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Good evening, 5pm. Are we well? Cold? No? No? Some people are warm? That's good to hear.

Well, my name is James, I'm a student minister here at St. Paul's, and it's a joy to be bringing

the word of God tonight to you all. So how about I pray for us as we begin. Please join

me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that we can come to you tonight, we

can gather as your people, even on this cold night, and we pray, Father, that you would

work in us tonight through your word, that you would change us, that you would warm our

hearts with the joy of the gospel, of what you've done through your son Jesus, in whose name

we pray. Amen. Hopelessness is not a feeling any of us enjoy. It is something we dread

feeling when things go wrong, sometimes even in the most smallest of ways, like last year's

AFL Grand Final. I had made sure I had the whole day off so I could watch my mates, see

the Swans get up and win the AFL Grand Final, to see a great battle between the Hawks and

the Swans, and hoping to see the Swans go away with the flag. Boy, oh boy, was I disappointed.

Weren't we all? If you're a Swans fan, especially, I mean, as the game went on, it was just dreadful

to watch. The Hawks kept extending their lead out, walking all over the Swans. It was as

if the Swans didn't turn up to play the match. My hope felt the whole game just dwindled,

and by the time the siren of the fourth quarter sounded, all hope was gone. Swans had lost

terribly. And it was just depressing, sitting there watching the whole game unfold, knowing

it was just hopeless. There was no hope of winning. The Hawks were just too good for us.

Sometimes hopelessness can affect us in much more serious ways. I remember getting a phone

call from my father, and he was telling me that my uncle had just been diagnosed with lung cancer,

and they had caught it in a very late stage, a bit too late. It was only a number of months

after I received that call, I got another call, and he had passed away. Those months were difficult.

I felt helpless. I felt hopeless. My uncle was dying. I couldn't do anything to stop it.

I had this feeling of inadequacy. I could do nothing. I just had to accept it, and sit there,

and just wait. But such a conclusion is not one we like, nor is it one we accept. We are creatures

of hope. Our world is obsessed with hope. All over Facebook, we are bombarded with stories of hope

that always ends. You've good news. Our movies and TV shows tap into our felt need for hope,

to see the hero overcome obstacles, holding on to hope for a good outcome. We are people of hope,

and even in death, we hope. At the funeral of Philip Hughes, Michael Clark spoke very passionately

and lovingly towards his friend and fellow teammate. He finished by stating that Hughesy would always

be present with him on the cricket field when he went out to bat. The way Clark dealt with the

seemingly hopelessness of the situation was to ignore the reality of death itself and somehow justify

his ongoing presence through some sort of spiritual or ethereal presence on the cricket field.

Hopelessness is not something we enjoy, so even in the face of death, we choose to hope.

Hopelessness is not something we enjoy, whether it's by ignoring the reality of our pain or by explaining it away,

we choose to hope. However, this is not a description of the Israelite people in Ezekiel.

They were a people who did have much hope to begin with, but now they were a people of utter despair

and hopelessness. Why? Because they were under the complete judgment of the Lord God. And by the time

we get to chapter 37, they are in a pitiful state as a people. They're not trying to look for hope in the

midst of hopelessness, trying to explain it away. They describe themselves in verse 11 as dry bones.

They're in a death-like state, a hopeless state, and any chance to find hope was gone.

All because they felt and experienced and knew that they were under the terrible judgment of God.

One cannot simply explain away God's terrible judgment.

To think so many today are living hopeful lives, looking forward to the future, looking forward to tomorrow,

with hope, and yet at the same time, ignorant that they live under the very same judgment of God

as the Israelites did.

In the end, blind to the hopelessness that sums up their true reality.

Is this the end of Israel?

Is this death-like state forever their reality?

And what about us?

Us, who Ephesians 2.1 describes as dead in our sin.

Is there any way out of this hopeless, death-like state for us?

Is there any way out of this hopelessness?

Live again.

The amazing truth, the incredible miracle of this passage is that the answer is yes.

Yes, dead, dry bones can live again.

And this passage will tell us how.

Indeed, verses 1 to 14 tell us how dry bones can live again.

And verses 15 to 28 will tell us what this new life looks like now as the people of God.

