I heard about a preacher who once, prior to his message, invited one of his friends to come up for the scripture reading. And he announced it, it was Psalm one hundred and nineteen. No sooner had he begun than the preacher left the platform and disappeared out of the back door and the reading was still on when he returned with his sermon notes. Now you wondered what happened to Mr. Gilbert when he left the platform. and my wife when she disappeared out of the front door. You're right. I left my notes in my study Bible and brought my preaching Bible. However, I had the choice of four sermons when my wife returned because she wasn't quite sure which one was on the agenda for tonight. Let's turn to John chapter eight, shall we? John chapter eight. Again we have some very solemn words from the Lord Jesus. Verse fifteen says, Ye judge after the flesh, I judge no man. And yet, if I judge, my judgment is true. For I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. Now turn to verse forty-six, please. Verse forty-six. which of you convinceth me of sin. And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words. Ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, Say we not well, thou art a Samaritan and hast a demon. I wonder whether when you were small, when you were young, and fell out with one or some of your friends and promptly tilted your nose and turned huffily away from them and walked down the street and they began to call names after you. You never had that experience. Oh, you did. Do you remember what you shouted back? sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." It wasn't always true, was it? Because you didn't always like the names and sometimes you very much dislike them. Isn't it an amazing thing that the God of heaven should have permitted angry, totally unjustified men to spit out this epiphate, thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil. Now you know that it's written in the Scriptures, falling from the lips of a woman. The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Now it was because of what had gone before in their history that the Jews hated the Samaritans and vice versa. But there was a time when certain of the Jews came back from the captivity to try to build the walls of the city that the Samaritans wanted to come and help them. But they despised them and drove them off and didn't want their help. So many, many, many years had gone by and yet the hatred and bitterness still remained. Would you turn with me please to Luke chapter ten? Luke chapter ten. Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. Thou art a Samaritan. Look at verse thirty-three, will you? You know the story. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, He had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him. And whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. And that, after this, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead." And by chance there came down a certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. Thou art a Samaritan. doesn't seem such a bad name after all, does it? Let's turn to John chapter four. And once again, you're very familiar with the story. The story is very familiar to you. Let's read verse seven, shall we? Jesus was weary and sat on the web. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. I'd like to read the whole story to you, but I'm not going to read all of it. The woman answered a question of the Lord Jesus, who said, Go, call thy husband and come hither, by saying, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that saidst thou truly, the woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Go a little further down and see what it says. Verse twenty-five, the woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah's cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee, am he. Verse twenty-eight, the woman then left her water-pot, and went her way into the city and said to the men, Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? She's only just met him, and she's evangelizing already. That Samaritan gets to be a better term every time we read. let's go back again to chapter four of John we're still in chapter four of John well that's fortunate now let's look at verse thirty nine verse thirty nine and many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified he told me all that ever I did so when the Samaritans were come unto him they bestowed him that he would tarry with them, and he abode there two days, and many more believed because of his own word, and said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. It gets better and better. Let's go back to Luke chapter seventeen, shall we? Luke chapter seventeen and read just verse sixteen. Verse fifteen. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks and he was the Samaritan. Thou art a Samaritan and they spat it out but they did not realize that the time would come when we would be able to take the Samaritan and picture with him the Messiah that they said they wanted so much to see. Now the first is the story of a Samaritan on a court. The second is the story of a Samaritan by a system. The third is the story of a group of Samaritan at a crisis. And the fourth is the story of a Samaritan with a conscience. Of course the first is the story of the good Samaritan. The second is the story of the woman at the well. The third is the story of the men who through her met the Lord Jesus. And the last one is, of course, the story of the grateful leper. Jesus said, Were there not ten cleansed, yet only one comes back to say thank you. and remember he was a Samaritan. Now there are many Old Testament references to Samaria and the Samaritans, many of them, but there are only nine in the New Testament. Three of them refer to the cities or the villages of the Samaritans. One is that statement of the woman The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. And there's another one which says, Thou art a Samaritan, that nasty epithet intended to be by the Jews who were so irate. And four for our study. Now in these four, one's a parable, and the other three are incident. Now actually I think that the first one, the parable of the Good Samaritan, may well have been an incident as well as a parable. It is quite likely that it is a true story like the other three. when some of us were in the Holy Land not so very long ago we passed by the hill of Samaria it was purchased by a man named Omri and the capital city of Samaria had been Shechem today it's called Nablus and we were in that city but Omri purchased this three hundred foot high hill lying from east to west in an oblong fashion. And you know what Samaria means? It means watch. It was an excellent place to put a city and thereafter that became the capital, if you will, of Samaria. And it became, of course, a fortress. and was besieged many more times than one. Now we passed by the hill, although it was actually on our itinerary, and I was very sorry that the folk were not able to climb the hill and look at what had been uncovered on the top of that hill. When you go up there, you go through a huge gate in ruins and yet much of it there, a huge gate that led into the city. It was a gate, incidentally, in which a man who had poo-pooed the idea of the prophet was trampled to death, a very interesting place to see. And then you traveled up a road where there are pillars, all the way up, and when you get to the top, there are the ruins the steps of Ahab's palace and if you dig just a little you can actually find slivers pieces of ivory for he had an ivory covered palace wonderful reminder of the veracity the truth the authenticity of the scriptures as the word of God now Samaria on the map lay like this. South of it was Judea with of course Jerusalem. North of it was Galilee. To the west of it was the Mediterranean Sea and to the east the River Jordan. Beyond the River Jordan was the province of Perea and Jews never traveled through Samaria when they wanted to get to Galilee. They crossed the river, they went up the other side of the river, and they came back into Galilee having taken the long way round, but they never met a Samaritan on the way, and that was the reason why they went that way. Now our first story is the story of an arms giving. and more than that. Two pence given to the host. Take care of him. Whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. I suppose if the story was being dramatized, the very first thing we would hear would be the sound of a clippity clop and a clippity clop of a donkey coming down the road. I don't know whether this man who traveled from Jerusalem to Jericho rode on a donkey. I don't know whether he walked. He had quite a long walk. And as he walked, he passed sea level. Sometimes our guides on the buses facetiously say to us, will you please make sure that your windows are tightly closed because in just a moment or two you'll see a marker at the side of the road which says sea level and thereafter we shall be travelling below sea level. You see you go down toward the dead sea. This is the story of an arms giving. When I come again. Obviously the Samaritan passed that way fairly regularly. And so maybe the innkeeper knew him and certainly trusted him and took care, I'm sure, of the man that was left so wounded and hurt in his care. The good Samaritan. Thou art a Samaritan. Listen. When others pass by, he pauses. That's just like the Lord Jesus. That's just like the Lord Jesus. When everybody else seems to be so taken up with their own affairs, and when you're raw and bleeding and hurt, and others just pass by, they may even just pass the time of day and take a good look at you and think you're not looking very well, but they... They haven't got time for a conversation and to just move on their way. Not the good Samaritan and not the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus pauses. There's a need here. There's somebody hurt here. There's someone who needs tenderness. There's somebody who needs kindness. There's somebody who needs a remedy. how like the Lord Jesus, this Samaritan. Thou art a Samaritan, they spat out. He was very much like this one. When others pass by, he pauses. When others shrug, he ministers. The priest, he didn't want to get defiled. Saw the man, but be the hasty, I was going to say retreat, I suppose it was. As far as the victim was concerned, the other fellow he came and actually looked at him, saw the blood, he didn't like blood, and heard the groans, and I hope they stayed with him a long time. I really hope they did. The good Samaritan, he came where he was. He got off his coat, he got off his donkey, and he washed his wounds. and he poured in oil and wine. Thou art a Samaritan. I don't think that's so bad after all, do you? When others pass by, he pauses. He sees the need. He knows the need. He has a yearning toward the victim. When others shrug and go on their way, he gets down on his knees and he pours in oil and wine. How like the Lord Jesus. As soon as he