If you will turn back with me
to Ezekiel chapter 37. Ezekiel 37. Look with me at verse 1. The hand of the Lord was upon
me and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord. Now, the
first thing I want us to notice is as God's messenger, that is
absolutely critical. We don't stand here in our own
power. Paul said, I've come not to you
with excellency of speech and enticing words of man's wisdom.
We're not here in our own ability. This preaching is God's work.
When God sends a prophet with his word, that's God's doing.
It's crucial that the hand of the Lord must be upon us. If
there's gonna be a blessing, when we come here, we desire
a blessing, don't we? If there's going to be a blessing,
we must have the power. We must have the hand of the
Lord. We must have the presence of
God. We know where two or three are gathered in His name. There
He is in our midst. And before we come here, we ought
to, and I believe we do, pray, Lord, send Your Spirit, dwell
in our midst. We need Him. We need his presence. Moses said, when God sent him
to lead the children of Israel, he said, if thy presence go not
with me, carry us not up hence. Lord, if you're not with me,
don't even let us go. And that's true right now. I
pray that the Lord, like he was with Ezekiel here, I pray that
he would be with us. Look at verse one again. 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. God led him out, and God set
him down. And that's important. We need
to be set down, all of us. We need to be set down, especially
those of us who stand and speak. It's so easy to get a hot head. We need to be set down. We must
take our rightful place. And our rightful place is exactly
where God set Ezekiel down. It says he set him down right
in the middle of a valley full of bones. Quite literally, a
graveyard. And why is it important that
we sit down in the middle of a graveyard? Because that's where
we belong. We're sinners, and the wages
of sin is death. That's where we belong. That's
where we are as a result of our sin, and we must never forget
that. As we heard this, we must never grow above that. We're
still just sinners. Look at verse two. And he caused me to pass
by them round about. God sent his prophet to this
graveyard. God sent his prophet to this
valley of bones. Our God is a merciful God, isn't
He? Why would He do such a thing? Well, I'll tell you this, I'm
sure glad He sent His prophet to me, aren't you? What would
we do had He not sent His prophet with His word to us? Now, these
bones, like us, they paint a good picture of us. These bones, they
had nothing to offer. There was nothing in those bones
that caused God to send His prophet to them. And again, that's true
for us. There was nothing in us that
made God say, I'm gonna send my word to them. We didn't deserve
it. We don't deserve it. These bones
were cut off. They were far gone. They were
far gone. Look at verse two again. He caused
me to pass by them round about, and behold, there were very many
in the open valley. And lo, they were very dry. These
bones were laying out here in the open for anyone who walks
by to see them. It was no secret. These bones,
whoever they belonged to, they had suffered a great defeat. Whatever war they might have
been in, one thing we know for sure, they lost. And this represents
us in Adam, what happened in the Garden of Eden. God created
man perfect, upright in his holy image, and we lost it. We lost
it. Man had perfect fellowship and
communion with God Almighty, and we lost it. We lost it, and
as a result, we're these bones. God gave us everything, we lost
everything. And notice the end of verse two
here, these bones, they were very dry. They weren't just dry,
very dry. They had no moisture, no marrow,
no strength, no life, nothing. They had nothing, no hope. Can we see ourselves in these
bones? That's the first thing we must see. We must see that
these bones paint a perfect picture of who we are dead in our sin. These bones are us. Now, I know
religion likes to speak a little more highly of these bones, but
I'm not going to. There's not a little bit of marrow,
a little bit of blood in these bones. No, none, none. There's not a little bit of good
in us. If we just try real hard to find it, it's not there. It's
not there. We're worse off than we could
ever imagine. We're worse off than we could
ever imagine. And I'm here to declare that it's as bad as it
can be. It certainly was for these bones, and it is for us
too. It's as bad as it can be. There's
nothing we can do about our sin. There's nothing we can do about
it. We cannot provide a remedy or
a cure for our sin, for our depraved, lost condition. We can't do it.
The fact of the matter is we need a physician. We need a great
physician who can do the impossible. For someone like me to be saved,
it's gonna take an absolute miracle of the grace of God. That's where
I am, and that's what I'm here to declare to you. We are these
bones. Now look here in verse three
of our text. Well, that took a quick turn, didn't it? What a question. What a prospect. I'm sure Ezekiel wasn't thinking
about these bones living. Not again. It was obvious they
lived once and they died. But for the Lord to look at these
bones and put ourselves in these bones' place, for the Lord to
say, can these bones live? You mean to tell me there might
be hope for a sinner like me? Can there be hope for a sinner
like me? Look at verse three again. And I love his answer.
It's not up to me. It's not up to us. You see, with
men, this is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. God can and God will make these
dead, dry bones to live. Does that make you rejoice? Praise
God. Well, how does he do it? How
does God give life to these dead, dry bones? Look at verse four
here. Again, he said unto me, prophesy upon these bones. Ezekiel, you see these bones?
Preach to them. Preach to them. What an odd request. Not a request, what an odd command.
