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?
Say not then, O sinner, "I have not the power to believe, repent and obey the Gospel." You have the power. God is giving you now, this very moment, all the power you need to reach hither your hand and take the gift of his grace. He has already opened your eyes to see the light of his truth; and were I to say to you this night that you are too dead to feel your duty; too blind to see the path; and too grossly ignorant to know your right hand from your left hand in spiritual things, you would feel yourself grossly insulted by me. But I do not say so; I do not believe so; and in this connection—and I beg you to think seriously upon it, to read the Bible and pray over it—I must repeat the language of Jeremiah: "What wilt thou say, when he shall punish thee?"
Sunday, November 1. Meeting and love feast at Bowman's meetinghouse. This was Brother Kline's last meeting with the Tennessee Brethren on this visit among them. I must extend the outlines of his discourse as it was his last among them for some years.
A Short Discourse by Elder John Kline.
Text.—He died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him, who, for their sakes, died and rose again.
This was Christ. Our natural feelings and desires are selfish. Jesus has given us the clearest example of unselfish love the universe has ever witnessed. "For God commendeth his love to us"—that is, he shows the exceeding greatness of it—"in that, when we were enemies, Christ died for us." I do not believe that we ever, in this world, can fully understand the merits of our Savior's life, death and resurrection. Enough for us to know that he has opened a "new and living way" by which we may come back to our heavenly Father and be his children again.
Do you know that Adam was a son of God? Luke calls him so. But he, like Esau after him, sold his birthright, lost the divine image in which God had created him, and fell from his sonship. But now we read: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not, with him also, freely give us all things?" The phrase, "all things," as here used, includes a restoration to our former sonship with God. We, as the children of God, are exhorted to follow in the steps of our blessed Lord. This not only means that we are to shun evils and bear reproach, but it also means that we are not to live unto ourselves and for ourselves alone, but unto him and his people; for "He went about doing good."