its blackest hue, such is the mystery of his
grace, it seals my pardon too. Look with me at John chapter
12, verse 32, and I want to talk to you this morning, if God will
enable me, about the attraction of the cross. The Lord Jesus says, and I, if
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what
death he should die. Our Savior declares, I, if I
be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. And
when he said that, John tells us by divine inspiration, he's
signifying the power, the efficacy of the death he should die, the
result of him dying, and that which would be accomplished by
his death. Christianity is a religion about
the cross, all about the cross. The cross of Christ is the key
to understanding this book. It is the key of knowledge. It
is as a scarlet cord that runs through every page. When I speak
of the cross of Christ, I must remind you, please understand,
I'm talking about the doctrine of the cross. blood atonement
by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God's Son. I'm talking about
substitutionary redemption. I'm talking about the putting
away of sin by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cursed
tree. I'm talking about that which
Christ Jesus, God's darling son, Emmanuel, God in human flesh,
that which he accomplishes and accomplished by his death upon
the cursed tree. The cross of Christ is central
in scripture. No, that's not accurate. There
is nothing in scripture that can be understood and rightly
understood apart from Jesus Christ and him crucified. This book
is not a book about religious history, religious prophecy,
religious morality. This book is a book about redemption
through Jesus Christ shed blood. It is all about the cross. The book of God is that which
reveals to us the necessity of Christ's death. It is that which
reveals to us that which Christ Jesus accomplished in his death. It is that which reveals to us
how sinners obtain the merit of his death by faith in him. The book of God is all about
the cross. Our entrance into glory is by
the cross. But that's not all. The cross
of Christ is that which motivates us in all our efforts to obey
and honor and serve our Redeemer. The cross of Christ is that which
rules our life, which guides, directs, and inspires us in all
things. That's the reason in this place
You will never hear, you will never hear, not from this pulpit,
for as long as I stand in this place, you will never hear anyone
come here and browbeat and whip and scourge God's people and
try to intimidate you and threaten you with the law and get you
to do something you're not inclined to do. You may somehow or another
hear somebody say that, but it won't happen but once because
he won't come back. I make you that promise. It won't
happen. It will not happen. Well, how do you get God's people
to worship God and to give and to go to the mission field and
serve Christ and give themselves to the work of the ministry?
How do you expect anybody to do those things if you don't
threaten them or beat them or promise them? I preach Christ
crucified. And if ever Jesus Christ crucified,
gets hold of your heart, that'll take care of everything. That'll
take care of everything. And if he doesn't, what I get
you to do won't amount to anything. It won't amount to anything.
I quit long time ago trying to motivate people, trying to inspire
people, trying to move people, trying to wake people up with
anything. except the preaching of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Our Lord Jesus speaks here of
Himself as our crucified Savior and says, I, if I be lifted up
from the earth, that is, if I am crucified in the room instead
of my people. If I fulfill all that was written
to me in the prophets, if I accomplish all that God in his word says
the Christ must accomplish, if I be lifted up from the earth
as a crucified substitute for my people, I will draw all men
unto me. The rain that's falling out here
this morning, soon the sun will shine again. And by a mysterious
force that only the scientists really understand if they do,
the sun will draw up the water from the earth into the sky. So it is that Jesus Christ crucified
draws sinners to himself. Brother Bob Pontchart back years
ago when we were trying to get this building built, he'd come
out here every evening and he had fixed himself a huge magnet.
Some of you fellows will remember. Had a huge magnet and he'd go
around here all the time just picking stuff up. He'd gather
up nails and screws and pieces of metal. That magnet would just
pick them up. That's what the cross does. It is a magnet to
draw sinners to the Savior. as somehow the North Pole mysteriously
takes the motionless needle of a compass and draws it to itself,
so Christ crucified by the efficacy of his own power draws sinners
to himself. The lifting up of Christ is the
business of the preacher, the business of God's church in the
preaching of the gospel. We lift him up. and he draw sinners
to himself. Therefore, the scriptures declare
that this preaching of the gospel that the world despises, that
the world calls foolishness, is to those who are saved, to
those who had been saved, and those who are being saved. And
God's pleased to speak to your heart this day, to you who shall
be saved. It is the power of God, the wisdom
of God, and the power of God. It is that which reveals God's
infinite wisdom as God. It is that which displays God's
almighty power in grace and in salvation. The psalmist considered
the heavens and the earth and then himself. And he said concerning
himself, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Now, I realize that ignorant
men who are deliberate rebels against God will tell you that
somehow these bodies of ours sort of evolved out of some kind
of sludge or something of the kind. And here we just gradually
got to be what we are, just gradually got to be what we are. Several
years ago, six years ago, I went to see a doctor about the possibility
of getting this surgical hernia of head repaired. And after some
consultation, he said, your stomach wall is designed to plug a hole. And your stomach wall has done
just what it's supposed to do. You got a hole in it and it plugged
it, and that's what the result is. It plugged it. Reckon how
it was so designed? Well, somehow or another, the
things in here just decided one day that we ought to form a lining
to plug the hole in the stomach in case it gets a hole in it.
