1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:26,820 Father, I thank you that you make dry bones live. I ask that you would, this morning, bring us to hope that as we see these dry bones, it wouldn't just simply be a curiosity or an interesting story, but it would be an argument to our souls that you are powerful and that you work. 2 00:00:26,820 --> 00:00:55,020 And through your word and through your spirit, you take that which is beyond hope, and you bring it new and alive and back to life. So be with us. May your spirit speak to our dry bones and our hope. And may you give us life. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 3 00:00:55,020 --> 00:01:09,020 Now, probably all of us at one point or another have done something that was ill-advised, and as a result, we had to face some consequences because of our ill-advised decisions. 4 00:01:09,020 --> 00:01:25,020 I remember for a while I was visiting a young man at the local correctional facility, and it was one of those scenarios where he didn't have to be there if he had just not made the dumb decision. 5 00:01:25,020 --> 00:01:43,020 And in the moment where he was confronted with some of the consequences of his choices, instead of choosing the $50 ticket, he managed to talk himself into a year in jail over something incredibly stupid. 6 00:01:43,020 --> 00:01:59,020 I remember the first time we met, and we were sitting there talking through the glass, and he was telling his story, and I just looked at him and I meant, "There was only some way you could have avoided all of this." He laughed, I laughed. 7 00:01:59,020 --> 00:02:08,020 Sometimes we end up where we are because we made a dumb decision. Not just other people, but us. 8 00:02:08,020 --> 00:02:27,020 A friend and I were talking this week about various ways in which we have injured ourselves, and I had a realization in the midst of that conversation that at least two broken bones and one third degree burn came as a result of my own dumb mistakes. 9 00:02:27,020 --> 00:02:38,020 And that ultimately, in those moments, nobody to blame but myself. There was nobody else in the world at fault but me. 10 00:02:38,020 --> 00:02:55,020 Now I want you to hold on to that idea as we move into the Psalms for a minute, as we move into Ezekiel 36, and as we move into Ezekiel 37 this morning. 11 00:02:55,020 --> 00:03:09,020 That there are situations that we find ourselves in where it is nobody's fault but us. Nobody was out to get us. Nobody was trying to trap us. 12 00:03:09,020 --> 00:03:21,020 That we simply, when presented with a good and a bad choice, we chose the bad choice, and not just once, but over and over and over again. 13 00:03:21,020 --> 00:03:30,020 And so I want to begin with a sad song, and this sad song is found in the 137th Psalm. 14 00:03:30,020 --> 00:03:37,020 And God's people are the ones singing, maybe not singing, this song anymore. 15 00:03:37,020 --> 00:03:47,020 "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion." 16 00:03:47,020 --> 00:03:55,020 And heartbreak in these first words, because here's people who are, they're far from home, so they're homesick. 17 00:03:55,020 --> 00:04:01,020 They're facing, at this moment, their tears have overwhelmed their ability to sing. 18 00:04:01,020 --> 00:04:05,020 They've set down their instruments. In fact, in the very next verse it says, "The trees." 19 00:04:05,020 --> 00:04:14,020 Like we were done with music, because there is nothing left to sing about, only tears. 20 00:04:14,020 --> 00:04:19,020 You might say, "Well, why are you so sad?" And this verse is just a clue. 21 00:04:19,020 --> 00:04:26,020 "By the waters of Babylon." And they're saying, "Well, we miss home." 22 00:04:26,020 --> 00:04:35,020 "Well, where are you, Babylon?" "Well, how did you get on?" And this is where the story sort of snaps into focus. 23 00:04:35,020 --> 00:04:46,020 And here's a difficult truth about their grief. It's their own fault. 24 00:04:46,020 --> 00:04:54,020 Now, this can minimize the hurt or the grief that they are feeling, but we must not have the responsibility. 