July 12, 2015 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Rejected and Chosen

Matthew 28:18-20 – New International Version (NIV) – The Great Commission

¹⁸ “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Rejected and Chosen

Matthew 23:29-39 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁹ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰ And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

³³ “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. ³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

³⁷ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

What does Jesus say that the teachers of the law and Pharisees are doing that is hypocritical (verse 29)?

Who do the teachers of the law and Pharisees say shed the blood of the prophets (verse 30)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus say that the teachers of the law and the Pharisees “testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets” (verse 31)?

What does Jesus instruct the teachers of the law and Pharisees to “go ahead” and do (verse 32)?

In your opinion, how will the teachers of the law and Pharisees “escape being condemned to hell” (verse 33)?

How will the “prophets and sages and teachers” that Jesus sends be treated (verse 34)?

What will come upon the teachers of the law and Pharisees (verse 35)?

Why has Jesus not gathered Jerusalem “as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings” (verse 37)?

How is their house left to them (verse 38)?

When will they see Jesus again (verse 39)?

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

Psalm 118:19-29 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ “Open for me the gates of the righteous;
    I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord
    through which the righteous may enter.
²¹ I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
    you have become my salvation.

²² The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
²³ the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴ The Lord has done it this very day;
    let us rejoice today and be glad.

²⁵ Lord, save us!
    Lord, grant us success!

²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
    From the house of the Lord we bless you.
²⁷ The Lord is God,
    and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
    up to the horns of the altar.

²⁸ You are my God, and I will praise you;
    you are my God, and I will exalt you.

²⁹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.”

Why does the Psalmist want the “gates of the righteous” to be opened (verse 19)?

What is the “gate of the Lord” (verse 20)?

How did the Lord answer the Psalmist, who is giving thanks (verse 21)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (verse 22)?

Who has done this (verse 23)?

How should we respond (verse 24)?

What two pleas does the Psalmist make (verse 25)?

Who is blessed (verse 26)?

In your opinion, how has God “made his light shine on us” (verse 27)?

How will the Psalmist react to “my God” (verse 28)?

What endures forever (verse 29)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that in His discussion of the way that Jerusalem is the one who will “kill the prophets and stone those sent to you” and that their house will be desolate because they will not see Him again until “you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” Matthew 23:29-39 is a direct quote from Psalm 118:19-29 and that it follows the passage about “the stone the builders rejected” that Peter claims for Jesus?

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

Acts 7:51-60 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! ⁵² Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— ⁵³ you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

⁵⁴ When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸ dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹ While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.”

How does Stephen describe the high priest and the Sanhedrin (verse 51)?

Who does he say they are like (verse 51)?

What does he say that they “always” do (verse 51)?

In your opinion, what does verse 52 do for the statement of Jesus in Matthew 23:32 “Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!”?

How does Stephen say that the high priest and the Sanhedrin obeyed the law that had been given through angels (verse 53)?

What did the members of the Sanhedrin do when the heard what Stephen said (verse 54)?

How was Stephen able to look up to heaven and see Jesus standing at the right hand of God (verse 55)?

In your opinion, why did the members of the Sanhedrin cover their ears when they heard Stephen say “Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (verse 57)?

Where was Stephen dragged to (verse 58)?

Who did the witnesses lay their coats at the feet of (verse 58)?

What did Stephen pray “while they were stoning him” (verse 59)?

When did Stephen fall asleep (verse 60)?

In your opinion, can we say that God obeyed the request of Psalms 118:19-29 and opened the gates of the righteous for Stephen when the Holy Spirit allowed him to look into heaven and see the “glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” in Acts 7:51-60?

In your opinion, how was the trial and stoning of Stephen in Acts 7:51-60 anticipated by Jesus in Matthew 23:29-39 “Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town”?

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

1 Peter 2:4-10 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴ “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”

⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”

⁸ and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

How does Peter describe the reaction of humans and God to Jesus, the living Stone (verse 4)?

What are God’s elect, who Peter was writing to, also described as (verse 5)?

Why are God’s elect being built into a spiritual house (verse 5)?

How do God’s elect offer “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God” (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why will the one who trusts in the chosen and precious cornerstone laid in Zion “never be put to shame” (verse 6)?

What is the stone to those who believe (verse 7)?

What is the stone to those who do not believe (verse 7)?

Why does the stone cause people to stumble (verse 8)?

Why are God’s elect “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (verse 9)?

What have the “people of God” received (verse 10)?

In your opinion, how do the actions of the Sanhedrin in Acts 7:51-60 in the covering their ears and stoning Stephen illustrate the statement in 1 Peter 2:4-10 that the precious stone of Jesus is “a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall”?

