Repent and Love
Ezekiel
18:25-32 - New International Version (NIV)
25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you
Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? 26 If
a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will
die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. 27 But
if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does
what is just and right, they will save their life. 28 Because
they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them,
that person will surely live; they will not die. 29 Yet
the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people
of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
30 “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to
your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your
downfall. 31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you
have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you
die, people of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the
death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Repent and live!
What do the Israelites (and sometimes we in our hearts) say (verse 25)?
In your opinion, how does Ezekiel, on behalf of
the Lord, turn the Israelites (and our) statement around in the two questions “Is
my way unjust? Is it not your ways that
are unjust” (verse 25)?
What will happen to a righteous person who “turns
from their righteousness and commits sin” (verse 26)?
How will a wicked person save their life (verse
27)?
What must the wicked person consider and turn
away from (verse 28)?
In your opinion, why does Ezekiel repeat the
essence of verse 25 in verse 29?
How will the Lord judge (verse 30)?
What does Ezekiel call for the Israelites to do
so that “sin will not be your downfall” (verse 30)?
What are the Israelites to do after they “rid
yourselves of all the offenses you have committed” (verse 31)?
Who takes “no pleasure in the death of
anyone” (verse 32)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
John 5:24-30 - New
International Version (NIV)
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who
sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed
over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time
is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the
Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the
Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in
himself. 27 And he has given him authority to
judge because he is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who
are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come
out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done
what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can
do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I
seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
What
does the one who “hears my word and believes him who sent me” have (verse
24)?
What will the one who “hears my word
and believes him who sent me” avoid (verse 24)?
Where has the one who “hears my word
and believes him who sent me” crossed from and to (verse 24)?
In your opinion, who are the dead in this
quote “a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice
of the Son of God” (verse 25)?
What will happen to the dead who hear “the
voice of the Son of God” (verse 25)?
What has the Father granted the Son (verse
26)?
Why has the Father given the Son the “authority
to judge” (verse 27)?
What will all who “are in their
graves” hear (verse 28)?
When those who have “done what is
good” come out of their graves what will they do (verse 29)?
When those who have “done what is evil”
come out of their graves what will they do (verse 29)?
In your opinion, what is the difference
between the crossing “over from death to life” in verse 24 and those in
the grave hearing His voice and coming out in verses 28 and 29?
Why is the judgment of Jesus just (verse
30)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, what
can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing
and living in this passage?
In your opinion, how does John 5:24-30 help us
understand how to be obedient to the Lord’s command to “get a new heart and a
new spirit” in Ezekiel 18:25-30?
1
John 4:17-5:4 –
New International Version (NIV)
17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will
have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like
Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love
drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears
is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever
claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For
whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have
seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And
he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also
love their brother and sister.
5 1 Everyone
who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and
everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children
of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And
his commands are not burdensome, 4 for
everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that
has overcome the world, even our faith.
When love is made complete what will we have on “the
day of judgment” (verse 17)?
What are Christians like “in this world” (verse
17)?
What does “perfect love” drive out (verse 18)?
In your opinion, why does fear have something to do
with punishment (verse 18)?
Why do we love (verse 19)?
Who is a liar (verse 20)?
What
command has been given to those who love God (verse 21)?
Who
is “born of God” (verse 1)?
How
do we “know that we love the children of God” (verse 2)?
What
is “love for God” (verse 3)?
What
does “everyone born of God” do (verse 4)?
What
is “the victory that has overcome the world” (verse 4)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does 1 John’s statement that “we love because he
first loved us” show us how it possible for us to obey Ezekiel’s command to
“repent and live!”?
In your opinion, how is
the crossing “over from death to life” that Jesus promises those who
hear His word and believe “Him who sent me” in John 5:24-30 expanded by
John in his discussion of love and overcoming the world in 1 John 4:17-5:4?
Revelation
5:1-7 – New International Version (NIV)
1 Then I saw
in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on
both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I
saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break
the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or
on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I
wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or
look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not
weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of
David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing
at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and
the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the
seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He
went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the
throne.
What did
John see “in the right hand of him who sat on the throne” (verse 1)?
What did the “mighty angel” proclaim in a loud
voice (verse 2)?
In your opinion, why was there “no one in heaven
or on earth or under the earth” who could “open the scroll or even look
inside it” (verse 3)?
How did John react when “no one was found who was
worthy to open the scroll or look inside” (verse 4)?
What did the elder who spoke to John say the “Lion
of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” had done (verse 5)?
What was “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root
of David” able to do (verse 5)?
In your opinion, why does John who had just heard
about “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” then see “a
Lamb, looking as if it had been slain” (verse 6)?
Where was the Lamb standing (verse 6)?
In your opinion, what does it mean to say that the
Lamb “had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God
sent out into all the earth” (verse 6)?
What did the Lamb do (verse 7)?
In your opinion, what is in the scroll?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, what can we learn about
the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this
passage?
In your opinion, how is
the conflict between a people who thought that God was unjust and the Lord who
called for them the “repent and live” in Ezekiel 18:25-32 reflected in
the fact that no one could open the scroll, until the “lion of the tribe of
Judah, the Root of David” had triumphed in Revelation 5:1-7?
In your opinion, what
is revealed that the “Son of Man” in John 5:24-30, who is the “Lion
of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” of Revelation 5:1-7, is qualified
to do? What is revealed that the “Son
of God” in John 5:24-30, who is the “Lamb, looking at if it had been
slain” in Revelation 5:1-7, earned the right to do?
In
your opinion, how can the love that 1 John 4:17-5:4 says Jesus has for us move
us from a fear of punishment to a confidence that the only one worthy of
opening the scroll in Revelation 5:1-7 can move us from a fear of punishment to
the confidence to love?
In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel,
John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about the transformation from viewing God
as unjust to being confident that Jesus will enable us in our faith to have
victory over the world?
In your opinion, how is Jesus transforming you (you
do not need to answer this out loud)?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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