We have a vision given, a vision
that God gave to his prophet Ezekiel of a valley full of dry
bones. A valley, he overlooks it and
he sees bones scattered throughout the valley. There were very many
and they were very, very dry. Now the Spirit of God tells us
plainly in this prophecy that the vision speaks of God's salvation
of his elect. Vision is all about how God saves
sinners in the blessed experience of his grace. I had a letter
from a friend of mine in Canada. I've not met him yet, but he'd
been a friend for a long time. He was asking me about what's
meant by this word experience. Don't want to look within ourselves
and rest on ourselves. He was concerned about it. The
fact is all that God does for us in Christ Jesus has been done
outside us. But in the new birth, when God
gives faith in Christ, When God causes sinners to be born again,
He causes us to experience inwardly that which He has done outwardly,
giving us life and faith in the Redeemer, so that by this faith
we receive the atonement that Christ Jesus made at Calvary.
By this God-given faith, we receive free justification. By this God-given
faith, we receive Jesus Christ the Lord in the sweet, blessed
experience of his saving grace. And that's what's pictured for
us in Ezekiel chapter 37. Here, the prophet of God shows
us in picture how it is that God gives life
to dead sinners. They were told specifically in
verse 11 that this prophecy, this vision, is a word from God
to His lost ones, to lost men and women who have been made
to know their lost condition. Look at the 11th verse, Ezekiel
37 and 11. Then he said unto me, Son of
man, these bones are the whole house of Israel, the whole body
of my elect. Behold, they say, they say, our
bones are dried and our hope is lost and we are cut off for
our parts. Our bones are dried. Our hope
is lost and we are cut off for our part. I hope there is somebody
here today whose hope is cut off. Who has no hope in himself. No hope of making yourself righteous. no hope of giving yourself life,
no hope of making yourself accepted with God, no hope of atoning
for your sin. Find me some lost, helpless sinners,
men and women who know that they're lost, justly lost, doomed and
damned, rightly so, because of their sin. And I will say to
those sinners, God Almighty has promised I will
open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves. Find me a sinner who needs Christ
and I'll show you a sinner who shall have Christ. Find me a
sinner who needs God's salvation. I'll show you a sinner who shall
have God's salvation. Our Savior heals those who have
need of healing. You remember in the Gospel of
Luke, on one occasion, our Lord had multitudes brought to him,
just one after another. And the scripture says, he healed
as many as had need of healing. Now let me tell you what you
will get, Josh Peterson, from God today in this service. Whatever it is you need. I mean
what you really need. If you came thirsty, you will
be refreshed. If you came hungry, you will
be fed. If you need grace, grace shall
be given you. If you need Christ, you will
leave here with Christ. He heals as many as have need
of healing. The only people in this world
who go to hell, are people who think they deserve better. The
only people in this world who die without Christ are folks
who foolishly imagine they do not need Christ. Now this vision
is a matter that shows forth a great resurrection. The whole
thing is about resurrection power. The resurrection that only God
can perform, giving life to the dead. And it has to be interpreted
in a fourfold way. It speaks of four distinct resurrections. Immediately, it speaks of that
circumstance in which Ezekiel found himself. The children of
Israel were in bondage. And the Jews would be resurrected
out of Babylon and brought again to their own land by the hand
of God in the day of Cyrus. And then second, it has a distant
view. The prophecy looks into the distant
future to the resurrection of the dead, when the dead in Christ
shall be raised up from their graves into heavenly glory. Oh,
blessed, blessed hope. Soon the Lord Jesus will come.
