A Savior for the Nations | To the Samaritans

Well, good morning. Welcome to the second week

of Advent. You see our two candles are lit this

morning. We are now seven days closer to the

celebration of the incarnation of God the Son,

the very center point of human history. When

at just the right time, God sent forth his one

and only Son to take on flesh and to not just

to be true man, but to live a life that we couldn't

possibly live. to suffer and die in our place,

to pay the ransom for sin so that you and I might

be reconciled to our creator by faith. And that's

not all. Because of his work of reconciliation,

we now get to enjoy his presence forever and

ever as adopted sons and daughters with all the

rights and the privileges that come with being

heirs to an unfathomable inheritance. That is

an amazing story, is it not? How easy is it for

us to... to come into Christmas and blow right

through it and forget just the magnitude of that

story. And at Christmas time, we should always

remember that everything I just described, it

is a gift from God. It is a gift. Never forget

that he owed us nothing. He wasn't obligated

to suffer and die for us. None of us deserves

that kind of love. We certainly didn't earn it.

After all, prior to God saving us, we didn't

honor him or give thanks to him. Romans 1 makes

that clear. We pushed him away. We suppressed

the truth about him in our hearts, every one

of us. That's our story. We treated God as an

enemy. We chased after our own needs, our own

wants, our own desires. We lived only for ourselves,

every single one of us. But God, who's rich in

mercy, because of his great love, even when we

were spiritually dead in our sins, he brought

us to spiritual life. That's the gift that we've

received. And now he has given to his children

the ministry of reconciliation. We now get to

represent him as ambassadors. Now we're all missionaries

to a lost and dying world. Every one of us appealing

to the people that God puts in our path, appealing,

be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. This

is what Christmas is all about, folks. But it

all starts with that original gift. That's what

we celebrate at Christmas. I said it last Sunday,

I'm gonna say it again. God is the great gift

giver. Isaiah prophesied a son will be given

to us. And 700 years later, John reports the

good news. God so loved the world that he gave

his only begotten son. It's done. God the Father

gave us the gift that every single one of us

needed the most. He sent forth his son. That's

the ultimate Christmas card, isn't it? Our theme

verse for this four -week Advent series comes

out of Acts 1. We're looking at God's heart for

the nations of the world. And in Acts 1, here's

how Luke describes the final conversation the

disciples had before Jesus ascended to heaven.

It says, But you will receive power when the

Holy Spirit has come upon you. Key verse now.

And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem

and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the

remotest parts. Now, last Sunday, we focused

on that first grouping of people at the end,

Jerusalem and Judea. We looked at God's heart

for the Jewish people, and we covered everything

from Jesus' purpose, his mission on earth, all

the way to modern -day Israel. Today, we're going

to turn our attention to the second group of

people that you see in that verse, the Samaritans,

which raises a question perhaps you've never

thought about asking this question ever before.

Why is Samaria mentioned in that verse? Why did

God choose to put Samaria smack dab in the middle

of that statement? Knowing what we know about

the people who lived in Samaria in the first

century, it seems a little bit strange. Why not

just say it this way? You will be my witnesses

beginning in Jerusalem and to the ends of the

earth. But he puts that phrase in there and Samaria.

In fact, from a Jewish perspective, That little

phrase, and Samaria, would have been quite shocking.

Does that mean that God actually has a heart

for Samaritans? Could they somehow be included

alongside Jews in the kingdom of God? Those would

have been real questions back in the day. We

talk about God reconciling people to himself,

people from every race, tribe, and tongue, but

seriously, Samaritans? Is that possible? And

before you even scoff at that question, let me

challenge you. Is there any group of people today

who you've come to believe are not worthy of

consideration because you think they're beyond

God's saving grace? I'll ask it again. Is there

any group of people today who you've come to

believe are not worthy of consideration because

you have judged that they are somehow beyond

God's saving grace? It's an important question.