25 00:04:54,020 --> 00:05:04,020 In fact, let's count it out. In Deuteronomy chapter 28, as these God's people come into the plant, 26 00:05:04,020 --> 00:05:16,020 they are giving blessings and curses. And in verse 50, this warning that if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God, 27 00:05:16,020 --> 00:05:23,020 these curses will be upon you. And one of those curses in verse 25 was that you will be given in the enemies. 28 00:05:23,020 --> 00:05:33,020 And so here they are in the hands of their enemies. God warned them generations before, and not just generations before, 29 00:05:33,020 --> 00:05:40,020 generation after generation. And they know that these are not empty words because the northern kingdom of Israel 30 00:05:40,020 --> 00:05:48,020 destroyed and taken away into captivity because of the same sins they were intentionally doing. 31 00:05:48,020 --> 00:05:56,020 Additionally, God has not been silent. Isaiah, Jeremiah, prophet after prophet, 32 00:05:56,020 --> 00:06:08,020 and just ignore the people who opposed them. In fact, here, what chapter 36 says. 33 00:06:08,020 --> 00:06:16,020 The lovers sent persistently to them by messengers because he had compassion on his people and in place. 34 00:06:16,020 --> 00:06:23,020 And so here is God, messenger after messenger, in compassion, calling them back to the truth. 35 00:06:23,020 --> 00:06:38,020 And what is their response? They kept mocking the messengers of God, despite laughing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people and there was no remedy. 36 00:06:38,020 --> 00:06:50,020 Their sad songs by the waters in Babylon, as heartbreaking as they are, are a direct consequence of their rejection of God. 37 00:06:50,020 --> 00:06:57,020 It goes even deeper than that, because in the beginning of Ezekiel has a vision of the temple. 38 00:06:57,020 --> 00:07:05,020 And it's heartbreaking. The glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubim. 39 00:07:05,020 --> 00:07:10,020 And so the glory of God begins to leave the temple and it pauses. 40 00:07:10,020 --> 00:07:19,020 The very next chapter, the glory of the Lord went from the midst up on the mountain that is on the east side. 41 00:07:19,020 --> 00:07:22,020 Of the city. 42 00:07:22,020 --> 00:07:25,020 And there is this absolute wreckage. 43 00:07:25,020 --> 00:07:32,020 Not just of individual lives, but of families and of towns and of countries. 44 00:07:32,020 --> 00:07:38,020 That comes as a direction, turning their back and living in disobedience. 45 00:07:38,020 --> 00:07:48,020 This sad song that they're singing ultimately comes as a consequence because they refused to listen to God. 46 00:07:48,020 --> 00:07:52,020 God has departed. 47 00:07:52,020 --> 00:07:59,020 Now what is so fascinating is in the midst of this darkness and in the midst of this sad song, 48 00:07:59,020 --> 00:08:03,020 there is a joyful promise. 49 00:08:03,020 --> 00:08:07,020 And we'll go to Ezekiel chapter 36. 50 00:08:07,020 --> 00:08:09,020 Listen to what God says, 51 00:08:09,020 --> 00:08:12,020 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 52 00:08:12,020 --> 00:08:17,020 Lord God, it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, 53 00:08:17,020 --> 00:08:23,020 but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned, to which you came. 54 00:08:23,020 --> 00:08:29,020 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, 55 00:08:29,020 --> 00:08:36,020 and which you have profaned among them, and the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, 56 00:08:36,020 --> 00:08:40,020 when through you I've been before their eyes." 57 00:08:40,020 --> 00:08:45,020 Now, at first glance, this does not sound like things are getting better, right? 58 00:08:45,020 --> 00:08:52,020 God shows up, and He goes, "You're a bunch of rebellious people who have profaned my name across the world, 59 00:08:52,020 --> 00:08:55,020 and I am here to vindicate it." 60 00:08:55,020 --> 00:09:00,020 And it seems like it's just gone from bad to worse. But listen. 