Ezekiel 37:9 Then said he to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus said the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds… I. SPEAK A LITTLE UNTO THIS DEADNESS WHICH IS INCIDENT UNTO A PEOPLE EXTERNALLY IN COVENANT WITH GOD. 1. Some kinds of deadness. (1) Death, properly so called, is a thing so well known that it is needless for me to tell you what it is. (2) There is a death which is metaphorical; which is nothing else but a disease or distemper of the soul, whereby it is rendered unmeet and incapable for holy and spiritual exercises. And this again is two fold, either total or partial. There is a total death incident unto the wicked and ungodly, who are stark dead, and have nothing of spiritual life in them at all. There is a partial death incident to believers, whom God hath raised out of the grave of an unrenewed state, and in whose souls He hath implanted a principle of spiritual life. And this partial death, incident to believers, consists in a manifest decay of spiritual principles and habits, in the abating of their wonted life and vigour and activity in the way and work of the Lord: their faith, their love, their hope, and other graces, are all in a fainting and languishing condition; they lie dormant in the soul, like the life of the tree that lies hid in its root, without fruit or blossoms, during the winter season. 2. Some of the causes of this spiritual deadness. (1) Abstinence or neglect of food, you know, will soon bring the body into a pining, languishing condition: so, if the means of grace be not diligently improven, if we neglect, by faith, to apprehend and to improve Christ, and to feed upon Him, whose "flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed," the spiritual life of the soul will soon languish and wither (John 6:53). (2) Surfeiting the soul with sensual pleasure is another great cause of spiritual death (Hosea 4:11). (3) Inactivity and sloth in salvation and generation work is another cause of spiritual deadness. (4) The contagion of ill example, of a carnal world, and irreligious relations, has a fatal influence this way. (5) Some deadly wound in the soul, not carefully noticed, may be the cause of spiritual death. (6) A holy God has sometimes a righteous and holy hand in this spiritual death, that the Lord's people are liable unto, by withdrawing and suspending the influences of His Spirit from them. He does it sometimes in a way of awful and adorable sovereignty, to show that He is not a debtor unto any of His creatures. Sometimes He does it to humble His people, and to prevent their pride, which makes Him to behold them afar off. He does it to make them prize Christ, and see their continual need of fresh supplies out of His fulness. He does it sometimes for the trial of His people, to see if they will follow Him in a wilderness, in a land that is not sown, as well as when he is feeding them with sensible communications of His grace and Spirit; to see if they will live on Him by faith, when they cannot live by sight or sense. Sometimes he does it for their chastisement, to correct them for their iniquities. Not hearkening to the motions of His Spirit, is one great reason why the Lord withdraws His Spirit. Lukewarmness and formality in the discharge of duty is another cause of it, as we see in the church of Laodicea; it made Him to spue that church out of His mouth. Prostituting the gifts and graces of the Spirit unto carnal, selfish, and base ends, to procure a name, or make a show in the world. Sinning against light, trampling upon conscience, as David no doubt did in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba; whereby he provoked the Lord so far to leave him, that he cries out (Psalm 51:11). Barrenness and unfruitfulness under the means of grace. Their not listening carefully to the voice of God in ordinances and providences (Psalm 81:11, 12). 3. Some of the symptoms of it and would to God they were not too visible, rife, and common. (1) Want of appetite after the bread and water of life is a symptom of spiritual death. (2) Though a man have something of an appetite, yet if he do not grow, or look like his food, it looks something dangerous and death-like. (3) Ye know, when death takes a dealing with a person, it makes his beauty to fade. Perhaps the day has been, O believer, when the beauty of holiness adorned every step of thy conversation; but now, alas! the beauty of thy conversation is sullied and stained, by lying among the pots of sin. This says, that spiritual death is dealing with thy soul. (4) Death not only wastes the beauty, but the strength also (Ecclesiastes 12:3). (5) Death wastes the natural heat and warmness of the body. So it is a sign of a spiritual decay and deadness, when wonted zeal for God and His glory, and the concerns of His Church and His Kingdom, is abated. (6) A dead man, you know, cannot move, but only as he is moved from without, in regard he wants a principle of motion within. So it is a sign of spiritual death, even in believers, when external motives and considerations have a greater influence in the duties of religion upon them, than an internal principle of faith and love. II. SPEAK A LITTLE UNTO THESE BREATHINGS AND INFLUENCES OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD, WHICH ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR THE REVIVAL OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE UNDER DEADNESS. 1. The nature of these breathings or influences. The influences and gifts of the Spirit of God are of two sorts, either common or saving. 2. The variety of these influences of the Spirit. (1) There are the convincing influences of the Spirit (John 16:8). (2) There are the enlightening influences and breathings of the Spirit. Hence He is compared unto eye-salve (Revelation 3:18). (3) There are the renewing influences of the Spirit. We are said to be "saved by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3:5). Hence He is called "a new Spirit."(4) There are the comforting influences of the Spirit. This is the south wind, as it were, gentle and easy, and refreshing; and therefore He is called the Comforter. (5) There are the corroborating and strengthening influences of the Spirit. By the breathings of the Spirit the feeble are made "like David, and as the angel of God before Him."(6) There are the drawing and enlarging influences of the Spirit. He is like oil to their chariot wheels; and when He comes, they are as the chariots of Amminadib, or a willing people. (7) There are the sin-mortifying and sin-killing influences of the Spirit. (8) There are the interceding influences of the Spirit (Romans 8:26). (9) There are the sealing and witnessing influences of the Spirit. 