Please open up your Bibles to
Ezekiel chapter 37. While you're opening your Bibles,
I would like to, first of all, thank the people who have led
the worship here tonight. It's been a real help to my tired
soul, a real blessing, a real blessing. Also, I would like
to tell you what a privilege it is for me to be here with
you. Whenever I'm in a place like
this, I kind of just feel like the field mouse that got in the
building because someone left the door open too wide. But it is a great privilege to
be here. As I read this text and as I try to expound some
things about it, I would appreciate it if you would not get overly
excited. I would appreciate it if you
would not say amen very much, because I have found that sometimes
that transfers, it bounces the truth off of us and it doesn't
allow the truth to come in to our own hearts and minds. You
can say amen, things like that, but what I really want to encourage
is. I'm not here to talk about somebody
else. I'm here to preach to you. And
as I preach to you, I am also preaching to me. I want to take
that with a high degree of seriousness. I want you, as I want me to change. I want to be more than I am. I want to be a better instrument,
and I know that's what is in this text and what I've studied
all week. I have greatly needed it has
troubled my soul. It has made me at times happy,
it has made me at times very afraid. So I want you to know
this is for you. I'm not talking about contemporary
evangelicalism or some monster out there that's not defined.
This is for you. So let's read this text. Ezekiel
37, verse one. The hand of the Lord was upon
me and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me
down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones. He
caused me to pass among them around about and behold. There
were very many on the surface of the valley and low, they were
very dry. He said to me, son of man, can these bones live?
And I answered, oh, Lord God, you know. Again, he said to me,
prophesy over these bones and say to them, old dry bones, hear
the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these
bones, behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come
to life. I will put sinew on you, make
flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath
in you that you may come alive and you will know that I am the
Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied,
there was a noise and behold, a rattling. And the bones came
together, bone to its bone. And I looked and behold, sinew
were on them and flesh grew and skin covered them, but there
was no breath in them. Then he said to me, prophesy
to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath.
Thus says the Lord God come from the four winds, O breath and
breathe on these slain that they may come to life. So I prophesied
as I was commanded and the breath came into them and they came
to life and stood on their feet. An exceedingly great army, let's
go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I come before you in
the name of your son. And I praise you. And I worship
you. You stirrer of men's souls. You magnificent God. Holy, holy, holy. Holy. There is nothing, nothing too
difficult for the old God. Nothing. I praise you and I magnify your
name. For your grace and your mercy
and your power. Your royal and loyal love to
your people. Lord. So many words. So little power. I long to see, oh, God, the dead
raised to life. I long to see your son vindicated. Lord, do it now. Lord, do it
now. Bring a mighty awakening, O God,
a revival. For your name, for your son,
a revival, Lord. A demonstration of power. In Jesus name, amen. Now, in the immediate context
of the text we've just read, of course, is the restoration
of the nation of Israel. But as you read this text, you
see it goes far beyond bringing Israel simply out of exile and
back into the land, and it goes far beyond any idea of the creation
of some nation state. What we see here is a magnificent
spiritual awakening. We see a mighty work of God. And for this reason, this text
has been used throughout the history of the church. As an
example, and to describe the genuine work of God in conversion,
whether it be of a single man or the conversion of a mass of
people, and when you and I look at this text from that angle,
There are many truths that we can glean that we can apply to
the laborer, his missionary work, his evangelistic work, even his
pastoral work. And that's what I want to do
tonight to look at this text. Now, let's read verse one, the
hand of the Lord was upon me and he brought me out by the
spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley. And it was full of bones. Now,
in this prophet's introductory statements, we can see much of
the great need of our day. First of all, look at the phrase,
the hand of the Lord was upon me. It means many things, I'm
going to point out only two of them. First of all, it denotes
a man. Who has been separated by God
for a specific task. We do not need ministers. Who minister simply because they
can do nothing else. We do not need ministers who
minister simply because they see the need. We do not need
