Greetings to you all, children of God.
It is a blessing to see you all.
And that's not just cliche, it really is.
Today's text, it may kind of seem out of the box, but that's okay.
Lord willing, we'll be able to wrangle the text and bring it
to something very current and present.
Today's text is from Ezekiel chapter 37, verses 3 through 6.
And then make sure you also grab the book of Ephesians.
And then make sure you grab the book of Romans chapter 6.
So we're going to start off in Ezekiel.
Then we will hop over to Ephesians 2 and then Romans 6.
The prophet said in the book of Ezekiel chapter 37, verses 3 through 6,
and he said unto me, son of man, can these bones live?
And I answered, oh Lord God, you alone know.
Again, he said to me, prophesy upon these bones and say to them, oh, you dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, behold, I will cause breath to enter into you,
and you shall live.
And I will lay sinews upon you and bring up flesh 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.
Ezekiel chapter 37, verses 3 through 6, pretty much the entire chapter.
For the sake of time, I will not go through the entire chapter.
However, the text is about the restoration of Israel.
It is all about restoring Israel to their land and the restoration of the temple of the Lord.
In church history, we had two different schools of thought,
and it was called the Alexandrian School of Thought and the Antiochian School of Thought
in church history.
With the Alexandrian, it was not necessarily opposite to the Antiochian School of Thought.
Antiochian was very historical, very literal, whereas the Alexandrian,
without sacrificing the historical context and what the scriptures are actually saying,
they opened it up more for allegory, for an allegory interpretation.
As long as that allegory interpretation was not contrary to anything Jesus Christ had said,
anything that was part of our faith, and obviously nothing contrary to the scriptures.
With this being said, historically, it is understood that this restoration of Israel,
with them, with God looking to bring them back to their own land,
and with them looking to restore the temple, this was allegory that God wanted to restore
the image and likeness in his people that was lost in the Garden of Eden,
that God was looking for as far as the restoration of the temple,
that he was looking for his people to be his temple.
He was looking for his people to be his temple, not just the physical building.
Israel's land was always present even though there were times that
they were forbidden in the land, they had to fight to get the land back.
In this case, we see that what God is trying to restore,
he is doing such through a prophet.
At the beginning of that chapter, it starts off like this.
Ezekiel says that the hand of the Lord was upon me.
And then the scripture says that he was carried into the spirit of the Lord.
Now imagine that for a second. The moment when the hand of the Lord is upon you
and you are carried into the spirit of the Lord, it's a valley full of dead bones.
You would think and hope that it would be a place of bliss and a place of peace,
but the hand of the Lord being upon Ezekiel and him being carried into the spirit of the Lord,
he is set in the presence of the dead.
He is brought into the presence of the dead.
In a similar fashion, we are not necessarily Israel. We are Israel according to the spirit.
But whereas Ezekiel, the hand of the Lord had to be upon him and he was carried into the spirit
of the Lord, we know that our Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
And very similar to Ezekiel, when Christ was born, he was brought into the valley of the dead.
He was brought in the midst of a dead world. He was brought into the midst of
dead cultures, dead societies, and everything that was contrary to God.
How does this help our church though?
Think about this question.
Those who followed Jesus after the resurrection went from laying down palms and clothing
to laying down their lives as living.
They went from laying down palms and clothing to laying down their lives as living sacrifices.
In the book of Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1, the apostle Paul says, and you he made alive
who were dead in trespasses and sins.
You, me, Christ made alive when we were dead in trespasses and sins and the continuation of the
verse in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of
the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of the Lord, the Holy Spirit.
The children of disobedience. Paul's attention notice is very much past tense. He says we once
walked according to these things. We once walked according to these things. We once
walked according to these things under the same spirit of disobedience.
And then Paul says, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath,
just as others. Through Christ and his grace, we are no longer living according to the disordered
passions, but we are living by faith and by the power of God's grace. Now notice Paul here.
All this is past tense.
Do you consider yourself dead or alive?
Let's continue. But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love in which he had loved
us, even when we were dead in trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ.
Even while we were dead in trespasses in a very similar fashion that when the prophet was brought
to the valley in that vision, he was alive amongst the dead.
Even so, when Christ and his incarnation being conceived by the Holy Spirit became man, his
mission was to make us a living being. And so, when Christ was brought to the valley, he was
brought to the valley in the same way that when the Holy Spirit became man, his mission was to
make us alive within himself. The scripture says, by grace, you have been saved and raised up
that in all the ages to come that he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ. For by grace, we have been saved through faith. It is a gift of God.
Can dead people look for a gift?
Can dead people receive a gift? Can dead people want a gift?
Can the dead look forward to a gift?
Children of God, if you are dead, then it takes somebody with power to make you alive
because one thing about being dead is you have no power. You have no power.
