April 26, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Out of Our Mouths

Out of Our Mouths

Malachi 2:1-9 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “And now, you priests, this warning is for you. ² If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.

³ “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. ⁴ And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. ⁵ “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. ⁶ True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.

⁷ “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. ⁸ But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. ⁹ “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.”

Who is the warning for (verse 1)?

What will happen if they don’t “resolve to honor” the name of the Lord (verse 2)?

Who will be rebuked because of them (verse 3)?

Why has the Lord sent “this warning” (verse 4)?

How did Levi react to the Lord (verse 5)?

What was in Levi’s mouth (verse 6)?

Why should “the lips of a priest” preserve knowledge (verse 7)?

What have the priests Malachi is speaking to violated (verse 8)?

Why has the Lord caused them to be “despised and humiliated before all the people” (verse 9)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about what is important to God?

Matthew 15:10-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. ¹¹ What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

¹² Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

¹³ He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. ¹⁴ Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

¹⁵ Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”

¹⁶ “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. ¹⁷ “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? ¹⁸ But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

Who did Jesus tell to “listen and understand” (verse 10)?

What defiles someone (verse 11)?

Who was offended (verse 12)?

Which plants will be “pulled up by the roots” (verse 13)?

Why were the disciples to “leave” the Pharisees (verse 14)?

What did Peter want Jesus to do (verse 15)?

Who said, “are you still so dull” (verse 16)?

Where do the things that defile someone come from (verse 18)?

Where do “evil thoughts” come from (verse 19)?

What does not defile someone (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about what is important to God?

In your opinion, how is the choice to not revere the Lord in Malachi 2:1-9 related to the defilement Jesus talks about in Matthew 15:10-20?

Hebrews 9:11-15 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. ¹² He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. ¹³ The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. ¹⁴ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

¹⁵ For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

What did Christ come as the “high priest” of (verse 11)?

What was the tabernacle He went through “not a part of” (verse 11)?

How did He enter “the Most Holy Place” (verse 12)?

What does “the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean” do (verse 13)?

What will “cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death” (verse 14)?

What may we do when our consciences are cleansed (verse 14)?

Why is Christ “the mediator of a new covenant” (verse 15)?

Why did Christ die “as a ransom” (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about what is important to God?

In your opinion, how might Levi, as discussed in Malachi 2:1-9, be an example for those cleansed by the blood of Christ as described in Hebrews 9:11-15?

In your opinion, what hope do those who Jesus says are defiled in Matthew 15:10-20 find in Hebrews 9:11-15?

Titus 2:11-14 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. ¹² It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

What does the “grace of God” offer to all people (verse 11)?

What does God’s grace teach us to say “No” to (verse 12)?

How does God’s grace teach us to live (verse 12)?

What is the “blessed hope” we wait for (verse 13)?

What did Jesus give Himself to do (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about what is important to God?

In your opinion, how is Levi’s response to the covenant God gave him in Malachi 2:1-9 an example for the people who Titus 2:11-14 says are redeemed and “eager to do what is good”?

In your opinion, how do each of us, who recognize ourselves when Jesus says in Matthew 15:10-20 that the things that come from our mouths defile us, find hope in Titus 2:11-14?

In your opinion, how is the way we receive the “grace of God” Titus 2:11-14 proclaims described in Hebrews 9:11-15?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Malachi, Matthew, Hebrews and Titus teach us about the difference between being the blind leading the blind and living as people who have been ransomed?

In your opinion, how do we live and serve doing what’s important to God today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)