EZEKIEL 19 LAMENTATION FOR THE PRINCES OF ISRAEL2010 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ezekiel 19 Lamentation For The Princes Of Israel

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2010.

Well, as we are here in Ezekiel chapter 19, let's start out just reading the first couple of verses and we'll see where the Lord takes us. In chapter 19, verse 1, it says,

Here as we begin verses 1 and 2 of chapter 19, we're looking at this prophet Ezekiel and the prophecies or the words that God gave to him to deliver to the people of Israel. Now this time Ezekiel is a captive. He's one of those who was taken captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. There was a bunch of the Jewish people as the nation was conquered that they were taken to Babylon. The nation continued to exist.

Back in Jerusalem, there was King Zedekiah on the throne. And as long as he was loyal to King Nebuchadnezzar, they were allowed to exist in peace. They just had to pay tribute and taxes and those types of things. But those who were conquered, there was some who during the

the captivity, were taken captive back to Babylon. Ezekiel is one of them. He's with others who are from Jerusalem who are there in captivity. And his job by the Lord is to minister to those people. Because those people who are captives in Babylon are still convinced that

that their false gods will save them. They're still convinced that they don't have to be following God with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength. They're still convinced that none of these things are going to last, that they're going to be set free. They're still convinced that what God has said is not going to happen. And so God is using Ezekiel to speak to those people who are there to...

remove the blinders from their eyes and allow them to see the truth that they are experiencing judgment as a result of their rebellion against God.

Well, here in chapter 19, what God gives to Ezekiel is a lamentation or a poem that is meant to be used at a funeral. God is giving him a poem, a funeral poem, and it's really talking about the death of the princes of Israel or the leadership of Israel, the kings of Israel.

This is what God is expressing in regards to the authorities that have been set up within the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah. And God is weeping and lamenting over the things that have taken place. He's weeping and lamenting over the judgment that is being brought. And He's weeping and lamenting over this end that has come to the Davidic line of kings. And we'll talk about that as we get into the chapter.

As we look at the nation of Judah, I think we could all understand and agree that it is tragic what happened to the nation. It's tragic what they did with all of the things that God had given to them. God had blessed them abundantly. He had given them just incredible advantages. His word, His presence, the temple there. I mean, He gave them abundance.

many opportunities to turn and to come to Him and to walk uprightly with Him. And yet Israel threw all of it away and insisted on following their own thoughts and ideas, insisted on worshipping other gods. It's tragic what took place and what Israel did with the things that God gave to them.

In the same way, as we look around today, it is tragic that people do the things that they do with what God has given to us.

You and I as believers today, God has blessed us abundantly. God has given us incredible advantages to be able to walk with Him, to have access to His presence, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We have the Word of God and it's not just that we have one version of the Word of God. That's not enough for us. We have 50 different versions of the Word of God.

in our own language of the Word of God, we have all of these incredible advantages when it comes to a relationship with God. And it's tragic what some people do with these things that God has given to us. And we can find ourselves easily in a similar position as the nation of Judah has found themselves by rebelling against God and by disregarding what He has said.

And so he gives Ezekiel this lamentation. This is something that God is sorrowful about. This causes him to weep or lament. This is not exciting or joyful for God. He has no pleasure in judgment and death and punishment. And so he is lamenting over what has taken place. And in this lamentation, he asks the question, what is your mother? And he describes their mother as a lioness.

He's talking to the nation and he's saying, your mother, your descendants, not your descendants, but your ancestors, they're like lions. They were, you know, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Judah was described as a lion by Jacob in Genesis chapter 49. Here, the nation of Judah, he says...

You are like a lion. You were ferocious. You were powerful. You had majesty. You were blessed abundantly. And he talks about this lion and she laid down and she raised up one of her cubs. She nourished one of her cubs. She took care of one of her cubs and raised him up to be a young lion. We see that if you look with me at verse 3.

It says, "...she brought up one of her cubs and he became a young lion. He learned to catch prey and he devoured men. The nations also heard of him. He was trapped in their pit and they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt."