We'll come back to that at the end, so save that

thought. Let's start with this question. Who

are the people of Samaria that are mentioned

in this verse? Why would it have been so shocking

to a Jew that the gospel mission would somehow

be directed to them? Well, in the first century,

the land of Samaria was just to the north of

Judea. It was the region located between Judea

and Galilee. This is a great excuse for what?

A map, of course. Good. So a couple things. to

get yourself oriented. Every time we look at

a map of Israel, if you're new, sorry, we do

this a lot. Maps are helpful for you visual learners,

which I am. The first thing you do when you look

at a map of Israel, you see north and south,

but you see the two bodies of water, right? In

the north, it's the Sea of Galilee. In the south,

good, it's the Dead Sea. So we get that first.

Then we go to, that is the region we call Galilee,

okay? Upper Galilee, Lower Galilee. Then you

have Judea and Samaria, this big, is that an

orange color? Sort of orange, right? With the

blue dot, which is Jerusalem. Good. All right.

Now, we tend to view Judea and Samaria as separate

territories. From a Roman perspective, they were

seen as one administrative district. In fact,

if you look again at that Acts 1 passage, you

see that even Luke, the author of Acts, lumps

them together as Judea and Samaria. And that's

because those two regions are traced back to

the ancient Semitic kingdoms. We have Judah in

the south with the capital of Jerusalem and Israel

in the north whose capital city was called Samaria.

Exactly, very good. So the traditional boundary

line for Samaria runs about what you see on the

map there. On the west side, it's north of Jaffa.

On the east side, it's north of Jericho. So that's

generally the boundary that we see. And the red

dot there is the ancient location of Samaria.

So the people we know as Samaritans in the New

Testament were the people of that northern kingdom,

which was conquered in the year 722 BC. By the

Assyrians. That's very important to know. The

Assyrians, when they conquered Samaria, when

they conquered that region, they deported a large

percentage of the Israelite population, took

them completely out of the land, and then they

imported a bunch of their citizens from the area

of Mesopotamia. And over time, there became a

natural mixing of the gene pool. Remnants from

the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh

who were in that area, who remained in the land,

they found themselves intermarrying and having

children with all these new settlers from Assyria

and Babylon. And what came out of that over hundreds

of years was a very distinct ethnic and religious

community. Now in 586 BC, the southern kingdom

of Judah, along with Jerusalem and the temple,

it fell to the Babylonians. And soon after that,

when Judea fell under Persian rule, that's when

we see the beginning of tensions flare up between

the Jews in the south and this new ethnic group

to the north of them in Samaria. Because in 539

BC, a remnant of Judah's people came back to

Jerusalem. They'd been in exile in Babylon. They

came back and they began to rebuild the temple

and the city walls. And they bumped up against

all kinds of opposition. One of the groups that

opposed the rebuilding in Jerusalem were the

Samaritans. Now, initially they offered to help

with the construction, believing that they were

somehow brothers in Judaism, but because of who

they were and what they believed, Judah's leadership

rejected their offer. So they turned around,

they became a thorn in the side of leaders like

Nehemiah and others who were trying to rebuild

Jewish life in the land. Now, the second temple

in Jerusalem was finished in 516. And it's around

the year 450 that the people of Samaria formalized

their separation from Israel by building a temple

of their own near the city of Shechem on a place

called Mount Gerizim. Now, why would they do

such a thing? Well, it's important to understand

the Samaritans believed that they were the legitimate

heirs of Judaism. They believed they were the

preservers of the true faith. Based on the fact

that God gave Jerusalem over to the Babylonians,

they saw that as a sign that Yahweh had rejected

Jerusalem, had rejected that temple. And that

Mount Gerizim, not Mount Moriah, was the correct

location for worship. They believed that Moses

intended Mount Gerizim to be the place of worship

all along, and that Jerusalem had been a mistake.