sees your need, he's there beside you. The trouble is, you know, sometimes we will not let the Lord Jesus minister to us. Sometimes we're even not conscious of how much we're hurting. Sometimes we don't realize how great our need is, but he does. He not only pauses, he comes where we are and he kneels beside us. He wants so much to help us in our need. And when others fail, this man rescues. And so it is with the Lord Jesus. He will never pass by. He will not only come and minister. He will actually rescue us. He's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. While I was at Keswick, three days in a row, my wife and I spent hours in the hospital with Jack Klingon on his strike of bed. Every hour or two they turned him. And then he would have to look down while we talk to him. When he was turned up the other way, he couldn't talk to us back. He was too badly injured. He still cannot move an arm or a leg. He still cannot breathe by himself. He still has an infection. The news this morning was it was down a little. So God is answering your prayers. And God can work a miracle for this man. But you know what his wife told me this morning? She said, I prayed in his ear, and together we told the Lord, we are perfectly willing and content, hard at it as it is, to accept his will whatever it may be. I think that was wonderful, and that makes it so much easier for her. because we don't know yet what's going to happen. Let's go to the next Samaritan. And this is, of course, a Samaritan woman. A Samaritan by a system. Now, this is a story of truth-giving. The first was arms-giving. This is truth-giving. And it's not welcome to begin with. It's not welcome to begin with. When this woman speaks to the Lord Jesus the very first time, I'm sure she's talking to him very sarcastically. When she speaks to him the second time, I'm sure she's speaking to him sarcastically. The first time when he says, give me to drink. She says, how is it that you ask drink of me? I'm a Samaritan. Jews don't have any dealings with the Samaritans. And the second time after he said to her, If thou knewest who it is that to ask us drink of thee, thou wouldest ask of him, and he'd give you living water. She says, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So it is. It's very deep. Still, Jacob drank from that well. And the woman sat or stood at that well as Jesus sat on it. Members of my party have also drunk from that well, although I never will. But however, it's deep. That's why it's remained there. Do you know how the story begins? He must need to go through some area. not through Perea, not across the Jordan twice and up the other side. He must needs go through Samaria. Now there are five things here that occur to me, and I'm going to be very fast about them. First of all, the Lord Jesus chose an unpopular road. Jews didn't travel this road. This was Samaria. but he says he must needs go through Samaria the Lord Jesus was led by an uncommon urge he must needs go you know what that urge was don't you he knew that there was a woman she wasn't lying wounded and bleeding as a result of being fed upon by thieves like the man in our first story but she is at the well or coming to the well or going to come to the well not even on her way when the Lord Jesus starts his journey which is quite a journey there is something that is pressing him on and driving driving him that way he must need go through Samaria not only chose an unpopular road but he was led or driven by an uncommon urge it was love for one sinner I wonder whether we are ever driven by an urge like that I had a story for you there but I better not take time to tell it to you but there are those you know who say God helping me, I will not let a single day pass without I witness for the Lord Jesus, without I tell somebody about him. That's the kind of urge that drove the Lord Jesus on. He must needs go through Samaria. Now he was going to meet an unhappy woman She must have been totally dissatisfied. Husband number one didn't satisfy her. Husband number two did no better, no three, no four, no five. And in the end she gives up marriage and she's living with a man she's not married. She must have been an unhappy woman. And he's headed for an unlikely conversation. How is it that thou being a Jew askest water of me that I'm a woman of Samaria? You know, when his disciples came back, they wondered, it says, that he talked with her. That's where the emphasis is. Anybody else wouldn't be so surprising, but her. A very unlikely conversation. But he was about to bestow an unparalleled gift. And praise God in spite of all her sin, she got it. And she went back to the men. She couldn't talk to the women. They wouldn't listen. She went back to the men and she witnessed for the Lord Jesus. Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did is not this, the Christ. A Samaritan by a system. A story of truth giving. and of truth receiving too. The next is a story about these Samaritan men, men at a crossroads, men who have listened to what a woman said, about a man who told her everything she did, and my they are astounded. We find that there was some who believed her word. without even seeing him, were prepared to accept that witness. And then there were others, and they came, and they said, We hesitated to believe you, but now we've seen him. He's the Messiah. He's the Savior of the world. And there they are, they are face to face with a crisis. They're at a crossroads. You read again the story and you'll find it says they came, and you'll find it says they besought, and you'll find that it says they believed. They came to Jesus and they said, please don't leave us. We want to spend more time in your company. We want to be able to enjoy your presence. Please stay. And so he did stay for two whole days. I'm sure it didn't seem very long to the Samaritans. But these were the men who not only came and besought him, but they believed on him and said he's the Savior of the world. And the crisis, they came through the crisis with flying colors and with Christ as one accepted into their lives. The last one is the Samaritan with a conscience. one man out of ten who was cleansed of his leprosy I'd like you just for the last moment or two to turn back again to this story in Luke chapter seventeen Luke chapter seventeen I'm not going to read the whole story to you again but I just want you to read with me the end of the story verse fifteen we read it before and one of them when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks, and he was a Samaritan, and Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God. save this stranger. How can he be a picture of the Lord Jesus? I don't think it's difficult. He was grateful. You know, the Lord Jesus in the story was grateful too. It's true that he drew attention to the nine that didn't come back. but as he draws attention to the one who did, his heart goes out to him in appreciation that he at least came back. Do you know that that is not the end of the story? Listen. Jesus said unto him, Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee. Now, I don't want to be dogmatic here, but I have a firm conviction that when the end of the story comes, the nine men who have gone on their way cleansed reached their destination cleansed, but only one out of the ten had malformed limbs or members restored to it. I think that gratitude paid off for this man. When the lepers were cleansed, so they could go and show themselves to the priest and get back into society, maybe they went minus fingers. Maybe they went minus toes. Maybe they went with still the scars of leprosy on them, though the disease was cleansed. And they were able again to mix with their family and their friends. But Jesus says to this one man, Thy faith hath made thee whole. And I think that's a step further from just being cleansed. And I may be way out in left field. But that's how it strikes me occurs to me. Three things, and I'm through. First of all, notice the striking ratio here. Nine to one. I think that that's probably a good ratio for today. In fact, I think it may be optimistic. I'm sure it's optimistic. So many people take and take and take and take and take for granted what they take and never come back to say thank you. You're always surprised when you see somebody, unless it's at Morrison's in Gainesville, bow their heads and give thanks for their meal. It happens in Mr. Max too because I've seen it. But you notice it because while they do it, nobody else does. Taking everything for granted. Here the ratio was nine to one. I'm sure it's much more in our world of today. I want you to notice the personal crisis of this man. He's gone with the other nine. How far he gets? I don't know. But suddenly he looks and realizes that his leprosy is cleansed. There's been a change, and he looks at his fellows, and his fellows look at him, and then I can see them dancing a jig in the middle of the highway there. If there was a highway, we're clean, we're clean. We can go back. As they went, God tested their faith. As they went, they were cleansed, and I don't know how far the Lord Jesus let them go before their leprosy was cleansed. But then came the personal crisis. we ought to go back well it would be very nice to do that the these others say perhaps but let's face it you're a Samaritan we are Jews we deserve this we ought never to have had in the first place for you you're a Samaritan he turns around and and turns his back on the nine and makes his way back to the Lord Jesus so that he can say Thank you. But it was a personal crisis. He did have a decision to make and not an easy one. Believe me, if he had continued on the road with those other nine, if he had made the other decision, they would very soon have booted him out of the company. Disease as a way of making for strange bedfellows. These were lepers. That's how come a Samaritan was allowed with this group. They had a common denominator. They were lepers. But now they were cleansed lepers. They would soon have booted him out of the group. They would soon have found no place for him. You're a Samaritan, be on your way. We don't have any dealings with you. But he didn't wait for that. He came back. And the last thing I've already mentioned, I think there was a further blessing for this leper. because the Lord Jesus is like that. Shall we pray? Our Father, we want to thank thee again for these wonderful stories. How often we read them and how familiar they sound as we hear them. And yet, O Lord, we thank thee that they come to our hearts with freshness, There's always something that thy Spirit can teach us. And we ask that tonight something might have encouraged our hearts and blessed us as we think, as we realize that that which was meant to be an epiphate really turned out for the Lord Jesus to be a compliment. For the only four stories that are recorded of Samaritans are these. Lord, we ask that our hearts shall be spoken to. We thank thee for the privilege of being here in Jesus' name. Amen.