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To better understand the fact that the gospel is made known to all nations, we need to define the following three terms:

The Lord Jesus, the SAVIOUR of the world, was born a Jew (Matthew 2:2) because His mother Mary was a descendant of David (the genealogy of Mary is found in Luke 3:23-38), and David was a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In John 4:22 the Lord Jesus said,  "SALVATION is of the _________,"  because the SAVIOUR, the Lord Jesus, was Himself a Jew.

The Messianic Line

A) The first of these is a Greek word which means "nations." When this word is translated "GENTILES" it means those people who do not belong to the nation Israel (they are not Jews), but they belong to the other nations.

In Acts 9:15 Paul was told to bear the name of Christ "before the _________________ (nations), and kings, and the ______________   ____    ______________ (JEWS)." In Acts 13:46, Paul and Barnabas said, "It was necessary: that the word of God should first have been spoken to you (to the JEWS--see verse 45) . . . . lo, we turn to the _________________ (those who are not Jews, the other NATIONS)." Read Acts 18:5-6 and Acts 28:28-29. These verses show us that when the JEWS (the nation Israel) rejected the Word of God, Paul sent the message of salvation to the __________________ (to the other NATIONS and to people who were not JEWS).
 

B) The second of these is a Greek word which means "Greeks."  This word was used to refer to those people who spoke the Greek language and followed Greek customs and the Greek way of life. In the days of the New Testament almost all of the Roman Empire was made up of Greek speaking people, and therefore almost all of the people in the Roman Empire (see a map of the Roman Empire) could be called "GREEKS." In the New Testament this word is often used with the word "JEWS":

In Acts 20:21 Paul "testified both to the ___________ and also to the ________________.

In Romans 1:16 we learn that the gospel is "the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the _______ first, and also to the ___________________."

In 1 Corinthians 1:23 we find that the CRUCIFIED CHRIST was a stumbling block to the ________ and foolishness to the ___________________.

Therefore in these verses the term "Greeks" means all the people in the Roman Empire who were not Jews, and this is the reason the word is often translated "Gentiles."

In 1 Corinthians 10:32 we see that mankind (everyone in the world) is divided into three groups:

Before you were saved, what GROUP did you belong to?   GROUP NUMBER ____  

Now that you are saved (if you really are saved) what group do you belong to? GROUP NUMBER ____ 

Do you find these same three groups in 1 Corinthians 1:23-24? ________  In which verse do you find Group 1 and Group 2? Verse ______  In which verse do you find Group 3?  Verse _____ (Remember, the church is God’s called-out assembly!)

So we have seen that the two words which are translated "Gentiles"  (A. "nations" and B. "Greeks") both mean almost the same thing. They are both words which describe people who are not Jews. Who were God’s chosen people (Isaiah 44:1 and Deuteronomy 7:6-8)? ___________________ Because the Gentiles were not Jews they were not God’s chosen people, and therefore their spiritual condition is described in the following verses:

THE SPIRITUAL CONDITION OF THE GENTILES:

EPHESIANS 2:11-12. The Gentiles were without ______________... having no __________, and without _________ in the world.

EPHESIANS 4:17-19. The Gentiles had their understanding  __________________ and they did not have the life of ____________ (They were spiritually dead--Ephesians 2:1,5).

1 THESSALONIANS 4:5. The Gentiles do not __________ God (compare John 17:3).  They do not know Him in a personal way.  They do not know Him as their personal Saviour.

Thus we see how important it is for members of Group 2 to become members of Group 3.  According to Ephesians 2:1,5,11 the Ephesians people were once members of Group ________, but at the time when Paul wrote to them they were members of Group _____ (compare Ephesians 1:22-23 with 5:30,32).
 

History of the Samaritans

A) During the days of the kings of Israel, the city of Samaria was the capitol of the Northern Kingdom or the kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel.  [Note: Jerusalem was the capitol of the Southern Kingdom or the Kingdom of Judah].

DESERT

B) In 722 B.C. God judged the Northern Kingdom of Israel because of the people's sin and idolatry.  God allowed the Assyrian army to defeat the city of SAMARIA and to carry away the people as CAPTIVES (2 Kings 17:5-6). Why did God allow this terrible judgment to fall upon them (see 2 Kings 17:7-18)?

C) Not all of the people of Samaria were taken away in the captivity. The Assyrians probably carried away most of the chief men--men of wealth and importance--but some of the poor and common people were allowed to remain in the land.

D) These Jews who were allowed to remain in the region of Samaria soon intermarried with Gentiles (heathen people), and this mixed race became known as the ___________________ (John 4:9).

NOTE: Should God’s people marry the ungodly? Was Ezra pleased when he heard that the people of Israel had taken wives from the Gentile nations (Ezra 9:1-4)? __________ What was the great danger involved in mixed marriages (Deuteronomy 7:3-4)? In Nehemiah 13:27 the act of marrying Gentile women is called "this great __________." What great man in the Bible fell prey to this awful sin (Nehemiah 13:26)? _________________ Today the same danger exists among those who are members of God’s church. Would it be right for a believer to "yoke-up" in marriage with an unbeliever (2 Corinthians 6:14)? ___________

The UNEQUAL YOKE
Should the believer become "one flesh" with an unbeliever? (EPH. 5:31)

1 Corinthians 7:39 teaches us that the believer is free to be married, but only in the L___________ (the person must be a BELIEVER IN CHRIST). Suppose the young man in the picture were to say this: "I’m going to marry this girl even though she is not a Christian because I really love her and I’m sure that after we are married she will receive the Lord as her Saviour and become a Christian too." What is the danger in this way of thinking? What will probably happen after they are married (compare Deut. 7:3-4)?

In the days of Christ did the Jews have friendly relations with the Samaritans (John 4:9)? _______ We also discover that the Samaritans had their own religious system (John 4:20), but Jesus said that they did not even ___________ what they were worshipping (John 4:22)! Do you think there are ignorant worshippers even today? ________ Does the Lord want us to be ignorant worshippers (John 4:24)?

MATCHING FOR REVIEW

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