Let us turn again to God's Word,
to the portion that we were considering this morning in Ezekiel 37. Chapter 37 in the prophecy of
Ezekiel, and I'll read again the first ten verses of the chapter. The hand of the Lord was upon
me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me
down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and
caused me to pass by them round about. And behold, there were
very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man,
can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou
knowest. And he said unto me, Prophesy
upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the
word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto
these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and
ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you,
and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you, and ye shall live. and ye shall know
that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded,
and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold a shaking,
and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I
beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and
the skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them.
Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son
of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come
from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain,
that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded
me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood
up upon their feet, and exceeding grace, well as we come to this passage
tonight I want really to center what I'm going to say upon the
verses 4, 5 and 6 and also verse 9 verses 4, 5, 6 and 9 and to
say something with regards to the Word of God and the wind,
or the Spirit of God. God's Word and His Spirit. Now, this morning, of course,
we were looking at the opening three verses of the chapter,
and I remarked then on the historical context, how the Jews had fallen
to Nebuchadnezzar, fallen to the Babylonians and being transported,
taken into exile. Their bodies were not left in
the battlefield. That's the imagery that we have
in those opening verses. The hand of the Lord was upon
me and he carried me out in the spirit of the Lord and sent me
down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones. That's
the imagery of the Valley of Bones after some great battle. With many dead left there in
that open valley. It's a representation of what's
happened to Judah. How they've been taken out of
Jerusalem, the temple destroyed, and now they're in exile, languishing
there in Babylon. And yet, though the Lord has
brought this terrible judgment upon them, He also speaks of
restoration, and we have that, as we said this morning, spoken
of at the end of the previous 36th chapter, we were reading
those verses, but also here later in this 37th chapter. Verse 11 God says to Ezekiel,
son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold,
they say, our bones are dried, our hope is lost, we are cut
off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open
your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and
bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am
the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and
brought you up out of your graves, and shall put My Spirit in you,
and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then
shall ye know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed
it, saith the Lord. There is the promise then of
restoration. That's the whole point and purpose
of this vision that we've just read here in these opening ten
verses. But I remind you there is a spiritual
significance also. We're not to lose ourselves in
that historical context. We don't just come to God's word
as a book to study, we come to God's word as that that we want
our souls to be fed with. There's a spiritual significance.
We see so much of the gospel of the grace of God here. What
he said before us is the natural state of those that God is pleased
to say. They are those who are dead in
trespasses and in sins. What a representation of that
is set before the eyes of the prophets. Verse 2, God causes
him to pass by the bones, by them round about, and behold,
there were very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very
dry. They were long dead, they were
well dead and this is a condition by nature we're dead in trespasses
and in sins God's quickening comes you have to be quickened
you were dead in trespasses and in sins and this morning then
as we were looking at these opening three verses I spoke of that
that revelation that was given to his equal that that he was
caused to pass by and to behold and to see and then we thought
of that response that he makes when God puts the question to
him in verse 3 can these bones live and the response I answered
O Lord God thou knowest O Lord God thou knowest and he's recognizing really the
absolute sovereignty of God and now it's God's prerogative to
say only God can do it and he's brought to acknowledge as much
as that but that question that we have at the beginning of verse
3 what a searching question son of man can these bones live? And I said that man in his pride,
in his foolishness might say, yes I can live. All men imagine
that they can help themselves and save themselves and even
when God comes and quickens, what do we see with those on
the day of Pentecost when they say to the apostles, men and
brethren, what must we do? Man thinks there's something
to be done. The rich young ruler who comes
to Christ in the gospel, what good thing shall I do that I
may inherit eternal life? Men think that they can do something. Can these bones live? Well the
answer really must be it's an impossibility. For man it's just
an utter impossibility. There's no possibility at all. that they could ever live again. But God's questions are not only
searching questions, aren't God's words and God's questions so
often encouraging? And there's some encouragement
here, can these bones live? There's an answer to be given
and a positive answer. We remarked on that gospel question
that we have back in Genesis 3.9 when after the fall of Adam
and Eve, they're there in the in the Garden of Eden where God
would have come and had communion with them and they're aware now
of their nakedness, they've transgressed, they've disobeyed, they've fallen
into sin, they're ashamed and they try to hide themselves.
