You join me this morning in our continuation of our study of the book of Acts. Acts chapter 8 this morning, and I'd like to read a couple of verses of scripture there, and then continue in where we set out last two times that we spoke here. And I do want to thank those who filled in for us. It was gracious messages, the message of grace continues, and we appreciate that a great deal.

Here in the book of Acts chapter 8, we have finished there about Stephen, that whole chapter, and in the first verse we have again this man Saul and what a terrible individual he is at this time. And as we read there this morning in the book of 3 John, he just fit that nasty man's due to a tea. He didn't want anybody going up there and hearing about the gospel, even around synagogues or the temple. He was not interested in that at all, and he would prevent all that he could. I'm so thankful for the end of the story, though, where God of grace appeared unto that nasty man and saved him by his grace, and he became one that God used to give us much of the New Testament. And he never, ever went back under that old religion that he had been under. It was opinion. It was a binding. And it makes you upset and angry and mad.

And here we find, after that, though, that the gospel is being spread out, for it tells us here that, in verse 3, for Saul, he made havoc with the church, entering into every house, And hailing men and women committed them to prison, therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word." So we have a great scattering out of Jerusalem at this time. They're running for their lives, there's no question about that. But they have a message with them. They have the good news. God has been so gracious to them, and even in their peril, when they land in a place, they have something to say. This is according to God's good will and purpose. There's somebody out here that needs to hear this message that we have. God never sends anybody anywhere that there's not somebody to hear that message. Now, it's maybe somebody, a sheep that's already been saved, but they need to hear the message. We rejoice in hearing the message of Christ. It is our life. It's not a living, it's our life to hear the message of Christ.

The encouragement that we get out of, I was so encouraged this morning in the reading of that few verses from the book of Micah. Who is a god like unto one that would forgive our sins? That's encouragement. I know what I am by nature, and to have a God that would forgive my sins, put them as far as the east is from the west, and bury them in the deepest sea.

It goes on here that then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, about four years earlier than this, according to those guys who can study such things. To me, it was just yesterday on another page of the Bible, but Jesus Christ went to Samaria. You remember when he went to Samaria? He met the woman at the well, a Samaritan woman, and he went into that city after she was saved and stayed there for a couple of days and preached the gospel. Now, he did not do what we find Stephen doing because he didn't have to. Stephen is going to perform some miracles. Now, they're not miracles for show. They're not miracles to gain attention. They're not miracles for money. They're not miracles to have someone come in and say, let's get the latest news on what's going on here. It was to authenticate the gospel. And you know what? God used that. He didn't have to do that when he went into Samaria. Jesus went into Samaria, and he gave the gift to Philip to do that. We later find that the apostle Paul had to leave one of his friends, and Paul had raised someone from the dead. We later find out that Paul had to leave one of his friends because he was sick. So that kind of qualifications was coming to an end.

Anyway, we'd like to say a few things today about this, the third part of this great message of the gospel. As Philip shared there, he preached Christ unto them. And then we're not gonna spend a lot of time on verses six and seven right now, because we'll save that for next time. But the creation, Genesis chapter 1 and 2 share so much about our message today.

There are three aspects that we've been going over. We've gone over one of them, and that is natural man was ruined by the fall. There is so much in the Bible about the ruin that we have, and the result of that ruin, and how we are characterized In the scriptures, over and over and over, as God looks at us, He looked down from heaven and did not find one person. that was seeking after Him. Now they were raised in religious homes, but they still didn't seek after Him. They went to church, but they still did not seek after Him. They did not. And God goes on to say, there's none that doeth good. No, not one. What an accusation against all of the world, all of natural man is made by Almighty God. And then we have creatures Men and women that were born into this world argue with God over that point when God has said it so many times.

So we have ruin by the fall. Well, if we're ruined by the fall, what can we do? You know, the glorious thing about it is God's already taken care of that. He has a Redeemer, and that was the second part, redeemed by Christ. Now, to be a Redeemer is kind of like being a creator. If God is creator, we have to have something created. To be a creator and not create anything is not a creator. So we find that God is the creator, and we go to Genesis chapters 1 and 2, and we read about His creation. All of the things that we deal with around us, trees, grass, birds, whales, fish, animals of all kinds, and humanity that we face every day is part of God's creation because He is the Creator.

Now, when it comes to Christ being a Redeemer, that means it is necessary, it is absolutely essential that if He is the Redeemer, that He has some redeemed ones. There can't be outside of that. You cannot call Him a Redeemer and not have Him redeem someone.

