Turn with me to Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel
37, page 1083 in my Bible. It's after Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Lamentations. We've been going through the
book of Titus, mainly for our Bible study, but I felt led to
look at Ezekiel 37 today. We are actually gonna be here
all day. Some different things grabbed
my attention through the whole chapter, and I wanted to spend
some time on each one of them, so I divided this up into three
parts. For this Bible study, we're gonna look at the first
four verses, which say, 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. Again he said unto me, prophesy
upon these bones and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the
word of the Lord. This valley full of bones represents
man by nature. He is dead. She is dead. We are dead, spiritually dead
before God. Because all that we can see is
our flesh, all that we can see is this flesh, and because of
that, This is something that men and women know nothing about.
Men and women know nothing about this. We cannot see it. We cannot
understand it. We cannot believe it until God
reveals it to us. God has to reveal it to us until
the Lord reveals this deadness to us. We think we're something when
we're nothing. We think we're put together.
We think we're put in order when we're not. We'll see later on that none
of these bones were connected. It's not like there were bodies
laying there that had decayed and were just bones. They were
all without form and void. And that is mankind as he comes
into this world before God. Dead, destitute, deserted, dry. Dry. The end of verse two says,
lo, they were very dry. Very dead. They weren't just
dead, they were very dead. Mankind is so much more dead
than he realizes. Mankind is so much more dead
than he thinks he is. Man thinks he has some deadness
about him, but he still thinks he has the ability to do something
about his deadness. That's a wrong view of deadness. Can a dead man do something about
his deadness? That's a wrong view of deadness. There is no spiritual life naturally
in men and women. None. There is no moisture. There is no marrow. There is
no core of the matter. There's nothing to work with.
There's no root of the matter. Ezekiel said, God's spirit laid
hold of me and he caused me to see that this valley, which represents
this world that we live in, this valley, this life, this world
is full of bones and they are very dead. They are very dead. Men and women, boys and girls
are very dead. If you fall into one of those
categories, if you are a man or a woman or a boy or a girl,
you are very dead. Very dead. That's what God reveals to a
preacher when he calls that man to go out and preach. I'm preaching
to dead men and women. Not just sinful men and women. We talk about sin, you know,
we need remedy from our sin. Not just sinful men and women,
but dead men and women. Wait a minute, Gabe, are you
saying I'm dead? Yes. Yes, that's what I'm saying.
God convinces his preacher of that by revealing to the preacher
his own deadness. He convinces the preacher of
his own deadness. God convinces his true preacher,
not a false preacher. A false preacher will never be
convinced of that. But he convinces his true preacher
that in my flesh, I am as dead as death can be. However dead
death can be, that's how dead I am. And the people I'm preaching
to are just as dead as I am. Dead. Dead, dead. Brethren, you can't imagine how
dead you are. You cannot imagine how dead you
are. Dead, bones, bones. The more of God's truth that
he reveals to us, the more we will start to wonder Why is there
no life in this flesh? We see a little bit of it. And then we start to think, wait
a minute, maybe there's not any life in this flesh. And then
God reveals a little bit more and we say, I don't know that
there's any life in this flesh. And then he reveals a little
bit more and we start to say, I'm pretty sure there's no life
in man's flesh. And then he reveals more and
we start to say, why is there no life in this? Why is it not?
There's no life in this flesh. It's because we're dead. It's
because we're dead. So dead. If we ever get a hold
of our deadness, we will stop trying to argue our works before
God. A man who tries to argue his
own works before God is so dead he's never even seen his deadness
yet. That's how dead he is. Verse one says, 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? Our Lord asked Ezekiel that. Every one of us ought to be asking
ourselves that. Oh, that God would cause us to
ask him, Lord, these dead bones right here, is it even possible
for these bones to live? Is it possible for these bones
to live? Is there any way that life could
overcome and overtake this deadness? Verse three, and he said unto
me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord
God, thou knowest. What he was saying was, Lord,
that's in your hands. Life is in God's hands. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man comes to the
father but by me. The law is not the way. Our will, our decision, our work
is not the truth. Our morality is not the life.
Christ is. Everything concerning us is in
his hands. We are dead. There is no obedience
to the law here. There is no will or decision
or work here. There is no morality of life
here. We're dead. We're dead. Verse three says, he said unto
me, son of man, Can these bones live? They are dead. Is there any possibility for
them to live? Now, listen to me on this. If I am spiritually
alive, I'm talking about preaching to dead bones. If I'm spiritually
alive, it's only by the grace of God. It's only by the grace
of God. The Apostle Paul said one of
his greatest fears was that after he had preached the gospel to
others, he should find himself to be a castaway. I do not for one minute want
to assume on my spiritual life. Not for one minute. All that
I want to do is cry out, Lord God, can these bones live? But here's what I wanna say,
this is what I wanna say. As one who has been called to
preach like Ezekiel was, I cannot help but ask myself that question
in my heart every single time I preach. Every time I preach, Lord, are
there some dead bones out there that you're gonna cause to live? Are there any dead bones? Get
it in your mind. Ezekiel preaching to a valley
full of bones. Lord, are there some dead bones
listening to this? Can you, I, you know, I have
things go through my mind while I preach. I'm going through notes
and I'm trying to think about what I'm saying and think about
what's coming next. And sometimes when I tell you
to turn to a scripture, I'll call on the Lord in prayer and
say, Lord, help us speak to us. Those kinds of things. I can
only imagine him out there by himself, preaching to bones,
preaching. You say, what a far-fetched thing.