If you go to Israel today, you'll see this picture

of these two mountains with the city of Shechem

right in the middle of it. What you see there

is Mount Gerizim on the left and Mount Ebal on

the right. So the Samaritans pointed to Deuteronomy

27 to make their case. In that chapter, God instructs

six of the tribes of Israel to go up on Mount

Ebal and the other six to go up on Mount Gerizim

and curses. For disobedience were placed on which

mountain? Abel. And blessings for obedience were

placed on Mount Gerizim. Thus, they figured Mount

Gerizim was the place of blessing, not Jerusalem.

And this became the location where they not only

worshipped, but practiced animal sacrifice. A

whole priesthood, everything that... Israel was

doing in Jerusalem, they duplicated with their

own spin on it on Mount Gerizim. Now you can

only imagine what the Jews thought of this. They

looked at that temple, they looked at that people

as a monstrosity, as a defilement. And so during

the intertestamental period around the year 120

BC, when the Jewish Hasmonean kings were sitting

on the throne in Jerusalem, one of those kings

by the name of John Hyrcanus decided the time

had come to end that monstrosity. And he took

his army and he marched into Samaria and he tore

down the Samaritan temple. He razed it to the

ground, killed hundreds of Samaritans. And of

course, that made the hostility between these

two groups even worse than it was previously.

So if you go up on Mount Gerizim and Oak Hill,

we went up there in 2017. I took this picture.

That's the view from Mount Gerizim looking down

into Shechem and across the way at Mount Ebal.

And then if you, we did not do this, but you

can go to the ruins. Those are the ruins of the

Samaritan temple that still exist on Mount Gerizim.

You can look at it. Now, besides the temple,

what else did the Samaritans believe? Well, they

accepted only the Pentateuch. Only the first

five books of the Bible and only with certain

alterations which fit their particular historical

and ethnic situation. They completely rejected

the prophets, rejected the writings. They also

had their own unique interpretation of the festivals

of Israel and the food laws. And they believe

not in a Jewish Messiah, but in their own messianic

figure, a man they call the Teheb, which is the

Aramaic word for restorer. And he was said to

be the true fulfillment of the promise in Deuteronomy

18, where there's a promise that in the future,

a prophet like Moses would be sent by Yahweh.

They believe they had their own guy for that.

And they believe that he would come back to earth

someday and he would restore proper worship on

Mount Gerizim, that he would reveal sacred, secret,

mystical vessels from Moses. And he would usher

in this great time of peace, even raise people

from the dead. So they had a parallel theology

going on up on Mount Gerizim. So, as you might

imagine, first century Jews would have had a

strong opinion about their neighbors to the north.

And it's not a good opinion. First, about their

ethnicity. They're not fully Jewish. They're

not fully Gentile. And as proud Jews, that means

they are half -breeds. Not a pleasant term, right?

But that's the way they were looked at. Secondly,

obviously, their religion was blasphemous. So

in Jesus' day, then, as you read the Gospels,

the Samaritans are viewed as outsiders to be

completely avoided. In fact, in some writings,

you see that Samaritans are considered worse

than Gentiles, if you can imagine such a thing.

So an observant Jew, it was so bad they wouldn't

even step foot on Samaritan lands. If they had

to travel between Galilee and Judea, they would

cross the Jordan River and completely go around

Samaritan lands so as to not, quote, defile themselves.

This is the situation. By the way, modern day

update on the Samaritan people, they still exist.

They still exist. Despite the odds, they have

found a way to endure over the centuries. They

were at one time a sizable nation, you guys,

with a mighty army. But after persecution from

the Jews and persecution from the Arabs and persecution

from the Byzantine Christians and persecution

from the Ottoman Turks, their numbers have dwindled.

They're down to about 900 people today. The Israeli

government actually marked them out as a religious

minority back in 1954 and gave them protected

status. And so they still meet today. One group,

there's one group of several hundred that meet

in a small district outside of Tel Aviv. And

the other group lives together in a village in

the West Bank, the city of Nablus, which was

the ancient city of Shechem. And they still,

to this day, go up on Mount Gerizim three times

a year, including Passover, in order to worship.