61 00:09:00,020 --> 00:09:04,020 The very next verse, beginning in verse 24. 62 00:09:04,020 --> 00:09:07,020 "Vindicate His name." 63 00:09:07,020 --> 00:09:13,020 "I will take you from the nations and gather your own land, 64 00:09:13,020 --> 00:09:16,020 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. 65 00:09:16,020 --> 00:09:19,020 From your uncleanness and from your idols I will cleanse you, 66 00:09:19,020 --> 00:09:24,020 and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, 67 00:09:24,020 --> 00:09:28,020 and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, 68 00:09:28,020 --> 00:09:35,020 and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules, 69 00:09:35,020 --> 00:09:42,020 and you shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God." 70 00:09:42,020 --> 00:09:49,020 Here is a people who have profaned God's name throughout the nations. 71 00:09:49,020 --> 00:09:56,020 They have been warned, they've seen examples after profit, and they persisted in their disobedience, 72 00:09:56,020 --> 00:10:07,020 and the promise that God gives them to vindicate His name is that He is going to cleanse them. 73 00:10:07,020 --> 00:10:12,020 He's going to give them a new heart and a new spirit. 74 00:10:12,020 --> 00:10:25,020 And this is not for God giving, it is God transforming a sinful and rebellious and broken people who are weeping over the sin and the consequences which they deserve. 75 00:10:25,020 --> 00:10:30,020 And He goes, "I'm going to take your heart of stone, and I'm going to make a nation of desire." 76 00:10:30,020 --> 00:10:35,020 Not just an obligation to follow God, but a transformation to where you desire it. 77 00:10:35,020 --> 00:10:40,020 It's the going from have to to want to. 78 00:10:40,020 --> 00:10:44,020 We've all experienced this, things that we have to do. 79 00:10:44,020 --> 00:10:54,020 In Frederick County, when your personal property tax comes twice a year and you've got to do this again, grumble, grumble, right? 80 00:10:54,020 --> 00:11:02,020 But then show me a leaky canoe on Facebook Marketplace, and I'm like, "Yes! Let's go ahead!" 81 00:11:02,020 --> 00:11:07,020 Because one, I desire for the sheer adventure of it, and the other, I resent. 82 00:11:07,020 --> 00:11:14,020 And what God says is, "I will take your heart, and I will transform it." 83 00:11:14,020 --> 00:11:27,020 No longer resent, and no longer are my commands a burden, but rather they are that desire that you want to, and you can't wait to, and I will transform you. 84 00:11:27,020 --> 00:11:38,020 ...here that's so deeply, deeply wonderful. If you remember in 11, we just read, where God's glory begins to come out of the temple, and it pauses. 85 00:11:38,020 --> 00:11:48,020 And then it leaves the temple, and comes out of the sounds, and it pauses, and then it disappears. God's glory leaves His people. Look at what the promise is. 86 00:11:48,020 --> 00:11:57,020 I put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules. 87 00:11:57,020 --> 00:12:05,020 ...exiles. Someday we'll get to go back, and we'll build a temple, and there'll be glory, and the glory of God says it's more. 88 00:12:05,020 --> 00:12:12,020 The glory isn't just going to be there. It's going to be here, as I put my spirit within you. 89 00:12:12,020 --> 00:12:20,020 All right, under the old way, the sin drives out the glory. 90 00:12:20,020 --> 00:12:31,020 And instead of the sin of Israel driving the glory of God from the temple, the glory of God drives those sin and our life. 91 00:12:31,020 --> 00:12:36,020 Not just replacing something. It's building something brand new. 92 00:12:36,020 --> 00:12:41,020 It's a promise for something much more wonderful than anyone could ever imagine. 93 00:12:41,020 --> 00:12:47,020 And here's the problem. Yeah, it's a great promise to people who are getting what they deserve. 