WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.520 Okay, as Derek said, we're in a series just now on Ezekiel, not the whole book, but just 00:00:06.520 --> 00:00:12.080 pictures, very graphic pictures, the high points of Ezekiel. 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:18.280 So if you open your Bible or look at your paper or flip open your app at Ezekiel 37, 00:00:18.280 --> 00:00:24.480 let me just read the first verse to get some focus. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:30.399 The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:32.159 in the middle of a valley. 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:37.120 It was full of bones. 00:00:37.120 --> 00:00:42.519 There's a sense of hopelessness in the culture just now, and anybody who is reading the culture 00:00:42.519 --> 00:00:47.799 can see moments like extinction, rebellion, and although they're offering a degree of 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:54.439 ecological hope in the midst of chaos, there's always that pervasive sense of menace. 00:00:54.439 --> 00:00:58.039 That things are not going to end very well for the planet. 00:00:58.039 --> 00:01:02.920 And then politically, of course, we've got the Brexit debacle, which just goes on and 00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:06.920 on and on with a sense of political hopelessness. 00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:09.679 At least we have Donald Trump coming tomorrow. 00:01:09.679 --> 00:01:15.519 So there is some good news, and there's a degree of hope, he says, somewhat cynically. 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:19.479 However, hope is an integral part of the gospel. 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:25.120 We as people of the church and people of faith and people of Jesus have faith and hope in 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:27.320 our very DNA. 00:01:27.320 --> 00:01:32.439 And so what we offer, and hopefully in this congregation and in our life and in our message, 00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:37.400 is something which goes against the hopelessness of the prevailing culture. 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:41.640 Indeed the very church of Jesus Christ is born out of hope. 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:50.400 You remember the key figure, Abraham, Romans 4, against all hope, Abraham in hope believed. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:56.319 Remember how Sarah was 90 years of age, and Abraham was 100, and of course the child was 00:01:56.319 --> 00:02:02.560 born and the seed of that child are here in our very building tonight. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:07.439 And so we see that hope is very much part of the church. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:12.840 You look at the early church and you look at this hopeless, ban, this ragtag group, 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:19.680 eventually of Jesus, and at the end, the 11 men and a group of women as they move forward, 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:27.039 and yet God took that disparate, crazy bunch of people and from it the church of Jesus 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:35.639 Christ was birthed in a shockingly hopeless human situation with persecution, with a message 00:02:35.639 --> 00:02:41.199 which was patently ridiculous, that a man dying across was a messiah and he would redeem 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:48.639 the world and yet out of that great picture we have of course the glory of the church. 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:52.159 And so we find that that's our message of hope. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:59.000 But isn't there sometimes a discontinuity between the hope that we profess and the facts 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:03.679 that we see round about us, especially in the church? 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:08.040 And I was preaching fairly recently to a very, very small church. 00:03:08.040 --> 00:03:15.240 There was 18 people in front of me and the whole atmosphere seemed to scream out hopelessness. 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:22.800 The very dry ragt was screaming that there is no hope in this situation and that's not 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:27.760 an uncommon scene in the church in Scotland today. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:35.479 So what we have here is this passage and it's dealing with hope in a context of hopelessness. 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:40.039 I don't know if you are familiar with this story. 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:46.959 There's a pretty famous song, Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones, here, the word of 00:03:46.959 --> 00:03:48.459 the Lord. 00:03:48.459 --> 00:03:52.359 But I spoke to four or five younger folk this evening. 00:03:52.359 --> 00:03:54.239 None of them had heard it. 00:03:54.240 --> 00:04:00.960 So Dem Bones, Dem Bones clearly belongs to a golden age, which those of you who are 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:04.800 fresh young lunes and lunettes have never heard of. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:07.800 But that's how most folk are introduced to this passage. 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:12.719 Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones, hear the word of the Lord. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:16.560 So what we have here, you've heard this story over the last few weeks. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:21.240 Jerusalem, Israel is discouraged during exile. 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:26.319 Ezekiel is in this behind the barbed wire of a concentration camp. 