A Godless Graveyard

[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening, with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of scripture that we read, the book of the prophet Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 37, and if we read again at verse 4, Ezekiel 37 at verse 4, Then he, that is, the Lord. Then the Lord said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live. You shall know that I am the Lord.

[1:02] It was once said that every graveyard gives a warning, but every grave tells a story. Every graveyard gives a warning, but every grave tells a story. Every graveyard gives to us the solemn warning that it's appointed unto man once to die, and after that, the judgment. Every graveyard warns us that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and give an account. Every graveyard reminds us, as we were just singing in Psalm 90, that our life is like a tale that is told. Our days are numbered, and that we need to apply our hearts to wisdom. My friend, every graveyard reminds us that we need to be ready. We need to be prepared. We need to be saved. We need to have faith in Jesus Christ.

[2:07] Every graveyard gives a warning, but every grave tells a story. Every grave is individual. Every grave is unique. Every grave tells the story of someone who was a son, or a daughter, who was a brother, or a sister, a father, or a mother. Every grave tells the story about someone who was known, someone who was loved, someone who was cherished, someone who is missed. My friend, every grave tells the story of someone who was a son, and every grave. Every graveyard gives a grave. Every graveyard gives a warning, but every grave tells a story. And in the passage that we're considering this evening, we see that God's prophet Ezekiel, he's standing in a graveyard. And all the graves that Ezekiel can see, they tell the story. They tell the story of a spiritually dead nation. And that's because the

[3:17] Valley of the Dry Bones was to be a solemn and vivid illustration of the spiritual state of the nation of Israel. Because at that time, in Israel's history, the nation of Israel, it was in exile in Babylon. They had been captured, they had been taken into Babylon because of the repeated sin and disobedience. But the Lord, he brought Ezekiel, his prophet, he brought him to stand in the Valley of Dry Bones to remind this spiritually dead nation of Israel that what they need, what they need, is restoration, regeneration, and resurrection. The remedy which this spiritually dead nation needed was restoration, regeneration, and resurrection. And you know, if we look at our spiritually dead nation today, it's like a graveyard. It's like a valley of dry bones. It's dead in sin and dead in disobedience.

[4:20] And what our nation desperately needs is this same remedy. Because it's in the same ruin as the nation of Israel, the ruin of repeated sin and disobedience. My friend, our country, and even our community, and even those in our congregation, they need the Lord's remedy of restoration, regeneration, and resurrection. And as you can guess, well, there are headings this evening. Restoration, regeneration, and resurrection. So first of all, restoration. Look at verse one. Restoration. We're told the hand of the Lord was upon me. This is Ezekiel saying this. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley. It was full of bones. And he led me around among them. And behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley. And behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, you know. Now the book of the prophet Ezekiel, it is in fact the personal account of the ministry of a priest. Because when we're introduced to Ezekiel in the opening chapter of his book, we're told that Ezekiel was a priest, but he was living in the land of Babylon, which wasn't the correct place for a priest to be living. Because a priest served in the temple, and the temple was in Jerusalem.

[5:57] But the reason Ezekiel was in Babylon was because during his training as a priest, the Babylonians, they invaded Jerusalem, and they destroyed the temple, and they took thousands of the Israelites, they took them captive into the nation or the land or the region of Babylon. And Ezekiel, well, he was one of them. And as a result, Ezekiel, he never finished his training as a priest. But whilst he was in exile in Babylon, the Lord called Ezekiel to serve as a prophet. And his role as a prophet was to proclaim the word of the Lord. And the word of the Lord, it was to be a message, first of all, a message of judgment. It was to be a message of judgment to this nation of Israel that was spiritually dead, living, that was living in sin and disobedience. The nation of Israel was in ruin.

[6:49] They were in ruin because they had rejected the Lord as their covenant king, and they had refused to bow down and worship him. And you know, this was actually one of the darkest periods in Israel's history. Because Israel's king had been captured, the temple had been destroyed, the people had been removed from the promised land of Israel, and they'd been taken into exile, and now they're living living in the foreign land of Babylon. But more than that, they're being forced to live in this foreign country. They're being made to live under the rule of a foreign king, and they're even being made to bow down to foreign gods. And you know, this was the Lord's judgment. The Lord had left them to themselves. This was the Lord's judgment upon a spiritually dead nation, because they refused to listen to all the warnings. But you know, this judgment, it didn't take place overnight.

