Luke 17:11-19
AND THEN THERE WAS ONE
LIFE OF CHRIST #40
“Many years ago Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan went back to his home state to run for another term of office. He visited people in many cities and counties, shaking hands and soliciting votes. In one small town he stopped by the home of a family, each member of which he had helped in one way or another. When he told the father he’d appreciate his support in the upcoming election, the old fellow forthrightly replied, ‘I’m sorry, we’re voting for your opponent.’
“‘Well,’ I appreciate your honesty in telling me. But why can’t you vote for me?’
“‘You ain’t done nothing for me recently!’ answered the old man.” Source Unknown
There was once an immigrant shopkeeper whose son came to see him one day, complaining, ‘Dad, I don’t understand how you run this store. You keep your accounts payable in a cigar box. Your accounts receivable are on a spindle. All your cash is in the register. You never know what your profits are.’
“‘Son, let me tell you something,’ answered his dad. ‘When I arrived in this land all I owned was the pants I was wearing. Now your sister is an art teacher. Your brother is a doctor. You are a CPA. Your mother and I own a house and a car and this little store. Add that all up, and subtract (the cost of) the pants, the rest is profit.’”
It is very easy for us to forget to be grateful to God for the great kindnesses that He has shown us. We should be grateful for our salvation, our families, our homes, our food, our clothes, our friends, our church our answers to prayer, and so many other things.
As we continue our studies in the Life of Christ, our Lord Jesus has again left the Jerusalem metropolitan area where He had raised Lazarus from the dead. The leaders in that area wanted to kill him. Evidently he made one last trip in Galilee before heading back to Jerusalem to die. It is on this trip that ten lepers approach our Lord Jesus.
In this little story we find only one who was truly grateful to the Lord Jesus for all that He had done. In Luke 17:11-19 we find that there were:
TEN HURTING, TEN HEALED – Vss. 11-14
ONE GOING, ONE GRATEFUL – Vss. 14-16
THREE STATEMENTS, ONE SAVED – Vss. 17-19
TEN HURTING, TEN HEALED – Vss. 11-14
Vss. 11-12 – Jesus was traveling in area close to the border of Galilee and Samaria. The name of the village is not important.
Jesus came upon ten men who were hurting because of the dreaded disease called leprosy.
According to the Wycliffe Bible encyclopedia, in the Old Testament leprosy refers first of all, to a scaly condition of human skin and inanimate objects, and secondly to a human disease which is sometimes serious.
The leper in Israel was by ceremonial law, ostracized from others. It is not surprising that the lepers were in a group of ten. The only ones they could associate with safely were other lepers. Leprosy was considered a serious disease, and these lepers were separated from their families, their friends and their jobs. This is why they stood afar off.
These people were hurting. Leprosy is a picture of sin.
Every one of us is hurt by the leprosy of sin.
· Before there was sin there were no broken relationships.
· Before there was sin there were no murders.
· Before there was sin there was no stealing or lying.
· Before there was sin there was no bitterness.
· Before there was sin there was no disease or death.
· Before there was sin there was no separation from God.
Isaiah 64:6 - But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
And even those of us who have been forgiven of our sins and are headed for Heaven still experience hurts. I venture to say that there isn’t a person in this room who isn’t experiencing a hurt of some kind this morning. We can certainly relate to these 10 who were hurting.
Notice that these ten men hurting became ten men healed. These men stood afar off, because ceremonial law said they had to. It reminds how sin has separated us from God.
Isaiah 59:1-2 - Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: [2] But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Vs. 13 – They raised their voices to the Lord Jesus and called Him “Master”, which means “chief commander”.
How appropriate.
· As master the winds and waves obey him.
· He could multiply five loaves and two fishes into a banquet for 5,000.
· He could cast out demons, raise people from the dead, and heal all disease.
· In fact, we are told that Jesus holds everything in this old world together.
Colossians 1:17 - And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
They cried out to the Lord Jesus for mercy. Usually when we cry for mercy, we are crying for something we don’t deserve. Probably, we all have given and received human mercy.
Vance Havner - My wife and I were taking a bus trip through the mountains, and the bus broke down right in front of a hillbilly grocery store. The woman there had never been anywhere else much. My wife said, "I don't believe she knows what's going on in the world outside." I said, "Well, don't tell her. I wouldn't want the poor soul to know. Let her die in peace." -- Vance Havner, from The Vance Havner Quote Book/On This Rock I Stand. Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 16. Bible Illustrator 3.0
That was man’s mercy. Think of how much greater God’s mercy is!
Psalm 103:10-12 - He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. [11] For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. [12] As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
So these 10 hurting men cry out to the Lord for something our Lord delights to give, mercy!
Shouldn’t we follow their example? If you are not sure your sins are forgiven, call out in faith to Christ alone for mercy.
If you are a Christian and you are hurting because of sin in your life, call upon the Lord for mercy, confessing your sins.
Psalm 32:5 - I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
Perhaps you are a Christian and hurting with problems. The Lord doesn’t always make the problem go away, but he will give you’re the grace to face the problem victoriously.
Call on Him for mercy!
Jeremiah 33:3 - Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Vs. 14 – Jesus’ answer required faith. They were to show themselves to the priests.
The priest needed to declare them clean before they would be accepted back into society. They needed to believe that Jesus would heal them as they went. And He did!