So the Lord Jesus Christ came down to this sin-cursed earth, and He went to the cross according to purpose. It was not by mistake. It was not because He was outvoted. It was not because He fell in disfavor of the religious people of the day. Jesus Christ went as it was determined.

Now the reason that he went as it was determined, he was going to be the Redeemer that actually redeemed some people from their sins. He was actually going to go through with this. He's not going to make anybody redeemable. And by our vote, we become redeemed. That is so contrary to what we find in the scriptures.

We find out that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer, and He has some redeemed ones that He has redeemed, and in time, every one of those that He redeemed at the cross are going to be given this third part, and that is regeneration by the Holy Spirit.

The creation of God is going to happen in them. I don't know how many people I've asked recently, last two or three years, because the question keeps coming up, the comment keeps coming up about how they were involved in their own regeneration. I had a fellow just recently tell me that he was born again when he said the prayer.

No. You know how much I had to do with my physical birth? I just keep bringing this up and bringing this up, using it as a comparison. I had nothing to do with my physical birth. I am the product of a birth, but I did not participate in it. I'm the recipient of it, but I did not have any participation in it whatsoever.

Now, God has used that similarity. He has in the scriptures about the birth of natural man. It is a miracle. The physical birth is a miracle. How graciously we are made. The many systems that is in us, it's a miracle. And people say, it's just over evolution. No, it cannot be. That's not an answer. The Creator has created and he's made it in such a fashion that we can go from one day to a hundred years and our systems continue to work. Well, God said, now that's how I did that. I'm going to tell you how I do this, how I give the new birth.

Now the Bible tells us, Jesus Christ, speaking to Nicodemus, You know, Nicodemus did not have a real view of Jesus Christ. He says, we know you're a man from God. You know what the believer says? That's God. He's not a man from God. He's the God-man. But he's not just a man from God. He's already sharing with Jesus Christ. And the Lord knew all about his heart, all together, all before he even came. He had this appointment before the foundation of the world. And Jesus Christ came in there, and Nicodemus came up to him, and three times in short conversation, Jesus Christ said, you must be born again. And you know Nicodemus gave the answer, how can these things be? He gave an honest answer. How can these things be? And then he made the statement, does that mean I must enter my mother's womb a second time and be born? Well, that's not what Jesus Christ was talking about at all.

We, in order to see God, must have a spiritual birth. The Bible so shares with us that we're dead in trespasses and sin. We are so dead that we can't recognize that we are spiritually dead. We think because we're taking in air and taking in food that we're alive. We're alive physically, but that's not gonna take care of the essential part of eternity. God Almighty has said, the soul that sinneth, it must die. And we have died in Adam. But we find that there's such a miracle that God had planned before the foundation of the world. Not only did He know, not only did He allow, not only did He permit Adam to sin and fall in disfavor of God, but we also find out that God purposed before the foundation of the world that there would be a Redeemer, a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He was not caught short. It was not plan B.

And then we find in order for those people that Jesus Christ redeemed, in order for them to be in eternal life with Him for eternity, they must be called out of their death. Now, we have some illustrations in the Bible that share with us how God does that. If you would turn with me over to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 37. In Ezekiel chapter 37, we have one of the plainest statements, and yet I have people say, well, that's only for Israel. Well, so often we find in the Old Testament, and I just have to be reminded, and I remind people too, that the Old Testament is all that Philip ever preached from. When he came and preached Christ, he preached the Old Testament. The only thing that Paul ever preached was the Old Testament. He didn't have the New Testament. He is going to be used of the Holy Spirit to give us much of the New Testament, but he's never going to have that in his hands. He had some books that he mailed to some churches.

But here we have that God is preached, had preached Christ out of the Old Testament for all those centuries. And here we are in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 37, beginning with verse 1. Now, in this book of Ezekiel, I don't know how many times I counted one time or tried to count how many times it says, and thus saith the Lord, and thus saith the Lord. So we have God's word on this. This is what God has to say about it. It's not a commentary. This is what God has to say about it. It's not some man's reaction or some man's action. This is God's word about it.

And here in the book of Ezekiel chapter 37, beginning with verse 1, it says, "...the hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out into the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down into the midst of a valley which was full of bones." Now, This may have actually, actually happened, but the cornerstone of this passage of scripture is that we're being shared some very spiritual truths. Everywhere that Jesus Christ ever went, he walked into a valley of dry bones. And by that, I mean, He was dealing with people that were dead in trespasses and sin, and He is the only one that could ever tell which people were. There's one that is dead in trespasses and sin. There's one, that whole host. And once in a while, a remnant according to the election of grace, He would say to someone, you did not choose me, but I chose you. And he is alive. He made people alive.

