One Shepherd — Dai Patterson

We speak to our hearts, we pray. And when you speak, the outcome is always life. It can be no other. And as we look at this wonderful book of yours, we see that when you spoke, there was life indeed, abundant and glorious and full and free, a life that could rise above all circumstances in which men could ever find themselves.

And we are looking for that kind of life to be ministered into all our hearts, even now. Amen. Now I'm going to take you into the Old Testament to a picture. And the picture is a very unusual one. When I tell you that we're going to read in Ezekiel chapter 36, those of you who are familiar with the book will think, oh well I know where he's going and I know just what he's going to say, so I can go on.

Okay, now some, I don't know, some two, three years ago, I was up in Liverpool and I was taken to the tape gallery which they've opened up. And the tape gallery in Liverpool is filled with modern art.

And there were all these people standing around looking, you know, very, very educated and knowledgeable and they were saying, oh yes, I can see this and I can see that. And I stood there and I looked at it and I thought, what a lack of rubbish.

I couldn't make head nor tail of it. I thought, well that was upside down, everybody got the wrong way. And then there was a wonderful specimen that I was taken to see. There was a setting, a sofa, and it was suspended on one end and somewhere near it or underneath it or beside it or whatever was a small radio and it was switched on and it was playing some kind of music.

And I kind of, you know, was taken along to see this and I thought, oh dear, dear, dear, someone heavily stuck on this end and made the problem. But that was it. And you viewed it and of course you said, you immediately thought, oh yes, it means this.

Now obviously, pictures can be interpreted just however you want to interpret the picture. It's beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So they say, well, I must have had my eyes shut that day or blinded or something because I thought, what a waste of time.

I would rather stay home and read my book. But there we go, I suppose people thought I needed to be educated. Because I'm not, you know, people who come from my area of Wales, we're not much into these aesthetic things.

We'd much rather the hills or the valleys instead of this nonsense that was stuck on the wall. Anyway, the picture can be interpreted just as you want to. Now when you come to pictures in the Bible, you've got to be likewise very careful unless you are told exactly what the picture represents.

And then there's no private interpretation and there's no possibility of getting it wrong. And in the passage that we're going to read, we are told what the picture represents. I want to begin there first of all and just read with you so that you can see that what we're going to take a look at is not open to private interpretation.

We're told what it means. So we're going to read together in the 37th chapter of the book of Ezekiel. Now some of you had a bit of a problem with the visitors, so we'll give you a moment to find Ezekiel.

Okay, everybody there? This is the interpretation. We'll start there and then go back and look at the picture. Verse 11 of chapter 37. He, that is the Lord, speaks to Ezekiel, and he said to me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.

So there you are, you know what the bones represent. In a moment or two we're going to take a look at the bones and we're going to see certain things about them, but we know right from the outset what they represent.

And we have to keep that in mind while we're reading and while we're thinking. They represent a body of people and this body of people are in the most dreadful condition. Notice it says, these are the whole house of Israel and they indeed say.

Now please note, it's not what God says, it's what they say. And the tragedy is that so often we see ourselves from our perspective and we've lost sight of what God says. But they say about themselves, our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off.

Cut off from what? Cut off from whom? Cut off from their inheritance, cut off from their God, separated because of this deadness. And the whole setting of the picture that we're about to look at is one of death.

Today, at this morning, and tonight probably, we're going to take a look at what it is to be set free from death. That's been the sort of the theme that runs through things a bit, although Gene's convinced it's grace.

And I would agree with that, Gene. All right, now what is this? What a strange thing. But you might be sitting in this room this morning. You might be, I don't know, because I don't know. Some of you will know if I do know.

I know some well, some not so well. What do you say? What do you say about yourself, your life, your future? What do you say? I've made some real mistakes, the consequence of which is that I've lost my hope.

I feel inwardly as dry and as dry as can be. And you know what people can be just like that on the inside, but they give no appealance of it on the outside. But on the inside they can be as dry as dry as dry can be.

And their religion has become an outward thing. It goes through routine. It goes through the Sunday observance thing, but inwardly they're dry. And oh God, is it possible, is it possible that I could become a man, a woman, in whom this water of life could flow, because I feel as dried up as can be.

