5/28/23 Ezekiel 37:1-14 “What in the World Are You Doing?”

26 May 5/28/23 Ezekiel 37:1-14 “What in the World Are You Doing?”

5/28/23   Ezekiel 37:1-14        “What in the World Are You Doing?”

There are times when I read the newspaper or watch the news and I have to ask myself, “What in the world is going on?”  As a country we have a terrible spending problem.  Along with this is the terrible inflation that the government has secretly hidden because they don’t count gas,  grocery prices, and other essentials.  We have border problems with our neighbors to the south along with a terrible drug appetite in this country which fuels the border problems.  We have been fighting a number of wars that I know about that are really quite senseless.  Don’t get me wrong here.  I support our troops where ever they are but I really think these latest wars could have been prevented.  We have crime rates in this country that are beyond appalling.  Once again the government has a magical formula to hide the actual rate of crime.  We have got pornography everywhere, even in our government.  Along with runaway inflation we have runaway greed.  I could go on and on listing all of our problems in just this country.  But all of these problems can be solved or worked out.  However, we do seem have a problem that we have never solved.  We do not treat each other as we want to be treated ourselves.  If you don’t believe me, then look at all the things I just mentioned.  This is a problem that goes back to Biblical days and before.  We see it in our election years when you see how much the Republicans hate the Democrats and vice versa.  We see it where they try to pass anti-Christian laws where everyone hates the Christians, especially those of us who stand up for Christ.  One would almost think that we have no hope for the future.  This may be the case in many instances but it doesn’t have to be.  Ezekiel is looking out on a valley of dry bones.  Is there any hope for these bones?  Is there any hope for us?

David Henderson tells the story of a 10 year old boy who wanted to take Judo lessons but there was one small problem.  He had been in a car accident and had lost his left arm.  The boy started the lessons and he couldn’t figure out why the coach had only taught him one move in 3 months.  So he asked him why this was and the coach replied that it would be the only move he would need to know.  Anyway the boy kept at it in spite of only having one arm and knowing only one move.  He went to his first tournament and to his surprise he won his first 2 matches.  The third match was a little bit harder but he won that also and was now in the championship match against someone much bigger than he.

They started the match and the big guy was winning handily.  The referee stopped the match because it was so one sided but the coach talked him into continuing.  Sure enough, the big guy made a mistake and the smaller boy won the championship against all odds.  There would have seemed to be no hope for this outcome.  On the way home the boy asked the coach how he could win with just one move.  The coach replied, “You won for two reasons.  The first one is that you have mastered one of the most difficult moves in all of Judo.  And the second reason is that the only defense against this move of yours is to grab your left arm.”  The boy’s biggest weakness turned out to be his greatest strength.  This boy had hope against staggering odds and you can too.

I would like to begin this day by saying that this is part of the prophecy in Ezekiel.  Notice how the Lord takes Ezekiel to the middle of a valley that is full of bones, dry bones.  This can be one of the most vivid visions in the entire Bible.  Everywhere Ezekiel looks; there are bones, human bones.  This is really far bigger than anything we can imagine.  This may be what Armageddon will be like when the final battle is over.  Anyway, the Lord asks Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?”

These bones are from the people of Israel.  These are the people who have lost hope.  I think we should revisit Israel for a moment.  They were on a roller coaster ride as far as their faith was concerned.  They had fallen away from God early and often.  During the times of the judges we can really see the falling away.  They would be conquered and reduce to nothing before they remembered God.  Then they would be very obedient for a couple of generations and the same thing would happen.  Again King David was very faithful but it didn’t take long after he died before Israel was back sliding once again.  It was just the history of these people.  This is also the history of this country!

Now they had been conquered by Babylon and taken away from their homes.  They were exiled.  They had no place to go and they once again had to do what their captors told them to do or they would perish.  Things were hopeless for the Jewish people at this time.  These people were the dry bones.  There was no flesh left on these people.

I would like us to look forward to our modern times and ask, “Are we so different?”  You have heard me tell many times about how we have just kind of slowly slipped away from Jesus in our lives.  This all began 60-70 years ago.  By the 1970’s we had immersed ourselves in the free love movement along with the drug culture.  Movies were becoming so lewd that many people couldn’t watch them.  Well, we all got used to these things and they are common place now.  If you don’t believe me, then just think about the article that I read once where the wonderful representative from our state has introduced a bill which would make marijuana legal in North Dakota.  If you want to light up, you just do it because everything is good.  They want a world where there is nothing you can do is wrong.  Anything goes.  Nothing is bad.  Thirty years ago, this would have gotten just about everyone upset.  Today, we have slid so far from God that it wouldn’t surprise me if there weren’t many people at all who put up a fuss.

I also think that our culture has really changed since 9-11.  For the first time in our history as a country we were attacked on our own soil.  Thousands died and many more were injured.  For the most part we stood around for a while blaming Bin Laden.  If that is what it takes, I guess I’m ok with it.  But we are told that we cannot say that we were attacked by Satan.  Up until 60 years ago, we were the most blest country in the world.  We had everything.  We had resources and people.  Then we started to fall away from God just like the ancient Israelites.

