No amount of suffering is sufficient to produce repentance apart from divine grace.
I. Dead Men Under Judgment – 9:13-19.
See also 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
“These horses of death wield death through the hellish deceit that pours forth from their mouths, hot, smoky, and rancid smelling as sulphur.” – Dennis Johnson
II. Dead Men Unrepentant – 9:20-21.
See also 1 Corinthians 10:31
“The blood of the martyrs is precious to the Lord. The prayers of the saints are heard. God sees their tears and their suffering. Yet, in spite of all these warning voices, mankind in general does not repent. Foolish and stubborn men continue to transgress both the first (v. 20) and the second table of the law (v. 21). The persecuting world becomes the impenitent world. It is impenitence that brings about not only the outpouring of the bowls of final wrath (chapters 15, 16) but also the culmination of this wrath in the final judgment.” – William Hendrickson
Application
1) Have you been deceived?
2) Have you been burdened?
3) Rejoice in the Lord.
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