Preach to them. But they're dead. What good is
that gonna do? They're dead. How's a dead man
gonna hear me preach to them? Let's consider that in our day.
What good's it gonna do to preach to a dead sinner? How's a dead
man gonna hear the word of the Lord? How's a dead man gonna
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved? That's what we
declare, right? That's what we preach. How foolish! Turn over with me to 1 Corinthians
1. We read this this morning, 1
Corinthians 1 verse 18. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe." You see, The preaching
of the gospel, it's foolish to men. It's a foolish means in
our sight. But to God, that's the power
and wisdom of God. That's how God's been pleased
to speak life into His people. That's the way He purposed to
speak life into these bones. It sure is. Turn back there with
me, Ezekiel 37. 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. What is our message? Here's the
first thing God has commanded us to declare, oh ye dry bones. The first thing I must do is
remind you, remind us what we are. We're dead, dry bones. We're not to sugarcoat it. We're
not to butter each other up. We're here to say there's none
good, no not one. The whole head is sick. The whole
heart faint from the top of my head to the bottom of my foot.
I'm nothing but sin. That's what we're to declare.
And then we're to declare what he said here. Oh you dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord. We're here to tell you We read
it again this morning. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. We can't do anything good. And
then we turn around and tell you to do the impossible, hear
the word of the Lord, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved. Well, doesn't that sound like
a contradiction? How are we gonna do this? Why is that what we
declare? Well, here's why. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. We must have faith. We must believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Well, how does faith come? Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. We must hear the Word of God.
We must believe the Word of God. Well, how are we gonna do that?
God must quicken us. That's what He's about to do
for these bones, and that's exactly what He must do for us if we're
gonna believe Him. if we're gonna be saved, if we're
gonna have life. And that's why God sent His prophet
to prophesy unto these bones. That's why God still sends His
messengers to speak to these bones. That He might quicken
them. He might give them an ear to
hear Him speak through His word. Verse five. Thus saith the Lord
God unto these bones. What do we preach? Thus saith
the Lord. Nothing else, thus saith the
Lord God. And I thought about this. Ezekiel, while you're preaching
to these bones, I'm gonna speak to these bones. You see, it's
not us you must hear. I can promise you, if you just
hear my voice, it won't do you any good. We gotta hear him speak. God speaks through his word,
and it's crucial that we must hear his voice. John 5 verse
25, Our Lord said, Verily, verily, 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. We must hear, hear and
your soul shall live. We must hear Christ speak. We
must hear him speak. Verse five again, Thus saith
the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to
enter into you, and ye shall live. There it is. What a hope. What hope for these
dead, dry bones. What hope for me. What hope for
you. You go tell them, Behold, I will, and ye shall. I tell
you, that's a glorious message to declare. It never gets old.
I'm so honored and privileged to get to declare such a wonderful
message. I will and you shall. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel that we declare. That's the only gospel there
is. Can these bones live? James 4, verse 5, or James 4,
verse 15 says, if the Lord will, we shall live. If the Lord will,
only if the Lord will. Verse six, and I will lay sinews
upon you and will bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin. This covering represents the
Lord Jesus Christ, His blood, His righteousness. If we're gonna
have life, we've gotta have His blood and His righteousness.
We have to have a sin covering. We're sinners, our sin must be
covered. And not only that, we must have the righteousness of
God if we're gonna stand before a holy God in the judgment. We
must have Christ. Christ is our life. Doesn't matter
what we have if we don't have Him. He that hath not the Son
hath not life. Verse six, 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. Now these bones, they're dead,
but they're about to live, all right? The gospel Ezekiel's about
to preach to them is behold what great things the Lord hath done
for you. That's what we declare, not what
can we do. What great things the Lord hath
done for you. Look at verse seven. So I prophesied, as I was commanded."
Ezekiel did not question the wisdom of God in telling him
to preach to these bones. I tried thinking about it. If
I were in his shoes, I would probably question the command. He did not question God. He did
not question God's wisdom. He did not question God's power,
His ability to raise these bones to life. He simply prophesied
as he was commanded. He did not try to get these bones
to do something. He did not say, all right, now
this thing's a cooperation. You bones are gonna have to start
stretching and flexing out and coming together. No. He knew
they could do nothing. You know why? Because God had
taught him he could do nothing. He preached the word of the Lord. He preached the word of the Lord.
You know what God's promised to bless? His word, nothing else. He's promised to bless his word.
He said, my words shall not return unto me void. And I'm so glad
to know that. Gives me such hope. His words
shall not return void even when preached to dead, dry bones. Perhaps especially when preached
to dead, dry bones. Verse seven again, 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. When
the word of the Lord comes to a center, things get shaken up.
Something happens. Our world gets turned upside
down. Nothing's the same. Things begin to change. We start
to wonder, what's going on? What's going on? I'll tell you
what's going on. God had begun a work in them.
