The Blessing of the Bottom

Scripture

Ezekiel 36:24–25 NKJV

For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

Ezekiel 36:26–27 NKJV

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

Ezekiel 36:28–29 NKJV

Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you.

Ezekiel 36:30–31 NKJV

And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations.

Ezekiel 36:32–33 NKJV

Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!” ‘Thus says the Lord God: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt.

Ezekiel 36:34–35 NKJV

The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’

Ezekiel 36:36 “Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.””

Introduction

Introduction: And getting multiple. Then learning to just go ahead and get it over with. I was learning through discipline a principle of cause and effect, consequences and repercussions and it steered me into making the right choice. I began to add careful deliberation and situational assessment to my muscle memory. I’m not here to criticize modern parenting today but I came to say this DISCIPLINE WORKS.

Discipline is direction and

discipline is a blessing!

In our text today God is disciplining or “discipling” Israel.

Israel has been hard headed and stif necked. And God has allowed his children to be taken into captivity in Babylon!

While Jeremiah is preaching to the people of Judah, a young and already exiled prophet turned preacher by the name of Ezekiel is preaching in the streets of Babylon in 593 B. C.

God allowed Israel to suffer defeat to bring them to themselves.

Psalm 137:1–2 “By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion. We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it.”

Psalm 137:3–4 “For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord’s song In a foreign land?”

God’s love is shown by a demonstration of his correction.

Hebrews 12:6–8 “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.”

There is a blessing in the bottom!

It is at the bottom that the prodigal son came to himself!It was at the bottom where he was knocked off his beast that Paul finally found his way!

I. Ezekiel wants them to know that God is God just as much in Babylon as He was in Jerusalem.

E zekiel 36:24-36

II. Affliction can protect you from ultimate destruction.

God will sometimes allow hardship to bring you back to yourself. It may end up for your good. But it’s ultimately for His Glory.

Hebrews 12:6-7

III. Some valleys are pathways to victory

Count it a

James 1:2–4 NKJV

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.