Shelby and I were laying in bed
one night this week after a long day discussing the blessedness
of the past week, how God blessed us in the fellowship of his saints,
preaching of the word, worship of our God last weekend. And we chatted a little bit about
preaching the blessed privilege God gives those he calls to preach
the gospel, and shall be said, but it doesn't appear that the
Lord's raising up any young men who are willing to make the sacrifices
necessary to preach the gospel of his grace. And I've been thinking
about that a lot. When God called Elisha, Elisha
was out plowing with his oxen, and God called him. And Elisha
slaughtered his oxen, boiled them, gave away the meat, burned
the yolks, and went to serve God. That's what it takes. That's what it takes. I was talking
to a man not much younger than I am, 10, 15 years younger, I guess that's
much younger, but a very successful man, very successful. He said
to me a few months ago, he said, I believe the Lord's called me
to preach. And I'm thinking about after I'm able to take my retirement,
go to such and such a place and see about starting a work. What
do you think? I said, God won't have it. God won't take your leftovers.
You can forget that. God won't have it. This man I
love dearly. I've known him a long time. I
said, God won't have your leftovers. He won't have them. You're not
going to get everything fixed and all your ducks lined up and
now I've got everything set and I can go and serve God and not
depend on him. God won't have it. I think maybe,
I think maybe he's willing to make the sacrifice. He is ready
to go preach the gospel of God's grace. I keep praying that God
will call some of you young men to give your lives to the service
of our Redeemer. I don't have any sons. I've got
one grandson. It's my earnest prayer that God
will save him by his grace, use him to preach the gospel of his
grace. If I knew today I'd never see him again, God sent him to
the uttermost part of the earth to preach the gospel in the most
remote place in the world, I'd count it the highest honor God
could give him. the highest honor God could give
him. He was a missionary, young man,
prominent family, and God saved him. He was strongly called of
God to preach the gospel. And his father and mother were
believers, but his father didn't really want him to give up everything
and go preach. What made things worse is he
was convinced the Lord had called him to be a missionary in one
of the remote villages of a remote country, and his father really
didn't want that. But the young man was determined,
and he went, served God where God had called him. Soon after
getting there, he picked up one of the diseases of the people. Suffered greatly for a while
and then died. And his father went to gather
his things, his belongings, what personal things he had, and he
found a note stuck in his Bible. This is what it said. No, and this he begins to write, no reserve. No retreat. no regret. That's what it takes to serve
God. I keep praying that God will
give me the grace to serve him just that way. But what could
possibly inspire anybody to so devote themselves to the cause
of Christ? The sweet experience of his grace
And I can think of nowhere where it's more clearly described than
in Ezekiel chapter 37. Ezekiel chapter 37. Here the prophet of God describes
God's salvation. He describes God's salvation
in the sweet experience of his grace. My subject this morning. Found in the text itself. Can
these bones live? Ezekiel 37 will begin reading
at verse 1 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. 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
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. 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 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. and exceeding great army. 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. I wonder if there's anybody like
that here today. Too late for me. All hope is lost. I hope so. I hope so. Oh, I can't tell you
how I hope so. I've been praying God bring somebody
here. All hope is lost. We don't, we don't. Our bones
are dry and our hope is lost. We're cut off for our parts.
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God,
behold, all my people, I will open your graves and cause you
to come up 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. Oh, my people and brought you
up out of your graves and shall put my spirit in you and you
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, God leaves no question about
the meaning of this passage. The passage speaks to us about
the salvation of God's elect, speaks to us about the resurrection
of God's elect from dead, from their graves, from the spiritual
death they are in. and the resurrection of our bodies
at last, gathering us into heavenly glory to Christ our Redeemer.
