Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1676
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, August 27, 1882
“Then He said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves.” Ezekiel 37:11,12,13.
I HAVE read to you the vision of the resurrection of the dry bones. Keep it in your minds, that you may understand the text. The figure is a very apt, instructive and impressive one. It is not, however, a mere figure—it is a parable based upon a remarkable representation of the resurrection of the dead. Although the children of Israel, at that time, knew little enough concerning the resurrection, yet the Lord, the Holy Spirit, knew all about it and He used it as a striking picture of the salvation of Israel from that national death which had come upon them. We may, with equal accuracy, see in it, a vivid representation of the work of Grace upon the hearts of all those who are quickened into spiritual life by the power of Divine Grace. Men, by nature, are dead in sin till they hear the voice of God and feel the quickening breath of the Spirit—and are made to live according to that Word of God—“He that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
Such a metaphor as this before us, drops with teaching as a honeycomb with honey, and it will be our own fault if we are not taught by it! The salvation of men by the Grace and power of God is as great a wonder as the general resurrection. The putting of spiritual life into a natural man is a marvel of marvels and should excite as much wonder as the raising of Lazarus, or of Jairus’ daughter, or of the young man at the gates of Nain. Even the rising up of the dead at the last trumpet is not a greater prodigy than the bringing of dead hearts unto the life of God! I shall not, however, detain you by fuller observations upon spiritual resurrection, for I have work to do of another kind upon which we will spend the bulk of our time and the whole of our energies.
If you thoughtfully consider the text, you will see that it divides itself thus—first, there is a true word—“Behold, they say, our bones are dried.” Secondly, there is, in it, an evil word which goes beyond the Truth of God—“Our hope is lost.” God is the sinner’s hope and He is not lost, so that the word of despair is not warranted. Thirdly, there is a gracious word, a word of mighty love—“Thus says the Lord God, Behold, O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves.”
I. Let us begin with that solemn confession which I have styled A TRUE WORD—“They say, our bones are dried.” It matters not how badly men speak of themselves, for what they say of themselves is never worse than the truth. I have never heard of any sinner who, too much, depreciated his own righteousness! It is not possible to repent too much, nor to have too lowly an estimate of one’s deserving or of one’s spiritual power. It is a grievous fault when mourners depreciate the power and fullness of God’s Grace and when despondency casts a doubt upon the possibility of their salvation. But while the depreciation is confined to themselves, it is not possible to push it too far, or to exaggerate the evils of an unre-generate condition.
The sinner’s natural estate is as deplorable as words can describe. He is, in fact, much worse than he thinks he is, even when he is most bowed down under a sense of his guilt and danger. I believe that Luther was quite right when he said that if a man could see his own sin as it really is, he would lose his reason. The condition into which we have fallen by our
transgressions is terrible to the last degree. Observe, first, that they describe themselves as dead, as dried and as divided. They speak of themselves as dead—a man does not imagine his bones to be scattered about on the plain while he thinks himself to be alive! These people spoke of their bones and, therefore, were conceived they were dead. And so the sinner may, without exaggeration, conceive of himself as devoid of spiritual life. He knows not the life of God, for he is dead in trespasses and sins.
The Apostle speaks of the unregenerate as “alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” And again we read, “They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good.” When men are corrupt, they have gone a stage beyond death and are receiving the full harvest of sin. As it is written, “He that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.” Alas, Sinner, you are as one that is dead, only your condition is far worse, for your responsibility and your guilt remain and your death to righteousness is blameworthy and will bring punishment upon you!