Text: Ezekiel 37:1-14, Title: Can These Bones Live? Date/Place: NRBC, 10/28/07, PM
Opening illustration: The treacherous enemy facing the church of Jesus Christ today is the dictatorship of the routine, when the routine becomes "lord" in the life of the church. Programs are organized and the prevailing conditions are accepted as normal. Anyone can predict next Sunday’s service and what will happen. This seems to be the most deadly threat in the church today. When we come to the place where everything can be predicted and nobody expects anything unusual from God, we are in a rut. The routine dictates, and we can tell not only what will happen next Sunday, but what will occur next month and, if things do not improve, what will take place next year. Then we have reached the place where what has been determines what is, and what is determines what will be. That would be perfectly all right and proper for a cemetery. Nobody expects a cemetery to do anything but conform. The greatest conformists in the world today are those who sleep out in the community cemetery. They do not bother anyone. They just lie there, and it is perfectly all right for them to do so. You can predict what everyone will do in the cemetery from the deceased right down to the people who attend a funeral there. Everyone and everything in a cemetery has accepted the routine. Nobody expects anything out of those buried in the cemetery. But the church is not a cemetery and we should expect much from it, because what has been should not be lord to tell us what is, and what is should not be ruler to tell us what will be. God’s people are supposed to grow.
A. Background to passage: Ezekiel prophesied from Babylon after the second round of conquest and removal of key people from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel was taken in 605 BC with little resistance. Ezekiel was taken as a prisoner in the year 597 BC after a siege. But the most destructive attack was still to come in 586 BC. His prophecies relate to the judgment that Judah, judgment on the surrounding nations, and the restoration of Israel. This text is a vision of that restoration. And it was probably given some years after the final destruction of Jerusalem, when Israel as a nation was at the lowest point since the time of the judges. The text says that these bones were “very dry.” But in this vision, God does a miracle right before Ezekiel’s eyes—raising the bones of His dead, lifeless, hopeless people to new life. Say a word about interpretation of Israel and the church, and drawing on principles. Also say a word about the “only you know” comment and the main point of Ezekiel’s prophesy—that only God can truly revive.
B. Main thought: So in our text tonight, we will see how and why God chooses to bring revival to His people.
A. Hearing of the preached Word (v. 4)
1. Three times in these verses God tells Ezekiel to preach to the dry bones. The word used means to speak a word from God under the influence of God (which is what his testimony is about this vision in verse one). It carries the connotation of bubbling up with fervency. And despite the absurdity of such an instruction, Ezekiel does it. Because he knows that only God can do it, and also he is committed to absolute obedience to God regardless of his own thoughts and agendas. And it is during this preaching that the bones begin to come together and muscles, ligaments, and skin come upon them.
2. Luke 4:4, 1 Cor 1:18, 21,
3. Illustration: the title of Dr. Bennett’s book—Thirty Minutes to Raise the Dead, I cannot underestimate the value of preaching in my own Christian life, tell about hearing Ronnie Owens, MacArthur, Pouchot, James MacDonald, Paige Patterson, Adrian Rogers, and Scott Brown, “If you were to put Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, anybody else out there and let them speak to the same people three times a week for 27 years they would be climbing the walls to get out if you are drawing from your own well; I don’t care who you are. The reason I preach the Bible is: first, I’m not smart enough to preach anything else. The Bible is a bottomless well. So I’m not smart enough to preach anything else. The other reason is I am smart enough not to preach anything else, because I know that that has the staying power. My people love me today; I don’t want to say boastfully, but I know this is true: they love me, they come. This place is packed, we have run out of room. It is not a testimony to the man but to the Bible. If I stop preaching the Bible, these folks will saturate this place with absence. They come for the Word of God. They want it to be warm, they want it to be understandable and applicable. But I have learned that there is power in the preaching of the Word of God.” –Adrian Rogers, always going to Good Hope expecting to hear from God,
4. Preaching is still the means ordained of God to awaken a dead people. And if we are going to see revival at NRBC, it will be because supernatural power attends the preaching of the Word of God. Two apps: we must continually pray for the preaching ministry. Pray that God anoints me, Ronnie, whoever, to break the bread of life before you. Pray that the Holy Spirit softens, prepares, convicts, and applies truth to all hearers. Secondly, you and I must come expectantly. We must expect God to speak to us every time we come to church. We must get out of the rut and routine of simply listening without hearing. When the whole church expects to hear from God, God will speak. Of course, some of you might not like that either, for he tends to mess things up. Then we have to do as we have been led by the Spirit.
B. Filling of the Spirit of God (v. 9-10)
1. The second means that God has ordained for the reviving of his people is His Spirit. Ezekiel is told to preach to the wind or breath. One commentator translated this the breath of life. The Hebrew word can be translated wind, breath, or spirit. The problem was that these bodies had no life. This mimics the creation of Adam in the beginning. And so the Spirit or Breath of God came to fill them with life. This is a type, or at least a good representation of our salvation. Until the Spirit of God came in due to the preaching of the gospel and our believing, we were walking dead men with no true spiritual life.
