Life is found in the Gospel word

Introduction

If you will please go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel 37; while you do this, I want you to also take your minds back to an ancient funeral. A man, the only man of the house, has been dead now several days and his adoring family is mourning his loss very deeply. They are crying bitter, deep, and hurtful tears. They knew he could have been helped and made not to die but for an unknown reason to them, the helper did not come, and it was far too late. Now put yourself in the teary eyes of one of the adoring grieving family members. You look up, and you see the one that could have helped the man in front of you. He then asks you why you are crying. To which you tell him of the loss and how his presence could have made a difference. He then commands everyone around, move the stone. Yes, that’s right, move the stone, like he was actually going to do something. You then think and exclaim, “no wait, don’t do it! He’s gone and he’s been gone so long that the stench will be unbearable!” The man then says to you, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you would see God’s glory?”[1]

(If you haven’t figured this out already, this is the story of Jesus, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.) Jesus then says out loud for all the people to hear, “Lazarus, come out!”[2]Then in an astonishing and seemingly unbelievable moment, Lazarus comes out of the cave/burial chamber alive and well. Still covered in his burial garments, he stands before you alive, breathing, and like nothing had happened. All of this came through the power of Jesus’ words. In much the same way, (though not literally raising actual dead people from the grave), God’s word (The Gospel of Jesus Christ) has the same power today. In the same manner, with our gospel word shared with others we give people the ability to accept Christ and be rescued from a horrible second death that keeps them away from God for eternity. This is today’s big idea, that Life is found in the Gospel word. So now, lets pray and then enter into the text. (Start Pastor led prayer).

The Text

If everyone will now please stand and read along with me for today’s reading of the scripture. Ezekiel 37:1-14. “37 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley;[a] it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath[b] to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come 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.”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling,[c] and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”” This is the word of the Lord. (Thanks be to God). Thank you, you may be seated.

The Context

You will remember from weeks past, that Ezekiel was one of major prophets of the Old Testament. His ministry happened during the time of the Kingdom of Judah’s exile to Babylon in the early 6th century BC.[3] This puts Ezekiel as a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah, though he would have been a late contemporary; as such Ezekiel would have been very aware of Jeremiah’s ministry and would likely have heard or read and been influenced by some of his works though Jeremiah probably would not have heard of Ezekiel.[4] Crucially, you may also remember what happened in Ezekiel in Chapter three of this book, that God made him (Ezekiel) eat a scroll that was as sweet as honey. This scroll would be symbolic of God putting His word within Ezekiel and giving him the authority to prophecy in His name. Following this for much of Ezekiel’s ministry he would be muted except when prophesying in God’s name as a sign. We have moved on now, to what many scholars consider to be the 3rd book of Ezekiel, containing chapters 33-48, which takes a change of tone from judgement to salvation.[5]

This passage itself, is not that of a normal prophecy or vision and stands to be one of the most striking images in the entire book of Ezekiel. In fact, a theologian says about this section that, “The abrupt commencement without “and”, points out that the fact here related is extraordinary and out of connection with the usual prophetic activity.”[6]

The Exposition

With that in mind, let’s move deep into the text and hear three things that God is telling us about his good news in this passage.

The first is that: The Gospel works in us. (37: 1-6)

“37 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley;[a] it was full of bones. 2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” One thing you must read into and understand is that to the Israelites, a body not being buried would have been a humiliating situation. Wiersbe says that “it was a humiliating thing for the body of a dead Jew not to be washed, wrapped, and buried with dignity in a grave or a tomb.”[7]This image would have been extremely striking, but God brought the Prophet around the entire valley, showing him the death beyond hope (or so it would seem) and asks Him, “Can these bone live?” To which, the Ezekiel answers correctly, acknowledging the seemingly hopelessness of these bones but also acknowledging God’s power and ability to do all things when he says, “Oh God, only you know.”

4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath[b] to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come 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.” Now we see God commands his servant Ezekiel to speak the truth that He (God) knows. That these bones will live. Through Ezekiel God’s word will come out. God promises that these bones will live again.

Paul tells us that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”[8] The word of God penetrates us and works inside of us. It hits us sharply like a sword. It becomes alive in us and works in and on us. This is true not just on conversion, but through the Christian’s whole life. It works on us always, and at all times, If we steep ourselves in the beauty and freeing words of it (the word of God) and come to an understanding of it what it means in our lives then it is working in us.

