TEXT: John 12:32-33
READING: Isaiah 11:1-16
SUBJ: The ability of Christ to draw men to Himself and the attraction to the cross witnessed in those who come.
AIM: That we may ever be directed by the Holy Spirit to look to the cross for all our supply and behold the beauty of the One Who hung there and to be so attracted to Him.
INTR: Where true faith is, the cross is never out of sight, and such is the case throughout all the world.
1. We note first the prominence of the death of Christ throughout scripture.
2. Consider its placement in the history of redemption – note that in v. 20 certain Greeks had come seeking for Him. This was part of His response to that report. Consider the answer that He gave to these two Apostles.
3. It is in understanding the function of the death of Christ that we understand how hopeless and undeserving sinners can be justified. Where there is a sense of just condemnation there is an unmistakable drawing to Him.
THESIS: The cross is the effectual means of justifying sinners and all who will be saved and all who are saved experience an irresistible drawing to Him.
I. The fact of “drawing” as an integral part of the conversion process.
1. The declaration here of “I will” is that of a determined Sovereign and a committed Savior.
2. The thought of drawing here is not of mere enticement – the thought is of literally or figuratively “dragging.” (Used also in John 6:44) – Other places in a negative context.
3. This is that sovereign exercise of the will of God wherein depraved men are so hostile as to lift Him up and God turns that same act of repulsion into the drawing of salvation.
4. It was not in question (“if I be lifted up”) rather Gill suggests the words “when I am lifted up.”
5. His death was (1) determined by God (2) agreed to by Christ (3) predicted by the scriptures (4) signified by the types (5) foretold by Christ Himself.
II. The means of this drawing – “I will”
1. We must never lose sight of the force of “I will.” It appears to us in two ways.
2. First, we consider: No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:44).
1) It is said here that the Father draws and now both Father and Son are agents in this drawing.
2) We note here that this drawing results in salvation – “I will raise him up.”
3) Consider the mysterious though unmentioned agency of the Holy Spirit as derived from John 3 and compare: Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (1 Corinthians 2:12).
4) What Christ declared concerning this drawing to Himself was the exclusive appointed means of coming to Him. THERE WAS TO BE NO FAILURE.
5) The universal interest in the cross is manifested here in that many are offended, but many like the Greeks are attracted from every nation. This does not mean all without exception.
3. The second thought here is that through the revealing of Himself men consciously find the reasons of being drawn.
III. The experience of being drawn
1. A matter of desire: Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. (Song of Solomon 1:4).
1) The beautiful expressions of the “drawings” of love are seen throughout this beautiful book.
2) It is summarized in the thought of the Bride: My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. (Song of Solomon 2:16).
2. It will happen because He has ordained it to be so.
3. Yet, there is a knowing experience that is mysterious and unexplainable in human terms.
1) It goes against the flow of human wisdom.
2) It eclipses all other senses of necessity on the part of the comer to Christ.
3) It is a matter of affection: “O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me.”
4) And hear Doddridge: “He drew me, and I followed on, charmed to confess the voice divine.”
4. Consider the things that draw us to Him as He is lifted up.
1) Greater love than men have known.
i. Determination and endurance
ii. His quiet acceptance of what was to be done.
2) His righteousness in accepting for sinners the just punishment without complaint.
3) The peace that He obtained with the Father in His suffering.
4) The conquest of sin that would bring death.
5) Full redemption and the sense that we have been bought at such a price as He paid and that He has claimed us as His own in a loving possession.
