in spite of the fact that there
are more religious buildings than ever before or so-called
churches, in spite of the fact that there are more Bibles, more
so-called preachers than ever before, I believe we are living
in spiritually dry times. I believe there is a famine in
the land which was prophesied in Amos Chapter 8, verse 11,
which says, "...not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the word of the Lord." A famine of hearing the
word of the Lord. Proof of this fact is that it
is difficult to attract anyone to a worship service where the
only thing you do is read and preach God's Word. Advertise
a healing crusade or a gospel singing concert and you can pack
them in. But advertise just plain preaching
of God's Word and few will come. But God's people will come. Christ said, My sheep shall hear
My voice. You see, the only thing God Almighty
uses to draw people, to convict people, to save people is His
Word, the preaching of His Word. This is the power of God unto
salvation, Romans 1.16, 1 Corinthians 1.21. There is a story in the
book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 37, which best illustrates this
power of God in preaching. I hope you have a Bible and follow
along with me. If not, I hope you will listen
carefully as I read from God's Word. Ezekiel chapter 37, beginning
with verse 1, it reads this way, 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. The hand of the Lord was upon
me and carried me out in the Spirit," Ezekiel writes. Now like all true prophets and
apostles and preachers, Ezekiel was hand-picked. The hand of
the Lord was upon me, he says. Ezekiel was hand-picked by God. called, chosen, sent, and equipped
by God, not men. And it says, God set him down
in the midst of a valley full of bones. And verse 2 reads this
way, And he caused me to pass by them, or that is the bones,
round about, walk around the bones, and behold, there were
very many in the open valley, very many bones, and lo, they
were very dry. God put Ezekiel right in the
middle of that valley and told him to walk around this valley
and look at these bones. And this is what God taught his
preacher and still teaches his true preachers today. Ezekiel
said there are very many and they are very dry, these bones.
And God teaches his true preachers that man is very dead and very
dry spiritually. Yes, the Scripture says in Ephesians
2, 1, they are dead in trespasses and sin, that in Adam all died,
that man is totally without spiritual life. Yes, deaf, dumb, blind,
and dead. And then God asks Ezekiel a question,
not for God's own information. No, God knows, but He will have
Ezekiel know for certain and confess it. Verse 3, God said
unto me, He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? Can these bones, these dead,
dry bones live? And I ask those who listened
this morning, how can a dead sinner have life? Can they give
themselves life? Can bones call on God? Can bones take the first step? Can bones do anything? Well,
the answer was obvious to Ezekiel, to the true preacher, and Ezekiel
answers the Lord in verse 3, And I answered, O Lord God, thou
knowest." O Lord God, thou knowest. Lord, I don't see how. With bones it is impossible,
but with thou, O Lord God, all things are possible. Thou knowest,
Ezekiel said. Ezekiel was convinced. O Lord,
I don't see how, but thou knowest. thou knowest how bones can live,
and, Lord, thou knowest which bones you intend to make live. If these bones are going to live,
Lord, you will have to make them live." Well then, God tells Ezekiel
to do a strange thing now, a seemingly very foolish thing. In verse
4 it reads this way, He said unto me, or God said to Ezekiel,
Prophesy upon these bones. Prophesy upon these bones, Ezekiel,
and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord." Prophesy
or preach upon these bones, Ezekiel. Preach to these bones. Preach
to bones? Well, what's the use? They're
dead. If you believe men are dead and
helpless without the power or the will to come to God or to
take the first step, what's the use in preaching? Because God
said to. That's why. Because preaching
is the power of God unto salvation. And what the world calls foolishness,
that is preaching, old-fashioned, useless preaching, is what God
uses to raise dead sinners to life. But it's not any old preaching,
and it's not the foolishness of preachers or the preaching
of foolishness. But verse 4 says this, Again
he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them,
O ye dry bones, Hear the Word of the Lord. Preach My Word,
Ezekiel. Don't sing, don't dance, don't
entertain them. Preach. Prophesy. Preach the
Word of the Lord. And now listen to what God tells
Ezekiel to preach. God doesn't tell Ezekiel to ask
these bones one single question. God doesn't tell Ezekiel to ask
these bones anything, to plead with these bones to do anything,
to ask these bones to make any kind of decision or accept Jesus. But He tells Ezekiel to proclaim
His Word, to merely proclaim His Word. Look at verse 5, "...Thus
saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath
to enter into you, and you shall live. Thus saith the Lord, Behold,
I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live."