And God puts that question, where are they? Oh Adam, where art
thou? What a gracious question when
God comes and says to you and to me, where art thou? Where
are we tonight? Physically we're in this building,
but are we those who as we come together we want to hear that
voice of God who want the Lord God himself to come and address
us and apply his word, his word to us. Well, as I said, tonight
I want us to move on and to consider what follows. Here is the question,
can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord, God thou
knowest. And then, verse 4, again, he
said unto me. All that word again, how precious
when the Lord comes and speaks to us again, and again, and again,
and again. Again he said unto me, Prophesy
upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, Hear the
word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto
these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and
ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you,
and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know
that I am the Lord. And then verse 9, Then said he
unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say
to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds,
O breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. Well, as we come to consider
the words, I divide what I say into two parts. First of all,
to say something with regards to the word of the Lord. And
then secondly, to say something concerning the wind or the spirit
of the Lord. First of all, the word of the
Lord. And what a word it is that is
spoken here in verse 4. Oh, you dry bones, hear
the word of the Lord. Oh, you dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord. And then at verse 7, So I prophesied
as I was commanded, and as I prophesied there was a noise. And behold,
a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. Or when the Lord God speaks to
the bones, though they be very dry bones, yet there is such
a remarkable response. What is this word? Well, we have
There at the end of verse 4, the word of the Lord. Then in
verse 7 we have, as it were, the word of the prophets. I prophesied,
he says, I spoke. And there is a difference, and
you know this difference is brought out quite remarkably at the end
of 1 Peter chapter 1. Remember there, 1 Peter 1.23,
being born again, it says, Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. That's the new birth. Born again
by the Word of God. And the Word that we have there
is that Word Logos that we're familiar with in the opening
chapter of John. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him.
Without Him was not anything made that was made. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Word. The Word made flesh, says John. And dwelt amongst us, and we
beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. And that Word is there, of course,
in creation by the Word of the Lord. were the heavens made,
or the host of them by the breath of his mouth. That's the creation.
And in the new creation, in the new birth, it is that same word
of the Lord. That's what Peter is saying.
Born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the words. Or the authority, the power of
that word of the Lord Jesus Christ, where the word of a King is.
There is power. But then after that statement
in verse 23, Peter then goes on in verse 25 to say this, This
is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. This is
the word which by the gospel is preached. Now, It's a different
word. It's the word rhema not the word
logos and that word literally has reference to the spoken word.
It's the word of the preacher. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached onto you. Now what is the important thing
that we see there at the end of that chapter, 1 Peter chapter
1? We see quite clearly that the
work of regeneration is an immediate work of God without the use of
any means. Regeneration, the new birth,
is an immediate work of God in the soul of a sinner. And that's
what we see here in verse 4. Oh you dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord. Those who are dead in trespasses
and in sins are called to life. And how are they called to life?
By the word of God. It's that new birth, verily,
verily. Except a man be born again He cannot see the Kingdom
of God. We read the words just now in
John chapter 3. And do you know how there in
that third verse we see the marginal reading gives the alternative.
Except a man be born again. Except a man be born from above.
It's not that he comes from above. He comes from God. It's immediate.
The winds. Oh, it's the Spirit now, you
see. The wind bloweth where it listeth, thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth.
