[0:00] I'm going to just invite Yannick to come and join me so that you can get to meet him very briefly before he preaches to us. Dima Queens Park also went to Yannick.
[0:32] So what do you think about it? So really, you know, you had an opportunity to mess it up and you didn't. So thank you. That's great. Yeah, I wonder if you just tell us just a little bit maybe about your family and the ministry at Stockwell Baptist.
[0:43] That'd be great. Great. So first of all, joy to be here again. Joy to be with you all. Family wise, I'm blessed to have a wife, a wonderful wife.
[0:54] We have two kids who just turned three and five. Two girls who are crazy and a boy on the way due in just over a month. So you can pray for that.
[1:05] In terms of the ministry, I mean, as Steve said, really the parallels between Stockwell Baptist Church and here are incredible. Right. So six years ago, there was a church that had been planted through commission and there was an older established Baptist church, which was part of the FIC.
[1:23] And they merged. And if that sounds familiar, similar to your story, that's what happened with us just over six years ago. And it's been such a joy. It's been such a blessing to see God merge two churches, very different, very different church cultures.
[1:38] And it's been a massive blessing. And one of the things we said, and I remember saying at the time, is it would be so wonderful if this could happen in so many other places. And so I was super excited to hear about this.
[1:50] I've been thinking of you, praying for you guys. And so, yeah, I'm just buzzing to be here with you guys today. So what do you think, like six years into that, what's been the hardest part?
[2:02] What's been the biggest blessings? What do you think? Oh, yeah. I think that the hardest part is probably, you know, what lots of you would have experienced, which is when you merge, it's like everyone feels like they've lost their church.
[2:16] So you don't notice what's the same. You notice what's different. So it was, for us, it was Brixen Local Church and Stockwell Baptist Church. Well, everyone in Brixen Local Church thought, well, Brixen Local Church is over.
[2:26] Now it's just Stockwell Baptist Church. And everyone in Stockwell Baptist Church thought, well, Stockwell Baptist Church is over. Now it's all just Brixen Local Church. And so there's just a sense of loss because both people, you know, both sides, you notice what's different.
[2:38] So I think that's what's challenging. That's what's hard. And, you know, but the blessing is, I guess, similar demographic to you guys. The blessing is once we merged, we were able to just reach a breadth of people that we weren't able to before.
[2:54] Neither church was able to before. And so the real blessing is the Merge Church has grown in ways that neither of those churches were growing. Just exponentially more.
[3:05] And to see God do that, to see some of the people who had left Stockwell Baptist Church over the years, come, hear about the Merge and come back to the church is a particular blessing.
[3:16] So to have parents see their children return to the church was one of the blessings. So I could say lots, but there's been lots of stuff that's been amazing about it. Great. Let me pray for you, Yannick, and pray for us, and then we'll listen to God's word read.
[3:27] Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that you are a gracious and loving God. We thank you for Yannick's friendship of the church here and for his wise counsel over the last year, 18 months or so.
[3:40] Pray, Lord, that you might bless him as he opens your word to us. Give us tender hearts to listen to what you say. We've come this morning not to listen to Yannick's good advice, but we've come to listen to you.
[3:52] So bless us, we pray. Watch over us, we ask. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, let's read Ezekiel 37 together. It's on page 868.
[4:04] The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of the valley. It was full of bones. He led me to and fro among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.
[4:19] He asked me, Son of Man, can these bones live? I said, Sovereign Lord, you alone know. Then he said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
[4:32] This is what the Sovereign Lord said to these bones. I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin.
[4:44] I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound.
[4:55] And the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them, and skin covered them, and there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, Son of Man, and say to it, This is what the Sovereign Lord says.
[5:12] Come, breathe from the four winds, and breathe into these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded them, and breath entered them.
[5:22] They came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast army. Then he said to me, Son of Man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is gone, we are cut off.
[5:35] Therefore, prophesy and say to them, This is what the Sovereign Lord says. My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them. I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
[5:47] Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord. When I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land.
[5:58] Then you will know that I am the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord. Amen. It's a joy again, as I said, it's a joy to be with us.
[6:09] We're going to look at the passage that was just read. But before we do that, please join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of your word.