And so this lamentation is regarding this lioness or the nation of Judah and the cub that was raised up, the young lion that was raised up by this lioness, by the nation of Judah. He's talking about and he's speaking about, he's lamenting over the princes of Israel, the authorities, the kings of Israel.

As we look at the history of the kings, you can look at 1 and 2 Kings, you can look at 1 and 2 Chronicles and have a good understanding of the history of the kings of the nation of Israel as well as the nation of Judah.

And the kings, it's really a tragic story because most of the kings did not follow God. In fact, you'll see over and over again, it tells us that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Or even the ones that were pretty good, it says they were pretty good except for, and they would have these, you know, these...

these issues in their life. They didn't get rid of this idolatry or they didn't get rid of this issue or they weren't loyal to God in their hearts. And so the kings and the princes were something and a cause for lamentation for God. And so he says, take up this lamentation for these princes of Israel, this lioness which is the nation of Judah. This lioness has raised up princes and rulers, these young cubs and specifically,

The young lion that he's talking about here in verse 3 and 4 is King Jehoiahaz. King Jehoiahaz you can read about in 2 Kings chapter 23 verses 31 through 34.

King Jehoahaz was the son of Josiah. And if you remember Josiah, he was a good king. There was a massive revival that took place while he was on the throne. And it was just incredible what God did in his kingdom. And so here, the son of Josiah, the son of this good king, the son of this great king, has...

Awesome potential. He has really good things going on for him. He has a good heritage. And yet this king only reigned for three months. Jehoahaz only reigned for three months. The scripture tells us there in 2 Kings 23 that he did evil in the sight of the Lord and he was captured by Pharaoh Necho or Pharaoh Necho. He was conquered by Egypt.

And taken captive to Egypt. And so we see in verses 3 and 4, well actually in verse 4 it says, The nations heard of him, he was trapped in their pit, and they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt. And so this young lion is a reference to King Jehoahaz, who it was only a few years before Ezekiel was taken into captivity, that this king was on the throne, but he was conquered, and he was taken captive to the land of Egypt. He had such promise.

So much potential. And yet he brought little results. Why? Well, because he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He was trapped as a lion is trapped because he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He tried to escape the judgment of God and the penalty for his rebellion, but he was trapped. He could not escape the judgment of God. And so he was taken captive to Egypt.

Well, we see a similar story in verses 5 through 9. It says,

Verse 2,

And so you see this illustration here, this visual of a lioness who raises up one of her cubs. She nourishes one of her cubs. He grows into a young lion. He has authority. He's ferocious. And then he's captured and taken to Egypt.

And the lioness is there and she's saying, hey, where's my cub? And he's not coming back. And so she takes another one of her cubs and she nourishes him and she takes care of him and provides for him and raises him up and he becomes a young lion. And he begins to roam and the nations know him. He begins to have a reputation. He gets a little bit strong and he's...

Making an impact in the world. And so it tells us there in verse 8 that the nations set against him. The provinces on every side. So this next lion that was raised up by this lioness now begins to be under attack as well.

And we find this to be paralleled with King Jehoiakim. So there was King Jehoahaz and he was like this young lion that was raised up and then he was taken to Egypt. Well, this other lion, this next lion that was taken to Babylon would be a reference to King Jehoiakim. And King Jehoiakim reigned for just about the same amount of time. He reigned for three months and ten days.

He reigned about the same amount of time as Jehoiah has. He as well did evil in the sight of the Lord. And King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came out and

set himself against Jerusalem, and he surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar. And so he was taken captive to Babylon, just like it says here in verse 9, brought him to the king of Babylon, and that his voice should no longer be on the mountains of Israel. And so he was taken from Jerusalem out to the land of Babylon.

This time when King Jehoiakim was surrendered and the city was conquered, it's at that time that Nebuchadnezzar took captives from the land to...

to Babylon, which is probably when Ezekiel was taken as well. And so, the things that he's saying and the things that God is speaking through Ezekiel would be very familiar to the people around them because they just saw Jehoiahaz just a few years earlier taken to Egypt. They just saw Jehoiakim surrender and be taken captive to Babylon along with all of them who are there listening to Ezekiel's words. And so, as Ezekiel is sharing these things, it would be familiar to them.