In your opinion, how does the Psalmist in Psalms 118:19-29 in the combination of the request to “open for me the gates of the righteous” with the “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” anticipate Peter’s claim in 1 Peter 2:4-10 that Jesus is the living Stone and that Christians are “like living stones” and are being “built into a spiritual house”?

In your opinion, what does it mean that Jesus in Matthew 23:29-39 says to the teachers of the law and Pharisees that “your house is left to you desolate” and that Peter in 1 Peter 2:4-10 says to God’s elect that they are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession”?

In your opinion, what do these passages, from Matthew, Psalms, Acts and 1 Peter, show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 24:1 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

July 5, 2015 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – From Tombs to Redemption

Matthew 28:18-20 – New International Version (NIV) – The Great Commission

¹⁸ “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

From Tombs to Redemption

Matthew 23:27-28 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Who does Jesus say are like “whitewashed tombs” (verse 27)?

How does Jesus describe “whitewashed tombs” (verse 27)?

What do the teachers of the law and the Pharisees look like on the outside (verse 28)?

What are they full of on the inside (verse 28)?

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

Ezekiel 37:1-14 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

¹¹ Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

Whose hand was on Ezekiel (verse 1)?

What was the valley Ezekiel was set in full of (verse 1)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that the bones were very dry (verse 2)?

How did Ezekiel answer the question “can these bones live” (verse 3)?

Who was Ezekiel to prophesy to (verse 4)?

What will happen when the Lord makes breath enter the bones (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why will the coming to life of the bones cause the bones to “know that I am the Lord” (verse 6)?

What happened when Ezekiel “prophesied as I was commanded” (verse 7)?

When was their “no breath in them” (verse 8)?

Where was the breath that was to bring life to the restored bones to come from (verse 9)?

How did the restored bones respond when breath entered them (verse 10)?

Who are the bones (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what does God mean when He says “My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them” (verse 12)?

What will the people of Israel know when God opens their graves (verse 13)?

Who will be put into the people of Israel (verse 14)?

In your opinion, what are the similarities between the Jews that Ezekiel was speaking to who were in exile in Babylonia in Ezekiel 37:1-14 and the teachers of the law and Pharisees that Jesus was speaking to in Matthew 23:27-28?

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

Romans 3:9-20 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ “What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. ¹⁰ As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
¹¹     there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God.
¹² All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”
¹³ “Their throats are open graves;
    their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
¹⁴     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶     ruin and misery mark their ways,
¹⁷ and the way of peace they do not know.”
¹⁸     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”

How are Jews and Gentiles alike (verse 9)?

Who is righteous (verse 10)?

Who seeks God (verse 11)?

What has “all” become when they turned away (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that “their throats are open graves” (verse 13)?

How much “cursing and bitterness” are in “their mouths” (verse 14)?

What are their feet “swift” to do (verse 15)?

How are their ways marked (verse 16)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that “the way of peace they do not know” (verse 17)?

What is not “before their eyes” (verse 18)?

Why does the law say what it “says to those who are under the law” (verse 19)?

Who is declared “righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law” (verse 20)?

What is the law to accomplish (verse 20)?

In your opinion, what can we, who Paul makes clear in Romans 3:9-20 are dunrighteous and accountable to God for our sinfulness under the law, learn from Ezekiel’s vision about the dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-14?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s discussion about the uniformity of all “Jews and Gentiles” being under the power of sin in Romans 3:9-20 impact our reading of what Jesus said to the teachers of the law and Pharisees in Matthew 23:27-28 about being “beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean”?

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

1 Peter 1:13-25 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. ²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴ For,

“All people are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
²⁵     but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you.”

In your opinion, what does Peter mean when he says “with minds that are fully alert and sober” (verse 13)?

What are we to set our hope on (verse 13)?

When did we conform to the evil desires (verse 14)?

Why should we be holy (verses 15 and 16)?

How should we live out our time (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why does Peter say that we are redeemed “from an empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors” (verse 18)?

What redeemed us (verse 19)?

When was Christ chosen (verse 20)?

Why is our “faith and hope” in God (verse 21)?

What should we do “deeply, from the heart” (verse 22)?

How have we been born again of imperishable seed (verse 23)?

What are people like (verse 24)?

What endures forever (verse 25)?

In your opinion, what can we learn by combining Paul’s discussion in Romans 3:9-20 about the universal sinfulness that we all share with Peter’s discussion in 1 Peter 1:13-25 about being redeemed by the “precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect”?