And all who are redeemed by his blood, chosen by his grace, called
by his spirit, who have died and are buried in the graves
will be raised up from the dead. And then we, which are alive
and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. God's people. Live in hope, in
confident hope of the resurrection. In confident hope of the resurrection. Standing out on the front porch
this morning, as I often do, I was looking around the yard,
looking for the best place for Shelby and I to be buried. And
I think a lot about that day. And I think even more about the
day when Christ shall come and raise the dead. Oh, what a hope
is set before us. We bury our loved ones who know
our Redeemer. We bury our loved ones who know
our Redeemer in hope of the resurrection. Oh, all shall be raised, the
wicked raised and everlasting damnation. But we bury our loved
ones who know the Redeemer in the blessed hope of resurrection
glory. And then thirdly, this vision
speaks a word of promise to God's church in every age. When the
church of God, or any part of it, is brought low and languishing,
God promises to pour out the spirit of life upon his languishing
ones. Turn over to the book of Hosea.
I want you to see this. Hosea chapter six. One of the blessed things revealed
in the Song of Solomon, is the continual experience of God's
saints. While we live in this world,
we never live in a state of constant revival. That doesn't happen. It doesn't happen with you personally. It doesn't happen with me personally.
It doesn't happen with God's church as a whole, and it doesn't
happen with any local congregation, but rather, We live in a constant
state of fluctuation in our experience, languishing, indifference, horrible deadness of mind and
heart and spirit. So we constantly need We constantly
need God's grace to revive and refresh us. And the Lord God
promises that he will. Look here in Hosea chapter six.
Come, let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn and he
will heal us. He hath smitten and he will bind
us up. After two days will he revive
us. In the third day he will raise
us up and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know if
we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as
the morning and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter
and former rain unto the earth. And then fourthly and principally,
Ezekiel's vision refers to the spiritual resurrection of God's
elect in the new birth. You see, salvation. The new birth, people talk about
being born again, getting born again, getting saved, all the
nonsense people talk about something you do. The new birth, salvation. resurrection from the dead. It is a resurrection from the
dead. Listen to the scriptures. Verily,
verily, our Savior said, 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 unto life. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is. Oh, God, make that
so this hour, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live. The hour is coming and
now is, right now, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son
of God and they that hear shall live. And this is described in
the book of Revelation as the first resurrection. There is
a second resurrection, the resurrection of the bodies. But before these
bodies are raised from the dead, all God's elect must be raised
from spiritual death to spiritual life by the omnipotent power,
irresistible grace, and almighty mercy of God the Holy Ghost.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.
Being raised from the dead, you have brought into your life in
the sweet experience of grace, all the blessings of God. And
you are made holy because Christ is formed in you. Blessed and
holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. On such,
the second death hath no power. but they shall be priest of God
and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. Now let's look at five things
in this vision, five distinct lessons taught in this vision
in the Valley of Dry Bones. First, we see the prophet's vision
in verses one and two. 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, 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. The Lord God carried his prophet
out into a valley somewhere. Apparently there had been a battle
in this valley a long, long time ago. And as the prophet looked
over the valley, he saw a valley full of bones. They had been
blown and bleached in the desert sun and they lay there just bones
scattered in the open field. Obviously a battle had taken
place a long, long time ago. Now here's the first lesson to
be learned. Every preacher must learn it. The sooner, the better. Every church must learn it. The
sooner, the better. No man will ever be used of God
until he learns this lesson. A preacher may be very successful
in the eyes of men, but he'll never be God's preacher until
he learns this. He must be taught that the state
and condition of those to whom he preaches is death. Death. To be wrong here is to
be wrong everywhere. What is the condition of man
by nature? Answer that question and I will
tell you what your doctrine will be in all other points. what the preacher's message will
be and what his methods will be as he tries to minister to
men. Any man who denies the absolute
total depravity and inability of man by nature will make all
his doctrine man-centered. His message and his methods will
be focused on men so that he will attempt to manipulate men. He will always extol the will,
the works, and the worth of man. And all his methods will be designed
to manipulate men into religion. Let me give you examples that
you cannot misunderstand. When I was a young man in Bible
college, we had evangelism classes and homiletics classes teaching
us how to preach and how to conduct services and how to prepare messages
and then how to bring things to a crescendo. You've got to
preach in such a way that you move the congregation to a certain
point. Then you strike while the iron's
hot and get folks to make a decision. And just in case they need a
little help, it doesn't hurt to do what Mr. Graham always
did throughout his evangelistic meetings, throughout all the
coliseums and auditoriums that have folks seated here and there.