And so again, here with Jehoiakim,

I'm sorry, I've been saying Jehoiakim, I mean Jehoiachin. I always get those two confused. I apologize. Either way, they're both conquered by Babylon. But there's so much potential there. They had so much potential. They had the Word of God. They had the Temple of God. They were of the line of David. They had great promise and great opportunity. And yet, there was little results. They did very little with all of the blessings that God had given to them.

Well, as we go on in the rest of the chapter, God shifts the illustration a little bit. Instead of talking about a lioness and her cubs, He refers to the vine. Verse 10 says, Your mother was like a vine in your bloodline, planted by the waters, fruitful and full of branches because of many waters. She had strong branches for scepters of rulers. She towered in stature above the thick branches and was seen in her height amidst the dense foliage."

Here as we look at verses 10 and 11, God describes the nation as a vine. He says that she was like a vine. She was like a vine planted by the waters.

Now as he's talking about a vine here as a reference to the nation of Judah, that's not something uncommon. We saw that actually a couple chapters back in Ezekiel chapter 17, where God referred to the nation as a vine. We also saw it in the book of Jeremiah. Isaiah also refers to the nation as a vine or a vineyard. And so this is a common theme throughout the scriptures.

And so this vine is planted near the waters. And we've talked about that before. Being planted near the waters is a reference to the unlimited resources that the nation had. If a vine is planted near water with an abundant supply of water, it has everything that it needs. It's able to be nourished. It's able to be provided for. It's able to grow naturally.

Just like if you give a certain part of your yard an abundant supply of water, that part will be green and it'll be growing. Right now in our yard we have a broken pipe and it goes right down the middle of our yard and so there's this water that flows down until I can get it fixed.

right down the middle of our yard and all that's green and everything else is dead because it doesn't have any water pressure because of the broken pipe. And so all the rest is brown but this middle here, it's planted by abundant waters and so it's green, it's lush and it's nice.

And that's like this vine. It was planted there by the rivers of water. And he says it was fruitful and full of branches because of many waters. And so the result of it being planted there was fruitful. It had abundance. It was able to survive. It had unlimited resources. Again, much potential here. God had given them incredible blessings. Blessed them abundantly. But we see very little results as we see as we go on in verse 12.

He says,

Here as we look at verses 12 through 14, talking about this vine, we see what happens to the vine. And what happened is, the result is that she was plucked up in fury. The nation of Judah experienced the judgment of God.

They experienced the fury of God, the wrath of God, because of their insistent rebellion against Him. The nation knew God, the nation had God's word, the nation had the temple of God, the nation even had prophets warning them to turn and to get back right with God.

And to stop living in the ways that they were living. That's what the book of Jeremiah was all about. But the people refused to listen. They refused to hear. They said, no, we're not going to listen. It's too hard to follow God in that way. And so they chose to follow God in their own way. And their own way of following God was they would still go to the temple. They would still read the Bible. They would still offer their sacrifices. But then also in their life, they would have these other gods.

And they would be involving themselves in all of these other practices. And they said, this is the way that we're going to do it. And the prophets would say, no, you have to let go of all those other gods. You have to turn from them and be completely devoted to the true and living God. But the people would not do that. They refused to do it. And as a result of their rebellion, as a result of their continual disobedience, they experienced the judgment of God.

And so the nation of Judah, he describes it in verse 12, was plucked up in fury and cast to the ground. You can picture a vine being just plucked up and then thrown down. That's what happened to the nation of Judah. That's what God did to this nation because of their insisting on rebelling against God. He says that her strong branches were broken and withered and the fire consumed them.

And so she was fruitful. She was planted by the waters. I mean, it was wonderful. Just an incredible setup. Her strong branches now have been broken. The nation has been brought to nothing or to next to nothing, to very little. You know, this is a cycle that we can see repeated over and over throughout the scriptures, throughout history, and even in our own lives. There's this cycle. What happens is God blesses.

