All right, back to Ezekiel thirty-seven. Many of you, if not most of you,
have read this portion of Scripture. and maybe heard it preached from,
but it is more relevant now than ever. This passage is more relevant
in our day than ever before. It's like a graveyard. A graveyard gathers more and
more bones over the years, doesn't it? And the day in which we live compares to no other in the sense that it's more spiritually
dead and dry than any other before it. I really believe that. More
people for one thing. So this passage applies to 1996
more than any other age. All right, let's look at it.
Get right into it. Just have a couple of headings
here. true preacher, what the Lord shows his preacher. All right, let's look at it.
Verse one, a hand of the Lord was upon me. A hand of the Lord was upon me. All true prophets, all true prophets like Ezekiel. were hand-picked by God Almighty. Hand-picked. As were the apostles. As are all true preachers. It's
no different now, though they don't go by the title of prophet
or apostle. Yet preacher. All of them. Apostles, preachers, are handpicked
by God Almighty. Our Lord walked around Galilee
one day, handpicking his apostles. And he told them later on, he
reminded them, he said, you didn't choose me, but I chose you. He reminded them of that. And
so it is, any man, and it goes without saying woman, the scriptures
expressly forbid that, but any man who takes it upon himself
to enter the ministry is not of God. Not of God. You'll see in the
scriptures how that every Every prophet, every apostle, were
not men who were seeking to get into the ministry. They were
working men. Every one of them. Working class
men. And while they were working,
doing what they did faithfully, faithful in a few things, not
failures. Some men say, well, I failed
at this, I failed at that, I must be meant to be a preacher. God's
preachers are not failures. Elijah was out plowing with twelve
yoke of oxen. Why don't you men try that? I'm trying to learn on one. Twelve
is hard work. Well, they were hand-picked. They weren't seeking to enter
the ministry. And that would describe 99.9%
of these false prophets today. You've heard it so often. All
right, it says, The hand of the Lord was upon me and carried
me out. Look at it, verse 1. It carried
me out in the spirit of the Lord. It set me down. Many people, many of these preachers,
as back then, many prophets. said, and many say that they
have the Spirit of God upon them. No. As a matter of fact, that's the
most popular. Label that's given to preachers
and. Churches today and we're a spiritual
church. Right, well, how do you know? How do you know how can you tell?
A true prophet from a false one. How can you tell a Spirit-filled
prophet from a false one? And there are many, many false
ones. How can you tell? Scripture tells us to try them,
doesn't it? How do you tell? How do you try
the Spirit, as he said in 1 John 4? One. How? How do you tell the difference? Number one, his message. A prophet, back then a prophet,
an apostle, a preacher, is a messenger. Not a socializer, he's a messenger. Oh, he's given the hospitality,
but that's not what, that's not his ministry, primarily. He's
a messenger sent by God with One message. One message, and
I can sum it all up by this. Try the message. One message. If he's a true prophet, if he's
a true apostle, if he's a true preacher, this will be his one
message over and over and over again. Salvation is of the Lord. That sums it all up. I wish I could quote what the
pastor Wednesday night said, that Spurgeon said. I wish I
had written that down. He talked about the salvation
of the sinner. What we mean by salvation of
the Lord? Salvation of the Lord is the bringing of a sinner from
the dunghill, from the gutter, from the dunghill bringing him
all the way to the throne of God. Everything from that to
bring him, or from the raising to the bringing, the final consummation
of his salvation is of the Lord. Everything, all the way. No variation
on that thing. That's the message of the messenger. Salvation is of the Lord. Well,
let's look at what the Lord showed this preacher, all right? Look
at verses one through three. The Spirit of the Lord carried
me out and set me down in the midst of the valley which was
full of bones, and caused me to pass by or walk around about,
walk all around this valley. And behold, there were very many
in the open valley." Bones, that is. And lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man,
can these bones The Lord, this is the first thing
the Lord teaches his preacher. He sat him down and taught him
a lesson. All right? One of the first things.
This is not actually the first thing that God taught this man.
This is one of them. He sat him down and he taught
him this. Go back to chapter 1. There are 36 chapters before
you get to 37. Look at chapter 1 in Ezekiel.
Let's see what the first thing that this prophet learned. The first lesson he learned.
Look at chapter 1. Let's just read a few here and there.