ministers who minister simply because they have come to some
logical conclusion that this is the place they best fit in
the economy of God. We need ministers who are called
by God and therefore they have no choice. They have no choice
but to preach, but to prophesy. We need men. Who have an oracle. We need men who carry a burden
that would break them if it were not for the spirit of God. Strengthening
them. That's the first thing we learn
here. Another thing, the hand of the Lord was upon me. This
denotes, as the old preachers used to say, of whom I am quite
fond. The anointing of the Holy Spirit. There is an indwelling of the
spirit, there is the regenerating work of the spirit, but if you
are going to stand and preach, there must be an anointing, there
must be oil, there must be God. Giving you what you need to carry
this task. We need men anointed of the Holy
Spirit. I want to read to you from William
Greenhill. He was a contemporary and a friend
of Jeremy Burroughs. Listen to what he writes. It
is it's noteworthy, it's to hang up on your door about the anointing
of the Holy Spirit. He says this. It denotes the
virtue and power of the spirit of God, which came upon the prophet,
not shaking, disturbing and throwing him down, but changing. Comforting, elevating and exciting
the spirit of the prophet to see divine mysteries. It denotes
also that efficacy and power which set the word upon the heart
and conscience of the prophet, that power that subdued all opposition
and carnal reasonings and removed all impediments whatsoever that
stuck upon the heart of the prophet and hindered him in that work,
which God would have him to do. It is the spirit of God changing
a man and making him able to do what he must do in the gospel
ministry to confront hell itself. Now, look at the next phrase,
he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord. We need men who
are led of the spirit of God through the scriptures. Men who are led of the spirit,
not just to be in a certain place or to do a certain thing, but
we need men led by the spirit to correctly discern spiritual
realities, especially in the context here that we have of
Ezekiel. What are those realities? The deplorable, horrifying condition
of man. And the recognition, the solid
recognition that there is no hope whatsoever for man in the
strength of the arm, but only in the proclamation of the word
of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's all that we have. Also, I want you to look that
it says finally the prophet. What does it say about the prophet?
It says that God set him down in a dreadful place. A valley
that was filled with dead bones. Do you know what we need today? Preachers who are actually out
there where the dead are. Uncloistered men who care nothing
about religious accommodations or ivory towers. They may use
libraries, but they do not love them, they would rather stand
out in the midst of a depraved humanity and cry out, Thus saith
the Lord, hear the word of the Lord. We need to take all this
so-called good theology and get it out there where the dead are. I want us to go on, verse two.
He caused me to pass among them round about the whole, there
were very many on the surface of the valley, though they were
very dry. Look at the emphasis of the text.
He caused me to pass among them round about them. Do you see
what God's doing to this prophet? Do you see what God is doing
to this prophet? God is going out of his way to
do something to this prophet, to show him a horrifying reality
that we must all see if we're to be of any count to the work
of God and the ministry of God. First of all, he is showing this
prophet the deplorable, impossible condition of mankind. He is showing them what he is
showing this prophet that they are dead in their trespasses
and sins with no spark whatsoever in the intellect or in the soul. They are doubly dead. They are
true trees uprooted. There is no Hope for them. I'd like to grab most of the
evangelical preachers today by the back of the neck and do the
same thing with them, take them on a full course around humanity. So that they would see the depravity
of man and in seeing the depravity of man, they would see the absolute
impossibility of a spiritual awakening of a revival or the
conversion even of a single soul. They would see that everything
is absolutely impossible from a human perspective. Now, why
is this necessary? Because only then will you be
cured of using your human ingenuity and wisdom and cleverness. Only
then will you stop doing what is right in your own eyes as
a minister and a pastor. Only then will you lay aside
Saul's armor and pick up the smooth stones of the gospel.
Only then will the ministers in this country and world realize
that we, as men of God, are given only two weapons, only two. proclamation of the word of God
and the power of the Holy Spirit, an intercessory, enduring, heartbreaking,
body killing prayer intercession. Those are your weapons. If you
choose to use other weapons. Then preaching and prayer, it's
only because you're a little boy who wants to play soldier.
You're not a soldier. This is what scars a man of God.
