Let's turn to John 5. We'll make a couple of
comments and then we'll go to the main text that we're going
to be in, which will be Ezekiel 37. So we're going to start with
John 5. We'll start in v. 21 and go through v. 25. John 5, v. 21-25. For as the Father raises up the
dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He
will. For the Father just judges no
man, But he committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death to life. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. The dead shall hear and shall
live. Now this passage in John chapter
5, verse 25 is fully realized every time a perishing sinner
is reclaimed by the Son of God. Every time the gospel is believed,
the sinner comes to Christ, believes upon Him, is baptized. Every
time this happens, this passage in John chapter 5 is realized,
the dead here And they come to life. Now, this is also pictured
in several places in the New Testament. You don't have to
turn around, just refer them. In Mark chapter 5, we have the
story of Jairus' daughter. And Christ raised her from the
dead. In Luke chapter 7, we have the son of the widow of the city
of Nain. The Lord raised this one up too
from the dead. And of course in John 11 we have
Lazarus. In all these situations, and
in this verse specifically in John 5 and 25, the dead heard
the truth and lived. Death became life by the free
grace that's in Christ. Now we can, if we have been given
eyes to see and ears to hear, We see in these passages God's
absolute sovereignty, to whomsoever the Son will, He quickens, man's
utter ruin and death in trespasses and sins, which pictures the
death of those three, and the glory of Christ Jesus and the
Holy Spirit's gracious influence. And we're going to see this more
fully as we turn to our text in Ezekiel chapter 37. This is
a favorite. I do like this passage. Ezekiel
chapter 37. Let's read the first 10 verses. Ezekiel chapter 37. Now
turn with me to view in further detail this wonderful phenomena
we call salvation. The dead hear and live. as in John 5.25. The hand of
the Lord was upon me, says Ezekiel, and carried me out in the Spirit
of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of a 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. 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,
or preach upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto
these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and
you shall live. The dead shall hear, and the
dead 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. So I prophesied as I was commanded
and as I prophesied there was a noise and behold a shaking
and the bones came together bone to his bone And when I beheld,
lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin
covered them above, but there was no breath in them. Then God
said unto me, Prophesier, preach unto the wind. Preach, son of
man, and say unto the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from
the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that
they may live. So I prophesied as I was commanded
me, And the breath came into them, and they lived and stood
up upon their feet, an exceeding great army." Well, this is almost
self-explanatory. But it's just amazing. We see the absolute, total, free,
sovereign grace of God to sinners. They're just there. They're just
there listening to what's being preached or what's being prophesied.
They have nothing to do but to receive, to believe, and live. Well, let's just look at these,
just kind of go down verse by verse, verses 1 and 2. He says that the Lord God set
him down in a valley, set him down in a depression in the landscape,
a low place. And this is where he meets us.
We're not on a hill, we're not lofty, we're not lifted up. There's
nothing good in us. There's nothing that God sees
in us and says, oh, I'm going to take notice of that individual.
They're special. He may be special to your teacher.
He may be special to your parents, which you should be. You may
be special to your pastor. And you should. But to God, we're
not I'm not the judge. Your parents are not the judge.
Your teachers are not the judge. God is the judge. And to him, He has to come to us. He sets
this man in a valley, in a depression. This is what we are in our natural
state. And he says in verse 2, He caused me to pass by round
about them. And behold, there were very many
in this valley, and they were very dry. And to those of us
who know the gospel, It's serious. And we love the
Gospel. We love Christ, who is the Gospel
embodiment. And so, with most normal religious
folks, they just talk so flippantly about God. They use Him in jokes. And they use Him in trivia. And
they just use the characters of the Bible, Old or New Testament,
and they got some kind of joke, and this and that. But to the
preacher of God, to the believer of God, God causes us to consider. This is what I think he's doing.
He caused him to just walk around and look. Walk around and look. So when you go to work, be yourself. I'm not saying you can't have
a joke, you can't have a good time. But you're amongst people
who are dead. in trespasses and sins. They
were like you were until you heard the gospel, until somebody
told you or you read in this word the truth of the living
God. So may we consider the task of preaching, the task of witnessing. You may not be called to pastor
a group, but you're called of God to tell what you know. So let us pass by, let us think
about our neighbors, let us think about the people, our family,
our friends, our neighbors, our children. Let us think about
them. Let us consider what we're about
to say, what we're observing, what we're looking. And people
can, they can trivialize anything. And they can put stuff in the
place of the gospel. They don't want to hear the gospel.
Let's talk about, let's keep it light. God has caused us, if He has
saved us, to understand the seriousness of the Gospel. We're telling people about the
mess regarding their death, their dryness, they're full of lifelessness. And then in verse 3 He says,
God asks this question to this believer, can these bones live? What a question. What a good
question. Can these bones live? Can man at his best state, who
is altogether vanity, come to God? Can a good thing come out
of an evil thing? In and of ourselves, can they
produce life? Can these dead, dry bones do
anything good towards God? Can they exercise their boasted
free will to change their situation or their place or their condition?