Satan saw his opening and he took a shot at us.  Since 9-11 we have been under constant attack by Satan. He is everywhere we look.  Satan wants us gone and he will win unless we wake up and smell the roses.  We are getting high; we are killing babies and we are having sex with anything around.  Satan is dancing the dance of joy.  He wants Christians to bow down before him and everyone else.  Everything is eroding away around us.  Just look back 30-40 years and you can see that it is getting to be tougher and tougher to be a Christian.  Things are looking bleak for us.  In the old days it was the bones of Israel in this valley.  Today it is the bones of the Christians of America and the world who are in this valley.  Jesus asks us this question, “Can these bones live?”

At the present rate of deterioration, we will not make it because there doesn’t seem to be anyone around who is aware that we are being led by the pied piper called Satan.  Everything everybody does is right.  There is no wrong in our world.  We have no morality!  I would like us to remember our soldiers on this Memorial Day.  They died so that we could have a country that is free.  If they were still alive today, how many of our soldiers from WWI or before would even recognize our country today?  How many would shake their heads and ask, “What in the world are you doing?”  The war we are fighting today isn’t against Islam or the Chinese or any other people of the world.  It is against Satan.  He has led us right into the valley of the bones and we are the bones.

We could go on all day talking about this stuff but I think that we should answer the question, “Can these bones live?”  My answer to this is that of course they can.  With Jesus anything and everything is possible.  Now I want us to see how our dead bones may live again.  Notice the first thing here about Ezekiel.  God is with him.  God took him to this place.  This is very important.

It doesn’t really matter what is going on around us as long as we have God with us.  This is Pentecost Sunday.  This is the day of the Holy Spirit.  This is the day to get fired up about Jesus and the Holy Spirit inside us.  Even if you don’t know anything about God and the Holy Spirit, you can have it all if you just ask Jesus to forgive your sins and ask Him to live in your heart.  Then you will have the Holy Spirit at all times.  He will help you in times of death and divorce.  He will help you in times of financial trouble or job loss or bad health.  There is not a trouble too big that the Holy Spirit cannot help you.

And the best part of this is when He also helps you when times are good.  This is a place where we fall down a bit.  This is why I like to talk about our God moments.  When things are good, God is with you.  When the crops are good, the family is good, the job is good, school is good, God is with you and making this happen.  Nothing is by chance.  Remember that God is in charge of the good stuff also.

The second thing I want you to notice is that not only is God with Ezekiel but Ezekiel does what God tells him to do.  He prophesied to this valley of dry bones.  I want you to use your imagination a little bit here.  You are standing with dry bones as far as you can see.  I want to shorten this up a bit due to time and say, “All you bones, get up.  Get up!”  And behold in front of you all these bones come together and the muscle in the skin become reattached.  There is movement everywhere as these bones come back to life.  And then the breath of God is breathed back into them.  This had to be a tremendous sight.

This is where we are today.  We stand before a valley of dead bones.  We stand before people who only want to believe in certain parts of the Bible.  We stand before people who want to define God in ways that are pleasing to themselves.  We stand before a people who just plain flat out don’t believe and there are many more of these kinds of people than we like to think.  But if we obey God, then things can and will change.  God has a plan for us and it will be done no matter how many people are against Him.

The best thing for us to do is to obey God like Ezekiel did.  We do this by doing all the things I’ve been telling you like coming to church, praying and reading your Bibles.  But you also do this by telling someone that their way of thinking is not in line with what the Bible says.  Recently, I got into a discussion with someone about an issue and they were well versed in it.  They went through all the arguments for their position and they expected me to change my mind.  So I told them that what they were favoring was just not right.  You can be as logical and factual as you want but if you are not right according to the Bible then you aren’t right.  You are wrong.  The person realized what I was saying and the topic was dropped.  I have told you before we have to stop accepting the lesser of two evils.  Both choices are still evil.  There are many other things that God tells us to do so just remember to obey.

We obey because it is the right thing to do and it will also be quite rewarding.  The last part of this passage tells the people of Israel that God will raise them back up from this bony graveyard and He will be their God and they will be His people.  In other words if they do what is right with God, many, many good things will happen.

I would like us to forget all the bad stuff I talked about at the beginning of this sermon.  Instead concentrate on being an obedient child of God.  By doing these things that God wants you to do you will finally be able to have God’s peace.  You will have joy in your life.  You will know what real love is all about.  You will know kindness and self-control.  All the fruits of the Spirit can be yours if you just obey.

Rich Grimes tells a story of the famous evangelist, D.L. Moody who was explaining to his audience the truth that we cannot bring about spiritual changes in our own lives by using our own strength.  He used a simple demonstration to make his point.  He held up an ordinary water glass and asked, “How can I get all the air out of this glass?”  One man sitting up front said that you could us a pump and suck it all out.  Moody thought that might work to a certain extent except that it would break the glass due to the pressure.  He waited and got many other suggestions.  Finally, he picked up a pitcher and filled the glass with water and said, “There, all the air has been removed.”

There are two things to learn from this story.  The first is that we don’t have to make things harder than they actually are.  Christianity is really quite simple-love God.  The second is God doesn’t want you to work hard trying to come up with ideas on how to eliminate sin or take all the air out of the glass.  Instead He wants you to simply obey what He says.  It’s quite easy.  I know that God has never given me an assignment that is too hard for me to do and He won’t do that to you either.  When you see someone you know who is only bones, go to them and minister to them in ways that are acceptable to Jesus.  For most of us this comes naturally.  You need to work on this happening all the time, for every person you meet.  God loves us so much that He doesn’t want your lives to be complicated only obedient.  I praise the Lord every time I think how much He loves us.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.