37th chapter of the book of Ezekiel. For those of you that are new here this morning, we make it a custom to go through the books of the Bible chapter at a time, and right now we're studying the book of Ezekiel. We're so glad that you've come to fellowship with us this morning, and we hope that if you live in our city and surrounding town that you'll come and fellowship with us often. It's just great to have you here today. Shall we bow for a moment of silent prayer and prepare our hearts to study God's word together? Father, we are very grateful and thankful for your book, and we pray that you would bless it in our lives this morning. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Now remember, Ezekiel is a captive in the land of Babylon. He's trying to preach revival and is preaching revival, but nobody really is paying too much attention. He's trying to preach it to the captives who were there in the land of Babylon with him. The city of Jerusalem is in dire straits. The Babylonians have already captured the country and the surrounding area, and now the city of Jerusalem is about to be lost. In fact, Ezekiel is receiving this vision on the very eve of the day when the captives are going to hear tomorrow morning that the city of Jerusalem has finally been lost. They did not think that such a thing was possible. They didn't believe that God would ever allow the city of Jerusalem to go down. They believed that somehow or another that they were invincible and that they were exempt from the commandments and judgments of God against sin. They thought that somehow or another they were special people, that God would untolerate wickedness and idolatry in their nation where he would despise it in others. But they found to their sorrow that God would bring down greater judgment on those who had greater light. than he did upon the surrounding nations that had stood against him. Those who perhaps had not had opportunity to hear the righteousness of God and the wisdom of God and the word of God. Perhaps they were banking on the promises that God had made to them. For God had promised to Abraham that he would give him a great nation. And God had promised to Israel that their land would belong to them. forever and forever. And God had promised to David that a man of his family would rule and reign over the throne of Israel forever. And perhaps they were banking on all of these promises, feeling we can't be touched. God won't move up against us, for we are special. But God did move against them. They had forgotten that there in the book of the law that God had given to them when they had made that covenant with him at Mount Sinai, that God had said, I will bless you if you keep my commandments. And God had said there at Mount Sinai in the books of the law, God had said, and if you turn away from me, then I will bring judgment upon you. And God had said the judgment will come in six different cycles. And we have those cycles given to us in the book of Leviticus. And the first cycle was to be famine and then plague and pestilence. And then going on finally to that last cycle when God said, and if you respond to none of the former, then God said, I will scatter you among the nations and I will take away from you for a temporary time your possession. The covenant will still remain in effect. I will give it one day to some of your ancestors, some of your followers. The ancestors are first, aren't they? But I will give it to some of your progeny and to some of your future generations. But I will take it away from you. I will give it back to Israel in that day when Israel will once again know and confess and own me as the true God and own my son Jesus Christ as their true Lord. And so Ezekiel now on the eve of this destruction of Jerusalem is given a message of encouragement and hope to bring to the nation. For we find that when the news comes that Jerusalem has fallen, they are going to be crushed. The very bottom is going to fall out from among them. And they are going to be cast about as a people who now have no land to call their own. It would be like America without a Washington D.C. and a New York City and some of the great cities that we look to for stabilization. America without its Wall Street suddenly gone. America with its capital suddenly destroyed. Some say, well, maybe that might not be so bad. Well, I know that that's the thinking in many cases. But nevertheless, if such a thing came to pass, there would be a great spirit of depression that would ascend over our nation in a great way. The key verse of this chapter is verse 11. 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 and we are cut off on our part. Ezekiel is going to have another one of his famous dreams and he's going to be taken to a valley that is filled with dry bones. And these dry bones, we are told, we do not have to speculate, They represent, verse 11 tells us, the whole nation of Israel. And he says, Ezekiel, I want you to have this message because the people are going to look back tomorrow and they're going to say, we're gone. We're lost. There's no future. We will go into oblivion. as many of the nations before us have gone. Looking back from 1976, the vantage point of 1976 this morning, we know that they have not gone into oblivion. We know that for almost 2,000 years they haven't had a place to call their own, and yet they have miraculously maintained their national identity throughout the various nations of the world. Imagine, if you will, any other nation, any other people maintaining their national identity for almost 2,000 years without a place to call home. And in spite of all of the persecution and punishment and torture and hardship that they have endured, yet they are there. You say, oh, their religion kept them together. Well, in a sense it did, and yet even their religion has been lost to them in its totality through the centuries. No, they are here today, and they are present in our world this morning because God promised Abraham that they would be, and because God promised David that