God does an incredible work in a person, amongst a people, He just blesses abundantly. And something great is established, just like this vine. It was established, put near the rivers of water. It was blessed, it was abundant, it began to grow, it was fruitful, had strong branches. God blessed. But then what happens is that people, that group,

us individually, as God is blessed, as there's fruit, as there's strength, as we're being established, then we begin to rely upon ourselves. We begin to trust in us. We begin to rely upon our strength and our strong branches and our rivers of water that we have there.

And we begin to turn our eyes off of God. We begin to turn away from God. And instead of looking at God and relying upon Him and trusting in Him and walking with Him, we begin to live according to our own thoughts, our own ideas and our own ways. And then God will warn us. He'll give us some insight. He'll say, hey, don't continue down this path. This is dangerous. You need to be walking with Me. And if we ignore what God says, then we experience disaster.

It's this cycle over and over again. God blesses, we rely on ourselves, and then disaster strikes. We see it throughout the book of Judges, where the people of God, they would turn to God, they would call out to Him, He would deliver them from the oppressor that was there, and God would bless them, and then they would rely upon themselves, they would fade away in their relationship with God. Then they would begin to experience oppression, disaster would strike again,

And over and over again, they would call out to God. God would bless. Then they would rely on themselves. And then they would experience disaster again. Over and over. We see it throughout the scriptures. Again, we see it throughout history. I think this is where we're at as a nation. We're in this cycle. God is blessed. A couple hundred years ago, God blessed. You know, when the forefathers first came, what were they looking for? They were...

They were looking for freedom to be able to worship God, to walk with God. God blessed this nation at the beginning. We were established, but where are we now? We're on the verge of experiencing disaster because we've relied upon ourselves and we've turned ourselves away from God. And individually, we go through the same thing where God blesses us. He works in our lives. It's miraculous what He does. But there's a great danger of beginning to rely upon ourselves.

We have great potential, understand that there's no limit to what God can do in us and through us. But we begin to rely upon ourselves. We begin to fade out of our relationship with God. And then as a result of us walking away from God, of us fading away from God, we begin to experience disaster. We begin to experience what it's like to live without God.

God's disciplining us. He's wanting to bring us back to right relationship with Him where He can bless. He wants us to be planted by the rivers of water and to be growing strong and to be nourished and taken care of. He wants to meet our needs and satisfy us. As we look at the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah, it's tragic as you consider what they did with all that God had given to them. In the same way, it's tragic what people do with all that God has given to us.

It's tragic. It's cause for lamentation, for weeping at what we do, with the things that God has blessed us with. As we consider these things, as we look at this lamentation that God gives to Ezekiel, understand also that God is speaking about the tragedy of the lack of leadership here in the nation. It's a lamentation for the princes of the nation or the kings of the nation.

that they have become no more. In verse 23, he says, now she is planted in the wilderness in a dry and thirsty land. And so you see the contrast where she was by the rivers of water, but now she's been plucked up and planted in a dry and dusty place where there's no water. She's thirsty. And the result is, he says, there's no strong branch there in verse 14. She's been devoured by fire.

And so there's no strong branch. There's no scepter for ruling. The scepter was the sign of authority. And the nation of Judah was experiencing the end of the Davidic line of kings. This is what was happening right before their eyes.

And this is tragic. As you think about King David, the greatest king, a man after God's own heart. He sought God. He wanted to please God. He was a great king. He made mistakes. Sure, he was human. But he was a great king. All other kings were measured against David. And God had given David an incredible promise. What was that promise? 1 Kings 2, verse 4 describes to us the promise that God gave to David. God told him,

God promised David that his descendants would always be on the throne of Israel as long as they continued to walk with God. And so what we're seeing here, as we look at the end of this line of kings, what we're seeing is

is that this promise is finished. Not that God didn't uphold His side, but that the descendants of David chose not to walk in the ways of their father. They didn't walk with God. And as a result, now they were going to lack a man on the throne of Israel. As God is speaking these things to Ezekiel, the king on the throne in Jerusalem is Zedekiah. He was a descendant of David,

But he was soon going to be conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, taken captive to Babylon. And the nation would be uninhabited for about 70 years. Ever since then, there has not been a descendant of David reigning as king in Israel. Not that David's line was finished. Not that David's line was put to an end.