Bones didn't do anything. God began to work in them. Look at verse eight. Now at this point, these bones
represent something. They represent men and women
lost in religion. Now obviously God doesn't begin
to work in someone who's not saved, so that's not what I'm
saying. What I'm saying is these bones They started coming together. They had an appearance of godliness,
but deny the power thereof. They looked good. There are many
people in religion who look good. They impress people. Our Lord
said this concerning the Pharisees, that they're just going about
to impress men. They wanted men to glory in them.
They weren't interested in the praise of God. These bones, that's
what they represent, because they had no breath in them. We've
got to have the breath of God in us if we're going to have
life. Ezekiel preached the gospel to these bones, but he could
not give them life. I can't give you life. God must give us life.
God must give us life. Our calling when we preach the
gospel is not to get people saved. If anything, it's to get them
to learn your dead, dry bones. It's not to get people saved.
It's to preach the gospel and wait on the Lord. He will cause
His dead, dry bones to live. He will. He's not gonna lose
a single one. Verse nine. That's our prayer
before we dare stand in this pulpit, is that God will send
His Spirit, bless His word to every heart here, because we
can't do it. And as the one bringing the message,
we pray that God will bless the word to our heart first. If he
doesn't bless it to my heart, it sure won't be a blessing to
you. I promise you that. But God must make it effectual.
God must make it effectual. And he makes it effectual. He
does. He does. We pray, Lord, speak
to us. Quicken us. Give us faith to
believe you. Cause us to look to you, trust
in you, rest in you. Save us. Why is that our prayer? Because
we can't do it. I can't do anything for myself.
I can't do anything for you. I can't give myself faith. God
must give me faith. I can't give myself life. We
have a little baby girl on the way, and we pray every day that
God would give her life. Because that's all that matters.
And if she's gonna have life, God must give it. And I rejoice
to know, as we're reading, He gives it. He's able to give it. Verse 10. Can these bones live? By the grace and power and operation
of God Almighty, yes they can. Yes they can. When the Spirit
of God breathes life into a dead sinner, that sinner lives. That sinner lives. And I love how it says here,
they stood up upon their feet an exceeding great army. I mentioned whatever war they
were in, they lost. Well, now Christ has won the
battle for them. They can't die anymore. No more
death. No. No more defeat. He's given
us the victory through Christ. How did they stand? They stood
in Him. We stand in Him. We're without
strength. Ungodly. Christ is our strength. He's
our rock. He's our foundation. We stand
in Him. He's our life. Look at verse
11. Now Israel, the spiritual Israel,
the elect of God, God's people, we're said to be his bones, the bones of Christ.
And I love this. Psalm 34, verse 20 says, he keepeth
all his bones, not one of them is broken, not one. You remember
at the cross when our Lord gave up the ghosts and the thieves
beside him, they died. The soldiers, they went and they
broke both the thieves' legs and they were gonna break our
Lord's legs, or so they thought. And then they said, well, he's
dead already, no need to break his legs. Well, it wasn't a coincidence. It was written. Here's what it
says, that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall
not be broken. That gives me such hope. Not
one. Because if one of his bones could
be broken, I just know it'd be this one. Not one can be broken. And the reason is, he was broken
for us. He said, take ye, this is my
body which is broken for you. What a blessing. Verse 11 again. Then he said unto me, Son of
man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. These are my
people. Behold, they say our bones are dried and our hope
is lost. We are cut off for our parts. That's our confession. Our bones
are dried. Our hope is lost. We're cut off
for our parts. Is that your confession? I was lost and undone without
God's precious Son when He reached down His hand for me. And I thought
of this song as well. Dark the stain that soiled man's
nature, long the distance that he fell, far removed from hope
and heaven, into deep despair and hell. But there was a fountain
opened, and the blood of God's own Son purifies the soul and
reaches deeper than the stain has gone. Praise the Lord for
full salvation. God still reigns upon His throne,
and I know the blood still reaches deeper than the stain has gone.
You see, like these bones, they've no hope, no hope without God,
without Christ in this world. But God, but God, that's our
only hope. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us, hath quickened us
together with Christ. By grace we're saved. He's made
us nigh by the blood of Christ. That's the only way I can be
saved. That's how these bones were saved.
It's the only way we're gonna be saved. Look at verse 12. 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. When God saves us, we know He
saved us. We don't have to wonder who saved
us. From start to finish, salvations of the Lord, He saved us. And He's still saving us. And
one day we shall be saved once and for all. He saved us. When He saves us, we know He
is the Lord. This flesh doesn't know who the
Lord is. That poor Samaritan woman, she didn't have a clue.
She said, I know when Messiah cometh. She did not know the
Messiah until he stood right in front of her and he said,
I am. I am the Lord. He brought us
up out of our graves. We don't have to die. We don't
have to die an eternal death because Christ died our death
for us. And since He died for us, now
we live, move, and have our being in Him. We live in Him. He went to the cross to prepare
a place for us. And He's going to come again.
And He's gonna receive us unto Himself, that where He is, there
we may be also, Him in all His bones, forever. Thanks be to
God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Can these bones live? Praise God, He's made these bones
to live. Amen.