But look at the answer. And I answered, the believer
answers, you knowest, thou knowest. Believers know that this is the
only true and honest answer. Jehovah God, you know. You know. You know that it is
in your power to save or to damn, to recover or to resist, to heal
or to put off healing. We understand that God is under
no obligation to redeem, except He sees fit to do so by His own
power. Can these bones live? Not in
and of themselves. They can't take one step. They're
beyond. They're just bones. They're like these elephant hunting
grounds. They're just bones. They're just scattered. They
can't move life. They're inanimate. And in verses 4, 5, and 6, this
is what we're to do with our friends, our neighbors. and to
one another. Just because we understand the
Gospel, doesn't mean that we don't need to rehearse it. That's
what I do. Otherwise, you'd hear it once and never come back.
If the Lord saved you, you'd go out and talk to people. We
talked about this this morning. There's gathering together. Sheep
are gregarious creatures. They're not out by themselves. If they are, they're in danger.
If there's a problem, we, as I say, re-energize. I hate to
use that word, we come back comfort one another, and fellowship with
one another, encourage one another, because this world is not the
friend of God. So this is what we're doing.
We're simply to talk, to preach, to witness, evangelize, as we're
told to do. Look at verses 4, 5, and 6. Again,
He said unto me, Prophesy, or preach, or teach upon these bones,
and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Now, How foolish is this? To the world
it's foolish. We all gather together every
Sunday. What are you talking about? It's
the same thing over and over again. I've been determined not
to know anything among you save Christ and Him crucified. Because
I know that the more you know of Christ, the better you're
going to be. The better dad you're going to be, the better husband,
the better wife, the better children. All these things are going to
take place if you understand Christ and are crucified. Not
if I talk about math, or not if I talk about science, or not
if I talk about... So just preach upon these bones. Hear the word of the Lord. It's
not my word. I don't have a... I know some of these, when I
was in Methodism, the Methodists would send them, the Synod, would
send them a hardback. And it was basically the Methodist
version of what they're supposed to preach. And then when the
preacher would come up, he wouldn't even have the Bible. He would
have that booklet. Man's thoughts about what this
is. No. No. Hear the word of the Lord. Thus
saith the Lord God, unto these bones, behold, I will cause breath
to enter into you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews upon
you, and bring flesh upon you, and cover your skin, and breathe
in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the
Lord." We simply tell what's in the Bible regarding God and
Christ and sinful men, women, and children. We speak the Word
of the Lord. We simply obey His order to tell
of Him, about Him, and leave it with our gracious Lord. We
don't try to coerce decisions. This modern day evangelism, it's
modern day. It's got nothing to do with true
evangelism. Trying to coerce people down an aisle, or sign
a card, or do this or do that. You simply tell them, you follow
up, or you talk to them. Anytime you have an opportunity,
you're concerned about them. Then they don't want to hear
it. That's okay. Speak with them anyway. Again
and again and again. As long as there's life, I've
always said, and all these other readers and people I've read
in different scriptures, as long as they're alive, there's hope.
Because I don't know who the elect is and who is not the elect,
but as long as they're alive, there's hope. No matter how many
times they've rejected what you've had to say. So we just simply
tell about Him and leave it with God. Notice, we don't tell what
I can do for God, but what He's going to do for rebels. Verse
5, I, God, will cause you, you shall live. Verse 6, I, God, will lay sinews
upon you. You shall know it, that it was
all of grace and none of self or merit or self-worth, none
of self. And I will lay this upon you,
and you shall know that I am the Lord." It wasn't God plus
me, plus my decision, or when I decided to come and follow
Him. It was all of God's grace. That's what we constantly tell
people. Constantly tell people. I met a gentleman this week.
This is Mr. Religion. Whatever he would say,
if I'd say something, oh yeah, But he was this and that and
this religion and that religion. This is a friendly fellow. Real
nice. They didn't have a clue. They didn't have a clue. We say,
we tell what God has told us. And look at verse 7. So what
are we supposed to do? God says to talk to folks, preach
to people, evangelize, teach. So I prophesied as I was commanded. So I prophesied as he commanded
me." This is the believer's responsibility, or I should say this is our delightful
obedience. Romans chapter 10. 17, so then faith cometh by hearing,
hearing the word of God. This is what we're talking about
in Ezekiel. Romans 10, 17. How about Ephesians 1? Ephesians 1, verse 13, in whom you also trusted,
that we should be to the praise of His glory, verse 12, who first
trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted after you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation." Galatians chapter 3. Galatians
chapter 3. Verse 1 and 2, O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth,
before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth,
crucified among you. This only would I learn of you,
received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing,
the hearing of faith. 1 Thessalonians. We could go on,
but there's quite a few passages, but we'll just look at a few.