In your opinion, how does the vision of Ezekiel 37:1-14 about the dry bones and the promise “Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.  I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.” obtain new richness when you consider Peter’s statement that “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” from 1 Peter 1:13-25?

In your opinion, how does the fact that Jesus, who condemns the teachers of the law and Pharisees in Matthew 23:27-28 for being full of “hypocrisy and wickedness” but then, according to 1 Peter 1:13-25, redeemed us who also have “evil desires” with His “precious blood” show that there is hope for the teachers of the law and Pharisees and also everyone else?

In your opinion, what do these passages, from Matthew, Ezekiel, Romans and 1 Peter, show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 23:29 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

June 28, 2015 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Confessing and Cleansing

Matthew 28:18-20 – New International Version (NIV) – The Great Commission

¹⁸ “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Confessing and Cleansing

Matthew 23:25-26 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”

What part of the cup and dish does Jesus say the teachers of the law and Pharisees clean (verse 25)?

In your opinion, why would Jesus say that the inside of the cup is filled with “greed and self-indulgence” (verse 25)?

Where is the “blind Pharisee” to clean first (verse 26)?

In your opinion, why would the outside be clean after cleaning the inside (verse 26)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 23:25-26 show us about the Great Commission?

Isaiah 58:1-6 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
    Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
    and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
² For day after day they seek me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
    and seem eager for God to come near them.
³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
    and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?”

How was Isaiah supposed to “declare to my people their rebellion” (verse 1)?

What do the people seem eager God to do (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why do the people point out that they have fasted and humbled themselves (verse 3)?

How does the people’s fasting end (verse 4)?

In your opinion, how does saying that the fast is “only a day for people to humble themselves” and “only for bowing one’s head like a reed” show what the people thought about the fast (verse 5)?

What is different about the kind of fasting that the Lord has chosen (verse 6)?

In your opinion, how was the limiting of the fasting of the people to things that they did without including what they could do for others in Isaiah 58:1-6 a prelude to the teachers of the law and Pharisees of Matthew 23:25-26 cleaning the “outside of the cup and dish” but ignoring the “greed and self-indulgence” within?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Isaiah 58 show us about the Great Commission?

Romans 7:14-25 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”

Who knows that the law is spiritual (verse 14)?

How does Paul describe himself (verse 14)?

What does Paul not understand (verse 15)?

What does Paul not do (verse 15)?

What does Paul do (verse 15)?

In your opinion, how does Paul doing what he does not want to mean that he agrees that the law is good (verse 16)?

What does the sin that Paul does (verse 17)?

What does not dwell in Paul’s sinful nature (verse 18)?

What does Paul keep doing (verse 19)?

If it is not Paul who keeps doing what he does not want to, then who is it (verse 20)?

In your opinion, why does Paul say that he finds “this law at work: although I want to do good, evil is right there with me” (verse 21)?

Who delights in God’s law (verse 22)?

What does the “other law at work in me” do (verse 23)?

How does Paul describe himself (verse 24)?

Who will rescue Paul from “this body that is subject to death” (verses 24 and 25)?

Where is Paul “a slave to God’s law” (verse 25)?

Where is Paul “a slave to the law of sin” (verse 25)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the people that Isaiah was writing to in Isaiah 58:1-6 and Paul as he described himself in Romans 7:14-25?

In your opinion, what are the similarities between the teachers of the law and Pharisees that Jesus was talking to in Matthew 23:25-26 and Paul as he describes himself in Romans 7:14-25?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Romans 7 show us about the Great Commission?

1 John 1:5-10 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”

What does John do with the message “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (verse 5)?

When do we “lie and not live out the truth” (verse 6)?

Where do we need to walk in order to “have fellowship with one another” and have “the blood of Jesus, his Son” purify us “from all sin” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, why do we “deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” if we “claim to be without sin” (verse 8)?

What happens “if we confess our sins” (verse 9)?

Where is the word of Jesus “if we claim that we have not sinned” (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what do Paul in Romans 7:14-25 and John in 1 John 1:5-10 agree on about sin within us, and about what delivers us from that sin?

In your opinion, does the promise that Jesus “will forgive us from our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” if we confess our sins in 1 John 1:5-10 change our understanding of what God was trying to do in Isaiah 58:1-6 when He instructed Isaiah to “Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins”?

In your opinion, how does the statement in 1 John 1:5-10 that “if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” help us to understand to predicament of the teachers of the law and Pharisees of Matthew 23:25-25?

In your opinion, what does this passage from 1 John 1 show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 23:27 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)