2. John 6:63, Rom 8:11, 2 Cor 3:6, 1 Pet 3:18,
3. Illustration: “I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and everything that is contrary to God’s law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and conceit and ambition and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God. We must be emptied before we can be filled.” -Moody
4. What all of us need is a fresh filling of the Spirit of God. This will empower us to worship, evangelize, minister, and grow. And without it, we will be dry as the dry bones. Three ways to be on a path to be filled, all by faith. First, we strive for total surrender to His will in every area of our lives. Are there compartments of your life that you don’t allow the Spirit into? Does He have complete access to any area of your life to do with it what He pleases? This is a lifelong surrender, with fresh surrenders every day, and deeper surrenders on occasion. Second, we live in a constant moment by moment obedience to the promptings of the Spirit in your daily life. This means that we must be alert to the spiritual issues in everything. And that we must be sensitive to the Spirit’s leadings in our lives daily. You must in tune your conscience toward Him. Be filled with the Word; note the parallels b/t this text and Colossians. Thirdly, we ask for it. Jesus said that God would give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. This doesn’t mean that you have only a limited amount now, and you get more later. This shouldn’t create an unscriptural dichotomy b/t the haves and have-nots. It should create a power-filled, joy-filled, love-filled, Spirit-controlled group of believers that bear much fruit for the kingdom. And all of these by faith! Not earning, nor bargaining, nor fighting, nor begging, but trusting! Seek the presence of God through the Spirit constantly! But God is sovereign, and like revival, He sends the Spirit when He is ready.
C. So that they will know that I AM the Lord (v. 6, 13-14)
1. The reason for their judgment was their ignoring God, replacing God, taking Him lightly. And so the point of their restoration is so that they will reverence Him as God, and that He will be in close competition with no others. Three times in our text, God make this truth explicit. God is a jealous God, and will not settle for second place in our hearts to anything. He is radically committed to His own preeminence in everything, primarily in the hearts of the redeemed. And when a whole congregation or nation of people forgets that God is really God, and there is no other, God will do whatever is necessary to refocus their attention. But unfortunately, what usually happens is as soon as the difficulty is over, people forget about God.
2. Ex 20:3-6, Deut 4:24, 6:15, Col 1:18
3. Illustration: my baseball coach was a jealous coach in baseball, everything that you did that wasn’t directly related to baseball, was evaluated in light of baseball, certain things you gave up for baseball, and when you were divided in heart and life there was wrath, tell about the storyline of The Unit the other night when that husband had to watch his estranged wife dance at a club,
4. All calamity, all mountaintop experiences, in fact all experiences period should remind us that God is God and there is no other. All these things are do so that we know that there is no other. When we buy into our cultures lies about money, sex, possessions, relationships, power, etc., God will bring calamity to cause us to come back to Him. And if we don’t get it, or if we do, then forget again, the lesson will repeat itself. If we have been purchased by the blood of Christ, we will glorify Him for His mercy. And remember God is not doing it so that they could meet some legalistic requirement for righteousness, but so that the His value and worth will be magnified in us, because we see it, want it, and realize that He is the greatest treasure ever. And we are willing to sacrifice anything to be with Him, because we want to, love to, and are absolutely delighted to, because He is our treasure. So don’t picture God holding our arms behind our backs until we say, “glory.” But rather displaying His beauty for the good of all, and for the deepest and most lasting satisfaction for us.
A. Closing illustration: YOU HAVE PROBABLY HEARD THE OLD STORY ABOUT THE LATE, GREAT DR. A. J. GORDON, A FAMOUS PREACHER FROM ENGLAND WHO CAME TO A VERY DEAD, DULL, FORMAL, CHURCH IN DOWNTOWN BOSTON, MASS. I. HE WAS A FIERY PREACHER, WHO REFUSED TO WEAR A ROBE, WHICH WAS MANDATORY IN THAT CHURCH AND HE PREACHED “JESUS” TO THOSE PEOPLE WITH SUCH FERVOR, THEY SAT OUT THERE SHELL-SHOCKED, AND AFTER A MONTH, THEY WERE READY TO FIRE DR. GORDON. J. ONE SUNDAY HE PREACHED A SERMON CALLED “THE FUNERAL OF THE CHURCH” AND THIS IS WHAT HE SAID, “ECCLESIASTICAL CORPSES LIE ALL AROUND US. THE CASKETS IN WHICH THEY REPOSE ARE LINED WITH SATIN AND ARE DECORATED WITH SOLID SILVER HANDLES AND ABUNDANT FLOWERS. LIKE ALL CASKETS THEY ARE JUST LARGE ENOUGH FOR THEIR OCCUPANTS WITH NO ROOM FOR CONVERTS. THESE CHURCHES HAVE DIED FROM THE DISEASE OF FORMALISM AND HAVE BEEN EMBALMED IN COMPLACENCY. IF BY THE GRACE OF GOD THIS CHURCH HAS ANY LIFE LEFT IN HER, I WARN YOU THAT THOSE THAT BURIED THY SISTER CHURCHES WILL BE AT THY DOOR TO CARRY THEE OUT, BECAUSE I PREDICT THIS CHURCH, WILL BE DEAD SOON, BECAUSE I HEAR THE DEATH RATTLE” M. AFTER HE PREACHED THAT SERMON, SIX MEN CAME THROUGH THE BACK DOORS CARRYING A CASKET, AND HE HAD THEM PUT IT AT THE FRONT OF THE CHURCH AND OPEN IT AND THEN HE ASKED EVERYBODY IN THE CHURCH TO WALK BY AND SEE THEIR DEAD CHURCH. O. AS THEY WALKED BY, THEY LOOKED IN THE CASKET AND YOU GUESSED IT–THEY WERE LOOKING AT THEMSELVES, IN A MIRROR
B. Also say a word about the “only you know” comment and the main point of Ezekiel’s prophesy—that only God can truly revive.
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
