his

Christ lifted up for drawing and also for healing! Oh, prove power, plead his word. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me;" "for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame," and he shall "see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied." Shall it not be here to-day, dear friends?

There is yet another result of Christ's being lifted up, spoken of in Eph. i. 20-22, "God raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church." And, in Phil. ii. 9-11, after his marvellous descent into death, we read, "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." He is lifted up, then, to save, to heal, to draw; he is lifted up to Lordship, dominion, Headship over all things in heaven and in earth, and every knee shall bow to him, and those who do not bow to the sceptre of his grace will have to bow beneath the sceptre of his power.

There are several ways in which the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up; there is only one way in which I can lift him up; would I could do it more worthily! God raised him up on the cross as a sacrifice for sin, that all men may understand that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life;" and God lifted him out of the grave that all men might understand the work of salvation was finished, justice satisfied, the

law fulfilled, and everlasting righteousness brought in. God "raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that our faith and our hope might be in God." (1 Peter i. 21.) And then God raised him to his own right hand in heavenly places, and said "Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool," that we might triumph in a risen and ascended Lord, and realize from henceforth that so long as he is on the throne no weapon formed against us can prosper. With him is the "well of life," and from his throne the river that makes glad the city of God has flowed forth in tides of love to gladden the wilderness, to be our Comforter, and an in-dwelling portion for us; and, finally, God raised him to dominion, so that all powers in heaven, and earth, and hell, are subject to him.

Now there is yet one way in which we, his saved people, can lift him up, even in the gospel of his grace, by making known his name, by preaching his salvation, by proclaiming him to the ends of the earth. Oh, that I could lift him up to-day, and tell you what a glorious person he is-God's royal Son, "the brightness of the Father's glory," the light of heaven, and the glory thereof! Angels veil their faces before him, and yet he opens his heart and his arms to you, and says, "Come to me, and I will give you rest," "and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

Then, as to his offices! He is our Priest with God; the only Priest that God acknowledges; our King with God: Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” He is God's anointed officer to heal us, to comfort us, to bless us; he is Prophet, Priest, and King. All we need is laid up in him; and therefore laid up in him, to be dispensed to us. His work is finished; nothing can be added to it. He shall never die again, never be spit upon, never be mocked again; he is sitting at the right hand of God, because his work is

over, else he could not sit. Other priests stood, as we read (Heb. x. 11, 12.) There is nothing more to be done for the putting away of sin; Christ has done it long ago. Nothing more to be done in order to supply the ground for our acceptance with God, Christ is "the way and the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by him." The Gospel proclaims it! Who believes it? Oh, that I could lift him up; "if God peradventure will give us repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that we may recover ourselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will."

Oh, that I could lift him up in his redemption! His blood is worth the wealth of the whole universe, ten thousand times told. There is more virtue in his blood than there is evil in sin; there is more to please God in his righteousness than there is in sinful man to displease him; more glory to God in the peace he has made by his cross,— than dishonour in all our alienation. Christ crucified, risen, and enthroned, is all in all, and God makes him to the sinner who believes, "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption " (all divine things!) God wants nothing from us, and we want nothing from God that Christ is not. When will we be satisfied with what Christ is, and take him for all in all.

Oh, that I could lift him up in his victories! He has gone forth "conquering, and to conquer." Already, many a Goliath has fallen before him; death has fallen, sin has fallen he has brought forth judgment unto victory. True, many a hard heart stands out against him still, but he has gone forth “conquering, and to conquer." May the power of his almighty grace be felt here! till every heart is conquered, every will subdued, every soul brought captive to his pierced feet; may he put us among the crowns which, as conqueror, he shall wear, when, by-and-bye, he shall

return, "and on his head shall be many crowns." I tell you, friends, his name is above every name; the world cannot resist him, nor men nor devils. He is God's conquering one, and if we are not conquered by his grace, we shall be conquered by his power.

I wish I could lift him up as he ought to be lifted up in his promises; they are exceeding great and precious promises! He seems never to weary in promising; and the Lord is as faithful to perform as he is gracious to promise. There is not a need we have, not a difficulty we are conscious of, not an unworthiness we may be guilty of, for which there is not a promise in the Word of God, "Him that cometh to me" embraces all, takes in ten thousand worlds if they could hear it," I will in no wise cast out" includes all cases, all circumstances, all conditions all experiences. When could one weary of lifting up

Christ?

People talk about their Christian experience. Would to God that Christ was more lifted up in our Christian experience! People think their wanderings, and troubles, their trials, and temptations, their difficulties, and providences make up the sum of their Christian experience. Dear friends, there is no Christian experience in all this. Christian experience is experience about Christ; tell me how Christ comforts you in sorrow, helps you in difficulty, and overrules his providence for your behoof; tell me how Christ comes down into your emptiness and makes his strength perfect in your weakness, this is Christian experience! I am blind, he is my eyesight; I am weak, he is my strength; I am poor, he is my wealth. Christian experience is experience of Christ what he is to me, for me, and in me. Oh, that I could lift up Christ in reference to the experience of what are called Christian graces! Many people prize their experience of faith, and hope, and love, and service,

but these are not Christian experiences; there is no experience in faith that does not lead us to its object, there is no experience in hope that does not lead us to him who is our hope, there is no experience in love that does not bring us to the Fountain, and that is himself.

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"I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Here our duty is defined; "Lift him up," in our hearts, in our conversation, in our homes, in our pulpits, in our lives, and God will do the rest. 'I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." I cannot draw anyone to Christ, I wish I could; but, if by his grace, I lift him up, he will draw.

Just observe the wording of our text, it is very interesting, every expression is of great weight: " I, if I be lifted up." He had spoken, in the previous sentence, of the prince of this world being cast down; but "I, if I be lifted up ;" and remember, the lifting up was on the cross; his lifting up was the casting down of the prince of this world. The contrast is between the prince of this world cast down— and the Son of God lifted up on the cross of Calvary.

Then, observe again, who is to draw: "I will draw." Compare this with John vi. 44. There the Lord says, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Before the lifting up of Christ on the cross he drew no man, it was the Father that drew them, "No man can come come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him;" but when he was lifted up, henceforth the drawing is done by himself. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." This was the joy set before him; and the brightest of the bright crowns wherewith Jehovah crowned him, "in the day of his espousals, and of the joy and gladness of his heart;" even the right to draw, by his own uplifted self, all men unto him.