Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Luke, chapter 17. Luke, chapter 17. The name of
the message is, One Came Back. One Came Back. Now, for today's
encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, we'll be looking in the
book of Luke, chapter 17, where we see 10 lepers brought forth
in the text. who all have a divine encounter
with our Lord. But there's one, only one who
came back and thanked him. Out of the 10 lepers who were
healed, only one came back and praised our great God. Only one
came back and fell at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. With
that in our minds, let us look at our text today. Luke chapter
17 verses 11 to 19. And it came to pass, as he went to
Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain
village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood
far off. And they lifted up their voices
and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said
unto them, go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came
to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. 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 answered and said,
were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There
are not found that return to give glory to God save this stranger,
and that's foreigner in the Greek. And he said unto him, Arise,
go into thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Ten lepers cleansed, and one
comes back, and of that one the Lord says, Thy faith hath made
thee whole. Now I looked into some information
about leprosy. Leprosy is a disease known to
us from ancient writings. It's in various writings from
the ancient days, as early as 600 BC. Writings are from China,
India, and Egypt. And also, it is known from some
mummified remains from Egypt. It was quite common. It was common enough in Israel
to warrant extensive regulation in the Mosaic Law of those suffering
from it and the related skin diseases which came about. And
those are spoken of in Leviticus Chapter 13 and Leviticus Chapter
14. The disease is caused by a bacterium, Mycobacterium lepire. It was discovered by a Norwegian
scientist, G. H. A. Henson, in 1873. and was
the first bacterium to be identified as a cause of a human disease. And the bacterium is communicable. It's passed through touch and
breath. It's highly contagious. Leprosy attacks the skin. the
peripheral nerves, especially near the wrists, elbows, and
knees, and mucous membrane. It forms lesions on the skin
and can disfigure the face by collapsing the nose and causing
folding of the skin, leading some to call it lion's disease
due to the resulting lion-like appearance of the face. And contrary
to popular belief, and this is something I learned because I
was always told that digits fall off and everything, it does not
eat away the flesh. It causes a loss of feeling,
supposedly, especially in the hands and feet. And people with
the disease wear away the extremities and faces unknowingly. And it horribly disfigures whoever
has it. They're disfigured. And it was
greatly feared during the time of this writing because those
who had leprosy were cast outside the cities. They were outside
the camp. And they could not come in. And
they had to go around crying, unclean, unclean, everywhere
they went. Everywhere they went. So these
poor lepers, they're not only inflicted with this disease,
but now they're social outcasts. They're social outcasts as well. They can't be with their families.
They can't be with the society that they lived with. They can't
be with their friends or anyone. They can't go to any kind of
worship. They're outcasts. They're outcasts, and they're
in the most pitiful condition in that state, in the times that
we're reading about. In this encounter with Christ,
we will look at today, it's only found once in the Bible. It's
only found in the Book of Luke. It's found nowhere else in Scripture.
Only there. And it's an event that takes
place as Jesus is heading to Jerusalem for the last time. He's traveling towards Jerusalem.
And these 10 lepers, they were excluded from the community. They were excluded from community
life. Medics and doctors wouldn't even
look at them. It was a death sentence for people.
There was nothing humanly that could be done for someone with
leprosy. As I said, it was a death sentence.
Doctors couldn't cure them. No one else could cure them.
But they're going to have an encounter. They're going to have
an encounter with the divine one, aren't they? They're going to have an encounter
with someone who's not a mere man. He's God incarnated in the
flesh. And one of them, one of them
was doubly excluded, because not only was he a leper, but
he was a Samaritan, and the Jews hated him. So he had two strikes
against him. My. And we'll see what happens
to him, though, at the end of this narrative. Let's read verse
1 again. Luke chapter 17, or I mean verse
11. And it came to pass as he went to Jerusalem that he passed
through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. So this text brings
forth that our Lord was on his way to Jerusalem. It happened around the same time
as when he had that divine encounter with blind Barimaeus. Actually,
blind Barimaeus was the last miracle that the Lord performed
before he went to the cross. And the Lord was going to Jerusalem.