What stupidity. What utter stupidity. No one would imagine such a thing
except that he refuses to acknowledge that God is and God rules. No one. No one, no matter, no
matter how brilliant the man might be, if he just considered
anything, anything with reason, he had never come up with such
a notion. David said, I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Look at
the human body. Just, just, just open up one
of those books you have in biology, along back to eighth, ninth,
tenth grade. Just open up and look at it.
Look at that. Looks to me like somebody's pretty
smart put that thing together. Somebody had some plans when
they did that. And that's just me. That's just
this body, let alone the creation and the wonder of it. But having
said all that, the stars and the sun and the moon and the
tide of the ocean and the earth and the plants and the animals,
All creation fades by comparison when you consider the wisdom
of God displayed in redemption by Jesus Christ. Barbaric, lost, heathen men the
world over being conscious of God of righteousness and of guilt,
have devised every means imaginable by which to atone for sin, to
give them peace with God and acceptance with God, and not
one has ever found anything that will satisfy the conscience of
man except the revelation of this book. Nothing else. Here is the wisdom
of God and the power of God. All right, what then is the attraction
of the cross? What is it that gives the preaching
of the gospel such magnificent power as to lay hold of the hearts
of men and draw men unto the Savior? And when our Savior says,
I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto
me, sadly, I must pause for a minute and make a declaration that should
be obvious to anyone who reads this book. Obviously, he's not
talking about drawing every person in the universe unto him. Well,
how do you say obviously? Well, there were a lot of folks
already in hell when he was lifted up on the tree to die. He didn't
draw them. There are lots of folks to whom
he never sends his word. He doesn't draw them. There are
some, we're told in the book of Acts, whom the apostles wanted
to go preach to and the Lord would not allow them to preach
to them. He didn't draw them. There are
some of whom the Lord God spoke to the prophet and said, don't
pray for them. I won't hear you. He didn't draw
them. There are people whom our Savior
says, Father, I pray not for the world, but for them that
thou gavest me out of the world. So obviously he does not draw
every person in the world. And the drawing here is not A
gentle tug at your heart. I know nobody can come unless
God draws you and he draws you. Now it's up to you. No, no. When I was a boy, I used to go
visit my great aunt and my grandmother in the mountains of North Carolina.
And they had a spring house and they had a well. And they'd send
me out to draw water. And you know, I can't remember
the earliest time, Merle, I ever went out to draw water. But I
never dreamed they meant for me to go and hold my bucket above
the well and say, would you please come get me some water? Would
you please get in my bucket? Would you please let me bring
you back to the house? I just presumed they meant, boy,
get the water. That's what the word means. I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will get all men to me. All men, some out of every nation
and kindred and tongue, some black, some white, some red,
some yellow, some male, some female, some learned, some unlearned,
some bond, some free, some barbarian, some educated. But I will draw
men, every kind of man unto me out of the four corners of the
earth. Well, what is it that draws men to Him? Let me give
it to you as briefly as I can in these seven statements. Here's
the first. The one who died on the cross
is no ordinary man, but he is the Christ of God. Someone said
the wonder of the cross is not the blood, but whose blood and
to what purpose? The importance of the crucifixion
is not the fact that someone was crucified, but who was crucified
and why. If indeed that one who was crucified
in our room instead at Calvary is the Christ of God, if he is
God incarnate, if he is the Lamb of God, if he is God the Son
in human flesh, If indeed he is the Christ, then these two
things are matters of absolute certainty. These two things that
the whole religious world denies are matters of absolute certainty. If these two things are not absolute
and certain, then the one who died at Calvary does not matter. His death is insignificant. Well, brother Don, that's a pretty
strong statement. That's a very strong statement. Very strong
statement. Here they are. Number one, he
died because he wanted to. He died because he wanted to.