So it's everyone that is born of the Spirit, the circuits of
the wind. And remember how that's spoken
of in the opening chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes. The
sovereign workings of God. Demonstrated in the wind, you
feel it but you don't know where it's coming from, where it's
going to. And we know what it's like when there's a tremendous
storm and great winds and the damage that can be done. It is
but a poor representation of what God does, the might and
the power of God in the great work of regeneration. And now
it is very much emphasized here to be God's work with regards
to these dry bones when life is brought to them. Verse 5,
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause
breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And God goes on
to speak, or the Prophet goes on to speak as the mouthpiece
of God, of how God will lay sinews upon the bones, bring flesh upon
the bones, cover the bones with skin, and ye shall live, and
ye shall know that I am the Lord. What is represented to us? It's
that great work of God. It is the Spirit That quickeneth,
says the Lord Jesus Christ, the flesh profiteth nothing. The
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are
life. Or do we, friends, believe that? Do we believe that the
words that the Lord Jesus speaks unto us, and when we come to
together like this when we come to hear the sermon and the preaching
of the word of God we don't want to hear just a man speak we want
to hear the word of the Lord Jesus Christ we want to know
that Christ is in these things all that voice you see that voice
that we see at the lasing of Lazarus he cried with a loud
voice Lazarus come forth and he that was dead came forth,
bound with grave clothes, and what does the Lord say? Loose
him and let him go. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ and
the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I say again, you see, when
it comes to that great work, that necessary work of the new
birth, oh, you dry bones, hear the words of the Lord. but then the preaching now preaching
is the principal instrument that God uses to make salvation known
now I say quite clearly it's the principal instrument not
the only instrument God might use personal testimony God might
bless to your soul the the reading of the Word, the reading of the
Scriptures. He might bless to you the reading of some profitable
Christian literature. But the primary, the principal
instrument God uses to make salvation known is the preaching. And this is what the Prophet
is being told to do. He's being commanded to preach
to the bones. Verse 4, again, He said unto
me, prophesy upon these bones. And as He prophesies, He speaks
Himself, but He directs to the Word of the Lord, and the Word
of the Lord is to be heard, you see, through the preaching. The
preaching is but the instrument that God is pleased to employ. The Lord Jesus himself surely
makes that quite plain to us at the end of the Gospels, the
end of Mark, go into all the world and preach the Gospel to
every creature. This Word of God is to be preached,
there has to be a proclamation of it. And yet, what do we know? The
natural man. Oh, the natural man receives
not the things of the Spirit of God. their foolishness to
him neither can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned but he pleases God by the foolishness of preaching
that is a reference to both the act of the preaching but also
to the content of the message that we are proclaiming what
we preach Jesus Christ and him crucified or to the Greek it's
foolishness to the Jew it's a stumbling block or but to them that believe
it's the power of God. We are to preach, there is to
be the preaching of the gospel, though the natural man will not
receive it, though the natural mind, the carnal mind which is
in every man is enmity against God and is not subject to the
Lord of God, not subject to the Word of God, neither indeed can
be, men reject it, they will not have this man, they will
not hear this message. But still we see how this prophet,
having received his commandment, is obedient. Verse 7 he says,
So I prophesied as I was commanded. He leaves the result with God. He's not some clever man who's
going to employ all his evangelistic arguments and persuade men in
his own power and by his own strength of reasoning. He simply
preaches as God commands him. Oh, it pleased God. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. But it is so evident that God
himself is the one who makes that words to be heard. For all
our speaking For all the multitude of words that the preacher might
employ, it is God who must make that word effectual in the soul
of the sinner. That's what we have there in
verses 5 and 6. God's I wills, behold, I will
cause breath to enter into you. I will lay sinews upon you, I
will bring up flesh upon you, I will cover you with skin, I
will put breath in you." God says, I will, and what follows? You shall live. I will, and you
shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Or do we desire, friends, that
when we come together we might so experience the grace of God
as he is pleased to own the means of grace that he has appointed. He has appointed preaching. And
how do we come into a service like this? Do we desire that
God would indeed speak to us? Paul says to those Thessalonians,
our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power and
in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. Is that what we plead
with God, that He would bless to us the preaching? He has appointed
it. It's a principal instrument that
He is pleased to employ in making known His Gospel. How shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard. And how shall they
hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except
they be sent? But you know the language there
in Romans 10, 14, how shall they believe in him? It says, of whom
they have not heard. But some have argued that more
literally it reads, how shall they believe in him whom they
have not heard? I know it says in the text, here
in our authorised version, of whom? But there is an argument
that says that it should be rendered not of whom, but whom. It is the voice of the Lord Jesus
at His hearing. That's when faith cometh, by
hearing, when it is the voice of the Lord, as was the experience
with those at Ephesus. He says to them, thus Paul, ye
have not so learned Christ, if so much ye have heard him and
been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus ye have not so much
learned Christ and been taught by him how did they hear the
Lord Jesus? how did he teach them? through
the instruments of preaching the preaching of the apostles All the Lord has said that the
mark of His sheep is that they hear His voice. They hear His voice. They know
Him, they follow Him, He gives them eternal life. How do the
sheep hear the voice? They hear it in the ministry
of the words. Again, think of the words of
the Lord there in John 5.25, verily, verily He says, The hour
is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of
the Son of God and shall live. And he prefixes it quite deliberately
there with the double verily. And you know what the word is,
Amen. Amen. The hour is coming, now
is. Amen, that's what he's saying.