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:34.240 He sees the exiles by the river Babylon and there is not a very encouraging situation 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:36.079 round about. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:40.800 So as we look at the passage tonight, I just want to know, is one or two things and again, 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:44.600 the key element of it is hope. 00:04:44.600 --> 00:04:47.840 Remember the genre here is apocalyptic. 00:04:47.840 --> 00:04:49.680 It's a picture. 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:55.680 We don't go into every single detail, but the big picture is telling us a story. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:05:03.319 And the big picture, of course, is hopelessness is destroyed and hope emerges. 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:09.399 So whatever your situation is this evening in your life, your hopeless situation, perhaps 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:14.960 there is a degree of inspiration in the passage tonight. 00:05:14.960 --> 00:05:17.240 Just a few things. 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:20.920 Another one we read here that hope begins with an honest assessment. 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:23.160 Look at verse one. 00:05:23.160 --> 00:05:28.519 The hand of the Lord was on me and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me 00:05:28.519 --> 00:05:33.720 in the middle of a valley that was full of bones. 00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:38.079 That expression by the way, the hand of the Lord was upon me. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:41.800 It was last seen in chapter eight, verse one. 00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:48.280 And every time the hand of the Lord was on Ezekiel, it did not end well for him. 00:05:48.280 --> 00:05:54.680 Indeed the last time he saw something gruesome, he was silenced for five years. 00:05:54.680 --> 00:05:57.480 He saw what was called the abomination in the temple. 00:05:57.480 --> 00:06:03.400 He saw something so awful that he couldn't speak for five years after that. 00:06:03.400 --> 00:06:06.400 But in the language here is very graphic. 00:06:06.400 --> 00:06:11.439 It's almost a cartoon because he says he brought me out by the spirit and sent me in the middle 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:14.719 of a valley and it was full of bones. 00:06:14.719 --> 00:06:22.399 So it's a cartoon because the language here is literally a valley full of bones. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:28.560 If you imagine Glen Coal, which is a really picturesque valley and indeed a valley of 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:36.240 death in many ways, you can see it there just the floor of a valley is strewn with bleached 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:37.240 bones. 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:39.879 It's a pile of skeletons. 00:06:39.879 --> 00:06:44.399 This is death on an industrial scale. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:49.839 Now the interesting thing here, and there's lots of interesting things that for Ezekiel 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:54.600 you double up because what was he was a priest. 00:06:54.600 --> 00:07:01.680 And so part of the cultist part of the background there was a dead body was an abomination. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:05.360 And a priest could not go near a dead body. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:11.520 And here you have this man and he is placed in the middle of the valley. 00:07:11.520 --> 00:07:15.199 I don't know if you like snakes or spiders. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:16.960 What's your worst nightmare? 00:07:16.960 --> 00:07:23.240 Your worst nightmare maybe to be placed in the middle of a tank full of all these things. 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:25.480 You know, I'm a celebrity. 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:28.639 Get me out of here in the jungle, that sort of thing. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:31.000 Well it was more serious of course for a priest. 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:40.800 This was defilement, unburied bones is even in our own culture a disgrace and a sign 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:41.800 of a curse. 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:46.759 The older haste scandal a few years ago that wasn't awful there that there was these unburied 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:50.079 bones strewn about there. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:58.160 And so it was a very embodiment of uncleanliness and God wants him to go into the situation 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:00.879 and honestly assess it. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:05.319 Look at verse 2 it says, he led me back and forth among them. 00:08:05.319 --> 00:08:11.040 And so the picture is the Lord in this vision is taking Ezekiel to the valley. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:17.240 It's a valley that presumably he knew quite well and he has walked back and forward in 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:19.360 the middle of the valley. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:21.560 It's a grisly scene. 00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:28.519 There's a really interesting commentary on Ezekiel by a man called Chris Wright. 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:37.360 And the heading for this particular passage in Ezekiel 37 is from Rigor Mortis to Resurrection. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:43.279 I think we're dealing with a bit more than Rigor Mortis here. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:48.000 This is absolute death. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:52.600 These are white bleached skeletons. 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:56.039 There was not a bit of flesh remaining. 00:08:56.039 --> 00:09:01.199 The vultures had put everything there was no hair, there was no sinews, there was nothing. 00:09:01.199 --> 00:09:04.679 This was just a bleached body. 00:09:04.679 --> 00:09:07.199 And we read here, what are the bones? 00:09:07.199 --> 00:09:08.199 Who are? 00:09:08.199 --> 00:09:09.199 What's it representing? 00:09:09.199 --> 00:09:15.439 Well verse 11 says, these bones are the people of Israel. 00:09:15.439 --> 00:09:17.559 And so there they were cursed. 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:24.120 All the other usages of dryness in the Bible speaks of the judgment of God. 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:28.960 These were people who were under judgment. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:33.039 And so we find here that they're asking the hard questions. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:37.960 Hope begins with an honest assessment. 00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:40.759 You know, have you ever heard of Pollyanna? 00:09:40.759 --> 00:09:43.679 You've Googled it afterwards. 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:48.799 If you've never heard the story of Pollyanna, Pollyanna was an incurable optimist. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:54.439 Everything in the garden was really quite rosy and she could see something good emerging 00:09:54.439 --> 00:10:02.079 in every situation and she was optimistic in a fairly unrealistic way. 00:10:02.079 --> 00:10:08.759 We also can be Pollyanna's church I was in very, very recently. 00:10:08.759 --> 00:10:14.439 It was a scene of spiritual dereliction and decimation. 00:10:14.440 --> 00:10:19.440 But the leadership were saying, oh, it's not bad. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:21.360 That's not God's way. 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:24.360 Ezekiel, have a look. 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:28.040 Check out the valley of dry bones. 00:10:28.040 --> 00:10:34.360 So there is hope begins in the context of an honest assessment. 00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:37.320 Are we going to be honest about our own situation? 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:39.840 Are we going to be honest here? 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:44.759 So number two, hope doesn't just begin with an honest assessment. 00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:50.080 The second thing we notice is that hope begins with a critical question. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:55.160 I don't know if you note humour in the Bible or if you think there is humour in the Bible. 00:10:55.160 --> 00:10:59.480 I think verse three is quite funny. 00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:05.480 God says, Son of Man, can these bones live? 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:07.920 It's cannot. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:12.439 You think this is a trick question? 00:11:12.439 --> 00:11:20.959 I was getting a press conference and the minister asked me what was the name given to the first woman? 00:11:20.959 --> 00:11:25.839 And I kind of said tentatively Eve? 00:11:25.839 --> 00:11:28.279 Oh no, no, no, no. 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:31.360 She was called woman, he told me. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:32.879 A kind of trick question. 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:34.599 Look up yourself. 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:39.120 Son of Man, can these bones live? 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:40.680 Well, it's humourous. 00:11:40.680 --> 00:11:44.040 There's bones as far as I can see. 00:11:44.040 --> 00:11:50.200 And there's a degree of, if it wasn't the Lord asking the question, you would say this is ridiculous. 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:53.040 Of course these bones can't live. 00:11:53.040 --> 00:11:55.480 There's absolute death. 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:59.240 Now Ezekiel responds. 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:02.519 He says, Lord God, you alone know. 00:12:02.519 --> 00:12:04.679 Again, there's a kind of background to this. 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:06.480 Sovereign Lord, you alone know. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:13.360 Because in the Eastern culture, there were gods for everything. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:15.120 There was gods of life. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:16.879 There was gods of death. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:20.120 There was God for every eventuality. 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:23.319 So Ezekiel's kind of promoting monotheism here. 00:12:23.319 --> 00:12:29.199 There is only one God, sovereign God, you alone know. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:33.879 And He is everything. 00:12:33.879 --> 00:12:38.080 So what we see here is not a crass triumphalism. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:40.080 There can be that as well. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:45.000 This I alluded to to Pollyanna, a kind of crass triumphalism. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:48.160 That there will be victory in spite of everything. 00:12:48.160 --> 00:12:54.200 And we can, you know, get a flush of eloquence and we can say these things. 00:12:54.200 --> 00:12:58.040 But check out the degree of humility here, Lord. 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:01.959 You alone know. 00:13:01.959 --> 00:13:06.919 There's an admission that God alone can do it. 00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:15.000 Gospel hope does not emerge from a swagger of self-important positivity. 