[6:20] We thank you that you have spoken. We pray, Lord, that we would experience the power of your word this morning. I pray, Lord, that we would hear from you. I pray, Lord, that you would increase our expectation of what you can do when you speak.
[6:37] And I pray that you would go beyond our expectations. I pray, Lord, that you would bring life. I pray, Lord, that you would be merciful to us and speak to us and change us.
[6:50] And I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. One thing we all need as people, one of the things that is necessary as people, is we all need hope.
[7:04] We all need hope. We can, as people, people can go through the most horrific things, the most terrible things in life, and they can just keep going as long as they have hope.
[7:16] As long as there's something they're looking forward to, something they've got their eye on, they can go through incredible things. And you look through history and you think, how did this person go through that or endure through that?
[7:26] And you think they had hope. Hope kept them going. And as soon as we lose hope, it's all over. Our souls need hope. We need hope. And so as people are constantly looking for hope, we're constantly searching for hope.
[7:42] And Christians, we know that we have hope. There is a hope of the gospel. There's a hope in Jesus. And so what I want us to do really today is think about what the Christian hope looks like, what the hope of the gospel looks like.
[7:58] And what we're going to see is that it's a very special kind of hope. A very different kind of hope. And yet it's the only hope that lasts forever. It's the only hope that actually will count for anything in the end.
[8:12] And we're going to start by looking at where this hope begins. And the one thing about this hope, the first thing I want you to see about this hope, is that this hope begins with death.
[8:23] This hope, the hope of the gospel, it begins where there is no hope. It begins where hope is dead. Look with me at the first three verses of Ezekiel 37.
[8:34] Ezekiel 37. The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones.
[8:45] He led me to and fro among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, Son of man, can these bones live?
[8:56] I said, Sovereign Lord, you alone know. Ezekiel is taken to a valley full of dry bones. It's difficult to imagine a situation that's more hopeless than this vision, or at least this situation that Ezekiel was brought to.
[9:16] God could have brought Ezekiel to a valley full of people who were really sick. And that would have been tragic if you saw a valley just full of people, and they were all sick. That would be really tragic.
[9:27] That would be sad. But it's worse than that. God could have brought Ezekiel to a valley full of people who were just really injured. They were all hurt in one way or the other. And that would have been quite hard and tough, but it's worse than that.
[9:42] God could have even brought Ezekiel to a valley full of people who were dead, dead bodies all over the valley. And you would think that's hopeless. But it's more hopeless than that, because it's not just a valley full of dead bodies.
[9:55] It's a valley full of bones. And they're not just bones. The Bible says they're dry bones. And they're not even just dry bones. The Bible goes further to say the bones are very dry.
[10:09] So picture this. Picture Ezekiel in a valley, and he's full of bones. And they're not just bones. They're dry bones. Disconnected human dry bones.
[10:24] Again, it's impossible to really imagine a situation that is more hopeless than this vision. And the question that God asks Ezekiel is, Ezekiel, can these bones live?
[10:35] And in one sense, the obvious answer is, of course not. Now, okay, that's the vision. What's it all about? What's the dry bones all about?
[10:46] Well, the passage tells us that really it's speaking about the situation of Israel at the time. So skip ahead with me, verse 11. It says this, Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel.
[11:01] They say, our bones are dried up, and our hope is gone. We are cut off. So the hopelessness of this valley is picturing the hopelessness of Israel at the time.
[11:15] Now, to understand that, you need to understand something about the history of Israel. The Bible tells us that God had chosen Israel. God had rescued Israel from Egypt. God had done many wonderful things for Israel.
[11:27] God had provided for Israel. God had given his word to Israel. They had his law. They had his prophets. And yet, in spite of all of God's goodness to Israel, again and again, Israel had sinned.
[11:41] Again and again, Israel had turned away from the Lord. Again and again, they had disobeyed God. And God would warn them and warn them and warn them. But they persisted in sin and sin and sin.
[11:51] And so God, again, would send judgment. And yet, in spite of the judgment, they would continue in sin. And so eventually what happens, earlier in the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel sees a vision of God's glory leaving the temple.