Verses 3 through 5. The word of the Lord came expressly. And there you go. Hand-picked. He didn't say anybody wants to
be a preacher. And by that. Most in the ministry. No expressly under the. You know. I wish I could recall
the exact place it's found. There was a wicked king who was
made king in Jerusalem or in Israel, and it says that he let
anybody that wanted to be a priest. He let anybody that wanted to.
And it went on to say he let the worst, the ones that were
priests, were the worst of men. And that's today. It may have
been Manasseh, I'm not sure, but that's today, and anybody
wants to be. Now, God expressly spoke to Ezekiel.
Read on. The priest, and he distinguishes
him here, the son of Buzi in the land of Chaldeans by the
river Chebar, which is Ezekiel. That one. Read on. The hand of the Lord was there
upon him, and I looked Ezekiel said, I looked, and behold, a
whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire enfolding
itself. And a brightness was about it,
and out of the midst thereof was a color of amber, out of
the midst of the fire. Also out of the midst thereof
came the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance. They had the likeness of a man. Ezekiel beheld a glorious sight. He beheld the glory of God in
the face of a man. And that's exactly what Paul
said over in 2 Corinthians 4. We have this ministry. And he
went on to say, God who caused the light to shine out of darkness
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the excellency of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And if you want interesting reading,
good reading, edifying, read the rest of this chapter. But
it gives four faces that he had, which all described, and we preached
on them, described the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
down at verse 10. Here they are, the likeness of
their faces. They had the face of a man, the face of a lion,
the face of an ox, the face of an eagle. Verse 28, as the appearance of
the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the
appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance
of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I
fell on my face and I heard a voice. So what is the first thing the
Lord taught this preacher? Who he was. Who Christ is. He saw the glory of God in the
person of Jesus Christ. So what was his message from
then on? The glory of the Lord in the person of Jesus Christ.
That's the first thing. And that's the reason a man,
if he ever sees Christ, a man, a true preacher, a messenger,
if he ever, and that's the first thing they all see. If you ever
get a glimpse of Christ, the excellency of the knowledge of
the glory of God in Christ, everything else will pale. All
other subjects will be trivial. And his message from then on
out will be Christ. All right, back to the text.
So he saw Christ. He saw the true God. And this
is eternal life, as we saw last Sunday. to know the true God
and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent, the sovereign God, the
holy God. The next lesson he teaches them,
every man, and especially teaches his preacher, who is going to
go tell every man the message. The next thing he teaches them,
he teaches them TULIP, basically saying who God is, holy and sovereign. And man is totally depraved.
Man is dead in trespasses and sin. He's totally depraved. Man
is totally unable to do anything to save himself. Man is dead. That's what he said there. He
said, he set me down in a valley full of bones, and he caused
me to walk all around. What do you see there, Ezekiel?
I see bone, that's all I see. Observe human nature a little
bit, preacher. Live out amongst them. That's
where a man gets his training. Not hidden away in some monastery
where there's no sin around about him. Out amongst them. Where? Out
in the valley of dry bones. Until he learns that there are
very many and they're very dry. Scripture says, "...all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God." The Scripture
says, "...in Adam all died." The Scripture says, "...by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death
passed upon all, for all have sinned." They're very dead. Man, mankind, is very dead. Any preacher whom God calls,
that's what he sees, and that's what he says. Why do I say that
all the time? Because that's what you see.
You can't help but speak of things we've seen. Man is very dead. My generation is dead. It's obvious. Look at our crowd here. Like one old prophet said, it's
hard to get a crowd when the only The only attraction is God. It's hard to get a crowd in our
day when the only attraction is gospel. Why is that? Man's dead. Very many, and they're
very dry. Very dry. Look at the question the Lord
asked Ezekiel. Can these bones live? Son of
man, can these bones live? Can dead sinners live? And he answered. If you ask the
true child of God, if you ask the true preacher about man's
condition, can a man or a woman live before
God? How can he be clean as born of
a woman? How can man be just before just God, he that's sinful? Can man live who is dead? Can
he live? Look at Ezekiel's answer. He
says, O Lord, God thou knowest. Can a man live only if God does
something? Lord, you know, as our Lord said,
with man it is impossible. That lays it in the dust, doesn't
it? Doesn't that lay free will in the dust? With man, it is
impossible. But with God? Could Lazarus come
out of the tomb? Can a dead sinner come to life?