And when they would give the invitation, they'd give the altar
call, folks would start to come forward. And if you get one to
come, another will come. Get two to come, three will come.
Get four to come, five will come. And folks will come and make
lots of decisions. And that way you manipulate men. It's like sewing dried bones
together and hanging them up and pulling strings. You manipulate
men. Nobody's ever saved that way.
Now hear me, nobody is ever saved. Nobody ever has been, nobody
is now, and nobody will be tomorrow. Men aren't saved by being manipulated
by a preacher. Why do folks do that? Because
they don't realize that man is dead. Dead. Dead in trespasses and
in sins. God's prophets are men who know
man's true condition. They've been with Ezekiel in
the valley of dry bones. And they've been made to see
that all men by nature are dead in trespasses and in sins because
of a battle that was fought in the Garden of Eden a long, long
time ago and left all men by nature dead, utterly without
life, and as corrupt as they are dead. depraved, without ability,
so that there is none good. There is none that seeketh after
God. There's none that understandeth. There is none that doeth good. Man by nature is dead in trespasses
and in sins. The scriptures are so plain,
so clear, that the language cannot be misunderstood except willfully. God's prophets understand that
man by nature was ruined in the garden. Man has fallen and he
can't get up. He's dead. Without God, without
Christ, without hope, without life, and without help. There is nothing in me to give
me hope. Nothing in you to give you hope. If we have life, it's got to
come from outside ourselves. If we are raised up and revived,
it's got to be something that God does, not something that
we do. The scriptures make these things
abundantly clear. God has quickened you together
with Christ who were dead in trespasses and in sins. Our understanding of man's fallen,
ruined condition determines everything about the way we conduct what's
called the ministry. Our doctrine is a reflection
of this doctrine. If man is dead, salvation must
be God's work alone. If you're dead, if you're dead,
I can't make you alive by doing something. If you're dead, I
can't make you alive by the way we arrange the music and sing
the hymns and stir your emotions. If you're dead, I can't make
you alive by any outside influence that I give, and you can't make
yourself alive. and nobody else can make you
alive. God must make you alive. We wait on God to do his work. We wait on God to do his work. Long time ago, I hadn't been
pastoring very long, hadn't been preaching very long, I was pastoring
in West Virginia, and a lady was visiting, and met me at the
door, and her nephew was in, attended the congregation, a
young man in his early teens. And he was a bit of a rebel. And she met me at the door and
she said, she said, Brother Fortner, that was such a good sermon,
but you didn't give anybody a chance to get saved. I said, what? You didn't give anybody a chance
to get saved. What are you talking about? Well, you didn't give
an altar call, you didn't give an invitation. And I said to her, salvation
is not by chance, it's by grace. And salvation doesn't come by
sinners coming to an altar. It comes by sinners coming to
Christ. Do you understand the difference? Salvation is not
something you do. And even when God gives you life
and you come to Christ, it is not by the movement of your body,
but by the movement of your heart. Man's dead in trespasses and
in sins. Our method of evangelism reflects
exactly what we believe. The evangelism of the world,
read about it, go on the internet and read about it. If you want
to engage yourself in the foolish nonsense of going and observing
it personally, it's all fixed on manipulating men. preaching
of the Gospel. All right, second. Here's the
second lesson. Look at verse 3. The Lord God
asked a question, Son of man, can these bones live? Preachers in churches have got
to learn, have got to learn, the new birth is a supernatural
miracle of grace. When God shows his preacher the
true condition of man, dead in trespasses and in sins, he causes
him to consider some important questions. Can these bones live? Here you are, some of you yet
without Christ. Can you live? Is it possible
for the unjust to be made just? How can a man be just with God? Is that possible? Is it possible
for the Ethiopian to change his skin? Or the leopard to change
his spots? Is that possible? Is it possible
for men by something they do to be saved? The disciples saw
that rich young ruler walk away from the Lord Jesus and they
said, who then can be saved if not this man? I'm talking about
life, real, spiritual, eternal life in the soul, not the mechanical
motions of religion in which dead bones are manipulated. Can
these bones live? Now, look at the third thing.