Being dead is you have no power. You have no choice. You have no say so.
It takes him who has power to quicken us, to make us alive, to bring life to our souls.
He says, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast, for we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which he prepared beforehand that we all should walk in them.
What are some of these exceedingly great riches of God's grace? How is it that God makes us alive
if we are dead in trespasses? Well, we'll look at the book of Romans real quick.
Romans chapter six, verse three. Or do you not know that as many of us were baptized into Christ,
were baptized into his death. Therefore, we were buried with Christ through baptism into death
that just as we were buried with Christ, we were buried with Christ through baptism into death.
That just as Christ Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so also,
we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of Jesus' death,
certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.
Knowing this, that our old man, the old person was crucified with Christ,
that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin,
for he who has died has not been crucified.
Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more, death no longer has dominion
over him for the death that Christ died. He died to sin once and for all. He died for the sake of
Christ, for the sake of his resurrection. And if we believe that we should also live with Christ,
no longer has dominion over him for the death that Christ died. He died to sin once and for all.
But the life that he lives, he now lives unto God.
Likewise, you do the same. Likewise, reckon yourselves to be dead to sin,
but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He says, reckon, consider, all of us here, we should consider ourselves dead to sin,
but alive to God our Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. And then Paul says here, therefore,
do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust, and do not present
your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being
alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God for your sin.
And then Paul says, consider yourselves as members as instruments of righteousness to God,
for you are not under the law, but under grace.
Man.
During Holy Week,
let's all dedicate ourselves
as presenting ourselves as alive to God.
Let's look for opportunities because you don't have to be a pastor to be holy.
You don't have to be an elder or a deacon to be holy because holiness comes
from our life in Christ. Righteousness comes from our life with Christ.
Every good and perfect gift comes from our life in Christ. It is not of ourselves.
It is because of what Christ has done at Calvary, and it is because of the great
and faithful work that he has started in us.
As a matter of fact, in Ephesians two, he lets us know for this very reason we have been created,
for this very reason we are his elect that we will go and exhibit Christ like lives in this world.
And exhibit Christ like lives in this world.
That the gospel of Jesus Christ is not about him just dying for us.
And then we go about our lives like the gospel is just something added to the life that we want
to live already just so that we have health insurance.
But the beauty of the gospel is that we were dead in trespasses.
There was nothing that we could do to save ourselves. There was no way that we could think
our way out of it. There was no way we could buy our way out of it. There was no one smart enough
or intellectual enough to get out of being dead in trespasses. It took the Lord Jesus Christ
to come and save us all.
Nothing within your power was good enough.
And according to the book of Romans, that same power that rose Christ from the dead is the exact
same power that enables us to present ourselves as instruments to God as being alive from the dead.
God considers us all dead to sin now.
Now I will say this as well.
When God says something, it happens.
It may not always be in the timing that you like,
but it's not always in the timing that you like.
It may not always be in the timing that you like,
but when God says something, it happens. So when God says that you are dead to sin,
as the apostle Peter put it in the book of second Peter,
he has now given us all all things that pertain to life and godliness.
He has not withheld any great gift from his people in pursuing him.
He has removed every obstacle. He has removed every hindrance. He has removed the disposition
to live contrary to him.
And he has given us all new hearts.
He has given us all new hearts.
He has given us his Holy Spirit. He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
If you don't believe you have that, then that's dead thinking.
If you don't believe that you have the strength, that is dead thinking.
Because the cross made it possible.
His resurrection and ascension were also seals to make it possible,
and the Holy Spirit was the promise that it is possible.
Notice what Paul said in Roman six.
I'll read over it again briefly real quick. Do not let sin reign in your mortal body.
Be quick to repent. Be quick to confess your sins one to another.
Do not let, do not present your members as a part of your sin.
Do not let, do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin,
but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
For you are not under the law but under grace. Oh how wonderful grace is.
How wonderful grace is that it is by grace that we can present ourselves alive from the dead
and we no longer have to obey the lust and the sins of our flesh.
God says that is something, there is something different in all of us now.
That now, upon God's word, you can present yourself
to God as being alive from the dead and instruments to the righteousness of God.
It is because we are under grace that this is possible.
It is because we are under grace that God even expects us to be able to live this out and succeed now.
When God gives his grace,
he does not give us his grace to say we can't do it.
When he gives us his grace,
he's saying now you can.
In the book of Titus, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
Now watch this.
Teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust that we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly in this present age.
That is what grace does.
Grace takes those who are dead and it makes them alive.
It gives them flesh, it gives them a heartbeat, it gives them sinu, and it gives them a new mind.
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust that we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly in this present age.
Looking for the hope and glory of God.
And godly in this present age, looking for the hope and glorious appearing of our great God
and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed
and purify for himself his own special people zealous for good works.
What is grace doing?