[7:49] This was years of disobedience. This was years of idolatry. Years of sinning against the Lord. It was this gradual and progressive downward spiral further and further away from the Lord. And it ended, as it will always end, it ended with the Lord's judgment. But of course, the Bible reminds us that the Israelites, the Jews, they were God's covenant people. They were meant to worship the Lord and only serve him. But their history was that they did what was right in their own eyes. They worshipped other gods. They bowed down to idols. They served them. And this went on for years. In fact, centuries passed, centuries passed. And the Lord sent to this nation, he sent prophet after prophet after prophet. Most of our Old Testament is the words of prophets pleading with this nation to turn back, to turn from their rebellion and their rejection of the Lord. The Lord had sent all these prophets to preach to the people that they were to repent and turn to the Lord. But they weren't listening.

[8:59] They were ignoring all the warnings. And you know, what's interesting is that Jeremiah and Ezekiel, they were contemporaries. They were prophets at the same time. But Jeremiah, he was a prophet before they were sent, the Israelites were sent into exile. Jeremiah was pleading with the people right up until the moment judgment came. And when you look at the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah, Jeremiah was a man who preached with tears. He was the weeping prophet pleading with his people to listen. But when they didn't listen, and when the exile finally took place, the Lord summoned another prophet, Ezekiel. And you know, what's remarkable is that the Lord sent two prophets. He sent two prophets to the spiritually dead nation of Israel. The Lord sent Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and he sent two men, because their hearts had become so hard, and they had become so indifferent to the message of God's judgment. They weren't listening. They were ignoring all the warnings. They were putting it all to the back of their minds, and they were just carrying on with life the way they wanted.

[10:13] And you know, it sounds familiar, doesn't it? The unconverted friend here tonight. And you know, I sometimes think you're like them.

[10:27] I don't know how many times you've been pleaded with about your spiritual state. I don't know how many times. Not just with me, but with many other preachers who have stood in this pulpit. I don't know how many opportunities you've had to repent.

[10:42] How many days you've had. How many years you've had. I don't know how many times you've heard the gospel and left church choosing to ignore it. And I don't know how many more times you're going to have this great opportunity.

[10:56] I don't know how many more times the Lord is going to speak to you before you're too late. And yet, you know what I love about Ezekiel? Is that he kept prophesying.

[11:06] He kept going back to these people. Even when they were in exile in Babylon. Ezekiel kept pleading with his people to repent.

[11:17] He wouldn't give up on them. He wouldn't let go of them. He knew that God had called him to these people. And that God had given him a message to faithfully proclaim to them.

[11:29] And you know, my unconverted friend, even though you still refuse to commit your life to Jesus Christ, I don't think you would ever want someone to stop pleading with your soul.

[11:40] I don't think you would ever want people to stop talking to you about your need of Jesus. Because you know, you know that it's Jesus you need.

[11:54] You know that it's Jesus that you must come to. You know that you need this Jesus in order to be saved. And like the Israelites, like the Israelites, you need the Lord's remedy of restoration.

[12:08] Because this valley of dry bones, it was not only illustrative of Israel's spiritual state. It's actually illustrative of your spiritual state.

[12:23] This, I mean, the valley of dry bones is the place of the unconverted friend. Look at what Ezekiel says in verse 1. Look at what he says where the Lord put him.

[12:36] The hand of the Lord was upon me. He brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley. It was full of bones. The Lord brought Ezekiel to this valley.

[12:49] It was a dark valley. And it was full of death. It was a valley full of bones. But more than that, Ezekiel says then in verse 2. He led me around among them.

[13:02] And behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley. And behold, they were very dry. Ezekiel says that God showed him the graveyard.

[13:14] He showed him the graveyard where all these bones are. And he says they were very dry bones. They were very dry bones. Which implies that these bodies, they had been dead for a very long time.

[13:29] No flesh had been on these bones for years. The valley had been a place of death for a very long time. Such a long time that the bones were just skeletons with no flesh.

[13:44] And you know, that description of very dry bones, it should emphasize to us the length of time that Israel had been in this spiritual state of deadness.

[13:55] it was a valley full of dry bones. It was the valley of dry bones. And you know, when I consider the homes and families of our community and the many unconverted people in the homes and families of our community, I sometimes think of it as a valley of dry bones.

[14:19] where there are people in our congregation, there are people in our community, they're dead in sin. And they've been in that spiritual condition of deadness for such a long time.