Why? Well, for the purpose of laying down his life. For the
purpose of dying for the sins of his people. A sinful people. That's us, isn't
it? That's us. He was going down
to Jerusalem to lay down his life for his sheep. Scripture
says he was set like a flint. He knew he must die. And he was
heading there. He's going to lay down his life.
He's going to finish the work for which he comes. He lived
that perfect life for us, right? Now he was going to die in the
sinner's place. So he wove that perfect coat of righteousness
for us, and now he's going to finish it by dying as our great
substitute, by satisfying God's law and God's justice. See, his life and his death are
both important, aren't they? Because without his perfect life,
we wouldn't be clothed in the righteousness we're clothed in. that makes us acceptable to be
in the presence of God. And without His death, we wouldn't
be redeemed. So His life and His death are of utmost importance.
He's going there. He's going there to lay down
His life for His sheep, to finish the work for which the Father
sent Him to do. He was sent into this world to
save His people from their sins. That's the only reason He came,
to save us from our sins. And at Jerusalem, He would pour
out His life's blood. He would give his life for sinners,
burying the sins of his people in his own body on the cursed
tree. Oh, my. There the just would die for
the unjust. He would suffer a full wrath
of God as our substitute. All the absolute fury of divine
justice would be poured out upon him there for the satisfaction
of God's justice for our sins. He would pay it all, and then
at the end he would cry, it is finished. Done. Wonderful words for the believer. And he was going away to Jerusalem.
He was going to Jerusalem to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself, knowing that his people could not be saved unless
he died on Calvary's cross. All this was in his mind. He
knew he had to go. I was thinking of that scripture
this week of when the Lord was just a young boy. And he said,
I have to be about my father's business. He knew even then.
Now, he grew in wisdom and stature. We know that. But he knew why
he was sent. Oh, my. And we have offended God's justice,
haven't we? We've broken God's law. Therefore, they must be
satisfied. And that's what our Lord was
going to do. And he did it, beloved. That's the good news. God died
for me. Christ died for me. He died for sinners. The question
is, are you a sinner? All God's people say, yeah, we're
not just sinners, we're the chief. We're the chief, aren't we? My,
oh my. And there, at that appointed
time, that exact appointed time, he would die for us. See, nothing
happens by chance or by luck. At the exact appointed time that
God had foreordained, Christ died on the cross. And we didn't
even know he did it for us, did we? We were born into this world,
we had no clue that Christ died for us, did we? We grew up in
our lives, we had no clue that the Lord died for us. And then
one day, at the appointed time as well, at the appointed time,
God the Holy Spirit regenerated us and we were granted faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And now we know what he's done
for us. And we rejoice, don't we? And as I looked at it in
Sunday school, it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance,
isn't it? God did that for me, we can say as believers. So he
was going to Jerusalem for me, for you if you're a believer.
That's where he was going, to redeem our eternal souls. He's
headed to that place of sacrifice and he passed through the midst
of Samaria and Galilee, our text tells us. Why did he do that? Well, because this was the nearest
way to get from Galilee to Jerusalem, was by going through Samaria.
And our wonderful merciful redeemer had an appointment with some
folks over there. Didn't he? He had an appointment with 10
lepers. But he specifically had an appointment for one. A Samaritan. One who's hated. My. He's got an appointment. And
he's fast approaching. He's fast approaching what he
came here to do. Right? He's fast approaching
Calvary's cross. And he would not turn back, beloved.
He would not turn back. Remember? Remember, he's sweating
great drops of blood. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done, Lord. Father. And think of this. Think of this
in light. He's going to Calvary. He must
die, right? He knows he must die. Listen
to this, heaven loved his own which were in the world, he loved
us to the end. It's his love for us that drove
him there. No wonder the scripture says,
greater love hath no man than this, and the man laid down his
life for his friend. It's his love for us that drove
him to Calvary's cross. And that love's eternally being
set upon us. And we can only think of love
in a finite way, right? We love our families, we love
our Christian brothers and sisters, we love our friends, all different
kinds of love though. But this is an everlasting love.