94 00:12:47,020 --> 00:12:54,020 And here comes a promise of restoration and renewal. And what happens when this is? 95 00:12:54,020 --> 00:13:04,020 I ask this question almost every time. Too good to be true. 96 00:13:04,020 --> 00:13:10,020 We're skeptical of things that seem too good to be true. We're skeptical of things that seem 97 00:13:10,020 --> 00:13:21,020 weird or strange. The bigger the goodness is, the more skeptical we are, but also the more hurt we are. 98 00:13:21,020 --> 00:13:31,020 Skeptical we are. I've been burned before. And there's three objections to God's promise 99 00:13:31,020 --> 00:13:39,020 that lives down deep in our hearts. And the first objection is where we look inward. 100 00:13:39,020 --> 00:13:46,020 In this way, there's nothing left in my life to restore or to renew. 101 00:13:46,020 --> 00:13:52,020 Think about plants in this heat and in this drought that we're in the middle of. 102 00:13:52,020 --> 00:13:58,020 And we had planted a couple of maple trees in front of the church. Well, by we I mean Rachel. 103 00:13:58,020 --> 00:14:03,020 And she has been diligently watering. They'll grow up big and strong and be beautiful. 104 00:14:03,020 --> 00:14:07,020 Especially in the fall, turning all different kinds of colors. 105 00:14:07,020 --> 00:14:10,020 But you have to water them. 106 00:14:10,020 --> 00:14:17,020 And what happens in the midst of a drought when you put a new tree in the ground and you don't water it? 107 00:14:17,020 --> 00:14:22,020 I saw it firsthand this week. You know what happens? It dies. It's dead. It's dry. 108 00:14:22,020 --> 00:14:28,020 And no matter how much water you put on a dead tree, a truly dead tree, it doesn't come back. 109 00:14:28,020 --> 00:14:31,020 It's just too far gone to save. 110 00:14:31,020 --> 00:14:35,020 And there is an objection in our heart to the promises of God where we go, 111 00:14:35,020 --> 00:14:39,020 "Is there anything left alive?" 112 00:14:39,020 --> 00:14:44,020 "I hear this promise, but I'm too far gone. I can't be saved." 113 00:14:44,020 --> 00:14:49,020 And so in addition to looking inward, we also look forward. 114 00:14:49,020 --> 00:14:55,020 And we might, maybe not out loud, but we might say, "Hope has died." 115 00:14:55,020 --> 00:15:01,020 There's a difference. Going to the airport, right as they're boarding your flight and making it on at the last minute, 116 00:15:01,020 --> 00:15:08,020 and standing there at the gate as you watch that plane taxi onto the runway and take off. 117 00:15:08,020 --> 00:15:12,020 And having been in both of those situations, right? 118 00:15:12,020 --> 00:15:18,020 One, there's hope. I can still make it. And one, it's nothing left I can do. 119 00:15:18,020 --> 00:15:25,020 And there is an objection to the promises of God deep in our heart that says, "Hope is gone." 120 00:15:25,020 --> 00:15:32,020 There's no more opportunity. There's nothing left. 121 00:15:32,020 --> 00:15:37,020 The third objection is upward. 122 00:15:37,020 --> 00:15:42,020 Any chance of chain transformation has been cut off. 123 00:15:42,020 --> 00:15:47,020 And this is where we look up to God, and any chance I had of Him saving me has been cut off. 124 00:15:47,020 --> 00:15:53,020 I had an old truck. And the starter didn't work very well, and the guy who had given me this old truck said, 125 00:15:53,020 --> 00:16:00,020 "Well, here's what I do." I hit it, and if that doesn't work, I try to jumpstart it, and sometimes it'll start well. 126 00:16:00,020 --> 00:16:11,020 After I dug into it, it turns out that the starter and the wire from the battery that connects to the starter was not connected very well. 127 00:16:11,020 --> 00:16:16,020 And I'll tell you what, if your starter isn't getting any electricity, you can beat on it all you want. 128 00:16:16,020 --> 00:16:21,020 You can jump, but if there's no connection, it will never start. 