That's clearly the message of this text. This is a word from
God to his lost ones, to lost men and women who have been made
to know their lost condition, lost men and women who cry, our
bones are dead. Our hope is lost. We're cut off
for our parts. There are not many folks like
that. There are not many like that. A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. Find me a sinner. Find me a sinner who finds himself
lost before God, without hope before God, knowing he's cut
off and deserves God's wrath. I promise you that sinner is
one of God's elect. I promise you, that sinner's
been redeemed by Christ. That sinner called by God's grace. It's the Spirit of God who makes
a man know his bones are dried, his hope is cut off, and he has
no hope before God in himself. To that sinner, God says, I will
open your grave. I'll cause you to come out of
your grave. I'll raise you up from the dead. Our Savior, you see, heals as
many as have need of healing. If you leave here without his
grace today, there's one reason why. You don't need it and you
don't want it. You don't need it and you don't
want it. Well, pastor, everybody needs
grace. Ask them. Just ask them. No, the reason
you walk away from Christ is because you don't need Him and
you don't want Him. The reason you don't eat is because
you're not hungry. The reason you don't drink is
because you're not thirsty. Oh, but if God causes you to
know your need of the Redeemer, the Redeemer is yours and salvation
is yours. This vision is the vision of
a great resurrection. In fact, Ezekiel's vision speaks
of a fourfold resurrection. Certainly, in the historic immediate
context, Ezekiel is talking about the resurrection of the nation
of Israel out of Babylonian captivity and their return to Jerusalem,
the building of the city and the building of God's house in
Jerusalem. But in the distant view of prophecy,
Ezekiel here refers to the resurrection of the dead in the last day.
Particularly it refers to the resurrection of the bodies of
God's Saints buried in the earth Hold your hands here and turn
to first great our first Thessalonians chapter 4 We don't think enough and I don't
preach enough About our Lord's second coming and the end of
the world. We don't think enough and I don't
preach enough about the resurrection soon this body is going to the
earth. We had a friend here at our conference
last year, Brother Michael Roy, out in Kansas City. I've only
known him a short while. And Michael went to glory this
week. They'll be burying him in the
morning. And soon that body, eaten with cancer, now decaying
in the earth, that body will be raised up. in the glory of
Christ. By brother, God, nobody believes
that nobody but a Christian, nobody but one born of God and
taught of God. But first, this only is chapter
four, verse 13. I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not,
even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him. They sleep in Jesus. You remember
the Savior said Lazarus is not dead. He said he's not dead,
he sleepeth. He sleepeth. We use the term
dead because the body dies. These bodies die and go back
to the dust from which they came. But the believer's body is just
sleeping in the earth awaiting the resurrection. The soul's
not asleep. The soul's not dead. The soul's
alive. Alive with God. These bodies
sleep. We get all bent out of shape.
We get all bent out of shape. because the believer dies. Now, please understand me. I do understand the pain and
the sorrow, the weeping, because we hate to let go of people we
love. We hate to let them go even for
a short time. But if you're sitting by the
bedside of somebody you love dearly and they're in great pain,
They're in great pain and they can't rest. How sweet a relief it is to you
to watch the one you love close his eyes and sleep calmly. Ah, he's asleep now. He'll get
a little rest now. That's a pretty close picture.
That's a pretty close picture. Those who sleep in Christ read
up. Will God bring with him? For
this, we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which
are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent. That is, we shall not go before
them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. This
is just about the only place you're going to find in scripture
where one believer is preferred above another. I remember when I was in school,
all the fundamentalists, conservative Bible colleges, seminaries, they
talk about this imaginary rapture that's going to supposed to take
place when the Lord comes secretly the first time in his first second
coming. And oh, I want to live until the rapture. Our Lord tells
us here. that those who are alive are
going to wait and wait until all the saints of God sleeping
in the earth are raised from the dead. Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up in the air with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. Wherefore, comfort ye one another. with these words. The Lord's coming. The Lord's coming. Everything's
all right. The Lord's coming. None of this
other stuff's going to matter tomorrow. The Lord's coming. All is well. The Lord's coming,
brother. I'll see you in the morning.
The Lord's coming. The Lord's coming. Third, this
vision speaks of the promise of God to his church in any age,
in any time, in any generation. Turn to Hosea chapter 6. Just
a couple of pages over, a couple of books over. Hosea chapter
6. God's church on this earth goes through her seasons of languishing
and decline emptiness, barrenness, coldness,
fruitlessness. That's true in every generation. That's true in every part of
the world. We have our times of refreshing
and our times of languishing. We have our times of liveliness,
and our times of sleepiness. We have our times of great blessedness
and our times of great barrenness. But God promises, always promises
to revive his church. He always promises to raise up
his church. He always promises things shall
not continue as they are now in our time of languishing. Look
here in Hosea chapter 6 verse 1. Let us return to 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 will he 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 the former reign unto the earth. Let us never murmur against God's
providence. Let us never complain about what
God's doing in our day. Let us, Merle, always acknowledge
our sin. Always acknowledge our deserving
of desertion, but never murmur, never complain. God's still gracious. God's still gracious. He won't
forsake his people. He will not abandon his work.
