Isaiah 44, we're in another session of what it means to be Reformed, and we have been studying the doctrine of election, but in connection with the doctrine of election, I have been attempting to show you over the past few Sundays something of the working of the Holy Spirit, the mighty working and power of the Holy Spirit of God, who we have seen in past sessions as well able to do the work of regeneration in the hearts of each and every one of God's elect people, those who are the greatest sinners in the world, are not able to resist the power of the Holy Spirit when He is working in His strength. And I've been trying to show you that God does save His elect one at a time. but that he also is not restricted to saving them one at a time, that he can save them in numbers as well. Whole households of people can be saved at one time. We've studied that in past Sundays. I've been introducing to you the idea that God can even save nations of people, which is a startling thought, but as you read the Bible carefully, you find that this is the very thing that God intends to do. in the latter part of this church age, and I've been attempting to show you that and prove that to you from the Scriptures, and so as to encourage your hope in the Lord. We're living in dark days spiritually in this country. We're living in days where things are not going forward generally in our country in righteousness and truth, and it seems as though, sometimes to myself, as though God has has somewhat withdrawn his good influences and power from our churches. We don't seem to be able to see the great works of conversion and salvation that we saw in days past. Now, we need to ask ourselves the question, then, does that mean that God won't change? I mean, change in the sense of His ability to do these great works that we're talking about? He certainly can do these great works that we're talking about. The question is, what is His purpose? And we need to see and understand some of these things that we're thinking about together more clearly. The regeneration, the conversion, the sanctification and glorification of all of God's elect people is accomplished by the working of the Spirit of God imparting precious grace to both sinners and believers. so that they might be saved, that is the sinners, and that believers then might grow in regard to their faith. I wonder if you realize how dependent you are upon the working of the Holy Spirit to be able to do all that God has called you to do. But you very much are, and that's why we're instructed to pray in the Gospels for more of the Spirit. Not that we would just be satisfied with our present experience, but that we might have a greater experience and understanding of the Spirit's working in our heart, that we might understand and know that God is doing this great work in our souls of conforming us to the image of Christ. Now, again, I'm trying to link together the doctrine of election with eschatology. which I have said to you in past Sundays that I believe the premillennial dispensational view of prophecy has not done a great service to the church of Jesus Christ when they say that the millennium will follow Christ's second coming. How can such a thing possibly be? If we would just stop and think about it for a moment, tangibly, as to what it might mean for there to be a millennium, first of all, but we might tangibly think about what it means for Jesus Christ to return. Jesus Christ, when He returns to us, it says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, it says there that when He comes back again, He will raise the dead. if he's going to raise the dead when he comes back, then how can there be a millennium after that? So there has to be, if there's going to be a millennium, we are either presently in it, or there has to be a future millennium. And I've told you that my own personal belief in this regard is that there will be a future millennium before Christ returns, what theologians and others have termed the latter-day glory of the church, or the thousand years in the book of Revelation chapter 20. I'm well aware that most of the Christians in our day are either premillennial or amillennial, and that most of the people and pastors in our own movement or churches are amillennial. in their view of eschatology. But what I would like to say here this morning is that for all serious students of the Bible, I would like to ask you to plainly look at the text that I want to give to you today and reconsider as regards the future of the church. The future of the church of Jesus Christ is going to be very glorious Indeed. And you say to me, well how can these great things take place? The conversion of a nation, as we began to look at last Sunday. I said to you that Israel is an elect nation. That Israel was chosen by God as the only nation out of all the nations in the world that He would set His love upon them. and that through them the Christ would come. And through the Christ, then the barrier between Jew and Gentile would be broken down, and the gospel would then be preached to all the nations, is the great commission. so that disciples would be made, not simply decisions would be made, but disciples would be made. We've talked about these things before. I took you all the way through Romans chapter 11 and I showed you that it cannot possibly be that spiritual Israel is being talked about in Romans 11.25. For if that was the case, why does it say that a partial hardening has taken place to the Jews until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. If it means spiritual Israel, it would read like this, that a partial hardening has happened to spiritual Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. No, that cannot be. And so what we must understand from this is that it is God's intention in the latter part of this present evil age to convert the Jews as a nation and bring them into the kingdom of God. Let me read to you the verses that I turned you to at first from Isaiah 44, and then I'll read to you from verses in Ezekiel 37. It says, Yet here now, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen, thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and you, Jeshurun. whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground. And I will pour my spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring. And they will spring up among the grass, like willows by the watercourses. And one will say, I am the Lord's. And another will call himself by the name of Jacob. And another will write with his hand, the Lord's. and name himself by the name of Israel. Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last. Besides me there is no God, and who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people and the things that are coming and shall come. Let them show these to them. Do not fear nor be afraid. Have I not told you from that time and declared it? You are my witnesses, and is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is no other rock I know not one." Now, this is a beautiful passage of Scripture, and it shows us that God, by His Spirit, when He chooses to do so, pours it out in what's called the dry ground here. What would that be, would you think? The dry ground. Let me ask that question, because I think we need to establish this on the lowest possible level first, and then we'll move up. What is the dry ground that's being talked about here? Well, it's people's hearts, isn't it? It's people's hearts that are dry and thirsty. And what is the water that is pouring on them? Can you tell me? The Spirit of God is being poured out upon them. Now, you and I need to understand that each of us has been given the Holy Spirit of God when we believed in Jesus Christ. But does that mean that the Lord cannot pour out more or greater upon us? That He can't do so? Or He can do so? He certainly can, because He says here that He can do this. And He can do this in conversion work, in pouring out the Spirit, for individuals in the salvation of all of His elect. And He can pour it out on groups of people, or even whole nations of people, so that they begin to see spiritual truth, and they begin to understand that they are sinful and need a Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, you can see here that what happens when God's Spirit is poured out on the descendants here, and it's talking in the context of the Jews, but we can certainly apply this to all those of God's elect who are saved, who are going to be saved and brought into the kingdom of God, it says, they will spring up among the grass like willows by watercourses, and one will say, I am the Lord's, and another will call himself by the name of Jacob, and another will write with his hand the Lord's, and name himself by the name of Israel. I mean, that's just mighty working. That's what's being described there, by the Spirit of God, where people whose hearts were dry and and who needed the Spirit. He was poured out upon them. I want to take you over now to Ezekiel 37, and I want to show you the verses which I believe talk about the conversion of the Jews, the conversion of the Jewish nation and people. Ezekiel chapter 37. This is an absolutely amazing chapter. It talks about, and it certainly can be applied and has been applied, I've told you this before when I've looked at these verses, it certainly can be applied, as many pastors do, to the salvation of individual people. But that's not what the context is talking about, and that's what I want to try to draw to your attention here this morning. It says here in verse 1, "...the hand of the Lord came upon me, and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and indeed they were very dry." Same kind of a picture we just read about in Isaiah 44. And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? So I answered, O Lord God, you know. And he said to me, prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. For thus says the Lord God to these bones, surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. And I will put sinews on you, and bring flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise. And suddenly a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over. But there was no breath in them. And he said to me, Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man, and 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. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet an exceedingly great army. And he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say our bones are dry and our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off. Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel, and then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves, and I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live. and I will place you in your own land, and then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord." Now this is just an absolutely mighty picture that's being given to us here. It's meant to be understood of the whole house of Israel after the flesh that's being talked about here. But it also has application, I believe, through them and their conversion to all of us as well, because God's full intention was from the beginning to, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, break down the barrier between Jew and Gentile, make them one new people, but then use the Jews to be a catalyst in their conversion to the conversion of nations. Again, I know that this is startling to some of you, and maybe some of you are skeptical about this, but I need to try to bring this to your attention, these great and mighty prophecies of the Holy Word of God. Notice how this takes place, their conversion in stages. First of all, they are a valley of dry bones. Do you notice that? There's absolutely no life in them, and there isn't even the prospect of their being gathered together. But then it says here, he says, can these bones live? He says to them, what an amazing picture it is. The whole valley full of dry bones. Who would ever think that they could have life? But they're a picture of the whole house of Israel. So what does he say? He says, can these bones live? He says to the Lord, O Lord God, you know. So he says, prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. And he says, surely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. But first, you notice here in verses six to eight, there's a stage here or two that takes place. First, he hears the rattling of the bones. He hears a noise in verse seven, a rattling and the bones come together, bone to bone. Then the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered them over. But notice in verse eight, there was no breath. In other words, there was no life. There was no spiritual life, even though there was bones and even though there was flesh. So there were real people there, the whole house of Israel. Real bones, real flesh, but no breath. What does that mean? That means that even though they have been brought back into their land in 1948, which was, by the way, a mighty work of the Lord God