It's teaching you to deny ungodliness.
What is grace doing?
It's teaching you to deny worldly lust and affections.
What is grace doing?
It is teaching you to live soberly, righteously, and godly today.
That's what grace is doing.
Not when you die.
Today.
Not when you become 40.
Not when you become 40 today.
Not when you become an older gentleman or an older woman today.
God's grace is present today.
Have you noticed in these texts a lot is going on about presenting, right?
Presenting yourself alive from the dead, presenting your instruments to righteousness.
I just want to say this real quick.
I only got about 10 minutes left, so I'm going to run through some of this.
What are the good works that scripture is talking about?
The good works that scripture is talking about is the life of Christ.
Jesus said that his words are spirit and life.
This is Jesus Christ's personal estimation and judgment of his words.
He said, my words are spirit and they are life.
When we live according to spirit and life, we are not trying to be saved by words.
We are simply living according to the spirit of God because Christ's words are spirit and life.
As a matter of fact, our anthropology, our biblical anthropology, according to the text,
says that we are body, soul and spirit.
So when God's word is flowing in our lives,
when it is rapidly in our memory, when it is consistent in our thoughts,
when God's word becomes our heartbeat, then alone are we truly complete
because it is God alone that gives the spirit.
We did not teach Christ's words.
Christ came and he taught us the spirit of the spirit.
We did not teach Christ his words. Christ came and he taught us his words.
With that being said, the people in the book of Matthew who were laying down their palms and clothes,
children of God, these two were dead in their trespasses.
Even though they were awaiting the triumphant entry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
they were dead in trespasses. Was this a sweet and wonderful gesture? Absolutely.
Was this prophesied that people were going to do this? Yes, it was.
But after the coming and the work of Christ, his ascension and the Holy Spirit,
our God now calls us all to lay down depravity, malice, ill will toward one another, evil speaking, envy, double mindedness.
And he calls us all to desire the pure milk of his word that we may all grow.
That we all may come to God as a living stone that even though we may be rejected by men,
but we are chosen by God. Precious as living stones built up into a spiritual house
a holy priesthood offering up spiritual sacrifices expect acceptable to God through Christ.
That's from the book of Peter. What are these spiritual sacrifices? Notice that
Peter talked about that we are a royal priesthood. That not only remember in the book of Ezekiel,
it was not just about getting Israel back to the proper land to their land.
It was getting them back there for proper worship that the temple may be on that land as well.
We imitate those people by laying down palms and those clothes.
Then we should also imitate those same people that after Christ rose from the dead that they laid down their lives.
We imitate them in Christ's triumphal entry with the palms and the laying down of the clothes.
We should also imitate them that after the resurrection that they were willing to lay down their lives.
Why is that? Peter mentioned a holy priesthood.
How many priests do I have in the house today?
Well, you may be thinking, well, I'm not a priest. I don't have anything to offer.
I don't know what spiritual sacrifice I have.
However, notice very similar to Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ's priesthood, which is called in the book of Hebrews, the priesthood of Melchizedek.
That sort of priesthood is that the person is not the person that is going to be sacrificed.
Is that the person is not only the one who offers, but the person is also the offering.
I'm gonna say that again. In that priesthood, it is not the individual is not just the one that offers.
The same person is also the literal offering, just like Christ. Christ, who is our high priest, presented himself.
Look back at the scriptures now. Present your members as instruments of righteousness.
Present yourself as being alive from the dead to God.
In Romans 12 and 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, and do not be conformed to this world.
But be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and the perfect will of God.
That who may prove it? You may prove it.
That you present yourself as God's people, that you present yourself the offering that God wants, that you present yourself in Christ Jesus as being alive from the dead, that you present yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, holy and acceptable to God.
That you present yourself as a living sacrifice, no longer being conformed to this world, but being conformed to the kingdom of heaven and its Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to wrap up with this, because I'm done.
Colossians 3 and 1, children of God,
if you have been risen with Christ, then seek those things which are above where Christ sits at the right hand of God.
If you are risen with the Lord Jesus, then when we are presenting ourselves as being alive from the dead,
when we not only lay down palms, when we not only lay down clothes, but when we also become willing to lay down our lives,
we live according to the Spirit of God.
We live according to the Scriptures.
We don't find ways to get out of living according to the Scriptures, but through faith and through God's grace, we find ways to obey Christ, regardless of the consequences that come along with it.
As Pastor Jim said, those people that were laying down palms, saying, Hosanna, Hosanna, were the same people that some of them were eventually saying, crucify him, crucify him.
But children of God, after the resurrection, after the ascension, after being with Christ 40 days, after the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, those people who left Jesus and went from saying, crucify him,
they went to also saying, for Christ I live and for Christ I'll die.
Let us all take this time throughout Holy Week to die daily that Christ may live.