In fact, here's a picture of them doing exactly

that. The Samaritans still exist. Okay, that

was a great excuse for maps and pictures. Thank

you for putting up. No, it's good to set the

context so you know. These are real people. These

are real people that God looks down on. He sees

their hearts. He sees their souls. And we should

as well. So let's come back to our Advent theme

then, a savior for the nations. Now, before we

talk about whether God has a heart for the Samaritans,

let's talk more generally about God's nature

when it comes to various people groups. Three

things have to be set up as a basis for understanding

how God approaches salvation. And the first thing

is this, listen to how he describes his own character

to Moses in Exodus 34. He says, Yahweh, Yahweh

El, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger

and abounding in loving kindness and truth, who

forgives iniquity, transgression and sin, yet

he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

That's the first thing we have to know about

God in salvation. He is a God who is perfectly

balanced in his attributes. compassionate, gracious,

loving, truthful, merciful. That's all true,

but also entirely just when it comes to dealing

with sin. Those who transgress his law will be

punished, he promises. And we should know that.

Second thing, God's standards for holiness and

justice don't change from one people group to

another. The standard is the same. Very simply,

Paul says in Romans chapter two, there is no

partiality with God. There's no partiality with

God. Jew, Gentile, Samaritan, there is one standard

for all. God is not swayed by factors like ethnicity,

background, appearance, or culture. He looks

upon the heart, always. Now, this is where an

objection is often raised. People ask, well,

how can God be impartial in light of the doctrine

of election? After all, God gave the law of Moses

only to the Jews, right? Only to the Jews. We

looked at it last week. They had so many advantages.

By the way, you sometimes hear a similar objection

today. They say, well, look, you and I have so

much access to the Bible and to Bible tools,

but other people in other countries don't have

that same access. So how can God be impartial?

Well, the good news is Paul addresses this question.

In Romans 2, in the very next verse, verse 12,

he says this. For all who have sinned without

the law, meaning non -Jews, they will perish

without the law. And all who sin under the law,

meaning Jews, they will be judged by the law.

With God, there's no partiality. On the judgment

day, the question will not be how much of the

law or how much of the Bible did you possess

and know? That will not be the question. The

question will be in view of how little or how

much you possessed and knew, how did you respond

and how did you live? Let me say it again. In

view of how little or how much you possessed

and knew, how did you respond and how did you

live? That's how we will all be judged. Paul

goes on to say in the next few verses that while

the Gentiles didn't receive the law of Moses,

they will still face a judgment for they, ready,

instinctively do the things of the law, showing

that in creation God has written the work of

the law on our hearts, on our consciences. Paul

says they all know God. Everyone knows God. They

just don't want to acknowledge him or honor him

or give him thanks. They want to fulfill their

own lustful desires. And the point of all this

is to stress that every people group and every

individual falls short of God's standard. Listen,

none of us can live up even to the demands of

our own conscience, let alone the standard that

God lays out in his word. None of us. We all

fall short. That's why we need a savior. There's

no other way. That's why the incarnation matters.

When the question is asked on the judgment day,

how did you live? Those who've trusted in Christ

will be covered by his righteousness. And those

who haven't will give an account for their life

based on their works, and it will not go well

for anyone. That's why we need the cover and

the refuge and the shelter of Christ for the

day of judgment. So all are equally accountable.

Jews, Gentiles, Samaritans, there is no partiality

with God. Here's the third thing we have to know

related to God and salvation. You ready? In both

the Old Testament and the New Testament, God

has declared this. I will have mercy on whom

I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom

I have compassion. As hard a truth as that is

for us to receive, God says it multiple times.

Salvation comes down to his sovereign grace.