No, because we do know that Jesus Christ is of the line of David and He has the right to the throne. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but He also is heir to the throne of David and He will take that role, take that position as He sets up His thousand year reign when He returns at the second coming. But what God is lamenting here is that there is no strong branch, there is no scepter for ruling. That this line has come to an end

For the time being, until Christ takes His throne, that this line is finished. And that what started out so great and so wonderful in King David has now come to nothing. It's come to nothing. There's no strong branch. No authority to rule. No power. No strength. So much potential with so little results. And so God says this is a lamentation and has become a lamentation.

This is tragic. This is woeful. This is horrible. What has taken place? God is devastated over this. It happened to the nation of Judah. It happens to nations. Throughout history we've seen it. This same thing happens, as we look at ourselves personally, to people, as well as to families. And that's why I want to spend some time this evening, just considering this.

with you? What is it that God has blessed us with? Do you ever get the feeling where you're kind of looking at someone else's life and you're thinking, I wish I could live their life for them, right? Have you ever felt that? Have you ever thought that? Like, man, if only I could make their decisions for them. If only they would listen to me or if only I could choose for them and they'd be so much better off. I don't understand why they're choosing that. I don't know why they're going that way.

It doesn't make any sense. Can't they see? It's easy for us to look on at someone else and think those types of things. And that's what God was looking on and seeing with the nation of Judah. It's tragic. As we look on and we see all that God has given and all that God has blessed and what is being done with it. But I'd like for us to consider this evening what God's perspective is and would be on our own lives. Do you think God looks at us and says...

If only they would listen to me. If only they would let me make their decisions for them. God has given us free will. He's given us the opportunity to choose. He's given us that incredible blessing. What are we doing with it? What are we doing with our lives? What are we doing with all that God has given to us? As we look at our lives, and we look at our relationship with God, and what we're doing with all that He has given to us, is it a tragedy?

Is it a lamentation that we are where we are today even though God has given us so much? It is tragic what some people do with all that God has given to us and yet the inverse is awesome. With the little that we have and then what God does with us, I mean that's incredible, that's mind-blowing. As He takes us out of the mud and the mire and sets our feet upon the rock,

The little we do with all that God has given to us, that's a tragedy. But the incredible things that God does with the nothing that we have to offer, that's amazing. That's incredible. And that's where God wants us to be. God has given us so much. How are we doing with those things that God has given to us? Think about the cross.

We partake of communion on Sunday. And one of the things that we remember in partaking of communion is how the power of sin has been broken as his body was broken. The power of sin has been broken. Paul deals with this in Romans chapter 6, 7 and 8. The power of sin has been broken. That we are no longer slaves to sin. But we get to choose to be slaves of righteousness. Righteousness.

This is something that God has given to us. This is something that God has blessed us with. Now, understanding that, how are we doing with what God has given to us? How are you doing in victory over sin? How are you doing in overcoming those things in your life? We have the victory. Read what Paul said. Read what the Word says. We have the victory. Yes, we still stumble. Yes, we still fall.

But we do not continue in sin like we once did. We are not a slave of sin like we once were. Consider another aspect, an area that God has blessed us. He's blessed us to be powerful witnesses. That was the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that we would be witnesses to Jesus. Incredible blessing. You look at the book of Acts, you look at what happened to the disciples there, and the change, the dramatic results there.

And then now we look at our own lives and we say, how am I doing as a witness, as a testimony to Jesus? Could it be described as powerful? Can my witness be described as having dynamic power? We have great potential. God's given us much. He's given us victory over sin. He's given us the Holy Spirit that we might be a powerful witness.

How are we doing? Are we like the nation of Judah where we want to worship God, we want to walk with God, but we also want to include in our lives all these other things that God has said you're not to have anything to do with those things. And so the result is then that we don't have victory over sin and we don't have a powerful witness, but we still come to church. We still include God in our lives, but He's just not our full commitment. He's not our 100%.

