INTRODUCTION-- About the time of the reign of Hezekiah, the great reformer King of Judah, the armies of Assyria swarmed over the northern kingdom of Israel, and, because of its descent into the abominable practices of pagan idolatry, carried it away captive.

1. Some of the Jews that were left around Samaria were integrated with the nationalities brought in by the King of Assyria, and they became a mixed race.
   
2. Many of them still held to the perversions of the Law of Moses introduced by Jeroboam, the first king of the breakaway tribes, even until the time of Jesus.
   
3. During the life of Jesus on earth, the Samaritans occupied a province between Judea on the south, and Galilee on the north, both occupied mostly by Jews.

    

LESSON--

1. Because the Samaritans were a mongrel race, they were hated by the Jews.
   
   1. The Law of Moses prohibited any mixing with other peoples (Deuteronomy 7:1-5),

2.Samaritans, who were only part Jew, were despised.

1. Because of Jewish hatred for Samaritans, their name was used as an insult.
   
   1. The epithet was used against Jesus. John 8:46-49 "Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? 47 He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God." 48 The Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" 49 Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me."
      
      1. It may not be significant, but Jesus did not deny that He was a Samaritan, only that He did not have a demon.
         
      2. He did say that what the Jews called him dishonored Him.
         
   2. Jesus would not allow His disciples to preach among the Samaritans. Matthew 10:5-6 "These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: 'Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; 6 but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'"
      
      1. To a Gentile woman who begged His mercy, Jesus said that He was sent only to "the lost sheep of the house of Isreal." Matthew 15:24
         
      2. Paul confirmed that the purpose of God was to give the Jews the first opportunity to respond to the Gospel. Romans 1:16
         
   3. Yet, Jesus showed in His teaching that it was not bad to be a Samaritan.
      
2. A wicked Samaritan woman found great joy in meeting and learning from the Messiah, Jesus. John 4:1-29 ....When the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), 3 He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. 4 And He had to pass through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6 and Jacob's well was there.
   

   So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus *said to her, "Give Me a drink." 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." 11 She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 "You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?" 13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." 15 The woman *said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw."
   

   16 He said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." 17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I have no husband'; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly." 19 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jeru-salem will you worship the Father. 22 "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
   

   25 The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." 26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He." 27 At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do You speak with her?" 28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, 29 "Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; could it be that this is the Christ?" (WE SHOULD BE EARNEST, LIKE THIS SAMARITAN!)
   

3. Of ten lepers whom Jesus healed, only one returned to thank him and glorify God, and he was a Samaritan. Luke 17:11-19 While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; 13 and they raised their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" 14 When He saw them, He said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they were going, they were cleansed. 15 Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, 16 and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine- where are they? 18 "Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?" 19 And He said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has made you well." (WE SHOULD BE AS THANKFUL AS THIS SAMARITAN FOR THE CLEANSING OF OUR SPIRITUAL LEPROUSY!)
   
4. To fulfil the "royal law," to "love thy neighbor as thyself" (James 2:8), we should learn the character of a neighbor from the parable of Jesus in Luke 10:25-37 A lawyer stood up...saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eter-nal life?" 26 And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" 27 And he answered, "You shall love the lord your god with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." 28 And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." 29 But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30 Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.' 36 "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?" 37 And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same." (WE SHOULD BE AS READY FOR GOOD WORKS AS THIS SAMARITAN!)

    

APPEAL---Who in this audience will repent and become such a "Samaritan?"