Rev. Donald MacFarlane*
The piece below is an extract from a sermon, entitled “Christ Drawing All Sorts,” on the text, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me,” (John 12:32). The sermon may be found in Sermons on the Love of God and Cognate Themes. This book was republished in 1986 by Free Presbyterian Publications under the title, Sermons – Rev. Donald MacFarlane, and is available from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom, Glasgow.
THE effect of Christ being lifted up is that all men shall be drawn unto Him. “I will draw all men unto Me.” “All men” here does not mean every individual of the human race, for in the past it is evident that many of the human race have not been drawn to Christ. The promise is absolute, there is no condition to it, and therefore it shall be fulfilled without fail. By “all men” here we are to understand all sorts of men, Gentiles as well as Jews. The context leads us to this view. There were certain Greeks, or Gentiles, who desired to see Jesus, and He told the two disciples, Philip and Andrew, that after His death and resurrection, He would draw all sorts of men throughout the world to Him – black and white, bond and free, sinners of every description, even the chief of sinners. He would draw to Himself all for whom He died.
Those who hold the false doctrine of the “larger hope” quote this passage of Scripture in support of their error. They hold that those who died in their sins, and were cast into hell shall be brought, after a period of suffering, from the place of perdition and brought to heaven by Him who says, “I will draw all men unto Me.” I heard a minister pray and say in the course of his prayer, “All spirits are united to God, and He will bring all these to be with Him in heaven.” Those who hold the “larger hope” say, not only men who are in hell, but also the devil and his angels, shall be brought to heaven by Christ, but these false teachers shall never be in heaven unless they are brought to repentance during their lifetime on earth. Their “larger hope” shall then disappear, and everlasting despair shall take its place.
In drawing sinners to Himself, there is a putting forth of effectual power on the part of Christ, and a willingness on the part of those drawn.
* Rev. Donald MacFarlane (1834 – 1926), one of the founding fathers of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, was called as minister to Moy, 1879; to Kilmallie, 1888; to Raasay, 1893; and to Dingwall, 1903.
He does not say that He will drag them against their will, but that He will draw them. He will renew their wills, and make them willing in the day of His power to come to Him.
The drawing of sinners to Christ is ascribed to the Father as well as to the Son, as He told the Jews who would not come to Him, “Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6: 43,44).
There are many attractions in Christ calculated to draw sinners to Him. “He is the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His Person.” He is fairer than the sons of men, the chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely. He is merciful and gracious, and His wonderful condescension in dying for sinners ought to melt the most callous sinners, and constrain them to come to Him.
In drawing sinners to Him, He quickens them by His Spirit, for no dead man will come to Him. He draws them to Him, by the effectual work of the Holy Spirit, through the means of the word of the Gospel.
The word of the Gospel is necessary to the salvation of adult sinners. None such can or will come to Christ, although some people say, without Scripture warrant, that the heathen may be saved without the word of the Gospel. Faith in Christ is necessary in order to be saved. The Apostle Paul shows the impossibility of believing in Christ without hearing of Him in the word of the Gospel. “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?” And he concludes his argument by saying: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:14,15,17).
In his Epistle to the Ephesians, 2nd chapter, he reminds those to whom he writes of their condition before the word of the Gospel came to them: that they were then without hope, and without God in the world (verse 12). In his first Epistle to the Thessalonians written to men who were originally heathen but were now true believers in Christ, he tells them that the change was effected by means of the word of the Gospel which came to them. “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance” (1 Thes. 1:5). The effect of the Gospel coming to them in this manner was that they “turned from idols to serve the living God.” It is the testimony of missionaries who went to preach the Gospel to the heathen who never heard the Gospel before, that they never saw the heathen turn from idols to serve the living God before they heard the Gospel. We are therefore warranted to conclude that the Gospel is
necessary as a means of drawing sinners to Christ.
Christ will draw all men whom He saves into union with Himself, secondly, into conformity to His image, thirdly, into fellowship with Himself, and fourthly, to be with Him where He is in heaven. This was His last petition in His intercessory prayer on earth, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am: that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).
In conclusion, what think ye of the glorious Person that was lifted up from the earth? Have you been drawn unto Him, or are you still as far away from Him as you have been before the Gospel came to you? If you continue to the end in that deplorable condition, you will perish forever. We are all hastening on to the world of eternity. There are two places in that world – heaven and hell. Those who have been drawn to Christ shall go to heaven when they leave this world, while those who die without Christ shall be cast into hell, to be tormented forever, with the devil and his angels.
A good number of the Lord’s people were removed by death from our congregation during the last thirteen years. These are now, so far as their souls are concerned, with Christ where He is, and their bodies, though in the grave, being still united to Christ, shall be raised up at the resurrection, glorious bodies, reunited to their souls, to be made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.
Oh! how they shall ascribe in a sweet song the glory of their salvation to the Son of God who died for them, and to the Father who sent His only-begotten Son to redeem them by His humiliation unto death, and to the Holy Spirit who quickened them when they were dead in trespasses and sins, and who worked faith in them to believe in Christ. They shall sing their song of praise under a deep sense of their obligation to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.