So be it, truly, verily. But he underlines, he underscores
what he's saying there. All the importance then of the
preaching, I prophesied, says the Prophet, as I was commanded. And as I prophesied there was
a noise and behold a shaking and the bones came together,
bone to his bone. But when we when we think of this word of
God I said that in regeneration the word comes immediately it's
a sovereign work of the Spirit of God in the soul of the sinner
but God is pleased to use instruments in order to convey this message
and he uses the preaching but there's also something else that's
necessary there must be prayer together with the preaching. Remember in Acts chapter 6 where
we see the origins of the office of the deacon. Here are the apostles
and they seem it appears to be the sole function within the
church. They do everything. Those who were the apostles of
the Lord, they're doing everything initially. And they're ministering
to the needs of the widows, they're serving the tables and there's
some disputation. And they see that they can't
be doing everything. So they appoint seven. And what do the apostles say?
We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the preaching
of the word. We will give ourselves to prayer
and to preaching those two together and those two must always go
together and prayer must have that primary position if the
preaching is going to be of any benefit the preacher must pray
but the hearer must pray also and what do we see the prophet
doing? why is he not praying? in verse 9 He says unto me, then
said he unto me, prophesy unto the wind. Prophesy, son of man,
and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God, come from the four
winds and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. What are we to understand by
the wind? Not the only occasion you see where we have a man addressing
the wind. Think of the Song of Solomon.
Awake, O north wind, and come thou south, and blow upon my
garden, that the spices thereof may flow forth. Isn't that prayer
when we come to the Song of Solomon, it's so evidently the prayer
of the Bride of Christ, it's the prayer of the individual
believer, it's the prayer of of individual churches, local
churches. Away go northwind and come thou
south, blow upon my garden that the spices might flow forth,
O God help us that we might be those who are concerned to be
fruitful. All we are to do good works that
men might give praise to God when they see our good works.
It's all for the glory of God. We want to savour of the things
of Jesus Christ. We want to be those who bear
testimony to Christ. And how we need then that gracious
ministry of the Spirit and the interesting thing of course is
that this word wind used repeatedly in the Old Testament. But the word could also be rendered
spirit. Sometimes, oftentimes it is rendered
spirit. It's the same word and the context
indicates whether the reference is to the wind, to the four winds,
or whether the reference is to God the Holy Spirit. And so here,
we have a prayer prophesy unto the wind or as the margin says
unto the breath unto the spirit prophesy son of man and say to
the wind thus saith the Lord God come from the four winds
oh it's not it's not wrong for us to pray
to the Holy Spirit In Scripture we see quite clearly the prayer
on occasions is addressed to each and every person in the
Godhead. Sometimes there are prayers addressed
to God the Father. In the Gospels we see many a
time there are prayers being addressed to God the Son. But
there are also these prayers to God the Holy Spirit. Now I know that the The biblical
way of prayer is that we address the Father. Or we come to the
Father, we come to Him through the mediation of the Lord Jesus. We look to Christ as our Great
High Priest by whom we approach. We come ever dependent upon that
gracious ministry, the help of the Holy Spirit. And we assist
us in all our infirmities as we are told there in Romans chapter
8. Through Christ we have access. by one's spirit unto the Father. That is the normal way in which
we think of prayer, but we can address each and every one of
the persons in the Godhead, how important prayer is, and how
important prayer is in connection with the preaching. That's the
significance of what we have here in verse 9. Again, Coming
to the New Testament we think of the Apostle in Ephesians chapter
6 where he speaks of the believer's armour and that provision that
God has made for the Christian believer in the good fight of
faith. And you remember when he comes to the end of the various
parts of that gospel armour he speaks of prayer. what's the point or purpose of
any of the parts of that spiritual armor except there be much prayer
to God and then he says something very striking having made mention
of prayer he says and for me Ephesians 6.19 and for me that
utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel Oh, the Gospel is
a mystery. The natural man cannot understand
the things of the Spirit of God. Oh, we need to pray. To pray
for the preaching of the Gospel. Those who are the watchmen, the
watchmen are spoken of in Scripture, remember, the watchmen upon the
walls of Zion. They're there. Jerusalem, a walled
city, and they're there to be looking out for the enemies.