This is what oftentimes makes his life short. The proclamation of a heavy burden. And nights in prayer. That's what kind of men. We need. Verse three. He said to me, son
of man, can these bones live? And I answered, oh, God, you
know, here again is a question is a question that must be answered
before the prophet can be commissioned. Here is a question that you must
answer before you can be commissioned and how you answer this question
will determine everything about the rest of your ministry. Now, notice here, first of all,
Ezekiel does not presume upon God and say, yes, they can live
as though he knew the inner workings of the mind of God or all of
his decrees before the foundation of the earth. He did not say,
yes, they could live as though he had the power to manipulate
God's hand and make him do something that was against his will. But
notice also the prophet does not doubt God and say no. For he knows that God is a gracious
God. God is abundantly gracious and
God is a saving God, a redeeming God, and nothing is too difficult
for him. It's as though Ezekiel were saying
this in answer to God. God. If they are to live. It will not be by some clever
thought or scheme of my own. But, oh, God, it will be by your
power and your power alone. It's as though he's saying my
heart is not proud, nor are my eyes haughty, nor do I involve
myself in great matters. It is not given to me, oh, Lord,
to know the times or the seasons that you have fixed by your own
authority. But. Command it, Lord. Command it, and I will put my
hand to the plow and I will prophesy and I will prophesy and I will
prophesy to every one of them is converted or until I lay in
the dust with them. I will preach. Listen to what
Spurgeon said. Lord, we will be content to leave
the secret with thee. Only tell us what thou wouldst
have us to do. We ask not food for speculation,
but we ask for work. That's hardy language from a
hardy man. Now. There are many places where
I preach, where right now I would probably have to stop, especially
among my wild and zealous street preachers. Where I would have
to stop and I would have to warn them of presumption. But that's probably not the case
here, is it? Rather than warning you against presumption, I should
probably warn you against doubt. Dear brothers, let me tell you
something. There are enough covenants and commissions and promises
in both the old and the New Testament for us to preach with great confidence
and to believe God for a mighty harvest. There is there is. I'm so tired it almost seems
as though men are just giving up and running back to the fortress
and piling up what they can at the door to keep the enemy from
coming in. That's not what we were made
for. There is no place in this book
that tells me there cannot be a mighty move of the spirit,
even in this country, even at the throne of the very devil
who destroys. There is nothing in this book
that tells me God cannot convert a multitude in a day. Under some
little plowboy preacher. In a remote place of this country
that no one even knows its name. God can turn nations, why don't
we believe? Why do we just quit? Sometimes I'm asked to answer
the question, explain how the sovereignty of God does not diminish
people's zeal to go out and reach the lost, and sometimes I say
I can't because in fact, it does. Men who hold to great doctrines
but fail to apply them as they ought to be applied. The sovereignty
of God tells me the dead can live. The sovereignty of God
tells me he can answer prayer. The sovereignty of God tells
me prophesy, son of man. Prophesy, son of man, do not
allow the name it, claim it. Group to steal from you your
rightful Heritage. There are promises in the Bible
to claim and to stand on with regard to spiritual awakening,
with regard to evangelism and missions and the advancement
of God's kingdom. There are great promises that
we should grab a hold of. Listen to this. Isaiah 62, just
listen on your walls of Jerusalem. I have appointed watchmen all
day and all night. They will never keep silent,
you who remind the Lord, take no rest for yourself, nor give
him any rest until he establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise
in the earth. Did you do you hear that? Have
you ever read of the widow? Who almost drove the judge mad. Look what he's calling for, this
sovereign God. He is calling for bold men and
women to stand up and say, take me at my word when I say that
what I've done through my son wasn't done in the corner of
a little piece of land, but is for the nations. Stand up and
believe God, kneel down and believe God, cry out to God. There are
so many promises. Yes, he's decreed everything
he's decreed before the foundation of the world. And yet we have
not because we ask not. It's not a time for apathy, narrow
shoulders or tight spirits. It's a time for action, it's
a time for believing God, but according to God's word. Verse
four, again, he said to me, prophesy over these bones and say to them,
oh, dry bones here, the word of the Lord. What is the cure
for spiritual death? Prophecy. Prophecy. Prophecy. What do I mean by prophecy? The speaking forth of God's holy
word. Do you think that's strange?