Can a dead sinner come to life? No. He can't come to life. No man can
come unto me, except the father which has sent me, draw him."
Can Lazarus come out of that grave of his own free will? No. Did Lazarus come out of that
grave? Yes. How did Lazarus come out of the
grave? The Lord called him. Can these bones live? Lord, you
know. God can bring them to life. Why
say this? People all the time, our pastor,
my pastor, he's My pastor said this Wednesday night, why preach
election? Well, wasn't that a good message? Well, because it gives God the
glory. It gives God all the glory. Secondly, it's in God's word. Next, it's the sinner's only
hope. Why preach it? It gives God all
the glory. Which gives God the most glory?
God electing a people and calling them from the dead? Or man having a little spark
of life in him and him choosing God? Which gives God the most
glory? God calling dead sinners. God
choosing people. Right? Who gets the glory? Man choosing God or God choosing
man? You see, when I preach election, it gives God all the glory. When
I preach election, it's what this book says. That's why I
need no better reason than that. It's what this book said. When
I preach election, it's a dead sinner's only hope. And believe
it or not, this is how God calls them. Elect. That's one of the
first things he says to them. So, what's he going to preach
to them? God hath chosen you. Preachers say, no, don't go preaching
election. First slip it up on them. shout it from the rooftop. Dead
sinners hear it, and they rejoice over their election. They can't
make themselves live, but God can, if he will. Lord, you know. Lord, you know, and the foundations
stand assured. The Lord knoweth them that are
here. He alone decides which bones
live, doesn't he? How many graveyards do you reckon
there were back in Palestine in those days. The Lord set Ezekiel
down in the midst of this one valley called Champaign. Champaign
Valley. Set him down in the midst of
this one valley full of dry bones. You reckon there's any other
valleys full of dry bones? Why, the whole world is full of graveyards. But stand, the Lord set him down
in the midst of this valley. a particular preacher to a particular
set of bones. Can these bones live? Can those bones live? No, Ezekiel
isn't there. God didn't call a man and set
him there. Can these bones live? Lord, you know. It looks pretty
good, the fact that I'm here. He got me here on purpose. I
know it's not I know the word of the Lord won't return in vain.
He'll accomplish something. And God caused his spirit and
his preacher to pass by that graveyard. And one day God caused
his spirit and his preacher to pass by your old dead bones.
Your old dead bones. Well, how can these bones live?
Huh? How? Look at verse 4. He said unto me, Ezekiel, bring in a gospel quartet for
the older bones. They love good singing, the older
bones. Ezekiel, get you some clowns
and some puppets for the younger bones, young bones like that. Bring in the bones of some famous
athlete. Bring in his bones to talk to
the rest of the bones. Better yet, bring in the entertainer,
Ezekiel. I'll tell you who will do. Randy
Travis. Have him sing, Digging Up Bones. Show him a film. Get all the
real young bones together and show him a film on hell. Get your female bones together.
Separate all the female bones and give them a little group
to meet, a little prayer breakfast. Give those bones something to
do, Ezekiel. Give those bones something to do. Make you some
one of those set of bones into a deacon. Make another set of
those bones into deaconesses. Make you many committees of bones,
societies of bones. What will they be after all this?
Bones. Still very dry. What does he
tell them to do? It's what the world calls foolishness.
That's the reason people aren't here this morning. It's what the world calls foolishness.
What does he tell them to do? One thing to make these bones
live. What? Preach, Ezekiel. Preach, prophesy, same word. Preach, Ezekiel. Preach? Yes, preach. Nothing else? Nothing else. What do I say? What should I say? Read on. prophesy upon these bones and
say, O ye dry bones, get out to your Sunday school quarterly." No. Hear the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord is only
one thing that will give a dead sinner life. What's that? It's
the word which the Scripture says is quick. quickened thou
me." Quick means alive. He said, My sheep hear my voice. That's the word. That's his voice.
It's alive. He calls dead sinners restless.
What happened? He lived. How? By the word of
the Lord. And this is no less his word.
Though it's not audible, it's written. And Peter said we have
a more sure word. Turn over there to 1 Peter, OK?