All right. So here we have, and he caused me to pass by them round about. And behold, there were very many in the open field, and lo, they were very dry. So he's illustrating a point here. There's actually, cannot be, and will not be ever left to themselves any life. You ever come upon a skeleton of an animal out in the woods? Where I grew up, if a rancher lost a cow, he just drug it down by the lake shore and let the coyotes and buzzards eat it. So we got a lot of examples of what a cow skeleton looks like. And never, after that cow deteriorated and all that was left was the skeleton, did we ever think that we could buy it and take it to the auction and make money on it. It was dead.

So we have a valley of dry bones, very dry, no muscle. He wants us to understand that when God does something, he does something with dead in trespasses and sin. He wants us to understand that there is no ability in the person that he's dealing with to raise themselves from the situation. There is not enough belief in the world and our belief left to ourselves, our belief is imperfect belief. There's not enough faith in the world and left to ourselves. Our faith is imperfect faith. There is nothing that we have that is perfect. And God only deals in perfection.

So let's see how God worked in perfection here at this time. It says, And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God. Now, isn't this the most interesting answer that he gave? This is what every believer says. This is what every preacher of the gospel says when asked, is this one a believer? Will this one ever be a believer? Can you imagine this question being brought up about Saul of Tarsus, that mean guy that was carrying such a grudge against God's people? There had to be someone who says, Lord, thou knowest. Only you know. Will he ever be saved? Some were saying, are you kidding me? And some were saying, Lord, thou knowest.

All right, it says here, he asked him, can any of these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. All knowledge is in God's mind. He never has learned a thing. God has never learned a thing. He's had all knowledge from eternity. Beyond our comprehension, I'm thankful that the Lord has given me grace to learn something once in a while along the way. But when it comes to God, when we mention that God learned something, we don't have the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible has never learned anything. He's known all things and he's carried out all his purpose as he intended it to be carried out.

And then it says in verse four, and he said unto me, prophesy unto these bones. What's that mean? Preach. What are you going to preach? Same thing Philip preached down there in Samaria. Preach Christ. Preach the gospel. Preach hope. Preach that there's a Savior. Preach that there's someone that God had purposed before the foundation of the world to come to this sin-cursed earth and lay down his life for ransom for. We know that that preaching was going on at this time because Job said, I know my Redeemer liveth. He knew the gospel. Someone had brought it to him. And in those days, they knew the Christ as the Messiah. They knew that there was someone coming, and Job knew that he had been touched by the grace of God and raised from death because, I know my Redeemer liveth. Someone, the Messiah, has redeemed me out of a pit. He's brought me out of sin.

Well, it goes on to here to preach. You know, that's all we can do. Declare the gospel. We have no capabilities in ourself of ever giving life. A lot of people have the idea that they can give mouth to mouth resuscitation spiritually. If I just get close enough, and I ask the right questions, and I do the right thing, and they answer the right questions, they'll be okay. Well, they're dead. Now, the person that can be resuscitated by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, or all of that other stuff that goes on, they were never completely dead, or they'd never been brought back. They looked dead, they acted dead, they had a pulse. When that's gone,

All right, it says here, prophesy unto these bones and say unto them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. What a waste of time. prophesied, preached to a bunch of dry bones? You know, that's what Brother Mahan did when he came out to Oregon nearly 40 years ago, and I heard the gospel. He prophesied to a bunch of dry bones, dead bones. And he wasn't there convinced that anything was going to happen, because if anything is going to happen, it's going to have to be God.

All right, it goes on, Thus saith the Lord God unto the bones, Behold, I will cause breath to, who said, I will cause breath? God said, I'll cause breath. It's not our breath. It's his breath. He causes that breath. He says, I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. And I will lay sinners upon you. Who? All of this, the whole account, is based upon what God does and not what the bones did. The same is true about the new birth. It is a revelation. It is a birth. It is, well, as Paul, writing to the Ephesians, wrote, and you hath he quickened. You know what that means. made alive, and you hath he made alive." This is a life that only can come from God. It's a spiritual birth that cannot be administered by anybody but Almighty God.

The only part that a preacher or anybody, and you know the Bible talks about deacons. I believe that everybody that God has ever saved, every male is a deacon and every female is a deaconess. And if we take the gospel to our family, to our friends, or to anyone else, we can only do what any preacher can do, and that is to declare the gospel, leave it alone. Don't press for anything else, because the rest is up to God.

It goes on to tell us here, it says there in the book of Ezekiel, ìAnd I will lay sinners upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put forth a breath in you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.î What a statement is made in that one verse of Scripture about Godís great work of salvation and regenerating somebody. I'll do this, and I'll do this, and I'll do this, and I'll do this, and I'll do this, and I will do this, and the final statement is made there, and ye shall know me. Ye shall know that I am the Lord.