Just a word. Speak just a word, all these
problems, social problems, governmental problems, economic problems,
spiritual problems, and you, preacher, are going to speak
just a word, doesn't that seem kind of unusual to you? Not at
all. Why? If he made the universe
with a word, can't he not recreate a man with the same word? It's absurd preaching. I'll give you that. It's absurd
to the carnal mind, it is absurd. To prophesy to dead bones. To command the deaf to listen,
to command the blind to see. It's absurd. But it is the very
thing that we have been commanded to do, and it is the very thing
that throughout church history, when God's men have stopped fooling
around with all their carnal means and returned to the word
of God, that singular word of the gospel, it has always been
then that the world has been set on its ear, totally turned
around. Because we left all these all
these foolish little endeavors and become once again men of
the word, speaking forth the word, speaking forth the word. Listen to me, preacher, listen. This is. Preaching. Preaching is your great act of
obedience. When everyone else tells you,
no, it is absurd, it is absurd, you need other things, the plans,
the programs. When you say no to all of that
and say, I will prophesy, that is your great act of obedience. And it is also, preacher, your
great offering of faith. I will believe my God and with
every breath I will preach and he will act. He will. I want you to again
to listen to Spurgeon on this matter. Preaching prophecy, proclaiming
the word of God. This is the battering ram, which
is to shake the gates of hell and break its iron bars. God
has chosen the foolishness of preaching that by it he might
save those who believe. Preaching is the blast of the
ram's horn ordained to level Jericho and the sound of the
silver trumpet appointed to usher in the jubilee. It is God's chariot
of fire for bearing souls to heaven and his two edged sword
to smite the host of hell. His ordained servants are at
once warriors and builders, and the word serves them both for
spear and for trowel. Preach then from morning until
night at every time and on all occasions the unsearchable riches
of Christ. Let's go on. I want to pull three
truths from the text that I've read thus far. First. Notice
in this verse four. It must be God's word without
mixture of ours here, the word of the Lord, not here, my quaint
cliches, not here, my moralisms. Not here, my clever narrations,
not here, my five steps to a well-lived life. No, thus saith the Lord. But the man of God cannot speak
that way. He cannot unless he spends more
time with God than he does anyone else. He must dwell in the shadow of
the Almighty so that when he comes forth, he not only comes
forth with a word, but a stirring. With a stirring. To dwell there. And what is so bad? That we have
so much trouble dwelling there, what is so attractive outside
of his presence that it's so hard for us to be with him. Hear the word of the Lord. And
brothers, we have the word of prophecy made sure. Where? In the scriptures. In the scriptures. To spend a life, can you imagine
what a privilege is ours? Think about the privilege that
belongs to the preacher, his life is to study God's word to
make it known. That's it. Trade that for the world and
you'd be a fool. To study, to know God, to make
him known, to proclaim him, to prophesy and never forget the
crescendo, the apex, the end. Of all prophecy. Is the gospel
of our Lord and our savior, Jesus Christ. To spend a lifetime. Studying
that, studying him. Just to make him known. Secondly,
I want you to realize that it must be truthful preaching about
man's condition. Notice that God tells Ezekiel
to call dry bones, dry bones. You listen to me carefully. You
downplay the radical depravity, the total Depravity of man, you
downplay that doctrine and you will downplay the glory of the
gospel. You downplay the radical, total,
pervasive depravity of man and you will diminish the power of
the gospel. Christ did not die for sick people
with sparks. He died for dead people. And
it is in the raising of that dead man that God demonstrates,
I believe, the greatest power ever demonstrated. I have said
this a million times. The conversion of a man is a
greater revelation of the power of God than the creation of the
entire universe. He made the universe ex nihilo
out of nothing. But to convert a man. To take
a massive. Radically corrupt. Corruption. Make it holy and righteous. And new. Thirdly and finally,
it must be commanding and compelling preaching. He told him to live. Brother. You have not preached
the gospel of Jesus Christ, if you explain the way of salvation