[12:06] And yet, even in spite of that, Israel continues to sin. And God sends a man called Nebuchadnezzar. He's king of Babylon. And he comes and he takes some people and he takes them to exile.
[12:18] People like Ezekiel. And he takes them to Babylon. And again, it's a warning sign. Guys, you need to stop. But Israel continues in sin. All the way to the moment where King Nebuchadnezzar comes and he destroys the temple.
[12:35] And he destroys Jerusalem. And he carries the people off into exile. And now the people of Israel, they're not in their homeland. They're not in the promised land.
[12:47] They're away. The temple has been destroyed. And they're away in a foreign land. And if you looked at their situation, it looks as if the future of Israel is over.
[13:00] It's hopeless. It's done. There were opportunities to turn back. But now, Jerusalem is destroyed. God's temple has been utterly destroyed. The people have been carried off into Babylon.
[13:12] Their future is over. That's what they say. Verse 11. Our hope is cut off. They are dead. And if you're wondering what that has to do with us, what it has to do with us is that this isn't just speaking about Israel being dead.
[13:29] The Bible actually says that we, by nature, are also dead. By nature, naturally, we are actually in a situation where we are hopeless.
[13:40] The book of Ephesians, you don't have to turn that. I'll read it. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1 to 3, gives us a picture of what we are like. And it says this. As for you, you are dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live, when you followed the ways of this world, and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
[14:05] All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh, and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
[14:20] We are dead. As it relates to any hope of life with God, we are hopeless. We have no ability to get to God.
[14:31] We are, by nature, just like that valley of dry bones. Disconnected, dry bones, hopeless. Dead, cannot move, cannot make our way to God.
[14:42] Right? Cut off from God. Christian hope, the hope of the gospel, starts here. It starts here with people who realize that no matter what we can do, you know, many of us, we do lots of stuff.
[14:56] We go for runs. Maybe we exercise. We're successful with our jobs. We play about with our families. We can do all these things. But as it relates to life with God, we are dead. And hopeless.
[15:09] And that's why, actually, you know, there's lots of self-help stuff, right? You know, how to improve your life, how to get better, how to, you know, change your habits. And, you know, some of those things are helpful.
[15:21] But self-help, as it relates to life with God, is useless. What self-help can you give to a valley full of dry bones?
[15:33] Right? Dry bones. Here's some life advice. Here's how you can, you know, move on in life. They're dead. Dry bones. Can't do anything. Self-help, as it relates to our life with God, is useless.
[15:48] We are, by nature, dead, dry bones. And we begin. It's so important that we realize that it begins here. The hope of the gospel doesn't begin by saying, you can make it, or you can do it, or things aren't that bad.
[16:02] It begins by saying, things are terrible. Awful. Worse than you could imagine. You're actually hopeless. That's where the hope of the gospel begins. And so, there's this dry bones.
[16:16] Dead, dry, very dry bones. And yet there's hope. And the hope is found in God's word. Look with me from verse 4. Then he said to me, prophesy to these bones and say to them, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
[16:35] This is what the sovereign Lord says to these bones. Right? I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you, and make flesh come upon you, and cover you with skin.
[16:46] I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Verse 4. He says, prophesy to these bones and say to them, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
[16:59] So, God speaks, and God says to the dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. But there's a problem here. There's a problem.
[17:11] And if this passage doesn't seem weird, or if you don't see the problem here, it's probably because maybe you've heard the passage too many times, or you're just not paying enough attention.
[17:22] There's a problem here. God tells Ezekiel to speak to dry bones. But what's the problem? The problem is, dry bones can't hear. You don't actually, you know, you don't need to be a doctor to know that dry bones don't have ears.
[17:40] So, there's this hope that's found in God speaking, but what's the problem? The first problem is, they can't hear. The dry bones can't hear. This sounds like just an exercise in futility.
[17:52] Why is Ezekiel speaking to dry bones that do not have the ability to hear him? It's not just true hair. It's actually true.
[18:02] Throughout the Bible, you see this kind of thing. Jesus, when Jesus came and lived on the earth, John 11 tells us that Jesus has a friend called Lazarus. And this friend Lazarus, he dies.