It is outside of our human control, which we

hate, right? But he's declared it clearly. When

we look at the scripture and the world around

us, guess what we see? That God sovereignly chooses

to pour out his mercy and compassion on all kinds

of people. Aren't you glad? All types of people,

Jews, Gentiles, even Samaritans. In fact, it

seems that God delights in constantly surprising

us by redeeming people who, A, don't appear to

deserve it, and B, are outside of what we would

expect. God delights in that. Does he not surprise

us sometimes? Do we not sometimes look in the

mirror and we're surprised that he saved that

guy? Consider, for example, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba,

Gentile women. who are not only included in Israel's

covenant, but find themselves in the genealogy

of the Jewish Messiah. That's surprising. Consider

the people of Nineveh, sworn enemies of Israel,

to whom God sends one of his own prophets, Jonah,

with a message of repentance and salvation. That

is surprising. Consider the Roman centurion in

Matthew chapter 8. What did he do to deserve

Matthew 8 · chapter mention

a meeting with Jesus? Or Zacchaeus, a corrupt

tax collector who gets called out by the Lord.

Or Simon, one of Jesus' own inner circle who

once belonged to this violent revolutionary group

called the Zealots before he met Christ. Consider

how God transformed Saul of Tarsus. The chief

of sinners, he calls himself. For God's glory

and for the salvation of the Gentile people,

God did that work. Here's the point. God's grace

often extends beyond what we can even imagine.

And he often chooses the least likely people

to display his power and mercy. Isn't that great?

And this is true of the Samaritan people. In

Jesus' day, they were outside of Yahweh's covenant.

They were living in rebellion against him in

so many ways, rejecting his word, rejecting his

worship, rejecting his temple, all of it. They

lived in rebellion against him, and yet what

do we see in the pages of Scripture? We see Jesus,

God in the flesh, actually ministering to them.

Is that surprising? We see Peter and John confirming

their full inclusion into the early church. Surprising.

It all starts early in Jesus' public ministry

in John chapter 4. We've recently studied this

John 4 · chapter mention

story. We read that Jesus, first of all, passed

through Samaria. Just that is an exhibition of

God's grace that the Messiah is willing to walk

straight through Samaria to put his feet in Samaritan

lands when Jews were constantly going around.

And of course, it's there in the city of Sukkar

that Jesus has a revolutionary with a woman of

Samaria who's come to draw water at the well.

Being weary from the journey, the Lord sits down

alone. And when the Samaritan woman approaches,

he asks her for a drink, right? And the woman's

reaction tells us everything that we need to

know about how tense the situation was between

Jews and Samaritans. She is shocked. She says,

you, a Jew, are talking to me? And to a woman?

This is a shocking scene, and we know how the

story plays out, but have you thought about what

Jesus actually says to this sinner, this woman

of Samaria? First of all, he offers her living

water. To a woman who is historically an enemy

of the Jewish people, who is daily living as

an enemy of God, Jesus says, I can give you living

water. That's surprising, isn't it? Then he goes

on to talk about true worship. Remember the scene?

She's at the base of Mount Gerizim and she points

to the mountain. She says, we worship here. What

about Jerusalem? And Jesus shares this amazing

insight that he hasn't shared with anybody else

yet. He says, look, an hour is coming and now

is when true worshipers will worship the Father

in spirit and truth. I'm ushering in a whole

new time. This is surprising, isn't it? And then

he drops the biggest of all truths. He reveals

something he hasn't said to anybody yet, not

to the Jews, not to his own disciples. He tells

this unbelieving, rebellious idolater that he

is the Christ. He's the Messiah of Israel. Wow.

To a Samaritan woman. You guys don't understand

how shocking that is. What a big deal that is.

But what does it lead to? Do you remember where

the woman goes next? She runs into the village.

And she says, I met this guy. He knows everything.

She thinks he's a prophet, right? And as a result

of this, John reports this glorious news. Many

came out to see him. And many believed in him

because of the testimony of the woman. They believed.

They found salvation in the Jewish Messiah. These

idolaters. It gets better. The Samaritans then

plead with Jesus to stay with him. Stay with

us, they say. And he does. The Jewish Messiah.

