The Great Attraction
A sermon
(No. 775)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, OCTOBER 13, 1867, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me."-
John 12:32.
THE death of our Lord Jesus Christ must have appeared to His Apostles
to be an unmitigated misfortune. No doubt they conceived that it would
be the death of the cause, a heavy blow and a deep discouragement.
Smite the Shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. Strike the Head and
what shall become of the members? But our Lord instructed His disciples
that this, which seemed so dreary a circumstance, was really the most
hopeful of all the points of His history. He assured them that by His
death He would totally defeat the powers of darkness. "Now is the
judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast
out."
He comforted them yet further by the declaration that His Crucifixion,
instead of driving men away from His doctrine, would give to that
doctrine a peculiar luster and a special charm. The Cross of Christ,
with all its ignominy and shame, is no hindrance to His heavenly
teaching but is, in fact, a matchless loadstone by which men are
attracted to it. There is such a thing as "the offense of the Cross,"
and that offense has not ceased. But listen to the Master's words, "I,
if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." The
attractive power of the Gospel lies mainly in the crucifixion of the
Gospel's great Teacher.
The text needs, perhaps, to be illustrated by doctrines which He
concealed within itself, and by facts with which it is connected. The
Prince of Darkness had drawn away the sons of men by the fascination of
flesh-pleasing errors, flattering delusions, alluring pleasures,
glittering pomp and outward show. By these he drew all men unto him.
The devil led men captive at his will, seducing them from bad to worse.
He enticed poor foolish man to his own destruction–as fish are taken
by the bait, as birds are lured by decoys–and as ships are wrecked by
false lights.
An enormous whirlpool of evil had for many an age sucked into its
vortex multitudes who were sailing upon the sea of life. All over the
ocean of society the influence of this monstrous whirlpool of evil was
felt, more or less powerfully, so that those who escaped from its
horrible depths were, nevertheless, much impeded and diverted in their
course–and found it hard to reach the desired haven. Even up to the
very mouth of the port of peace, the power of this great whirlpool was
evidently felt, drawing all men as it could.
Now the Lord Jesus came into the world to produce a counter-attraction,
to set in motion a counter-current. Lo, I saw in vision a mysterious
hand reaching out of a mighty all-attracting magnet from the sky! It
was of so marvelous a power that vessels which were being whirled
towards their destruction, were, many of them, suddenly diverted in
their course and drawn at once to the magnet and to safety! While
others, which did not feel its power to the same saving extent, and
became ultimately victims to evil, were nevertheless slowed in their
course for awhile, hindered in their desperate folly and prevented from
perishing so hastily as they would have done.
Alas, many of them tugged at the oar, or hoisted all sail to escape
from the magnet! And so, as they willfully destroyed themselves, they
did sad despite to their conscience and perished the more miserably
because they despised the great salvation. Just as evil draws all of
us, more or less, so Jesus Christ more or less draws all men who hear
the Gospel. Some men He draws unto Himself by the effectual drawings of
His Divine Grace. These are the "all" here meant–some of all classes,
the all for whom he shed His blood. But where His name is preached,
even those who do not believe in Him feel some of the influence which
Christianity spreads abroad throughout society.
His name leavens the lump. The sweet perfume of His spikenard fills all
the house where He is sitting. Bent upon instituting the new and
heavenly attraction which should overcome the powers of evil, our Lord
Jesus came into this world to be lifted up from the earth–not for
Himself–but for the sins of others. Down from the heights of Glory He
de-
scended, moved by disinterested love. Not that He had anything to gain,
but that He might redeem us from our iniquity, and save us from our
fearful perils.
On the Cross He effected the redemption of His people. Nailed there in
ignominy, in pain, desertion and death, He worked out redemption for
His chosen. But men stood at a distance from their best Friend. That is
implied in the text. Why should they need to be drawn to Jesus if they
were already near to Him? Some stood so far away from the dying Savior
that they made His death the subject of mockery, and even found
subjects for jest in His dying groans and pangs. All of us were
alienated from God and from Christ, who is God's express Image. Our
evil hearts had piled great mountains between us and the Lord Jesus
Christ. By nature we do not appreciate His love. We do not render to
Him the gratitude which He deserves. We pass by as though it were
nothing to us that Jesus should die.
