Turn again to the passage we
read in the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel's prophecy. We read chapter
1 to portion of chapter 3. I want to draw your attention
towards the end of the vision which Ezekiel was given in chapter
1. We read this from verse 26, Ezekiel
1, 26. And above the firmament that
was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the
appearance of a sapphire stone. And upon the likeness of the
throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon
it. And I saw as the colour of amber,
as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance
of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins
even downward. I saw as it were the appearance
of fire, and it had brightness round about. 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. And when I saw it,
I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake. And
he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will
speak unto thee. And the Spirit entered into me
when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard
him that spake unto me. And he said unto me, Son of man,
I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation
that have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed
against me, even unto this very day, for they are impudent children
and stiff-hearted. I do send thee unto them, and
thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. And they,
whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are
a rebellious house, yet shall know that there have been a prophet
among them. I do send thee unto them, and
thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God. Now this prophecy of Ezekiel
is a wonderful prophecy, full of allegory, full of wonderful
pictures, mysterious pictures, hard to understand. But when
the Spirit takes them and reveals them, they present Christ and
His Gospel and His Glory in such vivid manner. This is a wonderful
prophecy of this man Ezekiel, this priest, whom God sent unto
a rebellious nation, to his chosen people. He's not said to be sent
to the world, but to that nation, that rebellious house, full of
sinners, full of rebels, but sent to declare unto that people
that word, that God put in his mouth. Thus saith the Lord God. When God sent Ezekiel, he caused
him to stand upon his feet and the Spirit entered into him and
he heard God's word. And God caused him to eat a roll,
eat the book, eat God's word and be filled with it. and preach
what I put upon thy lips thus saith the Lord God. This phrase thus saith the Lord
God is repeated in this book around about, I counted them
I might have miscounted but around about 112 times in one book Now if you were to search the
whole of the rest of the Bible, you'll find it repeated in various
prophets, here and there a few times. You could look in Jeremiah,
you'll find it a few times. But there's more occurrences
of this phrase in this one prophecy than anywhere else in the Bible. It forms the theme, the backbone,
the essence of the message in this prophecy. Ezekiel was not
simply sent to preach but he was sent to declare God's
word. Now that's true of every prophet
and every preacher whom God sends but God is making that plain
here. He says with Ezekiel, look This
man is not bringing his own words, he's not bringing his own opinions,
he's not bringing his own wisdom or thoughts upon the scriptures,
he's not bringing something he's studied, he's not bringing the
words of other men, he is declaring what I have put upon his lips
and nothing else. He comes with the authority God
he sent of God to a rebellious house and whether they hear or
whether they reject whether they will hear or whether they will
forbear matters not he's not gone to get a result whether
they all hate him and shut their ears and put him to death or
whether the whole people fall down upon their face and worship
God whatever the result He is meant to come and to stand and
to declare, thus saith the Lord God. Whatever the result, what
they will know with this man, unlike many others whom they
may hear, is that there hath been a prophet among them. There are multitudes of churches,
even in our day, and a multitude of preachers and speakers and
teachers and whatever they like to call themselves, who entertain
the masses. But unless they've been sent
and called of God, the people will not know that there have
been a prophet among them. and the word will not take those
who are dead in trespasses and sins and cause them to live. Men with their wisdom upon the
scriptures can persuade and move the emotions of man, they can
persuade the intellect of man, they can make proselytes, they
can make people who will join their churches and their congregations,
who will make a profession, who will be baptized, who will do
good works. who in the end will stand before
Almighty God and will say unto him, Lord, Lord, I have done
this in thy name and that in thy name and God will turn unto
them and say, depart from me ye workers of iniquity, I never
knew you. You followed men, you followed
their words even if those words were extracted from the scriptures. But they never were sent to you
