The Power of the Cross
Right now, there's something about sports that is attractive. Recently, there have been championship hockey games, and baseball games are coming down the line. Basketball–all very exciting.
Have you ever watched people when they watch sports? Their eyes are glued to the TV, and you hate to be the guy who happens to walk in front of it. You ever notice that? "Get out of the way! Get out!" Right?
There's something about sports that is attractive. I don't know what it is–the excitement, maybe the action, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. I don't know what it is, but something about it draws the attention of men.
The Cross That Draws All Men
In John 12:32, John quotes Jesus as saying something very interesting. Jesus says,
And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
- John 12:32
The idea is that when Jesus is crucified, He will attract people to Himself. You see, in making disciples, in becoming Christians, it isn't the church, it isn't the Bible, and it isn't your good lives that draw people to Jesus Christ. You may point the way, and the Bible explains it, but it is the cross of Jesus Christ that actually draws men to Him.
Today we're going to try to answer the question: What is it about the cross of Jesus Christ that draws people to Him?
The Cross Is Like a Magnet
The cross of Jesus Christ is like a magnet. It has the power to draw people to Jesus. What is that power? What is the magnetism? What is it about the cross that makes you and me–and millions and millions of people for the last 2,000 years–drop everything and follow Jesus Christ?
I'd like to share a few reasons.
1. The Cross Offers Redemption
People are attracted to the cross of Christ because when they see it, they see their own redemption.
Whether people admit it or not, they carry around an enormous load of guilt. It's like a bag of 100 pounds of rocks on their back. And that's not surprising–because people are guilty.
The Bible says in Romans 3:23,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
- Romans 3:23
God knows that people sin. And because of sin, people feel guilty. That guilt creates anxiety, which creates fear, which creates depression. It becomes a vicious cycle.
People try many ways to unload their guilt. The imagination span on dealing with guilt is very wide. But when they hear the gospel–like Peter in Acts 2:38 saying, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins"–it's like the light comes on.
"Hey, there's somewhere I can go with my guilt."
The cross offers a real solution.
In Romans 8:1, Paul says,
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
- Romans 8:1
That's good news. When you mess up, isn't it good to know there's no condemnation for those in Christ?
Every other method man invents to deal with guilt doesn't remove the problem. People escape through drugs, sex, fame–trying a hundred different ways to escape the crushing burden. It's like putting a bandage on cancer. The guilt always comes back.
But the cross of Jesus Christ is like a hook. You take your big bag of sins and hang them there. It's the place where you unload your burden.
In I Peter 2:24, Peter explains:
and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
- I Peter 2:24
There is no other hook in the world where you can hang your guilt.
2. The Cross Creates a Desire for Righteousness
The second attraction of the cross is that it gives us the desire for righteousness.
The cross has the power to create in a person the love of what is right. Even though a man cannot achieve perfection, because of the cross he now desires to move in that direction.
No law can produce desire. You can force someone to behave, but you cannot force someone to want to do right. The government could pass a law demanding everyone desire what's good–but you can't legislate the heart.
But the cross changes the heart.
When we see Jesus die, be buried, and resurrected, we see perfect goodness in action. We see perfect love, perfect justice, perfect mercy. When that perfection is revealed to us, we are drawn toward it.
Just as the devil tempts us to do wrong, God puts before us perfection and encourages us to do right.
Many things in this world can change our minds or attitudes. But only the cross of Jesus Christ can change our hearts.
3. The Cross Is a Witness of Love
There is a third attraction to the cross: it is a witness of love.
The age group with the highest number of suicides is adolescents under 21. That's tragic. Many struggle with low self-esteem. Somewhere along the line, they began believing they were not okay. Not loved. Not wanted.
Those ideas settle deep in the subconscious and begin controlling the conscious mind. People grow up anxious, depressed, and believing they are worthless. And the cycle continues generation after generation.
But when someone sees the cross of Jesus Christ, they see love.
They see a man crucified for others saying, "Father, forgive them." And we say, "He loves me. He died for me."
When no one cared about me, God cared about me.
John 3:16 says:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
- John 3:16
The cross is like turning over the price tag–and it says "Free." For free. That's hard for people to believe. But that is the attraction of the cross.
The Power of the Cross in Personal Life
Paul says in Romans 1:16 that he is not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation. The power of the gospel is the cross.
The cross:
- Redeems me.
- Redirects my heart.
- Restores my worth.
I am somebody because the cross of Jesus Christ was there for me.
This is not just religious talk. This is what I personally believe. This is what the cross has done for me.
The Cross Must Have Power in You
Now the question becomes: What about you? Does the cross of Jesus Christ have power in your life?
If you are not experiencing its transforming power now, you will not experience it later. It must begin now. For the cross to have power, Jesus had to die on it. And in order for the cross to have power in our lives, we must die on it too–not physically, but spiritually.
Romans 6 explains this. We die to sin through repentance. We are buried with Christ in baptism. We rise as new people.
For the cross to continue having power in our lives, we must:
- Think the cross – through study and prayer.
- Share the cross – through communion and worship.
- Proclaim the cross – tell others about it.
- Carry the cross daily – struggle against sin every day.
Jesus said:
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
- Matthew 16:24
That is the prayer–that you will pick up your cross every day and follow Jesus, so that the cross will have power in your life.