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:20.879 Gospel hope is not Dale Carnegie, how to win friends and influence people. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:25.000 It's not a Tony Robbins self-help kind of, 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.399 you can overcome anything if you want to do it. 00:13:29.399 --> 00:13:36.720 There's an admission that some situations are so dire. 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:42.279 When I was a student, I used to hang out with medical students and in those days, 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:45.759 it was a bit kind of in your face. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:49.960 But most medical students in their flat had a skeleton. 00:13:49.960 --> 00:13:52.519 I never asked were they real or were they not. 00:13:52.519 --> 00:13:55.840 But I assume they're plastic skeletons and, you know, 00:13:55.840 --> 00:14:00.039 the pretentious medical student always had their skeleton there. 00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:04.279 And often you would say, is he joining us for dinner? 00:14:04.279 --> 00:14:07.319 And the medical student would say, it's a she actually. 00:14:07.319 --> 00:14:08.879 Can you not tell the difference? 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:11.559 And, you know, they would kind of do things like that. 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:15.240 Well, of course the skeleton's not going to join you in for dinner. 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:18.639 That's the idea here. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:23.720 They are wholly dependent on God. 00:14:23.720 --> 00:14:27.679 There is spiritual death. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:33.080 You know, that's important because what we're dealing with in the culture, 00:14:33.080 --> 00:14:35.919 what you're dealing with with your friends and families, 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:41.039 are not people who have perhaps just looked up all the options and thought, 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:43.319 well, I'll not decide to follow Jesus. 00:14:43.319 --> 00:14:46.439 There is a spiritual death out there. 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:49.840 You know, the old illustration of the gospel. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:52.240 You're someone who's floundering and drowning 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:56.440 and you throw out a life belt and they grab the life belt. 00:14:56.440 --> 00:14:59.040 No, that's not the picture. 00:14:59.040 --> 00:15:01.560 It's a terrible picture. 00:15:01.560 --> 00:15:05.400 What's happened is someone has fallen into the harbor 00:15:05.400 --> 00:15:11.920 and they've drowned and their body has been undiscovered for years. 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:17.439 And then someone jumps in and takes that dead, 00:15:17.439 --> 00:15:26.479 almost non-existent skeletal feature and breath life in them and they come alive. 00:15:26.479 --> 00:15:30.399 Folks are not just spiritually asleep. 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:32.879 The image is deeper than that. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:36.879 There's deadness and actually quite encouraging 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:40.000 because the darker we see the situation, 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:43.840 the more glorious is the gospel because that's what the gospel does. 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:46.399 He takes death and he brings life. 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:47.840 Grace is not quite good. 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:50.039 Grace is amazing. 00:15:50.039 --> 00:15:55.440 The mercy that God shows, the power of God is so incredible 00:15:55.440 --> 00:16:01.440 that it takes the deadest of the dead and it breathes new life into them 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:04.759 and they become alive. 00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:11.399 There is spiritual deadness across the cultures, across the classes. 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:15.600 Folk in, I don't know, 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:23.399 Pilton or is dead in spiritual situation as folk in Barnton. 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:27.039 A millionaire is as spiritually dead as a popper. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:29.679 There's a great equality here. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:32.840 But the great thing is that the gospel, 00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:37.320 the gospel can bring new life into any and every situation. 00:16:37.320 --> 00:16:40.600 There's an egalitarianism about deathers 00:16:40.600 --> 00:16:48.080 and egalitarianism as well about the gospel and that God breathes new life. 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:51.840 So hope begins with an honest question 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:55.440 and hope begins with a kind of critical, an honest assessment. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:58.080 Hope begins with a kind of critical question. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:02.879 Can these bones live? 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:06.120 Well, that's a great question. 00:17:06.120 --> 00:17:10.519 Smart folk, really smart folk, 00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:13.519 don't just have good answers. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:18.160 The really smart folk have good, great questions. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:22.720 And it's like Jesus said to the man in the pool of Bethesda, 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:28.880 do you want to be well to blind Bartimaeus? What do you want from me? 