THE MAGNETISM OF THE CROSS

JOHN 12:3

A. "AND IF I BE LIFTED UP FROM THE EARTH, WILL DRAW ALL MEN UNTO ME"
  1. A more unlikely prophecy than this was ever addressed to human ears:
    1. When the words were spoken it might well seem that the ministry of Jesus had ended in failure
    2. He had proclaimed His divine message, and it had fallen by enlarge on deaf ears
    3. He had performed mighty deeds, and they only credited Him with the help of Beelzebub
  2. What greater thing would He do:
    1. To change unbelief into faith?
    2. To transmute indifference into devotion and hatred into love? B. THE MAGNETISM OF THE CROSS
  3. The great paradox of the ages:
    1. "A stumbling block to the Jews" - I Cor. 1:23; Gal. 5:11
    2. "And unto the Greeks foolishness" - I Cor. 1:23; 2:14; Acts 26:24
    3. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, "Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" - I Cor. 1:24,30
  4. The great magic of the cross:
    1. It's tragedy - the sufferings and the death of Christ arrest our attention and claim our deep sympathy as the most tragic event in history
    2. Upon this earth there appeared once a teacher who proclaimed divine and human love; He devoted His time and energy to alleviate the suffering of men; He exposed sin and pointed out God's remedy for sin; yet, He was rejected of men, and nailed to the despised cross of Calvary!
    3. This and this alone, must be the magnetism of the universe in all eternity
  5. The discovery of the cross:
    1. The sufferings and death of Christ have taken their place in history as the occasion and means of a stupendous discovery
    2. The cross of Calvary stands out memorable as the spot on which the human mind became assured of the certainty of the most sublime and important of all religious truths seen by men and angels
    3. And that sublime truth is that "God is love"; never, never did the love of God shine brighter than when the Son of God hung on that shameful cross of Calvary C. LET US IN CLOSING NOTE HOW THE DEATH OF CHRIST SERVES AS A REVELATION OF THE LOVE OF GOD
  6. In the first place:
    1. We can read the mind of the giver in the nature of His gift
    2. Consider the gift of God in the person of His only begotten Son - John 3:16
    3. Note the nature of that gift; it was holy, undefiled, without spot - Heb. 7:26
    4. Note the measure of the Divine gift - the depth it measured "For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" - 2 Cor. 5:21
    5. Writes Paul, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree" - Gal. 3:13; Deut. 21:23
  7. But there is still another revelation of God in the cross of Calvary:
    1. That God was in Christ reconciling us to himself by Jesus Christ" - 2 Cor. 5:19
    2. This explains the divine attitude of the Son of man on the cross "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do" - Luke 23:34
    3. The divine fight of forgiveness found its highest expression in the gift of the cross in the person of the penitent their of the cross Luke 23:42-44
    4. This divine revelation of the love of God was attested to by the witness of the Roman officer when he exclaimed "Truly this was the Son of God" - Matt. 27:54
  8. The efficiency of the cross:
    1. It made the forgiveness of sin an eternal experience - Eph. 2:14-16
    2. It made the final and eternal defeat of evil a living reality - Heb. 2:14-16
    3. And finally, it assures the gift of eternal life to all who center their hope in the great event of the cross of Calvary
    4. These and many other marvelous discoveries center in the cross of Calvary


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