and to be alarming the citizens when the enemies are approaching
the watchmen. And we read of watchmen upon the walls of Zion
and are not those who are called to this office of the ministry
to preaching to sound an alarm? To warn the people, to warn them
of the great dangers if they continue in the ways of sin,
if they continue in their unbelief. Oh how the conscience must be
alarmed. Men must see that the time is short and the matter
is so urgent. There are watchmen upon the walls
of Jerusalem. And see how Isaiah speaks of
them. There in Isaiah 62, verse 6, God says, I have set
watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem. which shall never hold their
peace day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord,
keep not silence. All other people need to be constantly
alarmed to the great danger. And the sinner is in great danger,
the unbelieving sinner, that person who has not yet come to
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's interesting. It's interesting because we have
an alternative reading there in the margin at the end of that
sixth verse. God says, I have set watchmen
upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord,
or as the margin says, ye that are the Lord's remembrances,
ye that are the Lord's remembrances, keep not silence and give him
no rest. Give him no silence till he establish
and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." They are the Lord's
remembrances in that they are to plead with God, they are to
pray to God, they are to remind the Almighty, they are to pray over the preaching. And
how necessary that is. All the report, the Gospel, who
has believed our report? Men don't believe this message. They reject the Gospel. Who hath
believed our report? asks the prophet Isaiah. And to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed? If they're going to believe the
report, God must reveal His arm. God must make bare His arm. God
must do a mighty work. Otherwise, no one will ever believe
the report. This is why prayer, I say, is
so vital. It's so vital. And so the Prophet,
he is obedient, yes, he preaches, he preaches to the dry bones. I prophesied as I was commanded. And he doesn't preach in vain,
there was a noise and behold a shaking and the bones came
together, bone to his bone. But then he must also prophesy
unto the wind, he must preach and he must pray. Thus saith
the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe
upon this line, that they may live. Well, finally, I want really
to finish up by considering something more specific with regard to
the wind or the spirit of the Lord that He is being spoken
of here in verse 9. How important this verse is,
this prophesying, this praying unto the wind. Why is it so important? Because it is the spirit who
applies the great work of salvation. It is the Spirit's prerogative
to take of the things of Christ and to reveal them unto sinners.
And you know how we see that in such a remarkable way in that
opening chapter of the Ephesian epistle. There in Ephesians 1 at verse
3 following we read of the Father making choice of a people. electing
a people, they're all chosen in Christ, Ephesians 1 verses
3 to 6. And if I remember right in our
Authorized Version that's marked by the punctuation marks as a
single sentence. I'm not saying the punctuation
as we have it in our Authorized Version is inspired, it is not.
It is not, but there it is interesting that Those wise men who were
responsible for our authorized version did mark Ephesians 1,
3 to 6 as a single sentence. What is the subject matter of
that sentence? It's the electing love of the Father. And then
we have another long sentence from verse 7 through to verse
12. And what does that sentence speak of? It speaks of God the
Son. And He speaks of the Son's great work of redemption. The Father elects from all eternity. He has chosen a people In the
fullness of the time God sends forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law. It is the Son's
work to come and to accomplish that great salvation of sinners.