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:31.680 These are really good questions. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:34.799 But the third thing we see here is not just an honest assessment, 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:36.920 not just a critical question, 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:42.960 but the third thing we see here is that hope is fueled by action. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:47.600 If nothing changes, nothing changes. 00:17:47.600 --> 00:17:51.960 Now that statement is worth the price of your collection tonight. 00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:56.680 If nothing changes, nothing changes. 00:17:56.680 --> 00:18:03.039 Well, you say, why did we get this man great expense to speak to us tonight? 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:06.240 Well, what does the passage say? 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:10.360 What we find here is that God says to Ezekiel, 00:18:10.360 --> 00:18:13.440 I want you to do two things. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:16.440 And God is saying exactly the same thing to us. 00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:20.240 He's saying exactly the same thing about the church today. 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:24.359 And he's saying that we've got to do these two things. 00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:27.799 We've got to preach or speak to the bones. 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:29.839 I'll unpack that a little bit later. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:36.440 We've got to speak to the bones on behalf of God, prophesy to the bones. 00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:39.720 And then he says prophesy to the wind. 00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:42.920 So we speak to the bones on behalf of God, 00:18:42.920 --> 00:18:48.759 and then we speak to God on behalf of the bones. 00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:50.400 And so nothing changes, nothing changes. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:56.200 But if we speak the gospel and if we pray, 00:18:56.200 --> 00:18:59.720 what happens here is that spiritual life comes. 00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:03.359 Let me again unpack that a little bit. 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:10.839 You've got to really feel sorry for some of the preaching gigs that Ezekiel had. 00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:16.319 You know, in chapters two and three, he was to preach to people with what is it? 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:22.919 Stiff faces, hard hearts and bronze foreheads. 00:19:22.919 --> 00:19:24.439 Now you lot are not like that tonight. 00:19:24.439 --> 00:19:29.200 You're quite pleasant looking, most of you. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:36.079 We find here, Ezekiel says, stiff faces, hard hearts and bronze foreheads. 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:41.639 Now, I've had some pretty bad preaching gigs in my day. 00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:46.480 One congregation of three people down in Lanarkshire and Cooter in Lanarkshire, 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:53.680 three people, all of whom were asleep for the duration of the sermon. 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:57.960 I could have gone out, driven to bigger, have a Starbucks and driven back, 00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:01.320 pronounced the benediction and they would have been none the wiser. 00:20:01.320 --> 00:20:04.040 It was really pretty tough. 00:20:04.040 --> 00:20:11.600 And many of us who are preachers here have preached in very, very bizarre situations. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:21.199 But none of us have been asked to preach to a valley of dry bones. 00:20:21.199 --> 00:20:27.480 And yet, preach to the dead the promises of life. 00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:30.480 We do that every week. 00:20:30.480 --> 00:20:33.480 You do that in your office. 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:38.679 You do that in your coffee times with your friends. 00:20:38.679 --> 00:20:41.480 You do that in your evangelism. 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:44.360 You do that in every single situation. 00:20:44.360 --> 00:20:48.480 You see the most unpromising group. 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:54.200 And yet we speak to them and amazing things happen. 00:20:54.200 --> 00:20:56.039 Here is hope. 00:20:56.039 --> 00:21:00.440 Death is no restriction on the power of the gospel. 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:04.640 Notice his preaching, it was as God commanded. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:07.880 He did it by the book, prophesied to these bones and say to them, 00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:10.680 dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:12.519 And that's what he did, verse seven. 00:21:12.519 --> 00:21:18.720 So I prophesied as I was commanded. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:26.240 You think of your friend, okay, your friend who is the most unconvertible human being 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:28.400 in the planet. 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:35.360 The member of your family who is just totally in your mind beyond the pale, you speak to 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:44.599 the person in your office who is really as hard as nails and yet just speak to them, 00:21:44.599 --> 00:21:55.159 tell them your story, tell them the gospel and miracles can happen. 00:21:55.159 --> 00:21:57.279 But we've got to do it. 