as clear as a bell and then march yourself off the pulpit and sit
down. You have not preached the gospel. The gospel is a compelling message. It is a commanding message. So
when you preach the gospel, you beg men, you plead with men,
you cry out to men. To repent and be saved. See, so many men today exquisite
in their preaching, but after giving the greatest message of
message, it's almost as though they don't care whether or not
anyone is converted. And then they'll answer me saying,
well, we just don't want to get in the way. And I say, how can
you get in the way by doing something biblical? Every preacher worth
is salt in the scriptures, cried out for men to be saved. Repent. Save yourself. Run, flee. Come. Come. Peter Masters has an absolutely
incredible book called Physician of the Soul, listen to what he
says. Compelling, convicting, persuasive preaching, revealing
God's mercy and redemption to dying souls is seldom heard today. Now, listen to this. The noblest
art ever granted to our fallen human race has almost disappeared. You think this man has high view
preaching? The noblest art that has ever
been granted to our fallen human race has almost disappeared. Read verse five. Thus says the
Lord God to these bones, behold, I will cause breath to enter
you that you may come back to life, I will put sinews on you,
make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath
in you that you may come alive and you will know that I am the
Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded and as I prophesied,
there was a noise and behold, a rattling and the bones came
together bone to its bone. It is our task to preach as dying
men to dying men, but only God can make men alive. And yet it's the very thing he
promises to do through preaching, through preaching. Now, here
we see both sides of the coin and listen to me very carefully.
And I mean what I say. Everything. Depends on preaching. Everything depends on God. Both sides of the coin, everything
depends on preaching, everything depends upon God, and here. Is the office of the preacher
exalted? Because it is indispensable.
And here is the office of the preacher humbled. It is worth
nothing apart from the power of God. I could preach a sermon
here on the idolatry of expository preaching. Men think because
they've done a proper exegesis, because they have corrected themselves
with regard to all the prepositions and everything is neat as a basket
of eggs and they calmly get up and share all their great intellect
with the community. It takes more than that. That's
not preaching. Preaching must be more than expository. It must be Christ centered. It
must be Christ saturated. And the preacher must be filled
with the spirit of the living God. Must. Here in this text that we've
read these verses, we also see the glorious doctrine of regeneration. The glorious doctrine of regeneration. That has been reduced down to
nothing more than decisionism. The glorious doctrine of regeneration
that has been lost in the temple of contemporary evangelicalism,
the doctrine that must be rediscovered to have in order to have revival
preaching, evangelistic preaching or any kind of preaching at all.
The doctrine of regeneration. Men must repent. Men must believe,
men must decide, and men must choose this day whom they will
serve. But the preacher knows it will
not happen apart from a supernatural work of God that makes it possible. Notice in our text here, God
knits bone to bone, it's God before there's ever a response
by man. God knits bone to bone and then
God wraps the bone in flesh and then God breathes into the bone
and it's then that the bone can respond. In the previous chapter,
in Ezekiel 36, it is God who takes out the heart of stone
that cannot respond to divine stimuli because it will not respond
to divine stimuli. And he replaces it with a heart
of flesh recreated to respond to the voice of God. Let me put
it as clearly as I possibly can. Men. Carnal, natural man loves
unrighteousness, loves it. And therefore, the more a man
sees of God in that state, the more he will hate God. And the more he understands the
law of God, the more he will kick against it. So you ask me,
preacher, well, then how can anybody be saved? What must happen? I don't know, what do you think?
Modern evangelicalism tells me this, we must show them Jesus.
The problem is we're just not showing them Jesus. Jesus showed
them Jesus and they crucified him. We're just not showing them
Jesus, it doesn't matter if you show them Jesus, if they're blind.
And you say, oh, preacher, I agree. Therefore, we must show them
Jesus and God must give them sight. Surely that's enough.