He laid down his life. He died according to his own
will, for his own purposes, by his own hand. He breathed out
the spirit. He gave up the ghost. He laid
down his life for his sheep as a voluntary substitute, as a
voluntary surety. He died because he wanted to. No man took his life from him. He didn't die because the Jews
wouldn't let him be their king. He didn't die because he came
into Israel and he gave them opportunity to let him be their
king and sit on that little peanut throne in that tiny little section
of the world. Oh, no. He who rode into Jerusalem
did not ride in there in order to get to be king. He rode in
there as the king. Behold, thy king cometh. And he ruled everything, even
to the details of what men did in executing him. He died according
to his old will. Number two, whatever he intended
to accomplish, he assuredly accomplished. Turn back to Isaiah chapter 42. I want you to see this. I want
you to see this. Isaiah chapter 42. Verse 1, the
Lord God describes his servant. Isaiah 42, verse 1. Behold, my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. He's talking about the Lord Jesus.
God Christ be my first elect, he said, then chose us in our
living head. My servant whom I uphold, mine
elect, in whom my soul delighteth. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. I put my spirit upon him. He
shall bring forth judgment, righteousness, and justice to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. You're not going
to hear him whimpering, begging for help. hoping that somebody
would come and do something to prevent what's going on. A bruised reed shall he not break,
and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth
judgment, justice, and righteousness unto truth. He shall not fail. He shall not fail. Do you understand that? He shall not fail. Failure. Oh, what an embarrassment
failure is. These days, in schools and athletic
field competition everywhere, Back a long time ago, they quit
sending grades home to young school children because you don't
want them to be embarrassed. Don't have any grades. Don't
keep scoring ballgame for little fellas because you don't want
them to be embarrassed. Let me tell you something. Sooner or
later, your baby's got to learn to deal with failure. Got to
learn to deal with it. And you know what? We're all
failures. We're all failures. Oh, not me. Let me probe long enough. I'll
embarrass you. We're all failures. There's not any such thing as
a living man who has not attempted and failed. That's the nature
of fallen humanity. That's what the word fall means. We're failures. Larry Brown and
Don Fortner, miserable, wretched failures. constant embarrassment
to ourselves and to family, a constant embarrassment. Not God, my Savior. He shall not fail. Next time you hear the suggestion,
the suggestion by anyone that somehow Jesus Christ is a failure,
that he wants to save folks who aren't saved. Tries to save people
who he can't save. Died to save people who go to
hell anyhow. In your heart, if not with all
the breath of your lungs, scream blasphemy! That's not God. He shall not fail. Everything Jesus Christ intended
to do, put his hand to do, purpose to do, by his death is done. This is what the book says. He
shall see his seed. He will see them justified, sanctified,
and glorified. He shall prolong his days. That
is, he's going to rise from the dead. The pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. I'm going to give him the rule
of the universe and he's going to give eternal life to as many
as the father's given him. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. And by his knowledge, by his
knowledge, that's what the prophet said, not by you knowing him
by his knowledge, shall my righteous servant justify many by his knowledge. Absolutely. He knows what he
paid. He knows for whom He paid it.
He knows the God whose justice He satisfied. And by His knowledge,
He makes many just, for He bore their iniquities. All right,
here's the second thing. Turn to Romans chapter 5. Romans
chapter 5. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
is the revelation of the love of God. Could we with eek the oceans
fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth
a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of
God above would drain the oceans dry, nor could the scroll contain
the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. Romans 5, verse 6. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For the ungodly. Ungodly. I wonder if there's anybody here
like that. Ungodly. Does that fit you? Ungodly. Is that who you are? Ungodly. Oh, no, Mother of God. I got nothing for you. And Christ
got nothing for you. And God's church got nothing
for you. You're going to hell. Oh, yeah, Pastor. If there's
anything on this earth that rightly describes me, it's ungodly. Christ
died for you. Christ died ungodly. Take the
ground God gives you, put your mouth in the dust, and acknowledge
ungodly. And I'm telling you, I'm telling
you, if you confess your sin, He's faithful and just to forgive
your sin. Because Christ died for the ungodly. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for
a righteous man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man,
some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us. God shows us his love this way.
