I please God to bless us together
this morning as we meditate on his word. Let us turn to the
prophecy of Ezekiel, chapter 37, and we'll read verses 11,
12, 13, and 14. Ezekiel, chapter 37, and verses 11, 12, 13, and
14. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole
house of Israel. Behold, they say, our bones are
dried and 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 ye 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. Ezekiel was residing in Babylon
when he wrote this prophecy. And this prophecy that we've
read together this morning, which we think of as the Valley of
Dry Bones, really has a number of applications. And it had an
application clearly to Israel at that time who were residing
in Babylon to that time when the promise would be fulfilled
and they would return unto Jerusalem. No doubt they were in the condition
feeling like dry bones. And then there was the condition
that there would be that time in all probability when the Jewish
nation would indeed be blessed. when the Lord would return and
bless his ancient people. And then there is the reference
to that time of the end of the world, when the Lord indeed will
return and all his church will be gathered home. And then fourthly,
and that's what I want to concentrate on today really, is the situation
which is a spiritual application which respects the conversion
and the life of the Church of God. And so we have these various
aspects which are set before us in this account. Now it is clear that Ezekiel
was directed by the Spirit of God. And how relevant that must
always be And when we read the Word of God, and when it's directed
to our own hearts, to consider that this is the Word of God. And so we're told, 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 dry bones. So Ezekiel here was given this
vision. And we may say, well, it's really
similar to the parables which were spoken in the New Testament. It was the formation of a picture
which was put down and into print so that we're able to read a
picture and through that picture to understand the meaning of
it and the reality of it. Let us never forget that the
Word of God, there are no wasted words. The Word of God was spoken
by God Himself into those men ordained by God to write the
Scriptures. And it's amazing to think how the Spirit of God
influenced men in that way and how the words spoken are very
succinct and very simple for us to understand and very appropriate
to our lives today in one way or another. We can often read
the Word of God and perhaps think, well, of course, that's just
history, it's just an interesting anecdote. Well, that's not so. The Word of God is written for
our spiritual benefit and our spiritual profit. And as we read
the Word of God, we should always read it and pray that the Lord
might direct it to see how it applies to our life. in the life, in the day in which
we live, perhaps in the days which we're going to enter into
ahead of us, perhaps in the days which are past. The Word of God
is always a living Word and an appropriate Word of God. Well,
here we have then this account of Ezekiel in this position,
given this vision to see this valley which was full of dry
bones. Now, we know, of course, that
bones have no life, and that's precisely what Ezekiel was shown,
he's told, and there were very many bones in the open valley,
and lo, they were very dry, very dry, no moisture at all, absolutely
dead, nothing living there at all, was it? And so that's the
view that Ezekiel had as he looked around. He saw this valley of
dry bones. And the Spirit said unto him,
Son of Man, can these bones live? And it's important to notice
how the Prophet answers that question. There he was with all
the dry bones around him. And he answered it very wisely. And it was these words, O Lord
God, thou knowest. And we can think that in our
own lives, we have to commit our way unto the Lord so often.
Perhaps words like this and so, O Lord God, thou knowest. What he meant was, he didn't
know. He didn't know. what the outcome was going to
be. Could they live? He didn't really know. But it's
a very comforting thing to know that our God knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning.
He knows the things which have passed, the things which are,
and the things which are to come. And it's a very safe answer to
be able to come and say like this, O Lord God, Thou knowest. And again he said, prophesy upon
these bones. And of course prophesying really
was preaching. He was to preach to these bones
and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Well, surely there was no purpose
in speaking to a valley of dry bones. No purpose was there. What would it achieve? What would
it achieve? Well, that's why we have an encouraging
statement like this, because we are to preach to mankind. It may appear to be all dry bones,
no life, deadness. Nonetheless, the Word is to be
preached. It is to be proclaimed. And the
question might be, well, can these bones live? We have to
come and say, O Lord, thou knowest. Lord knows whether life will
be put into those bones. But the command is, and it's
a blessed command, and how thankful we should be that we have such
a statement like this, which should overcome all our unbelief
and to think, well, there's no purpose, there's no reason. The
Word tells us, prophesy unto these bones, and say unto them,
O ye dry bones, the word of the Lord. Now dry bones cannot physically
hear the word of the Lord. There is no life and therefore
they cannot hear. So we may say, well what is the
purpose then of preaching to dry bones? First of all it is
the command of God. And the Lord will prosper that
which he sees fit to do. And the Lord alone can breathe
life into those bones so that they do hear the word of the
Lord. And so the prophet receives this
instruction, and thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold,
I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. This means that man doesn't receive
any glory. This means that it's God that
puts the breath into those dry bones. Man does but sow the seed,
he but preaches a word, and it's God that does and produces life
within, as he grants this great and wonderful blessing of breath. And therefore, he comes to Ezekiel
and says, behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and
you shall live. And because that's the reason, and because that's
what will happen, God will therefore of necessity receive the honour
and glory. Man is just a mere instrument
in God's hand. He is just the mouthpiece of
Almighty God. It is God that works. It is God
that produces life. It's God that gives living breath.
