Let's turn back to Ezekiel 37. Ezekiel 37. I love this portion
of Scripture. I love it. I always have. We are all here this morning
to hear a message. Every one of us. A message from
our God. That's why I'm here this morning.
That's the whole reason I showed up. I thought you were here to
speak. Well, I am, but I'm here to hear. I pray God would let me hear
this morning. I really do. We're all here to
sing praises to our God and to pray to him. and to worship Him
and give glory unto Him and to hear Him. The reason that we are here inside
these four walls to do all of this is because this is how He
said He would move on the hearts of His people. It's through the impossible task
of preaching. the impossible task. It's impossible
because nobody, starting with me, is capable of it. Nobody is worthy of it. Nobody is sufficient for it. Well, that's not true. I see
people all over the place doing it. When we moved to Kingsport,
we found out everybody's a preacher. Everybody's doing it. No, they're
not. They're standing up in front
of other people. But unless God grabs a sinner
and puts His message in him and causes him to declare it, then
a sinner is only capable a sinner, is only capable of preaching
lies and sin. And that's not preaching. And it's going to be to the damnation
of his soul and the damnation of all the souls that hear him.
Isn't that awful? Ezekiel was one of God's true
preachers. And we're about to see the message
that God gave him. And our God said in Malachi 3,
I am the Lord, I change not. This is still the message today. Here's the title. The True Preacher and His Message. The True Preacher and His Message.
This right here is how God moves and what God says. Verse 1, Ezekiel
writes, The hand of the Lord was upon me and carried me out
in the Spirit of the Lord." If a preacher is going to be
sent of God, this is where it has to start. God has got to
lay His hand on him. Lay His hand on a dead vile sinner
and send His Spirit to him. That has got to happen first. And if God, through the declared
Word, through preaching, has purpose to save a sinner, chooses
to save somebody through it, then it's the same thing. God
has got to grab a sinner and send His Spirit to him. That's
what has to happen every time. It all begins with the hand of
the Lord. It all begins with the hand of
the Lord. Verse 1 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. If this is of God, If God calls a preacher, then the first thing the Lord
is going to show this sinner, he's called, is the condition
of the people that he's preaching to. I am preaching to myself first. I told you I am here to hear. And I'm preaching to myself first.
It is not the preacher and the people. We are all one body. One body. I'm convinced that this man I'm
preaching to right here, in his natural state, is dead. I'm convinced of that. Verse 1 says, ìThe 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.î Very dry. If that's not me, I don't know
who is. I'm tired already. It's Sunday
morning. I just had a full night's sleep.
You know what I am? I'm dead and I'm dry. That Gatsby's hymn says, is it
so with you? Really? Don't we see our dryness? Don't we see how dead we are? Very dry. No life in them. Just dead. Dead. No marrow in these bones at all. No moisture in them at all. They
were very dry. Very dry. If God does not move
me and put life in me, there's no life to be had. Those two on the road to Emmaus,
they said, didn't our heart burn within us? I desire that. But if God doesn't do it, it's
just not there. It's just not there. Martin Luther said, If a man
could get a full view of his sin and lost condition as it
really is, he would lose his sanity. We say, oh, we're such sinners.
We don't have any idea. These bones, they're just bones. By nature, there is no help for
them. Walk up into the woods on a pile
of bones. Something died a while back,
a long while back. And there's a pile of bones there.
What can you do for them? Nothing. They are without hope. That's
what it is to be without hope. They're just dead, dry bones. Go with me to Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians 2 verse 12 says, that
at that time you were without Christ being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. That's this pile
of bones. That's every bone born in Adam. That's what it is. Those bones,
you walk up to those bones in the woods. Those bones cannot
feel. They can't. They cannot will. Will bones? Why don't you just
exercise your will? What's wrong with you? Now you're dead. You better make
yourself alive or you're never going to get out of here. They can't. They're dead, dry
bones. They cannot fear. The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Well, they can't. They cannot love. They cannot repent. If you will repent of your death
and your ugly vileness, then you can be made back into a squirrel. Well, they can't. They are just
dead, dry bones. They cannot believe. Believe on the name of the Lord
and thou shalt be saved. They can't. They can't. They are dead. They're dead. Verse 3 says, And
He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? Is it possible for these bones
to live? Can they? I am one of us. Chief of sinners. The preacher is the servant.
And God's people walk in like the kings and priests that God
has made them to be and they sit down and dine. And the servant
delivers the meal. I'm lower. So I tell you that
to say whenever the Lord sends a message and I know it's called
on me to stand up and deliver this message. Who's going to
be there? They're sinners just like me.
Can these bones live? Valley of dry bones, can these
bones live? Is there hope for that person?