Ezekiel doesn't ask these bones if they will do anything. They
are dead. God knows it. Ezekiel knows it. But he just says, Behold, God
will. This is what Paul preached in
Romans 9.16, "...it is not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." John 1.13, "...they
that believe were born not of blood, not of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Yes, but preacher,
what about whosoever will? What about the whosoever wills
in the Bible, preacher? Well, whosoever will, will because
Psalm 110 verse 3 says, Thy people shall be willing in the day of
thy power. God's power. What power? When
God sends His Word, that's what power. When God sends the Word
to cause them to hear the Word, repent and believe. Yes, whosoever
will, Will, because Philippians 2, verse 13 says, it is God which
worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure, His
sovereign will and pleasure. You see, God will not share His
glory with man. The glory of His will with man's
will. The glory of His choice with
man's choice. The glory of His Son's work with
man's work, his son's blood and righteousness with man's filthy
rags of righteousness. Salvation is of the Lord, and
all glory belongs unto the Lord. And so Ezekiel just declares
what God tells him to declare. That is, God said, I will cause
breath to enter into you, and you shall live. He says, I'll send breath. God
must send his Holy Spirit. This is the breath. Whenever
in Scripture you hear of breath or wind, it's speaking of God's
Holy Spirit. And God must send his Holy Spirit
to convince of sin, righteousness, and judgment concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's John 16, verses 8 through
11. God must send His Holy Spirit to take the things of Christ,
that is, the righteousness, the blood of Christ, the person and
work of Christ, and show them unto mortal men. And that's John
16, 14. God must send His Holy Spirit
to grant repentance and faith. That's Romans 2, 4 and Ephesians
2, 8. send His Spirit and power to
keep us all the days of our life or else we will fall. That's
1 Peter 1.5. Well, the book goes on. Ezekiel
37 goes on. Verse 6, God says, I will lay
sinews upon you and bring up flesh upon you and cover you
with skin and put breath in you. Speaking of these bones, God
keeps saying, I will, I will, I will, and He says, you shall
live and you shall know. Now, here's the result of what
God does. Verse 6, the last line, you shall
know that I am the Lord. That's the result of true salvation. Everyone whom God saves, they
know in the end it's God that did the saving. You are reigning,
ruling, the God of salvation. that salvation is of the Lord,
not of man. That's what God causes every
single dead sinner whom He raises to lie. That's what He causes
them to know and to praise Him from that day forward for saving
them. Verse 7 goes on and says, So,
Ezekiel said, so I prophesied, I preached as I was commanded
to take anything away. As I prophesied, there was a
noise, and, behold, a shaking, and the bones came together,
bone to his bone." I'm still reading, "'And when I beheld,
the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them, but there
was no breath in them.'" And verse 9 says, "'So he said unto
me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy to the wind. Thus saith the Lord
God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these
slain, that they may live.'" Ezekiel seemed like foolishness
to somebody who was passing by to see this man just preaching.
He wasn't asking anybody anything, but just declaring. It didn't
seem like enough to everyone else, but he did anyway. And then he had to prophesy unto
the wind. He had to call upon the wind
to come and to make them live. And though men today don't preach
this way, and they beg dead men to do something for God, make
a decision for God and let God have His way. They don't pray
that way, do they? In hypocrisy, they pray to God. They call on God to do the saving,
to work and to come. Well, that in fact is the only
way that anyone is going to be saved if God sends His Spirit
and causes them to hear the Word. In verse 10, So I prophesied
as He commanded me, and the breath came, and they lived. and they
live. These bones lived by the will
of God, by the power of God, by the word of God, period. O ye dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord. Until next Sunday, may it be
so.