Repenting and Believing
Ezra
9:1-15 - New International Version (NIV)
1 After these
things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, “The people of Israel,
including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves
separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices,
like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites,
Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. 2 They
have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons,
and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the
leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness.”
3 When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled hair
from my head and beard and sat down appalled. 4 Then
everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me
because of this unfaithfulness of the exiles. And I sat there
appalled until the evening sacrifice.
5 Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my
self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my
hands spread out to the Lord my
God 6 and prayed:
“I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face
to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to
the heavens. 7 From the days of our ancestors until
now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our
priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage
and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today.
8 “But now, for a brief moment, the Lord our God has been gracious in leaving us a
remnant and giving us a firm place in his sanctuary, and so our God
gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage. 9 Though
we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage. He has shown us
kindness in the sight of the kings of Persia: He has granted us new life
to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and he has given us
a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.
10 “But now, our God, what can we say after this? For we have
forsaken the commands 11 you gave through your servants
the prophets when you said: ‘The land you are entering to possess is a
land polluted by the corruption of its peoples. By their detestable
practices they have filled it with their impurity from one end to the
other. 12 Therefore, do not give your daughters in
marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Do not seek a
treaty of friendship with them at any time, that you may be
strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it to your
children as an everlasting inheritance.’
13 “What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and
our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins
deserved and have given us a remnant like this. 14 Shall
we then break your commands again and intermarry with the peoples who
commit such detestable practices? Would you not be angry enough with us to
destroy us, leaving us no remnant or survivor? 15 Lord, the God of Israel, you are
righteous! We are left this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in
our guilt, though because of it not one of us can stand in your presence.”
Who had not “kept themselves separate from the neighboring
peoples with their detestable practices” (verse 1)?
Who “led the way in this unfaithfulness”
(verse 2)?
How long did Ezra sit “there appalled” (verses
3 and 4)?
What did Ezra do from his knees with his “hands
spread out to the Lord” (verses 5 and 6)?
How had the Lord been gracious to the people
whose guilt was great (verses 7 and 8)?
What were the people to do with the “new
life” they had been granted (verse 9)?
How have the people treated the commands (verse
10)?
Why were the Hebrew people not to marry with
the people of the land, or even “seek a treaty of friendship with them”
(verse 12)?
What has God done less of than the Hebrew
people deserved (verse 13)?
Why can no one stand in the presence of God
(verse 15)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage show us
about sin and salvation?
John 3:10-21 - New
International Version (NIV)
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not
understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we
speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you
people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to
you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I
speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into
heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just
as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be
lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have
eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life. 17 For God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever
believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands
condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and
only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into
the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were
evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will
not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But
whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly
that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Who
does not “understand these things” (verse 10)?
What do we testify to (verse 11)?
Who does not accept Jesus’s testimony (verse
11)?
In your opinion, why would “heavenly
things” be harder to understand than “earthly things” (verse 12)?
Who has gone “into heaven” (verse 13)?
How must the “Son of Man” be
lifted up (verse 14)?
Who “may have eternal life in him”
(verse 15)?
Why did God give “his one and only
Son” (verse 16)?
Why did God not “send his Son into the
world” (verse 17)?
Why did God “send his Son into the
world” (verse 17)?
Who “stands condemned” (verse 18)?
Why do people love “darkness instead
of light” (verse 19)?
Why do people who do evil not come into
the light (verse 20)?
Who comes into the light (verse 21)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, what
does this passage show us about sin and salvation?
In your opinion, what does Ezra understand about his
and the people of Israel’s standing before God in Ezra 9:1-15 that Nicodemus,
Israel’s teacher, in John 3:10-21 apparently does not understand?
1
John 2:20-25 –
New International Version (NIV)
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of
you know the truth. 21 I do not write to you because you
do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes
from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies
that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father
and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father;
whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the
beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and
in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal
life.
What do the people John is writing to have (verse 20)?
What do they know (verse 20)?
Why does John write them (verse 21)?
What cannot come from the truth (verse 21)?
“Who is the liar” (verse 22)?
What does “the antichrist” do (verse 22)?
Who
has the Father (verse 23)?
What
happens to those who have what they heard from the beginning remaining in them
(verse 24)?
What
is “what he promised us” (verse 25)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your
opinion, what does this passage show us about sin and salvation?
In your opinion, how does
John 3:10-21 help us understand what 1 John 2:20-25 says that those who have “an
anointing from the Holy One” have “heard from the beginning”?
Revelation
2:12-17 – New International Version (NIV)
12 “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of
him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13 I know where
you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did
not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my
faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.
14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some
among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice
the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and
committed sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have
those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent therefore!
Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword
of my mouth.
17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the
churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden
manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new
name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
Who is John to write to (verse 12)?
Who are the words that John is to write from (verse 12)?
Where do they live (verse 13)?
What happened to “Antipas, my faithful witness”
(verse 13)?
Who “taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin””
(verse 14)?
What will happen if they don’t repent (verse 16)?
Who will receive “some of the hidden manna” (verse
17)?
What will be written on the white stone that the
victorious will receive (verse 17)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your
opinion, what does the warning of Jesus to the angel of the church of Pergamum teach
us about the similarity of Christians and non-Christians? What does it teach us about the differences
between Christians and non-Christians?
In your opinion, what does this passage
show us about sin and salvation?
In your opinion, how does
the fact that what the people of Israel did in Ezra 9:1-15 is similar to what “some
among you” hold to in Revelation 2:12-17 demonstrate a consistent human
weakness? How do the actions of Ezra and
the words of Jesus help us understand how to respond to that weakness?
In your opinion, how
does the hope that Jesus promised in John 3:10-21 “For God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through
him” also shine through in His message to the church in Pergamum in
Revelation 2:12-17?
In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezra,
John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about the difference between knowing about
sin and repenting from sin?
In your opinion, how is believing in Jesus different
from repenting from sin?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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