they would be. And because God promised them that that land was their land. If you were with us last Sunday, we took a brief look at the seven covenants that God made with the nation of Israel and with the people that preceded Israel. And we found that none of those covenants have been abrogated, but all of those covenants are enforced today. And those promises belong to that nation just as much today as they did in the day when almighty God gave them. You know, can you imagine somebody reaching down through time and predicting the resurgence of the nation of Israel at a future date? And then can you imagine that resurgence coming to pass? Can you imagine someone this morning predicting where the United States of America will be 2,000 years from now? Who knows if there would even be such a place 300 years from now, let alone 2,000 years from now. Now, Ezekiel tells us that the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and he set me down in the midst of the valley, which was full of bone. And we find as we look at the story that they were human bones, skulls and rib bones and femurs and tibias and fibulas and all of the different parts of the body. I don't know how many bones there are that make up a human skeleton, but I'm sure that it numbers into the hundreds. And we find that all of these bones were there in this valley. And we find that they are a representation of the nation of Israel. And we find the first thing that we note here is that they represent the whole nation of Israel, as it mentioned to us there in verse 11. You know, the nation of Israel had been divided following the death of Solomon into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. But in this particular scene now, they are going to be seen as an entire nation unified and joined together once again. No longer a southern king and a northern king, but one nation with one king. is presented to us here in this chapter. And we find that certainly Ezekiel finds himself in a valley of death. You know medical science today is having quite an argument and the judicial world has gotten into it also to try to determine just when death takes place. You are well aware of some of the battles that have been going on recently. in reference to machines and death and what should be done and what should not be done. But let me say this. In the cases before us here, there is absolutely no doubt. If you run across the skeleton, you can be positive that death has taken place. That is proof positive. And so I have no qualms about saying that Ezekiel finds himself here surrounded by death. But in case anybody would wonder if perhaps there still might be a little life, he goes on to amplify it, and he said, He caused me to pass by them round about, and behold, there were very many of them in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry. Not only were these bones exposed, but they were dry and bleached and parched, a sure sign of death. a sure sign of death. If you run across the skeleton, if you run across some bones that are bleached and dry, you can be very safe in pronouncing that someone has expired. And so Ezekiel now finds himself in a valley full of dry bones. Where is the valley? Well, it's not in Babylon. You notice what he said? He said, the spirit of the Lord took me out. I believe he took him out back to a valley there in the land of Israel. I believe he was on his home ground and his home territory. And I believe he suddenly looked around and he said, Lord, what are we doing here with this valley full of bones? This is distasteful. I don't think too many of us this morning would find it pleasant to suddenly find ourselves in the midst of a valley full of human bone. A very distasteful dream. But you know, wait a minute. You better not talk like that because in a moment or two, you're going to find that you and I are right in the middle of Ezekiel's dream today. Say, have you ever wanted to get into somebody else's dream? Have you ever awakened and had somebody, or had somebody awaken and tell you of a lovely dream that they had? And you kind of said to yourself, say, I wish I could have been in there. In fact, I've even gotten so interested in people's dreams, I've even asked, say, did you happen to see me? Was I there? You know, it sounded so good. I just wanted to join them. Well, now here's your opportunity this morning. In fact, we're going to find that we're right in the middle of Ezekiel's dream this morning. We're looking at the very thing that Ezekiel looked at. Ezekiel is in the midst of a nation that is dead. To whom are they dead? They're still alive. They're living people. But God says they are represented before him as dead men, as dead people. You know, the Bible makes it absolutely clear to us that men and women outside of Jesus Christ are lost and dead in trespasses and in sin. The Bible says the preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ is to those that perish foolishness. Why is it foolishness to them? Because they are spiritually dead, they are spiritually blinded, they are spiritually unable to perceive and to contact and have fellowship with God. When Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers, he said, you have God made alive who were dead in trespasses and sin. But he said, the moment you became believers, the moment you receive Jesus Christ as your savior, why, he said, you were spiritually born again. You were quickened, you were resurrected, you were brought back from the dead. He said you were made alive. The Bible says that when you receive Christ as your Savior, when you experience this spiritual birth, you become a new creature in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. All things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. You know when someone goes through life and then suddenly comes to the place where they see the reality of Christ and of their sin and of God and His righteousness and they see the salvation that God has offered and they reach out by faith and they receive that salvation, the miracle