Moreover, since man does not come of himself even when he perceives the
gracious errand of the Lord Jesus, our heavenly Friend condescends to
draw him. The Truth of God is latent in the text–that men not only are
at a distance, but that they will not come to Christ of themselves. The
Lord never does unnecessary work. We should never hear of Christ's
drawing us if we would run without drawing! But the fact is that we
stand away from Christ and love the distance. Yes, we make the gulf
still wider, developing our original hatred to that which is good by
adding the force of habit to our original depravity.
Therefore, since men are at a distance and will not come, the Crucified
Savior becomes, Himself, the attraction to men. He casts out from
Himself bands of love and cords of gracious constraint–and binding
these around human hearts He draws them to Himself by an invincible
constraint of Divine Grace. Sinners by nature will not come to Jesus,
though His charms might even attract the blind and arouse the dead.
They will not melt, though surely such beauties might dissolve the
adamant, and kindle affection in rocks of ice! But Jesus has a wondrous
power about Him to woo and win the sons of men. As out of His mouth
goes a two-edged sword, so out of His heart proceed chains of gold by
which He binds thousands of willing captives to Himself.
This attraction, according to the text, is to be found operating upon
all classes, nations, ranks, and characters of men–it is not to be
excluded from remote lands, or dens of infamy nearer home. Here and
there kings and princes have believingly yielded to its power, while
multitudes of the poor have had the Gospel preached to them and have
received it in the love of it. I trust there are many of us here,
belonging, as we do, to different grades and classes of society, who
can verify the truth of this text, "I, if I am lifted up, will draw all
men unto Me." The young, the old, the rich, the poor, the intellectual,
the learned, and the ignorant–some of all sorts does Jesus draw, and
thus He earns to Himself the glory of being the universal
attraction–the attraction to which all hearts must yield when He draws
effectually by His Grace.
Having thus skimmed over the text and endeavored to bring before you
the thoughts which it kindles, we shall now speak upon what it is in
the Cross which becomes attractive to men. Secondly we shall have a
word to say concerning the direction in which Christ Crucified draws.
And thirdly, with what power He draws.
I. First, dear Friends, WHAT IS THE ATTRACTION OF JESUS CRUCIFIED? It
is asserted by our Savior that when lifted up from the earth He would
draw all men–He intended by this His Crucifixion–for John tells us in
the 33rd verse, "This He said signifying what death He should die." Let
it not be forgotten, then, that the power of the Gospel lies in that
which certain persons count to be its weakness and reproach. Christ
dying for sinners is the great attraction of Christianity!
Certain preachers have missed all in forgetting this. What is
Socinianism but an attempt to have Christ without His Cross? Those who
sat around the Cross, and said, "Let Him come down from the Cross and
we will believe Him," were the true ancestors of modern Unitarians who
respect the Character of our Lord, and highly esteem Him as a teacher,
but reject Him utterly as a Substitute, an Atonement and a Sacrifice
for sin. They fondly dream that if they teach His holy life without His
ignominious death, men will be attracted to Him. Such has not proved to
be the case. "I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men
unto Me" is true, and shall be true! But Christ merely as a wise
teacher, and an eminent example has not drawn the sons of men who are
too far fallen to be charmed into holiness by a mere exhibition of
moral excellence, however perfect.
Men need not so much a portrait of a man in health as medicine to
remove their own diseases. It has been thought by some, of late, that
the proper way to draw men to the Gospel is to preach the future glory
of Christ. This, indeed, is to be preached in its place, for every part
of Divine Truth should hold its position in the Gospel harmony. But it
is all a mis-
take, and a very great and terrible mistake, too, for men to put the
glorified Savior into the place of the crucified Savior. You may preach
the millennium–you may extol as much as you will the magnificence of
those happy days when He shall reign from the river even to the ends of
the earth–but you will never make men Christians that way! I have
heard it said that the Jews will be converted to Christianity by the
doctrine of the Second Coming since the second advent is to us
precisely what they think the first advent should be.