[18:16] And he's been dead. And he's not just been dead one day or two days or three days. He's been dead four days. And so Jesus goes, and he goes to the place where Lazarus is buried. And Jesus does the most just bizarre thing.
[18:29] Jesus speaks to Lazarus. He speaks to Lazarus. But what's the problem? It's the same problem. Lazarus is dead. Here's a fun fact about dead people.
[18:41] Dead people cannot hear. Right? This doesn't make sense. Jesus, surely you have to raise Lazarus or do something to Lazarus first. And then you can speak to Lazarus.
[18:53] Surely when Ezekiel is with his valley of dry bones, he has to do something to do dry bones, and then maybe he can speak to the dry bones. But Jesus speaks to a person that cannot hear him. And Ezekiel speaks to a valley of dry bones that cannot, do not have the ability to hear him.
[19:13] And yet, here's the amazing thing. Ezekiel speaks God's word. And dead, dry bones hear God's word. They hear and respond to God's word.
[19:25] Verse 7. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rustling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them, and skin covered them.
[19:39] Here's the point, and it's an amazing point. God's word has the ability to give, is able to give us the ability to hear.
[19:56] God's word is able to give us the ability to hear. So when Jesus speaks to Lazarus, there's an amazing miracle.
[20:07] The amazing miracle is that Lazarus comes back to life. But before that miracle, there's another miracle. As Jesus speaks to Lazarus, the word itself gives Lazarus the ability to hear Jesus.
[20:19] Somehow Lazarus hears Jesus. A dead person hears. And it's the same thing right here, right? These dead, dry bones that naturally don't have the ability to hear, somehow, as the word is spoken, they gain the ability to hear, to respond.
[20:37] And the reason why that's amazing is this. God's word needs nothing from us to work. Right? It doesn't need, there doesn't have to be anything for God's word to take effect.
[20:53] God can speak to bones that cannot hear, and grant the very ability to hear. God can speak to Lazarus, who's dead, and grant, the word itself can grant the ability to hear, and to respond, right?
[21:07] God's word has the ability to give us the ability to hear. And it's the same thing that you see right at the beginning of our Bible, the beginning of our world, there's nothing, absolutely nothing.
[21:18] And what does God do? God speaks. And God says, let there be light. And there was nothing. And all of a sudden, because God's word has life-giving power, light just comes out.
[21:30] Because God's word has the ability to do that kind of thing. Again, you look at the Gospels. That's why Jesus goes around, and he tells people to do things they cannot do.
[21:43] Right? One time, Jesus sees a lame man, and you know what he tells the lame man? He says, get up, take your mat, and walk. Jesus, he's lame.
[21:54] He can't walk. Why do you tell him to get up and walk? Right? Or Jesus sees a man with a withered hand, and he tells him, stretch out your hand. And it's like, well, his hand's withered.
[22:10] Obviously, he can't stretch out his hand. But Jesus says, he tells them, he says, get up and walk. He tells the man, stretch out your hand. And the amazing thing happens, that as Jesus' word goes to them, the word grants the ability to respond.
[22:25] So as Jesus tells this lame man to get up and walk, through his word, somehow strength gets into this man's legs. And he's able to actually get up and walk. And somehow, as Jesus tells this man with a withered hand, to stretch out your hand, the word itself carries this power, and it grants the ability for this man to actually stretch out his hand.
[22:47] God's word, it meets nothing. It meets hopelessness. It meets deadness. And it grants life. It grants the ability to respond.
[22:58] And if you're here today, you're a Christian, that's the same thing that happened to you. Ephesians 2, you are dead in sins, far from God. You didn't have an ability to respond to God.
[23:09] But guess what? The gospel is the power of God for salvation. And so when the gospel was preached to you, that gospel came with power. And you heard God. And you were able to respond to God because God's word has power.
[23:23] And that's what happens to us and that's what happened to Israel. Israel's hope was through God's words. Verse 11, again. He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel.
[23:37] They say, our bones are dried up and our hope is gone. We are cut off. Therefore, prophesy and say to them, this is what the sovereign Lord says. My people, I'm going to open your graves and bring you up from them.