1 Thessalonians. Chapter 2, verse 13, 1 Thessalonians
2, verse 13, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing,
because when you receive the Word of God, which ye heard of
us, ye received it not as the Word of men, but as it is in
truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you
that believe. 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2, verse 13 and 14, But we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. James chapter 1, James 1. Verse 18. Of His own will, not
our will, but of His own will, begot He us with the Word of
truth, with the Word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits
of His creatures. 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." So these folks that say, well they went out to, I
had a friend that said he went out to a teepee, in a teepee,
out west somewhere, and he met God. Now he was smoking peyote is
what he was doing, is what he told me. Nobody was talking to
him, he just met God. No. I don't know, he used to
be a pastor in this area. He's deceiving thousands of people. He's deceiving people. The Word
of Truth. I didn't say that. This is what
the Word says. Back to our text. So I preached,
so I taught, so I spoke as I was commanded. And if God the Holy
Spirit is pleased to use, then something's going to happen.
But there's something in here that I had never seen before.
Let's look at it. Verse 8, And I beheld, lo, the sinews
and flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above,
but there was no breath in them. This is simply telling somebody
the truth. But the Holy Spirit doesn't assist,
because the wind blows where it lists. Just because you're
saying something true to somebody, doesn't mean they're going to
believe it. There was a shaking, it says,
verse 7, so as I preached, there was a noise, a shaking, the bones
came together, bone to his bone, there's something going on. This is a warning. May we ask our God to check our
hearts and our life. Is it true Christianity or is
it simply religious exercise? It happens. The truth is preached
and somebody gets excited. They want to know where they
can join. They want to know how much money they can give. They
want to know what missionary they can support. And it's just
basically, it's that seed. It's thrown and it lands on stony
ground. Or it springs up a little bit. We've seen this. It springs up. They're all for
doing for the church and doing this and doing that. And then through the continuation of hearing
the Gospel, persecution arises because they're a little different.
then they just fade away. I ask that God reveal the truth
to us whether we are genuine or we're just imitators. Do we have life or do we have
a clever facade of morality? And I want us to be moral, but
morality is not salvation. Reformation is not salvation.
Regeneration. by Christ's salvation. So that's
just a shaking. There's something going on. But
there's no breath in them. But, it didn't stop there. So should we stop preaching?
Should we stop telling them the truth? No. Just keep on. Because look at verses 9 and
10. Then he said to me, prophesy to the wind. We're secondary. We're petitioning. God the Holy
Spirit, God the Father, God the Son, do something for us. Do
something for my child. Do something for my son, my daughter,
my mom, my dad, my friends. Do something for them. Prophesy the wind, 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. So I, that as He commanded me."
God is ever merciful and ever gracious. Has He given you a promise concerning
your children? Has He given you a promise concerning
your parents? Has He given you a promise concerning
your neighbor? He's ever gracious. Breath came
into them and they lived and they stood up upon their feet
an exceeding great army. Oh brethren, to be found in Christ
Jesus having the very breath of God upon us. These are those
who hunger and thirst after righteousness. These are those who love the Lord and His coming. And I know we got the flesh,
and we are so up and down, and I know we have responsibilities,
and I know we have bills to pay, and all these different things,
but oh may we be, this is like Mary, she chose that one thing
needful. To have Holy Spirit conviction
over our sin daily. To have Holy Spirit convincing
of Christ's righteousness on our behalf and in our room instead,
to have Holy Spirit vision to see the Lord of glory lifted
up and His holiness and His grace poured forth, to have the Holy
Spirit persuasion to know in whom we believe and that He is
fully able to keep us from falling eternally. Then, and only then,
Will we be stood up upon our feet? Then will we stand upon
our feet on solid ground, that rock solid footing on firm and
true foundation of our God. May we lay hold of Him. May we
trust Him fully based upon His worth and not ours. May we grasp
His sweet promises. and thereby obtain the true peace
and comfort that's only found in Christ. Only found in Christ. Can these bones live? If I didn't think it was possible,
if I didn't think, why would anybody preach? Now, I say anybody,
I know why a lot of preachers preach, because for money, and
for filthy lucre's sake, but why would any true gospel preacher,
preach. Why would you who believe the
sovereign grace of God tell anybody? Because if the Lord wills, these bones can live. Wouldn't
it be wonderful if a bunch of people stood up here and said,
we're with you. A seeding great army. That's
my prayer, that's my desire. That the Lord would do something
for each of our circles, our friends, our acquaintances, our
families, and whatever, He will do as He will, and may we be
content. But may we all have peace, knowing
that we've done what we are told to do, simply prophesy, simply
preach, and leave everything in His hands. And He is a merciful
and gracious God indeed. Bruce, would you close us?