God recommends his love to us like this. in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. The cross of Christ proclaims
what the law could never reveal. God is love. I recall years ago, Brother Mahan
telling a story when he was a young man. preaching somewhere and
having dinner with a woman and her daughter. The daughter was
about grown, but she spoke so lovingly and admirably of her
father, who had been dead for some time. Mother Henry said,
Honey, I've got to ask you, tell me about your daddy. You speak
of him with such devotion and such love. What is it about your
daddy that inspires such devotion and love. And she said, Brother
Mahan, when I was just a little girl, four years old, Mom and
Dad and I were at the beach, and my Daddy was a real sick
man. His heart was bad. He couldn't
take any stress and couldn't exert himself, and he knew it.
But I got out a little too deep in the water. And my daddy saw
me a little too deep in the water, he jumped up and ran, dove in
the water and pulled me back to dry ground and collapsed and
died. I love him so because my daddy
died for me. That's what Christ did for me. That's what Christ did for the
ungodly. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Here's the third thing. The cross of Christ vindicates the holy character
and strict justice of our God. Turn to Romans Chapter 4, Chapter
3. Romans Chapter 3. The Lord God in Isaiah 45 said, assemble
yourselves and come. Draw near ye their escape to
the nations, they that have no knowledge, that set up the wood
of their graven image, that pray to a God that cannot say. Tell
ye, and bring them near ye. Let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this wretched time? Who hath told it from that
time? Have not I the Lord? And there's
no God beside me. A just God and a Savior. A just God and a Savior. Romans 3.24 Paul says we're justified
freely. without a cause, free to us,
without any calls in us, justified by His grace. But God Almighty
cannot. And when I say, Alan Kibbe, God
can't do something, you be sure you understand, I've thought
well of what I'm saying. God cannot lie. There's things
God cannot do. He cannot do wrong. God cannot
justify by grace alone. That grace by which we're justified
is through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. God can't just
say, I'll forgive your sin. Let it go. He declared to Moses,
this is my glory. I will by no means clear the
guilty. I will by no means clear the guilty. God doesn't forgive
sin like men think sin is forgiven. He doesn't say, well, I'll forget
about it. Oh, that's all right. Let's just forget about it. Oh,
no. Justice will not allow it. God
justifies us freely by his grace through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. What's this? Whom God has set
forth to be a propitiation, a justice satisfying atonement, a mercy
seat through faith in his blood to declare, what's this? His
love? No. His mercy? No. His grace? No. To declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. What will satisfy God's justice? What will satisfy God's righteousness? Not yours, not mine, God's. What will? What will? What will
it take? If ever you have to deal with
guilt, you will verify what I'm about
to tell you. My guilty, screaming conscience
tormented my soul day and night, and I tried earnestly to pray,
and read my Bible, and reform my life, start going to church,
and quit cussing, and drinking, and running around, and quit
fighting, and running the roads. Tried. And I tried to make up for evil
I'd done. Tried to make restitution for
false and evil. Tried. I'd go to bed at night
and my conscience would scream, guilty, dirty, vile, hell is
yours and rightly so. And my conscience would say,
amen. And I was tormented and tormented
and tormented until at last I heard one declare, Jesus Christ crucified. And I looked to him who commanded
me to look. And my conscience said, that's
enough. God himself cannot require more. Justice is satisfied. And to this day, I'm telling
you. I'm telling you. I'm either lying
to you or I'm telling you the truth. I look God Almighty square in
His holy, righteous, just face. And there's not a tremble anywhere. Got nothing to be afraid of,
we're here. Justice is satisfied. Christ is enough. Oh, you mean
tell us you're that good? I knew you wouldn't hear me. No. There's no goodness in me. I've never done anything good.
I've never even thought anything good. But Christ has. And Christ obedience is my obedience. His righteousness, my righteousness,
his blood, my atonement, his satisfaction, my satisfaction.
I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not
I, but Christ is in me and the life that I now live in the flesh.