And then Ephesians 1, 13 and 14 we have the ministry of the
Holy Spirit. And what is His ministry spoken of? It's spoken
of as that sealing. Oh, He seals all the work, the
electing love of the Father, the redeeming love of the Son,
the sealing love of the Spirit. His work completes the great
design. We sing that line in the hymn
sometimes, His work completes the great design. and fills the
soul with love divine, the work of the Spirit. How the Lord Jesus
Christ, you see, has finished His work. How He could say to
the Father, I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished
the work that Thou gavest Me to do. Oh, we thank God for the
salvation that He's truly accomplished. When the Lord Jesus utters that
cry from the cross, it is finished. And He bows the head and He yields
up the ghost, commits His soul into the hands of His Father,
makes His soul an offering for sin. But He utters those words,
it is finished, said the Lord in His dying minute. Holy Ghost, Repeat that word. Full salvation's in it. How we
need the Spirit to come and to repeat that in our souls. It
is finished. All redemption's accomplished
by Christ but the Blessed Spirit. When He comes as the Spirit of
Christ, what does He do? He repeats that word. Oh, He
assures that poor sinner that salvation in Christ is complete. And that's what we have here.
We have all the blessed fullness of the application.
The bones come together in verse 7. The bones are all covered
with sinew and flesh in verse 8. And then in verses 9 and 10 there's life there's life now
prophesy unto the wind prophesy son of man say to the wind thus
saith the Lord God come from the four winds of breath breathe
upon these slain that they may live so I prophesy as he commanded
me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood up upon
their feet an exceeding great army oh yes It's a wonderful
passage, it's the restoration of the Jews. They must be restored,
they're not going to languish forever there in Babylon. Christ
is yet to come, and Christ must come in the fullness of the time.
And that's what ultimately we are directed to, Christ and that
great work of the Lord Jesus, and the blessed application of
that work. It is the Spirit He is spoken of as the wind who
applies the salvation of the Lord. And I remind you as we
conclude, He is a Sovereign Spirit. He is God, the Holy Spirit. And all the sovereignty of God
belongs to Him. Let Him be God. The wind bloweth
where it listeth. and thou hearest a sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth.
So is every one that is born of the Spirit. If you're born
again, you know that mighty sovereign work of the Spirit in your soul.
What a blessed experience! Born not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And there we read, he must be
born again, says the Lord Jesus to Nicodemus. No ifs, no buts
about it. He must be born again. And you know, yes, it's the initial
experience It's the grace of God, it's the life of God coming
into the soul of a man or woman dead in trespasses and sins,
but you know, every subsequent reviving, every subsequent refreshing
is also another visitation from the Spirit of God, every time
you're revived in your soul. Oh, how David felt it, how he
had grieved the Spirit of God, how he had sinned in the matter
of Bathsheba and Uriah he repents of it there in Psalm 51 and what
does he say to God take not thy Holy Spirit from me or do we
fear we grieve the Spirit of God we quench the Spirit of God
and we say well the sin against the Holy Ghost can never be forgiven
have I been guilty of that sin against the Holy Ghost we're
fearful we're fearful and we need Him, oh how we need that
blessed Spirit to come but what does the Lord say? if ye being evil know how to
give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? we're evil, we're sinful and
yet I think we do like to give gifts I think we're a generous
company of people. We certainly like to give gifts
to our children. How much more? If we sinners give gifts, how
much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him? Oh God, grant that we might know
what it is and to have His Word. We have His Word. Oh, we have
His Word. Thank God for that. All but let
us desire that the Spirit might keep on coming to us in that
Word, and that He might increasingly impress the truth of it upon
us, that we might be those who are sanctified by the truth,
as the Spirit is pleased to bless the Word of God to us. Well,
the Lord bless His Word to us today, for His name's sake. Amen.