He will raise us up again. He will revive our souls. This day is the day God has made
for us. I wish we could learn that. I
wish I could convey this to my preacher friends everywhere.
I wouldn't live in any other day if I could. This is the day
God's made for us. This is the day God has made
for you and I in which we're to serve him and honor him and
serve his people. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Turn over to John chapter four. John the fourth chapter. The primary reference of this
passage, the primary purpose of Ezekiel 37, and this vision
of dry bones and their resurrection is to teach us about the spiritual
resurrection of God's elect in the new birth. Look in John chapter
5 verse 24. John chapter 5 verse 24. Now
listen. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. On such the second death shall
have no power. The first resurrection. What's
that talking about? That's talking about the day.
Sammy, God gave you life in Christ. That's talking about when he
raised you up from the dead. You see salvation. So are you listening
to me? Salvation is not walking down
a church aisle. There ain't nobody ever been
saved walking down a church aisle. Not you. Not your mama. Not your
grandbabies. Nobody. Bill Raleigh, nobody
has ever been saved by walking down a church aisle. Nobody.
Well, well, preachers do that everywhere. I know it because
preachers like to dupe folks into religion. That's the business. Salvation is not you deciding
to let Jesus save you. Well, I went to church last night
and got saved. I doubt it. That's just not so. That's just
not so. Salvation is a resurrection from
the dead. And that requires God's work,
not yours. Look here, John chapter 5, verse
24. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me... What does
it say? He's going to have everlasting
life. Is that what it says? Have you got it in front of you? He that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me have everlasting life. You don't get everlasting
life by hearing the word and believing, but rather you hear
the word and believe because God's given you eternal life. Read on. 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 when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall
live. The hour is coming and right
now is when dead sinners will hear the voice of the Son of
God and they that hear his voice shall live. I'm preaching to
you. And if all you hear my voice,
nothing's going to happen about anything. If all you hear is
my voice, you may be impressed positively or negatively, but
nothing going to change. If all you hear is my voice,
you may be stirred to emotional outbursts of good things or bad
things, but nothing going to change. Oh, but if God today will cause you to hear his voice
through his word preached through these lips, then you will live. You will live and you will find
yourself believing on the Son of God. You'll find yourself believing
on the Son of God. This is the vision that God gave
to his prophet Ezekiel. It's an instructive picture of
the believer's experience of grace. Let's look at five things
very quickly. First, in verses one and two,
we see the preacher's vision. The Lord carried his prophet
away into a valley, a large, sprawling valley. Apparently,
it had been the scene of a great battle, and the battle took place
a long, long time ago. He looks around. And this valley
is full of bones. Bones that had been there so
long that they were bleached and dried with the sun and the
wind and scattered so that the skeletons weren't connected.
It was just bones scattered here and there throughout the valley.
A great many bones, very many and very dry, utterly dead. and in that state for a long,
long time. Now, here's the lesson for every
preacher to learn. Every preacher must learn it.
No man will ever be used of God until he learns this. He might
be a successful preacher, but he won't be used of God. He won't
be God's preacher. Now, if he learns this, The preacher's got to learn.
He must be taught by God the state and condition of those
to whom he preaches. To be wrong here is to be wrong
everywhere. To be wrong here is to be wrong
everywhere. What's the condition of man by
nature? Answer that question and I'll
tell you what you believe and how you go about the work of
the ministry. I say to any preacher, what do you believe about humanity? Answer that question, and I'll
tell you what you believe about everything. And I'll tell you
how you go about your work as a preacher. Any man who denies
the utter, absolute, total depravity and inability of man by nature
will make all his doctrine man-centered. He will extol man's will and
man's works and man's worth. Brother Fred told me about going
to church recently. Where are you? Where are you,
Fred? Hadn't been to one of the places in years. Well, I don't
recommend that you go, but it's a good experience. It's got ears
to hear. What do you hear? You hear about man's will and
man's work and man's worth. on a few occasions growing up.
