Hope for the Hopeless
Ezekiel 37
Rev. Brian Bill
2/8/09
One of our substitute Sunday School teachers was upstairs and was struggling to open a combination lock on the supply cabinet. She had been told the combination but couldn’t remember it so she went and found Pastor Dick to see if he could help. He went upstairs and began to turn the dial. After the first two numbers, he paused and then looked heavenward while his lips moved silently. Then he looked back to the lock, quickly turned to the final number, and opened the cabinet. The teacher was amazed and said, “Wow. I’m amazed at your faith, Pastor Dick.” To which he responded, “It’s really nothing. The combination is on a piece of tape on the ceiling.”
Pastor Dick has helped us find the combination that unlocks Ezekiel’s message in the early chapters of the book. I’d like to draw our attention to a few more lessons that we can learn from this often-ignored book.
In Ezekiel 22:30, we are told that God is searching for a man who will stand in the gap for Him: “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” God is still looking for guys who will stand in the gap. One of the laments of many of our ministry leaders can be summed up with this question: Where are the men who are willing to serve in ministry? Guys, it’s time for us to step up. Or to say it another way, “It’s time to man-up, men!”
The Men’s Ministry has captured this theme for our Men’s Breakfasts: Stand in the Gap. Geoff Trembley does an incredible job teaching and this Saturday the focus will be on how men can live out their biblical role as husbands. By the way, the men’s ministry is sponsoring a showing of the movie Fireproof on Saturday, February 21st because it deals with how a marriage can be mended. I hope you can come – whether you’re a teen, or you’re an adult and single, or married and doing well, or if you’re married and struggling – this movie’s for you.
In a related sense, God is looking for people who will stand in the gap in a variety of ways – we are looking for more people to serve in the Nursery, in Preschool, in the Sound Booth for both Promiseland and Sunday mornings, and to join our newly formed Assimilation Team.
Feeling Dry or Dead?
In chapter 37, Ezekiel is transported by the Spirit of the Lord to the middle of a valley. God wants to show him how to have hope in a hopeless situation. Drop down to verse 11: “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone…” Their spirits were shriveled up inside them. Do you ever feel that way? As we discussed last week, it’s very common for those facing an addiction to lose hope. While this chapter is dealing specifically with God bringing the nation of Israel out of Babylon and putting them back in the land of Israel, there are at least four things we can do when we’re feeling hopeless. Here’s the main point: When you’re done, God is not done.
1. Assess the situation. Check out this graphic picture in verses 1-2: “…It was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.” Like an image from Auschwitz or Kosovo or Rwanda, Ezekiel is forced to encounter how hopeless their situation is – they’re destitute, dry and dead. They were long past help. Notice that the valley was “full” of bones and he is forced to walk back and forth among them, seeing a “great many” that were “very dry.” The bones have been scattered and bleached by the sun. As Ezekiel takes inventory, the picture is one of deep despair.
Friend, as hard as it is, the first step is to do an honest assessment of your situation. Face it squarely. Job declared his discouragement in Job 7:6-7: “My days…come to an end without hope…my eyes will never see happiness again.” Too many of us minimize our true state or blame others for all our problems. A funny thing happened on Thursday when I was serving lunch at Pontiac Christian School. The students there are very well behaved but as I walked around the tables I saw various kids poking each other. When the guilty party would look up and see me he or she would immediately point to the other person, as if to say, “It’s his fault that I’m poking him.” They reminded me of me when I was that age. Us adults do that all the time, don’t we? “I drink because you drive me to it. I’m cheating on you because you don’t meet my needs. I lost my temper because you made me mad.”
Perhaps you’ve been drifting spiritually and you wonder how you ended up where you are. Psalm 137:1-4 tells us that God’s people had lost so much hope that they hung up their harps, thinking that they would never leave the land of bondage: “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps…how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?”
Michael Skelton suggests some ways to help us determine if we are getting dry (Sermon Central):
* When you have no desire for Bible study or prayer
* When spiritual conversations embarrass you or you avoid them
* When you rationalize sin
* When life revolves around your pleasure
* When it no longer bothers you that others are spiritually lost
* When worship and service do not excite you
2. Activate your faith. The next thing to do when faced with a hopeless situation is to take your eyes off the junk and put them on Jehovah. In verse 3 we see God asking Ezekiel a question that seems to have an obvious answer to it: “Son of man, can these bones live?” I’m sure Ezekiel was thinking, “No way. The bones are dry and they’re all scattered.” But he didn’t say that. Instead he hit the ball back into God’s court: “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Don’t miss this crucial step. When something is hopeless to you, it doesn’t mean it’s hopeless to God. The God who asks the question is the only one who can answer it. When you’re done, God is not done. So hit the ball back into God’s court.
Notice the names Ezekiel uses for God. In the Hebrew, it’s Jehovah Adonai. He affirms that God is sovereign, which means He is in charge of everything. And he calls him “Lord,” which shows that God is Ezekiel’s personal Master. He is the Almighty ruler and covenant-keeper. If there is anything to be done, God will have to be the one to do it. Here’s a question: What are your dry bones? Let’s try this out responsively. I’ll suggest a statement and you respond by saying, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know!”
* When your marriage is messed up and you don’t know what to do: O Sovereign Lord, you alone know!
* When you wonder if you’ll ever be married: O Sovereign Lord, you alone know!
