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WHERE GOD PULLS SINNERS

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

A sermon preached at the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles
Lord’s Day Morning, January 14, 2001

 

"I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with
lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3).     


Martin Luther agreed with the King James Bible that the Hebrew verb "mâshak" meant "draw" or "pull." The translators of the NASV render this same Hebrew word as "pulled" in Jeremiah 38:13. We might translate the verse like this:
"I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I pulled thee" (Jeremiah 31:3).

God loves you, therefore He pulls you!

"I drew (I pulled) them with cords (or strings) of a man, with bands (or ropes) of love" (Hosea 11:4).

These verses refer to God "pulling" ancient Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land. They show us how God pulls sinners out of a life of sin and into salvation.

It is quite clear from these verses in Hosea 11:4 and Jeremiah 31:3 that God "pulls" sinners somewhere, to save them. But these verses in Jeremiah and Hosea only imply where He pulls you. Elsewhere in the Bible, we are told explicitly where God draws or pulls us.
I am going to deal with three places God pulls you this morning:

         

      1. He pulls you to the church
      2. He pulls you into Christ
      3. He pulls you into Heaven



I. First, God draws you to the local church.

I came into the church because someone brought me. I read a recent survey, a few nights ago, which showed that 82% of all people who come from society to church do so because they are brought by a friend. Only a tiny percentage of the remaining number come to church because they read a printed advertizement or tract. And that's the way I came to church. Someone took me to church and kept on taking me. A deacon in that church named Mr. Bean came to visit me when I missed. He encouraged me to come back. I can see Mr. Bean and his wife standing at the front door of my Aunt Myrtle's house now, in my memory. Thank God for this elderly man and woman. He was all dressed up in a suit and tie and she had on a hat, all dressed up nicely, the way people used to dress for church when they were more civilized. And they came to visit a fifteen-year-old boy, to make sure I came back to church. I will never forget it as long as I live. Thank God for that deacon and his wife!
God uses people like Mr. and Mrs. Bean to draw or pull you to church. Dr. and Mrs. McGowan took me to church with their children when I was a small boy. I did not become a Christian until I was twenty years old, but I was pulled into the church through the work of those dear people, Dr. and Mrs. McGowan.
The Bible says,
"And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47).

Again, the Bible says:

"And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily" (Acts 16:5).
It is in the church that you hear the gospel of Christ and get saved. And 82% of all those who come to a church like this, where the gospel is preached, are brought there by someone. So, it is clear, from this poll, that God uses people to "pull" you to church so you can hear the gospel.
Then, in the church, the gospel is preached. Paul told the church people who lived in the city of Corinth:
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you…For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures"        
     (I Corinthians 15:1-4).

Paul reminded the people in that church that he had "preached unto" them the gospel of the death and resurrection of Christ for their sins.

There are many false churches today - and many cults, and false religions. How can you tell which one is right? The answer is simple: do they tell you how to be saved from the penalty of sin by believing in Jesus? In every service, we at this church tell you how to get saved. This is a gospel-preaching church, just like the churches spoken of in the New Testament, in Bible times.
God has put me here to preach to you how to be saved by Jesus. God put Paul in the church at Corinth to "declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you" (I Corinthians 15:1). And God put me in this church to do the very same thing - to preach to you and tell you how you can get saved from sin by believing on Jesus.
Another reason God pulls you into the local church is so you can be exhorted and encouraged:
"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another" (Hebrews 10:25).

Some people say you can be a Christian without going to church. But they are wrong. You will not have the gospel preached to you in a converting way unless you are in church. You will not be exhorted and encouraged in the Christian life if you are not in church. The Bible speaks of "the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (I Timothy 3:15). God has placed the truth in the New Testament church - so you have to be in church every Sunday to find the truth, to become a real Christian, and learn how to live the Christian life.