[23:47] I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and bring you up from them. Israel, in a far off country, the temple was destroyed, Jerusalem was burnt, the hope was cut off.
[24:02] But you know what God did? God spoke. God gave promises and those promises had life. And you know what happened? God actually brought Israelites back into the land.
[24:13] And the gates that were destroyed were rebuilt. And the temple was rebuilt. How did that happen? It happened because God spoke. And it wasn't because the situation wasn't that bad.
[24:25] The situation was hopeless. Israel was about to be like, just like all the other nations which had been exiled and forgotten to be remembered no more. But God spoke. And as soon as God spoke, there was hope.
[24:39] And that's the same thing that God does with us today. God speaks. And God's word needs nothing to work. Because God's word has life in and of itself.
[24:52] And you would think, if you're reading through this, this valley of dry bones, you would think that that would be the end of the thing. Dead, God speaks, life, end of story.
[25:03] But there's still a problem here. Look at me again at verse 7. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And I was prophesying. There was a noise, a rustling sound.
[25:17] 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. So the bones have come together.
[25:31] There's skin, there's flesh. But there's no breath in them. Now, in order to understand this, in order to understand what's going on, you need to understand, there's a kind of a word play here.
[25:42] The word breath, it's written in Hebrew, is the same word for spirit. You'll see that. There's a footnote in verse 5, in your Bibles, and that tells you that the word for breath is the same as the word for spirit.
[25:55] The reason why the bones come together and the flesh come together, but there's no life, is that there's no spirit. They need, if there is to be life, they need the spirit.
[26:09] God needs to give his spirit. Again, look at me at verse 9. He said to me, prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to it, this is what the sovereign Lord says, come breath from the full wind and breathe into these slain that they may live.
[26:26] So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them. They came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast army. And then skip down to verse 14, the interpretation. I will put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land.
[26:42] Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it, declares the Lord. The point of this is, if there will be life, if there's going to be hope, we need God's word, and we need God's spirit.
[26:56] That's the point. We need God's word, and we need God's spirit. The point here isn't, you know, the word does a little bit, and then the spirit does a little bit. That's not the point. The point is, unless we have God's word, and we have God's spirit, there will be no life.
[27:13] For there to be life, for there to be hope, we need God's word, and we need God's spirit. This is emphasizing for us, our need for God's spirit. And that's important, because one of the things it teaches us, is that, when it comes to this life, God is sovereign.
[27:32] In other words, we can preach the word, we can hear the word, we can read the word ourselves, but unless God gives his spirit, there will be no life. That's why, when we preach in churches, we pray, we pray.
[27:46] Because it doesn't matter, how well Steve preaches. He could preach, and preach, and preach, and make it clear, and so, but guess what? Unless God gives his spirit, there will be no life.
[27:58] That's why, when we're reading our Bible at home, we don't just read our Bible, we pray, we ask for God's help, because apart from God's help, by his spirit, there will be no life. Yes, we need God's word.
[28:09] God's word brings life, but it brings life, through his spirit. Nothing happens, nothing happens, unless God in his grace, gives us of his spirit.
[28:20] That's why, you know, we're getting ready to come to church. We ought to be praying, God, give us of your spirit. Because it's the spirit that gives life. We need the help of God's spirit.
[28:33] And yet, when God's word is given, and God pours out his spirit, very dry, dead bones, come to life. Hope, emerges from hopelessness.
[28:47] And all that is needed, is God's word, and God's spirit. Okay, that's lots of stuff. What does that mean? Three things for us, if you're here today, you're a believer, there's three things, I want you to take away from this.
[29:00] And if you're here today, you're not a believer, you're not trusting in Jesus, there's one thing, I want you to take away from this. So first, if you're here, you're a believer, three things. First thing, this means, is that you ought to praise Jesus.
[29:13] You ought to praise Jesus. I say that because, this passage ought to remind you, that you were, dead, dry bones. You were, hopeless.
[29:27] You were dead in your sin. You had no hope, of life with God. You had no relationship with God. You, you weren't on your way to God.
[29:38] You were as far away from God, as could possibly be. And there was no way, you could have ever made your way to him. You were lost. And you were dead.