Turn over there. 1 Peter chapter 1. You see, just
as God Almighty created all things by his word, God created everything by his
word. And the Scripture says he upholds
all things by his word. Not natural causes, his word. The sun is hanging up there.
Why? Because God says, hang. Because God says, stay there.
The reason it doesn't explode is because God says, Stay together
until the time. It's upheld by the Word of his
power. And dead sinners are brought
to life when God says, Live. They're recreated, they're regenerated
when the Spirit of life comes by his Word and says, Live. Not
before, not until. What is his Word? What is God's
Word? Look at 1 Peter 1. There's one
message. You know, preachers like to say
this, that they preach God's Word, don't they? They don't
want to be thought of as a heretic. What does your preacher preach?
The Bible. He's a Bible. He believes the Bible. Well,
what are they going to say? What else are they going to say?
Huh, Sam? What would they say? What does
your preacher preach? No, he preaches the Bible, they say.
He preaches the Word, he preaches the Word. What in the Word? There's
a lot in there. What does he preach in the Word?
He preaches the Bible. Like that fellow that was asked
by somebody, what is your, what do you believe? He said, I believe
what my preacher believes. He said, what does your preacher
believe? He said, he believes what the church believes. He said,
what does your church believe? Preaches the Bible. What? Everybody
claims that. He preaches the word. What? Preaches
the gospel. Wait a minute. Now you're getting
close. Look at 1 Peter 1. Verse 23,
"...being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. All flesh
is as grass, all the glory of man is a flower of grass. The
grass withereth, the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of
the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you, which you heard, O dead which you heard. The gospel,
not just the Bible, the gospel. Not just the word preached, the
gospel. What's the gospel? We need to
ask that, don't we? What's the gospel? Lot's calling
gospel. He's a gospel this, he's a gospel
that. We've got a gospel quartet, we've got a gospel preacher,
we've got a gospel church, gospel lighthouse church, gospel, gospel,
gospel, gospel. What's the gospel? Look at Romans
1, all right? Romans 1. Wouldn't dare take
it for granted everybody in here knew what the gospel was. Well,
Paul tells us here in Romans 1, Romans 1, what is the gospel?
It's the word which he quickens people by, and it's the only
message he quickens people by. This is the only gospel there
is. Any variation on this, not the gospel. This is the gospel. All right, Romans 1. Verse 1,
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God. What's the gospel? It's the gospel
of God. Number one, it's God's gospel. He thought it. It wasn't the
invention of men. God purposed it. God planned
it. It's of God. God thought it. God bought it, God brought it,
God causes it to succeed. This gospel of God is about God
in the beginning. God, when a man preaches the
gospel, that's where he starts, every time, without exception.
Where does he start? Not with man, but with God. The
purpose of God, ordered in all things and sure. The covenant
of God, before the gospel, good news is, is covenant. Ordered
in all things and sure, and it can't fail. Why? It's God's covenant. This man-made gospel talks about
a covenant we make with God and we're able to break it and it
won't work. There's no gospel in there. The gospel is God's
gospel. God's covenant. It's about God. Gives Him all the glory. It's
the gospel that gives Him all the glory. The gospel that says
it's all of Him. It's for God, of him, through
him, to him, or all things. It's God's gospel. It's about
God. Read on. It's God's gospel which
he promised the four by his prophets in the Holy Scripture. It's an
old gospel. Tell me the old, old story. How
old? Well, as old as Paul. I'll go
back further than that. Well, it's as old as David. Further
than that? What's as old as Abraham? Further than that! It's as old
as Abel. It's further than that! Go back
to Genesis 3.15 when the first one to preach it introduced it. It's God's gospel. He's the one
that first preached it. Makes it pretty important preaching,
doesn't it, John? Jesus. God came to the first sinners. He said, Well, I'm going to preach. That's what sinners need, gospel. Go on, what is this gospel? It's
God's gospel, it's an old, old gospel promised in the Old Testament.