[14:33] And it's been so long that they're like dry bones where there's no flesh and there's no life. There's nothing but death and darkness in their experience. But you know, then the Lord comes with this wonderful question in verse 3.

[14:47] He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, you know. Don't you just love that question?

[14:57] The Lord asks his prophet Ezekiel, can these bones live? Can this dead valley come to life? Can these bones live? Can they be restored?

[15:09] And Ezekiel knows the answer is yes, but only by regeneration. Can these bones live? Yes, but only by regeneration. And that's what we see secondly.

[15:23] The remedy of restoration comes by regeneration. The remedy of restoration comes by regeneration. So restoration, secondly, regeneration.

[15:36] Look at verse 4. Then the Lord said to me, prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live.

[15:51] And I will lay sinews upon you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live and you shall know that I am the Lord.

[16:02] And you know, as a Jew and even as a former priest, Ezekiel, he was not meant to be anywhere near a dead body because touching a dead body would make him unclean.

[16:17] But the thing about the valley of the dry bones was that these bones had been there so long, there was no flesh on them. These bodies wouldn't have made Ezekiel unclean.

[16:28] But you know, as Ezekiel stood in this graveyard of bodies which had been devoured by the birds and the beasts and even decomposed over many years, some have suggested that all these corpses, they were in one place because they died during a battle and they were just left there to rot.

[16:47] But you know, I'm not so convinced. I don't think it was a battle. The valley of dry bones was a graveyard. It was a graveyard. And the thing about it is it's an open grave.

[17:02] None of these bodies are buried. It's an open grave where criminals and outcasts would have been thrown. Because if no one knew the person who died and if no one claimed the body, if no one wanted that body, when they died, whether it was naturally or even by being put to death, they were just thrown in the heap.

[17:25] They were thrown in the valley. And you know, for a Jew not to be given a proper burial, it was humiliation. As a Jew not to be washed and then wrapped and then laid with dignity in a grave or a tomb, that was an immediate sign that you're an outcast.

[17:44] You're a criminal. And with this, the Lord was reminding the spiritually dead nation of Israel, they have now been humiliated. humiliated. They've been humiliated.

[17:55] Their exile into Babylon was nothing but humiliation for the whole nation. They were once this powerful nation of Israel where the Lord God was on their side. They had Jerusalem, this mighty fortress, but they had been defeated.

[18:09] They had been destroyed. The temple had been left in ruins. They'd been carried off into exile in Babylon to serve this other king. And now in Babylon they're outcasts.

[18:20] And because of the repeated sin and disobedience against the covenant and the laws of the covenant, the Lord sees them as criminals. They've broken the law.

[18:32] And as outcasts and even criminals, the illustration that's been presented to us here is that they deserved to be thrown in a common grave to be devoured by the birds and the beasts of Babylon and even decompose over the 70 years of exile in Babylon.

[18:49] Babylon. And you know, that was actually the covenant curse that the Lord warned his people with. He warned them that this would happen. He warned them that if you don't listen, you'll become like the valley of dry bones.

[19:02] The Lord said in the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies and you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

[19:14] And your dead body, he says, shall be food for all the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth and there shall be no one to frighten them away. And you know, as Ezekiel, as he stood in this graveyard, this valley of dry bones, he knew it was a solemn and vivid illustration of the spiritual state of the nation of Israel.

[19:40] But you know, for us tonight, it's also a solemn and vivid illustration of the spiritual state of those in our congregation, our community, and even our country.

[19:53] Do you know, my Christian friend here tonight, we're surrounded by a valley of dry bones. We're surrounded by a godless graveyard. And you know, were it not, and I hasten to add this part, were it not for the grace of God intervening in your life and my life.

[20:12] We would be in that grave too. And let's never forget that. We would be dead in sin. But these corpses that surround us, they're everywhere.

[20:25] These corpses, they're in our homes, they're in our families, they're in our villages, they're our friends, they're our neighbours, they're our work colleagues. We're surrounded by the valley of dry bones where they bear the covenant curse.

[20:38] They still have this covenant curse upon them. The covenant curse because of the sin and disobedience of Adam. And because of Adam's first transgression in the Garden of Eden, they have received, they've been born in guiltiness and sin, they've transgressed God's law.

[20:57] The wages of sin is upon them, death. And the Bible says they're dead in trespasses and sins. And like the Israelites, those around us, those in our congregation, those in our community, those in our country, they're in ruin.