129 00:16:21,020 --> 00:16:34,020 And part of our objection to hearing this promise of God in Ezekiel 36 is that we go, "There's nothing left! You can't jumpstart something that is completely gone!" 130 00:16:34,020 --> 00:16:42,020 That there's no connection left. And that's the objection. I've burned that bridge. Maybe more than once. 131 00:16:42,020 --> 00:16:49,020 And there is no coming back from where I'm at. And in our brokenness, we hear God's promise and immediately begin to stack up 132 00:16:49,020 --> 00:16:57,020 reasons why it's not for us. You don't understand. You don't know how bad it is, or how bad I am. I've gone. 133 00:16:57,020 --> 00:17:04,020 I want you to understand these three objections that I just listed are not just some random objections. 134 00:17:04,020 --> 00:17:15,020 They're literally verse 11 of Ezekiel 37. "He said to me, 'Son of Mero,' and then listen, God lists the people's objection. 135 00:17:15,020 --> 00:17:24,020 Behold, they say our bones are dried up, right? Dead. No moisture left. Our hope is lost. 136 00:17:24,020 --> 00:17:30,020 There is no hope for the future. The plane has departed, and we are indeed cut off. 137 00:17:30,020 --> 00:17:40,020 There is no longer a connection." And what we see in the Valley of Dry Bones is not just this 138 00:17:40,020 --> 00:17:48,020 intra-skeletons reassembling, flesh being added in, as cinematic as being, is an argument 139 00:17:48,020 --> 00:17:59,020 from God against our hearts that say, "Our bones are dried up. Our hope is made. We are cut off." 140 00:17:59,020 --> 00:18:07,020 And so God answers in two ways. One, this vision, and that vision begins a terrifying walk. 141 00:18:10,020 --> 00:18:17,020 The Lord was upon me and brought me out in the middle of the valley. It was full of bones, and he led me around them. 142 00:18:17,020 --> 00:18:22,020 There were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, it was very dry. 143 00:18:22,020 --> 00:18:27,020 This was me. He'd be like, "No, thanks. I'll stay out of Skeleton Valley." 144 00:18:27,020 --> 00:18:34,020 And specifically, Ezekiel in the middle of Skeleton Valley. 145 00:18:35,020 --> 00:18:40,020 Is that often our response to God is, "You don't know how bad it is." 146 00:18:40,020 --> 00:18:46,020 Or, "God, you don't understand the depth of my brokenness." 147 00:18:46,020 --> 00:18:54,020 And so notice, by God's direction, by God's power, not observing from the sidelines, 148 00:18:54,020 --> 00:18:58,020 you see the depth of hopelessness in this valley. 149 00:18:58,020 --> 00:19:02,020 He doesn't just say, "Ezekiel, look out over the valley of bones." 150 00:19:02,020 --> 00:19:11,020 He set me down in the middle of the valley, and then He led me around among them, and they were very dry. 151 00:19:11,020 --> 00:19:21,020 And then the valley of dry bones, it was a picture that there's no way to bury the dead. 152 00:19:21,020 --> 00:19:25,020 A direct reference of God's people, right? 153 00:19:25,020 --> 00:19:30,020 The promise in Deuteronomy chapter 8 is that there's going to be nobody to bury your bones. 154 00:19:31,020 --> 00:19:34,020 The birds will pick them up and keep them clean. 155 00:19:34,020 --> 00:19:37,020 They would have had to be associated with it. 156 00:19:37,020 --> 00:19:44,020 It was conqueror's cruelty to not bury the dead or to drag them out. 157 00:19:44,020 --> 00:19:51,020 And God's argument to His people, who says we're dry, is not, first of all, to contradict them. 158 00:19:51,020 --> 00:19:53,020 It's to agree with them. 159 00:19:53,020 --> 00:20:00,020 And He goes, "You're a valley full of dead bones, and they're dry, and there is no hope anywhere, and I know because I've looked." 160 00:20:01,020 --> 00:20:05,020 And then there is this startling, startling question. 161 00:20:05,020 --> 00:20:10,020 And He said to me, "Son, can these bones live?" 162 00:20:10,020 --> 00:20:14,020 God knows their hopelessness. He just walked Ezekiel through it all. 163 00:20:14,020 --> 00:20:22,020 And there's two ways, I think, to answer this question: "Can these bones live?" 164 00:20:22,020 --> 00:20:25,020 And the one that is deep in our heart goes, "No." 165 00:20:26,020 --> 00:20:30,020 I see no hope. These bones aren't just bones, they're very dry. 166 00:20:30,020 --> 00:20:37,020 It's not like someone who has just fallen down and needs a defibrillator, that these are in the final state. 