Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
THE MAGNETISM OF THE CROSS
John 12:32, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."
The government of Polish Prime Minister Jaruzelski (an avowed Communist and the man who declared martial law in an attempt to crush the freedom seeking Solidarity Movement in the 1980’s) had ordered crucifixes removed from classroom walls, just as they had been banned in factories, hospitals, and other public institutions. Catholic bishops attacked the ban that had stirred waves of anger and resentment all across Poland. Ultimately the government relented, insisting that the law remain on the books, but agreeing not to press for removal of the crucifixes, particularly in the schoolrooms.
But one zealous Communist school administrator in Garwolin decided that the law was the law. So one evening he had seven large crucifixes removed from lecture halls where they had hung since the school’s founding in the twenties. Days later, a group of parents entered the school and hung more crosses. The administrator promptly had these taken down as well.
The next day two-thirds of the school’s six hundred students staged a sit-in. When heavily armed riot police arrived, the students were forced into the streets. Then they marched, crucifixes held high, to a nearby church where they were joined by twenty-five hundred other students from nearby schools for a morning of prayer in support of the protest. Soldiers surrounded the church. But the pictures from inside of students holding crosses high above their heads flashed around the world. So did the words of the priest who delivered the message to the weeping congregation that morning. "There is no Poland without a cross."
In the United States, we have followed the same path as the Socialist/Communist government of Poland: we have removed prayer from our schools or any public gathering other than the church and many churches don’t have prayer anymore; we have removed the 10 commandments from every public building; we have taken down the cross from every public building. The well-armed police of our land will forcibly remove those objects if we attempt to keep them and cast those who try to oppose them into jail cells.
The thing that amazes me is: where are those who will hold up the cross and march to the church to pray in protest of the removal of our freedoms to worship and lift up Jesus Christ and the cross? We call our nation a “Christian” nation and we have less Christianity than the citizens of Poland. The same statement holds true for America, “There is no America without the cross!”
Jesus was at the end of His earthly ministry. He had just entered the city of Jerusalem riding upon the donkey as people threw and waved palm branches in his path. He was welcomed and praised as a conquering hero for many believed that He was come to set up His earthly reign and cast out the Roman occupational forces.
Now Jesus knows that the single greatest event in history of man is about to be happen. All of history, from the beginning of creation and the fall in the Garden of Eden, to the end time events and the last great Battle at Armageddon, will be focused upon the Crucifixion of Jesus upon an old wooden cross.
All throughout history and even in our own time, the central focus of the entire world is upon the cross of Christ! Every news event comes across the screen of your television set triggers a reaction based upon what we believe about the cross. Mankind, perhaps without knowing it, always reacts according their acceptance or rejection of the price that Jesus paid upon the cross. Every action that we take, good or bad, is a result of our belief or unbelief in Jesus as Master and Lord.
Jesus’ words, “if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me” are fulfilled in the hearts and lives of men and women everyday.
1. Some focus upon the cross through eyes of worship and love for the Lord who hung there and paid the debt of our sin.
As people who love God, we are constantly reminded of the price that Jesus paid for our sin. We believe that He is God and that He is our loving Savior. That’s why we come to church, read our Bibles, pray and do our best to live a sanctified life that we hope will be pleasing to the Lord.
Our hearts, minds and eyes are drawn to the cross and it is an image and a sacrifice that we can never fathom completely.
Every day, we think of what Jesus did and we cannot help but thank Him! Every time a new atrocity or another battle happens in the world, our thoughts go immediately to the fact that Jesus is coming soon and that there is little time left to spread the gospel.
Our whole purpose in living and breathing is to serve the Lord and do His will for our lives.
Our whole focus for the future is centered upon the hope of being in Heaven and in the presence of the One who died for us upon that cross. The greatest joy we have in this life is when we see another soul come to Christ and the greatest joy we will ever know is being in the realms of glory with every born again child of God and with the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity.
