Not the Free Will Gospel of me, me, me, But the True Gospel of Him, Him, Him

Lazarus proves these free will ideas to be all wrong.

Keep in mind the Bible says the sinner is dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). What part did Lazarus play in his coming to life from the dead?

Did Christ "force" Lazarus to come back to life? Obviously. It was completely by the power of God that the dead rose to life again. But I don't think referring to such a gracious thing as being restored to life should be spoken of as being “forced.” The word “forced” has a negative connotation and of doing a wrong. What wrong did Christ do by bringing Lazarus to life once more? No wrong at all. Likewise God has done no wrong by drawing the sinner and restoring him to life in his soul once again:

John 6:44 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.

No man can come to Christ except the Father draw him. This means that no one is saved without first being drawn by God.

If you think God does not exercise His will to save the sinner (what you referred to as “force”), then I would suggest looking up the Greek word translated as "draw". It is the Greek word helkyo – Strong's #1670.

The word is used to describe very forceful action of bringing someone or something to a desired destination. For example, it is the word used to speak of bringing a great catch of fish to the Lord Jesus:

John 21:10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.

11 Simon Peter went up, and drew (#1670) the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.

What choice did the fish have of resisting the power that was drawing them to Christ? None. They were simply fish caught in a net. They couldn't decide to stay put and not be drawn. Their will played no part in the process.

The Greek word helkyo is even used to describe a more violent type of drawing. After casting out an unclean spirit from a woman with a spirit of divination, her masters were extremely upset and "drew" Paul and Silas to their rulers. We can be sure they were not all that gentle with them:

Acts 16:19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew (#1670) them into the marketplace unto the rulers,

Also in another place in Acts, the Jews thought Paul had brought a Gentile into the temple and were furious with him – to the point of wanting to kill him.

Acts 21:30 And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew (#1670) him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut.

31 And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

How do you think they took Paul from out of the temple? Do you think they approached him and said, "Sir, would you please exercise your will and come with us?" Not very likely at all. This was an unruly mob. They ran upon him. Grabbed him by whatever body part they could get a hold of – and forcefully, violently carried him out of the temple in order to kill him. That's the type of action that this Greek word helkyo (to be drawn) conveys.

And no man can come to Christ except the Father – draw him.

That is, God comes to the gravesite of our spiritually dead soul, and speaks forth His Word with power: come forth sinner and live. There is no resistance possible (the letter "i" in TULIP stands for irresistible grace). The sinner must come. And this is not a bad thing at all. Oh no. It is glorious. It is wonderful. Thank God that He has developed a salvation plan that man cannot mess up. And sinners do tend to mess up practically everything they touch. Yet they cannot mess this up. If Christ elected a sinner to become saved, then in the fullness of time in that person's life he or she will indeed have become saved. Doesn't matter how rebellious, stubborn, stupid, or wicked they are. The drawing power of God will bring them to Himself even if they come much of the way kicking and screaming, as it were, throughout the drawing process.

There's a faithful line in a beautiful hymn (by Danny Byram) that says, "I sought the Lord and afterwards I knew, He moved my soul to seek Him seeking me, it was not I that found no Savior true, no I was found of Thee"

You see there is a definite difference between the free will gospel and the gospel of election. In one, I accept Christ, I said the sinner's prayer, I did this, and I did that. I, I, I. Me, me, me.

But the true salvation program of the Bible is the complete opposite. He chose me. He gave me life. He drew me. He, He, He. God did this, and God did that. Him, Him, Him.

To God be the glory for great things He hath done.