Starting with me. Is it possible, Jeremiah wrote,
can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leopard change his spots? Can these bones live? Verse 3 says, And I answered,
O LORD God, thou knowest. That's the answer. Can these
bones live? Thou knowest. Ezekiel, can you make the bones
live? No. The preacher can't do anything
for anybody. Well, I've got to get right with
God, so I'm going to have to go see the preacher. Well, the Lord
has purposed for sinners to come to a preacher and hear the Word
of God. But the preacher himself can't do anything for anybody. The bones, they can't do anything
for themselves. A dead sinner doesn't have any
more power to give himself spiritual life then a dead body has power
to give himself physical life. Our Lord said, No man can come
to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. No man
will move toward God until God moves him. No man will. Not only do we have no power
to, but we have no desire to. We just talked about being servants
of sin just a minute ago. Sin was our master. That's where
these bones are. No desire to, no will to. If a person exercises his will,
it's going to be the opposite. of what God commands. No desire
to. We're dead. Now here is the good
news of the gospel. David wrote, Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. With man it is impossible,
dead dry bones, but with God All things are possible. Ezekiel,
all those dead, bleached, parched bones, can sinews be laid on
those again? Flesh? Can skin wrap around those
again? Can they stand upright again?
That is impossible. Not with God, it's not. All things are possible. Verse
3 says, 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
unto these bones. Preach to them. His ways are not our ways. Man by nature thinks, surely
there's got to be a better way. We've got so much science now.
There has got to be a better way. Preaching, that's foolishness. Preach to them. Surely there's
a better way. Actually, there's no other way.
No other way. He didn't say, you go around
trying to convince men and women of it. He didn't say, you go around
arguing with these people. He said, preach to them. Just
preach to them. Just declare what God said. Let
me show you our greatest example of that. Go with me to Luke 4. Luke 4, this is concerning our
Lord. Verse 17 says, There was delivered
unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened
the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind. to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed
the book and gave it again to the minister and sat down." That's it. That's it. Isn't that something? He declared it, closed the book
and sat down. Back over in our text in Ezekiel
37, verse 4 says, ìAgain He said unto me, ìProphesy unto these
bones, and say unto them, ìO ye dry bones.îî Tell the bones what they are. You know why we start out really
bad every time? It's always the same. A man, when he first heard the
gospel, was talking to another man about it. And the other man
said, what do you think about that gospel preacher? And he
said, well, he sure does repeat himself a lot. And he said about a year later,
he was talking to that same man, and he said, you still over there?
And he said, yeah. He said, well, what do you think about him now?
He said, he sure does repeat himself a lot, and I'm starting
to catch on. Why do we start out every single
time so badly? Why can't we just pick it up
from the good part and run on from there? You know why? It's
because the message of God says first, you tell them what they
are first. O ye dry bones, tell them that
they're dead, dry bones. None of the bones that belong
to me will hate you for it." That's the truth, isn't it? You
think about the things that God's preacher are called to stand
up and say to people. The only hope and assurance that
a mortal man has is that God's people are going to receive it
with gladness. The Lord told Isaiah to write,
Don't be afraid. Lift up your voice. What shall
I cry? All flesh is grass. You're not worth anything. And
the grass withereth. It's just good for burning. Oh, ye dry bones, starting with
me. The Apostle Paul said, this is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of who I am the
chief. Starting with me. First, tell
them what they are. Then tell them what to do. Tell
them what to do. Verse 4 says, Again he said unto
me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord. Isn't that great? Command these
dry bones to hear. Don't ask them. It's not an option. Command them. Faith cometh by
hearing. Hear the word of the Lord. Well, they can't hear. They're
dead dry bones. That's true. That's true. But what the Lord commands, the
Lord provides. What the Lord commands, the Lord
provides. Go over to Proverbs 20. Proverbs chapter 20. Proverbs 20 verse 12 says, ìThe
hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both
of them.î If a personís going to see and if a personís going
to hear, then the Lord has to create eyes and ears. The Lord
has got to do it. Theyíre dead. What do you mean
Iím dead? I have ears. I hear you. I could ask everybody here, do
you hear me? I hear you. I have eyes. I can see you just fine. I'm not talking about hearing
me. I'm talking about hearing Christ. I'm not talking about seeing
me. I'm talking about seeing Christ. Religion doesn't stop at a preacher. The preacher is just the servant
delivering the message. It's all about Christ. Verse
4 says, back in Ezekiel 37, Again He said unto me, prophesy
upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the
word of the Lord." The word of the Lord. God's preachers
preach the word of God. That's how you know them. By God's grace, men are going
to come for however long the Lord has purposed for us to be
here. I'll be gone, or men will come through, and we're going
to hear other men. And the way we can know whether
or not this is God's man is, he's going to preach the Word
of God. That's how we know. That's how
you can tell who they are. You don't know them by their
eloquence. You don't know them by their wit. You don't know
them by their knowledge. The apostles were sailors who
didn't graduate from high school. They were called unlearned men. All the philosophers and the
Pharisees were saying, who are these guys? Listen to them talk. They learned something though.