You don't feel like that, do you? Now listen, here is the statement of the people of Israel. This is what we're like. Isn't it a sad thing when people's hope goes? I've come to see that when hope disappears, for some people there's no other way out but to end it.

But no, I can see no way through. And these people are in such a condition. If you're not like that, you will know people who are. And how are you going to help them? How are you going to minister to them?

Unless you yourself are living free of this kind of condition. You will notice there's an attitude of mind expressed here. God says of them, they indeed say. You can't say something as though, first of all, your mind is operating, and you come to a conclusion about yourself, and you make the statement, this is how I am.

You may recall that in the 23rd chapter of the Proverbs it says, as a man thinks in his heart so he is, ultimately your behavior will be a reflection of the way you think. How do you think about yourself?

Because no one can really know except you. You may recall that Paul wrote in the second chapter of the Corinthian letter, the first one, that no man knows the spirit of a man save the spirit which is within him.

You know yourself, don't you? You may not know yourself as well as God knows you, but you sure do know. What are you like this morning? You might say, cheeky fellow, why should he be so personal? Who does he think he is?

Oh, I want to talk to you as if I was your best friend. Is there anything wrong with that? No, nice isn't it? Nice to be faced up with the real issues of life, because my dear friend, this will be an answer.

And there is. And you've got to live in the goodness of that answer, and be able to minister it to those around and about you. If you're not living in freedom, you can't minister it to anybody else. It is just words, words, words, words.

But inwardly you know, why do I feel so dry? Why do I not feel some glorious sense of the reality of the person, of the presence of this risen Christ? I feel like I'm in a graveyard. And that's the setting.

Two pictures appear in the story. They are both of them in the setting of a graveyard. You will notice in verse 12, God speaks and he says, oh my people, I will open your graves. And that's just how they felt.

Wrapped up, confined, boxed in. Excuse me. They didn't much believe in cremation in these days. They were all boxed in. And seemingly when God began to move upon Ezekiel and he took him down into the valley, it was a burial place.

And the graves had been opened and there were the bones all scattered about. If you've ever watched The Lion King, and I have a number of times. I watched it in Australia recently because my grandchildren insisted.

I didn't take much persuading. I sat and watched it. And in one scene, I can't remember which, they go down into a valley and it's full of the bones of what, elephants or something, or animals. Anyway, there they are, a valley of dry bones.

And God opens up Ezekiel's eyes to see the true condition. And the condition that Ezekiel sees is the condition that the people of Israel say about themselves. So Ezekiel is facing reality. This is how it is.

This is the very way people think about themselves. And God said, but you watch this Ezekiel. Just watch. Now, that's our setting. I'm hoping to be done by about quarter past twelve. And we can have fifteen minutes, ten minutes, and we can pray.

And we can ask God to come and fill us with the great waters of life and dispel all the dryness from our lives. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Do you believe he'll do that if you ask him? All good. We're going to have a great ten minutes, aren't we?

The rest of the time may not be so good. But the last ten minutes will be wonderful. The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord. How wonderful when the Holy Ghost comes and shows a man what things are really like.

So he's not under any illusion. He doesn't think about himself in some great way. He has no illusions about anything. He comes out in the Spirit of the Lord and he set me down in the midst of the valley and it was full of bones.

I think I said on Friday night, we need to have a sanctified imagination. Now go on, imagine it. Please don't close your eyes. I'd like to think you've got it. But get there to the north and he's down in this valley, boy, hot and arid and dry.

A burial place, a place of death, a place of corruption, a place of hopelessness. A valley where you would take the bodies and you get another sight and another mind because we don't want to be reminded of this thing called death.

And he's taken in Spirit and he's put down there and then notice in the next verse, he caused me to pass by them all along. Now he didn't just take a kind of a casual look and say, oh yeah, it's a bit of a grim old place.

He went walkabout and he walked around and he examined and he looked and he saw and what did he see? He saw there was no hope there. Everything was absolutely filled with death and he said that there were very many in the open valley and indeed they were very dry.

