Know

John 4:15-22 – The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

John 16:2 – They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.

2 Kings 17:33,35-36 – They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought…When the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them. But the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt with mighty power and outstretched arm, is the one you must worship. To him you shall bow down and to him offer sacrifices.

Romans 9:5 – Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

Romans 15:8-9 – For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name.”

Application:

• ·         Religious people have often persecuted others in the strong conviction that they were doing God’s will.
• ·         “They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods” was a classic statement of a mixed religion.
• ·         The Mosaic covenant demanded exclusive worship of the Lord. This was the “first and greatest commandment”, and it was to distinguish Israel from all other peoples.
• ·         The deliverance from Egypt is cited as the gracious act of the Lord that entitled Him to exclusive claim on Israel’s loyalty.
• ·         “Messiah, who is God” is a statement affirming the deity of Jesus the Messiah.
• ·         God’s greatest and climactic act for Israel’s salvation was the sending of the Messiah to fulfill the promises made to the patriarchs and so to gather in the great harvest of the Gentiles.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV