This story of the 10 lepers is
recorded only in the Gospel of Luke. It's a very blessed and
instructive story with the emphasis on this one who returned back
to give thanks to the Lord for what he had done. Verse 16 said
that one of the 10 fell down on his face at Jesus' feet, giving
Him thanks. Old preacher Joe Parson used
to say, watch words in the Bible. When you're reading the Bible,
don't just speed read. Stop and think about a word or
a phrase. And many, many times the Lord
will make it alive to you and it'll get bigger and bigger.
And so as I've read this, there's several thoughts here that we're
just going to do that with for a few minutes this morning. The
story begins in verse 11 with these words and it came to pass. Notice it's not as luck would
have it. That's not in the Bible and it's not. It just so happened. That's not in the Bible, but
it's, and it came to pass. Why did it come to pass? Because
it was decreed, ordained to come to pass. It came to pass. According to the woman's statement
in John chapter 4, Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. And yet in that fourth chapter
of John, Jesus said, I must needs go through Samaria. Why must he? Because he said
he must. It was on the divine agenda from eternity. I must
needs. go through Samaria. The Lord
Jesus, contrary to popular opinion, didn't just make up his mind
about things a day at a time. He came here with his whole schedule
and he never got off it. I must need to go through Samaria. And so it is here he passes through
Samaria and Galilee. Verse 12 said he entered into
a certain village. Not just any village, but a certain
village. When you're reading the New Testament,
especially the four gospels, Watch for that word, certain. It occurs here in Luke's gospel
43 times, in Luke's gospel alone. There are certain people, there
are certain places, there are certain times. Our Lord deals
in certainties, not possibilities. There's no need to look at anything
in this Bible and say, well, it could have been Uh, you know,
it could have happened. No, no, it is what it is. He deals in certainties and here
it's a certain village, a specific village. There met him 10 men. He came to where they were. And
yet the text doesn't say that he met them, but they met him. This word met or to meet. It means to join another in his
journey. Joined. To become one going the same
direction. When a man and woman are married,
what therefore God hath joined together. It's a joining. It's not for one to dominate
the other and kill the life of the other. No, no. It's for the
life of the man to belong to the woman, the life of the woman
to belong to the man, the two become one flesh. And so we read
there met him 10 men. He never met them. He knew who
they were, but they met him. When our Lord returns, and I
realize a lot of people have different ideas about eschatology,
about the Lord return. When the Lord returns, the scripture
says that we'll be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Not him to meet us on our way
up, but us to meet him on his way
down. We're not caught up for Him to
join us in our journey, but for us to join Him in His journey. And there met the Lord here ten
men. He didn't join them to become
a leper Himself. No. They met Him to be cleansed
of their leprosy. And so there's a difference. Leprosy, you know, is an awful
disease. And all ten of these are said
to be lepers. We don't read if they're respectable
men or if they're scoundrels. We don't read if they're old
or young. We don't read if they're rich or poor. We read the one
thing they have in common, they're lepers. It being the awful, incurable
disease, These men dared not come close and approach the Lord
Jesus. We read in the end of verse 12,
that they stood afar off. And that's where all Adam's race
stands by nature, afar off, alienated from God, corrupted
with the leprosy of sin. And in verse 13, they cried for
mercy. Jesus master have mercy on us. The only people who cry for mercy
are those who know they need it. Do you spend any time crying
to the Lord for mercy? Maybe you don't need it. These fellas knew their condition.
They knew their only hope was mercy. They lifted up their voices,
not two or three of them, not five or seven or eight, but they,
all 10 of them, lifted up their voices, cried out, have mercy. You say, well, I'm just, I'm
just bashful. I'm the quiet type. If you knew what a wretch you
are before Almighty God, you wouldn't be. They lifted
up their voices. Now notice there was not one
competitive spirit among them. Not a one of them cried out,
Lord, have mercy on me. If anyone in this bunch deserves
mercy, it's me. I'm in the worst shape. I've
suffered the longest. Have mercy on me. No, no, it's
have mercy on us. All 10 of them crying together. We're all in this, Lord. Have
mercy on us. Did not Jesus teach us to pray
in Matthew 6? Our father. Which art in heaven? Not my father. I'm the cream of the crop. Pay
attention to me if you pay attention to anybody. No, it's our Father. Our Father. Not my father. Here's why you
should bless me, Lord. No, no. There is no selfish,
independent spirit to be in the picture anywhere. You pray our
Father. Give us our daily bread. Forgive us our debts. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil. We're in this together. So they
cried, have mercy on us. He said unto them, go show yourselves
unto the priest. The priest, that was the order,
still under the Old Testament civil law, that was the order.