They learned the Word of the Lord. The Word of God. Preach the Word. Declare this
Word and God will honor it. Go with me over to 2 Peter chapter
1. 2 Peter 1, look at verse 16, it
says, For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when
we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received
from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a
voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. and this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with Him in the holy mount. We
have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto you do well
that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place
until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts." What he's saying is, we saw Him. We were eyewitnesses of His majesty. We saw Him and we heard Him,
but He says, we have a more sure word of prophecy given to us
right here. Why? It's because this written
word is the living word. And He's given us so much of
it. Declare the Word. We don't separate
the written Word and the living Word. Verse 20 right here says,
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private
interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. If we're not preaching this Word,
then we're not preaching Christ. And as we hear different men
preach, this has got to be the foundation and the basis that
we know whether or not we're hearing God. Am I hearing Him? Not just a man. We must preach the Word. Back
over in our text in Ezekiel 37. Our Lord said, Ezekiel, you tell
them in verse 5, Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to
enter into you, and you 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 you shall live. And you shall
know that I am the Lord." Now, when Ezekiel said that to the
bones, how excited do you think the bones got? Not very. They were dead. Do you know how glorious that
is? To tell a dead, dry bone? Life is about to come into you. You're about to walk and live
and move and have your being. You're about to experience life
more abundant. Can you enter into it? No. Dead. Just dead. You tell them though, in spite
of that fact, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is not a
choice. Salvation is not a decision.
He didn't ask them if they wanted this to happen to them. Do you
want it? No, they don't. They're dead. Salvation is not up to you. Salvation is not in your hands. The word is not, I will if you
will. Ezekiel, you tell them, I will
and you shall. That's what you tell them. Verse
7 says, So I prophesied as I was commanded. I prophesied as I
was commanded to. And I prophesied as I was commanded. No more, no less. Just what I was commanded to
say. Verse 7 says, I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I
prophesied, there was a noise. If the true Word of God is preached
in the power of God's Spirit, there's going to be a noise.
You know that? There is going to be something
stirred up. A stir of life. A stir of joy. A stir of faith. A stir of opposition. A stir of persecution. You're
either going to love it or you're going to hate it. One of the
two. But there is going to be a noise. Verse 7 says, So I prophesied
as I was commanded, and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold,
a shaking. That's what happened to me. God shook me. I'm telling you
right now how great things the Lord did for me. He shook me. He shook me. There was, behold, a shaking,
and the bones came together, bone to His bone. Bone to His bone. His bone. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Christ and His body, bone of
His bone, they all came together into one body. Verse 8 says,
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.
A person can be covered in doctrine, just covered in it. while he's
under the truth. A person can be covered in morality,
covered in correct theology, but until the spirit moves, until the spirit moves, that
word breath means spirit, until that spirit moves, there's still
no life in him. Verse 9 says, 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. The
word wind is the same word as breath, spirit. Ezekiel declared
these things, calling on the spirit. I pray before the Bible
study. And then I ask a man to come
up here and read and pray. And while he's praying, I'm praying.
And then I stand up and we sing a song and I'm trying to make
sure I'm on the right verse because I'm calling on God to help us.
And then I start the record button and I tell you to turn and I'm
saying, Lord, help us. Lord, help us. Preach and pray. Pray, pray. Declare it with boldness while
begging the Spirit to move. It's got to be of the Spirit.
It is not by might. I don't care how loud I get into
the microphone. We're about to sing, Come Holy
Spirit, heavenly dove, with all thy quickening powers, kindle
a flame of sacred love in these cold hearts of ours. Verse 10
says, 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. Then He said unto me, Son of
man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. These who have responded to the
declaration, have responded because they are my chosen. They are
my people. Do you know what preaching is?
It is declaring the good news to everybody. And those that
the Spirit moves on will believe it and respond. I could go into a funeral home
where people are visiting their loved ones. and say, I have a
hundred dollars, whoever comes to me can have it. You know who's
going to get it? Whoever comes. The dead are not going to come.
But I can tell the dead just like I can tell the living. The Spirit moves. They've responded
because they are my chosen. They are the ones I performed
the work in. I did. They have. That's the
result of this message. God's people respond to His Word.
That's what they respond to. And this is how you know who
they are. This is my favorite part. This is my favorite part. Verse
11 says, Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the
whole house of Israel. Now this is how you know who
they are. Behold, they say, our bones are dried and our hope
is lost. We are cut off for our parts.
That's what they say. This is how believers of the
word respond to hearing it. They say our bones are dried
and our hope is lost. We are cut off for our parts.
They see themselves for what they are. They do. And they loathe
what they see. They hate it. Our bones are dried.
Our hope is lost. And we're cut off for our parts.
Our Lord says because they see it, because they believe it,
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
you shall live. and I shall place you in your
own land, then shall you know that I the Lord have spoken it
and performed it, saith the Lord." Because I started the work, I
will finish it. Because I am the one who spoke
it, it shall be done. Messenger, here is the message. Go deliver it and then sit down. I the Lord have spoken it, I
will perform it. Okay? That's it. Let's stand together.