by me. They never declared my word unto
you. I never chose you. I never quickened
you to life. I know you not. Now that's a
terribly solemn place to be and a terribly solemn truth. that
you can hear preaching, you can hear people declare what the
Bible says in the wisdom of man and have never heard Christ speak
unto you and have never been chosen unto salvation and live
your life in delusion yet that's a reality And that is why here
God makes it plain the preachers you must hear are those like
Ezekiel who come not with clever words, not with enticing words,
not with the wisdom of man, not with the music and the entertainment
and that which moves your emotions, but they come with a thus saith
the Lord God they come from me as my mouthpiece you don't hear
them you hear me my word only if you hear my word spoken by
my spirit which I have put in that man will you hear life and
will you know life And will you follow as those who live? Christ says unto this priest,
Ezekiel, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto
thee. And the Spirit entered into me
when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard
him that spake unto me. That's what Ezekiel needed, that's
what you and I need. People can tell us to stand on
our feet and people can tell us to believe and to follow Jesus
and we can do nothing because we're dead in trespasses and
sins, we're dead. We can move with our body, we
can say things with our lips, but in reality we remain dead. But when Christ spake unto Ezekiel,
when he said unto him, stand upon thy feet, what brought about
the effect was that the Spirit entered into him when Christ
spake unto him, and that set him upon his feet. Christ spake
and it happened. His words are living words. They are full of power. I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation. This gospel came not unto us
in word only, but in power. in much assurance in the Holy
Ghost, the Spirit enters with these words. And when it enters,
dead men live. Thus saith the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God. This
phrase is a bloodline through this book it runs right from
beginning to end. This is God's speech and God's
preacher and God's gospel sent unto a rebellious people to declare
the message of salvation through the man that Ezekiel saw sat
upon a throne. For he never went to preach until
first God had taken him to a place where he saw the heavens opened
and visions of God. Visions like none other. Oh,
what Ezekiel saw here before he ever opened his mouth to preach. He knew God. and he'd seen something
of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ. There's much similarity,
many comparisons you can make between Ezekiel and the book
of Revelation. Those visions which were given
unto John and the descriptions of the beasts here, the creatures.
We have in the book of Revelation the description of the throne
of Jesus Christ in glory and of the various living creatures
and elders around about it. There's much similarity between
the two. But the importance of this vision
is that Ezekiel saw it, he met with God. He saw Christ exalted
on high. This is written before Christ
had ever come. And he sees a throne in glory
and upon the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man above
upon it. before ever Christ came he didn't
have a vision of God he saw a man upon the throne God as man the
Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God made man and what a vision
he had of him I saw as it were the appearance of fire This man
upon the throne shone and he shone with fire because he'd
been through the fire to save his people. He came into this
world to save sinners, but the salvation of those sinners, that
people, that house of Israel, that company that God gave him
to save, to save that people, he had to go through the fires
of death. the fires of judgment, the torments,
the sufferings under the wrath of God because of their sins
and their sin and corruption within. He burnt in the fires,
he felt the fire because he loved the people for whom he died. Oh what a picture of Christ in
glory! in the appearance of fire. That's what sin brings. God is
just and holy and our sins and our rebellion against our maker
will be judged. And if we go to our grave, having
shut our ears to the word of the Lord God, then we will taste
of the fires of death forevermore. Or, if we're brought to where
Ezekiel was brought, to fall upon our face, to see the glory
of the Son of God, then we will see One who went through the
fires for us, that we should never taste that death, that
we should live, that we should be spared, that we should be
alive. One who took our sin and made
us in Him to be the righteousness of God, forgiven, washed clean,
washed in His blood, which He shed for those who hated Him. Because though they hated him,
he loved them. And his love was so great, so
vast, so high, so wide, so deep, that despite all their rebellion,
despite my rebellion, believer, despite your rebellion, he tasted
the fires of death because of his love. Even whilst you hated
and rejected him. His love would not turn him from
