verse thirty-one, Christ said, Now is the judgment
of this world. I wish I had the words to express
the importance of this particular hour, this particular statement
This was an extraordinary occasion on which the Lord Jesus uttered
these words. Now is the judgment of this world. This was the crisis. This was
the turning point. This was the decisive moment
right here. That's what Christ is saying.
If you'll check the best translations, and I took the time to do it,
if you'll check the Greeks, for the word judgment here. You will
find that the word is crisis, C-R-I-S-I-S, or else decision. Now is the crisis. Now is the
decisive moment of this world. That's what Christ is saying.
Now is the crisis. Now the very best translation
gives it this way. Now the crisis of this world
is coming on. Sentence is now being passed
on this world. Now the evil genius, the prince
of this world, shall be cast out. Now is the crisis. This is the decisive moment. This is the turning point. And
when we talk about a crisis, We usually think of a time in
a sickness or in a disease which indicates whether the results
will be life or death. In other words, a child is very,
very sick, and the doctor comes to the parents, and the doctor
says, this is the crisis. This is the turning point. This
is the deciding moment. The child will either die or
the child will live, depending on the way that this thing goes.
That's what the word crisis means. It's a decisive moment. That's
exactly the word that the Lord is using here in John 12, 31. Now is the judgment of this world. This is the crisis. Now is the turning point. Now
is the deciding moment. Now, we often speak of the present
crisis. I think some of us are guilty
of getting excited over the day in which we live. This is the
turning point of human history. This is the decisive moment.
This is the crisis. And I've found that that's been
common for people of every period to believe that their own age
was the hinge upon which the whole world turned. They believe
that their own age was the crisis, the time when the world took
another course. They imagine that the future
depends on what their age does. I think we are prone to feel
that way sometimes ourselves. They imagine that the period
of their own existence is the hinge upon which world history
turns. But Christ didn't say that. He
didn't say the crisis is already coming past. He didn't say the
crisis will occur sometime in the future. If you look at it
again, verse 31, he said, now is the crisis. Right now is the
decisive moment. Right now is the turning point
in the history of the whole world. This is the crisis. This is the hour. But this is
the deciding moment. Here is the great turning point
in all of human history. Everything hinges on this. On
what? Verse thirty-two. And I, if I
be lifted up on a cross. And I, if I be lifted up on a
cross. If the Son of God be lifted up
on a cross. This is the crisis. This is the
deciding moment. This is the judgment of this
world right now. This is the crisis for men and
the crisis for Satan. This is the crisis for you in
1973. This is the crisis for Moses
back four thousand years B.C. This is it. Shall Christ die
on a cross? If He refuses the nails, if He
refuses the crown of thorns, if He refuses the bitter cup
of death, then all men are doomed, men prior to the cross and men
after the cross. Then all men are doomed. If Christ
refuses the cross, Satan is victorious. If Christ refuses the cross,
Satan rules. If Christ refuses the cross,
then we're damned. Salvation never, damnation forever. This is the crisis. This is the
turning point. This is the end. If Christ dies,
the world is blessed. If Christ dies, Satan is defeated. If Christ dies, the forces of
evil are conquered. If Christ dies, our future is
glorious. If Christ refuses to die, we
don't have a future. That's the reason he said now
is the crisis. Now is the hour. Now is the deciding
moment. If Christ refuses the cross,
we're doomed. If Christ goes to the cross,
our future is secure. Our sins are forgiven. our future's
glories. Shall Christ bear our sins? If
He refuses, we shall bear them. If Christ refuses, there is no
laughter, only weeping. If Christ refuses, there is no
hope, only helplessness. If Christ refuses, we'll never
know God. The day of our birth will be
a mournful and the day of our death an horrible experience. Shall Christ bear our sins? If
He bears our sins, there's no condemnation. If He bears our
sins, how glorious our birth! I'm glad I was born to live as
Christ and to die as gain. If Christ bears our sins, how
victorious our homecoming! If Christ bears not our sins,
we'll hear the Father say, Depart from me. into everlasting darkness,
into hell reserved for the devil and his angels. Shall Christ
bear our sins? If Christ bears not our sins,
sons of evil forever. If Christ bears our sins, sons
of God forever. This is the crisis. That's what
he's saying. Now is the crisis of this world. This is the hour, this is the
moment, this is the hinge, this is the turning point, this is
that upon which all else depends, if I be lifted up. If I be lifted
up on a cross. And they knew what he was talking
about, being lifted up. If I be lifted up on a cross. If. Shall the perfect Lamb be
slaughtered? Shall the sacrifice be offered? Shall the blood be put on the
mercy seat of glory? Shall the great high priest enter
into the holiest? Shall the veil be rent in twain? Shall the way into the presence
of the Father be opened? Shall it? And will it Christ
be lifted up? If not, there is no sacrifice
for There is no good news to the lost. There is no gospel
of hope for the helpless. There is no grace for the guilty.