Verse three, the prophet gives his answer. God asked, can these
bones live? And Ezekiel answered, O Lord
God, thou knowest. O Lord God, thou knowest. When God's preacher realizes
the true condition of man by nature, by birth, by choice,
and by practice, when he ponders the great question of the miracle
of the new birth, he's brought to depend totally on the sovereign
power, irresistible grace, and omnipotent mercy of God the Holy
Ghost. And this is something, David,
we have to learn over and over and over and over and over and
over again. I have to learn it every time
I try to preach, every time I try to do something ministering to
the souls of men. The efficacy of this work, the
usefulness, the benefit of this work. hangs entirely upon God, His
will, His purpose, and His grace. Salvation is of the Lord. That's the thing that must be
learned. When God asked Ezekiel, can these bones live? Ezekiel
considered the dead, dried bones laying out there in the open
field, and he recognized they could not give life to themselves.
He looked at himself. These are not sick folks who've
got a temperature or a fever. These aren't folks who've got
cancer, got heart disease. These men are dead! And I can't
do anything for them. They can't help themselves and
I can't help them. And then he thought on God's power and he
said, there is hope. There is hope. Lord God thou
knowest, thou knowest. You see with God all things are
possible. Salvation is of the Lord. He devised it and He does it. Salvation is of the Lord. He
purposed it. He purchased it and he performs
it. Salvation is of the Lord. It is the Lord's and it is the
Lord's work. It is God's gift and it is God's
work. With God, all things are possible. It's God and God alone who gives
life to the dead. So then, It is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Our Lord Jesus came, and He came
to His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them which believe on His name, which were born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God. Many of you sitting here today,
young and older as well, were raised in a home where God was
worshipped. Your mother and father believed
God, walked with God, served Him. You taught the scriptures
from your youth. Somebody been in this building
with us since the day we first met in here, and you heard the
gospel. But that won't give you life. No matter how much I want it,
no matter how much your mama wants it, no matter how much
your wife wants it, no matter how much your husband wants it,
that won't give you life. I won't give you life. You must
be born of God. You see, you're in God's hands,
not mine. You're in God's hands, not yours.
You're in God's hands, not your daddy's. You're in God's hands,
not your mother's. You're in God's hands. That's not just fact. That's
the only thing that makes any sense. You see, the new birth
is a new creation. It's creation. It's not an involvement.
It's creation. It's a birth. It's the giving
of life. It's a resurrection. The calling
of men from death to life. And the only way it comes is
by divine intervention and divine revelation, by God stepping into
you, and by God revealing Christ in you, making you to see the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Redeemer. Now look at verses 4 through
6, and see the Lord's command to his prophet. Again, he said
unto me, prophesy upon these bones and say unto them, oh,
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. 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. Verse 9, Then said he unto me, Prophesy
unto the wind. Prophesy, son of man, and say
to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God. Come from the four winds,
O breath. and breathe upon these slain
that they may live. Now here's the fourth lesson.