This is an unchangeable love. This love is constant like this.
It never changes. Never changes. Let's look at
verse two now, or verse 12 now. Luke chapter 17, verse 12. And as he entered into a certain
village, there met him 10 men that were lepers, which stood
afar off. Now take note in our text, it
does not tell us the name of the village, because that's not
what's important. It could have been a large village,
could have been a small village, could have been an in-between
village, right? But that's not what's important. What's important
is that our Lord is going to do a miracle. What's important
is the scriptures are all about Christ, right? And magnifying
him. So the village is not of the
utmost importance, Christ is of the utmost importance in what
he does. Little did these villagers know.
They woke up that morning, they probably crawled out of bed that
morning, got up, cooking. Little did they know that the
Son of God was going to pass through their village. They had
no idea. No idea at all. They went about
their normal lives and had no idea that the divine power of
God would be manifest that day outside their village. No idea
at all. No idea that God incarnate in
the flesh was going to visit their village. No idea. It's like people have no idea
when the Lord's going to return, eh? No idea at all. And men and women go about just
like normal, and then they die in their sins. My, oh my. Turn, if you would, to Leviticus
chapter 13. We've seen in our text there
that our Lord was met by ten lepers, and they stood afar off,
which means they kept their distance. They were supposed to do that.
According to Leviticus chapter 13, they were actually supposed
to do that, and they were obeying the Levitical law. Leviticus
chapter 13, verses 44 to 46. He is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him
utterly unclean. His plague is in his head." So
all the priest can do, we're going to see in these texts,
all the priest can do is declare him unclean. And at the end,
we'll see, declare him, not the end of these verses, but other
verses we'll look at, declare him clean. That's all. The priest
can't help him otherwise. See the parallel there? No priest
in this world can help anyone. Right? None. None. Can't help it. And this
leprosy, remember, leprosy is a picture of sin in the scriptures.
Important for us to know that too. So no man can help us with
this leprosy except the God man. Look at this. He is a leprous
man. He is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him
utterly unclean. His plague is in his head. And the leper in
whom the plague is, His clothes shall be rent, and his head bare,
and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry,
unclean, unclean. A mask goes on him, and he cries,
unclean. All the days wherein the plague
shall be in him, he shall be defiled. He is unclean. He shall
dwell alone without the camp, shall his habitation be. He is
to dwell outside the camp, outside of all his friends and family.
Anyone he worshiped with, he has to live outside of all that.
It's a death sentence. And we see here in our text,
though, that our Lord was met, our Lord was met by 10 lepers. Look at verse 12. And as he entered into a certain
village, there met him 10 men, which were lepers, which stood
afar off. They stood off, just like Leviticus
13 there said, they had to keep their distance. Now how they heard the Lord Jesus
Christ was coming, we do not know. But they met Him there. And we know that that was by
the will of God, right? Because everything happens according
to the will of God. It wasn't chance or luck, as
the world would say. No, it was the divine purpose
of God, the will of God being brought forth. They had come
to this place seeking out the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, these
ten lepers were a community of death, weren't they? They had
no hope. They had no hope, but they must
have heard about Christ, because here they are crying to Him.