[29:51] And yet, God had mercy on you. God had mercy on you. We, we, we started by singing, his mercy is more. God had mercy on you. Jesus had mercy on you.
[30:03] And so, you know what he did? You, you, you were dead, dry bones. You were a valley full of dead, dry bones. That's who you were. And yet, Jesus loved you so much. So, you know what Jesus did? He entered into your valley of dry bones.
[30:16] He, he entered into our deadness. He, he came and he lived and he was beaten for us. And he was bruised for us. More than that, he died for us. Our death, he took it upon himself.
[30:28] He, he did that for you. Your hair, you're trusting in Jesus Christ. He did that for you. He died for you. And not only did he die for you, but praise God, he was raised for you. He came back to life for you.
[30:39] And then he ascended to heaven for you. And again, all of that would be amazing. That would be more than enough reason to praise God. But, but more than that, more than that, he spoke his word to you.
[30:50] Your hair, your, your trusting in Jesus. It's because Jesus made sure that someone, God spoke the gospel to you. You were dead, but he made sure he spoke the word to you. And he didn't just give you his word, but he poured out his spirit upon you.
[31:05] The reason you're here today and you are saying, you know, you can say, I trust Jesus Christ. I believe Jesus Christ. It's because Jesus loved you so much that he died for you. And he spoke his word to you.
[31:16] And he poured out his spirit upon you so that you might have hope in him. And if all of that is true, you ought to praise Jesus. You want not to be, shouldn't have to convince you or work hard to push you to praise Jesus.
[31:32] Cause you were dead and you were hopeless and you had nothing. And Jesus had mercy on you. And he gave you his spirit and he spoke his word and you have life.
[31:45] And now you come to church and you praise God. You didn't care about God before. You didn't want anything to do with God, but he had mercy on you. And so praise him. Spent all of your life praising Jesus.
[31:59] Because you were dead and he had mercy. That's the first thing. But secondly, secondly, believe Jesus. Believe Jesus. This passage reminds us that Jesus has the keys to death and Hades.
[32:14] Jesus is in the business of resurrecting. And you know what that means? That means he can do anything. So believe him. Now often as Christians, we get into situations in our lives where we think, ah, this is just hopeless.
[32:35] Maybe it's a sin that you've been kind of wrestling through for like many years. And you've tried, you've tried, you've tried. And you're at that point where you think, you know what? Maybe, maybe I just won't ever be, you know, kill this.
[32:48] And maybe this will just be the thing I wrestle with through. Maybe it's just not possible for me to deal with it. Maybe it's a prayer request. Maybe it's something you're praying for. And it's like, you know what? Maybe it's just not possible.
[32:59] Maybe it just can't happen. And if that's a question that you ask, and I think all Christians, we get to situations where we ask this kind of question. It's very similar to the question that God asked Ezekiel.
[33:10] Can these dry bones live? And you know what the answer is? Yes, they can. Because our God is in the business of resurrection. You cannot be in a situation more hopeless than dead, dry bones.
[33:26] And as hopeless as that was, God raised you. If that's true, there's nothing that God cannot do. There's no sin that God cannot break.
[33:39] There's no prayer request that God cannot meet. If God did this, if God raised you from the dead, if God did that, there is nothing in your life that he cannot do.
[33:50] Right? If you're in a moment where you're despairing that sin, you've, I just can't do it. I can't do it. There's no way I can change. I can't be any better. Good. That's a good place to be.
[34:02] That's where this passage starts. But that's not the end. Because when, you know, when our hope ends, God's hope begins. God can do anything. Let me put it differently.
[34:14] The miracle behind you is far greater than the miracle ahead of you. What God has already done in raising you, that's way more impossible than anything you're asking God to do now.
[34:27] You ought to look back so that you could have faith and look forward. I know that the God who raised you from the dead is able to kill sin. And he's able to answer prayer.
[34:37] We want not to be Christians who, you know, you know, this will never happen or this will never, we serve a God who raises dead people. And so believe Jesus, trust Jesus.
[34:50] Thirdly, lastly for you, if you're here, you're trusting in Jesus, speak Jesus. Speak Jesus. When you read through this, this, this account of the Valley of dry bones, you ought not to underestimate the role of Ezekiel.