of rebirth takes place in their life and they become a new creature in Christ Jesus. They become born again. One of the first things they like to do is to talk to other people and tell them what's happened and many people who have experienced it, nod their head, and they say to that person, Oh, we're so glad. Isn't it good to be alive? Isn't it a wonderful thing to have a living relationship with God, to not only believe that he's there, but to be able to talk to him, to know that he's your shepherd, to have a child father relationship, to be able to look up now and say, Father, and to know that he is in you, and to be awake and alive, and to be in fellowship with one another. And they look at them and they say, we're so glad that you've had that experience. We know what you're talking about. The same thing happened to us when we became born-again believers. Then they'll talk to other folks who haven't yet experienced it. And they say, say, I want to tell you what happened. I became a Christian. I received Jesus Christ as my savior. And people look at them and they say, what? What happened to you? And you try to explain, but you see, it's impossible to explain the miracle of new birth to someone who's never experienced it because they're still dead. They're still separated from God. The things that you talk about are a mystery. And sometimes they look at you and they say, what happened? What happened? Oh, but then the day comes many times when they too come to know Christ. You know, I've seen husbands that have become Christians and they've gone home and they've talked to their family or they're told their wife, see a wonderful thing happened. I became a Christian or a wife has become a Christian and she's told her husband and my instead of joy, there is sorrow. And the husband says, oh no, what's happened here? Or the wife says, what in the world's gone wrong with him? I didn't ever think I'd be married to a fanatic. Because you see, to a person who's not a Christian, a believer looks like and acts like and talks like a fanatic. But then, you know, I've seen the wonderful miracle of the other one coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ, too. And my, when you receive Christ as your Savior. And that miracle of new birth takes place. It's real. You hath God made alive who were dead in trespasses and sin. How do you experience this thing? Is it some kind of an emotional thing that grips you? Is it a chill that goes down your spine? Is it some kind of thing that comes out of the blue and suddenly hits you as a bolt of lightning? No, it's a reasonable, logical step that you take. And it's a thing that takes place in your life in answer and in response to simple obedience to God's clear-cut instructions on how to receive it. God said, if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, If you will believe that He's God, that He became a man, and that He died on the cross for your sins, if you will confess Him with your mouth, and if you will believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, God said, you'll be a Christian. You'll be born again. That's how it takes place. He said, for by grace are you saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. I remember very well the day I made that decision to trust Christ as my Savior. I didn't jump up and holler and shout and make a spectacle of myself. But I want to say this, that the peace and the joy and the reality of the new birth immediately became mine when I, by simple faith, just accepted God's plan and God's work of salvation. That's what it was. And I was resurrected. I was spiritually made alive. Now we have a resurrection picture before us here. Ezekiel is going to be doing something to these bones in just a moment or two. And as he preaches, he's going to be preaching to them resurrection. He's not going to be preaching individual resurrection, but he's going to be preaching to them the resurrection of a nation. The physical, but more the spiritual resurrection of a nation. You know, resurrection is not a unique doctrine to the New Testament. Resurrection certainly fills the pages of the New Testament. All of Christianity hinges upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised you from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Here is the gospel, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And Jesus Christ died, and he rose again three days. Hundreds saw him die, hundreds saw him alive again. There was no doubt of his death. that burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is substantiated by irrefutable testimony and proof, historical proof. But then add to that the experiential proof of millions of changed lives. And resurrection is a New Testament truth that every Christian knows about. But it's not unique to the New Testament. It was also a part of the Old Testament. In the oldest book of the Bible, the book of Job, Job asked a question. He said, if a man dies, can he live again? No other religion ever even imagined or came close to the theory of resurrection. Other religions have imagined and brought up the thought of reincarnation. But may I say this? Resurrection is far better than reincarnation. I would much rather be resurrected than reincarnated as a bug. I would much rather come back in a glorified, resurrected body than to be resurrected as a cow or a snake or some other thing, to be reincarnated. Oh no, in fact, Nicodemus, when Jesus Christ said, you must be born again, Nicodemus said, you mean reincarnation? Can I enter the second time into my mother's womb and be born again? The Lord said, no, Nicodemus, except a man be born of water and then of the spirit. He said, you need two births, a physical birth, but you need to be spiritually born again. He said, it's spirits of earth. