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
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
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
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.