I live by the faith of the son of God, not my faith in the son
of God, by the faith, the faithful obedience of the son of God who
loved me. and gave himself for me. In the
cross of Christ, in the cross of Christ, I see God, the triune
Jehovah, fully revealed. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. When I see the Lord God in the
garden, cast Adam and Eve from the garden, I see God's justice. When I see God overflow the world
with water and destroy all flesh except for eight souls, I see
that God's angry with the wicked and will by no means clear the
guilty. When I see the Lord God speak
at Mount Sinai, and the mountain covered with darkness and lightning
and thunder and thick clouds and the mountain quakes and I
quake before that holy mountain when God gives out his law. I
read history and I see the wars and the famine and the pestilence. The debauchery of humanity. Hurricanes and earthquakes and
tornadoes Volcanoes erupting, burying cities, men, women, and
children in the fury of God's wrath. I see God's holy, God's
just, and God must punish sin. Oh, but when I come to Mount
Calvary, I see that this God, whose furious
justice is merciful and gracious, good
and kind, loving and abundant in goodness and mercy, grace
and truth. And by mercy and truth, iniquities
purged. I see now how that God can be
just and justifier of the ungodly. One more thing and I'll quit.
This is what draws sinners to Christ. The cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ is the fulfilling and the ratifying of God's covenant. Turn to Hebrews chapter 8. Verse 10. And this is a quotation from
Jeremiah 31. It's talking about God's covenant with Israel, not
the physical nation of Israel. No, talking about God's covenant
with God's Israel, the Israel of God, his elect. This is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. I'll make them new creatures.
And I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people. Verse 11, and they shall not
teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
know the Lord. They'll not do that. They'll
not do that. I preach the gospel to you, and
I instruct you and teach you. I want you to know the Lord.
But when this covenant's fulfilled, You won't need me to tell you
you're His. You won't need me to tell you
you're His. Oh, no. Oh, no. No, no, no. If you need
me to tell you you're His, you're not. If you need me to give you
assurance, you don't have any, and got no reason to have any.
And if I try to give you any, I'm a fake too. Oh, no. How does a man know he's born
of God? Does anybody here need to tell me your life? Anybody? Well, Don, we're not crazy. Most
people are religiously. No. If you believe God, you know
you believe God. And you know how little you believe
it. And the more you believe him, the more you recognize how
little you believe it. But you know you believe him.
You just find yourself believing him. You find yourself believing
him. Oh, no, you'll not need me to
tell you. Read on. For all shall know me from the
least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Turn over to chapter 9, verse
12. With his own blood, our Savior
obtained eternal redemption for us. Verse 14. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? For this cause, he's the mediator
of the new covenant, the New Testament, that by means of death
for the redemption of the transgressors that run to the First Testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the
death of the testator. For a testament is a force after
men are dead. Otherwise, it is of no strength
at all while the testator liveth. Before the world was, the Lord
Jesus made a covenant, a testament, a testament. With him, it was
a covenant. With me, it's a testament. A
covenant he fulfilled, a testament he bequeathed to me. He made
a covenant. A covenant in which he promised
eternal life to every chosen sinner. A covenant in which he
promised forgiveness to every redeemed soul. A covenant in
which he promised perfection to every called sinner. He promised
it. He promised it. And he died.
He died. Those blessings could not come
except he die. You mean they didn't come to
anybody until after he died? No. But he died before the world
was. Adam had them back in the garden.
Abraham had them. Isaac had them. David had them.
The Old Testament saints had them. The apostles had them.
We have them. Because now in the fullness of
time, he fulfilled the covenant and died. and rose on high. And now, he gives out his covenant. Back years ago, during the days
of persecution, one of the Scottish covenanters, young girl was going
to worship one Sunday. And as she was going, she saw
some of the Queen's troops coming. And she prayed that God would
give her wisdom to know how to answer because she knew she would
be questioned about where she was going. And they accosted
that young girl, and she said, sir, our elder brother has died, and
I'm going to a meeting of the family for the reading of his
will. That's what it is. The preaching
of the gospel is just the reading of his will. It is the reading
of his will, and he, by his spirit, seized to it with efficacious
almighty grace, that all for whom he died received the blessings
he obtained on their behalf when he obtained eternal redemption
for us. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stay. God help you now. Oh God, plunge
you into that fountain filled with Emmanuel's blood. Amen. Then let's sing that hymn, number
222.