January 18, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Receiving God’s Mercy

Receiving God’s Mercy

Exodus 33:12-23 – New International Version (NIV)

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

¹⁴ The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

¹⁹ And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

²¹ Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

What did the Lord know Moses by (verse 12)?

Why did Moses want the Lord to “teach me your ways” (verse 13)?

Who will “go with” Moses (verse 14)?

In your opinion, why would Moses not want to be sent “if your Presence does not go with us” (verses 15 and 16)?

Why was the Lord going to do “the very thing” that Moses ask (verse 17)?

What did Moses want to see (verse 18)?

Who did the Lord say He would have mercy on (verse 19)?

Why can Moses not see the Lord’s face (verse 20)?

Where was Moses to stand (verse 21)?

What was the Lord going to do when His glory passed by (verse 22)?

What would Moses be able to see (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s mercy?

Matthew 13:53-58 - New International Version (NIV)

⁵³ When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. ⁵⁴ Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. ⁵⁵ “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they took offense at him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”

⁵⁸ And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

When did Jesus move on (verse 53)?

What did Jesus do when He came to “his hometown” (verse 54)?

In your opinion, why did the people ask “where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” (verses 54, 55, and 56)?

How did the people respond to Jesus (verse 57)?

Where is a prophet without honor (verse 57)?

Why did Jesus “not do many miracles” (verse 58)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s mercy?

In your opinion, how is the blessing of seeing God’s glory that Moses pleads for in Exodus 33:12-23 rejected by the people in Jesus’s hometown in Matthew 13:53-58?  Why did they reject it?

Romans 9:14-26 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
    and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

¹⁶ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. ¹⁷ For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸ Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

¹⁹ One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” ²⁰ But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” ²¹ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

²² What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? ²³ What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— ²⁴ even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵ As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
    and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”

²⁶ and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,
    ‘You are not my people,’
    there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

“Is God unjust” (verse 14)?

What did God tell Moses (verse 15)?

What does mercy not depend on (verse 16)?

Who did the Scripture say “I raised you up for this very purpose” to (verse 17)?

Who does God have mercy on (verse 18)?

What might someone say (verse 19)?

In your opinion, “who are you, a human being, to talk back to God” (verse 20)?

Who has God “prepared in advance for glory” (verses 23 and 24)?

Who will God call “my people” (verse 25)?

Where will “they be called ‘children of the living God’” (verse 26)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s mercy?

In your opinion, how does God’s mercy being extended to Moses in Exodus 33:12-23 after Moses’s request to see God’s glory help us understand the complex application of God’s power and mercy in Romans 9:14-26?

In your opinion, how do the people’s doubts about Jesus in Matthew 13:53-58 help us understand Paul’s discussion following his question about God being unjust in Romans 9:14-26?

2 Thessalonians 2:9-17 - New International Version (NIV)

⁹ The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, ¹⁰ and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹² and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

¹³ But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. ¹⁴ He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁵ So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, ¹⁷ encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Who will come “in accordance with how Satan works” (verse 9)?

What “deceives those who are perishing” (verse 10)?

Why did God send “a powerful delusion” (verse 11)?

Who will be “condemned” (verse 12)?

How are the “firstfruits to be saved” (verse 13)?

How were the “firstfruits” called (verse 14)?

What are the “brothers and sisters” to do (verse 15)?

What do Paul, Silas and Timothy say that Jesus and the Father has given them (verse 16)?

What do Paul, Silas and Timothy want Jesus and the Father to do for the Thessalonian Christians (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s mercy?

In your opinion, what can the “brothers and sisters loved by the Lord” in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-17 learn from Moses’s interaction with the Lord in Exodus 33:12-23?

In your opinion, how does the interaction between Jesus and the people of His hometown in Matthew 13:53-58 help us to understand the deceptions of Satan that Paul, Silas and Timothy talk about in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-17?

In your opinion, what does 2 Thessalonians 2:9-17 help us understand about those whom Romans 9:14-26 says God “wants to have mercy” on?

In your opinion, who does God have compassion for in these Scriptures from Exodus, Matthew, Romans and 2 Thessalonians?

In your opinion, how is understanding the truth about self and God related to receiving the benefit of God’s mercy?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)