This Week's Sunday School Lesson, "Make Jesus Your King", 2 Chronicles 37:15-25, 5/10/2020

   

MAKE JESUS YOUR KING

Ezekiel 37:15-25

A HOUSE DIVIDED WILL NOT STAND

V:15 The word of the Lord  came to me: 16 "Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, 'Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.' Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, 'Ephraim's stick, belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him.' 17 Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand.

A. A house divided cannot stand,

   1.  When you fall away from God, you divide yourself away from

        His House.

   2. After the death of King Solomon, Israel became a divided nation.

   3. The southern nation included the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

   4. The northern nation was the other ten tribes.

   5. Israel quickly lost sight of the God who freed them from

       slavery in Egypt.

   6. They erected idol altars and worshiped idol gods.

   7.  As a result, God planned their destruction and

        Babylonian captivity

B. In the first 36 chapters of Ezekiel, God gave the prophecy of the

     destruction of Israel because of their sinfulness.

    1. In Chapter 37, He speaks of the restoration of Israel

        back to the promised land.

    2. In spite of our sinfulness, God keeps his promises.

    3. The promise God made to Abraham and David was a

         reigning king in Israel forever.

  C. Through Ezekiel, God foretold the destruction of Israel

        and its restoration into a united country.

     1. The God we serve is merciful enough to allow us to sin

         against Him, and then through trials and tribulations, draw us back

         to Himself.

KNOW THE WORD AND PROCLAIM IT TO OTHERS

V:18 "When your countrymen ask you, 'Won't you tell us what you mean by this?' 19 say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord  says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph — which is in Ephraim's hand — and of the Israelite tribes associated with him and join it to Judah's stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.'

A. This prophecy looks forward to the first and second coming of

     Jesus Christ.

   1. After the 70 year captivity, Israel was brought back to the promise

       land, but still remained divided.

   2. The death and resurrection of Christ paved the way for all Israel to be   

        saved.

   3. It was their rejection of Jesus that sent Him to the cross.

   4. Israel today’ as a whole does not claim Jesus as Lord and Savior.

B. In Christ, we are all one with Him

    1. Today, Israel only occupies a  portion of the promised land.

    2. The people are not one nation because they fail to recognize

         the love God has for them is the same as their neighbors.

    3. They fail to recognize that their neighbors are their brothers.

    4. Doing the time of Christ, 600 years later, the Jews and the

        Samaritans hated each other.

    5. Today the people in the promised land, who called themselves by

        different names are at war with each other.

FAITH IN GOD UNITES US IN HIM

V:20 Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on 21 and say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.

A. Israel is broken. It will take God to put them back together again.

    1. Some people are broken and don’t know they are broken

    2. Their brokenness is their norm.

    3. Our brokenness is due to a lack of faith in Jesus.

B. Today Israel is scattered all over the world.

    1. They have made their home in places God does not desire.

    2. God's divinely designed family cannot find peace in the divinely

        designated promise land.

    3. Israel was designed to be the role model of God’s righteousness.

    4. Because of their disobedience, God caused them to be scattered.

C. The God we ser knows our exact location.

    1. God is mindful of His people and the promises He made to them.

    2. We should never lose sight of God or His design for our lives.

    3. In His time, God will bring us to the place He wants us to be.

    4. God desires us to be complete in Him.

    5. We will not find completion outside of God’s commands.

ONE LORD, ONE SAVIOR, ONE KING

V:22 There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two or be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

A. God is determined to be the one true living God of our lives.

    1. On our own, we do not have the spiritual strength to choose

        God.

    2. We have been drawn to God over our fleshly desires.

    

        John 6:44

        Jesus answered, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent   

        me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

    3. God puts the fear of Himself in us so there is a change in

        our attitude to pursue His righteousness.

    4. God allows us to be drawn into difficult circumstances that we cannot

         handle so that we will have a desire to trust Him.

B. Israel was continually in and out of idol worship since they came into the

     promise land.

   1. God had blessed them with land, animals, produce, and victory over

       their enemies, yet they chose idols gods to worship.

  2. In 15-20 years after this revelation was given to Ezekiel, Israel was

       taken captive into Babylon and Jerusalem and the temple was

       destroyed.

   3. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was selected by God to

       take Israel captive for 70 years.

C. The saving and the cleansing of Israel and us comes through

     Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

   1. It is God’s grace and mercy that chastises us for our sins and

       provides forgiveness through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.

   2. We are made clean through the obedience of God's Word.

           

       John 15:3-4

       You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

        (the I in the verse is Jesus)

SUCCESSFUL LIVING IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S COMMANDS

V:24 "My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. 25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever.”

A. God has a plan for our salvation.

    1. The death of Jesus on the cross was the beginning of the fulfillment

         of this prophecy.

    2. Through the line of David, Jesus was born in the flesh.

    3. Jesus became the shepherd of all Israel which includes us.

B. Israel do accept Jesus as their shepherd and to this day, they are

     fighting over the occupation of part of the promised land.

   1. The fulfillment of this prophecy for Israel will take place after

       the second coming of Christ.

   2. For the Christian, this prophecy has been fulfilled.

   3. The promised land for the church in heaven.

           

       John 14:3

       And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive    

       you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

   4. The latter part of the verse is our promise of eternity with Christ.

GOOD NEWS; OUR FUTURE IS SECURE IN JESUS

Rev. M. Mitchell

Asst Pastor Of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church

5510 West Sam Houston Parkway North

Houston, Texas 77041

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