going into such a depth for such a one. And having done it, having taken
away all the sins of all his people, having been laid in a
grave, having risen again from the dead, conquering death, conquering
sin. He rose again and he rose and
ascended into glory and sat down upon a throne and in that position,
that exalted glory, from there, he opened Ezekiel's eyes. And Ezekiel saw, he saw that
man who was his saviour, the Son of God. And he saw the likeness
of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, he says, I
fell upon my face and I heard a voice of one that spake. Yes, he saw it. He saw his saviour,
he knew who he was, he knew him, he saw him, and he heard his
voice. Now if you're ever to know salvation,
if you're ever to know your sins forgiven, and if you're ever
to declare God's word in his name. You will have seen something
of this glory. Something of this man seated
upon the throne. And you will have heard his voice. His voice. Ezekiel fell on his face. And
Ezekiel's talking came to an end, for now was the time to
hear, not the time to answer, not the time to reason, but the
time to hear. Son of man. I send thee to the
children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that have rebelled against
me. They and their fathers have transgressed
against me even unto this very day, for they are impudent children
and stiff-hearted. I do send thee unto them, and
thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. impudent children and stiff-hearted,
rebellious. Well we are, aren't we? We can read this book and we
can hear the accounts of this people and we can read the accounts
about all the Old Testament of the grievous sins of Israel and
we can shake our heads and wonder how those who had heard so much
of the truth knew so much, knew so much of the mighty works of
God could turn so far from him. And yet if we know anything of
our own hearts, we know that we're just the same. Even as believers we have a flesh
which wars against the Spirit. Impudent and stiff-hearted we
fight against God's will. We feel that He is telling us
to go this way and we don't like it and we fight and we reason
and we argue and we contend. It's in us all. And yet this
is the people to whom the prophet is sent with the gospel. Oh the
grace of God that he should send a man to such a people. They didn't deserve it and we
don't. He could be done with a lot of
us and he'd be just and right. Why? Why bother with them and
why bother with us? Simply because he will. He takes
pleasure in saving a people. It's for the glory of His grace. They haven't earned it. They
don't deserve it. They deserve His wrath and His
anger. And yet He will save a people. He is a God who delights in showing
mercy. Delights in it. He will. He will
save the hard-hearted, He will save the rebellious. You say,
I have gone so far away from Him. I've fought against God
so much, I've done so much in my life. How could God look favourably
upon me? Because He sets His grace upon
the wretched, upon rebels. There is none good, no not one. There is none who have sought
him. There is none in whom he may
look and see something of merit. We're all black from head to
toe. We're all wretched rebels. And
yet if he sets his grace upon us, we will be saved. We will be cleansed. We will
be washed. We will believe. You can't set
yourself too far off from God's grace. If he purposes to send
the gospel to your ears, if he purposes to pour his spirit into
you, then you will stand upon your fate and you will believe. Because his love is greater than
your hatred. And his righteousness can take
away every sin. and his salvation can conquer
the worst of death, sin, and judgment. He's a mighty savior,
victorious and powerful, and he sent Ezekiel unto this hard-hearted,
rebellious house. What a mercy that he did, what
grace and wonder that he did, and what grace and wonder that
he does today. He sends his gospel by preachers
whom he sends unto hard-hearted sinners. like you and I. Well, Ezekiel would never have
been sent without such a vision. That's the mark of a man of God.
You must know Christ. You cannot speak of a savior
whom you have not heard yourself. You cannot exhort sinners to
believe on a man whom you have never beheld by faith yourself. You cannot exhort the deaf to
hear the word of God if you've not heard it yourself and you
cannot encourage the children of God to feed on the bread of
life if you've not eaten of the bread of life yourself that's
the mark of this man and God sends this man to this people
as it were as an intercessor an intermediator a mediator between God and man. He will
speak to this people through this man. And this man will lead
this people unto God. Not that the man matters, but
God uses this man. And this is why, in this book
in particular, this prophet is a priest. We read of many prophets
in the Old Testament. Some are shepherds, some are
nothings. And each is unique and God has
a particular message to convey through each one. With one or
two, it is very important that they are nothing. For God will
show us that the man is nothing. But here in this book, where