The second thing I want to share with you is that The Gospel brings new life.(37:7-10)

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling,[c] and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Here, the prophet has faith in God’s word and does what would seem to be a useless task, tell the bones to come together. The power of God was on Ezekiel and then bones came together one by one, muscles came upon them, and finally their bodies were covered in skin. All this being true, they were still dead, they were not yet alive. Much like these dead bodies, we ourselves were dead in our sins and our trespasses. This is not the will of God. In fact, earlier on in the book of Ezekiel, God shares that he “has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and that he desires for us to turn from our evil ways and live.”[9] If you don’t believe that we are like this pile of bodies which were formally bones, hear the words of the Apostle Paul. “2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.[b] 4 But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—"[10]

Let’s move on, 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Now we see the life come into the bodies. The winds of breath come upon the bodies, and they stood to their feet, alive again. This sounds a lot like when God breathed the life into Adam, why is this? Because God has supreme power over life and death. Brothers and sisters, “The word of the Lord is “living and powerful” Heb 4:12; it not only has life but it imparts life.”[11]This reviving breath from God has a new potential, not just for literal life, but the opportunity to be in God’s covenant terms and enjoy the new life in Him.[12]Jesus tells us in John 5:25-26 that 25 “I can guarantee this truth: A time is coming (and is now here) when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who respond to it will live. 26 The Father is the source of life, and he has enabled the Son to be the source of life too.”[13] We now live in this time that Jesus refers to, we can hear the Lord’s voice, we can respond to the cross of Christ and accept his offer of restoration and adoption by God.

A Third point to share is that The Gospel imports The Spirit. (37:11-14)

You may be thinking to yourself, Pastor that word “imports” that is a very strange word. Why did you choose that word? I did for this reason; God’s Holy Spirit is not natural to our fleshly selves. Rather, He formerly lived outside of us. However, when we accept Jesus as Lord of our lives he comes and lives within us. Once He is in, He is in and never comes out. He lives in us, the word you have probably heard describe this is indwells. This is much like importing a foreign good into the United States, let’s just say diamonds for example’s sake, what was not formerly within our borders is brought in on a large boat and enters into our nation and becomes available for us as consumers. So, what I’m saying here is that The Gospel of Jesus Christ; that we were worthy of death (just like the piles of bodies and bones) and through the cross of Christ and accepting Him as our Lord and substitution for Sin; allows God’s Holy Spirit to come and live within us.

Let’s finish out the verses. 11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”” God explains to Ezekiel what this vision he is seeing is. It is the house of Israel, the chosen people of God who have fallen far away from Him. The deadness of bones speaks for themselves, all hope is lost, they are cut off. God tells them though; no, you are not. I am your God. I am the Only God. I am Sovereign. I am ruler of all things. I will take you out of your graves and bring you back to your land. I have not forgotten my covenant with you. I will put my spirit on you, just like I have these bodies and bones, and I will make you whole again. I will take you out of your funeral dirge and I will make you shout and sing with indescribable joy. You will live, my Spirit will be within you. This will happen as I say and there is no question about it because I have declared it.

In the same way that God promised His Spirit to the Israelites, He promises The Spirit on us today as well. This can be known through the words of Christ himself when he said, “15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,[f] to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be[g] in you.”[14] Now, imagine my former words applied to yourself. Christ is saying to you, I will put my spirit (The Holy Spirit) on you, just like I have all brethren before you, and I will make you whole again. I will bring you away from the sad and hopeless tears of your final ceremony while “Somewhere over the Rainbow” plays, and I will make you shout and sing with indescribable joy that would drown out a stadium full of fans whose team just scored the game winning last second touchdown. You will never die the second painful death; my Spirit will be within you. This will happen as I say and there is no question about it because I have declared it.

Closing Thoughts and Conclusion

This is the power of the Gospel, which God has graciously chosen to share with us. He didn’t have to; we don’t deserve it. We are not worthy of it. So then, if we are so low and not worthy, why would God choose to share the wonderful gift with us? As Augustine wrote, he made us for himself; and while we search and look and dive in vain for whatever will fill or cure us of our hurt and emptiness that is deep inside, our hearts will not find any rest until we finally find in Him.[15]

To recap, what were these points in this passage of Ezekiel that we learned about? The Gospel. It is that life comes through the Gospel word; that the Gospel works in us; that the Gospel brings new life; that the Gospel imports the Holy Spirit. Much like we set out to learn here, a theologian once asked himself, “How does the life come? To which he discovered, Through the Holy Spirit using the faithful proclamation of the Word of God.”[16]

Brothers and sisters, if we are believers, we can bring life to many people faithfully proclaiming the Word of God; specifically the Gospel Word. We need to share with people that Our mighty God created the world, but we separated ourselves from Him through sin, yes, every one of us. That no sacrifice other than the cross of Jesus Christ is big enough to be considered good to God. That if we accept Jesus and his cross as our atonement, we can be reconciled to God and no longer an enemy of His, but rather a son or daughter. I urge all believers in this room, to take this message and apply it to every part of your life. Ask yourself in every situation, am I motived to do this because I believe the Gospel? If you act in a way that says you do not, turn from it and confess to God who will forgive you.

If you are not a believer, I strongly urge you to hear this message today. Yes, you are guilty of sin, yes you stand condemned by a just God. But God who is rich in mercy and loves to lavish it out has provided the price, paid more than just bail, he provides the proof to make you innocent. This innocence comes only through accepting Christ as the Lord of your life.

I want you all to know, I love you all, if you would like to talk more about this or are interested in a next step; I will be available for you during this last song and after service. I would be so happy to talk to you, do not hesitate if you feel prompted. Now, if you will join me in prayer as the worship team enters the stage.