I did not learn how to live the Christian life in a school. I am a graduate of two colleges and three theological seminaries. But I did not learn how to live the Christian life in any of them. Virtually everything I know about prayer, preaching, and living the Christian life was learned in my local church, from my pastor and other Christian leaders in that church. I thank God that I had a faithful pastor who taught me how to be a Christian. His name is Dr. Timothy Lin. I went to his ninetieth birthday party last week. My pastor taught me most of what I know, and I thank God for him. God said:
"I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee (pulled thee)" (Jeremiah 31:3).
God has drawn (or pulled) you into this church this morning. I hope you will have enough sense to stay, like I did when I was a young man. Stay here and get saved. Stay here and learn the Bible. Stay here and learn to live the Christian life.
One young man was coming along every Sunday to our church. He was listening to me preach and he was moving toward an awakened state. Then a girl-friend told him words to this effect, "One church is as good as another. Come with me to the Roman Catholic Church next Sunday." He listened to that girl last Sunday. He wasn't here, where he should have been. He went to Catholic Mass with her instead. Then I saw him on Monday night. You know what? He had lost all the awakening that he had. He was as asleep in sin as he was before he ever came here. You know why? Because they don't preach the things in the Catholic Church to awaken and convert you - that's why! Satan spoke through the mouth of that girl when she said, "One church is as good as another. Come with me to Mass."
God was pulling that young man into our church, but Satan pulled him the other way - out of the church - to hear a false gospel of salvation by confessions and Masses - instead of the pure, Protestant, Bible message of conversion through faith in Christ alone.
God said:
"I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn (or pulled) thee" (Jeremiah 31:3).
Do not resist God as He draws you to this church to hear the true gospel and be saved. Do not resist or rebel against God as He seeks to pull you back here. Do not let Satan use some person, a friend or relative, to pull you away from this church, which is "the pillar and ground of the truth" (I Timothy 3:15).
Many Christians believe in irresistible grace. They say you cannot resist what they call the "sovereign grace" of God. They believe that God pulls you against your very will into the church and into conversion. But I don't believe it. The Bible says, "So do these also resist the truth" (II Timothy 3:8). If those people could resist the truth, so can you. Stephen said, "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost" (Acts 7:51). If those people to whom he spoke could resist the drawing and pulling of God, so can you. There are even several young people who have been raised in this church who resist the pulling and drawing of God week after week. They come to this church, but they still resist God.
And you, too, can resist God when He pulls you into the church. When one of the deacons or leaders of our church telephones you, you can say, "I'm not coming back." Or, worse, you can have your mother or another family member take the phone and lie for you, saying that you aren't there. In this way you can resist God, and refuse to come back to this church and hear how to be saved.
God said:
"I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn (or pulled) thee" (Jeremiah 31:3).

If you resist and rebel against the pulling of God, and don't come back here, you will probably never be saved. You will probably never become a real Christian. But I say, "Why be lonely - come home - to church" every Sunday!

 



II. God draws you, or pulls you, to Jesus Christ. He pulls you all the way into 
       Christ and saves you.

"I drew (or pulled) them with cords of a man, with bands (or ropes) of love" (Hosea 11:4).
The act of believing in Jesus is extremely simple, yet it takes a great miracle of grace for it to happen to you. You have to be "pulled" to Christ or you will not believe in Him, even though it seems ridiculously easy to do so.
Jesus said, "Ye believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:1). That is what it means to believe in Jesus. You just believe in Him the same way you already believe in God. And the same simple belief you already have in God, when you believe the same way in Jesus the Son of God, is all that is needed for you to be saved. The Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). I want you to believe in Jesus the same way you believe in God. "Ye believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:1).
It seems ridiculously easy, almost laughably easy, doesn't it? And yet lost people cannot be persuaded to do it. They will stumble 100% of the time. Preachers who ask simple questions of those who come for salvation, preachers who ask those folks simple questions and then listen to the answers - those preachers will find out that I am right.
Someone said, "You make it so complicated." What this person meant was that they will accept anything as a salvation experience. The so-called "convert" can believe anything he wants, and this preacher will accept him and call him "saved." But God will not accept just any old thing. God insists that you do one thing: you must believe in Jesus (Acts 16:31). If you do anything else, you will go to Hell. So, wise preachers will listen to see if people have done that one necessary thing. And preachers who have no sense will protest when we insist, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). Often such foolish preachers protest because they themselves have not done the one thing necessary - and so, they themselves are lost.
Oh, it seems so simple to believe in Jesus. "Ye believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:1). And yet millions who think they are saved have not done this. They have done something else and are still lost (e.g. Matthew 7:21-23).
It takes the "pulling" of God to draw someone to Jesus in simple faith. Now, God draws all people to Jesus through the gospel:
"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32).

Every man or woman, when they hear about Jesus, feels a tug at their heart. That heart-tug is the drawing, the pulling of God.

