Lazarus had been dead four days.  Jesus called to him with a loud voice to “come forth.”  How could Jesus expect the dead Lazarus to hear?  Why did he call?  Why did he not first make him alive; and then after he found out that he was alive, and stirring round in the grave, call to him and tell him to come out of that dark place?  This is precisely the way a Calvinist would think he ought to have done.  But Calvinism was not known in the Lord’s day, and so he took a very different way.  He threw his voice into that cave, and it went right into the ear of the dead Lazarus, because his power went with the words, and the very instant they struck the ear of Lazarus the life was in his body and he heard.  Thunder and lightning always go together; but Calvinists think the lightning must always be first.

The resurrection of Lazarus is a clear exemplification of our Lord’s meaning where he says:  “My words are SPIRIT, and they are LIFE.”  No sooner did the Lord call to Lazarus than his heart began to beat and his lungs began to breathe.  The Lord’s words to him were life and breath. Spirit [in one sense] means breath; and life means a beating of the heart; for as long as man’s heart beats there is life in him.  Is any one here to-night willing to charge our Lord with the folly, the madness of commanding one of his creatures to do what he knows he cannot do?

Sinner, if the popular view of election be correct, I have a word of comfort for you right here.  In Jer. 13:21 we read this question:  “What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee?” I will tell you what to say.  When you stand before his judgment seat and hear from his lips, “Depart, thou cursed into everlasting fire,” just say to him:  “Why do you condemn me?  You told me to enter in at the straight gate, it is true; but you did not give me the power to move in that direction.  I was blind, too, and you did not open my eyes.  I was all leprous with sin; I knew that all the time; but you did not cleanse me, although you cleansed others.  I am told that you say in your Word that you are no respecter of persons; how then can you make such a difference in your treatment of men, when you have ‘included all under sin?’”

Now I say to you, poor sinner, the Lord never will and he never can send you to hell with such questions in your mouth and in your heart.

There is no need of one sinner under the sound of my voice going to hell, because Jesus is the STRAIT GATE and he is the NARROW WAY OF LIFE; and wherever his Gospel is preached his power goes with it, just as it went with his voice into the grave of Lazarus, or fell upon the bier of the widow’s son.  The blind man did not see until he went to the pool of Siloam and washed; but did not the power of Christ go with him?