Title: Lessons from the hailstones
Contents
A. Introduction: The 7th Plague
1. Warns people and animals to flee to their homes → Those who believed God’s warning and escaped lived, but those who ignored the Word died or suffered property damage
2. Obedience to God's Word is the standard of life and death: All things are under God's sovereignty
B. Body
1. Believers must live a life that fulfills God's purpose (verses 14-16)
2. God humbles the proud and exalts the humble
(Verses 17-18): Pharaoh’s pride → destruction Jesus’ humility → King of kings
3. Those who obey God's Word will be saved from judgment (verses 19-21)
4. Saints should thank God for giving them a heart of repentance (27-35)
5. True repentance must be accompanied by action (verse 27): John the Baptist proclaiming the fruits worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:8)
6. Those who deny themselves go the way of salvation (verse 30).
1) Lesson on the destruction of Sennacherib, king of Assyria (2 Kings 18:13-19:37)
2) King Nebuchadnezzar's miserable animal life (Daniel 4:30-33)
3) ‘I am who I am only by the grace of God’ (1 Corinthians 15:10)
C. Conclusion
1. Let's not be stubborn (verses 12, 13, 15)
1) A hard heart that cannot reach the truth
2) A heart that has lost God
3) An ignorant heart that does not understand the truth
*Heavenly Father, please change your heart!
2. Let's imitate the faith of Moses with his staff (verse 23)
1) Moses, the word of the Lord became a weapon
2) Moses showed power when the Word was proclaimed as it is
3) Moses who saved Israel when the power was revealed by relying on the Word
* Let's take the staff of God and reveal God's word, power, and salvation to the world.
3. Let's make true repentance (verses 27-28)
1) There is also unrepentant repentance
2) Evidence of true repentance:
(1) Accompaniment of falsehood for one's own spiritual sin (Acts 2:37-38)
(2) True joy arises in the heart after repentance (Acts 3:9)
(3) Changes in life appear as spiritual fruits (Matthew 3:8, Acts 26:20)
* Let's live a Christian life that resembles the image of Christ and progresses through efforts to bear fruit worthy of repentance.