God showed his prophet and God must show preachers and churches
the necessity of preaching the gospel to dead sinners. The necessity
of preaching and the necessity of that preaching being made
effectual by God the Holy Ghost. The Lord commanded Ezekiel to
preach. Oh, ye dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord. What a strange thing. What a
strange thing. I'm sure Ezekiel must have thought
that. And many today think it strange, outdated, unsophisticated,
too much emphasized, But the fact is God's commandment is
clear. He commands his servants to preach
the gospel to sinners. That's our business. Mine as a preacher and yours
as a local church. The only reason this assembly
or any true gospel church exists anywhere in the world at any
time is for the preaching of the gospel. That's all. That's all. It is by this means
alone that God builds his kingdom. By this means alone that God
saves sinners. By this means alone that God
ministers to your soul. By this means alone that the
Lord God gives you his grace. By this means alone that the
Lord God will give you instruction, comfort, and peace, sustain you,
strengthen you, and feed you. Everything else is religious
tomfoolery. Everything else, everything else. I like to go to church over here.
They've got something for our children. You want them to entertain
your children while they take them to hell? We go to church
over here. They got a good program for folks
like us. You want them to entertain you while they take you to hell?
Well, they don't preach anything down there, but everybody goes
to church. They have a good time down there. You want to have
a good time while you go to hell? This alone is the means by which
God ministers to souls of men, the preaching of the gospel.
He said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. Would you please find me something
else God commanded a preacher to do? Would you find me something
else God commanded a church to do? Would you find me something
else that God's people in this world are to do? Our business
is to make Christ known in this generation. For this is God's
singular method of grace. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God, no other way. Look at verse seven, what
Ezekiel says. God said, preach to the bones.
So I did. So I prophesied as I was commanded. The Lord God said to his prophet
Jeremiah, he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.
God requires no more. And we can give no less than
this. God requires me, Lindsey Campbell,
to preach the gospel. That's my business. That's the
reason I'm here. I can't give anything else. He
requires his servants to faithfully preach his word. That's all he
requires. He will accept no less. He that
hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. Notice this
too. The message God gave Ezekiel
was not a commandment. He didn't say, now Ezekiel, you
tell these bolds that if they will pray, You tell these bones
that if they will make a decision for Jesus, you tell these bones
that if they will take the first step, that's all they gotta do.
You tell these bones if they'll just lift their hands and say,
pray for me. You tell these bones. No, he didn't give them a command.
Rather, he gave them good news. He told them not what they must
do, but what God would do. Look at verse five. Thus saith
the Lord God unto these bones. Behold, I will cause breath to
enter into you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon
you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with
skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live. And when
you do, when all this happens, When all this happens, you're
gonna think that God's a little peanut God and he can't do anything
and God may save folks and may not save folks. Christ may actually
put away sin, may not put away sin. You'll think God does his
best and God wants and God tries. Oh no, oh no. No, if God puts breath in you,
you'll know God put breath in you. If God puts breath in you,
you will know that He is the Lord, and you'll know that this
is His work, altogether His work, not something to which you make
your contribution. God's preachers declare God's
works. They declare who God is, what
God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do. They declare
the person and work of Jesus Christ the Lord, the incarnate
God. Announcing to sinners the accomplishments
of Jesus Christ, God's darling Son. Things accomplished before
the world was in election and predestination. Things accomplished
while he walked on this earth in obedience to God, bringing
in everlasting righteousness for sinners. Things accomplished
when he died at Calvary, putting away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. Things accomplished when he arose from the dead and
took his seat on the throne of God, ruling all flesh, exactly
as he will, to give eternal life to whom he will and what he accomplishes
in saving sinners. He comes in sovereign power and
gives life to the dead. He comes in sovereign power and
gives life to the dead. Oh Lord God, come and breathe upon these dead and
they shall live. And then the prophet was commanded
to do something else. This is what I do. You may wonder what's going through
my mind when I'm sitting here getting ready to preach. I know I'm, I've been hard to
live with these 48 years this woman been living with me because
this is what goes on all the time
I'm getting ready to preach. I'm praying. God give me a message. And God speak. through this filthy
vessel to the hearts of eternity bound sinners for the glory of
your Son. And when I get done with the
same thing still on my mind, look at verse 9, then said he
unto me, prophesy to the wind. Pray for the Spirit of God. Prophesy, son of man, pray, pray,
pray, preacher. Say to the wind, say to God,
the Holy Ghost, thus saith the Lord God, come from the four
winds, oh, breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may
live. You see, God's grace had it been
his pleasure to do so. might have saved his elect without
our preaching. But our preaching can't save
a flea without his grace. The wind bloweth where it listeth. Thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So
is every one that is born of the Spirit. One last thing, look
at verses seven and eight. Here are the glorious results
of all that's transpired here. So I prophesied as I was commanded.
