A Circumcised Heart
Isaiah 52:1-6 - New International
Version (NIV)
1 Awake,
awake, Zion,
clothe yourself with strength!
Put on your garments of splendor,
Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
will not enter you again.
2 Shake off your dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
Daughter Zion, now a captive.
3 For this is what the Lord says:
“You were sold for nothing,
and without money you will be redeemed.”
4 For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“At first my people went down to Egypt to live;
lately, Assyria has oppressed them.
5 “And now what do I have here?” declares the Lord.
“For my people have been taken away for nothing,
and those who rule them mock,”
declares the Lord.
“And all day long
my
name is constantly blasphemed.
6 Therefore my people will know my name;
therefore in that day they will know
that it is I who foretold it.
Yes, it is I.”
Who will not enter Jerusalem again (verse 1)?
What is “Daughter Zion” to free herself
of (verse 2)?
What was “Daughter Zion” sold for (verse
3)?
How much money will it take to redeem “Daughter
Zion” (verse 3)?
Who oppresses God’s people lately (verse 4)?
What is happening to God’s name “all day
long” (verse 5)?
What will God’s people know (verse 6)?
When will they know it (verse 6)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about
being people who don’t blaspheme God?
Matthew 7:13-23 – New International Version (NIV)
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and
broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But
small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find
it.
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s
clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By
their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from
thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every
good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A
good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every
tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus,
by their fruit you will recognize them.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is
in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord,
Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in
your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them
plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Where
should Christians enter (verse 13)?
What
is the road to destruction like (verse 13)?
Where
does the small gate and narrow road lead (verse 14)?
How
do false prophets come to Christians (verse 15)?
How can we recognize false prophets (verse
16)?
What do good trees bear (verse 17)?
What
can a bad tree not bear (verse 18)?
How
many of the trees that do not bear good fruit are thrown into the fire (verse 19)?
How
can Christians identify the false prophets (verse 20)?
Which
of the people who say “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven (verse
21)?
What
will many say “on that day” (verse 22)?
What
will God tell them (verse 23)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being people who don’t
blaspheme God?
In
your opinion, who, in Matthew 7:13-23, would be like those in Isaiah 52:1-6 who
caused God’s name to be “constantly blasphemed”?
Romans
2:17-29 - New
International Version (NIV)
17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and
boast in God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what
is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if
you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are
in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of
little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and
truth— 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach
yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You
who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who
abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the
law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As
it is written: “God’s name
is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you
break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 So
then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will
they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The
one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn
you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are
a lawbreaker.
28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is
circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a person
is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the
heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s
praise is not from other people, but from God.
List the
components of those who Paul asks “do you not teach yourself” in verse
21:
Call yourself a ____________ (verse
17)?
Rely on __________________ (verse
17)?
Approve what is superior because you
are instructed by _____________ (verse 18)?
Convinced you are a guide for ______________________
(verse 19)?
Instructor of _________________________
(verse 20)?
Have in the law the embodiment of ____________________________________________________
(verse 20)?
In your
opinion, why is Paul asking “do you not teach yourself” (verse 21)?
What does
Paul ask those “who abhor idols” (verse 22)?
What does
Paul ask the one who boasts “in the law” (verse 23)?
Why is God’s name “blasphemed among the Gentiles”
(verse 24)?
What is the circumcised person who breaks the law
like (verse 25)?
How will those who are not circumcised but “keep
the law’s requirements” be regarded (verse 26)?
Who will condemn the one who has “the written code
and circumcision” but is a lawbreaker (verse 27)?
What is not “merely outward and physical”
(verse 28)?
How is the heart circumcised (verse 29)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, what
does this passage teach us about being people who don’t blaspheme God?
In your opinion, what does Romans 2:17-29
help us understand about the uncircumcised that Isaiah 52:1-6 says will not enter
Jerusalem again?
In your opinion, what does Romans 2:17-29
help us understand about those who will take the broad road and those who will
take the narrow road in
Matthew 7:13-23?
2 Peter 2:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)
1 But there were also false prophets among
the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will
secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign
Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many
will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into
disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will
exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been
hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent
them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for
judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient
world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected
Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if
he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to
ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the
ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man,
who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8 (for
that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his
righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9 if
this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to
hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. 10 This
is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the
flesh and despise authority.
What
will false teachers “secretly introduce” (verse 1)?
Who
will they deny (verse 1)?
What will they bring “on themselves” (verse
1)?
What will the false teachers and those
who follow them do to “the way of truth” (verse 2)?
Why will these teachers “exploit you
with fabricated stories” (verse 3)?
What happened to “angels when they
sinned” (verse 4)?
What did God bring on the “ungodly
people” of the ancient world (verse 5)?
What did God make the “cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes” (verse 6)?
What distressed Lot (verse 7)?
How was Lot tormented (verse 8)?
What does the Lord know “how to rescue
the godly” from (verse 9)?
What is the Lord holding the unrighteous
for (verse 9)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach
us about being people who don’t blaspheme God?
In your opinion, how
does the blasphemy in Isaiah 52:1-6 appear today according to 2 Peter 2:1-10?
In your opinion, why might it be
reasonable to say that those who take the narrow road in Matthew 7:13-23 are
like Lot, who 2 Peter 2:1-10 says God rescued from torment?
In your opinion, what can we learn from
the fact that Paul in Romans 2:17-29 and Peter in 2 Peter 2:1-10 both warn of
people who appear to be one thing when they are something else?
In
your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Romans, and 2 Peter
teach us about the subtle pervasiveness of blasphemy?
In your opinion, how should we, people with circumcised
hearts, live in a world full of blasphemy?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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