My daughter stayed with some family members down in North
Carolina, attended church with them, and she said, she said,
it is like going to class in school, teaching you how to behave.
I remember once when she was in college, she was doing a practical
down in Owensboro, a reformed church down there. I said, well,
it's 80 miles to Madisonville. I'd rather you didn't have to
drive that by yourself. Just go over there and don't tell
them who you are. They might not talk too much. If they found
out she was my daughter, I knew she was in for chewing out. But
I said, just don't tell them who you are. Maybe, maybe it'd
be all right. So she went over in the morning
and she said, it's like going to a sex education class. I said,
well, drive to Madisonville. God will take care of you. Religion. Religion everywhere. denying man's depravity, his
spiritual death, in all things extols man's worth, his work,
and his will. All they talk about is you. If you want to waste an hour,
go home, turn television on, listen to a preacher. All they
talk about is you, how good you are, how much God needs you,
how much Everything depends on you. That's a crock of horse manure. Not only that, all the methods
of the ministry will be designed to manipulate the sinner, not
to resurrect him from the dead. Now, for you folks who don't
know, this may seem shocking. Do you know what these big crusades,
Billy Graham crusades years ago, they've done this for years,
for years. Do you know when they start to
have their altar call? I'm going to give the invitation. I'm going to stand up and sing
just as I am. Try to get the tears flowing. You know they've
got folks back in the different places, all over the stadium,
set to start forward. I mean, these are soul winners. These are soul destroyers. That's
what they are. They're set to start moving forward
because it's psychological. If you see somebody moving, you
move. And so they get you to come forward and manipulate you
and trick you into joining the church, into getting baptized,
into saying, I believe in Jesus, into repeating the sinner's prayer.
And nothing is done except the manipulation of your soul in
damnation. Nothing else. God's prophets
are men. who have learned the true nature
and condition of men. I've been with Ezekiel in this
valley. This is where I came from. I've been made to see that
all men by nature are dead in trespasses and in sins. You see,
there was a battle fought in the Garden of Eden long ago.
And it left the human race dead in trespasses and in sins. You
who are here without Christ are dead spiritually. You have no
life Godward. You have no life in reference
to God. You have no regard for God. Your
heart and mind is enmity against God. You live in contempt of
God. You're born that way because
the battle in the Garden of Eden, Adam fell and you fell in Adam. and Adam all died, so that in
the flesh dwelleth no good thing. Our politicians, as I used to
say every four years, it's a continual 365 day a year cycle now. Some politician, depending on
how good you are, I believe in the basic goodness of Americans.
And then talk about God as if they believe God. I believe that
you're just basically good. Larry Brown, you're basically
as corrupt as hell. You too. That's just fact. And you know it. That's just
fact. Man's dead in trespasses and
sins. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. There is none righteous. No,
not one. There's none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. There's none that doeth good. Not one good thing does
one man do. None. None. We've never broken
or we've never kept God's law at all. People march and protest
and fuss and fight. We want the Ten Commandments
posted everywhere. When I'll be honest with you, I oppose
the reason Why this generation is determined to tear them down.
But posting the Ten Commandments on the school wall doesn't help
anybody. Doesn't help anybody. We live
by the Ten Commandments. No, you don't. You live by your
lust. And your religion is nothing
but your lust. Man's dead. But what do you do for sinners?
We preach the gospel to them. and wait for God to work. What kind of programs do y'all
have? Preaching programs. What do you do for young folks?
We preach to them. What do you do for old folks? We preach to
them. What do you do for the elderly? We preach to them. That's
how God speaks to men. That's how God raises the dead.
That's how God causes men to live before him. We're born again
by the Word of God that lives and abides forever. I make no
apology for preaching the Word of God, for making the preaching
of the gospel that which is the central element of everything
in every aspect of the ministry of this congregation. But Brother
Don, you're out of step with the times. I know folks think I'm just dumb,
but that's my intention, Bobby. I plan to stay out a step at
a times. Preaching is just, people don't do that anymore. Churches
just don't do, people won't put up with it anymore. Folks who
need it will. Folks who need it will. Other
folks will be pleased to go to church, have their ears tickled
and have a cantata and a play and come Christmas time, make
a living Christmas tree and sing this little light of mine, I'm
gonna let it shine. Adults do that kind of nonsense.