We need to have that same kind of faith today. We ask God. We believe God will answer. We go our way in faith.
Mark 11:24 - Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
James 1:5-8 - If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. [6] But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
[7] For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. [8] A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
TEN HURTING, TEN HEALED
NINE GOING, ONE GRATEFUL – Vss. 14-16
As they went, I think that they were so concerned about getting on with their lives, that they it just didn’t occur to them that they should pause and be grateful.
Lack of gratitude is a common problem.
“At one time there was a radio program called ‘Job Center of the Air.’ The host said that of the 2,500 people he helped find employment, only 10 sent a thank-you note. He was surprised and somewhat hurt.”
“A retired school teacher in her eighties was overjoyed to get a letter from a former student thanking her for her role in his life. She responded immediately: ‘I can’t tell you how much your letter meant to me. You will be interested to know that I taught school for 50 years, and yours is the first not of appreciate I have ever received. It filled me with cheer.”
I don’t think that most of us are purposely ungrateful.
I do think that we are preoccupied with ourselves. We get so wrapped up in our plans that we don’t think to thank others, and worse, we don’t think to thank God!
Alexander MacLaren – “How like us all it is to hurry away clutching our blessings, and never cast back a thought to the giver.”
There were nine going, one was one grateful. Eventually this man would have gone to the priest, like the others.
Vs. 15 – But picture this. The man heads towards the priest, as instructed.
He looks down at his skin, and sees that He is healed.
He whirls around and yells, “Praise God!” at the top of his voice.
And then he runs back to Jesus, and falls down at His feet and gives him thanks.
The worship part of our service should be the exciting to us.
· From the heart we should be worshipping God for our grand salvation.
· From the heart we should be thanking God for our place in Heaven.
· From the heart we should be thanking God for His provision.
· From the heart we should be praising and thanking God for our families, our friends, and of course, answers to prayer.
So often we just go through the motions when we sing.
So often, our hearts are nowhere near the loftiness of the words which we sing.
This man, however, was grateful!
May we catch the spirit of worship in Heaven!
Revelation 4:7-11 - And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. [8] And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. [9] And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, [10] The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, [11] Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Psalm 111:1 - Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.
Listen to the words of this hymn:
Now thank we all our God,
with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
This hymn was written by “Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran minister, was in Eilenburg, Saxony, during the Thirty Years’ War. The walled city of Eilenburg saw a steady stream of refugees pour through its gates. The Swedish army surrounded the city, and famine and plague were rampant. Eight hundred homes were destroyed, and the people began to perish. There was a tremendous strain on the pastors who had to conduct dozens of funerals daily. Finally, the pastors, too, succumbed, and Rinkart was the only one left—doing 50 funerals a day.” Rinkart wrote this hymn for a grand celebration service at the end of the war. “It is a testament to his faith that, after such misery, he was able to write a hymn of abiding trust and gratitude toward God.”
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/n/o/nowthank.htm
10 HURTING, 10 HEALED
9 GOING, 1 GRATEFUL
3 STATEMENTS, 1 SAVED – Vss. 17-19
Remember that the one grateful was a Samaritan.
He was not accepted in Israel, because of his different religion.
There are 3 statements by the Lord Jesus to consider.
1. WERE THERE NOT 10 CLEANSED? – Vs. 17
Jesus knew how many were healed.
Jesus knew that all ten should be grateful.
Jesus knows who’s been helped and healed in this church
Can you imagine Jesus saying of our church, “Were not 100 helped and healed in some way this week?”
2. WHERE ARE THE NINE? – Vs. 17
Jesus asked why the others did come back to show gratitude?
I wonder how the Lord is looking for you and I to come back and show appreciation.
So often we ask for God’s blessings, and how often do we say thank you?
We have been saved from eternity in hell, and how often do we show our gratitude?
It is so easy to receive, but are you and I like the nine who do not give thanks?
3, THERE ARE NOT FOUND THAT RETURNED TO GIVE GLORY TO GOD, SAVE THIS STRANGER? Vss. 18-19
Jesus marveled that the one who did return was a stranger. He was not the same religion and yet he brought his praise.
I wonder how many times it happens that the ones who should naturally praise God, don’t, the ones who shouldn’t do!
If we are truly children of God, then we should truly praise Him!
3 Statements – Were there not 10 cleansed?
Where are the nine?
Is this stranger the only one giving glory to
God?
3 Statements – 1 Saved
Vs. 19 – Jesus tells this man to get up and go his way.
Jesus also says that this man’s faith has saved him, or made him whole.
This man’s faith went beyond faith that healed.
This man’s faith was in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am going to make a hard application here.
9 men walked away healed, but not saved.
There a lot of people who profess salvation, but never have time to praise and worship God.
I wonder how many people who profess salvation, but have no time for worship are really saved?
Gratitude, praise, and thanksgiving are the marks of a believer.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - Rejoice evermore. [17] Pray without ceasing. [18] In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
And what about you this week?
Will your life be filled with gratitude to others who have helped you?
Most important, will you life be filled gratitude to God?
Will you praise him and thank Him during the week, and any time your voice sings praise in church?
10 HURTING 10 HEALED
9 GOING 1 GRATEFUL
3 STATEMENTS ONE SAVED