Saturday, November 8, 2025

November 16, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – Let Them Hear

Let Them Hear

Jeremiah 5:18-25 – New International Version (NIV)

18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely. 19 And when the people ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’

20 “Announce this to the descendants of Jacob
    and proclaim it in Judah:
21 Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
    who have eyes but do not see,
    who have ears but do not hear:
22 Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord.
    “Should you not tremble in my presence?
I made the sand a boundary for the sea,
    an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail;
    they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts;
    they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say to themselves,
    ‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives autumn and spring rains in season,
    who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’
25 Your wrongdoings have kept these away;
    your sins have deprived you of good.

What will the Lord not  do “in those days” (verse 18)?

How is the question, “Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?” to be answered (verse 19)?

Where is the message to be proclaimed (verse 20)?

How are the people who “have eyes but do not see” described (verse 21)?

Who made the “sand a boundary for the sea” (verse 22)?

What have the people with “stubborn and rebellious hearts” done (verse 23)?

What do they “not say to themselves” (verse 24)?

What have their sins deprived them of (verse 25)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the importance of hearing?

Matthew 13:10-17 - New International Version (NIV)

10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

 

16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

What did the disciples ask Jesus (verse 10)?

Who had been given the “knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven” (verse 11)?

From whom will “even what they have will be taken from them.” (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He says, “though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (verse 13)?

Who prophesied “you will be ever hearing but never understanding” (verse 14)?

What do the people hardly do “with their ears” (verse 15)?

What would happen if the people turned (verse 15)?

Why are the disciples blessed (verse 16)?

Who “longed to hear what you hear but did not hear it” (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the importance of hearing?

In your opinion, how does Jeremiah 5:18-25 help us understand the problem that causes Jesus to say that “though hearing, they do not hear or understand”?

2 Timothy 4:1-8 - New International Version (NIV)

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Who will “judge the living and the dead” (verse 1)?

What is the charge that Paul gives to Timothy (verses 1 and 2)?

What kind of teachers will people “gather around” themselves (verse 3)?

How will people respond to “the truth” (verse 4)?

What does Paul want Timothy to “keep” in all situations (verse 5)?

When is the “time for” Paul’s departure (verse 6)?

What has Paul finished (verse 7)?

Who will receive “the crown of righteousness” (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the importance of hearing?

In your opinion, how could what Jeremiah is saying in Jeremiah 5:18-25 be a model for Timothy as he tries to apply Paul’s instructions given in 2 Timothy 4:1-8?

In your opinion, how are the people with calloused hearts in Matthew 13:10-17 like the people with itchy ears in 2 Timothy 4:1-8?

Revelation 3:14-22 - New International Version (NIV)

14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Whose words are these (verse 14)?

What is known about the deeds of the Laodicean Church (verse 15)?

Why are they about to be spit “out of my mouth” (verse 16)?

In your opinion, how can they view themselves as rich while actually being “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (verse 17)?

What is the counsel (verse 18)?

How does God treat those whom He loves (verse 19)?

What will happen to those who hear Jesus’s voice and open the door (verse 20)?

Who will sit with Jesus on His throne (verse 21)?

What should those with ears hear (verse 22)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the importance of hearing?

In your opinion, how are the people that Jeremiah is warning in Jeremiah 5:18-25 like the people that Jesus is warning through John in Revelation 3:14-22?

In your opinion, what does Revelation 3:14-22 help us understand about why some people in Matthew 13:10-17 have blessed eyes and ears?

In your opinion, how does 2 Timothy 4:1-8 help us understand how the people of the Church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22 could be lukewarm and about to be spit out?

In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Jeremiah, Matthew, 2 Timothy and Revelation help us understand about the blessings of hearing God?

In your opinion, how can we hear God more clearly today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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