But most people resist God's drawing, they reject the pullings of God toward Jesus, His Son. God "pulls" them to Jesus, but they resist, they fight God, they refuse to be drawn to the Saviour.
"Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition (or destruction); but of them that believe to the saving of the soul"           
          (Hebrews 10:38-39).

If you pull back or shrink back when God is drawing you to Jesus, God will sooner or later give up on you, and it will then be too late for you to be saved forever. This is the unpardonable sin. Jesus said,

"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44).

What does it mean to "come" to Him? It means to "believe" in Him. Three verses later, Jesus said:

"He that believeth on me hath everlasting life" (John 6:47).

But you cannot believe in Jesus unless God is drawing you (cf. John 6:44).

Simple belief in Jesus is impossible without God's drawing.
"I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3).
God loves you so very much that He has drawn you into the church. You have been drawn here either by God planning for you to be born here, so your mother brought you here in her womb. Or, some friend brought you here to church. God uses human beings to draw you into the church. He drew you here in the womb of your mother, or He drew you here through a person who phoned you and picked you up and brought you. Yes, every single one of us, including me, were drawn to church by God.
But now God is drawing you to Jesus, to salvation by simple belief in Him. "But if any man draw back (God says), my soul shall have no pleasure in him" (Hebrews 10:38-39). You must believe in Jesus now, while God is drawing you. Soon it will be too late! Oh, believe in Jesus now - while God is "pulling" you!
"I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3).



III. But, thirdly, God draws you into Heaven.

God first draws you to the local church. Secondly, God draws you to Jesus Christ, His Son. But, thirdly, God draws you up into Heaven. God "pulls" you up to Heaven! Jesus said:
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44).

The "pulling" of God draws you to Jesus. This same "pulling" of God will yank you out of the grave and pull you up to Heaven! God draws you to church. God draws you to Jesus. God draws you out of the grave and into Heaven!

"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44).

Oh, what a great hope this is! We believe that God, who has pulled us this far, will pull us all the way home - to Heaven! God will pull us all the way home!

The Master hath called us; the road may be dreary,          
And dangers and sorrows are strewn on the track; But God's  
Holy Spirit shall comfort the weary;
We follow the Saviour and cannot turn back;          
The Master hath called us, though doubts and temptations      
May compass our journey, we cheerfully sing:          
"Press onward, look upward," thro' much tribulation;          
The children of Zion must follow their King.           
     ("The Master Hath Come" by Sarah Doudney, 1841-1926).
"We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed"          
     (I Corinthians 15:51-52).

God will draw us into Heaven itself!

"I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3).
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thessalonians 4:16-17).

"Caught up…in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air! (I Thessalonians 4:17). Caught up in the air!

"Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3).

Drawn up in the air! Drawn up to Jesus! Pulled up into Heaven itself, forever!

"Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3).
God has drawn you to this church. Don't resist Him. Come back every Sunday. God is drawing you to Jesus. Don't struggle against Him. Believe in Jesus. "Ye believe in God, believe also in me." And God will pull you up into Heaven itself one day soon.

Oh, joy! oh, delight! should we go without dying,           
No sickness, no sadness, no dread and no crying,           
Caught up through the clouds with the Lord into glory,    
When Jesus receives "His own."                                             
O Lord Jesus, how long, how long                                        
Ere we shout the glad song,                                         
Christ returneth! Hallelujah!                                             
Hallelujah! Amen, Hallelujah! Amen.                                   
         ("Christ Returneth" by H. L. Turner, 19th century).

Scripture Read Before Sermon: Jeremiah 31:3; 38:13; Psalm 10:9; Hosea 11:4.
Solo by Benjamin Kincaid Griffith: "The Master Hath Come"
                                              by Sarah Doudney (1841-1926).

 

You can read Dr. Hymers' sermons each week on the Internet
at www.rlhymersjr.com. Click on "Sermon Manuscripts."

THE OUTLINE OF

WHERE GOD PULLS SINNERS


by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

"I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with
lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3).     

       

    1. God pulls you to the local church, Acts 2:47; Acts 16:5;           
      I Corinthians 15:1-4; Hebrews 10:25; I Timothy 3:15;           
      II Timothy 3:8; Acts 7:51.
    2. God pulls you to Jesus Christ, Hosea 11:4; John 14:1;           
      Acts 16:31; Matthew 7:21-23; John 12:32; Hebrews 10:38-39;     
      John 6:44; John 6:47.
    3. God pulls you into Heaven, John 6:44; I Corinthians 15:51-52;        
      I Thessalonians 4:16-17.