There is no heaven for the believer. There's nothing but hell. Now, you compare the rise and fall of
your empires to this moment. People talk about the turning
point of the world was the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.
It wasn't any such thing. Just another battle of worms,
that's all. You compare, if you will, the
wars and rumors of war, World War I, the war to end all wars,
foolishness, poppycock. Just another conflict between
a bunch of struggling worms on the earth. The League of Nations, the United
Nations, are going to unite us in peace and freedom, Oh, what a turning point is the
election of a certain king, or a certain ruler, or a certain
president. Just another milestone on the
journey to heaven or hell, that's all. Compare your day with this day. Now is the crisis. Shall the
Son of Man be crucified? Now is the crisis. Shall Christ
bear our sins? Now is the crisis. shall Satan
be defeated and righteousness enthroned." Now is the crisis
of this world. Now is the decisive moment. This
is the turning point. All else fades into complete
insignificance compared to this hour, compared to this day. I'll tell you, if a person stands
very long at Calvary, If we stand very long at Calvary and we get some kind of conception
of what's going on on Golgotha's Hill and what happened on the
cross, it's difficult to get very excited over anything else. If we have been to Calvary And
we have beheld Him who died on that cross, who He is, very God
of very God. What He did, He did all the forces
of evil, crushed the power of Satan, put away all the guilt
of all the believers of all ages, honored the perfect law of God
which He gave on Mount Sinai. met the justice of God and drank
the dregs from the very bottom of the bitterest cup, rolled
away all the powers of darkness and evil and brought hope to
the heart of every believer." If we stand at Calvary a little
while and look into the face of Him who died on that cross,
it's pretty hard to get excited over anything that a human being
can do after that. That's right. You wonder why
some believers don't get excited when you get excited over what's
going on today? They've been to Calvary, and
that's the greatest excitement in the world. Somebody said it's difficult
to entertain young people of this day because they have seen
so much, and all of them have traveled. You know, a long, long
time ago, They took you to a circus about once a year. Circus came
down, didn't have television then and didn't have a lot of
the things that we have now. And if somebody came along, bought
you an ice cream cone or one of those cotton candy balls and
took you to a circus, you thought you was in heaven. Well, they
don't have circuses anymore because, boy, we've seen about everything
on TV. You can sit on TV and watch people
walk on the moon. What's the use of going down
there and watching the fellow walk on a wire with a net under
him? And it's not too exciting anymore. And, brother, I'll tell
you, if you've been to Calvary and you've looked into the face
of the Son of God, it doesn't thrill you too much to go across
the street and shake hands with the President of the United States
after you've been to Calvary. And what happens on this earth
and what men do just is not too exciting. It's not as exciting
as it is if you haven't been to Calvary. Brother James Thompson
sang last Sunday night, I've never traveled far around the
world. I've never seen the many sights
and thrills unfurl, but I've taken the journey of journeys
for me. Up Calvary's mountain, there
my Savior to see. I've been to Calvary. I can say
I've seen the Lord. I've been to Calvary through
the witness of His Word, and each day at Calvary, what a thrill
of love divine just to think, just to know, just to feel that
the Savior is mine. Our Lord said, I didn't say it,
our Lord now is the crisis. Our Lord said, I didn't say it. Our Lord said, now is the decisive
moment. Everything else falls into insignificance. Now is the turning point. This
is it. This is when the fate of all
men is decided. This is when heaven and hell
come in conflict. and somebody comes off the victor
and somebody comes off the loser. This is when salvation is secured
or damnation is sure, one or the other. This is it. This is
it. Christ crucified. That's the
believer's hope. Christ crucified. That's the
minister's message. Christ crucified. That's the
Lord's Now look, first of all, Christ said, if I be lifted up,
if I be lifted up, if I be lifted up on a cross, I'll draw all
men unto me. This is the believer's hope.
