The Great Attraction

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John 12:31-33

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.…

1. Christ's death must have seemed to His apostles an unmitigated misfortune; but He showed them that it was really the most hopeful of all points in His history.

2. The text must be illustrated by doctrines that are concealed in it, and facts with which it is connected. The prince of darkness enticed poor foolish man to his destruction as fish are taken by the bait, birds lured by decoys, barques wrecked by false lights or sucked into the whirlpool. Christ came to produce a counter attraction. But men stood at a distance from their best Friend; but since man does not come of himself, even when he perceives the gracious errand of Jesus, He condescends to attract him, and that by means of the Cross.

I. WHAT IS THE ATTRACTION OF JESUS CRUCIFIED? It lies in that which some count its weakness and reproach. Certain preachers have missed all in forgetting this. Socinians have fondly dreamed that His holy life will provide the attraction. Such has not proved to be the case. Nor has the millennial glory of Christ proved attractive; but men have been drawn to the Cross —

1. By the disinterested love there manifested. "Scarcely for a righteous man," etc.

2. By the satisfaction there rendered to justice, through which pardon is provided, and may be accepted honourably.

3. By its exact suitability to man's necessities — thirsty, here is living water; naked, here is a robe of righteousness; vile, here it a fountain; lost, here is salvation.

4. By its agonies, the culmination of all previous sorrows.

II. IN WHAT DIRECTION DOES THE CROSS ATTRACT.

1. From despair to hope.

2. From fear to faith.

3. From dread to love.

4. From sin to obedience.

5. From self to Jesus.

6. From earth to heaven.

III. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS AND QUALITIES OF THIS POWER.

1. Gentle.

2. Gracious.

3. Wide.

4. Effectual.

5. Present.

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