We're not just completely consumed by Him. Instead, we're entertaining all these things of the world or the flesh. And then we wonder, well, how come I don't have victory over sin? Just like Jerusalem was thinking, hey, how come we don't have victory over Babylon? How come they're able to conquer us? Well, they weren't listening. God was saying, listen, you need to repent. You need to turn and get right with Me. You've got to let go of these things and devote yourself to Me completely. They had no strong branch, no scepter.

No authority, no rule. That line was coming to an end because of their rebellion against God. They had so much potential but brought so little results. In the same way, I would challenge you and I to consider all of the potential that God has given to us, all of the blessings that God has given to us. What are the results that are happening in our life? What are the results that are being brought? Are we victorious?

Are we living the victorious Christian life? Are we a powerful witness? What about the joy that God brings to us? Are we full of joy? Or are we allowing our joy to be robbed by this world, by the events of the day, by the things of this life? God has given to us joy. Another area, contentment. Remember Paul said, Godliness with contentment is great gain. Contentment. Are you content? Yes.

It's a powerful thing. It's a great gain to be content. But what are you doing? God has given you everything you need to be content, but what are you doing with that contentment? Are you being content? Are you content? Or are you lusting and craving and thirsting for the things that you cannot have and the things that God has placed outside of your reach, unsatisfied until you get that thing or get to that place? Are you content?

In the workplace? Are you content in the bank account? Are you content in the dwelling that you have or that you're in? Are you content? How about grace? God has given to us so much grace. What are you doing with it? Are you taking advantage of the grace of God? Just continuing to live in sin and say, hey, God will forgive me. God's grace is...

Well, it includes forgiveness for sure, yes. But God's grace is not so that we can have a license to sin. God's grace is so that we can accomplish things for Him. God's grace is so that we can be involved in His work and a part of His kingdom. God has blessed us so abundantly. Remember Jesus said that He came and He called us to Him. He said, if you're weary, if you're heavy laden, come to Me. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. I'll give you rest for your souls.

God's given us rest. What are you doing with the rest that God has given to you? Is your soul at rest or is there some unrest there? Are you unsettled? God's given you rest. He offers it to you. He has it right here in front of us. He says, "Come to me. I'll give you rest." Jesus told his disciples, "It's my peace that I give to you, not like the world gives. It's a peace that doesn't fade away, that lasts, that endures. Are you at peace? Do you have peace?

Listen, the point here is that as believers in Jesus Christ, we are to have these characteristics. These things are available to us. It's not only for, you know, the super spiritual or... Look, God has given us so much just like He blessed the nation of Judah. But if we will not devote ourselves to Him, we will not experience these things. And so the result will be the same. We have incredible potential with little results.

Incredible potential with little results. And that's cause for lamentation. That is tragic. It's tragic if you and I, who have been given so much by God, throw it away for the things of this life and the things of this world and the things of our flesh that don't last and that don't satisfy.

You know, I often talk about, you know, how God allows us to invest in His kingdom and I relate it to, you know, it's kind of like monopoly money, you know, by blessing missionaries, by sending people out, by meeting people's needs, you know, God allows us to trade in the cash that we have.

and obtain something of eternal value. It's like playing with Monopoly money. It's like if a diamond store opened up and said, hey, we now accept Monopoly money. Wow, that's amazing. I can take something that's worthless and go get something valuable out of it. That's incredible that God allows us to be a part of that work. But reverse that. God has given to us things of eternal value. Things that last. Things that are meaningful. Things that have substance.

Now if we were to take those things and trade it in and get monopoly money instead, that's what the nation of Judah did. And that's what we do when we don't devote ourselves to God. When we're not fully His. When we're not receiving the victory that He's given to us. When we're not the powerful witness

That we can be in the power of the Holy Spirit. That when we don't have the joy and the contentment and the grace and the rest and the peace that He gives to us, we're trading in all of these things that are of eternal value, that have substance. We're trading them in for the things that don't last, for the things that are worthless. We're trading them in for monopoly money. Now, if you'd like to do that, please come to my office afterwards. You can give me your cash and I'll give you your monopoly money. I don't mind. I'll do it.