He draws men, watch it, to me, he said. Christ didn't say, I'll
draw all men to the visible church. I think we make a mistake in
this day extending ourselves and putting forth so much effort
to get people to a visible organization. It seems to me that some Christians
and some preachers are more interested in getting men to their church,
getting men to the church. Come to church, attend our church. Our church is the church in the
heart of the city with the heart of the city at mind. And our
church is the friendly church. And our church is this, come
to church, come to church, come to church. Christ said, I will
draw men unto me, unto me. Now, the church is fine, and
God has established the church. And I believe the church is the
only evangelical, divinely instituted organization for preaching the
gospel and sending missionaries that God has on this earth today.
I don't think he's going to work outside the church and outside
the sanctuary or outside the organization that he's established.
But you can get to the church and not get to the Lord. And
he didn't say, I'll draw men to the holy law. The holy law
is the schoolmaster that brings us to Christ. But we must not
come to the law and stop at the law. We must not come to religion
and stop at religion. We must not come to doctrine
and stop with doctrine. I love doctrine. But we must
not stop there. Christ didn't come to draw us
to ceremony. He said, I've come to draw men
unto me. I'll be lifted up and draw men
unto me. When the Moravian missionaries
many, many years ago, first went to Greenland, they reasoned among
themselves, these early missionaries, reasoned among themselves that
it was no use to preach Jesus Christ to these people, not yet. They thought within themselves,
since the people of Greenland are so ignorant We should begin
by preaching creation, where man came from, and then preach
to them the fall and the condition in which man has plunged, and
then preach to them the fact of God and the attributes of
God and the character of God, and then we need to preach to
them the law and what's right and what's wrong, and we must
preach to them the penalty of the wicked. And they thought
this was a good preparatory work, and they did this. They went
about these early Moravian missionaries to preach these things to the
ignorant Greenland natives. And they labored and labored
and labored and labored in vain. Not one convert. And Spurgeon
said one day one of the Moravian missionaries was reading to a
group of Greenlanders the story of Christ's death from John the
third chapter. And one of the natives said,
will you read that again? And the missionary read it again.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that
whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting
life. And he told how that Christ was
crucified and died for sinners. and how he was buried and rose
again and ascended to the right hand of God, where he pleads
for sinners. And one of the natives said,
did he die on a cross for me? And the missionary said, yes,
yes, he did. And the missionary said, those
ignorant natives began to clap their hands. And they said, why
didn't you tell us this before? I'll tell you, my friends, nothing,
the church, the doctrine, the law, the ceremony, nothing can
take the place of Christ and Him crucified. If I be crucified,
I will draw men unto me. I am interested in knowing Christ. The Apostle Paul said, my background
but dumb, that I may win Christ and be found in Him, or that
I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. If I be
lifted up, this is the crisis, this is the turning point. I
will draw men unto me." Christ draws us from despair to hope. Our sins are put away. There
is no condemnation to them who are in Christ is our Redeemer,
He is our Savior, He is our Refuge, He is our Strength, He is our
Advocate, He is our Mediator, He is our All and in All, and
we do not doubt His grace. I was talking to someone yesterday
about this matter, the day before. I believe that we're using the
wrong word when we talk about doubts and fears. They say, I have my doubts. What
do you mean by doubt? What are you saying? Well, I
just, regarding my salvation, I have my doubts. What do you
mean by doubt? You doubt the Lord's power to
save? You doubt His blood is sufficient? You doubt that he'll
keep his word? Is that what you do? No, I don't
doubt that. Can't possibly doubt that. Let
God be true in every man alive. You doubt you're a sinner? Oh,
I know I'm a sinner. You got any hope besides Christ?
