September 10, 2017 – Psalm 23 – From the lives of David and Jesus – Goodness and Mercy

-            The

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” KJV Psalm 23:6a

Psalm 28 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ To you, Lord, I call;
    you are my Rock,
    do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you remain silent,
    I will be like those who go down to the pit.
² Hear my cry for mercy
    as I call to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
    toward your Most Holy Place.

³ Do not drag me away with the wicked,
    with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbors
    but harbor malice in their hearts.
⁴ Repay them for their deeds
    and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done
    and bring back on them what they deserve.

⁵ Because they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord
    and what his hands have done,
he will tear them down
    and never build them up again.

⁶ Praise be to the Lord,
    for he has heard my cry for mercy.
⁷ The Lord is my strength and my shield;
    my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
    and with my song I praise him.

⁸ The Lord is the strength of his people,
    a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
⁹ Save your people and bless your inheritance;
    be their shepherd and carry them forever.

How does David describe the Lord (verse 1)?

In your opinion, what does David mean when he says he “will be like those who go down to the pit” if the Lord remains silent (verse 1)?

What does David cry for (verse 2)?

What word does David use to describe those “who speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts” (verse 3)?

In your opinion, how can David cry to the Lord for mercy in verse 2 but to ask for those he called evil to be repaid “for their deeds and for their evil work” (verse 4)?

What do those who David called evil have for the “deeds of the Lord” (verse 5)?

Why is David praising the Lord (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what does David mean when he says the Lord is “my strength and my shield” (verse 7)?

How does David’s heart react to the Lord (verse 7)?

What is the Lord “for his anointed one” (verse 8)?

What does David ask the Lord to do for His people as their shepherd (verse 9)?

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

Luke 6:43-45 - New International Version (NIV)

⁴³ “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. ⁴⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

What can a good tree not bear (verse 43)?

What can a bad tree not bear (verse 43)?

How is each tree recognized (verse 44)?

Where does a good man bring good things from (verse 45)?

Where does an evil man bring evil things from (verse 45)?

What does the mouth speak (verse 45)?

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

In your opinion, what does Jesus’ statement that “no good tree bears bad fruit” in Luke 6:43-45 reveal about David crying for mercy in Psalm 28?

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.

Where does Paul say the Ephesians were (verse 1)?

Who had the Ephesians followed (verse 2)?

What did “all of us” gratify at one time (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what does Paul mean when he says “we were by nature deserving of wrath” (verse 3)?

What is God rich in (verse 4)?

How have we been saved (verse 5)?

Where has God seated us (verse 6)?

How are the “incomparable riches of his grace” expressed (verse 7)?

Where is the grace that saves by faith from (verse 8)?

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, when Jesus says “a good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart” in Luke 6:43-45 and Paul says that we are were dead in our transgressions and sins in Ephesians 2:1-10 then how can he also be right when he says that we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works”?

In your opinion, how does David’s discussion of those who “have no regard for the deeds of the Lord” in Psalm 28 help us understand what limits the mercy that Paul says in Ephesians 2:1-10 God is “rich in”?

James 2:8-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

What law found in the Scripture must you keep to do right (verse 8)?

What happens if you show favoritism (verse 9)?

In your opinion, what does James mean when he says that whoever “stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all” of the law (verse 10)?

What do you become if you “do not commit adultery but do commit murder” (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom” (verse 12)?

Who will be shown “judgment without mercy” (verse 13)?

What “triumphs over judgment” (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, how is Paul’s statement that all were “dead in your transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1-10) become more real to each of us when James teaches that someone who shows favoritism is as guilty of breaking the law as someone who commits adultery or murder (James 2:8-13) and how does this reality make James’s statement that “mercy triumphs over judgment” more wonderful and powerful?

In your opinion, how are we who have received the mercy that “triumphs over judgment” that James talks about in James 2:8-13 to translate into action Jesus statement in Luke 6:43-45 “for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of”?

In your opinion, how is David, who says in Psalm 28 that he cried to God for mercy and whose heart trusted in God, an example to all of us who James, in James 2:8-13, indicates have received mercy that triumphs over judgment and are to “speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom”?

In your opinion, how do these passages from Psalms, Luke, Ephesians, and James help us understand today’s passage from Psalm 23 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”?

In your opinion, how can these passages help us to have a greater appreciation of the God’s transforming mercy and goodness?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)