167 00:20:37,020 --> 00:20:39,020 There's nothing left. 168 00:20:39,020 --> 00:20:45,020 But then there is a glimmer of hope. 169 00:20:45,020 --> 00:20:50,020 Because God is the one who is speaking. 170 00:20:51,020 --> 00:20:58,020 And Ezekiel, very humbly says to the question, "Can these dry bones live?" 171 00:20:58,020 --> 00:21:00,020 And he says, "Oh Lord." 172 00:21:00,020 --> 00:21:03,020 It's humble, from my perspective. 173 00:21:03,020 --> 00:21:08,020 But from yours all things are possible. 174 00:21:08,020 --> 00:21:14,020 And to the most exhausted, hurting, sinful, broken person. 175 00:21:14,020 --> 00:21:17,020 "I can't bend these bones from you, but from God." 176 00:21:18,020 --> 00:21:23,020 And it's only when we come to the end of our strength, and we look at it and we say, "I can't." 177 00:21:23,020 --> 00:21:26,020 But God steps in. 178 00:21:26,020 --> 00:21:30,020 And there is a glimpse of the question. 179 00:21:30,020 --> 00:21:34,020 And in the next, 180 00:21:34,020 --> 00:21:37,020 the next verse is our eyes. 181 00:21:37,020 --> 00:21:44,020 The first thing that God does is He gives Ezekiel a message, and it's to preach to the dead bones. 182 00:21:44,020 --> 00:21:51,020 And we might say, "Well, how can bones hear? How can bones think? There's no pulse." 183 00:21:51,020 --> 00:21:58,020 And we feel that frustration, and maybe we feel it in our life because it feels like maybe in our life we've been preaching to dead bones. 184 00:21:58,020 --> 00:22:03,020 Jesus, whether it's to our children about the right way to live, 185 00:22:03,020 --> 00:22:10,020 house or to a family, and it feels like our words are just coming out. 186 00:22:11,020 --> 00:22:17,020 And God's speech prophesied to the dead bones. 187 00:22:17,020 --> 00:22:23,020 The problem is the dead bones can't hear, and they can't respect. 188 00:22:23,020 --> 00:22:28,020 But here's the wonder: the God who commands is also the God who creates. 189 00:22:29,020 --> 00:22:50,020 As I prophesied, as I was commanded, and there was a sound, and behold, a ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray of ray. 190 00:22:50,020 --> 00:22:55,020 And there's a big lesson here, because bones reassemble, but there's no breath. 191 00:22:56,020 --> 00:22:58,020 We can fix everything up. 192 00:22:58,020 --> 00:23:05,020 But without the power of the Spirit of God, there is light. 193 00:23:05,020 --> 00:23:15,020 So Ezekiel then, following the commands of God, prophesies to the breath or to the wind or to the Spirit. 194 00:23:15,020 --> 00:23:17,020 Come from the four winds. 195 00:23:17,020 --> 00:23:20,020 Come and breathe on these slain that they may live. 196 00:23:20,020 --> 00:23:24,020 And as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet. 197 00:23:24,020 --> 00:23:29,020 An exceedingly great army from all directions. 198 00:23:29,020 --> 00:23:34,020 Not just dead, but they are slain. They are killed. 199 00:23:34,020 --> 00:23:38,020 And look at the parallel. At the beginning it says they were exceedingly dry. 200 00:23:38,020 --> 00:23:43,020 Now they are exceedingly great. 201 00:23:43,020 --> 00:23:50,020 These dry, hopeless, cut-off bones are a direct consequence of their rebellion against God. 202 00:23:50,020 --> 00:23:55,020 And that's the whole point. 203 00:23:55,020 --> 00:23:59,020 They are slain because they have disobeyed God. 204 00:23:59,020 --> 00:24:03,020 And in His Spirit those bones come back to life. 205 00:24:03,020 --> 00:24:06,020 And I want you to think for a minute. 206 00:24:06,020 --> 00:24:11,020 How could God have responded? 207 00:24:11,020 --> 00:24:15,020 He would have been justified in doing absolutely nothing. 208 00:24:15,020 --> 00:24:17,020 They got this way and they earned it. 209 00:24:17,020 --> 00:24:20,020 He could have left the doubters to doubt. 210 00:24:20,020 --> 00:24:22,020 I made a promise. 211 00:24:22,020 --> 00:24:23,020 Take it or leave it. 212 00:24:23,020 --> 00:24:25,020 He could have left a plan to be followed. 