we have these 112 references to thus saith the Lord God, where
this man is sent to a rebellious house and where he's very much
called to call upon them to either live or to die. In this book we have a priest
because it's the priest role to go before the people and to
intercede for them and to take blood and to offer it for them. and to see if all be well with
their God because of that which is offered on their behalf. We
need a priest. We need one to take our rebellion
away. We need one to offer a sacrifice
acceptable unto a holy God that we may go into his presence,
that we may be washed clean, that we may be forgiven. We cannot
do it ourselves. We need somebody to come and
to do it for us. And here Ezekiel is set forth
as a figure of that one who did. He was a priest. but he's presented
as a figure of Christ, the great high priest, the one who came
and suffered and died, the one whom he saw as in the appearance
of fire, the one who died, the one who was both the sacrifice
and the priest. He's a figure of that priest,
the one who will bring sinners into the presence of God, the
one who can make peace between man and God, the one who has. made peace between man and God. Oh what a priest what an intercessor
Christ came from the heights of glory above into the depths
of the darkness of this world to the very depths to the very
depths of suffering and death to take those who are at the
lowest depths up to the greatest of heights. And this is why we see this book
open. With a view from the greatest
of heights, Ezekiel sees the Son of God, this man, Christ
Jesus, upon a throne, exalted in the highest of heights. And
he is sent to a rebellious people in the depths of sin in this
world. and later in the prophecy we
read various accounts but we read how the Lord in chapter
37 carried Ezekiel out in the spirit of the Lord and set him
down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones from
this opening in the heights of glory God then takes Ezekiel
to a valley a valley of death A dry valley. A valley full of
the remains of death. There's so dead those in this
valley that all that's left of them are dry bones. What a depth to go to. And yet
that is just where you and I by nature are. That's just where
man is. he's in a valley, a dark, a deep,
a low place and he is so dead in trespasses and sins so dead
that all that's left of him are a few dry bones we speak of the depravity of
man of the total depravity of man and how clearly this demonstrates
it to us. There are those who like to think
that in men there is something good. There is some ability. There is some ability to turn
to God. There is some ability to make
the right decision when faced with the gospel. There are those
who constantly talk of how they accepted Jesus or constantly
encourage others to simply take this and follow, to simply receive. Here's the truth, just accept
it or reject it as if they can. But they're speaking to those
who are nothing but dry bones. And what can bones do? What decisions
can bones make? None. They're inert, they're
dead, they're lifeless. And that's how you and I as sinners
are, we're lifeless, we're dead. And that's the depth we're in,
in the darkness of a valley. And yet that is where God's mediator
entered. He came from glory from a throne. And he came and walked in the
valley of death. He went to where those bones
were. And the Lord said to Ezekiel,
son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, oh Lord God,
thou knowest. Again he said unto me, prophesy
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
ye 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 ye shall live, and ye 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 up upon them, and the skin covered them above,
but there was no breath in them. 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. So I prophesied
as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived,
and stood up upon their feet as an exceeding great army. Oh, what a sight! And what power
there is in that word! Thus saith the Lord God. Then he said unto me, Son of
man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they
say, our bones are dried and our hope is lost. We are cut
off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open
your graves, and cause you to come out of your graves, and
bring you into the land of Israel, 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 ye know that I the Lord have spoken it
and performed it. Saith the Lord. It's all of God
A great God, a King, a Lord, a Saviour, a Sovereign God who
speaks and it is done. These bones couldn't make themselves
live, they couldn't get flesh again, they couldn't put the
sinews back on the bones. And once done, they couldn't
have life. But God spake, and they were
gathered together, the flesh came upon them. And God spake
again, and the Spirit entered, and they lived. And when God
speaks to sinners in the Gospel, though they be but bones, when
He speaks, they live. There's a power and it's all
of God. Not man. It's not because of
Ezekiel. It's not because he had a loud
voice, a mighty voice. It's not because he studied.