What was the first words that Saul of Tarsus said after God Almighty appeared to him on the road to Damascus? A four-letter word starts with an L, Lord. He knew him. There was a revelation that took place that he knew him, not as just a Jesus man, but the sovereign King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so you shall know me and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

And then what did the preacher do? So I prophesied. One time Paul wrote and he was in Corinth and he was very discouraged. And he's kind of down in the mouth. And he did what Sister Tilly had to do. He had to go pray. And he prayed, and God said to him, don't be too down. I have much people in this city. And you know what? Paul received that and started preaching the gospel, and there was much people. And we get the book of 1 and 2 Corinthians written to those saints.

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 upon them, and the skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them. Now whether this actually happened, if it did, good. If it's just an illustration, good. But it is a great spiritual illustration about how God regenerates His people. Dead in trespasses and sin, and by His free and sovereign grace alone, He comes into the field, and through the preaching of the gospel, He goes on and does His business, and then it tells us here, in chapter 37 in verse 9.

And then he said 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, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. Now that word wind, breath, is often synonymous with the spirit. We are so dependent upon the Holy Spirit You know, I'm convinced that people that are interested in helping people get saved, and I'm saying that facetiously. I am convinced that people that want to help people get saved have no knowledge of the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God Almighty and He will do His business. He will create according to His good pleasure. He does not need us to convince anybody of anything. Our ministry is to declare the truth. Now, if someone comes to you and asks a question, answer it. But my friends, stay out of the saving business. There is one Savior, and He is the one that saves, and we can't get the job done. And if we have, if we've said, oh, I've won serval to the Lord, you know, that's very shaky ground. Because there is only one that can win anybody to the Lord, and that is the Lord. He's the only one.

All right, let's go on here. Then said, so I prophesied, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet an exceeding great army. Then said unto me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. This is a picture of the church, how God saved everybody that's in the church. Our bones are dried, our hope is lost, and we are cut off from our parts.

Join me, if you would, over in the book of John chapter 11. In John chapter 11, we have again here, as we think about this, On your way traveling there, Paul mentioned in the book of Romans, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision that is of the heart. That's something we can't accomplish. We cannot accomplish circumcision of the heart. That's a job of God's. That's what He does. He puts away the flesh and gives us a heart. He takes away the stony heart and gives us a heart of flesh.

Well, here in the book of John, chapter 11, verse 14, John chapter 11 and verse 14, we have Jesus saying, and the ministry, the message has already got to Him. You know, that's the thing about when we read in the Bible, God is never surprised. He already knows what the word is, the message is that's going to come. He's already purposed it. It's already been played out in eternity past. It's already been knowledge to him. He learns nothing. So when they came and said Lazarus is sick, and he stayed around for a little bit, he eventually tells us what we read there in the book of John 11, verse 14. It says, Lazarus is dead. Now, he's so dead that he's going to be buried, because he has been buried four days when the Lord Jesus gets there.

Now, the account of what takes place here, he goes over there, and in verse 43, and when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. We're yet to understand the power of the voice of God, but we have a demonstration here that declares it, and Lord, help me to see some of it. Lazarus, come forth. Now his sisters have already told Jesus, don't open that door. It's an impossibility. He's sharing with us, they're sharing with us. From a human standpoint, there is no possibility whatsoever of our brother ever coming out of that tomb except in the resurrection. The both of the sisters said, we know he'll be raised. In the end, he's a believer. But here he is, tucked away in a tomb with a stone rolled in front of it. And Jesus says, take that stone away. And cried out, Lazarus, come forth. And there in verse 44, And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus saith unto him, Loose him, and let him go.

He had life. He had life. And by the grace of God, some of those thoughts that he had had prior to his resurrection were put aside over time. Take his grave clothes off. Help him to understand what has taken place here. Help him to understand that Jesus Christ came down and called his name. Help him to understand that his sisters were weeping over his death. Help him to understand all these things that have gone on in his life. Help him to understand that. But he knows he's alive. He knows he's been raised from the dead.

Well, turn with me, if you would, over to the book of Ephesians chapter 2. In the book of Ephesians chapter 2. In the book of Ephesians chapter 2, we have the Apostle Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, writing to the saints at Ephesus. What a glorious book this is. What a glorious opening this is. Been going through part of this with Stephen back there, and we come to the conclusion that you cannot enjoy chapter 2 if you don't enjoy chapter 1. If you don't enjoy Chapter 1, Chapter 2 is just not yours. Chapter 1 tells us a lot about God's creation, that He's the Creator, that He has done what He's done, and it was purposed before the foundation of the world.