Jesus was lifted up on that cross for all the world to see but not everyone who looks upon that cross sees it in the same fashion as those who accept Jesus as their Savior!
2. Some men look upon the cross through eyes of unbelief and hatred.
Sadly, the vast majority of mankind does not look upon the cross as a symbol and sacrifice for their deliverance. They look upon the cross and the Savior as a symbol of power to control their lives when they don’t want to be controlled.
Man wants to be his own god. He wants to choose his own way without the interference of some higher power that dictates what is right or wrong, just or unjust. Man hates anything or anyone that places a limit or restriction upon his will to sin. Man hates and rejects anything that reminds him that he is not god after all.
We must realize, that even in his rejection and denial of the death of Jesus upon the cross, man is still focused upon the cross. Jesus’ words are still true even for those who reject Him. Even the unsaved are drawn like a magnet to the cross for God wants every man to see what He has done and have a chance to be saved.
I’m reminded of the commercials we see on TV about the “bug zapper”. A bug is doing the backstroke as fast as he can and yet he is drawn into the “light” of the zapper as he cries out “I can’t help it!”
That’s the way the soul of man is drawn to the “True Light” as He hangs upon that cross. The cross of Christ has a magnetism attached to it. The Holy Spirit catches every one of us, grabs hold of our heart with the power of God, pulls us toward the Cross while we are kicking screaming and scratching, trying to hold on the things of this world, and drags us right up to the foot of the cross, forces our eyes to look upon Jesus, and then says, “WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH JESUS?”
Like a magnet draws iron filings to its powerful grip, so does the Cross draw the attention of every heart to either accept or reject the Savior and his death!
3. Some look upon the cross and cry out in love for the One who died for them.
They realize that man has killed God’s own son and the thought of man being so deprived, so filled with hatred, so in love with the powers of darkness that we could ever do such a thing is beyond belief and comprehension. We can see that now, from our perspective as a Christian, but before we accepted Christ’s sacrifice and allowed Him to be our Savior, we were just like the rest of the world giving little thought to who Jesus was and what He did for us.
4. Some men look upon the cross and feel disgust.
Most of the people who see the Cross do not see the salvation that is offered. To them, the cross is a symbol only of judgment and death. They hate to be reminded of their sin and they cannot understand the power of salvation that is connected to the death of a criminal upon a cross.
The real meaning of the cross can only be seen and understood through the eyes of the Spirit in a heart that is prepared to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Those whose hearts are not ready to repent or whose spiritual eyes are blinded by sin and who still love that sin, will never be able to see the cross for what it really is. To them it is an event that happened long ago and they would just as soon forget about it.
But God, in His mercy and grace, grabs hold of their attention for a moment in time to bring their eyes to look upon the cross so that they will never have an excuse for rejecting His sacrifice. They too, are drawn by the magnetic power of the cross to see the price that Jesus paid and then to accept or reject it.
Jesus’ words, “If I shall be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” carry an even deeper meaning than the cross, for if the story had ended at His death upon the cross there would still be no eternal life or victorious life in Christ for any of us.
Jesus was lifted up, first, to the cross – there He suffered and died, taking upon Him the sin of the whole world. He willingly gave His life as a sacrifice of love for each of us.
Jesus was lifted up secondly, from the grave - if there had been no resurrection from the dead, what hope would the death of the cross have given to us? It’s only because Jesus raised His own body from the dead by His own power that any of us can have the hope of eternal life. If there had been no resurrection, how much meaning would be attached to a dead God who didn’t have the power to come back to life again? It would have meant no more than the death of any hero of the faith, or any other man!
Because Jesus was lifted up to the cross, then lifted from the grave – all men are drawn toward that power of resurrection! Even those who reject Jesus as God are still influenced and drawn by the power of resurrection! Some believe in reincarnation, others believe in the eventual salvation of every man regardless of how sinful they live, but all believe that this life is not all there is.