The priest, back in the book of Leviticus, you can read about
this, Leviticus 13 and 14, the priest was to inspect the spots
on a person's body if they were suspected to have leprosy and
to pronounce them clean or unclean. Well, these ten had no evidence
they were clean. They were lepers and they knew
it. But when Jesus said go, they went. They went on His word only. If you're looking at anything
else in religion, By which to go, by which to travel, by which
to make decisions, by which to live, you're on the
wrong track. At His word only, go. Get a hold of His word and go
with it. Verse 14, middle of the verse. And it came to pass, there it
is again. Why did it come to pass? Because
it was ordained, decreed to come to pass. And it came to pass
that as they went, they were cleansed. They were cured of their leprosy. How many of them? As they went,
all 10 of them, they were cleansed. all 10 of them. 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 Sumerian. When he saw he was healed, he
turned back. He didn't need to go on to the
priest who could only pronounce him clean, he turned back to
the one who made him clean. When he saw that he was healed,
when he saw that the Lord had done something for him, have
you seen that the Lord's done anything for you? Why didn't you just lie in the
bed this morning instead of getting up and coming to church? Because you know he's done plenty
for you. When he saw, he turned back and
with a loud voice glorified God, fell down on his face at his
feet, giving him thanks. He wasn't ashamed of what the
Lord had done for him. And he was a Samaritan. Boy, there's a lot of folks wishes
he hadn't put that in there. He kept mentioning the Samaritan,
Samaritan, Samaritan through the four gospels. And he puts
it in here too. This one out of 10 was a Samaritan. These were probably mostly Jews
and they understood the order. Go show yourselves to the priest. But this one was a Samaritan. And I think about the fact that
they were all lepers and they were all together. Lepers don't
discriminate. Some didn't say, I'm a Jewish
leper. I'm better than the Samaritan leper. No, they were all lepers. And I'll tell you what. Sinners
ought not discriminate. Huh? Absolutely not. Leprosy broke down the racial
barrier. It's easy to look down on somebody
that hadn't done right. It's easy to look down on someone
that has tragedy and trouble in their families and say, well,
you know, if they'd have done what they ought to have done,
it would have been different. You know, we that are so right
about everything are pretty quick to tell why bad things happen
to other people. But I want to tell you something.
When it comes to your house, it breaks down barriers. We're all in this together. They
were all lepers. Who you think you're better than
is not worth a plug nickel to the Lord or anybody else, especially
not to you. How religious you are, how moral
you are, what a good family you came from. And I came from a
good one. The fact that you've never been
arrested, and I have it. The fact that you've never been
drunk, and I have it. Does that make me better than
you? Oh, no. I'm telling you this leprosy
of sin is every bit as filthy in me as it was in Judas Iscariot,
Adolf Hitler, and Saddam Hussein. Same sin. Same sin. It's as filthy in me as it is
in any other scoundrel that's ever walked the earth. Sin is
in our nature. It's not what you do, it's what
you are. You do what you do because of
what you are. Verse 17, the Lord asked this
one Samaritan a question. Were there not ten cleansed?
Two questions really. Were there not ten cleansed?
Question mark. But where are the nine? Another
question mark. Ten is totality, completeness. Ten is all there is. When you
get to eleven, you're just starting over. That's ten and one. So
ten is all. And in material blessing, it
rains on all 10. It rains on the just and the
unjust, the book says. And the promise in Genesis after
the flood of seed time and harvest while the world stands, that
was to all 10. That was to everybody. That's
all humanity. But here out of the 10, just
one, turns back and gives thanks. The noted commentator, Matthew
Henry, wrote this about this. He said how, how those often
prove most grateful from whom it was least expected. A Samaritan gives thanks and
a Jew does not. Thus many who profess revealed
religion are outdone and quite shamed by some that are governed
only by natural religion, not only in moral virtue but in piety
and devotion. This serves here to aggravate
the ingratitude of those Jews of whom Christ speaks as taking
it very ill that his kindness was so slighted. And it intimates
how justly he resents the ingratitude of the world of mankind for whom
he has done so much and from whom he has received so little. What the nine received was common
grace. It's called a physical healing,
but even in their unthankfulness, It was not taken from them. They
left there healed. The Lord did that for them. But
the secret of the one, the Samaritan, is this. In verse 19. Arise, go thy way. Let me get the first of the verse.