Not really. Not really. I can envision him standing there
preaching thinking, is it even possible for anything to hear
this, to really hear this? Lord, are there some dead bones
that you have purposed to quicken to life? You're going to have
to do it. I can imagine Ezekiel standing there preaching, saying,
Lord, whatever's going to happen here, you're going to have to
do it. Only thou knowest. But Lord,
if you would be pleased to do so, all of us bones would give
you all the glory for it. We'd give you all the glory for
it. If he is pleased to quicken a dead bone to life, how will
he do it? If he is pleased, how will he
do it? Verse three. He said unto me, Son of man,
can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou
knowest. Again, he said unto me, prophesy
upon these bones. Preach to them. Preach to them. Preach what to
them? Verse four, again he said unto
me, prophesy upon these bones and say unto them, O ye dry bones. Tell them first that they are
bones. Tell them first what they are. Tell them you are bones, and
not just bones, but dead bones, dry bones. You, I, we are dead,
dry bones, and this is the only hope we have. This right here
is the only way of life Hear the word of the Lord. Verse four,
again he said unto me, prophesy upon these bones and say unto
them, oh ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Preaching is
the most important thing in life. It just is. It just is. Outside of preaching,
there is no life. There's no life. Preaching what? The law? No, he didn't say, hear
the word of the law. Preaching doctrine? No, he did
not say, hear the word of doctrine. He said, hear the word of the
Lord. Hear the word of Jesus Christ. We preach Christ. We preach Christ. To God's people
in all the scripture, we preach Christ to them. Show who Christ
is. Show what Christ did. Well, who
is he? What did he do? How do we see
that in the scripture we're looking at this morning? I told you our
text was verses one to four. How do you see that in verses
one to four? Go back to verse one. The gospel's in verse one. Listen to the words, all right?
We're gonna read this again. Listen to the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ right here. Listen to this as though the
Lord Jesus Christ is speaking this. Verse one says, the hand
of the Lord was upon me. In Isaiah 61, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me. One thing that I love about this
particular chapter is, and this I believe will be my desiring
goal in preaching the cross of Christ for the rest of my life.
It's that everybody starts out in this world thinking that it's
all about man. Thinking that this book is about
man, concerning man. Well, we got these laws, who
are they for? Man. Okay, this is all about man. It's concerning man, it's talking
about man. We've got to apply, how do I
apply man? That's the whole question. Man,
how does man fit into this? Well, how do I fit into this?
Well, what about me? How do I connect me to this?
You don't. We don't. It's not about man. It's about Christ. This is concerning
Christ. You know what the gospel is?
The gospel can be summarized in two words. Substitution and
satisfaction. And both of those things involve
Jesus Christ. Both of those things are concerning
Jesus Christ. Everything the law demands, Christ
fulfilled. Every reward the law promises,
Christ earned. Every condemnation, every judgment
the law demands, Christ bore it. How did He do that? I love Hebrews 7. It says, He
became us. He became His people. Substitution
and satisfaction. And He said right here in verse
1, the hand of the Lord was upon me. Isaiah 61, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Isaiah 42, God the father said,
I put my spirit upon him, Christ. In John chapter one, John the
Baptist said, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a
dove. It abode on him. Verse one, 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." Christ was sent down. He was brought down. He was humbled down. He came
down into the midst. He didn't stand afar off and
just, you know, view the condition of these bones. Just look at
this whole valley full of bones. He was set down in the midst. right in the middle of them.
So much so, he became bone of their bone. He became one who was acquainted
with, one who was touched with, one who entered into the valley
of the shadow of death with. He became one who cried, this
is Psalm 22, all my bones are out of joint. That's what he
said in Psalm 22. He said, my strength is dried
up like the potsherd, so dry. My tongue cleaveth to my jaws,
just so dry. Thou hast brought me into the
dust of death. Who is Christ, what did he do?
He's the one who God sent to redeem his ruined bones. He's the one who came to take
the place and stand literally in the place of his dead, dry
bones. He did that to give life and
to keep his bones. Psalm 34 says, he keepeth all his bones. Not
one of them is broken. Not one of them is broken. You
know, on the cross, not a bone of his body was broken. His people. His bones. They represent all of God's elect.
Christ was broken, so they would not be. So verse one says, 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 bums, 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," and that's what our Lord is referred to, Son
of man, Can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou
knowest. Not my will, thine be done. I
delight to do your will. Again, he said unto me, prophesy
upon these bones. Our Lord said to his father,
I've preached to them, I've preached righteousness to them. From this
time, our Lord Jesus Christ began to preach and to say. He said unto me, prophesy upon
these bones and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord. Hear the word of the Lord. Now,
we're gonna stop right there and in just a moment, we're gonna
come back and we'll hear what the word of the Lord is. All
right, we'll pick up right there. You're dismissed.