[21:14] And they need a remedy. They need a remedy of restoration by regeneration. They need a remedy of restoration by regeneration. But how is that to happen?

[21:27] How is regeneration to ever take place? How is the remedy of restoration to take place in those lives of those people who are in ruin? You know, listen to what the Lord says to Ezekiel in verse 4.

[21:41] He said to me, prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Prophesy over these bones.

[21:54] Prophesy over these bones. The Lord told Ezekiel to prophesy over the valley of the dry bones that they would hear the word of the Lord.

[22:06] Now, prophecy wasn't just foretelling the future. Prophecy was also forth telling God's message. And like the Israelites, those around us, those in our congregation, our community, our country, they're in ruin.

[22:22] They need a remedy. They need this remedy. And you know, that's what Ezekiel was to do with this spiritually dead nation of Israel. He was to forth tell God's message of promised restoration.

[22:36] Ezekiel was to preach this good news. He was to speak about the gospel to these dead bones that they may live. And what's so wonderful is that the Lord promised Ezekiel.

[22:49] The Lord promised Ezekiel that when he prophesied over these dry bones, they would live. The Lord promised Ezekiel that when he preached the gospel and spoke about the gospel and shared the gospel, these bones would live.

[23:04] It would bring life. He says in verse 5, thus says the Lord God. This is the promise. Thus says the Lord God to these bones. Behold, I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live.

[23:17] and I will lay sinews upon you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live and you shall know that I am the Lord.

[23:29] You know, my friend, the Lord promised Ezekiel that when he spoke about the good news of God's salvation to this spiritually dead nation, it would bring them to life.

[23:41] The Lord promised that as Ezekiel spoke, the Lord would breathe life into dead bones. And you know, it's such a beautiful promise because the word breath that's used in verse 5, it's the same word for wind and spirit.

[24:01] Breath, wind, spirit. It's the same word. Therefore, what the Lord was actually promising Ezekiel is that when he preaches the good news, the Holy Spirit will bring life to those who are dead in sin.

[24:15] And my friend, that's what regeneration is. Regeneration is the work of God's Holy Spirit whereby he brings a dead sinner to life in Jesus Christ.

[24:28] And the Lord promises us that when we preach the gospel or when we speak about the gospel, when we share the gospel to those who are dead in trespasses and sins, the Lord will breathe life into them.

[24:41] And you know, that's why we have the faith mission coming. It's an opportunity for us to invite the dead sinners in our community to come and hear the word of life that their soul may live.

[24:55] That's why they're coming. So it's an opportunity to bring them under the word that their soul may live. And you know, when we look at Ezekiel, I think what's happening here is so challenging for us because he responded to the Lord's promise.

[25:13] The Lord's promise was given and he acted upon it straight away. When Ezekiel heard the Lord's promise of life through preaching the word, he stood upon the promise.

[25:24] He took hold of the promise. He applied the promise to his own life and he lived it out. And Ezekiel says at the beginning of verse 7, so I prophesied as I was commanded.

[25:37] I did as the Lord said. I prophesied as I was commanded. Ezekiel preached the gospel because he had confidence in the gospel.

[25:50] The Lord promised that he would breathe life when he preached the word. And you know, this is something we've lost in our day and generation.

[26:02] We've lost confidence in the preaching of God's word and the power of God's word. We've lost confidence in God's promise to us that when the word of God is faithfully and fearlessly preached, God's spirit is at work in the hearts and lives of dead sinners.

[26:20] We've lost confidence in God's promise that when Jesus Christ is lifted up in the gospel, he promises to draw all sinners to himself. We've lost confidence in God's promise that when the word is proclaimed or shared or spoken about, the spirit is actively persuading and enabling people to embrace Jesus Christ as he's offered to them in the gospel.

[26:44] My friend, as a church, we're surrounded by a valley of dry bones, but we've lost confidence that this word is living and active and it's powerful. Never forget that this word is powerful.

[26:58] Because the word of God, as we've learned in our study on the Holy Spirit, the word of God is spirit-filled, it's God-breathed, it's the divine breath of God, the Holy Spirit.

[27:10] And when it's proclaimed in truth and sincerity, it will bring life to dead corpses. This is the wonder of the word. And you know, over the past 20 years, the church, they've tried everything to draw people into church and make church more attractive to people.