That's tragic. That's terrible. You and I, like the nation of Judah, we have problems. And we're weak, and we're human, and that's just how it is. But you know, that's not the real issue. That's not the real problem. The problem is not that we need help. The problem is not that we lack. The problem is not that we need something from God. The problem is that we rely upon ourselves instead of letting God help us.

That's what the nation of Judah did and that's an issue that God is dealing with us tonight. There's a problem when we rely upon ourselves. The nation of Judah said, yeah, we hear what you're saying, Jeremiah. We hear it and we know that you think you're speaking for God. Okay, that's good. But we're going to do it this way. We're going to live this way. When we rely upon our own understanding and our own wisdom and our own knowledge, it brings us to the same point.

Destruction. It's tragic. It's cause for lamentation. We do need help. And that's why God sent His Son. We do need help. And that's why God sends us His Holy Spirit. We do need help. And that's why God says, come and have relationship with me. Enter into the Holy of Holies. Spend time in my presence. Sit at my feet. Learn of me. Let me help you. Let me give you strength. Trust in me.

Let me take care of these situations. The problem is not that we need help. And sometimes we think that's the problem. And so because we need help and we think that's the problem, we try to muscle up and do it ourselves and make it happen. No, the problem is not that we need help. The problem is that we don't let God help us. We try to do it on our own instead.

And listen, the point of all this, going back to chapter 19 is that your family needs you to be a strong branch.

In verse 14 he says, "...so that she has no strong branch, a scepter for ruling." The tragedy here was that the leaders who were there supposed to have authority that could have an impact in the nation, that there was no one there. There was no strength. There was no one who was devoted to God. They all did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They all walked according to their own ways and their own thoughts.

In the same way as the nation of Judah needed their leaders, needed their kings, needed their princes to be men of God, to be people of God, to be devoted to God, your family needs you to be a strong branch.

Your family needs you to be victorious over sin. Your family needs you to be a powerful witness. Your family needs you to be full of joy and to be content and to be receiving the grace of God and to be resting and to have the peace of God that passes all understanding. Your family needs you to be that strong branch. And when a family has no strong branch, well, that's cause for lamentation. That's tragic. That's woeful. When there's no one

who can point people to right relationship with God. When there's no one who can say, look, this is how you do it. This is how to walk with me. Listen, your family needs you to be right with God. Your workplace needs you to be a strong branch. And when in the workplace there is not a strong branch, when there's not a powerful witness,

When there's not a victorious Christian there in the workplace, when there's not a joyful Christian there in the workplace, when there's not a content Christian there in the workplace, when there's not a Christian who's at peace and at rest, and I don't mean sleeping at your desk, but at rest within your soul in the workplace, that is tragic. That is cause for lamentation. So much potential that God has given to us. It's tragic. It's tragic when we produce so little results.

It's cause for lamentation. Your family needs you to be a strong branch. Your workplace needs you to be a strong branch. This nation needs you to be a strong branch. So the worship team is going to come up and lead us in a song. And as they do, I want to ask you, I want to challenge you to really be honest. Between you and God, where do you stand? Where's your heart? You have so much potential. What kind of results are being produced? Are you a strong branch? Are you a powerful witness?

Are you victorious in your Christian life? Are you at rest? Are you at peace? If not, the issue is not that you have a problem, but the issue is if you don't turn to God to solve that problem, to meet that need, to fill that lack in your life. And so let's take this time to turn to God and to look to Him, acknowledging, yeah, I need help. And the fact that I need help is not the problem.

The problem is if I don't let God help me. So let's turn to God and ask Him for help this evening. Whatever area you're struggling in, whatever issues you're going through, whatever things are going on, listen, the world around you needs you to be a strong branch. So turn to God. He's got what you need. He's the only one that can satisfy you. So turn to Him. Let Him satisfy you. Let Him meet those needs. Let Him give you the answers that you're looking for. Let's worship the Lord together.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.