No, I don't have any hope besides Christ. Can you get to heaven
any other way than by the blood sprinkled way, the way of the
cross? No, I don't doubt that. What are you talking about when
you say that? You doubt what? It's the wrong word, isn't it? It's the wrong word. Somebody
says, well, when I find myself doing certain things, I begin
to doubt that I'm a Christian. You mean that your doing or not
doing something is the deciding point whether you're a Christian
or not? Then you're not trusting Christ, you're trusting what
you're doing, and you're not a Christian. In other words, if I'm out here
tomorrow, if some evil thought comes across my mind and I say,
well, I'm not a Christian because I thought that, then I'm not
a Christian because I'm not trusting Christ, I'm trusting whether
or not I can abstain from evil thought. I'm trusting my own
righteousness. I'm going about to establish
a righteousness before God of my own. I'm not depending on
Christ's righteousness. I think the Word's all wrong.
I think the Word is not doubt, I think the Word's disgust. Now
then I understand what you're talking about. When you say after
you think a certain thing or do a certain thing, I'm disgusted
with myself. Now that's all right, I agree
with you there. And I may be thoroughly disgusted
with myself, but I don't doubt that Christ is my Savior. He
either is or He isn't. And it doesn't depend on my feelings.
It doesn't depend on my experience. It doesn't depend on my rise
or fall. It doesn't depend on my success
or failure. I don't doubt that Christ is
my Savior. Now, if He sends me to hell,
He'll be just. I'm not saying that. I'm not
saying Christ can't damn me. But He's still my Savior. If
I go to hell, I'll go to hell believing He's my Savior. I'll
go to hell clinging to the cross of Christ. If I go to hell, I'll
go to hell believing that the only way of salvation, topside
of God's green earth and under heaven, is the way of the cross.
I know that. There's no doubt in my mind about
that. I'm sure of that. God said that, and God can't
lie. And I don't doubt that. I doubt myself. Disgusted with
myself. But I never doubt for one moment
that He's the only Savior there in this world. He takes us from
from doubt to despair, to faith, from despair to faith, to hope.
There's no doubt in him. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile as he,
wash my sins away. And then Christ draws us to himself
from despair to hope. He draws us from fear to faith. Now where do you get assurance? You get assurance at Calvary.
The cross is the essence of assurance. If God spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely
give us all things? If you look for confidence, if
you look for faith, if you look for assurance anywhere else,
then you'll be disappointed. You get assurance at Calvary.
Christ draws us from fear to faith, and then He draws us,
listen, from confusion to comfort. Now, I read in the newspaper
yesterday or Friday morning about one of these POWs about his brother,
and his brother was writing about the chains that he had had since
he discovered that his brother wasn't dead, but he was alive
and released from prison camp. And this is what he said. Now
listen to it. When it was reported that my brother was shot down,
I grew angry with God, and I said, God, why did you do it? Now then, that my brother is
safe, I've had a hundred percent change of attitude toward God. That's the most fickle confusion
of an unregenerate mind I ever heard in my life. If everything
goes my way, I believe God. If things don't go my way, I
don't believe God. Let me tell you something. The
believer who has been drawn to Christ the believer who has stood
there at Calvary, the believer who has looked into the face
of the Lord of glory, who can do no wrong, the judge of the
earth, who does right, who looks into the face of Him who was
rich, yet for our sakes became poor. who bore our sins in his
own body on the tree, who loved his own, having loved his own,
loved them even to the end, who stands at the cross, accepts
all things from God in faith, that God can do no wrong. And if God does it, it's right.
And if God does it, it's good. And if God does it, it'll bring
glory to his name. And if God does it, it's for
our good, and we surrender and bow to His will in all things. He knows what's best. And then Christ draws us not
only from confusion to comfort, but He draws us from sin to obedience. You know, I watch a person in
time of trial. and their behavior in time of
trial will reveal whether or not they have any faith, whether
or not they're Christian. It's not hard to be a Christian
when things are going our way, but that's not the test of Christianity. The test of Christianity is when
things are going God's way and not quite going our way. That's what reveals real faith. You know, drawing is a lot different
from driving. A lot different. I think a lot
of preachers are trying to drive people to holiness. They're trying
to drive people to righteousness. They're trying to drive people
to righteousness. They're trying to drive people
to obedience. Christ said he would draw. men
unto himself. There's a difference. The hard
driving of laws and church rules and standards cannot enforce
holiness and obedience. But when a man by the power of
the Holy Spirit is brought to Christ, he is brought from sin
and the practice of sin to obedience and the righteousness of Christ.