But it is not so, Beloved. The only effectual attraction lies where the
texts puts it, "I if I am lifted up." The Savior Crucified draws the
Jew as well as the Gentile. The sons of Israel shall not be converted
by the doctrine of a glorified Savior, but by the Man of Sorrows who
was despised and rejected of men–the Messiah who was cut off, but not
for Him-self–the Sacrifice offered outside the gate. And from where is
this supreme attraction of the Cross? I answer that by the power of the
Holy Spirit many have been drawn to Christ by the disinterested love
which His death manifests. Does that Man on yonder tree die without the
necessity of death out of pure love–out of pure love to those who
hated Him? Out of love to the very men who fastened Him to the cruel
wood?
Had He nothing to gain? Was it charity in all its perfection–nothing
but the milk-white lily of love? Was there nothing else but charity
that could bind Him to the tree? Nothing! "You know the Grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He
became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich." "Scarcely for
a righteous man will one die: yet perhaps for a good man some would
even dare to die. But God commends His love toward us in that, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Many a heart has been so charmed with this that it has run to Christ,
drawn by the silken bonds of love! Do not some of you feel as if you
could love the dear Lover of souls this morning? Do not even my feeble
descriptions of His Godlike work entice you? Oh, do you not feel that
you must love One who loved so truly when there was no benefit for Him
to receive in return? Why I have thought that if Jesus had never died
for me, I yet must love Him for having died for others! And if I had no
share in the benefits which His passion procured, yet I have sometimes
felt as if, out of admiration for "love so amazing, so Divine," I must
give my heart to Him! Here is one master attraction of the Crucified
One.
Others have doubtless been brought to the Savior's feet by delight in
the satisfaction which is rendered to justice by the Redeemer's death.
Many men reason thus with themselves: Conscience is uneasy. Offense has
been committed against God. Now, in the nature of things, under all law
that is at all respected there must be punishment for offenses. But how
shall the exercise of the prerogative of mercy be rendered perfectly
consistent with the fulfillment of the penalty? Yonder bleeding Savior
solves the difficulty. He dies, "The Just for the unjust, that He may
bring us to God." "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with
His stripes we are healed."
Many men, finding their conscience rendered perfectly at ease when they
have come to lean themselves upon the fact that Christ died for
sinners, have been so enamored of that glorious Truth of God that the
attraction has bound them to the Cross forever. I must confess that
this is one of the great considerations which, in the hand of the Holy
Spirit, will keep me a Christian as well as make me more and more in
love with my Lord. I see not where else Justice can meet with Mercy and
embrace! I know not where else Righteousness and Peace can kiss each
other except on the Cross where my Master gave up His life for
transgressors.
There I see the riddle all solved–fallen man brought back to God–and
God, justly incensed at man's offense, able to display His love without
in any way tarnishing His unsullied justice, or even diminishing the
severity thereof. O my Hearers, this is a blessed attraction, indeed! I
would to God that it would attract some of you! O that the thought that
your sin can thus be justly forgiven–that there is "No condemnation to
them that are in Christ Jesus," since Christ was condemned in their
place–may draw full many of you to Himself!
Many others have been drawn to the Gospel by a sense of the exact
suitability of the Atonement of Christ to the necessities of their
condition. As the glove fits the hand so does the Crucified Savior suit
the necessities of a sinner. Here is exactly what the man needs. He
feels himself guilty. He dreads the punishment of his transgression.
His conscience, like an adder, stings him. Like a fire ever fed with
fresh fuel, it blazes within him. But when he meets with Christ, he
meets with peace and he says within himself, "This is precisely what I
require. Thirsty, here is living water! Naked, here is a robe of
righteousness! Vile, here is an open fountain! Lost and undone, here is
One who came to seek and to save that which was lost." Ah, I beseech my
Lord to make all of you feel your condition and then you will set a
high price upon my Lord!
Some of you imagine that you are rich and increased in goods and have
need of nothing–may you feel your deep necessities before God! May you
see how spiritual the Law of God is so that it touches your thoughts,
and your words and condemns you as much for these as for outward acts
of sin. When you once feel your sinnership, sweet will the Savior's
name be in your ears, and you will be drawn to the Cross because the
Crucified Savior is all that you need!
Further, thousands upon thousands have been effectually drawn to Christ
by seeing how graciously, how readily, how wondrously, how abundantly
He pardons as He hangs upon the tree. I cannot understand pardon as
coming directly from God apart from a Mediator. Jehovah, the Judge of
all the earth, is too high, too terrible, too glorious in holiness for
sinners to deal with Him absolutely. Our God is a consuming fire! When
He descends on Sinai the mountain smokes and melts as wax.