[27:31] They've written their strategies, they've come up with their marketing plans, they've changed almost everything. The church is unrecognizable from what it was. They've tried to make it more appealing and they're still empty.

[27:44] They're still empty. What we've forgotten, what we have forgotten, is that this word is powerful and the Lord's promise for restoration has always been and will always be regeneration by the Holy Spirit working through the preached word of God.

[28:06] This is the wonder of it. But we've forgotten it. that this word is able to change anyone's life. It's able to bring a dead sinner right out of the grave to bring them to life in Christ.

[28:22] My friend, the Lord's promise is that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And you know, my unconverted friend, if you really want to be saved, if you really want to be brought out of the grave you're lying in, from death to life, if you want to experience eternal life, then you need to do as the Lord said to Ezekiel, you need to hear the word of the Lord.

[28:55] If you want to experience that regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, then you need to be in the place where the word of God is preached. You need to be under the word. If you want to be a Christian, then you need to be in church.

[29:09] Both ends on the Lord's Day. You need to be in church midweek. You need to be under the word. You need to be, if you want to be saved, then you need to surround yourself with this living word, whether you're listening to it or whether you're reading it.

[29:23] You need to hear the word of the Lord so that your soul will live. Because this word, it's living, it's active, it's sharp, it's powerful, and it's able to bring restoration, it's able to bring regeneration, and it's also able to bring resurrection.

[29:44] It's able to bring you right out of your grave to life in Christ. This word is able to bring restoration, regeneration, and resurrection.

[29:56] And that's what I want us to see lastly. We see resurrection. The remedy by which this spiritually dead nation needed was restoration, regeneration, and resurrection.

[30:08] That's the remedy our nation needs. That's the remedy our congregation, our community, and our country needs. Restoration, regeneration, and resurrection.

[30:21] Resurrection. Look at verse 7. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

[30:37] And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them.

[30:48] And so as Ezekiel, as he faithfully preached God's word, according to God's promise, it brought life to dead corpses. The valley of dry bones was brought to life. But notice, it was gradual.

[31:02] The bones were, they gradually came together. And then the sinews, then the flesh, then the skin. And you know, sometimes that's how the Lord works in the lives of dead sinners.

[31:15] He works gradually. Of course, regeneration, it's immediate. But the realization that a dead sinner has been made alive, that realization can be gradual.

[31:25] That realization can take months, or even years. But you know, I love what we're being reminded here, that the Lord's, the Lord's work of bringing people who are spiritually dead in sin to life in Christ, that work is a work of resurrection.

[31:41] It's a work of resurrection. Because like Ezekiel, when the word of God was preached in the valley of dry bones, God breathes life into the corpses, the dead corpses of sinners.

[31:54] We read that in verse 8. I looked and behold, there were sinews on them, flesh had come on them, skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them. And so what you could say is that the body was formed, but there was no breath.

[32:10] Do you know, it was just like Adam. Just like Adam was when God created him in his image and likeness. We're told in Genesis 2 that the Lord formed and fashioned Adam from the dust of the ground.

[32:23] But at that point, when he was formed and fashioned, Adam was still lifeless. And he was lifeless, Genesis 2 verse 7, until God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and he became a living soul.

[32:40] And you know, it was the divine breath of God the Holy Spirit that brought life into the lifeless corpse of Adam. And it's the same breath that brings life into the dead corpses of sinners.

[32:55] The same breath that breathes life into them to make them a living soul. And that's what Ezekiel was reminded in verse 9. We're told, Then he said to me, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, Son of man, say to the breath, thus says the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain that they may live.

[33:17] So I prophesied as he commanded me. And the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet like an exceedingly great army. Ezekiel was reminded here, and we're reminded here, that we're to preach the word of God through the power of God's Spirit and the prayers of God's people.

[33:39] We're to preach the word of God through the power of God's Spirit and the prayers of God's people. Because when the word of God, we're told, is preached, God promises that when we pray for the Holy Spirit to apply his word, he will bring life to dead sinners.

[33:56] These bones will live. And they will live by the preaching of God's word through the power of God's Spirit and the prayers of God's people. But you know, what's so solemn about those who are dead in sin is that Ezekiel says they know it.

[34:13] They know they're dead in sin. They know that they're lost and without hope. And they know that they need eternal life. Just like you, my unconverted friend.