3. The manner of the acting or operation of these influences, or how it is that this wind blows upon the soul. (1) The wind of the Holy Ghost blows freely; the Spirit acts as an independent sovereign (John 3:8). (2) He breathes on the soul sometimes very surprisingly. (3) These breathings and influences of the Spirit are sometimes very piercing and penetrating. (4) The breathings of this wind are very powerful, strong, and efficacious. He masters the darkness of the mind, the contumacy and rebellion of the will, and the carnality of the affections: the enmity of the heart against God, and all the spiritual wickedness that are in the high places of the soul, are made to fall down at His feet, as Dagon did before the ark of the Lord. (5) Although He act thus powerfully and irresistibly, yet it is with an overcoming sweetness, so as there is not the least violence offered unto any of the natural faculties of the soul. (6) There is something in the breathing of this wind that is incomprehensible by reason (John 3:8). (7) These influences of the Spirit are sometimes felt before they be seen; as you know a man will feel the wind, and hear it, when he cannot see it. 4. The necessity of these breathings. (1) That they are necessary, will appear — From the express declaration of Christ (John 15:5). From the express acknowledgment of the saints of God upon this head (2 Corinthians 3:5). From the earnest prayers of the saints for the breathings of this wind (Song of Solomon 4:16). (2) To what are these breathings necessary? To the quickening of the elect of God, when they are stark dead in trespasses and sins. For the suitable discharge of every duty of religion. For accomplishing our spiritual warfare against sin, Satan, and the world. To the exercise of grace already implanted in the soul. 5. Some of the reasons of these influences of the Spirit: for the wind, you know, has its seasons and times of blowing and breathing. (1) The Spirit's reviving influences blow very ordinarily in a day of conversion. (2) When the soul has been deeply humbled under a sense of sin and unworthiness. (3) After a dark night of desertion, when the Lord returns again. (4) Times of earnest prayer and wrestling; for He giveth His Spirit to them that ask it (Ezekiel 36:37). (5) Times of serious meditation (Psalm 63:5, 6, 8). (6) Communion days are sometimes days of sweet influences. (7) The day of death has sometimes been found to be a day of such pleasant gales of the Spirit, that they have been made to enter into the haven of glory with triumph. III. THE LIFE THAT IS EFFECTED AND WROUGHT IN THE SOULS OF GOD'S ELECT BY THESE INFLUENCES AND BREATHINGS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 1. It is a life of faith (Galatians 2:20). 2. It is a life of justification. 3. It is a life of reconciliation with God. 4. It is a life of holiness and sanctification: for the Spirit of the Lord is a cleansing, purifying, and renewing Spirit. 5. It is a very lightsome and comfortable life: and no wonder; for His name is The Comforter. His consolations are so strong, that they furnish the soul with ground of joy in the blackest and cloudiest day (Habakkuk 3:17, 18). 6. It is a life of liberty; for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 7. It is a hid life (Colossians 3:3). 8. It is a heavenly life; they are made to live above the world: "Our conversation is in heaven." 9. It is a royal life: for they are "made kings and priests unto God" (Revelation 1:6). 10. It is an eternal life (John 17:3). IV. THE USE OF THE DOCTRINE. 1. The first use shall be of trial and examination. (1) If these breathings have blown upon thy soul, man, woman, then He has blown away the vail and face of the covering that was naturally upon thy mind and understanding. (2) If the wind of the Holy Ghost has blown upon thy soul, He has blown away some of the filth of hell that did cleave to thy soul, and has transformed thee into His own image (2 Corinthians 3:18). (3) If this wind has blown upon your souls, then it has driven you from your lying refuges, and made you take sanctuary in Christ. (4) If ever you felt any of the reviving gales of this wind of the Spirit, you will long for new gales and breathings of it; and when these breathings are suspended and withheld, your souls will be like to faint, as it were, like a man that wants breath. (5) If you have felt the breathings of this wind you will not snuff up the east wind of sin and vanity (John 4:14). (6) If this wind has blown upon your soul, then you will follow the motion of this wind; you will not run cross to this wind, but will go along with it. But, say you, How shall I know if I be led by the Spirit of God? I answer, If ye follow the Spirit, then you will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh; but, on the contrary, you will study to "crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts." Then the way wherein you walk will be a way of holiness, for He is a Spirit of sanctification; and a way of truth. Ye know leading imports spontaneity and willingness. 2. The second use shall be of exhortation. (1) Consider that spiritual deadness is very prevalent in the day wherein we live. (2) Consider the evil and danger of spiritual deadness. The evil of it will appear, if ye consider that it is a frame of spirit directly cross to the command of God. The evil and danger of it appears further from this, that it unfits the soul for every duty, and mars our communion and fellowship with God. It opens a door for all other sin, and renders a man an easy prey unto every temptation. It lays a foundation for sad and terrible challenges from conscience. (3) Consider, that as the breathings of the Spirit are necessary for every duty, so particularly for that solemn work which you have before your hands of commemorating the death of the exalted Redeemer. (4) Consider the excellency of these influences of the Spirit. They blow from an excellent original: the Holy Ghost is the author of them; and you know He proceeds from the Father and the Son. So that a whole Trinity, as it were, convey themselves with these breathings. They are the purchase of a Redeemer's blood, and therefore excellent. These influences of the Spirit, they, as it were, supply Christ's room while He is in glory. (E. Erskine.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. |
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