Behold, the whole earth trembles at His Presence–the pillars thereof
are dissolved! Before Him goes the pestilence, at His feet are coals of
fire. As He rides upon the wings of the wind He scatters from His
pavilion of clouds and darkness, hailstones and coals of fire. As for
His voice, it is thunder and the flash of His eyes are lightning. Who
can receive pardon from an absolute God? He is great and terrible and
will by no means clear the guilty. But when I see God in Christ, and
know that "in Him"–that Man who died upon the tree–"dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily," I can come to Him without fear! And
with holy joy I can seek for and receive perfect pardon–from that
bleeding hand I dare expect pardon!
I am bold to look for great pardon from so great a Savior suffering so
greatly. When I hear Him say to the dying thief, "Today shall you be
with Me in Paradise," I can hopefully sing–
"The dying thief rejoiced to see That Fountain in his day. And there
may I, though vile as he, Wash all my sins away!"
It becomes easy for the soul to understand how sin can be forgiven when
it sees how sin has been avenged in the Person of Jesus. O Sinners, my
Lord Jesus is able to forgive all manner of sins. "The blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." "All manner of sin and
blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men." "Come now, and let us reason
together, says the Lord: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as
wool." How blessed to hear these words preached from that unrivalled
pulpit, the Cross! How sweet to hear the dying lips proclaim abounding
mercy! How consoling to hear Him speak of the riches of Divine Grace
who said, "I thirst," and "Lama Sabacthani!" Oh, this is to be
attracted, indeed! This wondrous pardoning power of the Crucified
Redeemer is one of the master attractions of the Cross!
But I must not enlarge. One more particular must suffice. Have not many
of us been wonderfully drawn to the Gospel by the intense griefs and
agonies of Jesus? Beloved, when we see men in prosperity, it is natural
for us to envy. But it is equally natural for us to pity those who are
in suffering–and love is in the next degree to pity. So I doubt not
that when we have set forth Christ Jesus evidently crucified among you,
the gracious Spirit has moved many tender hearts first to pity, and
afterwards to love the bleeding Lamb! What a melting power there is in
Gethsemane! Can you view the bloody drops of sweat as they fall upon
the frozen soil and not feel that, in some degree, invisible but
irresistible cords are drawing you to Jesus?
Can you see Him flagellated in Pilate's hall, every thong of the
scourge tearing the flesh from His shoulders? Can you see Him as they
spit into His lovely face and mar His blessed visage, and not feel as
if you could gladly fall down and kiss His feet, and make yourself
forever His servant? And, lastly, can you behold Him hanging upon the
hill of Golgotha to die–can you mark Him as His soul is there
overwhelmed with the wrath of God, with the bitterness of sin, and with
a sense of utter desertion–can you sit down and watch Him there and
not be attracted to Him? Ah, I wish that more of you would feel so
attracted that you could resist no longer but would come at once and
give yourselves up to Him!
You may not feel that you could kiss the King upon His Throne, but will
you not kiss the King upon His Cross? You may revolt from Him when He
wields a rod of iron, but will you not touch the silver scepter held in
the bloodstained hands which bled for His enemies? O come here, sons
and daughters of men, and yield yourself to Sorrow's Lord! Daughters of
Jerusalem, come here as of old and weep both for Him and for
yourselves! O seek a portion in His sin-atoning death–a place in the
Heaven which His resurrection has opened!
Before I leave this point, I must observe, dear Friends, that it
renders my soul very great comfort to think that the attractive power
in my Crucified Lord does not lie in the eloquence of those who preach,
nor in the logic and power of persuasion of those who proclaim His
Gospel! Ah, poor fools that we are, when we preach we sometimes think
souls must be saved because we are fluent! And at another time we
suppose no good will be done because we spoke in great mental bondage.
But, it is not the man who tells the story, nor the style in which he
tells it–it is the tale itself which wins under God the Holy Spirit!
There is in the Cross itself a power. The Holy Spirit rests like a dove
upon that blood-stained tree and through Him saving Grace comes
streaming down to human hearts. It is not of man, neither by man, for
the attractions of Jesus crucified are as a dew from the Lord which
carries not for man, neither waits for the sons of men.