And as I prophesied, there was a noise. And behold, a shaking. Seems a little scary, doesn't
it? Seems a little scary. It is,
if you ever experience it. the noise and the shaking. And
the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld,
lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin
covered them above, but there was no breath in them, no life
in them. Verse 10, so I prophesied as
he commanded me, and the breath came into them. and they lived,
and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Verse
13, And ye shall know that I am the
LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people. and brought
you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit in you, and
ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land. Then shall
you know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith
the Lord. Now, this is the fifth lesson.
Oh, God, teach me this today afresh. Teach this assembly this today
afresh. Teach your church this today
afresh. Your labor is not in vain in
the Lord. Ezekiel, preach to the bones! God, that's nuts. Who ever heard
tell of a man preaching to bones? What hope is in that? What's
that going to, what good can that do? Preach to the bones
and watch me work. Preach to the bones and watch
what I do. Your labor is not in vain in
the Lord. Now quickly notice these three
things and I'll be done. When Ezekiel preached, There
was a commotion among the bones, a noise and a shaking, a noise
and a shaking. Something was happening. It looked
like life. It looked like these dead bones
were starting to live. It looked like life. And yet
the breath of life wasn't given. It wasn't. Given, but there's
a commotion. I can't help but think this is
given to us to be comparable to what goes on in a man's soul
when God saves a sinner. I told you if you experience
it, it's frightening. Saul of Tarsus was struck down
in the middle of the Damascus road and saw the sun shining
brightly and heard a voice speak from heaven, and the scripture
says he fell down trembling. He fell down trembling. You will
too. You will too. If God ever speaks
to you, you'll fall down trembling. Astonished. Who art thou, Lord
God? What are you doing? My friend,
Brother Harry Graham, said to me many times when we would be
together, I was just a young man, he said, Don, if you could
see what's going on when God starts to work with a sinner
in grace, you'd think to yourself, I wouldn't treat a mad dog like
that. I wouldn't treat a mad dog like that. I get calls, folks
want me to step in and do something, because the boy, the son, the
daughter, the husband, wife, oh, they're so troubled, so disturbed.
And I said, best thing you can do is leave them alone. And the
best thing I can do is leave them alone. Just keep... Call them to hear the gospel.
If God's troubled you, you listen to God. Don't miss an opportunity to
hear the word of God. But I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm
gonna leave you alone. I'm gonna leave you alone. I'll do it with
my own children and with yours. Wait for God to do his work.
Wait for God to do his work. Look at verse 10. When the spirit
of God came, There was life. He said, I prophesied and the
breath came upon them and they lived and stood up on their feet
and exceeding great are men. The Lord God comes and he passes
by in the time of love and he spreads his skirt over you and
he says, live. Yay, I said it and they live. And when God says live, you can't
stay dead. When God says, live, Lazarus
is coming forth. Now look at verse 13 and 14.
When it's all done, the Lord God was known and glorified. He said, then shall you know
that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith the
Lord. Tell us, tell us blind man. How is it that you were made
whole? I don't know, I don't know. All
I know is I was blind and now I see and he did it. He's the only one who could.
I've been blind all my life and he caused me to see. He did it,
he did it. I was dead, and now I live, and He did it. Come, O Spirit of God, come and
breathe upon these slain and cause dead sinners to live for
Christ's sake. Amen.