And what a wonderful favour and blessing it is. And then he comes
and he illustrates it in this way. He says, 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. The evident position is that
until breath is put in, there is no life. He says, I will lay
sinews upon you and will bring up flesh upon you and cover you
with skin. Now if it stops at that position,
it's still a lifeless being. And you may say, well, what's
the analogy of that then with our situation today? The analogy
I believe is very simply this. People can, as it were, put on
a clothing of religion. And they can put it on like this,
so it's just the bare skeleton. just a very shallow knowledge
of the Word of God, and just as it were, just like bones. And then it moves on from there. And the sinews put on, and flesh
put on, and skin. But all these things may be a
progression in a natural religion, a greater knowledge. of religion,
but there is no life. And the tragedy is, many people
today are content with just what we might term a head knowledge. They just learn the truth, but
it doesn't enter into their heart. It doesn't actually affect them.
It's not actually the life of God within. It's just an outward
profession without any inward possession. And we therefore
have this picture of sinews and flesh and skin coming upon the
bones, but no breath. And so the Prophet says, so I
prophesied as I was commanded. And he says, as I prophesied,
there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came
together, bone to his bone. Now, it may be that when we understand
naturally the knowledge of the truth of God, it may cause us
to tremble, it may cause us to shake. Now, these things by themselves
are good, Nothing against that. But even in that condition, there
is not true life. So I prophesied as I was commanded,
and there was a noise and a shaking. There may be a noise. You and
I may speak things and say things, but is there life within? Is it just? a formation of words,
just vain words, just dead words. And so he says, and when I beheld,
though the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered
them above, but there was no breath in them. And 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, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. You may think,
well, that's a very strange statement to make. How can the wind do
that? Well, it really is, of course,
referring to the wonderful influence of the Spirit of God. And we have very clear position
shown to us in the New Testament and in the Gospel of John in
the third chapter, remembering that occasion when Nicodemus
came to the Lord Jesus Christ and he spoke about the need to
be born again and Nicodemus, able scholar that he was, wasn't
able to understand how that could possibly come about. But the Lord told him how this
came about. And he told him, marvel not that
I said unto thee, ye must be born again. And naturally we
do marvel. Naturally people marvel. How
can this be? We're no different naturally
to Nicodemus. All these 2,000 years later,
we still ponder and wonder, how can this be? And the Lord says,
the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. The Spirit comes. We don't know
how it comes. It's just like the wind. We know
what the wind's like, don't we? We can feel the effect of it.
But we don't know how it comes and where it comes from. And
it goes round about. And that's just like the work
of the Holy Spirit of God. And so we have this expression
here for the prophet to pray in this way. and to say unto
the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say unto the wind, thus saith
the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe
upon these slain that they may live. What a word that is for
us today to pray to the spirit of God that that blessed spirit
may come. How we need it. We need it individually,
we need it as a nation, that the Spirit of God may come. And
so here was the Spirit of God, here was the Word of God, here
was the Lord speaking to Ezekiel, and speaking in this way, this
great Word, thus saith the Lord God, come from the four winds,
O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. As the Spirit of God enters in
to the soul of man, life is given. What a blessing for us today
if we have the evidence that that blessed Spirit has entered
into our hearts and has produced That life which will never go
out. And that is the gift of God.