For two days he stays with Samaritans. It's so

easy to read right past that and not understand

what's going on here. He stays with them. And

then John says many more believe because of his

word. They were saying this, we've heard for

ourselves now. We know this one is indeed the

savior of the world. What? Samaritans. And to

his stunned disciples, who must have been blown

away at this, Jesus says, listen to this now,

lift your eyes. Guys, lift your eyes and look

on the fields. They are white for harvest. Mind

blown. But lift your eyes. Does God have a heart

for the Samaritans? Yeah. It's surprising, isn't

it? Nobody's beyond God's grace when God is willing

to show mercy and compassion and save. Then there's

the lesser known story that we should know. It's

in Luke 17 where Jesus heals the 10 lepers. We

often forget that the beginning of that story,

it says Jesus was passing through Samaria again.

And he goes into this village and there's 10

leprous men. And what are they crying out for?

Mercy. They're crying out for mercy. And Jesus

heals them with the word and says, go show yourself

to the priests. And they run off. But one turns

back, right? And Luke tells us, when he saw that

he had been healed, he turned back, glorifying

God with a loud voice. And he fell on his face

at Jesus' feet, giving thanks to him. And then

Luke drops the truth bomb. And he was a Samaritan.

He was a Samaritan. Surprising. Jesus says what?

Stand up and go. Your faith has made you well.

Wow. One last example. It's an important one.

Acts chapter 8. Soon after the murder of Stephen

Acts 8 · chapter mention

and the scattering of the disciples, it says

this, those who had been scattered preached the

word wherever they went. Philip went down to

a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah

there. So you catch that? Using Jesus' example,

early on by Acts chapter eight, it's not just

we're gonna pass through Samaria, it's we're

gonna intentionally go to a city in Samaria and

preach the good news of the gospel. Intentionally.

Because God's doing a work there among that people.

Can you believe it? And it goes on to say, when

the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he

performed, they all paid close attention to what

he said, for with shrieks, impure spirits came

out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame

were healed, so there was great joy in that city.

And then just six verses later, we find that

when the apostles in Jerusalem heard this stunning

news that more people in Samaria had received

the word of God, they sent Peter and John there

to go pray for them. Surprising. But you get

the picture, right? These are dirty sinners.

Dirty sinners. Rebellious people. Idolaters.

Just as we all were once. Yes, God has a heart

for the Samaritan people. He has a place for

them in his kingdom when he is willing to extend

grace and compassion and salvation. Isn't that

great news? So what does this teach us? Let's

come back to the teaser question. that I asked

at the outset. This is important for our own

hearts. Is there any group of people today who

you've come to believe is not worthy of consideration

because they're beyond the reach of God's grace?

You don't have to say it out loud, but be honest

in your own heart. Have you judged a group of

people in that way? In other words, you view

them as a first century Jew looked at a Samaritan.

So it's not possible that they can be saved.

So why would we waste our time? It's not possible.

Muslims? Orthodox Jews? Deeply entrenched Roman

Catholics? Mormons? Men or women who are engaged

in a homosexual lifestyle? Somebody who says

they're trans? Maybe just someone from a different

race or culture than yours. Does God have a heart

for them? Or are they beyond God's reach? We

open our service by reading from 2 Corinthians

5 this morning. Listen again. From now on, Paul

says, we recognize no one according to the flesh.

No one. Even though we've known Christ according

to the flesh, yet now we know him in this way

no longer. What he means is this. We who know

Christ, we who understand what it means to be

redeemed out of a life of sin, to be freed from

that kind of slavery, we no longer view people

from a fleshly perspective. We no longer look

at them as if the physical life in this world

is all that there is. We know differently. We

look holistically. We look beyond this life.

We look beyond these earthly bodies. We now look

at eternal truths. When we see people, we think

about eternity, right? We know that if God is

willing, anyone can be saved. Paul goes on and

he says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's

a new creature. The old things have passed away.