Almighty, after six million of them were killed by Hitler, an attempt at extermination of them during World War II, they being preserved as a distinct people For those 1,000, 2,000 years were suddenly able to come back into their own land, but they are unsaved. Now that is just an incredible predicament, but that's what this is describing here. You've got bones, flesh, but no breath. That's exactly their situation. And what has to happen for them to be converted as a nation, the spirit has to be poured out upon them. And that will be a very mighty work. But that's exactly what it's describing here. And he says they will be given life. And notice the wording there. It's not a physical resurrection, but it's the same kind of thing that is talked about in Revelation chapter 20, by the way. in the millennium you're seeing spiritual resurrection not physical resurrection taking place very important that you understand these things in this way because otherwise you're not going to understand a good many things that are coming in the future for the kingdom of God but he says I will put my spirit in you verse 14 you shall live and I will place you in your own land and then you shall know that I the Lord have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord. Now I want to have you turn over to one other verse before I quit here this morning, and that's Ezekiel 39, just two chapters over. And I want to read to you verses 21 to 29. It says there, I will set my glory among the nations. All the nations shall see my judgment, which I have executed, and my hand, which I have laid on them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity because they were unfaithful to me. Therefore, I hid my face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies and they all fell by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions, I have dealt with them and hidden my face from them. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, now I will bring back the captives of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel. There's that term again. And I will be jealous for my holy name. And after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness, in which they were unfaithful to me when they dwelt safely in their own land, and no one made them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and let none of them left none of them captive any longer. And watch this last verse, and I will not hide my face from them anymore. For I shall have poured out my spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord God. that is a tremendous thing that's being talked about here. And we don't have much more time to talk about it. But let me, I want to read to you, I wish I would have more time to read to you a little bit more of these things, from the Puritans, because it was from the Puritans, by the way, that I got and came to these views of eschatology that I hold and try to teach you as a church. And hopefully that you will receive them as well. This is Jeremiah Burroughs. the great Puritan on Hosea 1.10, he says, God has a time to bring an abundance of people to the profession of the faith, multitudes, even as the sand of the seashore, that's the verse he's quoting from Hosea 1.10, and he will do it and he has ways enough to accomplish it. Though for the present men cast this reproach upon the people of God that they are but few, a company of poor mean people, a handful that are nothing in comparison to the rest. But this reproach will be wiped away, and we may expect that before the world comes to an end, the greatest part of its inhabitants shall embrace the faith of Jesus Christ and become godly too. Isaiah 49, 19 to 21, thy waste and desolate places in the land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow by reason of its inhabitants. And yet, he says, this has not been fulfilled. And thy children shall say, the place is too straight for me. Give place to me that I may dwell. Then thou shalt say in thine heart, who has begotten me these? And he says, when was this fulfilled? The stone, in Daniel 2.34, that smote the image and became a great mountain and filled the whole earth, in Daniel 2.34, that smote the image and became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. God's people shall fill the whole earth, he says. Now take all Christians to be God's people that only acknowledge Christ to be the Son of God and are computed not to be above the sixth part of the world, he said this back in the 1600s, and yet this must be fulfilled that the church shall be as the stone that smote the image and become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. In Christ's time the people of God were a little flock, he says, fear not little flock, The Greek has two diminutives, little, little flock, and so it may be translated, fear not, little, little flock. for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 2.32. It was a little flock then, but it shall be a great flock when the father shall come to give them the kingdom. Christ is promised to have the heathen for his inheritance in the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. Psalm 2.8. He shall possess them. He says a king does not possess a kingdom who only possesses some town. or one shire of it. Christ shall possess the uttermost parts of the earth. Yea, it shall be said, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Revelation 11, 15. They are the Lord's indeed in some sense always, but he speaks in a special sense, wherein it shall be said that not only a few congregations are the Lord's and his Christ, but whole kingdoms of the earth which with their great kings shall come and bring their glory into the church." Well, I hope I haven't overwhelmed you with this this morning, because it really, truly is a great thing that I'm trying to bring to your attention. And it's something that we need to pray for, that Christ's kingdom would come, and that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let's pray together. We ask, Lord, that you will help us to understand these truths that we've been speaking about Help us to look at them more carefully. Help us to understand them in the context of your finished work and your breaking down the barrier between Jew and Gentile. Help us to understand the Israel of God is Jew and Gentile together. in these great events that we're looking at and speaking of. Help us, dear Lord, to see the greatness of your kingdom coming, for we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. You are dismissed.