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. So don't be surprised when I say you must be born again, Nicodemus. And Job said, if a man die, can he live again? And he said, yes. He said, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the latter day shall stand on the earth, Job 19. And though worms destroy this body, he said, I know that one day in my flesh I shall see God. In Daniel chapter 12, verse 2, Daniel said, many of those asleep in the dust shall be resurrected and brought back unto life, and they shall shine as the stars of the firmament. Isaiah chapter 26, God says, I will say to them that are in the depths of the earth, live, and the earth will give forth their bodies, and they will live. Resurrection was an Old Testament doctrine. These Old Testament Jews were familiar with the concept of resurrection. It is unique to the word of God. No other religion No other philosophy of man has ever imagined or dreamed that such a thing could be, but the Bible predicted it in the Old Testament, and Jesus Christ lived it in the New Testament, and it is the hope of every Christian today. And Ezekiel now is given this picture of resurrection, and the Old Testament Jew is very familiar with this concept, for he has been taught it by the prophets and the writers of the Old Testament. And there was a group of Jews that didn't believe in it. When our Lord was on earth, there were the liberal Jews. You know the ones? There were the Pharisees. They were the hypocritical good works group. But then there were the Sadducees. And the Sadducees ridiculed Jesus Christ whenever he talked about resurrection. Because you see, the Sadducees said, there is no resurrection of the dead. Now, they had the Old Testament Scriptures, but when they came to those passages, they said, well, you know, this isn't really the Word of God. It isn't really the Bible. And so they just laid it aside. And they said, this idea of resurrection is ridiculous. They were very aptly named. That's a very good name for people that have no hope of resurrection. Sad, you see. If I didn't have any hope of resurrection, I would be very sad, you see, too. But anyway, that's what they were. Now, that's a pun. That's terrible, I know. It's as bad as the croaking frogs. But bear with me. Bear with me. All right. Let's move on now. Ezekiel is in a resurrection scene. And so he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Jehovah Elohim, thou knowest. Jehovah Elohim, you are the one, the great God, the self-sufficient one, the almighty one. You're the one who can tell me if these bones can live. God, if you say they can, they can. Because God, you are a God of resurrection. And so God said, all right, I want to give you then a prophetic message to give to them. Prophesy upon these bones. Preach to these bones and say, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. I don't think any pastor had a more dismal crowd to preach to. than Ezekiel. Now, I've come close on occasion to this same situation, but I don't think I've ever had it this bad. And so here is Ezekiel, and he's looking out on a valley of dry bones, and there they are, all bleached and parched, and God says, Ezekiel, say, hear the word of the Lord. So he begins to preach. Now remember Ezekiel has been preaching to this nation for almost five years and not one person has listened to him and responded. So he's actually had a lot of experience in preaching to dead people. They haven't believed him. He's been telling them that if they don't repent, the city will be lost, and the country will be gone. And they said, oh, Ezekiel, you're a prophet of doom and gloom. Away with you, Ezekiel. It isn't going to happen. But it did. And so he's out there now preaching to these bones. You know, I love this man, Ezekiel. You know, as we've studied the book, everything that God is asking to do, and some of them have been hard things, he always does it. He always does it. And so it says in verse 5, Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and I will bring flesh upon you, I'll cover you with skin, I'll put breath on you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. He said, I want you to preach to these bones and say to these bones, you're going to live again. You're going to come back. You will reemerge as a national entity. Remember, the bones represent the nation of Israel, the whole nation, not the individual, the whole nation of Israel. That's what verse 11 tells us. We haven't speculated that. God tells us exactly what he's talking about here. Now he says in verse 7, and so I prophesied as I was commanded. You know, I wonder if we're able to say that this morning. I wonder how many of us as Christians would be able to say, you know, I have been doing what God has told me to do. Oh, what a blessing it would be if every one of us as Christians today would have the testimony of Ezekiel here and be able to say what God has said, that's what I'm doing. That's what I'm doing. That's Ezekiel's testimony every place we find him. Now notice what he said. He said, And I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, there was a shaking. And he said, Suddenly, as I watched, the bones began to come together. Bone to its bone. That's where the Negro spiritual comes in. We've all heard about the neck bone connected to you, and the shin bone, the shin bone connected to you, the foot bone, the foot bone. Now hear the word of the Lord. We've all heard that spiritual. That's about all anybody knows about this chapter, is that song. But Ezekiel said, I saw it happening. He said, the valley began to shake. And he said, there was a great noise. I wonder what the noise was. I wonder what the shaking was. Say, right about here is where we get into the dream. Right about here. Because you see, for 2,000 years, almost 2,000 years, the nation of Israel has been without a nation. But now, all of a sudden, for the last 20 years, the nation of Israel has existed again as a nation. And what brought it about? I'll tell you what brought it about. A world war brought it into being. World War II suddenly broke forth on this world and this world was shaken in a way that we never imagined it would be shaken. You see, Ezekiel says there was a noise and there was a shaking. Then in verse 12 he says that the