Behold, new things have come. Now, all these

things have come from God, he writes, who reconciled

us to himself through Christ and then gave us

the ministry of reconciliation. Now, the word

reconciliation is very simple. It just means

the restoration of a relationship, bringing two

parties together. In this case, it means the

work of God through Jesus Christ by which he

restores men and women to a relationship of peace

with him. And it's from God. Did you see that

in the verse? This is the type of reconciliation

that can only come from God. God is both the

subject and the object of the work. He's doing

the reconciling and he's bringing us back to

himself. He does all the work from beginning

to end. He does the reconciling and then it comes

back to him. It's all about him. And let's be

honest, only God's creative power can explain

what's happened in our lives. Only God's creative

power. can explain the recreation of people who

once lived only for themselves and now lovingly

choose to die to themselves and live to please

God. That is not natural. That is supernatural.

Only God's power can explain anybody turning

from themselves to Christ. We're all miracles.

If you know Christ, if you're abiding in him

this morning, you are a miracle of his work.

Verse 20, therefore, because of this work of

grace that God has done. We are ambassadors for

Christ. As though God were making an appeal through

us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled

to God. So now you and I have been sent out into

the world. It's not optional, by the way. God

reconciled you to himself. He made peace between

himself and you. That's not optional now. Now

you go into the world, you're an ambassador representing

the one who saved you and sent you, and you declare

his message, not your own. And the message about

God is this. Same thing. Number one, God is compassionate

and gracious. Put it up here. God is compassionate

and gracious. He forgives sin, yet he will not

leave the guilty unpunished. Number two, there's

no partiality with God. All men and women are

held to the same standard and accountable before

him. And number three, he will have mercy on

whom he has mercy. And so as ambassadors of reconciliation,

we appeal to every person that God puts in our

path. Every person, Samaritans included. And

we say this, today is the day of salvation. Repent

of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Be reconciled to God while that door is open

to you. With urgency, we appeal to everyone.

It's an amazing thing that God has made a way

for his enemies to come and find peace with him.

He has spread his arms open wide. He's offered

an amnesty for sin. Now it's our job to make

that appeal to everyone, every type of person.

that God puts in our path. So let's finish now

with that list of people groups I mentioned.

Muslims, Orthodox Jews, Roman Catholics, Mormons,

homosexuals, trans men and women, someone from

a different race or culture than yours. Would

they be a waste of your time? Friends, guard

your heart from despising anyone. You're a child

of the King. Do not despise anyone. I know it's

hard these days. The world wants you so badly

to hate. This is the whole mission of social

media. To make you hate other groups. To pit

you against others. And your group against other

groups. But that ought not be true for anybody

that professes to know Jesus Christ. We don't

hate. We don't consider anybody according to

the flesh anymore. Because we know better. So

guard your hearts carefully. Also hear me on

this as just a balancing truth. The Bible never

teaches us to sacrifice truth in order to reach

people with the gospel. We don't water it down

to win hearts. Instead, we look to Christ as

our example. Remember, he is full of grace full

of truth, completely. That's our example. We

embody that principle in the way we think about

the people in our world. Here's why I bring this

up. Sometimes I get a sense that Christians who

love to err on the side of being gracious, they

end up living in a bubble of delusion, not taking

wicked things as seriously as they should. And

I wanna say this, collectively speaking, we can

and should think truthfully truthfully about

things that we know are wrong. We should think

truthfully about things that we know are damaging

to people's bodies and souls. We should think

rightly about those things. I'm talking about

thinking rightly about false religions and false

ideologies and false lifestyles. If they stand

in opposition to the truth of God's word, we

are obligated to think of them in those terms.

They are false and they are damaging. So in my

heart, I know the following statement is true.

Are you ready to be shocked? In my heart, I know

this is true. Islam is a religion started by

warlords, pedophiles, and idolaters. And as an

ideology, it's a scourge upon the world. I can

think that because that's provable fact. I know

this as well. Mormonism is nothing more than

a preposterous fable that ultimately teaches

a false gospel that cannot save. And I know this,

living out a homosexual lifestyle is disordered,

unnatural, unhealthy, and an affront to the living

God. I know those things are true. But having

said that, what does scripture tell me to do

when God puts before me a Muslim? Or a Mormon?