And they would have to warn everyone all around them. They would have
to say, no matter where they went, unclean, unclean, unclean,
unclean. And they would have to keep announcing
that. Every time, every time they heard
their own voices, they were constantly reminded of their awful state. It rang in their ears all the
time, of their awful condition. Now again, leprosy in the scriptures
is a picture of sin. We're all lepers by our fallen
nature. All of us. If you look at a spiritual
aspect, we're all lepers. And it's a disease that makes
a person unclean. Well, how are we unclean? By
sin. And the person suffering from
this deadly disease was pronounced unclean by the priest. Then they
were put outside the camp. Isolated from all society. And
everything the leper touched was defiled. Everything they
touched was defiled. And this leprosy corrupted their
whole being. The sins corrupted all our being. Everything we
touch is tainted with sin. Everything we do, the best thing
we do is tainted with sin. My oh my. Remember Spurgeon said,
the best sermon I preach is tainted with sin. It's true. He also
said, the best prayer I offer up to the Lord is tainted with
sin. Doesn't stop us from offering up prayers to our king, though,
does it? No, not at all. And leprosy, lepers were never
sent to a doctor. They were sent to a priest. And
again, all the priest could do was look at the condition and
declare him unclean and shut him out. The priest couldn't
do anything for the leper. They didn't even go to doctors
because the doctors couldn't do nothing for him. Again, it's
an awful, awful state that they were in. And the whole Levitical
law concerning lepers and leprosy is intended to show us The nature
and use of the law. It identifies our leprosy. It
identifies, the law identifies our sin, doesn't it? It shows
us our sinfulness. It's a schoolmaster to bring
us to Christ. It shows us our sinfulness and
we have nowhere to go but to Christ. Nowhere else. Oh, beloved of God, nothing.
Nothing but the precious, precious sin-atoning blood of Christ can
heal us from this plague of leprosy that we have. And that fountain,
when we're dipped in that fountain, man, we come up whiter than snow.
It's beautiful. It's wonderful. Think of that. Plague from leprosy from the
top of our head to the bottom of our feet. Plague with sin
from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. We come out
of that fountain of blood. Leprosy's all gone. Immediate
healing. It's good news, isn't it? Oh
my! And forgiveness of all our sins.
The ones you remember and the ones you don't remember. The
ones you know you committed and the ones you don't even know
you committed. Oh! It's the goodness of God
that leads us to repentance, doesn't it? It's so true. It's
so true. I'm going to keep trumpeting
that because it's true. Look what Christ has done for
me. Now let's read verses 13 and 14 of Leviticus chapter 17.
And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have
mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said
unto them, go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came
to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. Now, leprosy,
too, as I was reading about it, it covers the whole body. And
it disfigures the person. The skin turns black in some
areas. It's horrendous. It's absolutely
horrible. And it says here that as they
went, they were cleansed. Remember the fellow that went
down to the Jordan, dipped himself seven times? Damn. Scripture says he came out of
that water just wine. Not a one piece of leprosy on
him at all. My. These 10 lepers, what do
they cry to the Lord? They cry to him to have mercy
on them. Have mercy on me. Notice they don't cry to heal
them. They don't say, heal us, Lord. They don't, do they? They just say, have mercy on
us. Have mercy on us. Master, have mercy on us. How did they know about Christ?
Well, word had gotten around about our Lord, hadn't it? And
this is near the end of his life, so he'd been spoken of for a
few years now. And maybe word got to him that
he healed that, remember the leper in Luke chapter five, he
heals? Word might have got around to these lepers. Word's probably
getting around to the different places. There's one who's healing
people. He's casting out demons. He's
healing the sick. He's even curing leprosy. So one way or another, they got
there, and we know it was by the divine will of God that they
got there, because we see it right before us in the scriptures. Again, like last week, they might
not have known they were accomplishing the will of God by seeking the
Lord out, but they were. Remember them Pharisees last
week tried to trick the Lord Jesus Christ, and they were caught
in their own trap. My. So word went around about this
man called Jesus. He healed lepers. He healed people
of all kinds of different diseases. They might have heard of his
wondrous works. So they called upon him. Little did they know
that the man who stood in front of them is God in the flesh. God in the flesh. The one who has all power. All might. And they asked him, they cried
out to him to have mercy upon them. Now one of the names of
our God, our blessed savior is Jehovah Rapha, which means the
Lord that healeth. And how are we healed? By his
stripes. He is our Jehovah Rapha, isn't
he? To each believer, he's our Jehovah Rapha. He's the one true
living God. He's the one that's healed me
from the plague, the plague of sin. And marvel here, marvel here
at verse 14. All our Lord does is say to them,
Go to the priest. He doesn't lay a hand on them.
