Sermon Central
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I Will Be Their God
Contributed by Rev. Mario Gonzalez on Oct 16, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: God's promise is to never cast out any who truly come to Him. He speaks of our spiritual successes in the affirmative, before they are evident in the natural. Of Israel, as also of us, He says, "I will save them fom all their sinful backsliding, and I wil
I Will Be Their God
By Rev. Mario Gonzalez
I. Scripture: Ezekiel 37:22-23
“22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ”
II. Prayer
III. Introduction
Most people in speaking on Ezekiel chapter 37 would inevitable concentrate their efforts on breaking down verses 1 through 10 and would disregard the importance of the balance of he chapter. This particular portion of scripture speaks to a fantastic manifestation of the power of God through a vision that he gave his servant the prophet Ezekiel. The visualization of this vision rivals anything Hollywood could possibly produce in terms of special effects.
The vision ominously presented a dry valley full of bones. In verse 2, God conveys, through the vision, two critically important components of the revelation that he was trying to make clear to his prophet Ezekiel. A concept that translates to us today:
1. Firstly, he wanted to communicate the concept of “mass” by saying, “there were very many in the open valley.” The over-abundance of bones spoke to there having been the presence of a multitude of people.
2. Secondly, he wanted to emphasize the extent of their spiritual decay; of the apparent hopelessness of their spiritual condition by saying, “…and, lo, they were very dry.”
In the church today we see a manifestation of these prophetic conditions. As we have set off in abandon from the land, the foundation if you will, on which we lived as true followers of Christ, we have gone further and further into an ocean of confusion and compromise.
We have, because of our own haste in trying to achieve personal satisfaction outside of Christ, journeyed into a vast sea of lifelessness. As we have drifted farther and farther offshore, or away from Christ as a nation, we have found ourselves ironically surrounded by water, but nonetheless unable to drink in order to quench our piercing, life threatening thirst. So much of what surrounds us “appears” to be the solution to our need. Temptations abound, more so now than at any time of human history. And yet every single drop of these contaminated waters, if consumed, would be toxic to our system, and ultimately incapable of quenching our desperate thirst.
I believe that we have reached a point of no return my friend. Out of the perceived hopelessness of our condition promoted by the Devil, the church in particular and America as a whole has begun to drink from these forbidden convenient waters that surround us only to find that doing so has only served to promote spiritual dementia. False doctrine has now become the rule instead of the exception, and we stand in danger of loosing ourselves, and most certainly our very souls.
We have become a spiritual wasteland. And so this message to Ezekiel could not be more fitting to us here today.
IV. Body of Sermon
A. The Question
“3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?”
Was it a request for information? Did God not know if they could or couldn’t? Ezekiel’s response showed the prophet’s intimacy with God, “And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.”
Irrespective of the apparent hopelessness, Ezekiel knew that God could change it all. And so God now asks you, “Do you feel the same conviction today? Can God still change your condition? Can the death and dryness in your life be reversed? Is God still your God?”
B. The Action
“4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD…”
Principle: God will have us believe the impossible and then do the ridiculous in order to glorify himself in our lives.
I want you to notice that God never answered the question. He never revealed with certainty to Ezekiel that the miracle was even possible.
AND THAT’S THE PONT. It didn’t matter.
Though it might have seemed impossible to man - impossible to you and me, it and every other impossible circumstance or condition in your life is NEVER impossible for God.
My friend, with God, as proclaimed in Matt. 19:26, and Mark 14:36, ALL things are possible. The question is, will you believe the impossible and are you willing to do the seemingly ridiculous in order to receive our miracle from God?
What did God do as a result of Ezekiel’s obedience? Well, all kinds of weird stuff, you can read all about it in Ezekiel 37:7. The earth shook, bones came together, tendons, muscles and blood appeared, and skin covered it all revealing a multitude of dead bodies. Verse 8 puts it this way,