And so, what did the Prophet do? Was he faithful? Did he believe
the Word of God? Yes he did. It wasn't just a
figment of his imagination. It was the Word of God to his
soul. And he was moved by the Spirit
to obey the Spirit's work and to preach the Word. And so he
tells us, so I prophesied, as he commanded me. And the breath
came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet,
an exceeding great army." Well, here we have the divine commission,
do we not? To go into all the world and
to preach the Gospel. Because as that gospel is preached,
as the Spirit of God comes and quickens whom he will, he comes
upon lost mankind, those indeed who are lost and dead in trespasses
and in sins. In the two chapters further on
in the epistle of John, the fifth chapter, we come down to This
verse verse 21 for as the father raises up the dead and a quickeneth
them Even so the son quickeneth whom he will The Lord God Almighty
is his divine prerogative to quicken whom he will but it is
our privilege and favor to preach the gospel and to proclaim the
great truths of the Gospel, so that the Lord may then, through
his Holy Spirit, that Spirit may come upon us, apply his Word. And what has happened is that
we are a new creature. We possess the life of God in
our soul. The Lord then, he He gives life. He says, verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that
sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life. Well, what a wonderful
blessing if you and I are able to understand and to know the
blessed favour of God And so he comes and he says these words,
The hour is coming, very, very I say unto you, the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath
life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself,
and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because
he is the Son of God. And the Lord speaks again these
words to the disciples, marvel not at this. We're not to marvel. Our nature does marvel because
we see here the gracious and glorious operation of the Holy
Spirit of God that comes into our soul and convinces us of
our true condition before a holy God, convincing him of our lost
state, showing to us our condition, that of a lost and ruined sinner
in the sight of a holy God, with no hope in ourselves, because
we are dead in trespasses and in sins, and yet to know. that
as we hear the great truth of the Gospel, the Spirit of God
applies the Word to our soul, so that we are blessed with that
life within, and we become a living soul. A living soul. What a blessing, my friends,
to know the truth of that, and to hear these words then. As
the Lord gave Ezekiel commandments, so he obeyed the command of God,
and the life came into him, the breath came into him, and they
lived and stood upon their feet in exceeding great harmony. Now
the analogy is simple for us to understand, isn't it? We know
that a natural body is absolutely dead without breath. How do we ascertain whether somebody
is alive or not? Well, whether they're breathing.
If they're not breathing, there's no life. They're dead. My friends,
that's just the same in a spiritual sense. And we can think of it
in this way. The Lord gives that spiritual
breath. What does it do? It causes us
to pray. Prayer really is our spiritual
breath. It's not just an outward form,
like the Prophet specifies here, that it's just flesh on the bones
and skin. No, it's not that at all. That's just a mere form of words. Pharisees prayed like that. Remember,
the Lord spoke about the Pharisee, didn't he? And the Pharisee,
how did he pray? He prayed with himself. And he
boasted of what a great person he was. And there was no true
prayer there at all. What was there in that Pharisee?
There was no life. There was no breath, no life. He was still dead. He thought
he was a great person, a great godly person. He was so proud
of all his outward performance. Yes, just like this you see,
there were the sinews, there was the flesh, there was the
skin, but no breath, no life. It's the vital difference, it's
the vital necessity that all of us need to have the blessed
revelation that God has blessed us with his spirit so that we
are amongst those who are made spiritually alive. And the prophet is then told
the truth and he said, these, he said, son of man, these bones
are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say our bones are
dried and our hope is lost. We are cut off from our parts.
Again, I believe that indicates to us that when the Lord really
begins that work, there's that concern, isn't there? We say,
well, I'm lost. I'm ruined. There's no hope for
me. I'm just like dry bones. Yes, hopeless condition. The
House of Israel, the true House of Israel, are brought that way.
And the revelation is, they don't possess any life themselves.
They don't possess any life themselves. They're just like this. And just
deadness. Our bones are dried, our hope
is lost, we're cut off for our parts. Not like the Pharisee. But what's it like? It's like
the publican. That person who was despised.
And what did he do? How did he pray? Did he say,
what a great man I am? Not at all. He smote upon his
breast. He couldn't look up. He was so
cast down. He realised his true state before
a holy God. And he prayed a very real prayer.
It was the breath of life in his soul. And what was it? A
few simple words, but words which emanated from the Spirit of God,
which came with divine power. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. What did it demonstrate? Life. The breath of life was in that
soul. What a difference, what a comparison.