I'm talking about folks, Bob, as old as you. Ain't that kind
of nonsense? And call it worshiping God. And
we're going to have this club or that club for the children
and call it serving God. Oh, no. Oh, no, no. There is
no such thing as worshiping and serving God in any generation
that does not involve the preaching of the gospel of God's grace.
This is how God works in our day as he did in days gone by. He says, go you therefore into
all the world and preach the gospel. Here's the second thing.
The Lord raises a question, son of man, can these bones live? Can these bones live? Here's
the second lesson that's got to be learned by preachers and
churches. Few people really believe it. But it's vital. The new birth
is a supernatural miracle of grace. It's a supernatural miracle of
grace. My dear friends, please listen
to me now. Listen to me. I want you to understand. why we do not involve ourselves
as a congregation with all the religious activity of this community
around us. I tell you why we don't get involved
with the showing movies and scaring folks to death and trying to
get them to make a profession of faith and having parties and
getting folks tickled and trying to get them to enjoy their way
into the kingdom of God. All the nonsense. And it's all
nonsense. It's all just playing the game. Just playing the game. But the
stakes are mighty high. Your soul's at stake. God's truth
is at stake. And God's glory is at stake.
Why don't you do that? Because nobody, nobody, nobody
is ever saved in false religion. and by false practices denying
the gospel of God's grace. Nobody. Nobody. We don't try
to manipulate folks. We don't try to trick folks.
We preach and we worship God. And I pray for you. I plead with
you to trust the Savior. Come to the Savior. I spend my
life preaching the gospel wherever God opens door. And we wait. Because God's salvation is God's
work. I was at the airport in Louisville
the other day and going through security. A fellow saw my Bible,
I guess, in my bag and asked me if I was a preacher. I said,
yes. Where are you from? I said, Danville. And he asked me if I knew any
preachers down the road here. I said, yeah, I know him. He said, what do
you think about this election and predestination? I said, it's
in the book. I believe what's in the book. And he looked around
and tried to make sure nobody saw him so he wouldn't get into
any trouble. He said, well, if that's so, why do you go preach?
I said, because it's so. Because it's so. Salvation doesn't depend on you.
It depends on God. It's determined by God. And folks,
God's predestined shall be saved. Folks, God chose shall be saved.
So we don't have to trick anybody. We don't have to pretend. We
don't have to keep up the facade. We just preach the word and wait.
Salvation is a miracle of grace. You see, salvation is a resurrection
from the dead. It's called a new creation. Since
when do we attribute creation to man? It's called a new birth. Since when do we attribute birth
to man? This salvation is the regenerating work of God the
Holy Spirit. Now, look at the prophet's answer,
verse 3. God said, can these bones live? And Ezekiel said, O Lord God,
thou knowest. If it depends on me, they can't. If it depends on them, they can't. If it depends on other men, they
can't. But if it depends on you, If it depends on you, nobody
beyond the reach of your hand. If it depends on you, you can
do all things. You remember what the disciples
asked about that rich young ruler? He walked away and they said,
well, Lord, if this man can't be saved, who can be saved? How
many times have you thought to yourself, well, too late for
Joe. Too late for Him. He send away His day too late
for Him. If it depends on Him, it's too
late. And if it depends on you, it's too late. But if it depends
on God, it's not too late. Depends on God, it's not too
late. Look here! Look at this man standing in
front of you. I'm here to tell you, salvation is God's work. He who saved me by his grace
can save you by his grace, if he will. If he will. William Jay, corresponding with
John Newton, his friend years ago, and one of the men in the
community at Olney where Newton pastored and had moved to the
community where Jay was. And Newton wrote to him and asked
him about the man. And Jay wrote back to John Newton
and said, that man, there's no hope for. And Newton wrote Jay back and
said, since God saved me, I despair of none. Since God saved me, I despair
not. Salvation is the work of God
giving life to the dead by the revelation of Christ. And what's
his third thing? He does it by his word. Look
at the command God gave Ezekiel. He said in verse four, the word
of the Lord came to me. He said, prophesy upon these
bones. Say unto them, O ye dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord. What? What? Can you picture Ezekiel out there?