Any preacher that says he's got the Old Bible and the New Bible,
he's ignorant. He's an ignoramus. Chances are
he's not preaching the gospel. Verse 3, it's concerning his
son, Jesus. It's God's gospel concerning
his son. What is the gospel? It's God's gospel concerning
his Son. And it goes on to talk about
how he's made the seed of David and so forth, according to the
flesh, God's Son, eternal Son. A child is born that the Son
has given. Why? He's the set one. Why? For a reason. concerning God's Son, it's concerning
what he did, who he is, where he is now, what he has done,
it's not concerning us. The gospel is concerning what
this one with all power will do with all flesh over whom he
has authority. It's concerning his son. And whether or not the fact that
we believe in him, whether or not we believe in him are made
willings up to him. It's according to him. That's
the gospel. And bless God, he's willing that
many believe. And he makes many willing in
the day of his power. What's the day of his power?
Gospel preaching. What I'm doing now? What's that? Declaring he has all power. You
make man a puppet. That's what a woman said to my
wife. You make man a puppet. God has control of the strings. He does. He said, I work all
things. You want to call it that? I am
his puppet. I like it that way. I like being
drawn with cords of love. Don't you? I like being controlled
by an all-wise, all-sovereign God. I like that. Don't cut the
strings! What happens to a puppet when
you cut the strings? He falls in a pile. If God leaves
me alone, I'm a goner. I'll be God's puppet. Say that
to the next person that tells you that. Say, that's right,
I'm God's puppet. Don't apologize. That'd just make man dead. He
is dead. That's the whole point. He is
dead. Well, how does he live? Tell
him to do something. He's dead! What do you tell him
then? God lives! That'll bring him
to life? God's pleased to it with. I don't understand. Ask one who's
dead, he'll tell you he understands now. How'd you live, Lazarus? He called
me. Didn't you do anything? No. How
are you living now? Didn't you take the first step?
Man, I was dead. I was dead. But I heard you say,
do you know what dead is? It's graveyard dead. That's the
reason God sent Ezekiel down to this graveyard says, these
are bones, aren't they? Yep, bones. Bones of bone, isn't
it? Yeah, bones. What about them? Describe them. They're dry. According
to modern man, man may be somewhat bony, but he's got a little moisture
in him, a little something, a little spark of something there. Ezekiel,
what did you learn? He's very dead and he's very
dry. How's he going to live, Ezekiel? Preach, Ezekiel, preach. What
will I preach? Tell these bones to hear the
word of the Lord. How are they going to hear? How are they going
to hear except they be given ears to hear? Turn back to the
text now, Ezekiel 37. At Romans 1, verse 4 says, Christ
is declared to be the Son, the gospel declares him to be the
Son of God with power, all power. All right, back to the text.
Now hurry. You know, Lord, you're sovereign. Only if you decide that a man
lives will he live. Only if you decide, only if you're
willing, will that man be made willing in a day of your power. Well, is he willing? Well, that's
why Ezekiel's there. Is he willing? Even more than
willing. Look at verse 5. He said, Thus
saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I. How are they going to live? Behold, I will cause breath to
enter into you, and you shall live. I. You see people, this
is the difference between true gospel preaching and thoughts. The false gospel today is calling
on man to do something. They're telling man, if you will
accept Jesus, if you will take the first, if you will repent,
if you will be baptized, if you will join a church, if you, if
you, if you, God will save you. That's not the way God saves.
That's not the way it's done. Man's dead. Look back at chapter
36. Just browse through here. Chapter 36, verse 21, why does
God say he had pity for his holy name? He said that all the way
through, Isaiah, didn't he? Those of you who have read it,
doesn't he say that several times? He said, I'm not doing this for
your sake. Didn't he? He said, I believe
it's chapter 43, he says that it's not fit for burning. The isles are a very small thing.
All inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, grasshoppers,
not fitful. He said, I had pity for my holy
name's sake, whom you profane. I'm saving you, he said, not
for your sake, but for my holy name's sake. I'm going to get
glory out of this. You're going to reap the benefit, but this
thing's for my glory, God said. That's the reason the gospel
is first and foremost to the glory of God. God's not just
some sugar daddy who's wanting to help their gods. God's just not some benevolent
fellow up there, old man upstairs who's just dying to be good to
everybody. God is God. And he happens to be good. You
see? He said, I had pity for my name's
sake. Read verse 22, Thus saith the
Lord, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel. There
it is. But for my holy name's sake. Verse 23, well, what are
you going to do? I will sanctify my great name.