He doesn't say, be healed. He just says, go to the priest
and show yourself. That's all he says. Look at verse
14 again. And when he saw them, he said
unto them, go, show yourselves unto the priest. That's all he
did. He just told them, go show yourself
to the priest. Well, and they obeyed him, right?
They all took off. They all took off. We'll see later why he sent them
to the priest. But as they were going there,
could you imagine this? Here, you're walking. I'm on
this side. You're just full of leprosy, and you're walking,
walking, walking. It's all gone. I don't have leprosy anymore. It'd stop you in your tracks,
wouldn't it? You think about it, those guys just kept running,
like running to the priest. But it stopped one of them, didn't
it? Stopped one of them in their tracks, his tracks. Could you
imagine? You'd be looking at yourself
going, oh my goodness, he didn't even touch me. All he did was
tell me to go to the priest by the word of his power. By the
word of his power. They were headed to the priest
and then they looked upon themselves and realized that they were clean,
their leprosy was gone. They'd been healed by the sovereign
will of our sovereign savior. And he didn't even have to say
a word about them being healed, he just said go to the priest.
And by the power of God, this is a miracle, isn't it? By the
power of God, they were cleansed. As they walked to the priest,
they were healed by the almighty power of God. With just a word. Oh, and this was a full healing
too. It wasn't, again, as we've seen
all through these encounters with the Lord, this was a complete
full healing, wasn't it? It wasn't a partial healing.
Well, he's getting better. They were fully healed! Their
leprosy was gone! One step, they're full of leprosy. The next step, they're absolutely
clean! What power! What power our king has! What
a picture of us! dead in trespasses and sins,
and then regenerated by the Holy Spirit and gave them faith to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance before God, and
we are clean! Just like that. It's a heart
work. All they were doing was going
to the priest. Priests can't do anything to them. They can't
heal themselves, but they're healed by the almighty power
of God, aren't they? Oh, my. Cleansed as they walked
to the priest, healed by the almighty power of God. Turn,
if you would, to Leviticus chapter 14. Oh, my. Wait till you see this. This
is wonderful. They were going to the priest.
Remember I said earlier the priest could only declare them unclean And now we're going to see only
the priest can declare them clean. They had to present themselves
to the law. And the law has no claim on them
now. Oh, what a picture, eh? The law's not going to have any
claim on them. But they will offer a sacrifice
of joy, of thanksgiving, Look at this, Leviticus chapter 14. Oh, they were cleansed
by the power of God. Verse 1, and the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, this shall be the law of the leper in the day
of cleansing, day of his cleansing. He shall be bought unto the priest.
And just as our Lord commanded them to go to the priest, they
are still not allowed into the city, though. until they are
declared clean. We'll see that in our next verse,
that the priest comes to them out of the camp, out of the city,
out of the village. And the priest, again, cannot
heal them. All they can do is declare them clean. You can't heal anyone of, no
priest on this earth can heal anyone of their sins. There are
sinners just like you and I. Look at this in verse 3, Leviticus
14, 3. And the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and the
priest shall look and behold that the plague of leprosy be
healed in the leper. So next we see the one declared
cleansed is what? To offer up sacrifices. Look
at this, and there's something here that's just so beautiful.
Leviticus 14, verses 4 to 7. Then shall the priest command
to take for him, this is the offer of sacrifice that he's
cleaned. Then shall the priest command
him to take for him that it is to be cleansed two birds alive
and clean in cedarwood and scarlet and hyssop. And the priest shall
command that one of the birds be killed in the earthen vessel
over running water." So one bird's a sacrifice, right? As for the
other bird, look at this, he shall take it in the cedarwood
and the scarlet and the hyssop and shall dip them in the living
bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running
water. And what happens to that living
bird after he's dipped in that blood? And he shall sprinkle upon him
that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times and shall
pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird loose into
the open field. What a picture, beloved. Just as leprosy portrays our
sin, the cleansing of the leper under the law portrayed the healing
of our souls by the Lord Jesus Christ. We see in verses 5 and
6 of Leviticus 14 that in order for the leper to be ceremonially
clean, two birds were to be taken clean. They would be clean birds,
one alive, or both alive, and both were typical of Christ.