So firstly, how can dry bones live again?

How can these bones have new life?

Look at verse 3.

He asked me, Son of man, can these bones live?

I said, Sovereign Lord, you alone know.

Then he said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

God asked Ezekiel here, after showing him the valley of the dry bones, can these bones live again?

It's a bit of an unfair question, don't you think?

The obvious answer is no.

Of course not.

These bones are dead.

They're so dead, they're dry.

They've been dead for so long.

There's no way these bones could live.

But the one asking the question is not anyone.

It's God.

He is the creator of all life.

The one in control of life and death.

So Ezekiel answers wisely.

Only you know God.

A wise answer, indeed, which acknowledges that God is the one who says who lives and who dies.

Ezekiel is then told in verse 4 how these bones are going to live.

He is going to prophesy to these dead bones.

Saying to them, Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord God.

That is how God is going to give life to these bones.

He's going to speak to them.

Now he didn't already think the idea of dead bones living again was a bit far-fetched.

Surely now you think his method is.

I mean, he's going to speak to bones.

I have a dog.

That's a Shih Tzu cross poodle named Mr. Bingley.

And if you're wondering, yes, it's from Pride and Prejudice.

Mr. Bingley from Pride and Prejudice.

If you've seen or read the book.

Now Mr. Bingley always, I kid you not, he always poos in my room.

Whenever I go to college for a week and I come back, there's always a little gift in my room waiting for me.

And it's very, very frustrating.

It's very annoying.

And I get really upset about it.

All I want to do is when I get home is just relax and sit down and put my feet up.

But then the first thing I've got to do is clean up a little dog poo from my room.

And it gets very frustrating.

I remember one time I was so fed up.

I was so angry at my dog for doing this that I had to do something.

Now I don't believe in hurting animals.

But I had to do something.

So I went downstairs.

I found the dog.

I picked him up.

And I carried him to my room.

And I made him look at the turd.

I made him look at it for some time.

Now I made him look at me.

And I said to Mr. Bingley, this is not acceptable.

You can't do this.

This is wrong.

And it went on for about a minute and a half.

And I realized at that point, this is ridiculous.

This is not going to work.

He's a dog.

And I'm trying to communicate with a dog and tell him not to do that.

That is, this is not working.

And I felt pretty dumb and pretty stupid for doing that.

And I feel like it's the same here.

How does speaking to dry bones and telling them to live again going to work?

At least my dog was alive.

And I could pick him up and I could show him.

These are dead, dry bones.

They are lifeless.

Whilst I might have thought in a moment that my words had some sort of power over my dog,

my words are nothing compared to God's words.

When God speaks, powerful things happen.

It was through his word that everything came into being, that God created the world.

God said, let there be, and there was.

The psalmist says in chapter 33, for he spoke and it came into being.

He commanded and it came into existence.

When God creates, he does so by speaking.

When he gives life, he does so by speaking it.

And so when, through the prophet Ezekiel, he commands the bones to live,

they will live.

Because these are the words of the almighty God.

They're not my words or anyone else's words.

They are God's words.

And we see this take place in verse 7.

So I prophesied as I was commanded.

And as I was prophesying, that is telling these bones to live,

there was a noise, a rattling sound.

And the bones came together.

Bone to bone, I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them.

And skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

As Ezekiel spoke to the bones to hear their Lord God,

new life began to come upon these bones to form bodies.

Now we are told at this point there was no breath in them.

That these bodies were formed, but they had no life just yet.

Now this word breath comes from the Hebrew word ruach.

Can you say ruach?

Ruach.

Don't be afraid to use spitball.

Ruach.

Come on.

Ruach.

Yeah, that's good.

That's good.

It can mean breath or wind.

But it can also mean spirit.

And it's difficult to work out how we should read this word here.

Ruach.

Is it breath or is it spirit?

I think in this chapter it means both.

I mean, it has to mean breath.

Because how would these bodies become alive?

Indeed we see in verse 9,

Such a picture of this breath,

breathing into the slain, into the bodies,

is reminiscent of God breathing life into Adam.

Which makes me think,

since it is God who gives life,

that this breath must be also referring to the spirit.