He's in a valley full of dry bones. Don't you know he's glad there's
nobody else with him? Why? that'll lock him up and
put him in a ha-ha hotel. What? You want me to preach to
this valley full of dry bones and tell these bones that have
no ears, that have no ears, that have no ears, hear the word of
the Lord. Okay. Okay, I'll do it. Here's the
fourth lesson God taught his prophet. There's no life without
the preaching of the word. Oh, ye dry bones, hear the word
of the Lord. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. How important is this? God won't speak to you any other
way. But you've exaggerated again. Let me put it in better words. God absolutely will not speak
to man but by his word. You won't do it. It's not gonna
happen. Whatever God teaches you, when
you go home tomorrow, and you're out on a tractor, doing some
work, and God speaks to you, it'll be because of what you've
heard from the preaching of the Word. God speaks by His Word. You find me anywhere in the New
Testament, contradict that. Find it for me. Find it for me. Well, that's not what we believe
in our church. You ought to leave that church.
Then go on and preach the Word. And if what I'm saying is not
in this book, leave here and find somebody who speaks for
God. This thing is not optional. God speaks to men by the Word.
He comforts by the Word. He instructs by the Word. He
reproves by the Word. He strengthens by the Word. It
is by the gift of the ministry of the Word that God perfects
His church. Read the fourth chapter of Ephesians.
God's method of grace. by which he gives life to dead
sinners is the preaching of the gospel. But what if, what if
there's no preacher around where there's a lost sinner God intends
to save? Boy, that presents a problem, except for God. That's no problem to God. Lance
Heller why on earth are you going to Papua New Guinea hike up those
mountains eight hours one way through the mud to preach to
a bunch of folks who run around naked. Why are you doing that?
Why would you do that? God said, go preach. And God's
got his elect in every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. And at the appointed time of
love, God's going to put a fellow named Philip right beside a eunuch
for whom the time of love has come. I preach the gospel with great
anticipation. This is what God uses to save
sinners. This is what God uses. Ezekiel
says, so I prophesied as I was commanded. He that hath my word,
let him speak my word faithfully is God's word. Now, the message
God gave through Ezekiel was not a message telling sinners
what to do. I'm not here to tell you to do
something. That's not my business. I'm not
here to tell you what you must do to be saved, what you must
do to be filled with the Holy Ghost, what you must do to walk
with God, what you must do. Doing is a deadly thing. Doing ends in death. Jesus did
it, did it all long, long ago. What are we telling you? The
gospel proclaims to men what God has done, what God is doing,
and what God shall do. Tell these bones that God said,
I'm going to raise you up. Tell these bones, God said, I'm
gonna open your grave. Tell these bones, God said, I'm
gonna put sinew on you and skin on you and I'm gonna put life
in you. God said he'd do it. I'm here to tell you, God has
declared that he will save a people according to his purpose of grace
by his word through the merit of his son. Gospel preaching
is a declaration of God's work, not a man's work. And then in
verse nine, God commanded Ezekiel to pray. He said, prophesy to
the wind. Come, O four winds, O breath. You know what that word is? Around
that word, spirit. Come, O spirit of God, breathe
upon these slain, that they may live. The wind bloweth where it listeth. You hear the sound thereof, but
you cannot tell from whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So
is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Come, Spirit of God,
breathe on these dead. Some of you here, I've been calling
your names before God all your life. And I preach to you faithfully God's Word. And you may wonder why doesn't
the preacher come and try to talk me into getting in the church?
Why doesn't the preacher come and try to talk me into making
a confession of faith? Why doesn't the preacher come
and try to get me to decide for Jesus? Because I care for your
soul. That's why. That's why. I'll tell you what I do. As I prepare to preach to you,
I pray, O Spirit of God, God, God, and give life to these poor, lost, ruined,
doomed, damned, helpless sinners for Christ's sake. And I wait. And I wait. Now here's the result of what
it says. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there came
a noise. And behold, a shaking, and the
bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld,
lo, sinew and flesh came up upon them, and skin covered them above. But there was no breath 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, and exceeding great army. Oh, what a joy to watch God work. And this is his promise. So shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return
to me void. But it shall accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto
I sent it. What do we do, Brother Don? Keep
sending it out. Keep sending it out. Keep sending
it out! And God will gather his elect
from the four corners of the earth. Oh, Spirit of God, will
you give life to sinners this day. Amen.