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:04.000 One commentator says, just the living power of the word of the living God, invading the 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:09.599 valley of the shadow of death, just the living power. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:14.759 You know, they say in our denomination, the free church of Scotland, it's conservative, 00:22:14.759 --> 00:22:15.759 conservative. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:19.319 There is nothing conservative about a gospel church. 00:22:19.319 --> 00:22:22.680 There is nothing passive about a gospel church. 00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:26.000 How can it be conservative when heaven visits earth? 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:29.440 How can it be conservative when the dead are brought to life? 00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:35.000 How can it be conservative when it does anything but conserve the status quo? 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:37.200 It smashes the status quo. 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:39.000 It brings life where there was death. 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:41.600 It brings hope where there was hopelessness. 00:22:41.600 --> 00:22:43.559 We are not conservative. 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:45.920 We are radicals. 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:54.759 Ezekiel was not some kind of chained up, radical conservative face when the great regenerator 00:22:54.759 --> 00:22:56.440 is in the room. 00:22:56.440 --> 00:23:01.039 The sign should be up danger, God is at work. 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:08.279 Again, do we have that sense that God is in this place? 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:19.320 That we've not just opened up a museum to a past year, but whenever we come in this 00:23:19.319 --> 00:23:30.319 place or in our coffee shop, whenever we speak of Jesus, there's power in the room. 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:37.960 And so we find here he speaks not moralism, but the gospel. 00:23:37.960 --> 00:23:42.599 He speaks to the bones and behalf of God. 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:44.399 We must use words. 00:23:44.399 --> 00:23:47.000 So that's the first thing he did. 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:51.039 But the second thing he did was he spoke to God on behalf of the bones. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:56.759 Verse 7, then he said to me, prophesy to the breath. 00:23:56.759 --> 00:24:01.119 Prophecy, son of man, and say to it, this is what the sovereign Lord says. 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:07.319 Now the word breath, as every schoolboy knows, is ruach, a Hebrew word ruach, which is the 00:24:07.319 --> 00:24:09.480 same word that's used for wind. 00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:12.480 It's the same word that's used for life in this passage. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:16.480 It's the same word that's used for spirit. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:24.640 And so what we find here is that Ezekiel is speaking to God, prophesy to the breath, 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:26.799 and that's what he does. 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:31.120 This is what the sovereign Lord says, come breath from the four winds and breathe into 00:24:31.120 --> 00:24:32.120 these slain. 00:24:32.120 --> 00:24:37.559 And that's the essence of ministry, speaking to folk on behalf of God and speaking to God 00:24:37.559 --> 00:24:40.839 on behalf of people. 00:24:40.839 --> 00:24:47.480 You know, at preaching 101, they always say, you know, you don't preach a simple sermon 00:24:47.480 --> 00:24:51.799 and do a little moralistic application at the end, and the moralistic application is 00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:56.359 usually, pray, read your Bible, and talk to people about Jesus. 00:24:56.359 --> 00:25:03.159 Now normally, the advice is, you know, the application is a bit deeper than that. 00:25:03.159 --> 00:25:10.240 But the clear application of this passage is, speak to people about Jesus. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:13.359 Speak to Jesus about people. 00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:19.039 Pray and God will do incredible supernatural works here. 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:22.000 And the picture of hope just gets bigger, doesn't it? 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:25.000 Because what happens is that something happens. 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.160 We're reading verse 7, there was a noise, a rattling sound. 00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:31.120 The word there actually is big. 00:25:31.120 --> 00:25:35.799 It's like an earthquake. 00:25:35.799 --> 00:25:42.240 Here is a St. Columba's weekend away question in the quiz. 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:45.079 How many bones are in the human body? 00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:47.240 That was the question at last. 00:25:47.240 --> 00:25:54.799 Well, I'm told there are 206 bones in the human body, depending how you define a bone. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:59.720 So imagine here, you get your 206 multiplied by zillions. 00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:02.919 What a noise as they all rattle and come together. 00:26:02.920 --> 00:26:05.960 And so the picture there is an earthquake noise. 00:26:05.960 --> 00:26:10.519 And verse 7 is really, really big noise. 00:26:10.519 --> 00:26:16.200 And then we have, something happens, we have there is a change. 00:26:16.200 --> 00:26:19.840 I looked verse 8, and the tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but 00:26:19.840 --> 00:26:21.880 there was no breath in them. 00:26:21.880 --> 00:26:27.240 And then we find that he says, prophesy to the breath, and the breath breathed into the 00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:31.039 bodies and they became alive. 