He must have inspected, hasn't he? You know, all the marrow on the insides was gone. Have you ever seen the old dog licking the thing and he gets his tongue in and he wants to get to the marrow of the bone and after it's all dried up you think what on earth did he want to go on chewing that thing for?

Do you remember reading Dave Wilkerson's book, The Cross and the Switchblade? Do you remember? Do you remember Dave Wilkerson telling us about his granddad? No, you can't play, no. His granddad used to believe in an evangelism called the Lamb Chop.

The Lamb Chop form of evangelism. Do you remember reading that? This was his picture. He would say, if you see the dog sort of in the street and he's got this old bone and he's got it in his mouth and you will not get it from him.

He's determined he's going to hold on to it because it's all he's got. What happens if you come along and you throw him a great big juicy Lamb Chop? What happens? He'll chop that bone and he'll get hold of a Lamb Chop and then you try and get the Lamb Chop off him.

You will never. But he gets rid of the bone because it's dry. He doesn't really want the thing but it's all he's got and that's all some people live. It's all they've got. And he said, that's just what you like you people of Israel.

You're down there. This represents you and you're dry. Oh no, you're very dry. There's not a spark of anything. That's an awful condition to be in. And then he said to me, he said, a man can't eat bones.

Now what would your response be if you were Ezekiel? Of course they can't. Of course they can't. And don't you spit at your eyes and try and be kind of, you know, oh yes, of course they can. If you were Ezekiel, what would you have said?

Of course they can't. They're dead. I'm not going to say dead, they're very dead. Of course they can't. So I answered and said, oh Lord, well you know because I sure don't. The obvious response is no I can't but why did you ask me the question?

Have you asked the question because you know that they can? Lord you know but I sure don't. And oh if only we would come under the ground that Ezekiel came under and said, well I don't know. I don't, I cannot see.

I don't understand. I'm so limited but you do know. And then he said to me, prophesy to these bones. I think that's great, don't you? What's that point? And that's just how the attitude that gets into our hearts sometimes.

What's the point Lord? Nobody listens. I was talking to him earlier, he was telling me that you, just like back in Lampeter, you've done daughters all over, open heirs, done this, done that, done the other.

And the response is a wonderful nothing. And you think what's the point? Yeah, but I tell you what we need. We need God to raise up men and women with a prophetic voice. I think we've got a trouble, a problem in that we've got so many people who know all there is to know about the new government.

We've got it all sorted out. We've got it all set. We know exactly where to dot the i's and cross the t's, but where's the prophetic voice? That voice that can speak into a situation and absolutely change it.

And that's what we are in need of. There's a dirt of that kind of word of God in our midst. And I'm going to dare to be, not rude, but I'm going to dare to suggest that sometimes, and I'm not including anybody in this room this morning, but I've been disillusioned.

You know what I mean? Yeah, I've been disillusioned by some of the things which go in the name of being gifts of the Spirit. You know, oh my precious beloved one, I do love you. I think, oh shut up. I don't want to hear it.

I can make them up as I go along. I wonder if he's something that gets hold of a man and brings forth a life that's never been there. And God says to him, I won't prophesy in these days that you've got.

Open your mouth son. What am I going to say? What do you say to a bunch of dead bulls? What do you say to them? And he said, prophesy to these bulls and say to them. Now please note it's not left up to Ezekiel to dream something up, to imagine something, to use some nice flowery language.

He simply says, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. So now you know where the song comes from. If you're old enough to know, you know where the thing is. I ain't going to sing it to you. I'm very, very serious.

Those of you who have not got the joke, there's a song. Have you ever heard of the song? You've got to be about 50 to know it. You can't be that far off. Oh, I was nasty then. I was nasty. Prophesy to the bones.

Dry bones, listen. Now what's the point of talking to something that's dry, very dry, and say listen. What's the point? Because this word, when it's truly God's, can speak right through death, right through the grave, right into the very heart and spirit of a man, just like Jesus Christ did to Lazarus.

He said to him, Lazarus! He had to call him by name, of course, didn't he? Because if he hadn't called him by name, I suppose they'd have all come out of the grave, wouldn't they? So he said to him, Lazarus, I know you can hear me.