And so may we today realize the wonderful blessing of the evidence
of the Spirit of God's work in our soul. And that is an essential
thing. You know, we're blessed, aren't
we, to have such a statement here, such an account, which
is a picture of the true Church of God. And it's a dividing word
which shows us the difference between a false religion and
a true religion. a God-given religion, and the
God-given religion produces praise to God. And man is low in the
dust. He realises his utter inability,
his utter lack of any favour of any grace, and he realises
all his hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And so the Lord comes And he
says, Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the
Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God. Behold,
O my people. No reason to give up. No reason
to fade away. Thus saith the Lord God. Behold, O my people. Oh my people,
here's the praying church of God. I will open your graves. It's the Lord that does it. He
opens the deadness. He opens the heart to receive
the word of God. I will open your graves and cause
you to come out of your graves and bring you into the land of
Israel amongst the people of God, amongst the church of God. Wonderful favor, isn't it? What
is it? It's the work of God's Spirit.
It's not the work of man. It's the work of God's Spirit.
I will, my friends, and when God says, I will, it will be
accomplished. Man says, I will, and it won't
be accomplished. When God says, I will, it will
be accomplished. And so he speaks in this way,
and he shall know that I am the Lord. A personal knowledge from
the Spirit of God shows to us that we are amongst the household
of faith. We are amongst the Church of
God. It is a truth. And ye shall know, because it's
what God has done. And ye shall know that I am the
Lord. When I have opened your graves,
O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, the Lord
has brought us up. The Lord has put breath into
us. The Lord has done it. It's not
man's work, it's God's work. And shall put my spirit in you,
and ye 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. What a blessed confidence there
is as we understand by the Spirit's work that the Holy Spirit has
worked in our heart, that we are a changed person, that we
have a new nature, that we are indeed born again of the Spirit
of God. And how humbling it is to know
that the Lord has looked upon us, has chosen us, has called
us out of the vast masses who exist in the world today. We've
heard his voice. He's touched our heart. We become
a new creature and we understand and we bless God for such a truth. I, the Lord, have spoken it and
performed it. The Lord speaks and he performs
that great work of grace in our souls. so that it is all of grace,
it's all of God, and we can then come and stand alongside the
Apostle Paul and understand, as he wrote to the Ephesians,
those so strengthening truths, and he says, and you hath he
quickened, and you hath he made alive, who were dead in trespasses
and sins, wherein time passed, ye walked, according to the house,
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in
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. And if you've been moved by the
Spirit of God, you will say, Amen. That's true. I've come
that way. I understand the blessed work
of the Spirit of God. And I can today rejoice, therefore,
in what God has said and what he's done. And the apostle goes
on, but God, that's the truth, isn't it? It's not man, 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. There's no merit to man. All
the merit goes to almighty God. And hath raised us up together,
us adjoining together, the church of God is joined together, raised
us up together from that dead condition into life within. and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. The Church of God is indeed all
one in Christ Jesus. They are blessed with this spiritual
unity. They rejoice in what Christ has
done. They desire that He might be
lifted up. They rejoice in the great work at Calvary. Their
hope is on what the Lord Jesus has done, that finished work,
their hope is in his shed blood, in his great and glorious atonement.
And so they're able to come and rejoice in this truth, that in
the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace
in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. His kindness, my
friends, to you and me, to have brought us this way. He hasn't
left us in that condition that we deserved. His kindness toward
us. And it's wonderful, isn't it?
He says this, and in ages to come he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
For by grace are ye saved. What a truth that is. through
faith, God's given faith, we haven't produced it, God's given
it to us, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God, the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast, for we are his workmanship, it's God's work,
his work, created in Christ Jesus, Unto good works, you see, Christ's
work in us produces that good works from us, not for our honour
and glory, but for his honour and glory, created in Christ
Jesus. Unto good works which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them. We are to follow
the divine pattern that the Saviour sets before us in the Word of
God. Remember, we're not our own.
We've been purchased. God has purchased us. And how
has he purchased? How has he paid the debt? What's
the payment? His precious blood. That's the
price for our redemption. That was the price he paid in
order that we might receive the breath of life. How amazing to
think that almighty God should have condescended to save such
unworthy sinners. That's why we have those great
words, by grace are ye saved. Do we rejoice in it this morning?
Do we bless God this morning? We have such an account here
which spells out in detail the true work of grace, the spiritual
life, in those who the Lord calls, those who the Lord has chosen,
those who the Lord has granted that wonderful favour of knowing
his grace and to know that through his mercy we shall one day be
forever with the Lord in glory. What a prospect for the church
of God. And we shall have finished with
all the vanities of life, all those things which perish with
the using, but we shall be in that eternal state with that
God who has given us that breath of life. Well, my friends, this
morning, may each of us have the evidence that we possess
the breath of life in our souls, because that will be eternal
happiness. Amen.