II. We proceed to enquire in WHAT DIRECTION DOES THE CROSS ATTRACT? In
one word–it attracts towards everything that is good and blessed. No
man was ever enticed to evil by a Crucified Savior. The emotions which
are properly excited in the soul by the doctrine of the Atonement, must
always be towards goodness. The preaching of the Cross does no
mischief. Its sacred stream bears no man towards the rock of ruin, but
its tendencies are everywhere and at all times towards man's best and
happiest estate.
Let us observe that the Cross of Christ draws men from despair to hope.
Many have been ready to die of despair because they have said, "There
is no salvation for me." To such as these the first beam of hope has
come through a Crucified Savior–they have stumbled upon that precious
soul-saving text, "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses from
all sin," and have been set at liberty! That text has opened the gate
of Heaven to many hundreds, and I do not doubt it will to thousands
more. They have seen how Jesus' suffering put aside the necessity of
our suffering for sin–and peace at once has bedewed the soul.
It is no mean thing to draw men away from despair, for despair is the
root of many sins. When a man says, "There is no hope," then he hunts
after sin like an eager hound after his game. To teach a man that there
is hope–that there is hope for him–is to give him a fair breeze
heavenward!, Jesus Crucified presents this to anxious souls. It
attracts men, in the next place, from fear to faith. They have been
accustomed to think of God with trembling, and to be constantly alarmed
at His Presence. Sin has become a burden, but they have not known how
to be delivered from it and have feared that they must bear it
forever–but the Savior lifted up upon the Cross inspires faith.
We think of Him, and as we think we believe! We meditate, and as we
meditate we trust! Confidence comes in by the way of Calvary. The means
of creating faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is the Cross
itself. God works faith in us, but it is through His dying Son. That
was a terrible scene in Edinburgh when those lofty houses were filled
with occupants who were unable to escape from the smothering smoke and
the spreading fire. Suppose a fire escape could have been brought to
the rescue, yet there is one thing the fire escape could not have done.
If these poor creatures had been too faint and stifled to get out of
the windows, it could not have lifted them onto itself and yet that
would have been one of the things required for their rescue.
But this the Gospel of Jesus does! It not only comes to men and says,
"Now I will save you, if you will get into Me," but it takes hold of a
man and puts him into itself–for Jesus Christ attracts men to
Himself–not only comes near enough to them for them to grasp Him, but,
as the magnet does with the iron, so Jesus lays hold on sinners'
hearts. Jesus Crucified conducts the man from dread to love. Before God
he stood shivering like a slave, crying, "How shall I escape from His
Presence? O that I had the wings of the morning that I might fly even
to the uttermost parts of the sea, or dive beneath Hell's darkest wave
that I might hide from the yet more terrible Hell of the glance of
God's fiery eyes!" But when he sees God reconciled in Jesus, then the
sinner sings–
"Till God in human flesh I see,
My thoughts no comfort find.
The holy, just, and sacred Three
Are terrors to my mind.
But if Immanuel's face appears,
My hope, my joy begins!
His name forbids my slavish fear,
His Grace removes my sins."
In this way the soul is led to love God. "We love Him because He first
loved us." Then the attractions of the Cross bring us up from sin to
obedience. When we are washed in the precious blood we feel grateful to
our Lord Jesus and we cannot live to sin. We are dead to it. We cannot
any longer take pleasure in that which cost Him His life. It is
impossible for us to count that sweet which we know was bitterness to
Him. "What will you have me to do?" becomes the question. We submit
ourselves with our whole heart to His gracious sway, and to run in the
way of His Commandments becomes our soul's delight.
Thus we are led constantly, also, by the Cross from self to Jesus.
Nothing will kill self like a sight of the Crucified. Lift up the
Savior and down self must go. High thoughts of Christ are always
attended by low thoughts of self and vice versa. Think much of
yourself? You will think little of the Savior! But a very low esteem of
our own merit brings a very high esteem of the merits of Christ–and it
is a blessed thing when self is wholly beaten down! It is a victory
which altogether is not won by us, I fear, till we lay down our bodies.
But if anything can hang up King Self upon the tree until the evening,
it is a sight of the tree upon which the Savior bled.