I'm talking to you. We don't talk to the dead. And if anybody has ever tried by contacting somebody who's a spiritist medium, then you need, before you leave this place this morning, to have someone pray for you.

And if you've dabbled in those kinds of things, you need God to set you free from it. And if you try playing with things like Ouija boards, and you read the tarot cards, and you are hooked onto your horoscopes, you need that someone should pray for you.

Because it's all in the realm of death. This is life. Speak. Go on. Go on. You'll talk to them. But don't make any essay care when I give you the word, when I speak they can hear. So he was to speak to the dry bones.

Thus says the Lord God to these bones. Surely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. Now please notice, will you notice something? That God speaks as though the thing is finished. There's a process, in a moment that we'll notice, that has to take place.

But God does not see the process. He sees the finished product. He speaks as though the thing is. Because he knows he can bring forth that which no one else can. Say, I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live.

This is the process. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin, put breath in you, and you shall live. And then you shall know that I am the Lord. How about that? It's not until that breath, that life comes, that a man really knows the Lord.

Up until then, he may think he does, he may believe he does, he may accept that he is, but he doesn't have that life in him, not until God comes and he does it. So I prophesy as I was commanded. Oh how wonderful it is to notice that he's a man who's under orders, under command.

He's not moved by some sentiment. He doesn't, he's not stirred by the need. He's a man under commandment. There's not much of that around, you know, that kind of clear, strong word of God about. And he prophesied as he was commanded and as I prophesied I got the shock of my life.

There was a noise and suddenly a rattling. Wouldn't you like to have a brief minute? All I did was just open my mouth and just speak what God commanded and instantly there's response. And bones came together, bone to bone, and as I looked the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered them, but there was no breath in them and it was all to no avail.

Because what's the purpose, the point of having everything restored but no life, no breath? What's the point? There is none, is there? It would have all been a fruitless exercise if there had not come the breath.

Oh, would you please with me notice something quite remarkable. Verse 9. He said to me, this is God speaking through Ezekiel, I want you to prophesy to the breath of life. What do people prophesy? So often we prophesy about.

We say things about. We make a declaration about. Ezekiel is commanded to speak directly to the spirit. I mean nobody in their right mind would do that. Who do people think they are? You can't command the spirit.

Ezekiel was told to do just that. I want you to speak to the spirit. I want you to prophesy. I want you to declare to the spirit exactly what I want him to do. And of course if you think about it that will take you right back into the book of Genesis and to the fact that the Holy Ghost was involved in the creative work of God right at the beginning.

So he's told prophesy to the spirit. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath of life. Now you've got to speak to him. You've got to speak my word to the breath of life. Who's the breath of life? What's the breath of life?

But speak to him my word. You're not issuing your commandments to him. You're speaking my word that he might know. So it sounds almost strange to say because surely he did know. I'm certain he did. But he was a man that God was taking up and using in his word, ministering to the people of Israel, ministering to those who are dead and dry and hopeless, who give up.

And he says, come. How about that? Issues of commandment under the authority of God. But he speaks, come. He doesn't pray. Please note the difference. There comes a time when praying, real genuine Holy Ghost praying, leads us into the place where we know something is going to happen.

I talked to you yesterday about the Welsh Revival. Do you know there came a time when they knew, they knew. God led Evan Roberts from a place called Newcastle Pendlyn down to a place called Lacha near to Swansea.

And he knew because God had said to him, I'm going to, you are to call for seven meetings in the course of this week. And by the end of this week, I will move. And he called meetings in the first night like so often, you know, a drip drop turned up.

And the second night there was a few more. And by the end of the week, there was an inevitable sense of God coming amongst people. And from there, the Revival broke out all over Wales. Any of us in Israel have got an inevitable sense in our heart.

Oh God, it's not that I want you to do it. It's not that I'm praying that you should do it. But it's almost like that I can almost command it. Lord, you come! Boy, I wonder if you're thinking to yourself, I don't know whether I believe Daesh theology.

What's he talking about? Can people so command? Oh, I don't mean you can look and command it. It's just so, you know, guess when you please. He was a man of authority. A man actually given. A man so sensitive to the needs of the people around about him that God could take him and put him amongst these folks and say, this is what people are like.