[34:27] You know that you're not saved. You know that you're not a Christian. You know that you're still lost. You know that you're without Christ. what I find so sad is that you know it.

[34:41] And you do nothing about it. You know about your spiritual condition. But you do nothing about it. And yet, the wonderful thing is, as the Lord promised the people of Israel, he promises the same to you.

[34:57] He promises the same to you because the Lord says in verse 12, he says, prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold, behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel and you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people.

[35:17] And I will put my spirit within you and you shall live and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I have spoken and I will do it, declares the Lord.

[35:28] My friend, the Lord promises that by the preaching of God's word, through the power of God's spirit and the prayers of God's people, the Lord promises to those in our congregation, our community and even our country, the Lord promises to those who are dead in sin, lying in the valley of dry bones, the Lord promises to you, I will open your graves and raise you out from your graves.

[35:58] I will open your grave and raise you out from your grave. The Lord promises resurrection and that promise of resurrection, you know, it's only given to us.

[36:10] It's only given to us because of the death of Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection. There would never be a promise of resurrection were it not for Jesus' resurrection.

[36:23] resurrection. And that's the promise that's given to us that when we commit our life to this Jesus, he will bring us out of our grave from death to life, from darkness to light, from the dungeon to liberty.

[36:38] And it's all there for us on the pages of Scripture reminding us that we need to come to this Jesus. You know, every graveyard gives a warning.

[36:53] And every grave tells a story. In the Valley of Thry Bones, it was a godless graveyard. It told the story of a spiritually dead nation.

[37:04] The only remedy for a spiritually dead nation was restoration, regeneration, and resurrection. And sadly, our country, our community, and even our congregation, sometimes it's a godless graveyard.

[37:19] It's a valley of dry bones. But can these bones live? Can these bones live? Can you live?

[37:31] Can you be made alive? And my friend, the passage is reminding us this evening the Lord's promise is that these bones can live. You can live by the preaching of God's word, through the power of God's spirit, by the prayers of God's people.

[37:48] The Valley of Thry Bones can experience restoration, regeneration, and resurrection by coming to this Jesus who saves to the uttermost.

[38:01] It's a wonderful reminder that we should have confidence in this world. confidence in the preaching of God's word, through the power of God's spirit, and the prayers of God's people.

[38:14] Can these bones live? I want these bones to live. So you come to this Jesus who promises you eternal life.

[38:27] May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray. O Lord, our gracious God, we give thanks to thee for the power of thy word. And we pray that thy word would work in our lives by the power of thine own Holy Spirit and the prayers accompanied by thy people.

[38:47] That we would plead that souls in this congregation and even in our community, all that they would live, that they would see the beauty of Jesus, that they would be brought out of their grave and brought to know the newness of life in Christ.

[39:04] For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Lord, bless us, then we pray. Bless us in the week that lies ahead, a week that is unknown to us, but known only to thee.

[39:20] Keep us, then we pray, ever in the hollow of thine own hand and do us good for Jesus' sake. Amen. Well, we're going to bring our service to a conclusion by singing the words of Psalm 16.

[39:40] Psalm 16, page 216. Psalm 16, we're singing the last four verses, verses 8 to 11.

[39:53] Psalm 16, you could probably call it the psalm of the resurrection. It's quoted again and again in reference to Jesus and his resurrection.

[40:10] Especially verse 10, because my soul engraved to dwell shall not be left by thee, nor wilt thou give thine holy one corruption to see. That verse is always quoted in relation to Jesus and his resurrection.

[40:25] But I wonder if all of us could say tonight, because my soul engraved to dwell shall not be left by thee. I don't want anybody's soul to be left in that spiritually dead state of being in the grave.

[40:42] but to experience, as he says in verse 11, the path of life. Thou wilt me show the path of life, of joys that is full store, before thy face at thy right hand are pleasures evermore.

[40:56] So Psalm 16, the psalm of the resurrection, verses 8 to 11, to God's praise. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Before me, till the Lord die sent, set it so that he doth ever stand the fire I found, I shall not prove it be.

[41:39] Because of this my heart is glad and joy shall be expressed in by my glory and my flesh the confidence shall rest because my soul in grave to dwell shall not be left by thee nor wilt thou give thine holy bond corruption to see.

[42:52] Thou wilt me show the path of life of joys there is full store before before thy face at thy right hand are pleasures evermore.

[43:29] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.

[43:46] Amen. God bless you. Amen. Humano that is one good Chuck