Or a homosexual? What am I to do? I don't forget

the truth. I don't forget the truth about what

they believe or what they're engaged in. That

doesn't change. But in that moment, there's a

few things I have to remember. I have to remember

Jesus' own words first. He said, it's not the

healthy you need a doctor, but the sick. Amen?

I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

I have to remember that. I have to remember that

I once was just as sinful and as far from God

as they are now. It's a different sin. But I

was just as far from God as this person sitting

before me right now. I have to remember that

nobody is beyond God's reach if he wills that

that person be saved and brought into the kingdom.

So there's always hope, right? If God wills it.

And I remember that truth from Romans 2. And

this is so important, that everybody has the

law of God written on his or her heart. Now,

whether they're suppressing that truth in their

own righteousness, it's possible. But the fact

that the law has been written on their heart

means there's always a possibility that I can

connect with that person on some level and be

able to share the gospel. And the fact is either

God has prepared them to be drawn to the truth

or he hasn't, and that's going to ultimately

determine the outcome of my conversations. What's

my job? To see them rightly. and to be faithful

to share my faith. That's it. But I've got to

consider them. I can't say, well, I know what

type of person you are, and you know what? This

isn't worth my time. You're too far gone. You're

too far gone. This is a waste of my resources.

Can't do that. So it doesn't depend on us. It

doesn't depend on our answers or our eloquence.

It depends on God who has mercy and therefore

we can be hopeful whenever we share our faith

and that's all we have to do is to be faithful

and simply focus on balancing grace and truth.

Does that make sense? So my encouragement for

each of you this Christmas is to consider the

Samaritans of the New Testament. Consider doing,

setting aside some time to do a little bit of

heart work. in your spare moments, to ask some

really good questions before the Lord in prayer.

Do I need to repent of any unbiblical attitude

that I've had about some group of people or even

some individual within a group of people? Have

I written them off as too far gone, beyond God's

reach? Do I need to repent of that? Do I need

to work on turning my heart towards having more

compassion? Or having a greater desire to share

my faith with somebody that God has put in front

of me recently. I've recognized that, but I haven't

been faithful. Do I need to start praying more

often that God would give me eyes to see the

way he sees people? Friends, God has told us

about the Samaritan people in scripture for a

really good reason. Because of the historical

people north of Judea, of course. but so much

more. He's given them to us as a great way to

test our own hearts towards this lost and dying

world that we live in. So let's remember the

amazing undeserved gift that we've been given.

And let's not dare withhold it from others, from

anybody. And let's follow Jesus's instruction

and let's lift our eyes and look upon the fields.

and see that the harvest is ripe when God chooses

to move. Amen? Bow your heads with me, would

you? Lord, I am grateful as I think back on this

passage in Acts 1, the fact that you... you saw

fit in your sovereignty to put that phrase and

Samaria in that verse. And that by those two

simple words, our hearts can be challenged in

2025 about our attitudes towards the people around

us. That we might, God forbid, limit your grace

and what you can do to save the people that you

are willing to save. So Father, these questions

that I just finished asking the folks, will you

remind us to meditate on these things? Do we

need to repent of unbiblical attitudes that we

have? Do we need to work on turning our hearts

towards having more compassion, a greater desire

to share our faith? Is there somebody that we

have neglected talking to because we've written

them off? Lord, give us eyes to see the people

around us. the same way you see them. And Lord,

make us faithful servants, faithful ambassadors.

Lord, we know the results are not up to us. It's

too heavy of a burden for us. Just make us faithful,

Lord. And we'll let you do what you do, God,

which is always good and always glorious. So

thank you for our time in the word this morning,

Lord. Seal these truths to our hearts and be

glorified even now as we continue to sing praises

to you. In Christ's name we pray, amen.