What are you going to do about it if he kills? And what do you and I do about it? Oh, we'll have another strategy. We'll try something else. And what happens? That doesn't work either. There's got to be something that we, that's in our hearts that causes us to be prophetic.

That we can speak something to people. I know it's going to happen. Take place. Pray to the Spirit. Come from the four winds of breath. Come and breathe on these slain and so that they may live. Now you'll see, do you, that Ezekiel saw the secret.

He knew that the only way was for the Spirit to come. And he said, if you will come, they will live. It's the only way. They've got bone to bone, sinew, flesh, skin. They're ready for it. The preparation work has been done.

But unless you come, it's all to no avail, he says. I prophesied. I was full of myself. I thought to myself, what power I've got. Watch this everybody. Normally he said, I prophesied as he commanded me.

He didn't invent some nice words. He didn't come up with some flowery expressions. He was under commandment. You're to do just as you're told. I like it when I read in your testament about Moses. God said to Moses, you go prepare this tabernacle.

It's to be just like this. And Moses went and did it just as he was told. He was not allowed to add anything to it. He was not allowed to take anything from it. And if you know your book of Revelation, you are told there.

You'd better not add to the prophecy of this book. And you'd better not take anything away from it. It's just how it's to be. And Ezekiel was told, he was commanded, and I prophesied, he said. And amazingly, the wind came, the breath came into them, and they lived and they stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Amen. You're to see the facets of the way in which God brought it about. To see he is a man utterly, utterly given. A man who can be taken up by the Spirit. Can you be? Yes or no? Can you be? Can he do something with you?

Absolutely extraordinary. Not because you are extraordinary, but because he is. And he's got you under command. Can you speak the word of God into the hearts of men and women so they come to life? And more and more and more and more I become aware as I get a little older.

Lord, I don't want to be able to preach sermons. It's of no value. What good does it do to anybody? Okay, maybe I come with a little bit of knowledge and I can sort of say something and people go, what?

No, people don't give up. You know, I've got a little bit more knowledge stored up. What about knives? And in a moment they were swept away from these people of tragedy, these people of failure, where all hope was gone, they were in a moment swept away from them, always.

And they were lying. Let's read on. Of course, we're not going to get through this. He said to me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They're back to where they started. They indeed say, our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off.

Therefore prophets I am say to them, that says the Lord God, behold, all my people, I will open your graves. Well, that's good, isn't it? Because you can't, can you? Have you ever tried it? Not when you obviously haven't, but do you have someone who's done it?

Try it. Once you've come, come on, work at it. Don't give up. The grace of causing to come up from the pure grace and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves.

But before, it's not until life comes that you realize, oh, I can see now you're the Lord. You're like death. Circumstance, you're truly Lord. But I am the Lord when I have opened your graves. All my people have brought you up from your graves.

I will put my spirit and you shall live. Do you know who else said that? Do you know who else said that? Or something almost the same. Jesus himself. He said in that saying, because I live, you shall live also.

He's the full sermon of all of it. Because I live, you shall live. In other words, when he said those words to those people who were with him, they were not alive. Not in this way. Because he was saying, because I live, I'm going to go to death.

And they said, you can't do it. He said, I'm going. This is my father's world. But I shall be raised from the dead. And because I live, you shall live in that day. What day? The day when the spirit came and they lived.

Have you ever had that happen in your life? Listen, I will put my spirit in you and you shall live. I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord.

One Spirit Brings the People of God Into Unity

Okay, so now you've got this great company. Now what are they like? They're described, first of all, as being an army. The rest of the chapter, 15 down to 28, were to pick about two or three things out.

Because we haven't got time to read it, but you have, don't you? Oh, by the way, you did your homework? No, no, well, you didn't read Leviticus 17, you did Jeremiah 17. Yeah, what did you read? You did about writing in the earth.

Okay, we're happy to do it. Let's pick out a couple of things. The section now from verse 15 to verse 28 is all to do with unity. And here, my friend, is the great, great, great, great, underlying, uniting thing.

For when this breath comes, what does it do? It produces unity. It does not produce autonomy. It does not produce, I'm my own man. It produces, I need you, brother. I need you, brother. And believe it or not, you need me, brother.

You might not want that, but you've got it. We need each other. We're part one of the other. That's what this life does. It's a great, uniting, unifying life. God deliver us from wanting our own way. God deliver us from this kind of petty, well, I think this, I think that, I think the other.

What's it got to do with anything? It's this life that unites, that makes us part one of the other. That said, I will let nothing come between my brother and me. I'll let nothing come. Do you remember three times in the Gospels?

I'm sure you do. Listen. Three times in the Gospels, when Jesus was talking about going to the cross and dying, do you know what the disciples were doing? They were having a natter amongst themselves as to who should be the greatest.

Do you remember? And he said this, it shall not be so among you. And when you read it, you think, well, Lord, you must have your eyes closed. It is so amongst them. This is the third time they've been debating who's the greatest.

In one of those three examples, there comes a time when Jesus says to them, tell me this, what were you talking about on the way as we were walking along? And do you know what the Bible says? And they were silent that night.

Do you know the time where you're all, oh dear, how did he know that? If only I could have got away with it. They were silent. Do you know what silence says sometimes? Yes, Lord, I'm guilty and I've got nothing to say except I'm sorry.

And he said to them, it shall not be so among you. It shall not be so. Lord, you're naive. You've got your eyes closed. Look at them. As Peter wanted to be this and Paul and James wanted to be sons, you know, bring down fire.

As Israel wanted to be kind of a leader of the church in Jerusalem. They're going at it. They're going at each other. And he said, for it's not going to be so among you, but it is Lord. When does that stop?

I tell you, when the spirit of life comes, he puts together. Wouldn't it be wonderful if churches came into the understanding of that? Wouldn't that get rid of so many petty things? Why is it that people feel these things, petty, petty, petty, horrible things.

Oh, you don't play with me. I feel it about you, brother. Well, stop it. I'm telling you. I hope you enjoy your Sunday lunch. Stop it. It's absolutely dishonoring to the name of Jesus. It is. And it's not that which the spirit of life comes to produce.

Oneness. One kingdom. And one king in the kingdom. How wonderful. There's another picture drawn. He takes two sticks. He puts them together. One stick represents the people of Israel, the ten northern tribes.

The other stick represents the people of Judah, the two southern tribes. And God says, put them together. And he puts them together. And he says, that's what's going to happen. They will become one and never again will they be divided.

One Shepherd Under the Davidic King

When, Lord, when the spirit comes, I'll join to you. I've never chosen with my back, buddy. But I'll join to you. I'll do nothing to hurt nor harm you. I'll do everything to encourage you. There'll never be, brother, I love you, but, anymore in my conversation.

There'll be one king. Verse 24. Who's this? Who's this? Verse 24. David, my servant. David's been dead years and years and years and years and years and years. Who's he talking about? Jesus, the great servant.

David. He's talking about great David's greater son. David, my servant, shall be king over them. Amen. And they shall all have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do their very best to keep them.

No, I'll never do that. Is it possible that we dry day in our brain, we who lost all hope. Where did, where's that little thing? Abandon hope all ye who enter here. I don't know where that comes from.

Where'd that come from? Dante's Inferno. Yeah, well done. Abandon hope all ye who enter here. But let me tell you, here's hope for you. That the spirit can come and he can create a glorious, glorious body of men and women over whom there is one king.

United together, men and women who do the commandments of God, who's delighted to do them. There's 26, they'll all make a covenant of peace. Wow. Won't that be wonderful? When people come into church life, when they come into meetings, I wonder whether the great atmosphere, oh, he talked about atmosphere the other day, perhaps with the wrong words, but the thing that pervades, there's peace.

There's peace. There's accord instead of discord. There's no grating sound. There's peace. I will make a covenant. I will make a covenant. I will do it. I'm not going to leave it to you lot to do it. You'll make a mess of it, but I'll do it.

I'll create. I'll cut a covenant of peace and it shall be an everlasting one. I will establish them and multiply them and then notice them. I will set my sanctuary in the midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them.