It's not because men thought well of him. It's not because
he was a priest by trade. It's not because he had the right
heritage. It's not because he was born
in the right family. It had nothing to do with Ezekiel. It was all of God. When God sent
Ezekiel to preach, the power was in God's speech through that
man, not in Ezekiel. And yet, when God speaks in his
gospel, dead, dry bones live. They live when the spirit enters
in. When the Spirit enters in, then
we hear. When the Spirit entered into
Ezekiel, then he heard the voice that spake unto him. He heard. The Spirit must enter us. God
must turn us. God must quicken us unto life
before we'll ever hear or comprehend the Gospel. Up until that point,
we hear with the outward ear. Up until that point, we may be
able to quote chapter and verse. Up until that point, we may be
able to say all manner of things concerning Jesus Christ in the
Scriptures. but in reality we've never heard
and everything we say comes from carnal reason and carnal wisdom
we're walking dead we're talking dead but there's no life there's
no true hearing but when the spirit enters and we're brought
we're quickened to life then we hear like we've never heard
and then we speak like we've never spoken have you heard? Is there life within or are you
but bones? This rebellious house to which
Ezekiel was sent could not and would not hear, not by nature,
not by nature, And the only impact you'll have on such people, and
that's exactly the people that we speak to, that's exactly the
people we are. The only impact you can truly
have is when God speaks by His Spirit. Thus saith the Lord God. Nothing else matters. Ezekiel was not sent to deliver
opinions. not sent to deliver his ideas
and thoughts, not sent to speak and say well I think this passage
means this and I've read this commentary and I've reasoned
them all out and this seems reasonable and I really think that you should
follow God Israel. He was not sent with opinion
but with God's word in authority. to declare it in power and in
the Holy Ghost. And that and that alone is why,
whether they heard or whether they forbore, they would know
that there have been a prophet among them. Ezekiel's preach
in his speech was not as others, not as others, not as other preachers. And those preachers whom God
sends, their speech, their preaching is not as others. There's a difference. Wherein lies the difference?
Why is there a difference? Because of what they've seen
and heard. Because they've heard the voice
of Jesus Christ and because it's His voice that they declare. Without that, Ezekiel would have
been just as others, just like any other, just like the pretenders
we see in the pulpits today. Full of words, full of learning,
full of worldly wisdom which appeals to men, which appeals
to the young, which appeals to the flesh, which may get the
congregations in, which may have a busy and an active meeting.
but which has had no impact whatsoever upon hard hearts within. They're just the same. Which
is why in reality in so many places the people that fill these
churches are just the same. Other than they go into a meeting
on a Sunday morning, they're just the same. They're just full
of the same thoughts, the same goals, the same desires, the
same filth as everybody else. They're just the same. They just
veneer it with a bit of Jesus here and there. And no worldly
wisdom. And no theological training in
the things of God. embraced with just the human
carnal mind can make any impact. But when Ezekiel was called and
sent of God, they knew, even though every one of them may
have rejected and resisted his preaching, they knew that there
have been a prophet among them. And how we see In this son of
man, who was sent unto this people, a wonderful picture of the son
of man, the son of God, who went to a people who cared not for
him, who rebelled against him, who rejected him, and who in
the end cried out of him, crucify him, crucify him. And yet despite
their verdict in the end, Those who heard him had to confess,
never man spake like this man. His speech is not like the scribes
and the Pharisees. God takes Ezekiel and Ezekiel looks and behold
a hand was sent unto me. and lo a roll of a book was therein
and he spread it before me and it was written within and without
and there was written therein lamentations and mourning and
woe moreover he said unto me son of man eat that thou findest
eat this roll and go and speak unto the house of Israel so I
opened my mouth And he caused me to eat that roll. And he said
unto me, son of man, cause thy belly to eat and fill thy bowels
with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it. And it was
in my mouth as honey for sweetness. Here's what he preached. He was
full of God's word. He was full of God's word. He
preached what was within, he preached what he knew, he preached
what God put within him. He ate of the bread of life and he never hungered. He drank
of the water of life and he never thirsted. The Spirit entered
into him, Christ was in him. Christ was his all in all. Christ
was in his food, his daily meat, his life, and he was as honey
for sweetness to this child of God. Is Christ your bread, your
life, your water? Is he your all in all? Is he
who you like to eat of each and every day? Do you feel hungry
at the end of the day if you've not eaten of the bread of life?
If you've not gone and eaten of that book, if you've not read
in the scriptures, if you've not bowed your knee before God,
if you've not come unto Him in prayer, do you feel gut cold
and barren and hungry? You should. You will if you're
a child of God. You must eat to live. and our
life does not come from eating bread in this world but our life
is in the bread of life Jesus Christ who is indeed honey the
sweetness. Is he honey to you? I trust he
is. Oh what was in Ezekiel what formed
his message, what formed his life what this made him to be
when he went before this rebellious people naturally he would have
been like us a coward but because God was in him he could stand
in front of those who could slay him and they would have slain
him They only didn't because God would use him to bring about
his purposes. That people slew Christ, of whom
Ezekiel hears a figure in the end, but only when God said,
now's the time. God would have Christ speak what
he must speak first and do what he must do. When the hour came,
then they slew him. They cannot slay those whom God
sends to them until God says, now. But Ezekiel could stand
because God was with him. And Ezekiel preached to declare
what God had told him to declare. He did not preach to see effects. He did not preach to fill his
church. He did not count it success if
a hundred turned and were saved, and failure if he was left alone. These things could not and would
not be his measure of whether he was being faithful and true
to his calling. And they cannot and should not
ever be the measure of any preacher sent of God. If a thousand are
saved and God purposes it and it's of God, then we praise God. If all reject and we're left
alone, then we praise God. Whether they will hear or whether
they will forbear. He did not preach for effects.
