August 31, 2014 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Delusions and Salvation

  

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.”

Delusions and Salvation

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.”

What did Jesus finish (verse 53)?

Where did He move on to (verse 54)?

When were the people amazed (verse 54)?

Who did they say that Jesus was (verse 55)?

In your opinion, why was it important to the people to identify who Jesus’ mother, brothers and sisters were (verses 55 and 56)?

What was the peoples reaction to Jesus (verse 57)?

In your opinion, why is a prophet “not without honor except in his own town and in his own home” (verse 57)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 13:53-58 show us about the Great Commission?

Jeremiah 12:5-13 - New International Version (NIV)

⁵ “If you have raced with men on foot
    and they have worn you out,
    how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country,
    how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
⁶ Your relatives, members of your own family—
    even they have betrayed you;
    they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
    though they speak well of you.

⁷ “I will forsake my house,
    abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
    into the hands of her enemies.
⁸ My inheritance has become to me
    like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
    therefore I hate her.
⁹ Has not my inheritance become to me
    like a speckled bird of prey
    that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
    bring them to devour.
¹⁰ Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard
    and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
    into a desolate wasteland.
¹¹ It will be made a wasteland,
    parched and desolate before me;
the whole land will be laid waste
    because there is no one who cares.
¹² Over all the barren heights in the desert
    destroyers will swarm,
for the sword of the Lord will devour
    from one end of the land to the other;
    no one will be safe.
¹³ They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
    they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.
They will bear the shame of their harvest
    because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”

In your opinion, why would it be hard to compete with horses after racing with men on foot until you are worn out (verse 5)?

Where are the thickets about which God is asking the Israelite people “how will you manage” (verse 5)?

What have Jeremiah’s relatives and members of the family done (verse 6)?

In your opinion, who is the house that the Lord will forsake (verse 7)?

Who will the one who is loved be given to (verse 7)?

What do the chosen people who were to inherit do that causes God to hate them (verse 8)?

How do other birds of prey treat the bird of prey that Israel has become (verse 9)?

In your opinion, who are the shepherds who will ruin the vineyard and turn the pleasant field into a desolate wasteland (verse 10)?

Why will the whole land be laid to waste (verse 11)?

Where will the desert destroyers swarm (verse 12)?

What will devour “from one end of the land to the other” (verse 12)?

Who will be safe (verse 12)?

What will be gained when the people wear themselves out (verse 13)?

What will they bear (verse 13)?

In your opinion, how does the promise that people will wear themselves out and “gain nothing” in the relationship to God that is promised in Jeremiah 12:5-13 foreshadow the lack of miracle for the people of His hometown by Jesus in Matthew 13:53-58?

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

Acts 8:9-25 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ “Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, ¹⁰ and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” ¹¹ They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. ¹² But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. ¹³ Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

¹⁴ When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. ¹⁵ When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, ¹⁶ because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷ Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money ¹⁹ and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰ Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! ²¹ You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. ²² Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. ²³ For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

²⁴ Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

²⁵ After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.”

How did the people of Samaria perceive Simon (verse 9)?

Who gave Simon attention (verse 10)?

What did the people of Samaria call Simon (verse 10)?

How did the people of Samaria react to Simon (verse 11)?

When did the people of Samaria believe “the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (verse 12)?

What happened when they believed (verse 12)?

How did Simon react to Philip (verse 12)?

In your opinion, why did the apostles in Jerusalem send Peter and John to Samaria (verse 14)?

What did Peter and John pray for the believers in Samaria (verse 15)?

How had the believers in Samaria been baptized (verse 16)?

When did the believers in Samaria receive the Holy Spirit (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why did Simon offer the apostles money (verse 18)?

How did Peter answer Simon (verses 20, 21, 22, and 23)?

Why does Simon not have a part in the ministry (verse 21)?

What should Simon now do (verse 22)?

What is Simon full of (verse 23)?

What is Simon captive to (verse 23)?

How did Simon respond to Peter (verse 24)?

What did Peter and John do in many Samaritan towns (verse 25)?

In your opinion, how does Simon’s response to Peter in Acts 8:9-25 differ from the country’s response to God in Jeremiah 12:5-13?

In your opinion, why is the Samaritan response to Philip in Acts 8:9-25 different than the response of the people of Jesus hometown to Jesus in Matthew 13:53-58?

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

    

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.”

With what will the lawless one come (verse 9)?

What will all the ways of wickedness do to those who are perishing (verse 10)?

Why do they perish (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why does God send them a powerful delusion (verse 11)?

Who will be condemned (verse 12)?

How does Paul say that he should respond to the believers in Thessalonica (verse 13)?

What did God choose the Thessalonians to be (verse 13)?

How were they called (verse 14)?

In your opinion, why should the Thessalonians “stand firm and hold fast to the teachings” (verse 15)?

What does “our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us” give to the Thessalonians (and to believers today) (verse 16)?

In the benediction, what does Paul ask that God “encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every” ______________________and ______________ (verse 17)?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s instruction to “stand firm and hold fast to the teachings” in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-17 amplify Peter’s statement to Simon to “repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart” in Acts 8:9-25?

In your opinion, how is God’s statement through Jeremiah in Jeremiah 12:5-13 that “they will wear themselves out but gain nothing” expanded on by Paul’s statement in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-17 that “they perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved”?

In your opinion, how much of the people of Jesus' hometown denying Jesus in Matthew 13:53-58 is because they know His mother's name and His brother and sisters, which is a truth but has been twisted in their minds so they can't see the reality of Jesus and so it is also a “powerful delusion so that they will believe a lie” as explained in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-17?

In your opinion, what does this passage from 2 Thessalonians show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 14:1 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)