Sermon Outline:
1. God’s adopted children will respond to his fatherly discipline (9:8-12)
2. Run to God with your guilt, not to the famous or to false prophets (9:13-17)
3. Sin does not serve you, it leads to destruction (9:18-21)
4. Consider the endgame of your sin and your chosen saviour (10:1-4)
Family Discussion Questions:
1. How was Israel responding to the discipline of the Lord?
2. Why was it foolish to think that Israel should run to the nations rather than to the Lord?
3. How is a Christian to respond to guilt before God?
4. What are the ways we are tempted to deal with our guilt?
5. Why are even the vulnerable followers of the false prophets guilty?
6. Sin is destructive, both in terms of consequences and divine punishment. Describe both, and consider which you are more inclined to forget.
7. How does sin turn us into “people-devourers”?
8. Rejecting God’s design for leadership appears first by claiming its beneficial for the people (stage a) but ultimately ends with the people accepting that it is for the benefit of the leader (stage b). What are some matters in which the church is currently at stage a? How about stage b?
9. How does the Gospel of Christ allow us to take this warning of God’s wrath seriously without being crushed by it?
10. How does the Gospel of Christ solve the slavery problem?
11. The temptation is to apply this prophecy only to the political and social events in world, rather than to the church. Why is this a mistake?