213 00:24:25,020 --> 00:24:26,020 Pick yourself up and do it. 214 00:24:26,020 --> 00:24:32,020 But God responds with His Word and with His Spirit. 215 00:24:32,020 --> 00:24:35,020 Everything in this valley is teaching us. 216 00:24:35,020 --> 00:24:41,020 The bones are teaching us the brokenness of our condition, and they're right. 217 00:24:41,020 --> 00:24:46,020 And then God through His Word and through His Spirit, and it raises the dead. 218 00:24:46,020 --> 00:24:56,020 And what I love is God does not just demonstrate, but He explains. 219 00:24:56,020 --> 00:25:00,020 I just want you to hear, these bones are the whole house of Israel. 220 00:25:00,020 --> 00:25:02,020 Here's the people's objection. 221 00:25:02,020 --> 00:25:03,020 Our bones are dried up. 222 00:25:03,020 --> 00:25:04,020 Our hope is lost. 223 00:25:04,020 --> 00:25:07,020 We are cut off. 224 00:25:07,020 --> 00:25:11,020 Thus says the Lord God, "I will open you from your graves, O my people. 225 00:25:11,020 --> 00:25:13,020 I will bring you to the land of Israel. 226 00:25:13,020 --> 00:25:19,020 You shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. 227 00:25:19,020 --> 00:25:23,020 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. 228 00:25:23,020 --> 00:25:26,020 And then you shall know that I am the Lord. 229 00:25:26,020 --> 00:25:29,020 I have to do it," declares the Lord. 230 00:25:29,020 --> 00:25:32,020 There's so much, but these three objections are dried up. 231 00:25:32,020 --> 00:25:33,020 Hope is lost. 232 00:25:33,020 --> 00:25:34,020 We are cut off. 233 00:25:34,020 --> 00:25:36,020 God demonstrates that that's not the end of the story. 234 00:25:36,020 --> 00:25:42,020 And then He takes those three objections and in reverse order addresses them. 235 00:25:42,020 --> 00:25:50,020 So when people say, "We are cut off," God says, "I'll open your graves and I'll raise you from the dead." 236 00:25:50,020 --> 00:25:53,020 And He ends it like this, "O my people." 237 00:25:53,020 --> 00:25:56,020 There's a tenderness and a relationship that's here. 238 00:25:56,020 --> 00:25:59,020 And then He repeats it. 239 00:25:59,020 --> 00:26:00,020 And we're hopeless. 240 00:26:00,020 --> 00:26:01,020 We say, "There is no future." 241 00:26:01,020 --> 00:26:04,020 And God says, "I will bring you to the land of you." 242 00:26:04,020 --> 00:26:08,020 We're far away and our connection is broken and no future. 243 00:26:08,020 --> 00:26:11,020 And God says, "There is hope and I will bring you to where you need to go." 244 00:26:11,020 --> 00:26:18,020 And God says, "I will put my spirit within you and you shall." 245 00:26:18,020 --> 00:26:25,020 What I just did to this valley of dead bones, I will do to you. 246 00:26:25,020 --> 00:26:29,020 With a word and with a breath. 247 00:26:29,020 --> 00:26:33,020 Every objection God answers. 248 00:26:33,020 --> 00:26:36,020 Not just with words to life. 249 00:26:36,020 --> 00:26:40,020 And we could keep going in Scripture to see God answer objections. 250 00:26:40,020 --> 00:26:43,020 It's our objection after objection to our brokenness. 251 00:26:43,020 --> 00:26:45,020 I'm too fine. 252 00:26:45,020 --> 00:26:49,020 And God will answer every one of those with grace and directness. 253 00:26:49,020 --> 00:26:53,020 That it's not our trying, but His power. 254 00:26:53,020 --> 00:27:00,020 And His word and His spirit that brings life to our dead dry bones. 255 00:27:00,020 --> 00:27:02,020 So here's the question. 256 00:27:02,020 --> 00:27:05,020 How do we live? 257 00:27:05,020 --> 00:27:07,020 We have our objections. 258 00:27:07,020 --> 00:27:09,020 And God answers it in a vision. 259 00:27:09,020 --> 00:27:12,020 We'll take the vision and say, "Well, that's an interesting illustration." 260 00:27:12,020 --> 00:27:15,020 And then God answers it directly point for point. 261 00:27:15,020 --> 00:27:17,020 The three objections. 262 00:27:17,020 --> 00:27:20,020 The inward, the forward, and the upward. 263 00:27:20,020 --> 00:27:24,020 And God answers all of them saying, "I will turn it around." 