[35:08] God doesn't just do this just by himself. Of course he could. He doesn't. He doesn't. He, he uses Ezekiel. This amazing thing happens as Ezekiel speaks God's word.
[35:20] God. And I say that to say this, we're here, we're trusting in Jesus. And yet there are people in our lives who we know are not trusting in Jesus.
[35:34] There's maybe friends, there's family that we know are not trusting Jesus. And some of them, they just seem so far from God. It feels like they're just so far away from the gospel.
[35:47] I can't even imagine this person coming to faith. Like I can't even imagine. You know what? I'm still praying for them. They're still on my prayer list. Cause you know, it's, it's a good thing to do, but I don't actually think that God can raise this person.
[36:00] I don't actually think that this person could become a Christian because they just seem so far. They don't seem responsive. Here's the beautiful thing about this passage. God's word gives the ability to respond.
[36:16] What that means is your friend, your family member, they don't have to be interested in Jesus for Jesus to give them life. They don't have to seem close to Jesus for Jesus to give them life.
[36:28] There was a valley full of dry bones. And Ezekiel spoke God's word. And God gave life. Our responsibility is to teach the gospel. We share the gospel. And the gospel is the power of God to save.
[36:40] And so God meets people who are not looking for him. God meets people who are dead in their sin and God gives them life. It doesn't matter how, you know, against the gospel they are.
[36:50] Keep seeking opportunities to share the gospel with them. I know that as you preach the gospel, God gives his spirit. And as God gives his spirit, dead people come to life.
[37:02] You know, there's a guy called Saul. The Bible says that God saved him when he was on his road to Damascus. Why was he going to Damascus? He was trying to find ways to persecute Christians, to kill Christians.
[37:13] In other words, Saul was on his, he wasn't looking for God. He wasn't looking for Jesus. But Jesus met him and saved him. And God can save your friend.
[37:23] God can save your spouse. God can save your mom. God can save your dad. God can save your colleague. Speak the word. Speak Jesus. Leave the resurrection to him.
[37:34] But speak Jesus and trust that God will do that work. And if you're here today, finally, and you're not trusting in Jesus, really there's two parts to this.
[37:45] The first part of this is, you're dead. That's what Ezekiel 37 says. You're dead. You don't have a relationship with God.
[37:57] And you don't actually even have the ability to respond to God. You don't have the ability to hear. So obviously you can hear, right?
[38:08] Physically, you can hear what I'm saying. But you cannot truly hear God. You're dead in sin. You don't have that ability. It may be that you think, you know, I've heard all this stuff about Jesus.
[38:19] And, you know, I know, and I've thought, and I've decided, and I've rejected. But the reality is, you've never really heard it. Because by nature, we don't have the ability to hear. That's the first part of it.
[38:33] But the second part of it is hope. Because though you are dead, and though you cannot hear, our God is in the business of raising dead people to life.
[38:43] And it could be that even as I've been preaching, you for the first time this morning, you can hear. You might have heard the gospel many times, but for the first time, you've heard, you've heard that Jesus died for you.
[39:03] He went to the cross for your sins. And that he offers his life to you. And you've heard it many times, but this time you can, you hear it. This time you see it.
[39:14] This time you see the beauty of God, the beauty of the God who would love you this way. This time, God, by his spirit, has given you life, and you see it.
[39:26] My only ask for you today, if that's you today, is to come and put your faith in Jesus. Don't delay, don't put it off. If today, God has given you the ability to hear, if today, you see Jesus, speak to Steve, speak to one of the church leaders, and come and put your faith in him.
[39:49] By nature, all of us are in a situation that is as hopeless as this valley of dry bones. And yet we have hope, because our God is in the business of resurrecting.
[40:03] Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this passage. We thank you for your word. Lord, and I pray, that even this morning, people who are dead, who have no relationship with you, you would give them life, through your word, and through your spirit.
[40:25] Lord, I pray, I pray that you would have mercy, and that in your kindness, you would raise people today. And I pray for those of us here, who are trusting in you, that you would fill us with just amazement, that we too are once dead, dry bones.
[40:48] And yet in your mercy, you raised us, so that we have life with you. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.