Finally the uplifted Redeemer draws us away from earth to Heaven. Earth
holds us fast–we cannot escape from its hold, but we feel a heavenward
drawing. It is Jesus Christ who is drawing us–that same Christ who has
gone up to the Throne after having trod the winepress. He daily
attracts us upward to Himself. Do you not feel His drawing? Oh, I think
you do! When the boy's kite goes up very high into the air and gets
into the clouds, he cannot see it. Yet he declares, "It is there." Why?
"Why," he says, "I can feel its pull." And we know the Lord Jesus
Christ is there–He that was crucified, for we can feel Him pull–we
can feel Him draw.
O that we could give ourselves wholly up to Him and mount towards Him!
I trust we have experienced some of that mounting, for He has "raised
us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places" in Him. We
know what the resurrection-life means. We do not forever grovel in
worldly cares and carnal thoughts, but sometimes, at least, we get up
into the higher atmosphere and have near and dear communion with the
Well-Beloved. Savior, draw us more and more!
We return to enquire with what order of power does the Savior lifted up
draw men? What are the characteristics and qualities of this power? In
brief, first of all, the power with which Christ draws us is, according
to the text, a very gentle power. "I, if I am lifted up, will draw all
men." Drawing is very different from driving. The way by which Jesus
leads His followers is by soft, gentle influences. "I will draw men."
The Law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. And the preaching of
the terrors of the Law are very useful in their way. But whenever a
sinner really comes to Christ, the last action is never a drive–it is
always a draw. The dove may have been driven part of the way to the ark
by the wind, but the last act of getting into the ark was when Noah put
out his hand and pulled the dove into the ark.
The real act which brings us into connection with Christ is always a
drawing act–an act of gentleness. Every converted man may say, when he
is converted, "Your gentleness has made me great." The heathen pictures
one of their goddesses in her chariot drawn by doves. Surely it is by
doves that we are drawn in the chariot of the Gospel towards the Lord
Jesus! How very gentle, though all but Omnipotent, is the influence of
the sun upon the earth and all the planets! How they constantly revolve
around and follow him in his wondrous march–yet you never feel that he
draws!
If you harness a horse to your chariot, he tugs and pulls by fits and
starts. But the father of lights draws all the ponderous planets along
their appointed ways, and yet there is not enough of a jar to shake an
aphid from a rosebud! So there is no noise in the loving drawing of the
Savior. Much of the fanaticism which comes with religious excitements
is not of God. The genuine dew of Heaven falls calmly–
"As in soft silence vernal showers Fall to refresh the fields and
flowers, So in sweet silence from above Drops the sweet influence of
His love."
Christ's drawings are gentle.
In the next place, observe that Christ's drawings are gracious, for is
it not of Grace that He should draw at all? If any of you were about to
give away bread to the poor and they would not come for it, I think you
would say, "Let them go without it." You would not attempt to bring
them to the feast. No, you would say, "It is good enough on my part to
be ready to relieve them. But if they will not come, then let their
starving be upon their own heads."
But see what Jesus does! He does not throw a life belt to poor drowning
men. Yes, he does–but he does more, for this life belt has the
wonderful quality of attracting the man unto itself so that though, at
first, he might be unwilling to be rescued–this mystic life belt
changes his will so that he is willing to be saved. But, next, Jesus
draws with a widespread power. "I will draw all men unto Me." Not every
man. Every man is not effectually drawn, for millions of men never
heard the name of Jesus Christ at all–but men of all sorts–"all men,"
that is Jews and Gentiles. It is an "all" signifying all sorts of men.
And what a wonderful thing it is that the Cross of Christ does draw all
men!
Many thought it never could draw the "roughs"–the harlots the street
Arabs–but there have been found for Christ some of His mightiest
trophies among the lowest of the low! Nor should we think that the
Cross cannot attract the rich, and that it is of little use putting the
Gospel before the fashionable classes. Ah, do not tell us this! There
is a boundless power in the Cross of Christ. If we preach it to kings
and princes, we need not be ashamed. If we could have a parliament of
men who were as bad as devils, as proud as Pharaoh, and as furious as
Saul of Tarsus–if we preached Christ Crucified to them–it would not
be in vain!
This attraction has, in the fourth place, an effectual power, for Jesus
Christ, in His own elect ones, draws most effectually. I said very
gently, but none the less mightily because of the gentleness! The
swallows fly across the sea to distant lands. Did you ever feel the
influence which attracts them? It is not perceptible by the most
delicate of instruments and yet how effectual it is! They cannot lag
behind when the time has come. See how they twitter over the gables of
our houses and leave those neatly built habitations beneath our eaves.
