"Can Dry Bones Live?"

“Can Dry Bones Live?”

Ezekiel 37:1-10

INTRODUCTION: Read Ezekiel 37:1-10.

Let’s take a look at the BACKGROUND for this Scripture.

God had called His people, the Jews, out of captivity in Egypt. For over 100 years, they had been in Egyptian captivity. God brought them into the Promised Land, and gave them a land and a King, and made them a nation. BUT … they turned against God, and God allowed them to go into captivity once again.

Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army invaded Israel. They had reduced Solomon’s Temple to ashes, and had taken many of the Jewish people back to Babylon as captives. This is the condition that Ezekiel is in. The nation of Israel is DEAD. BUT … God has a vision for Ezekiel.

37:1-2 – Ezekiel is carried to a valley full of very dry bones. I want you to imagine this scene with me. These bones are scattered everywhere … very white …very dry. Bones all over the place … scattered by the wild animals so that there is nothing but miscellaneous bones as far as the eye can see.

For Ezekiel, this is a vision of the nation of Israel … 37:11. There was no way that Israel could get themselves out of Babylonian captivity. They were like these dead, dry bones … in a graveyard … dead … in a hopeless situation.

Maybe this describes some of you here this morning. You look around you, and it seems hopeless. Everything seems to have gone wrong. Your life is a mess … OR … at least it’s not what you want it to be. You see yourself in a valley of dead, dry bones.

37:3a – Look at the question. Ezekiel is looking at millions of dead, dry bones … scattered about 100’s of square miles … AND … God asks him, “Can these bones live?” How would you answer that question?

When you look at your situation … AND … all you see is a valley of dead, dry bones … you don’t see much hope, do you? It’s hard to imagine those dead, dry bones having life. It’s hard to imagine your situation ever getting better. It’s hard to imagine life, beyond our present circumstances.

Israel has been taken captive by Babylon … Ezekiel can’t see much hope for his people. BUT … he answers God’s question … 37:3.

“Can these bones live?” “I don’t see how … if they do, it will be up to You, Lord!”

Ezekiel is telling God that God is in charge … in control. God can do whatever He wants to do. With God, nothing is impossible. If God wants these dead, dry bones to live, they’ll live!

Let’s get to some APPLICATION here. I see 2 areas where I see dead, dry bones.

1.- In The Life Of the Church

2.- In The Life Of The Lost.

1.- In The Life Of The CHURCH

What kind of bones do we see in the Church today? Listen to the way Dennis Cocks describes bony Christians in the Church today.

1.- The Tailbone Christian – Who just sits, and lets everybody else do the ministry in the church. If God had wanted you to sit around and do nothing, He would have taken you on to Glory the minute He saved you. 1 Cor. 15:58 - “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

“Can these bones live?” Yes, as soon as they get off their tailbones!

2.- The Fingerbone Christian – Who are always pointing their finger at everybody else, not taking responsibility for their own actions. They blame everybody else for the circumstances they find themselves in. “Can these bones live?” Yes, as soon as they see that they are reaping what they have sown.

3.- The Jawbone Christian – Who runs off at the mouth … who puts his mouth into motion before his brain is in gear … who spreads gossip … who intentionally causes trouble by stirring up strife. “Can these bones live?” Yes, when they snatch their tongue from the Devil, and give it to the Holy Spirit. Ephes. 4:29 – “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”

4.- The Hipbone Christian – Who sits on his wallet every Sunday when the offering plate is passed. “Can these bones live?” Yes, when the heart is converted, the wallet will be converted too. Matthew 6:21 – “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

5.- The Drybone Christian – Whose Christian life has withered up, because he/she isn’t in the Word of God. “Can these bones live?” Yes, when we immerse ourselves into the God’s Word, the Water of Life.