March 30, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – Pressing On

 Pressing On

Psalms 22:11-19 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Do not be far from me,
    for trouble is near
    and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls surround me;
    strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
¹³ Roaring lions that tear their prey
    open their mouths wide against me.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
    it has melted within me.
¹⁵ My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶ Dogs surround me,
    a pack of villains encircles me;
    they pierce my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ All my bones are on display;
    people stare and gloat over me.
¹⁸ They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.

¹⁹ But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
    You are my strength; come quickly to help me.

What is near (verse 11)?

Where are the “strong bulls of Bashan” (verse 12)?

What has happened to His bones (verse 14)?

How does His mouth feel (verse 15)?

What happens to His hands and feet (verse 16)?

How do people respond (verse 17)?

What did they do with His clothes (verse 18)?

What is His plea to the Lord (verse 19)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the suffering of Jesus?

Matthew 27:32-44 – New International Version (NIV)

³² As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. ³³ They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ³⁴ There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵ When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. ³⁶ And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. ³⁷ Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.

³⁸ Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹ Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴² “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴ In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

Who did they force to carry the cross (verse 32)?

What does Golgotha mean (verse 33)?

How did Jesus respond to the offer of the wine mixed with gall (verse 34)?

What did they do with His clothes (verse 35)?

Where was the “the charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS” placed (verse 37)?

Who was on His right and His left (verse 38)?

What did those who passed by do (verse 39)?

How was Jesus challenged to prove He was the “Son of God” (verse 40)?

Who said “He saved others . . . but he can’t save himself” (verses 41 and 42)?

What did the rebels “who were crucified with him” do (verse 44)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the suffering of Jesus?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 22:11-19 help us understand the suffering Jesus faced in Matthew 27:32-44?

Hebrews 13:8-16 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. ¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

¹¹ The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. ¹² And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. ¹³ Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. ¹⁴ For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

¹⁵ Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. ¹⁶ And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Who “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (verse 8)?

What “is good for our hearts” (verse 9)?

Who does not have a right to eat at our alter (verse 10)?

What is the sin offering that the high priest carries into “the Most Holy Place” (verse 11)?

Why did Jesus suffer “outside the city gate” (verse 12)?

What does Paul invite us to bear “outside the camp” (verse 13)?

What are we looking for (verse 14)?

How does Paul say we please God (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the suffering of Jesus?

 

In your opinion, what does Psalm 22:11-19 help us understand about what Hebrews 13:8-16 says Jesus endured outside of the city gate to “make people holy”?

In your opinion, how does the torment of the chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders in Matthew 27:32-44, ““He saved others, . . . but he can’t save himself”” shown by Hebrews 13:8-16 to be accurate only because of the choice Jesus made about who He was saving?

 Philippians 3:7-14 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

What does Paul “consider loss” (verse 7)?

Why does Paul “consider everything a loss” (verse 8)?

Where does the righteousness Paul desires come from (verse 9)?

What did Paul want to participate in (verse 10)?

What did Paul hope to attain (verse 11)?

What does Paul “press on to take hold of” (verse 12)?

What is the “one thing” Paul does (verse 13)?

How has God called Paul heavenward (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the suffering of Jesus?

 

In your opinion, how are the messages of Psalm 22:11-19 and Philippians 3:7-14 similar?

In your opinion, is Paul’s statement in Philippians 3:7-14 that he wants to participate in the suffering of Jesus, found in Matthew 27:32-44 literal?  If not literal, then what does Paul mean?

In your opinion, how does Philippians 3:7-14 show us how to respond to the amazing gift of Jesus that is revealed in Hebrews 13:8-16?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Psalms, Matthew, Hebrews and Philippians teach us about the suffering of Jesus on the cross, and the reason for His suffering?

In your opinion, as people who have been made holy through the suffering and blood of Jesus, what goal should we expect to reach?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

January 3, 2016 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – From Crucifixion to Triumph

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 Crucifixion to Triumph

Matthew 27:32-44 – New International Version (NIV)

^32 “As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. ³³ They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ³⁴ There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵ When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. ³⁶ And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. ³⁷ Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.

³⁸ Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹ Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴² “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴ In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.”

Where was Simon from (verse 32)?