One of the birds was killed in an earthen vessel over running
water. showing that Christ must be killed. His blood must be
shed for the cleansing of our leprous sin. His blood must be
shed for sinners. The earth and vessel donated
his human nature, his flesh in which he was put to death. The
running water signified the purifying nature of his blood and the continued
virtue of it to cleanse us from all sin. Then take note in verse
six of Leviticus 14 that the living bird along with the cedar
wood The scarlet in the hyssop was to be dipped in the blood
of the slain bird. Then in verse 7 of Leviticus
14, we see that the priest let the living bird go, typifying
the resurrection of Christ and our resurrection with him, declaring
redemption accomplished, acceptance assured, and sin put away. What a beautiful picture, beloved.
Oh, and you know what? Know what? Like that living bird,
we're set free. We're set free. We've got the
blood of Christ on us. We're set free. We were plagued
with the leprosy of sin. And there's the death of our
Lord Jesus Christ. The death of that bird, right?
That first bird. And then the second bird is dipped in that
blood and let go. Set free. Set free, we're risen
with Christ, beloved. He died and he rose again. And we're free from the condemnation
of our sin. Oh my, we're free from the penalty
of our sin. Just as the living bird was dipped
in the blood of Christ, or blood, just as the living bird was dipped
in the blood of the bird that died, who was sacrificed, we've
been washed clean by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Absolutely clean. Washed clean, beloved. Our substitute
died for us. And if the Son shall make you
free, you shall be free indeed. Right? Oh, we're free. It's like
that bird flying away. Oh, it's beautiful, isn't it?
Let's go back to Luke chapter 17, and we'll read
verses 15 to 16 now. We'll see that one leper came
back. Out of all ten lepers, one came back. One came back. One came back. Luke 17, 15. And one of them,
when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud
voice glorified God. And he fell down on his face
at his feet. giving him thanks, and he was
a Samaritan. One leper, one leper ascribes
this amazing healing to the glory of God. One leper does that out
of 10. He gives him all the glory for
it. And note where he returns. He returns to the feet of Christ. That's the best place for sinners,
isn't it? Sitting at the feet of Christ. Remember the demoniac
in his right mind? After the Lord cast that legion
of demons out of him, he's sitting at the feet of Christ. In his
right mind. This is the best place for us
to be. At the feet of Christ. This is where we want to live.
At the feet of Christ. Because if we're at the feet
of Christ, we're looking up to him. Everything else is just noise,
isn't it? Right? Oh, Lord, give us grace just
to do that. Please. Please. And I think if we, who are the
born-again, blood-washed people of God, were in this man's condition,
we would have done the same thing, because he is born again. He's
been given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
we know that because the Lord said, thy faith hath made thee
ill. That's a gift from God. This is miraculous healing, isn't
it? So let we who are the people
of God join in in praise with this leper. Because God's cleansed
us from our leprosy, beloved. The leprosy of sin. And he's
done it by his precious blood. And he's the author and the finisher
of our salvation, isn't he? He completed it all. And that we who are the people
of God rejoice in the fact that all our sins are forgiven, every
one. There's not one sin that God says, well, I'm going to
count this one against you. No, that bird flew away, didn't
he? There's nothing left to hold
him. The law doesn't have any claim on that leper anymore. After he offers that sacrifice,
that leopard just goes. He's set free. He can go back
into the community. He can go back to worship. My, oh my. Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Bless
his name. Let us never forget his benefits
towards us. He's so good to us. Now look
in verse 16, this leper fell at the feet of Jesus, which again
is the best place for us to be. And he fell down on his face
at his feet, giving him thanks, and he was a Samaritan. Note,
he was a Samaritan. They were hated by the Jews.
Again, this man was despised doubly. He had leprosy, and he
was a Samaritan. Do you know the Samaritan? We're
reckoned by the Jews to be ignorant heathens. People know better than the heathens. But look what our Lord does.