Many a weary mile lies the goal of their pilgrimage across the sea, but
there they go! A mysterious influence draws them and He who thus draws
the swallow to other lands, and guides it in its flight, draws men to
the Cross so that they never rest till they have left their haunts of
sin and come to live where Jesus Christ distributes peace!
I will add, for the comfort of some who are here, that Jesus Christ
draws today with a present power. "I, if I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto Me." That means that He is drawing them NOW! He
does not say that He will, sometimes. He draws now! Oh, I know not whom
He may be drawing, but I do trust He is drawing some of you! Here I
stand with the Gospel to preach to you like one with a magnet in his
hand. Now, do I know who are God's elect? I do not, but I shall soon
find out! Are you not like a great heap of steel filings and ashes
mixed together? I cannot separate you, neither need I put the filings
on this side and ashes on the other! I have only to thrust in the
magnet and the division will be effectually made.
Jesus Crucified is the great discriminator! His Atonement is the great
detector of God's elect! The Gospel reveals the eternal purpose. If God
intends to save you, you will fly to His dear Son. If you are left to
perish, it will be because of your own willfulness in neglecting the
Savior and turning your back upon the fountain which cleanses from all
sin. Jesus draws today, and Jesus will draw still. Happy days are
coming when He will draw more mightily, when they shall run unto Him!
Even multitudes that knew Him not shall run unto Him, because of the
Holy One of Israel who has magnified Him. "He shall see of the travail
of His soul, and shall be satisfied."
Dear Savior, this morning
"Draw reluctant hearts!
To You let sinners fly, And taste the bliss Your love imparts, And
drink and never die."
The lessons to be drawn from the whole we will give you in two or three
words. First, to Believers working for Christ. Learn from the text that
if you would win souls you must draw them rather than drive them. Very
few people are bullied into Heaven! The way to bring men to Jesus
Christ is not by rough words, and dark looks, and continually warning
them–but rather by gentle invitations. Tenderly as a nurse with her
child must we seek to win souls.
In the second place, if we would win souls, Jesus Christ must be our
great attraction. In the class in the Sunday school, visiting from
house to house, or elsewhere, we must keep close to the text, and the
text must be the Cross. I must confess there is a very great sweetness
to my soul in preaching about Christ. I hope it is never a weariness to
preach any part of Divine Truth. But oh, it is delight itself to preach
up the Master! Then we have to deal with the kernel of the matter. When
we preach Jesus Christ, oh, then we are not putting out the plates and
the knives and the forks for the feast– we are handing out the bread
itself!
Now we are not, as it were, working in the field at the hedging and the
ditching and the sowing, but we are gathering the golden sheaves and
bringing the harvest home. If we want a hundredfold harvest we must sow
seed which was steeped in the blood of Cavalry! And, dear Friends, if
you want to be drawn nearer to Christ yourselves, do not go to Moses to
help you, but get to Christ! Go to Christ to get to Christ. "I, if I am
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men"–where?–"unto Me." Jesus
draws to Himself! Remember, you have never experienced the fullness of
the drawing unless you are drawn to Christ. If you are only drawn to
holiness, or drawn to a Church, or to good experiences you have not
obtained the fullness and soul of the matter. You must be drawn to
Christ–right away from ordinances and everything else–till you get
into His bosom. Then you wall have found the summum bonum! Then you
will have reached that which Christ would have you obtain–that for
which He died that you might obtain when He, on the tree was lifted
up–that He might draw you unto Himself.
And now, Sinner, if you would come to Jesus, let the text whisper a
comfortable word in your ear. He must draw you! Think much upon His
death. Turn, this afternoon, to those chapters in the Evangelists where
His death is recorded. Picture that dying Savior to yourself, and ask
yourself, "Is this anything to me? Have I a share in it?" Then cover
your face with your hands, and kneel down and cry, "O God, be merciful
to me a sinner! Wash me in the precious blood." Before long you shall
feel that the precious Christ has drawn you to Himself and that you are
saved! The Lord bless you for Jesus' sake. Amen.
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A Song at the Wellhead
A sermon