What did the Roman soldiers force him to do (verse 32)?

What does Golgotha mean (verse 33)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus refuse to drink the wine mixed with gall (verse 34)?

When did the Roman soldiers divide “up his clothes by casting lots” (verse 35)?

How did they keep watch over Jesus (verse 36)?

What written charge was placed above His head (verse 37)?

Who was crucified with Jesus (verse 38)?

What did those who passed by and “hurled insults at him” do while they were hurling the insults (verse 39)?

In your opinion, why did the One who was the Son of God not come down from the cross like he was challenged to (verse 40)?

In your opinion, what is the truth hidden in the mocking of the chief priests, teachers of the law and elders (verses 42 and 43)?

Who else heaped insults on Jesus (verse 44)?

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

Isaiah 53:1-12 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

⁴ Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.
⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.”

In your opinion, why does this prophecy start out with a question that indicates that not many will believe (verse 1)?

Is there anything physical about the Savior to attract us (verse 2)?

How did mankind react to the Savior (verse 3)?

What did mankind think about the Savior when He “took up our pain and bore our suffering” (verse 4)?

How are we healed (verse 5)?

What have we, like sheep, done (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what is the significance of the fact that our Savior “did not open his mouth” (verse 7)?

Why was the Savior punished (verse 8)?

Who was the Savior “assigned a grave” with (verse 9)?

What does the Lord make “his life” (verse 10)?

What will “he” bear (verse 11)?

Who did “he” make intersession for (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, how does Isaiah’s statement “yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted” in Isaiah 53:1-12 help explain the words of the chief priests, teachers of the law and elders in Matthew 27:32-44?

Philippians 2:5-11 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.”

Whose mindset are we to have in our “relationships with one another” (verse 5)?

What did Jesus not consider “something to be used to his own advantage” (verse 6)?

What was Jesus “made in” (verse 7)?

How did Jesus humble himself (verse 8)?

Where did God exalt Jesus to (verse 9)?

Who will bow to the name of Jesus (verse 10)?

What will every tongue acknowledge (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, how do the Old Testament prophet Isaiah and the New Testament apostle Paul both speak so vividly of Jesus humiliation and of His exaltation in words that are so dissimilar and yet both so accurate?

In your opinion, how is the charge that was placed over the head of Jesus in Matthew 27:32-44 that “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS” revealed to be totally inadequate by Philippians 2:5-11?

Revelation 17:3-14 – New International Version (NIV)

³ “Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. ⁵ The name written on her forehead was a mystery:

babylon the great

the mother of prostitutes

and of the abominations of the earth.

⁶ I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. ⁷ Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. ⁸ The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.

⁹ “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. ¹⁰ They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. ¹¹ The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

¹² “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. ¹³ They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴ They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

Who did John see when the angel carried him into a wilderness (verse 3)?

What was in the golden cup (verse 4)?

In your opinion, who is “Babylon the Great” (verse 5)?

What was the woman drunk on (verse 6)?

Who is going to explain the “mystery of the woman and of the beast that she rides” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, why will “the inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world” be astonished when they see the beast (verse 8)?

What is called for (verse 9)?

How many kings are there (verse 10)?

Where is the eighth king, who “belongs to the seven” going (verse 11)?

How long will the ten kings “receive authority as kings along with the beast” (verse 12)?

What is the purpose of the ten kings (verse 13)?

Why will the Lamb win the war that the ten kings and the beast wages against Him (verse 14)?

Who will be with the Lamb (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, will the seven kings and the ten kings and the beast that John sees in Revelation 17:3-14 be among those that Paul says in Philippians 2:5-11 will “acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”?

In your opinion, why is there a difference in the behavior of the Savior that Isaiah portrays in Isaiah 53:1-12 and the Savior that John sees in Revelation 17:3-14?

In your opinion, how is the triumph that is revealed in Revelation 17:3-14 greater than the salvation of Jesus from the cross that the chief priests, teachers of the law and elders say that they would believe in Jesus if God would “rescue him” from in Matthew 27:32-44?

In your opinion, what do these passages, from Matthew, Isaiah, Philippians and Revelation show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 27:45 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)