No, it's not. Because if God opens up their
eyes and their heart remains the same with a clearer view
of Christ, they will hate him all the more. Then preacher,
it's hopeless. How can a man be saved? Why should
we prophesy? We prophesy because God comes
in his sovereign electing grace. And what does he do? He takes
out that heart of stone. He replaces it with a heart of
flesh, a new heart recreated with new and righteous affections. And then when God opens up the
eyes of that sinner to Christ, he must have Christ. This whole caricature of God
dragging people against their will, I know no one who believes
that. What I know is this, God changes
the heart of a man and fills it with new and righteous affections,
and when those eyes open up and that heart sees. The righteous
Christ, it cannot resist him. You could put bulls, fires, hells
in between that sinner that's been regenerated and God, and
he'd fight through all of them to get to Jesus. Because God
has done a work, God has done a resurrection, God has done
a miracle, God has done a recreation. Do you not understand why John
begins his gospel within the beginning? Because Christ's coming
represents the new creation. New creation. Now, I want you
to also notice that it's not only God's work, but it's a sure
work. Look for a moment at verse five. Thus says the Lord God to these
bones, behold. I will cause breath to enter
you that you may come to life. I will put sinew on you. I will
make flesh grow back on you. I will cover you with skin. I
will put breath in you that you may come alive and you will know
that I'm the Lord. Now, look over for a moment in
Ezekiel 36, look at verse 24. For I will take you from the
nations. I will gather you from all the
lands and I will bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle
clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you
from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover,
I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within
you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and
I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within
you, and I will cause you to walk in My statutes, and you
will be careful to observe My ordinances." Not because He grabbed
them by the arm and twisted it behind their back and shoved
their face into it. He changed their heart, and they
now love Him. in his son, and they love every
word his son has said. Do you see that, brothers? I want us to go on. This is the
basis of the preacher's hope. It is. It is such a mighty strengthening
in the dark night of the soul when the preacher no longer wants
to preach. God says, I'll do this and I'll do this and I'll
do this. And so the discouraged preacher
stands up and goes. Then I will prophesy. I will
prophesy. Not only does he prophesy, but
look at our text, brothers. Look at verse seven. I prophesied
as I was commanded. He not only prophesies, he prophesies
as he was commanded, he adds nothing to the word of God, he
takes nothing away from the word of God. Brother Paul, if you
could have. A dream come true. What would it be? That on my gravestone. It was
written. He prophesied as he was commanded. Think about it, what an honor
to a preacher. What greater honor, because the
the gift and the calling to prophecy is the greatest honor. And to
be able to say. I finished, I prophesied as I
was commanded, come hell or high water, I prophesied as I was
commanded. Look at verse eight, and I looked
and behold, sinew were on them and flesh grew and skin covered
them, but there was no breath in them. Oh, brothers. Brothers. What do we see here? We see a
discerning preacher. We see an honest and true physician
of souls. You see, the outward movement,
it didn't fool this preacher. Yeah, there was a rattling. There was a noise. There was
a commotion. But this man had been trained
by the spirit, he'd been trained by the word of God, he knew there
was no breath. Oh, do we need preachers like
that today? He knew there was no breath. Full of commotion,
full of rattling, but he knew there was no breath. He looked
for more than an outward appearance. He looked for more than a raising
of the hand. He looked for more than walking
down an aisle. He looked for more than the repetition
of a sinner's prayer. He looked for more than someone
signing a decision card. He looked for true spiritual
life and inward reality. He looked for the fruits of animation. The fruit of being alive. Because it says so clearly in
verse six, two things about those that God resurrects, he will
make them alive and they will know that he is the Lord. As religious authorities. Whether you're a pastor, evangelist,
Sunday school teacher, mom or dad. As religious authorities. We cannot. Continue confirming
the salvation of people simply based upon their own interpretation
of how sincere they were when they made a decision. We can't
keep doing this. Well, then, preacher, what must
we do? Using the word of God, teaching God's word, we help
men, women and children discern if there is true repentance through
the word of God, we help them discern if there is soul saving
faith through the word of God, we help them discern is their
perseverance. What would our forefathers say
about all our foolishness in dealing with the souls of men? Now, verse nine, then he said
to me, prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say
to the breath, thus says the Lord God. Come from the four
winds, O breath and breathe on these slain that they may come
to life. There are two kinds of prophecy. There are two kinds of prophecy.