And they'll know, look at the last part of that verse, they
shall know that I am the Lord. Verse 24, I will take you from
among the heathen and gather you, and I will bring you out
into your own land. Verse 25, I will sprinkle clean
water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness,
from all your idols. I will cleanse you. Verse 26,
a new heart will I give you. A new spirit will I put in you.
I will take away the stony heart. I'll give you a heart of lead.
I'll put my spirit upon you. Verse 29, I will save you. Verse
30, I will multiply you. I will, I will, I will. The difference between true preaching
and false is true preaching says this is all of God's will, not
man. They say, well, where does man's
responsibility and man's faith and repentance, where does all
that come in? Well, because God said, I will, they shall. You see, you don't get the cart
before the horse. You don't give man the glory and God gets the
rest. You give God all the glory. And
repentance and faith and believing, they will. He says, verse thirty-seven,
Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by
the house of Israel to do it for them. Do you see that? You see it, don't you Rick? God
already purposed it. God planned it. God spoke it.
It's going to be done. He's going to do it. What's going
to happen? They're going to ask him to do
it. They're going to pray. They're going to seek Him. They're
going to call on Him. Whoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Why will they call? Because God
said they would. That's the reason we don't go
begging people. We don't go begging people to
do anything for the Lord. We beg the Lord to do something
for people. According to our men, it is,
and we ought to be praying to men. Oh, man, won't you let Jesus,
won't you let God, won't you let--" Spurgeon said, no Arminian
ever prays like an Arminian. They always pray like a Calvinist.
They always say, Oh, God, save us. Oh, God, won't you do something? But they turn around and mess
it up with their preaching, don't they, Stan? They say to me, I
want you to do something. They will. You just preach the
message, Ezekiel. You just preach. Watch them bones
live. Watch them. Read on. And the Scripture says
that the gospel came unto you. You heard it, didn't you? You
were dead. You heard it. Look at verse 6. He said, I will lay
sinews upon you. I'll bring up flesh upon you.
I'll cover you with skin. What's that? What's this covering? Hey, John Davis, what's this
covering? Christ's righteousness. I will. Christ came, he said,
I will live for them. I will establish a righteousness.
I'll cover them in that robe. I'll make that wedding garment.
I'll cover them in it. I'll take that child out of that
field that's naked. I'll clothe them. I'll say live.
I'll deck them with ornaments. I'll give them good works. I'll
give them faith. I'll give them repentance. And
they will. They'll have it. I'll cover them,
I'll die for them, I'll pay their sin debts, and I'll live for
them. I'll ever live to make intercession
for them. I'll do it. Dictum factum. In verse 6, why did he do this?
So that you'll know that he's the Lord. You shall know. It's something all of God's people
know. It's that he's the Lord. And many people say it with their
lips, don't they? Lord, Lord. Jesus is Lord. But their hearts are far from
believing that. But not God's people. They know it from the
heart. Hey, he's Lord. What about you? I'm dead. Read on. Let's go on. Even when
I beheld, lo, sin is what happened. Bones came to bones. I prophesied,
verse 7, and as I prophesied there was a noise, a shaking,
the bones came together, bone to bone, one bone to another. Why? They came together to get
covering. They came together to get covering,
and they did. They were covered, skin came
upon them, but there was no breath in them. When the gospel is preached,
a drastic change comes over people. Young men, there's some dead
bones in here, some young dead bones in here. As I preach, it's
obvious to me, obvious to others, that it's just dead. This gospel
is just a dead thing. And there's some older ones,
too. As I preach, this gospel is falling on dead ears, dead.
I tell you, when the Lord decides, drastic change takes place. And
they stay changed. You know, the thing that scares
me, though, is when those that apparently looked like they were
alive begin to look like they're dead. I see that happening, too. And that's really scary. Drying
on the vine, just drying up, just going to wither away. And
the reason being, they get out from under the sound of this
right here that causes life. That's what happens. They'll
turn into dead, dry bone. And that just grieves me. And I hope it will grieve some
who heard that. So I prophesied. As he commanded
me, O breath, when will a man live? When will a man be saved? When will a person be born again?
When God decides. When God sends the Holy Spirit
through the messenger of a preacher, through the message of the gospel,
and says to that dead, dry, blind, poor, miserable, naked, hopeless
sinner, All right, Brother Joe, you got
a hand picked out?