Indeed, when God is interpreting the prophecy

in the vision to Ezekiel,

he says in verse 14,

I will put my spirit in you,

and you will live.

God's spirit, his ruach, gives life.

And it does so in the command of his word.

Indeed, his word is enacted and carried out by the spirit.

And so as we read on the result,

they all arose,

all these bodies,

as they were breathed life into him,

they all arose like an army.

The interpretation of this vision and prophecy

is that all the house of Israel

made up these dry bones.

They were in a death-like state,

saying to themselves,

we are dry bones.

Our hope is no more.

We are cut off.

But then God says to him in verse 12,

interpreting the prophecy,

this is what the sovereign Lord says,

my people,

I am going to open your graves

and bring you up from them.

I will bring you back to the land of Israel.

Then you, my people,

will know that I am the Lord

when I open your graves

and bring you up from them.

I will put my spirit in you

and you will live.

And I will settle you in your own lands.

Then you will know that I, the Lord,

have spoken.

And I have done it,

declares the Lord.

God's word is Israel's salvation.

Although they were dead,

although they were hopeless,

under God's terrible judgment,

through the word spoken by the grace of God,

Israel is given new life by his spirit.

God's word is our salvation.

And although we were dead in our sins,

hopeless, helpless,

to do anything about our sin,

under God's terrible judgment,

ignorant that we were so,

God, through his word,

indeed the word that became flesh,

gave us new life by his spirit.

Indeed, Ezekiel is looking forward

to the salvation that we enjoy now,

to the word of God

that would become incarnate in flesh

to save us from our deathly state,

to give life to these dry bones.

Jesus, the word of God,

the fullest and final revelation of God,

who takes away the sin of the world

and makes his sacrifice effective for us

by his spirit,

giving us new life.

I wonder if there's any of us here

who haven't accepted God's word,

who are living lives ignorant

that you are under God's terrible judgment.

We heard last week from Steve

that we ought not to harden ourselves

to God's word as it's revealed to us.

God's word gives life,

life that saves us from our sins,

from our death-like state.

And so tonight,

if you haven't heard the great news

that we are saved from our death-like state,

then I encourage you to listen,

to hear what God has to say to you.

The words of the gospel are powerful.

They are words that bring life.

And it's why Paul is so bold to say

in Romans 1.16,

I am not ashamed of the gospel

because it's the power of God

for the salvation of all who believe.

Is it not incredible

that we, as we have been made alive

by God's word,

given new life?

And now the very words

that brought life to us and to Israel

have now been given to us in the gospel.

That as we go out and speak to dry bones,

they might hear God speak to them

and speak of the one who died for them.

That they might have new life

by the Spirit.

Is that not just incredible?

We, who were once dead in our sins

but now made alive by God's Spirit,

we now have the opportunity

to go tell others,

to other dry bones,

God's word,

God's redeeming word in the gospel

and be conduits of this new life.

How does one have new life?

By the very grace of God

who gives us life through his word

by the power of the Spirit.

All for the glory of his name.

This is where we get to our second point.

What does this new life look like

as the people of God?

We learn that although we were dead in our sins,

we were in a hopeless, death-like state.

God, through his word,

by his Spirit,

has given us new life.

But what does this new life look like?

How does it shape the way we live today?

What does it mean for us?

Well, look at verse 15.

The word of the Lord came to me,

Son of man,

take a stick of wood and write on it,

belonging to Judah

and the Israelites associated with him.

Then take another stick of wood

and write on it,

belonging to Joseph,

that is to Ephraim,

and all the Israelites associated with him.

Join them together into one stick

so that they will become one in your hand.

These sticks represent two kingdoms of Israel

before the exile,

the northern kingdom of Joseph

and the southern kingdom of Judah.

And Ezekiel is told to bring these sticks together

and make them one.

When the people of God wonder

why exactly this is

and what this all means,

Ezekiel is told to tell them,

verse 21,

this is what the sovereign Lord says.

I will take the Israelites

out of the nations where they have gone.

I will gather them from all around

and bring them back into their own land.

I will make them one nation in the land

on the mountains of Israel.

There will be one king over all of them

and they will never again be two nations

or be divided into two kingdoms.