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:34.359 What does this remind you of? 00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:36.720 Genesis 2, 7, does it? 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:39.559 Does this remind you of the creative power of God? 00:26:39.559 --> 00:26:41.599 This is what God does. 00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:46.680 A form is created and life is breathed into the form. 00:26:46.680 --> 00:26:51.399 This just as there was a creation of society. 00:26:51.399 --> 00:26:55.399 So we have here a picture of the recreation of society. 00:26:55.399 --> 00:27:00.399 John Stott's commentary on Ephesians used to be known as God's new society. 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:04.040 This is a picture of a church coming alive. 00:27:04.040 --> 00:27:09.160 Ephesians 2 could be the equivalent of this. 00:27:09.160 --> 00:27:10.160 So what's happening here? 00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:14.120 Well, the fourth thing we see here is hope fulfilled, verses 11 to verse 14. 00:27:14.120 --> 00:27:16.600 Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. 00:27:16.600 --> 00:27:19.960 And then you get the key to the prophecy. 00:27:19.960 --> 00:27:25.040 You get the key to the apocalyptic vision, what it actually means. 00:27:25.040 --> 00:27:29.800 They said, well Jerusalem is in ruins, but we'll be home by Christmas. 00:27:29.799 --> 00:27:33.480 They felt like dead men walking. 00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:36.119 This was a picture of gloom. 00:27:36.119 --> 00:27:39.799 And God says there's going to be an even bigger resurrection here. 00:27:39.799 --> 00:27:45.240 There's going to not just be a national restoration of Israel, there's going to be a restoration 00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:48.399 even bigger. 00:27:48.399 --> 00:27:50.519 What does all this remind you of? 00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:54.599 Who is the ultimate Restorer? 00:27:54.599 --> 00:28:02.399 Who said to the man, the paralytic, rise up and walk? 00:28:02.399 --> 00:28:07.959 Take up your bed or your pallet and walk. 00:28:07.959 --> 00:28:11.559 We see in the New Testament that Jesus is the great Resurrector. 00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:14.919 In fact, Jesus is mentioned in the passage. 00:28:14.919 --> 00:28:21.039 Verse 24, my dear servant David will be king over them and they will all have one shepherd. 00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:24.039 Verse 26, I will make a covenant peace with them. 00:28:24.039 --> 00:28:25.359 It will be a everlasting covenant. 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:30.440 I will establish and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:33.159 How more New Testament could you get in verse 27? 00:28:33.159 --> 00:28:40.039 My dwelling place, the incarnation, my dwelling place will be with them and I will be their 00:28:40.039 --> 00:28:43.960 God and they will be my people. 00:28:43.960 --> 00:28:46.079 And the evangelistic and missionless first. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:51.799 Then the nations verse 28 will know that I the Lord make Israel holy when my sanctuary 00:28:51.799 --> 00:28:56.399 is among them forever. 00:28:56.399 --> 00:29:01.200 His sanctuary is among us forever. 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:08.759 Christ in us, the hope of glory. 00:29:08.759 --> 00:29:14.240 Think of that most dead church. 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:22.319 Think of that most dead situation in your life, that colleague, that friend who really 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:27.440 is showing no sign of spiritual life. 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:29.920 There is hope. 00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:36.519 Think of this congregation of St. Columba's already, being the parent of one, two, three 00:29:36.519 --> 00:29:39.400 other congregations. 00:29:39.400 --> 00:29:40.920 We look at the city of Edinburgh. 00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:45.400 Son of man, can these bones live? 00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:50.400 Is God still God? 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:54.600 Folk talk about the ordinary means of grace. 00:29:54.600 --> 00:30:02.840 If ever there was a ridiculous phrase, it's the ordinary means of grace. 00:30:02.840 --> 00:30:08.240 There's nothing ordinary about it. 00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:12.880 And so folks, God is God. 00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:17.799 The valley of dry bones can come alive. 00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:26.759 Leave this building, leaping and hopping and praising God. 00:30:26.759 --> 00:30:32.200 Most of you are Presbyterians so you probably wouldn't do that. 00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:34.440 God's not dead. 00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:35.440 He is alive. 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:36.839 Let me pray. 00:30:36.839 --> 00:30:42.399 Father, thank you for your word, for its clarity, for its power. 00:30:42.399 --> 00:30:49.799 We pray for our beautiful city and although it is a valley of dry bones, we ask God that 00:30:49.799 --> 00:30:52.519 you would move amongst it. 00:30:52.519 --> 00:30:55.639 Thank you for all that you have given us. 00:30:55.639 --> 00:31:02.839 Thank you for the Lord's Supper that we are about to have, which speaks there of the creative 00:31:02.839 --> 00:31:03.839 power of God. 00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:07.240 Bless us now, forgive us all our sins. 00:31:07.240 --> 00:31:09.519 We ask this in the name of Jesus. 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:35.200 Amen.