July 23, 2017 – Psalm 23 – From the lives of David and Jesus – He Restoreth My Soul

-            The

“He restoreth my soul” KJV Psalm 23:3a

Psalm 51:1-12 – New International Version (NIV)

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.
⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

What part of David’s life did he write this Psalm about (introduction)?

What did David base his request for mercy on (verse 1)?

What did David ask to be cleansed from (verse 2)?

Where is David’s sin (verse 3)?

Who has David sinned against (verse 4)?

How long has David been sinful (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why does David say that God desires faithfulness “even in the womb” (verse 6)?

When will David be “whiter than snow” (verse 7)?

How does David want the bones that God has crushed to respond (verse 8)?

How does David want God to respond to his sines (verse 9)?

In your opinion, what does David mean when he asks God to “create in me a pure heart” (verse 10)?

What does David request not be taken from him (verse 11)?

What does David want restored to him (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Luke 5:27-32 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, ²⁸ and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

²⁹ Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Where was Levi sitting when Jesus commanded him to “follow me” (verse 27)?

How did Levi respond to Jesus (verse 28)?

Who was at the great banquet that Levi held for Jesus (verse 29)?

In your opinion, why did the Pharisees and teachers of the law complain to Jesus disciples “why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners” (verse 30)?

How did Jesus respond to the complaints (verse 31)?

Who has Jesus come to call (verse 32)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, based on what David says in Psalm 51:1-12, would he have viewed himself in Luke 5:27-32 as one of the healthy, or one of the sick?

Ephesians 2:1-10 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

What does Paul say about the people he is writing to (verse 1)?

Who did the people Paul is writing used to follow (verse 2)?

Who is at work in “those who are disobedient” (verse 2)?

What does Paul say that “all of us” did at one time (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what does Paul mean when he says that God is “rich in mercy” (verse 4)?

Where were we when God “made us alive with Christ” (verse 5)?

Why has God “raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms” (verses 6 and 7)?

What allows us to be “saved, through faith” (verse 8)?

Where is the faith from (verse 8)?

Why can no one boast (verse 9)?

What are we (verse 10)?

What has God “prepared in advance for us to do” (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does Paul in Ephesians 2:1-10 help us to understand about the how the repentance that Jesus says in Luke 5:27-32 that He came to call sinners to occurs?

In your opinion, what could David, who wrote Psalm 51:1-12 after Nathan came to him following his adultery with Bathsheba, have helped us to understand about the contrast Paul reveals in Ephesians 2:1-10 between the cravings of the flesh and the salvation that is the result of God’s unfailing love and great mercy?

1 Peter 1:13-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

What are we to set our hope on (verse 13)?

How are we to react to the “evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance” (verse 14)?

In your opinion, what does Peter mean when he tells us to “be holy in all you do” (verse 15)?

Why should we “live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear” (verse 17)?

What were we redeemed from (verse 18)?

How were we redeemed (verses 18 and 19)?

When was Christ chosen (verse 20)?

Who is our faith and hope in (verse 21)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does 1 Peter 1:13-21 teach us about what we are to do after we receive the salvation that Ephesians 2:1-10 explains?

In your opinion, how would you contrast the “empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors” as revealed in Luke 5:27-32 with the life we who have our “faith and hope . . . in God” are called to in 1 Peter 1:13-21?

In your opinion, what does 1 Peter 1:13-21 reveal to us about how God accomplished David’s request from Psalm 51:1-12 to “wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Psalm 51, Luke, Ephesians and 1 Peter teach us about today’s passage from Psalm 23, “He restoreth my soul”?

In your opinion, what do these passages help us to understand about the empty way of life of those who are righteous without Christ versus the “incomparable riches” that those who, through faith, have accepted God’s grace?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)