* When your kids have stretched you beyond your limits and you don’t know what else to do: O Sovereign Lord, you alone know!
* When your job feels shaky or you’ve been laid off: O Sovereign Lord, you alone know!
* When you’re overwhelmed with some bad health news: O Sovereign Lord, you alone know!
* When you feel hopeless about overcoming your addiction: O Sovereign Lord, you alone know!
* When you feel [fill in the blank ], O Sovereign Lord, you alone know!
Someone has said that there are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them. Can that which is dry and dead live again? Can these bones live? If they do, it’s up to you, Lord.
3. Address the problem with God’s Word. We hold our collective breath to see how Yahweh Adonai will answer His own question. In verse 4, Ezekiel is told to do what preachers often do on Sundays – preach to those who seem hopeless and look lifeless: “Prophecy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!’” Most of us think of prophecy as a proclamation that deals with the future, a foretelling of what is going to take place. That’s certainly one element but many times the word is also used for forth-telling, or speaking forth the truth. That’s what’s going on here.
Are you a bony believer? Dennis Cocks helps us see what these Christians look like (Sermon Central).
* The Tailbone Believer. This person just sits and lets everyone else serve.
* The Fingerbone Believer. This individual just points the finger at everybody else.
* The Jawbone Believer. Runs off at the mouth.
* The Hipbone Believer. Sits on his wallet every Sunday.
* The Backbone Believer. A Christian with conviction.
* The Kneebone Believer. The person who practices a life of prayer.
Notice that God works in accordance with His Word and that Ezekiel has a job to do in proclaiming it. God could have just made the bones come together but he waits for His Word to be proclaimed by His prophet. That’s a good principle for us to learn. God’s Word is the agent that brings about change, and we’re the agents that must proclaim that Word. And things happen when the sermon is preached to the skeletons according to verse 5: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you and you will come to life.” I like what Simon Weil has said, “To be always relevant, you have to say things that are eternal.”
I would have loved to be there to witness what happened in verses 7-8, on second thought, maybe not: “And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.”
4. Appropriate the Holy Spirit. In verses 9-10, we see that without God’s Spirit at work, even something that looks alive is really dead. That’s right; a church can look vibrant, and yet have no vitality. A Christian can appear alright on the outside but be lifeless on the inside: “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into those slain, that they may live.’ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army.”
The word “breath” in Hebrew has a wide range of meaning, including wind, breath or spirit. This takes us back to Genesis 2:7 where we read that Adam had no life until God breathed into him: “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” I’m also reminded of what Jesus did in John 20:22: “And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” The Spirit goes to work when the Scriptures are preached. The Wind and the Word work in tandem to bring life out of loss, delight out of despair.
This past Tuesday night at our Elder/Deacon meeting, we were discussing the vision of Pontiac Bible Church as it relates to focusing on families, assimilation, music and discipleship. We also spent a considerable amount of time right here in this room talking about some upgrades to the auditorium. If you want to hear more, you’ll have to come to the business meeting on Tuesday, February 24th. Anyway, while we were discussing some of the specifics of the vision we believe God has given to PBC, Chad Jones spoke up and said something like this: “What we need to do is pray and to rally our people to pray. We need a prayer champion and a team of people who will commit to pray for PBC on a regular basis.” Chad hit it on the head. We can do all the planning we want but if the Holy Spirit does not breathe life into this place, we’ll just be a bunch of bleached-out bones sitting on some new carpeting. All our programs, planning and projects are dead unless the Wind and the Word work together.
Friends, what God wants is for each of us to become fully alive and for revival to break out. I like how Charles Finney described revival: “Revival is a new beginning of obedience to God.” A.W. Tozer has written a book called, “Rut, Rot or Revival?” It’s time to get out of the rut. If you’re a believer and you’ve not been baptized, it’s time to do it. Our next service will be April 26th. Our next membership class begins March 8th. And we must have revival or we’ll just rot. It’s time to get off the sidelines. Our community needs us right now, perhaps more than ever.
Ezekiel 37:11 explains what this chapter is all about: “These bones are the whole house of Israel.” The dry bones are the Jewish people scattered among the nations. We don’t have time to go into this, but God will one day make Israel spiritually alive in the land that was promised to them. We see some of this prophecy already happening. Chapters 38-39 describe Og and Magog, speaking of events that are appearing in our headlines today. Friends, the return of Christ is near!
Turn now to the last verse of Ezekiel where we read of the promise of God’s presence: “And the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE.” This is the name Jehovah Shammah. When you are distressed, dry and feeling dead, remember that God promises to be present with us. Jesus was once dead and is now alive forevermore. Because He lives, we live and can face tomorrow! You can do that by…
1. Assessing your situation.
2. Activating your faith.
3. Addressing your problem with the Word of God.
4. Appropriating the Holy Spirit.
I like what Charles Spurgeon once said, “Whatever your difficulties and trials and sorrows, all is well with you if God is your delight, and His presence your joy.” When you feel abandoned or afraid, address Him as Jehovah Shammah. When you’re done, God is not done.
If you’re struggling to find hope because you feel so hopeless, we’d like to give you a free copy of Ray Pritchard’s book called “Why Did This Happen to Me?” But first, let the words and images of this video wash over you. Look up and you too will see the combination of God’s Wind and God’s Word ministering to you as you cry out to Jesus.
Closing Video: “Cry out to Jesus.”