He's made them whole. And that whole there is not just
cleansing from leprosy. He's made them whole. He's born
again by the power and might of God the Holy Spirit. And look at how this man behaved.
He glorified God. He came and gave thanks to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He fell at his feet. You know who made this man to
differ from those other nine lepers? Only God. Those other nine just took right
off, didn't they? Several commentators say that they're a picture of
people who want the name of Christ, but truly don't have him. They want the healing effects
of Christ, but they won't fall at his feet
and worship him. My, oh, my. The only one who's
made this leopard to differ, the only one who's made we who
are the people of God to differ is God himself. And God had granted
this man faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He stopped,
he glorified God, and he came right back to Christ. So he's going one way, beloved,
think of this, he's going one way. And all of a sudden, he's
turned. We were going one way, weren't
we? The Lord turned us. And it's
him who turned us to Christ. It's him who made us well in
the day of his power. Glory to his name. Glory to his
name. And now we hunger and thirst
after righteousness, which is Christ. We desire to hear the
gospel preached. We desire to come to church and
meet with God's people. We desire it. Tell me more about Christ. I
can never get enough. Now look at verses 17 to 19 of
Luke chapter 17. And Jesus answered and said,
were there not 10 cleansed, but where are the nine? They are
not found that return to give glory to God, save this stranger.
And he said unto him, arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made
thee whole. Now note, this question isn't asked for information,
the Lord already knows. And take note though, the leper
didn't say, well, they took off on you, Lord. The one who'd been
cleansed didn't even talk bad about him, he just, he didn't
say a word. He didn't say a word. My, oh, my. And look what they call him in
verse 18. He's a stranger. He's a foreigner.
He's a Samaritan. Now, I'll tell you what. There's no salvation without
faith in Christ. There's no salvation without
faith in Christ. People say, oh, my loved one
died and they went to heaven. But you ask them, well, did they
believe on Christ? Oh, well, you know, no, they
didn't really. There is no salvation without
Christ. None. None at all. No salvation in
our own works. And God gives his people faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ without any works. For
by grace are we saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Right? God having wrought faith in us
and given it to us, then it's ours, isn't it? And by faith we receive Christ.
We receive him. We receive all the bountiful
blessings of God's rich, free grace by faith in Christ. We're
given the gift to believe. And we believe. We trust him. We have faith in him. But it's
Christ who saves us, isn't it? Our faith really is small. Someone
says, well, you're not saying that about me. Well, I'll tell
you what, I know from my experience, I am a weak, weak believer, just
like everybody else. People think, oh, you preachers,
man, you're so strong, and you're so, no, we're weak, too, because
we're just sheep like everybody else, right? Eternal salvation is promised
by our Father, the Lord God, to all who have faith in His
dear Son. It's promised to them. It's brought
forth in scriptures, it says this, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. Do you believe on Him? Are you
trusting Him? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. No faith in Christ, no everlasting
salvation. Every sinner who believes on
the Lord Jesus Christ, they glorify God. They fall at the feet of
Christ, don't we? We submit to him, just like this
cleansed leper did, the Samaritan man. And we worship him with
a heart of never-dying gratefulness. Are you more grateful now than
you were when the Lord first saved you? Oh, yeah. So here's a question for all
who are listening or will listen to this message. Have you been
cleansed from your sins? Have you fled the Christ, the
only savior of sinners? Has the Lord Jesus Christ saved
you? Has he saved you? Are you saved
by grace alone, through faith alone, plus nothing that you
do? Believers say amen, right? And
our prayer, as believers, is that God would grant you faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, if you do not know him. That's our prayer, isn't it?
As the message goes forth, we pray that the Lord will use it
to draw on his lost sheep. We pray that he will do the wonder
work that he's done, work of grace in you, if you do not know
him, that he's done in we who believe. And then you will turn
with us in this leper, and you will glorify God if he does that.
Oh, may it be his will, may it please him to do so.