Jesus is everything to us. But, as it was in Israel of Old, today Satan has been very successful in diverting professing Christians from this truth. Instead of looking unto Jesus, they eyes are directed elsewhere for salvation. Many fear God because of false teachers. They believe God is going to burn unrepentant sinners for eternity. Others believe they will inherit heaven by their own works. Others believe God has done it all for them and they need to make a full heart surrender to Jesus in order to be transformed in character that he might be fit for heaven.
It was by His own sacrifice that Christ has become our Savior. There is no other way that we may obtain eternal life except through the grace of God in offering His innocent Son.
Christ is the door to the fold of God. Through this door all His children, from the earliest times, have found entrance. In Jesus, as shown in types, as shadowed in symbols, as manifested in the revelation of the prophets, as unveiled in the lessons given to His disciples, and in the miracles wrought for the sons of men, they have beheld "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), and through Him they are brought within the fold of His grace. Many have come presenting other objects for the faith of the world; ceremonies and systems have been devised by which men hope to receive justification and peace with God, and thus find entrance to His fold. But the only door is Christ, and all who have interposed something to take the place of Christ, all who have tried to enter the fold in some other way, are thieves and robbers.
How is it that Jesus can know who it is that are His own?
Every soul is as fully known to Jesus as if he were the only one for whom the Saviour died. The distress of every one touches His heart. The cry for aid reaches His ear. He came to draw all men unto Himself. He bids them, "Follow Me," and His Spirit moves upon their hearts to draw them to come to Him. Many refuse to be drawn. Jesus knows who they are. He also knows who gladly hear His call, and are ready to come under His pastoral care. He says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." He cares for each one as if there were not another on the face of the earth.
Amen! Jesus is drawing all to Himself. If we would take time to know Him, we would love Him who first loved us. It is not the promise of heaven that transforms sinners into saint, but it is the love of God revealed in the life, suffering, and death of Jesus.
It is not the fear of punishment, or the hope of everlasting reward, that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They behold the Saviour's matchless love, revealed throughout His pilgrimage on earth, from the manger of Bethlehem to Calvary's cross, and the sight of Him attracts, it softens and subdues the soul. Love awakens in the heart of the beholders. They hear His voice, and they follow Him.