If I Be Lifted Up, I'll Draw all Men to Me (communion)

The point: If you are a true believer, you should be able to say with Paul, 'God forbid that I should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.'

The combined political and religious systems (Jewish and Roman) putting incarnate God on the cross as a common criminal illustrates how the world judged itself and showed its true colors.

When this system, this world system had incarnate deity in its hands, what did it do with it? When it had incarnate deity in its hands, what did it do? The combined political and religious systems, the Jewish and the Roman powers, that were of this world, put the incarnate God upon the cross as though he were a common criminal of the lowest class of society. And in so doing, the world has judged itself.

13:23 - 14:05 Read in full sermon

The point: For those reared in Christian homes, the 'acid test' is whether Jesus has drawn you to Himself as the crucified one, so that He has unrivaled affection in your heart.

The imperceptible transition from night to day at sunrise, yet the undeniable presence of the sun overhead, is used to illustrate how some conversions may not have a precise crisis point but are evident by the 'sun of righteousness' having risen in the heart.

As Jesus drawn you to himself, so that as the crucified one, there's no one who has a close second in your affections. And if God brought you there in a way that's imperceptible, like the rising of the sun, when does the night end and the day begin? At what precise point? I don't know.

35:00 - 35:26 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men not to my cross or to my cross work, but to myself as crucified.

The parables of the merchant seeking goodly pearls and the man finding treasure in a field are used to illustrate that whenever the kingdom of God comes in saving power, Christ is always seen as supremely valuable.

We are remembering the Lord's death in the context of remembering his person. And may God grant that as we come to the table, if he has never become to you what he says he will always become when the spirit of God is ushering anyone into the kingdom. Those two parables, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant seeking goodly pearls, who when he finds one precious pearl sells all that he has that he may obtain it. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who finds a treasure in the field, and he sells all that he has to get enough capital to buy the field that he might have the treasure.

38:15 - 38:58 Read in full sermon