If I be lifted up, I will draw all sorts of men, Jew and Gentile,
rich and poor, old and young, black and white, unto me. Not
to the church, but to me. Not to just religion, but to
me. Not to the law, but to me. And
when they're brought to me, they'll be brought from despair to hope.
And that hope will be an eternal hope, it'll be a sure hope. They'll
be brought from fear to faith, no condemnation, but Christ is
our sacrifice and our sin officer. They'll be brought from confusion
to comfort. Whatever the trial, whatever
the difficulty, but it's the Lord, let him do what he will.
the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name
of the Lord." He'd been drawn to Christ. And God draws men, draws them,
not drives them. You must not do this. You must
do this. That's driving. Christ draws
them from sin to obedience, and they do it because they want
to. As one of the prophets said,
can I sow sin against the Lord as to do this? Samuel said, can
I sow sin against the Lord as to cease to pray for you? I must
pray for you. And then Christ crucified is
the minister's message, not hell and damnation. We don't draw
back from preaching condemnation. Christ shall judge the ungodly.
Sin shall be punished. But my friends, it's Christ crucified
that's our message. Paul said, I'm determined to
know nothing among you save hell and damnation. No sir, save Christ
and Him crucified. It was said of old Jesse Henley,
who preached down in Georgia years ago, that he could never
preach a sermon without thinking about hell. Well, let it be said
of us that we can never preach a sermon without talking about
Christ and Him crucified. It is Christ crucified, the minister's
message, not mere doctrine. And the examples of this kind
of preaching are on every hand. I don't need to cite examples.
The doctrines of Christ are precious. I love the doctrines of Christ.
I love the doctrine of the immutability of God's Word. It's verbally
inspired. I love the doctrine of creation,
the doctrine of sovereignty, the doctrine of depravity, the
doctrine of predestination, the doctrine of substitution, the
doctrine of the second coming of Christ. But brethren, it's
Christ crucified. If I be lifted up on a cross,
I'll draw all men under me. Men do not arrive at Christ through
doctrine, they arrive at doctrine through Christ. And we'll only
learn the doctrine as we learn Christ. That's where it's learned. The minister's message is Christ
crucified, not mere morality. I believe some men could preach
about as well out of Paul Richards' Almanac as they can out of the
Bible. Because all they're interested in is living the good life. You
know the preacher, he's got his fingers like this and a perpetual
smile on his face, and in his ministerial voice, we must do
good. For brethren, out of Christ there
is no life good or bad. Life's not worth living, either
good or bad, out of Christ. Christ crucified, that's our
message. One verse of Scripture before
we close. 1. Listen to this, 1 Timothy
chapter 1, verse 11. The Christ crucified, that's
the Lord's glory. This is the crisis, this is the
deciding hour, this is the turning point, this is the hinge of human
history. Christ lifted up, and this is
the Lord's glory. In 1 Timothy 1, verse 11, according
to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which is more correctly
translated, according to the gospel of the glory of God. This gospel is the gospel of
the glory of God, Christ crucified. Now man seeks to win his glory
by the slaughter of others, Christ by the death of himself. The great captain, the great
general, the great admiral goes forth to battle with his sword
shining brightly to bathe it in the blood of others and thereby
wins immortal glory among men. Christ Jesus goes out to meet
the justice of God and the forces of evil and the sting of death. And he goes not with a sword
in his hand, but as the Lamb of God, dumb before her shearers,
silent before his persecutors. And he bears his chest and takes
the sword of God's wrath and God's justice into his own hide. And his greatest glory is his
submission to the wrath of God for our sins. And he takes that
sword in his own heart, bathed in his own blood. Men seek crowns
of gold, thereby winning much glory. Christ seeks the crown
of thorns. They take the king of England
and march him through the streets and lay palm branches before
the chariot, put him on a purple throne with a purple robe, and
put a crown of jewels and gold upon his head, and men bow down
and give him honor. Christ Jesus sits in the cursed
hall of pilot soldiers, and there they spit upon him and slap his
face and take off his robe and put on a mocking robe of scarlet. And somebody plants a crown out
of thorns and presses it down into his holy brow, and Christ
wins his greatest glory in wearing not a crown of gold, but a crown
of thorns. That's his glory. This is the
deciding hour. This is the turning point. This
is the time to which all time points. This is the crisis. Men seek glory in their riches. A man has a finer home than anybody
else, drives a bigger car, wears finer clothes, wears a diamond
on his finger. He can go in and sign checks
for any amount and people point to him and he's got his glory.