And he, Jesus, Said unto him, this one Samaritan, Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made
thee whole. Now don't misunderstand the words,
thy faith. Jesus is not referring to the
man's self-motivated, pumped up, worked
up confidence. He had none. He's referring to
true God-given faith. The faith of God's elect that
Paul talks about. Faith is the gift of God. Thy
God-given faith hath made thee whole. Not just cleansed from
leprosy and healed physically of the disease but made whole. Jesus says, what I've done has
registered in your heart. And it was God-given faith that
registered it. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 2 says,
that all men have not faith. You can turn on your radio, your
TV, And listen to these false prophets and heretics preaching,
exercise your faith, release your faith, like it's something
everybody has. No, no. Saving faith is not something
we have by nature. And it's up to us to develop
it and exercise it. Oh, no. It's the gift of God. And when He gives it, it exercises
you. You don't exercise it. All men have not faith. Again,
that's 2 Thessalonians 3, 2. That's why the other nine couldn't
even turn around and say thank you. That's why the multitude today
at this Thanksgiving season can't say thank you to the Lord. They've made one big jump from
Halloween to Santa Claus. Thanksgiving is not in the picture,
but it is for the Lord's people. It is for the Lord's people.
The Lord had worked in the other's body. He'd worked in this man's
heart. This is discriminating grace.
Sovereign grace. The prerogative of our God, according
to His Word, is to show mercy on whom he will and to have compassion
on whom he will. This is the right of the potter
out of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another
unto dishonor. When you go out and live like
a fool, it's not as I used to hear that you've left God out,
it's that he's left you out. See, religion's got this thing
all backwards. And if you have a heart for him
this morning, how blessed that is. What a gift. What a gift. This is the living God of heaven
I'm talking about. The one who said, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. I've had people tell me, well, that
didn't really mean what it said. Well, it's a funny thing to me.
The Lord wasn't smart enough to say what He meant. And the religious world today
hates the God that said these things. They say, well, God wants everybody
to be saved. Well, since He's the one that's
got to do it, what's the problem? Well, they won't let Him. Then
He's not God, is He? Christ said, My sheep hear My
voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. It's going to happen. When I speak, they'll hear, and
they'll follow. He asked just this one. He didn't
ask anybody else. Say, well, I'll come if I want
to. If he speaks affectionately to your heart, you'll want to.
That's what this Bible teaches. Otherwise you'll play religion
with this free will crowd and drop into hell thinking you're
in charge. You've never been in charge.
It's not your decision. If God saves you, it's his mercy.
That's the bottom line. So then when the Lord Jesus done
this, he made this man whole. He made
him whole. In John chapter five, I know
our time's about gone, but Hey, at Jerusalem at the sheep market,
John chapter 5, the pool of Bethesda, there lay a great multitude,
now don't ask me how many that is, of impotent folk, blind,
halt, withered, crippled, all kind of things. And they all needed help, but
Jesus never addressed the multitude. He addressed one man, a man who
had lain there for 38 years. And Jesus never asked him, would
you like to be healed so you can live like the devil
and get on with your life? No. Listen carefully to the wording
there in John five. Will thou be made whole? Same thing it said about this
man, this leper made whole. The Lord was saying to him, I've
come here to do more than touch your body. I'm here to give you
a new heart to make the whole. He didn't ask anybody else. Just
the one. And when the Lord had done that,
in John 5, the Jews said to the fellow, hold it. This is against
the law. You can't walk around toting
your bed on a Sabbath day. And I can imagine this fellow,
I'm reading between the lines now. Blankety blank. I hadn't walked
in 38 years. And this one said to me, rise,
take up thy bed and walk. And I'm a walking. And if you
think I give a blankety blank what you think about it, you're
wrong. Religion, religion. The Lord Jesus Christ, he just
wouldn't fit in this nicey nice stuff nowadays. Well, let me hurry. Well, I don't want to offend
anyone. Listen, they're already offended. And some of you are
offended by the discriminating words and works of grace. that our Lord Jesus did and still
does, still does. What made you better than anybody
you grew up with that he should save you? I grew up with boys, many have
gone on that some of them are probably in hell that was a better
boy than I was. You think I'm gonna Apologize
to sissified, man-made religion that's trying to make the Lord
Jesus out an equal opportunity God? Oh, no. He's sovereign. He's very discriminating in His
grace. And if He chose you, you'll love
it. And if He hadn't, you'll hate Him for it. I'm getting out of hand here.
Let me back up. The Lord told Moses, this is Exodus 11, 7,
Exodus 11, 7, that you may know how that the Lord doth put a
difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites. Can I tell
you something? That's the only difference there
is in all of Adam's race. is the difference the Lord puts. I don't care if you're a Baptist,
a Methodist, a Whiskapelian, what you are. The Lord puts the difference.
And if the Lord don't put that difference, we're all as filthy and low down
as anybody on earth. The Lord puts the difference.
Now, that difference does not surface in playing religion. I'm going to tell you right now,
religious folks without God are the meanest crowd this side of
hell. I done had it with them too many
times. The difference surfaces in a
heart of gratitude. He fell down on his face at Jesus'
feet, giving him thanks. He's no better and he's no worse
than the other nine. Neither are you, neither am I.
But it's God's grace this morning that the multitude stays on the
broad road. And he's put you on the narrow
road. That's grace. That's grace. All right. Thank
you for your attention.