For Israel,

new life meant that they would no longer

be scattered

like the exile had made them scattered.

They would no longer be divided

amongst each other,

separated into the north and to the south,

but God was going to make them

one nation once again.

They would enjoy being brought back

into the one land

as one people

under one Lord and King.

Never again to be divided.

Never again to be scattered.

Never again to become dry bones.

to be in this death-like state.

Because

intrinsic to this new life

was the gathering of God's people.

Was God's people becoming one?

That is the shape

of the new life that we have

in Jesus.

Now the people were originally scattered

because of their disobedience

and unwillingness to turn to God,

to listen to his word.

Deuteronomy 28, 64

warns them as such.

To give you some context though,

verse 54 of 28 says this,

If you do not carefully follow

all the words of this law

which are written in this book

and do not revere this glorious

and awesome name,

the Lord your God,

verse 64,

then the Lord will scatter you

among all the nations

from one end of the earth to another.

There you will worship other gods,

gods of wood and stone,

which neither you nor your ancestors

have known.

The scattering was a curse

on God's people

because they did not heed

and follow his word.

They did not listen.

God cursed them

and scattered them.

And so they could not enjoy

the blessings

and the promises

that came being a unified people

under God.

But here in Ezekiel 37,

we see that new life

for God's people

means being brought together

in the land

as one people.

Indeed,

whilst the scattering

of God's people

was always seen

as a curse,

the gathering

of God's people

has always been seen

as a blessing.

Deuteronomy 12,

Deuteronomy 12:5

verse 5 says this,

But you are to seek

the place

the Lord your God

will choose

from among all your tribes

to put his name there

for his dwelling.

To the place

you must go.

There,

bring your burnt offerings

and sacrifices,

your tithes and special gifts,

what you have vowed to give

and your freewill offerings,

and the firstborn

of your herds and flocks.

There,

in the presence

of the Lord your God,

you and your families

shall eat

and shall rejoice

in everything

you have put your hand to,

because the Lord your God

has blessed you.

When God's people

live faithfully

in the land,

obeying his word

and worshipping him rightly,

they enjoy unity

as the people

of God.

Verse 18 goes on,

Instead,

you are to eat them

in the presence

of the Lord your God

at the place

the Lord your God

will choose.

You,

your sons

and your daughters,

your male

and female servants

and the Levites

from your towns,

and you are to rejoice

before the Lord your God

in everything

you put your hand to.

True and proper

worship of God

is when the people

of God

are gathered together

as one,

not scattered,

but together as one

to rejoice

and be thankful

for what the Lord

has done.

And it's with this

in mind,

Ezekiel 37

wants us to land,

that as God

gives us new life

to our dry bones,

he restores,

his people

to the oneness

that they used

to enjoy.

However,

Ezekiel 37

is pointing forward

to so much more

than just

Israel's restoration,

but to what

this new life

looks like

for all people,

all of God's people,

looking towards eternity.

Verses 24 to 28

give us a picture

of God's people

enjoying everlasting

peace.

with a king

that is of like

David,

who will rule

forever in a place

that we will be in

forever.

With a God,

with God himself,

who promises

to dwell with us

forever.

The purpose

of this new life

that God

has given

to us,

dry bones,

is to enjoy

his presence

forever.

forever.

That we will live

in community

together

under one

Lord

and Saviour

and King

Jesus.

And to never,

ever again

be separated

from him

or from one

another.

Ephesians

captures

this central

theme of

oneness

quite well

in this chapter.

Verse 4

of chapter 4

in Ephesians

says,

there is one

body

and one

spirit,

just as you

were called

to one

hope

when you

were called,

one Lord,

one faith,

one baptism,

one God

and Father

of all,

who is over

all and

through all

and in all.

The great

hope of

our new

life is

that we

don't do

this new

life alone,

but in

community

with believers.

Right now,

under the

lordship of

Jesus,

we get to

enjoy

community

with the

promise

that as

God's

people,

we have

peace

with him

now,

that he

dwells

with us.