Well, in Chapter 2, we find the results of this. Chapter 2, in verse 1, it says, And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world. What is he telling us here? What's the Holy Spirit want us to understand here? This is the results of being dead. walking after the course of the world, according to the prince and the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. This is the results of being dead and trespasses in sin. There's no recognition of God Almighty.

You know, Nancy and I have been through a number of the countries in Europe, Eastern Europe and Western Europe, and there's one thing that you will see on every stop We were told that there was one religious denomination in this town of about 200,000, had 50 buildings in that one town. Religion is rampant in Europe. Religion is rampant all over the world. Drive around the Dalles. Religion is rampant. But we have very few that will trace their lineage right back to this and say, I was raised by Christ. He raised me from the dead. This is the way I was. This is what I was doing.

And he goes on to tell us there, among whom also you all had your conversation in time past, and the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved. You know, the same power it took to raise Jesus Christ from the dead is the power that God exudes to raise His people from the dead. Same exact power. It was the power of God to raise Jesus Christ from the dead. And it is the power of God alone.

So regeneration by the Holy Spirit is so vital. There's nothing like it. There's nothing that can substitute for it. I've had people tell me all kinds of things on how they were born again. I can tell you this, I don't know how I was born again. Just like I can't understand how I was born the first time. I can�t put it together. It�s a mystery. But I know this, that once God gave me the new birth, I quit arguing with Him. I was not looking for a fuss or a fight anymore. When I heard the Word of God read, I said, �Yea, and Amen,� but I don�t understand

The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. He hath quickened us together with Christ. And in the book of Ezekiel, again, would you turn back there with me? Chapter 16. Ezekiel 16. And again, the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Ezekiel 16, verse 1, And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and say, Thus saith the LORD GOD unto Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativity is in the land of Canaan. And thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother was a Hittite.

While we were waiting in the airport in Vienna, There was a lot of these guys with curls down their side of their head, wearing their black hats and their black robes. And you know, I wanted to go over and ask him, do you agree with this verse of Scripture that your mother was a Hittite and your father was a, what's it, an Amorite?

Father was an Amorite and my mother was a Hittite. You know, everyone that knows Christ will say, you got that right. I don't argue with you over that. My family, my mother and my father were both sinners to the core. They could not bring in a righteous son.

And he says that, And as for thy nativity, the day that thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water, to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at all, nor swallowed at all. None eye pitied thee. and to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee. But thou wast cast out into an open field, and to the loathing of the person, and in the day that thou wast born.

And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when I passed, What's in thy blood? What did he say? One word. Live. What a powerful word that God used here with regard to this. Live, yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live.

Now, how much do you get when God saves you? How much do you know? How much does God reveal to us? You know, He lets us know that He's Lord, I know that. But you know that's the blessing of going through the rest of our life is that God reveals more and more and more about His great work of salvation, about the greatness of God.

One final verse found in the book of the Proverbs, Solomon shares this. In the book of the Proverbs, Solomon shares this about what God does. It's an ongoing education. That's why it is such a blessing to get together and hear the Word. Such a blessing to read a verse of Scripture and then ruminate on it all day long. Such a blessing to wake up in the night and can't go back to sleep and think of a verse of Scripture.

The other night I had this verse of Scripture came to me. I will look unto the hills from which cometh my help, my help cometh from the Lord. here in the book of the Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 18 it says this, but the path of the just is as the shining light, and if you look that up that means like the sunrise Oh, just that glow at the very break of day, just that glow.

The path of the just to begin with is just that shining glow. Oh, He has raised me from the spiritual dead and I know a few things about Him. that shineth more and more. What does He do? He adds more and more. He reveals more and more. And you know when He quits revealing more and more? It says right there at that perfect day when it's top noon. You know what that is for us? When we're called home.

We get to receive more and more of Him till we're called home. Then we shall see Him as He is. I don't know what that's going to be like, but I'm looking at them more and more right now.

So, in preaching Christ to those folks in Samaria, Philip spent some time talking about their natural condition. He talked about a Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he talked about the necessity of the new birth. It must be of God. And then, in the next two verses, we have the results.

Well, the last verse it says there in the book of Acts chapter 8, verse 8 it says, there was great joy in the city. And in verse 9 it says, but there was a certain man called Simeon. Great joy in the city, but we have somebody that went through all the formalities and yet he did not Trust Christ, He was not born again.

We're going to stop there for today, and we'll pick up this passage of Scripture next time. And Lord willing, we'll get through the chapter 8 here soon.

Brother Mike, if you'll come.