The Hindus believe that they will be reincarnated as a cow, a bug, a chicken or some other form of life depending upon how good they have been in their past lives.
The Muslim essentially believes that he can obtain eternal life by defending Allah and that giving his life in defense of the teaches of Allah will guarantee his way into Heaven.
Men of science and evolution, in essence, believe that all life has a force that will never be destroyed and that to go from this life only frees energy to be evolved into another form and your life force will continue on forever in some form or another.
Every man is drawn by the power of magnetism that belongs to the Resurrection of Christ for it has given us hope of continuing into a better realm and living forever.
Jesus is lifted up thirdly, to heaven and the eternal throne – it is in this glorious state that Jesus now has completed His work as Savior and is seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven signifying his position of power and authority. He is God, He is Lord, He is master, and not can stand before Him.
Mankind can shake his fist into the face of God all he wants; he can turn away in disgust from the bloody sacrifice upon the cross; he can deny the provision for his salvation; he can manipulate the truth and even deny the power of the resurrection; he can even deny that Jesus exists as God at this very moment; but there will come a time when every man is drawn like a magnet to the cross, to the death and resurrection, and then to the very throne of the Lord Jesus Christ and forced to recognize that Jesus is Lord!
Romans 14:11, "For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."
Philippians 2:10, "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;"
One day, very soon, every human being, every demon, every power of darkness, every living soul, even Satan, and every angel of Heaven shall also be drawn by the magnetism of the cross and the power of God and every knee will bow before the Lord Jesus Christ in recognition of His power and majesty as very God. Every tongue shall speak forth and confess, even beyond their will, that Jesus is Lord, Master, Savior and God.
Every tongue shall speak, but not every heart will be changed. Their confession will be one that brings ultimate condemnation for they will now confess that they rejected the only one who could save their soul and they are now eternally condemned.
For those who have been drawn by the Cross and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, this will be a time that is reminiscent of the days of old when the ensigns or colors of commanders of regiments, were elevated on high places, on long poles, that the soldiers of each legion might see where the pavilion of their general was, and so flock to his standard and be reformed to be ready for the fight ahead.
For those who have rejected the cross – the cross will be lifted before them also but they will drawn toward it, not be prepared for victory, but to be eternally condemned as slaves.
In conclusion, I want to point out that the cross is still drawing the focus of men today! Even though we may not want to accept it or recognize it, we are still influenced by the cross in so powerful a way.
The biggest problem we have today is that we have changed or watered down the gospel message so that the message of the cross is lost. The power of the cross of Christ has not been changed but our message has changed so that men do not see their need for the cross so badly.
A. W. Tozer said, “The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it.”
There was time when the preaching of the cross brought conviction upon the sinful heart of man for he knew, without a doubt, that unless he repented of his sin, accepted Jesus as his Savior and allowed the Lord to be the Master of his heart and life, that he would split hell wide open and dwell in the Lake of Fire for all eternity. I want to tell you that this is the way men, living in sin, ought to feel when they hear the message of the cross.
In our day we don’t hear much about the cross anymore. We hear every other kind of message you can name: healing, love, deliverance (I don’t know how without the cross), self-esteem, forgiveness (again I don’t know how without the cross), faith, prosperity, etc.
The true message of the cross has been lost in entertaining the thought that we need to make people feel good instead of bringing them under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I want you to know that you can “feel good” all the way to hell for none of these messages can bring you salvation.
God has promised you that He would lift you up but only if you humble yourself first!
James 4:10, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
God has promised you prosperity, but only as much as your relationship with Him grows stronger and your salvation is assured through the power of the cross!
3 John 1:2, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth."
God has promised you an entertaining and wonderful, fulfilled life, but only if it is lived according to His will and not your own!
John 10:10, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
God has promised you salvation, deliverance, healing, forgiveness of sin and every other good thing, but it can only come through the magnetic power of the Cross, and our acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice upon that cross and His death, burial and resurrection!