We get

to do

as the

Israelites

did in

Deuteronomy

12,

gather together

for worship,

our families,

our friends,

to rejoice

what the

lord has

done for

us,

experiencing

his blessing

as we

meet together,

encouraging

each other

and strengthening

each other,

reminding

each other

of the

hope that

we now

have in

Jesus,

that we

are no

longer

dead in

our sin,

that we

are no

longer

dry bones

and we

get the

promise that

never again

will we be

separated from

God or

from his

people,

never again

will we be

in this

death-like

state,

like dry

bones.

As verse

24 says,

they will

follow my

laws and

be careful

to keep

my decrees.

this new

life is

different to

before.

It is

guaranteed and

sustained by

God himself.

So God

gives us

new life

by his

word and

the shape of

this new

life is

this oneness

intrinsic to

this new

life is that

God's people

are brought

together to

be one,

to enjoy

and worship

God as

one people.

However,

we're in an

interesting

time.

We enjoy

this new

life now

since in

Christ we've

been made

alive.

We enjoy

the presence

of God in

life now

through the

Spirit.

We enjoy

new life,

but there's

still a sense

that we are

still scattered.

Christians are

all over the

world.

We're not all

in one place

at the one

time,

worshipping and

enjoying God's

presence.

We do enjoy

God's presence

as God's

people,

but we are

still persecuted

by those who

are not God's

people,

burdened by the

sinfulness of

the world,

indeed,

burdened by

our own

sinfulness.

And so it

can be

confusing.

It can feel

like we're

stuck in

between this

now and

not yet,

waiting for

this to all

be fulfilled,

but also

knowing and

enjoying the

benefits that

we already

have.

But something

has

definitively

changed.

We have

hope.

We have

hope.

We are no

longer dry

bones.

We are no

longer under

God's judgment.

We have

new life.

And with

new life

comes new

hope.

Hope for

the future.

For us

here who

struggle in

the present,

who feel

the weight

of sin,

who experience

the burden

of sin,

pain,

and suffering,

who feel

hopeless,

we must look

forward in

hope.

For what God

has started,

he finished at

the cross,

and it will

come to its

completion and

to its

perfection soon.

As Romans 5

reminds us,

not only so,

but we also

glory in our

sufferings because

we know that

suffering produces

perseverance,

perseverance

character,

and character

hope.

And hope

does not put

us to shame

because God's

love has been

poured out into

our hearts

through the

Holy Spirit

who has been

given to us.

This hope

did not come

from us.

It's not an

artificial hope.

It's not something

we conjured up

to dull our

pain and

suffering.

It's not a hope

like Michael

Clark based

on nothing.

This hope

comes from the

one who loved

us.

It comes from

God who

poured out his

love for us

by his Spirit

and gave us

new life.

When life is

hard, when we

go through

struggle, when

we stumble in

our sins and

fall, we

must look

forward to

that hope

and remember

the new

life and

the promise

that God

has given

us, that

he will never

separate from

us.

But also,

we should

look around

us, look

around here,

for what we

experience here

is a taste

of what is

to come.

This is what

Ezekiel 37

envisioned

right here.

New life,

as the

people of

God, in

the community

of God,

worshipping

God and

rejoicing with

each other

about what

God has

done, being

thankful

together.

That is

what's going

on in

Ezekiel 37.

And we

get to

partake in

this right

now.

To be one

people under

one Lord

Jesus, this

is the

tangible

expression of

our hope for

future today.

I wonder,

how urgent

are we to

gather here

as a

community?

Do we

come here

realising that

intrinsic to

the new

life that

God has

won for

us is

gathering as

one people?

Or do we

come here when

it suits us,

when it's not

cold?

Our weekly

gathering, as I

said, is a

tangible

expression of

what our

hope is for

the future.

When we are

gathered here

as one, with

the new

life that God

has given

us, we do

so in

hope, in

anticipation of

what is coming.

We're all of

God's people from

all over the

world, from

all times, will

be gathered

together at

the one time

and at the

one place,

worshipping the

one Lord

Jesus.

Indeed, the

place called

the Lord is

there.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's take a

moment to let

those words

cement

themselves in

our hearts, in

our minds,

whatever it is

that God was

challenging or

encouraging you,

just take a

moment to

reflect on it

now.