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)

¹ 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: ² Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. ³ 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. ⁴ They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. ⁵ But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

⁶ For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ 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)

September 11, 2022 – John’s Writings – Oh No! Not Status Quo

 

Oh No! Not Status Quo

Nehemiah 2:11-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days ¹² I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.

¹³ By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. ¹⁴ Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; ¹⁵ so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. ¹⁶ The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” ¹⁸ I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.

They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”

²⁰ I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”

Where did Nehemiah go (verse 11)?

What had Nehemiah not told the people (verse 12)?

How did Nehemiah find the walls and the gates of Jerusalem (verse 13)?

What was there not enough room for “toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool” (verse 14)?

Where did Nehemiah reenter (verse 15)?

Why did the officials not know where Nehemiah was going or what he was doing (verse 16)?

What did Nehemiah want to do about Jerusalem being in ruins and the gates being burned (verse 17)?

What did they start to do after Nehemiah told them about the “gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me” (verse 18)?

How did Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab react when they heard what was going on (verse 19)?

Who did Nehemiah say would give success (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from this passage about how God can be opposed and followed?

John 5:1-16 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³ Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ⁵ One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, ¹⁰ and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

¹¹ But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹² So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

¹³ The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 

Why did Jesus go “up to Jerusalem” (verse 1)?

What is the pool near the Sheep Gate called in Aramaic (verse 2)?

Who would lie there (verse 3)?

How long had the “one who was there” been an invalid (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus ask the man, “do you want to get well” (verse 6)?

How did the man answer Jesus’s question (verse 7)?

What did Jesus tell the man (verse 8)?

What happened to the man and what did he do (verse 9)?

Who told the man “it is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat” (verse 10)?

How did the man answer (verse 11)?

Why did the man have no idea who had healed him (verses 12 and 13)?

What did Jesus warn the man (verse 14)?

What did the man tell the Jewish leaders (verse 15)?

Why did the Jewish leaders begin to persecute Jesus (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from this passage about how God can be opposed and followed?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that Nehemiah and the other Jews were mocked and ridiculed when they began a good work in Nehemiah 2:11-20 and Jesus was persecuted for doing a good work on the Sabbath in John 5:1-16?   

1 John 4:1-6 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

⁴ You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ⁵ They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

What are the “dear friends” not to believe (verse 1)?

Why are they to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (verse 1)?

How can we “recognize the Spirit of God” (verse 2)?

Which spirits are the antichrists (verse 3)?

Where are the antichrists (verse 3)?

Why have the “dear children” overcome the antichrists (verse 4)?

Where are the antichrists from (verse 5)?

What viewpoint do the antichrists speak from (verse 5)?

How does the world respond to the antichrists (verse 5)?

Who listens to John (verse 6)?

Who does not listen to John (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from this passage about how God can be opposed and followed?

In your opinion, how is the confidence that Nehemiah has when he is answering “Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab” in Nehemiah 2:11-20 similar to the confidence of John as he talks about the conflict between Christians and antichrists in 1 John 4:1-6?

In your opinion, who in John 5:1-16 meets the definition of antichrists that is given by 1 John 4:1-6?

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.”

Who is John to write to (verse 14)?

How is Jesus, who gives the words, described (verse 14)?

What does Jesus know (verse 15)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus wish they were either hot or cold (verse 15)?

Why is Jesus about to spit them “out of my mouth” (verse 16)?

What do the Christians of Laodicea say (verse 17)?

What do they not realize (verse 17)?

How does Jesus counsel them (verse 18)?

Who does Jesus “rebuke and discipline” (verse 19)?

How should the Laodicean Christians respond to the “rebuke and discipline” (verse 19)?

What is Jesus doing (verse 20)?

Who will Jesus “come in and eat with” (verse 20)?

What will Jesus give to the “one who is victorious” (verse 21)?

Who is to hear (verse 22)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from this passage about how God can be opposed and followed?

In your opinion, who, in Nehemiah 2:11-20, was lukewarm like the Laodicean church of Revelation 3:14-22 and what was the rebuke and discipline that they responded to? 

In your opinion, how can the thirty-eight-year invalid in John 5:1-16 be an inspiration to the Laodicean church of Revelation 3:14-22 who Jesus said was “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” and who told “I stand at the door and knock”?

In your opinion, how is the conflict between Christians and antichrists that 1 John 4:1-6 explains different from the problems of the Laodicean church of Revelation 3:14-22?  How could it be the same conflict, just completely within the church? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Nehemiah, John, 1 John and Revelation show about the willingness of God to be satisfied with the status quo?  How does help us understand how God can be opposed, and how God can be followed?

In your opinion, how do people of the world move from disgrace to victory?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)