264 00:27:24,020 --> 00:27:30,020 And then there comes a point where God answers this objection not in a valley, 265 00:27:30,020 --> 00:27:33,020 but on a hill. 266 00:27:33,020 --> 00:27:38,020 Can these bones live? 267 00:27:38,020 --> 00:27:47,020 Remember the exiles' objection that they were cut off. 268 00:27:47,020 --> 00:27:51,020 There comes one who will be cut off from the land of the living. 269 00:27:51,020 --> 00:27:54,020 Remember the objection about the dry bones. 270 00:27:54,020 --> 00:27:59,020 There comes one who on a hill and on a cross quotes from the 22nd Psalm, 271 00:27:59,020 --> 00:28:02,020 "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 272 00:28:02,020 --> 00:28:05,020 And then that Psalm continues, "My bones are out of joint. 273 00:28:05,020 --> 00:28:12,020 My strength is dried up like a plague me in the dust of death." 274 00:28:12,020 --> 00:28:16,020 And then remember the question about is there hope? 275 00:28:16,020 --> 00:28:21,020 Two men on a road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. 276 00:28:21,020 --> 00:28:25,020 When they're asked about why they're grieving, and they talk about Jesus, 277 00:28:25,020 --> 00:28:32,020 and they say, "We had hoped He would be the one to redeem Israel." 278 00:28:32,020 --> 00:28:39,020 The answer to the question, "We are hopeless and we are cut off," is not that God shouts encouragement into the valley, 279 00:28:39,020 --> 00:28:44,020 but rather that He descends down into it. 280 00:28:44,020 --> 00:28:50,020 And no one takes His life, but He lays it down willingly. 281 00:28:50,020 --> 00:28:56,020 And in a moment we'll read, "For the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead." 282 00:28:56,020 --> 00:29:02,020 On that Sunday morning you see a picture of what happens in Ezekiel in the reality of the resurrection. 283 00:29:02,020 --> 00:29:11,020 And not just the resurrection of Jesus. Matthew adds, "The tombs around Jerusalem broke open." 284 00:29:11,020 --> 00:29:21,020 The picture of the empty tomb is a down payment on the reality of bones being brought back to life. 285 00:29:21,020 --> 00:29:31,020 For us this is not just a vision, it's reality, with a place and a date and an empty grave and its location. 286 00:29:31,020 --> 00:29:45,020 The questions our hearts have been asking, can these bones live, is answered in the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus. 287 00:29:45,020 --> 00:29:52,020 I want you to notice that the bones aren't given an assignment. They're given a promise. 288 00:29:52,020 --> 00:30:00,020 That through the Word and through the Spirit the bones are brought back to life. They're given arguments. 289 00:30:00,020 --> 00:30:07,020 In the frustrations and in the promises of God and in the empty tomb. 290 00:30:07,020 --> 00:30:23,020 In Acts chapter 3, Peter preaches, "Repent and return so that times of refreshing may flow from the Lord." 291 00:30:23,020 --> 00:30:31,020 So I don't know where we all are. Sometimes we're on the mountain top in the valley. 292 00:30:31,020 --> 00:30:41,020 It may be a struggle in our families or in our health with our children of faith that feels like it is dry bones. 293 00:30:41,020 --> 00:30:49,020 So I encourage you to bring your questions to the one who answers decisively and with promises and with hope, 294 00:30:49,020 --> 00:31:00,020 even when it's all your own fault. He still comes, and he still restores, and he still breathes life into your weary bones. 295 00:31:00,020 --> 00:31:08,020 In Ezekiel, he ends like that. "I have spoken, and I will do it." 296 00:31:08,020 --> 00:31:17,020 Father in heaven, turn our eyes to hope. We come with our brokenness and our hopelessness and our dry bones, 297 00:31:17,020 --> 00:31:22,020 knowing that through your word and through your spirit, you can breathe life into them. 298 00:31:22,020 --> 00:31:28,020 Transform us, encourage us, and help us. It's in Jesus' name we pray. 299 00:31:28,020 --> 00:31:32,020 We're going to stand and sing "Turn Your Eyes."