Speaking forth the word of God to men that they might obey. And speaking forth the word of
God to God that he might fulfill it. I know that sounds bold. I know that that could even smack
of arrogance, but again, I want you to think about scripture
itself on your walls, Jerusalem. I have appointed watchmen all
day. And all night, they will never
keep silent, you who remind the Lord, remind the Lord of what
his word, his covenants, his promises, you who remind the
Lord. Take for yourselves no rest and
give him no rest until he establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise
in the earth. Think about it. Now. The preacher is not just a proclaimer. He's an intercessor. He's a wrestler. The commission to pray is as
demanding. As the commission. To prophesy. How many preachers have I heard
tell me? Well, if I turned away from my
commission to preach. I do believe rightly that the
Lord. I would be afraid that the Lord. Would kill me, I would
I would be so afraid if I turned away from my commission to preach. And if you have turned away from
your commission to pray, do you feel the same fear? Because both of these are just
as demanding upon the man of God. Now. There's some things here that
I want to be clear. Brothers. Young people, young preachers. Battles are won in the nightwatch. Battles are won in the nightwatch. Battles are won in the nightwatch. They are. Battles are won alone on the knees. Unction is gained alone on the knees. So much is gained on the knees. Where are these wild men who
take God at his promise? Where are these men? Who want
no. Armor. Except God's presence,
who want no help, but his arm. Who will fight with men and fight
with God and fight with God about men and fight with men about
God. To preach, knowing that there's
no hope. Except the wind blow. Except
breath come to preach in such a way that you can get no response
except the wind blow. All brothers. How many men today? Carry that mantle, but I can
go back just a few generations and count countless men. We will
not be able to achieve. With the men of the Great Awakening
achieved by just reading the men of the Great Awakening. But by doing what they did. You
know, we're so strange. I hear people all the time when
it comes to the Matthew four and the temptation, Jesus defeated
the devil because he quoted scripture at the devil. No, he didn't.
He defeated the devil because he obeyed the scripture he quoted.
It's a big difference. It's not just reading, it's not
just information, it's not just gnosis. But it's his life, his
power flowing through the preaching. Spurgeon said this. Preaching
alone does little. It may make the stir. It may
bring the people together. There is an attractiveness about
the gospel which will draw the people to hear it. And there
is moreover, a force about it which will excite them for it
is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. But
there is no life giving power in the gospel of itself apart
from the Holy Spirit. Now, we'll finish by just looking
at verse 10. In verse 7, what does the prophet
say? He says. I preached in verse
7. As I was commanded. In verse
10, he's saying, and I prayed. As I was commanded. So let's add some more letters
on that gravestone of ours. I preached. As I was commanded,
I prayed as I was commanded. Brothers, the more that we trust
in the arm of the flesh with all these strategies and these
fads of church growth and everything else that just go past us one
one a day and they last about that long. To shun all of that
and say, no. This is a war that cannot be
won by any carnal means. This is a giant far too large
to be taken down by human ingenuity, the gathering together of organizations,
strategies and plans and programs. No, I'll shun it all and I'll
take up my weapons. The proclamation of the word. Of the living God. Intercessory
prayer. And if you would like to add
two more, I will give them to you. Sacrificial love and suffering. Those are the weapons of our
warfare, may we use them well to the exclusion of all others,
let's pray. Father. You know. But, Lord, I would request of
the that you would do a mighty work. In your people. That you would, Lord, in all
of us, make us more diligent in the study of Scripture, make
us more diligent in depending upon Scripture alone. Make us
more diligent in prayer, help us, Lord. Help us. And Lord, tonight, if there is
one that is dead here, make them alive. Through the life, death,
resurrection, exaltation of your son. Lord, help your people in a way
that they will know that they have been helped in Jesus name. Amen.