Christ, who was rich beyond description, became poor, so poor that he
had no place to lay his head, no home in which to live. no
bread on the table, he stripped himself of all things and became
poor, that we through his poverty, which is his glory, might become
rich." Men seek their glory in their reputation. We're proud
of our credit ratings. Christ didn't have We're proud of our reputation
for sobriety. Christ was called a wine dibbler. We're proud of our thriftiness.
He was called a glutton. We're proud that we're religious. He was called a devil. We're
proud that we're the son of so-and-so. Christ was called the son of
Beelzebub. He sought His glory not in reputation,
but He made Himself of no reputation and became a servant and submitted
to the cross. Men seek their reputation in
dying gloriously on the field of battle. and they win glory
and praise from the lips of men. But Christ sought His glory in
being lifted up on the cross, dying a death of shame and ridicule. This is His glory. Don't apologize
He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. But in all of that shame and
degradation and humiliation, He was put down that we might
be put up." See, He took our place. Our Lord suffered that
we might live. Our Lord died that we might be
glorified. Our Lord came down here in the
cesspool of this world. in the dunghill of human depravity,
and took all the shame and the corruption and the guilt and
the filth, in order that he might raise us, the beggar, from the
dunghill, and seat us on the throne among kings and princes. That's his and throughout the
endless ages of eternity the song of the redeemed shall be
unto him who loved us and washed us from our sin in his own blood. To him be the glory both now
and forever." This is the crisis. This is the crisis. And you can
sit around wondering what's going to happen to this old world,
but I'll tell you what you better be wondering about. In the light
of the cross, what's going to happen to you? And you sit around wondering
about what's going to take place in the years ahead, and what's
going to happen to this nation, what's going to happen to this
community, and what's going to happen to this, that, and the
other. You better be figuring out what, in the light of Calvary,
God's going to do with you. That's the crisis, that's the
turning point. When all that's settled, when
you've been to Calvary, and when you sat down and watched Him
there, and you've beheld His glory, and you've beheld His
grace, and you've beheld His goodness, you can come away and,
I don't know, that job doesn't mean quite as much to you as
it used to. And that fine home doesn't mean
quite as much to you as it used to. And what's going to happen
in the political circles just doesn't have the attraction and
the significance that it used to. And whether or not so-and-so
likes you or doesn't like you, that just doesn't matter much
anymore. And whether or not your family is successful, that doesn't
have the significance anymore that it used to. If you go to
Calvary, because that's the crisis. The patient lives. That's rejoiced. The patient lives, the Redeemer's
died. If I be lifted up, that's the
turning point. That's the judgment of this world.
God's judged this world. This world, Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of Christ by which the
world is crucified unto me. I went to the cross and the world
died right there. I saw it die. It lost its significance. It lost its glory. It lost its
fame, it lost its attraction, by which the world was crucified
unto me and I unto the world. And I came away dominated and
controlled and filled with the presence of the Son of God. And
I care now about my relationship to Him. Care about others too,
but it's all of that depends on my relationship with Him. Our Father in heaven, take us
to Calvary. Let us be bathed in the glory
of Christ. Like the apostles went to the
Mount of Transfiguration, they saw none but Jesus only. Let us stand at the cross and
let the world just pass away, and let us look once again at
Christ. and let us come away so filled
with His power and with His presence and so taken up with Him that
all these other things won't matter as much as they do. They
ought not to matter. If any man love father, mother,
brother, sister, son or daughter, husband, wife more than me, he's
not worthy of me. A man hate not his own life,
he cannot be my disciple. If a man put his hand to the
plow and looks back, he cannot be fit for the kingdom of heaven.