Israelites, when they come out, they're going to fall out of the graves of the nations from which they will come. The word of God reveals to us that God was going to bring his people back to their nation and he was going to shake the nations of the world in order that they might fall out and they might be brought back to their own country and to their own place. For God had promised them in the book of Deuteronomy that this land shall be yours for an eternal inheritance. And God had said, I will keep it for you and I will preserve it for you. And so God began, and Ezekiel tells us that the coming back of the nation of Israel into national existence will begin with a loud noise and with a shaking. And so it was that along about 1946 and 47, after our world had been shaken with the horrible shaking of World War II, that suddenly the nation of Israel began to emerge. When I was a boy, I used to hear my father preach and other ministers preach on Ezekiel 37 and these other passages of the Old Testament. And they would preach and they would say the word of God says that one day the Jews will be back in their own land. That one day the nation of Israel will once again become a national entity in our world. And there were those who laughed and said, it'll never happen. They haven't been there for 2,000 years and they'll never get it back. It belongs to someone else. But it's interesting to note that at the end of World War II, after the world had been shaken and the nations had been rocked, that God provided for his people the opportunity to get back into the land. And here we are with Ezekiel now. And we're looking at the bones because the bones are shaking. and the people are coming together, and the nation of Israel is beginning to emerge as a stronger and stronger faction and force in the world in which we live today. And you know, it's kind of interesting, because Ezekiel said, and he said, as I watched, why, he said, I behold the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above, but there wasn't any breath in them. It reminds me of the Genesis story of the creation of man, when God said he formed out of the dust of the earth a man's body, But he didn't become alive until God reached down and breathed into him the breath of life, and then he became a living soul. And that's why he was created in the image of God. Not the physical image of God, but he was created in the spiritual image of God. God has not a body. The Bible says God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And man was created in the spiritual image of God. He was created with a personality, with intelligence, with a soul, with an eternal soul that would never die. Ezekiel said, I watched. And you know, here I am this morning, I'm in the middle of Ezekiel's dream, and I look across the sea and I see that nation on the Mediterranean shores. And I have to ask myself this question, where are they this morning? Are the bones in place? Have the sinews started to develop? Is the flesh there? Are they ready? You see, they're back in the land today, but they still don't have spiritual life. Israel is not there believing on God and accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior and Messiah. In fact, did you know this morning that you can't be a citizen of Israel if you're a Christian. A Christian cannot get Jewish Israeli citizenship today. And so they're back in the land and they're growing in strength and the bones have come together and the sinews and the flesh are being added. But the miracle of resurrection hasn't taken place. The next chapter tells us that there's going to be a little more shaking before they finally come alive as a great nation unto God. He tells us the day is coming when they will. The day is coming when they will. What about the Jewish faith today? They say, well, they have their temples, they have their synagogues. A great majority of the Jewish people today belong to the so-called reformed segment of the Jewish church. I've talked to many reformed Jews, and many of them that I have talked to don't even believe in God, let alone have any real faith in the God of the Old Testament. There's the Orthodox, but he can't practice his faith, because you see, it's impossible to practice Judaism without a temple, and there is no temple. The temple The place where it belongs is inhabited by an Islamic mosque. But God tells us here in the book of Ezekiel that one day he's going to so shake the land that all of these things are going to tumble down and a temple is going to be built. Ezekiel gives us all of the dimensions of it here. He tells us every detail of it. And he said in that day there's going to be a nation who will believe and accept and worship me. And they will believe in my Son, Jesus Christ, as their Savior, as their Messiah. And as their king and the rest of the chapter he talks to us about that notice what he says in verse in verse 13 He said in that day that you come back when I breathe into you the breath of life and you become Spiritually alive unto me as a nation He said in that day you will be an exceedingly great army and you will know in that day that I am god jehovah When I've opened your graves all my people and brought you up out of your graves And I will put my holy spirit in you. You'll be converted And you shall live, and I will place you in your own land, and then shall you know that I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I have performed it, saith the Lord." He said, Ezekiel, take two sticks, write Ephraim on one, write Judah on the other. And he said, hold them together as a symbol of the fact that when I come back and bring you back, it'll no longer be north and south, but it'll be one nation united and welded together. And he said, Ezekiel, say unto them in verse 21, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations to which they are gone, and I will gather them on every side, and I will bring them back into their own land, and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all, and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they be divided into two nations or kingdoms any more. Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor their detestable things, nor any of their transgressions. But I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they have sinned. I will cleanse them, and they will be my people, and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. And they also shall walk in mine ordinances, and observe my statutes to do them." Who is this David that's going to rule over them? He's spoken of to us in many places in the Word of God. It's Jesus Christ, the Son of God. See, He is the Son of David. God made a promise to David in 2 Samuel 7. He said, David, I have given to you an eternal dynasty. There shall never fail a member of your family who will rule over the nation of Israel. And it says, he shall rule ever and ever. The only king who fits that description is the son of David, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He's coming back one of these days to this nation. Zechariah 14 says that when he comes back, he's not going to find a dead nation. Zechariah 14 says that when he comes back, they're going to look upon him whom they have peers. Zechariah prophesied this 500 years before Christ was crucified, but he prophesied his crucifixion and he said one of these days the nation that crucified him will accept him as their Lord and as their Savior and as their king. And he said he's going to come back to them as a king. He's going to rule and reign over them forever. Those are future things that belong to the nation of Israel. The here and now is today. He's not building Israel today. He's not building a kingdom today, but today he's building a church. And that church is made up of Jew and Gentile alike, born-again people, men and women who have believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and who have trusted him and accepted him as their Savior. The Church of Jesus Christ today is made up of people from all walks of life and all backgrounds. When I was down in Northridge, we had the joy of seeing many Jewish people that had trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Our treasurer was a Jewish man who had become a Christian. My secretary was a Jewish lady who had come to know Christ as her Savior. There were Gentiles. There were people from all walks of life. just as there are in this church here this morning. God is building his church today. And when his church is completed, he's going to take it out of the world. And then he's going to deal once again in finality with this nation of Israel. And they're going to become back in resurrected life and belief and faith in him. But for the here and now, The question is this, have you personally trusted Jesus Christ, God's son, as your savior? Who is Jesus Christ to you this morning? Is he your savior? Is he your Lord? Have you been born again? That's the question that each one of us needs to grapple with, needs to deal with. How does one become a Christian? The Bible says, believe on Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, you'll believe that he's God who became a man. If you will believe that he died on the cross for your sins, God says he will save you and forgive you of all your sins. Shall we pray? Every head bowed and every eye closed. Would you give to each one here this morning a moment of personal privacy, and I would ask you this question. Have you ever trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior? Have you ever allowed Him to give to you the gift of a new life, eternal life? He says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God that he gives to us is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. With our heads bowed and our eyes closed, if you can't say yes, I know Jesus Christ is my Savior. I'm going to invite you to become a Christian right where you sit. And with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, just join with me in this simple prayer of salvation. Just say these words, Lord Jesus Christ, I know that I have sinned. I believe that you are God. I believe you died for my sins. I believe you did rise from the dead. And right now, I confess you as my Savior. I trust in you for the salvation of my eternal soul. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for saving me. If you prayed that prayer, God has forgiven you your sins, and you've become a new creature in Christ. I have a book that I share with every new Christian. I'd love to see that you get one today. I won't ask you to come forward or do anything else, but while our heads are bowed and we have this private moment, if you prayed with me today and trusted Christ, I wonder if you'd be willing to let me know that you made that decision by just slipping your hand up. And as you go out, I'll see that you get a book this morning. We'll be so glad to know that you made that decision, that you're a new Christian. Is there anyone at all who'd be willing to slip your hand up and say, Pastor, I wasn't sure that I'd ever trusted Christ. I prayed and accepted him as my Savior this morning. Would you lift it? We'll see your hand. I'll make sure you get a book as you leave this morning. This book we give to every new Christian. Anyone at all? Father, we're glad for the opportunity to study your word together. Lord, your word is filled with tremendous prophecies, which are unbelievable, which we can only accept. on the basis of the fact that you are God. We pray, Lord, that you would help us this morning to see and to appreciate anew and afresh the things that you have placed for us here in the book of Ezekiel. Be with us each one as we go to our homes, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. This message has been brought to you by the Santa Rosa Bible Church. Our mission is to see the lost reached and believers transformed by Jesus. You can find out more information about us at our website at srbible.org. Or you can visit us in person at 4575 Badger Road in Santa Rosa, California. You can also reach us by phone at 707-538-2385.