He preaches for the glory of God. God has sent him with a
thus saith the Lord God and he knew God would do with that word
what God would do. The people to whom he preached
were hard-hearted, rebellious. They could devour him, slay him,
pull him to pieces, but he did not tailor his words to suit
them. They will either hear or die. They will die or live, one or
the other. But whatever the consequence
he just preaches, his message is a savour of life unto life,
or death unto death, as it is said of the Gospel. One or the
other. And he as this priest, as it
were, comes before this rebellious people with life or death, as
it were, in his hands. Because it's that Gospel that
he declares in which they will find life or death. But he is
not the one to determine what will be the effect. God will. For it's that gospel which will
save them. And they must hear if they will
be saved. And you must hear if you will
be saved. You must hear if you will be
saved. He came with the gospel, not
man's word, God's word. In chapter 3 and verse 26, God
says to him, I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of
thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them
a reprover, for they are a rebellious house. But when I speak with
thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them,
thus saith the Lord God, he that heareth, let him hear, and he
that forbeareth, let him forbear, for they are a rebellious house.
God says to him, when you speak because you think, because you
see their sin and think that you will reprove them and you
will judge them and you will put them right, if it's of you,
Ezekiel, I'll make you dumb. But when I will speak, I'll open
your mouth. You're sent with my words, not
yours, not your opinions, not your thoughts, but mine. And
that's how it must be. What good are my opinions, or
the opinions or ideas of other men whom I could quote? What
good are my rebukes, or my attempts to change your understanding?
They're useless. But if God speaks to your soul
in power, then that's quite another matter. Christ must speak. else we die. When he speaks then we know that
this is thus saith the Lord God. Then we know it is the Lord God
who must speak and it is he who does speak through this man here. There's none greater no greater
authority, no greater speech, no greater words, no greater
wisdom. You must listen. These words
command our attention. There's nothing that we can hear
in this world ever throughout our entire lives greater than
the word of God in his gospel. We must hear. Why? Well as a disciple said
unto Christ, well to whom else shall we go? Thou hast the words
of eternal life. We can hear a million people
but they're words of death from their lips. Only you can speak
life and we need life. That's what we need, eternal
life. We need life, you need life. You say I'm living, no you're
not, you're walking dead. You need life from God, breathed
into your soul because without it you're just dry bones in a
valley, full of sin and rebellion. You need life. Because you're
dead, we're dead. And we being dead can only be
brought back from the dead if one should deliver us from death.
And that one, the only one who can, the only one who does, and
I pray the only one that will, is Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
the Son of Man. Can these bones live? Yes, they
can. In Him, through Him, by Him,
by His words. because he died. He went into
a valley. He went into a valley of decision. He went into the grave, that
those who are already in the grave should be led forth. The hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live. O you bones in a grave, have
you heard his word? As Ezekiel cries out, O ye dry
bones, hear the word of the Lord. Hear. Hear the word of the Saviour
who went into the grave in fire, having been devoured by fires
of God's wrath upon the cross. He was laid in a grave to deliver
those in the grave. You and I, people like you and
I, that we should live and we'll only live if we hear his voice
coming unto us in that grave, in that valley, crying unto us,
live and breathe in spirits, breathe in his spirit, breathe
in life into our bodies. We need to hear him, we need
to hear that man upon the throne. saying unto us from that throne,
while we lie dead in our own blood, dead in sins, dead in
the depths of this darkness of this valley in which we dwell,
we need to hear his voice crying unto us in such a place, live,
live, live. Amen.