Let us turn once again to that
chapter that we read in Luke. Luke chapter 17. And I'll read
once more from verse 11 through to verse 19. Luke chapter 17,
reading from verse 11 through to verse 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
afar 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
answering 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 he said unto him,
Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. I want to center your attention
more particularly upon these last three verses that we've
just read here in Luke chapter 17. The verses 17, 18, and 19. And as we look at this
portion to endeavor to say something with regards to the difference
between true faith and false faith. We see the false faith
in those nine that were healed and the true faith in that single
individual who returns to give thanks. We read then at verse
17, 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. And he said unto him,
Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Here is one then who has true
faith, but not all faith of course, is that true, saving and justifying
faith. There is a difference and it
is often very difficult to distinguish that difference. False faith
is so deceptive in its windings and its turnings and can so easily
appear as a faith that is true and genuine. Here then we see
the difference in the behavior of these lepers. The nine, they
were cleansed just as the other that came back was cleansed of
his leprosy. And yet although they had been
the recipients of that great mercy from the Lord Jesus Christ,
Yet they knew Him not as their Saviour." The Lord Jesus in here
is speaking of that remarkable gift of faith that issues in
wholeness. Thy faith hath made thee whole. How searching a passage it is
in many respects. are we not told elsewhere in
the Gospel that many are called but few are chosen. In a sense, these men experience
something of the goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ, as we've
said, and yet they do not know Him truly. They do not know Him
in reality. But what we see here, I believe,
is that great truth of the doctrine of the remnants There were ten
men and it was just one of the ten. And that reminds us, does
it not, of the doctrine of the remnant. We have it there in
the Old Testament in the ministry of a man like Isaiah the prophet. We're told of his call. He receives
his commission there in the sixth chapter We have the detail given
to us concerning how the king, Uzziah, had died, and here is
Isaiah, and he's there, he's in the temple of the Lord, and
he sees a remarkable vision, he sees something of God's throne,
that throne that he's never vacated, he sees something of the glories
of God, as the seraphim are about his throne. and he receives this
call and then he's told something of what his ministry is to be
and it's very much spoken of in terms of that doctrine of
the remnants. The end of that sixth chapter,
verse 11, then said, I, Lord, how long? And the answer, until
the cities be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without
man and the land be utterly desolate. He's going to witness in his
ministry to the truth of the captivity. It will come. It might
not come in his day, but it will come in God's appointed time.
The children of Israel will be taken into exile, removed into
captivity in Babylon. The city is wasted. The house
is without a man. The land utterly desolate. And
the Lord hath removed men far away, and there be a grave forsaking
in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tent,
and it shall return, and shall be eaten. there's a tar tree
and there's an oak whose substance is in them when they cast their
leaves so the holy seeds shall be the substance thereof there
will be a remnant there shall be a tenth and here when we come
to this incident in the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ
we see again something of that tenth one out of the ten is the man
who has that true faith of God's elect. It is there then, throughout
the Word of God, the doctrine of the remnant. Remember again
the words of the Lord Jesus here in Luke chapter 12, He said,
Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to
give you the kingdom. Well, we know that the way to
everlasting life is a straight and a narrow way and there be
few that find it. We just turn back to chapter
13 here and we have those words. Verse 23, then said one unto
him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,
Strive to enter in at the straight gates, for many, I say unto you,
will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. Now there are few
that are truly saved, but here we have a certain individual,
this leper, who is altogether made whole. He knew not only
what it was to be healed in his body, but he knew healing in
a higher and a spiritual sense. He was cleansed of the leprosy
of sin which was in his heart, was he not? It's interesting
that the men upon whom the Lord performs this remarkable miracle
were all of them lepers. And they all were aware of what
they were. They knew something of their
disease. He entered into a certain village,
we're told, at verse 12, and they met him ten men that were
lepers, which stood afar off. They felt something then of their
uncleanness. And there is a relationship,
we know, between leprosy and sin. The leper in Israel was not dealt
with by the physician. The leper must attend to the
priest and see what the Lord Jesus himself says to them here
at verse 14. Go, show yourselves unto the
priest, he says. We have that law as it's contained
in the Old Testament in the book of Leviticus, the Lord of the
leper in his disease. What is he to do? The person
who is fearful that he has contracted this terrible disease. Well,
back in Leviticus chapter 13 We have the instruction and direction
that is given there in the Law of Moses concerning the diagnosis
of his condition. In chapter 13 of Leviticus, the
Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron, saying, When a man shall have
in the skin of his flesh arising a scab or bright spot, and it
be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy, Then he
shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons
the priest. And the priest shall look on
the plague in the skin of the flat. And when the hair in the
plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deepened on
the skin of the flat, it is a plague of leprosy. And the priest shall
look on him and pronounce him unclean. It's the priest who
makes the diagnosis. Again you see verse 9, when the
plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto
the priest, not unto the physician. Not unto the physician. There
is some association here then between the physical disease
and the matter of sin. how they are to be careful with
regards to the way in which this matter is being dealt with. Again, in Deuteronomy 24 and
verse 8 we have these words, "...take heed in the plague of
leprosy, that thou observe diligently unto all that the priests, the
Levites, shall teach you as I commanded them." You're under the priest,
you're under the rule, the government of the priest with regards to
this matter of leprosy. In that sense we see it as a
typical disease. It's pointing to something spiritual,
it's pointing to the matter of the state of a man's soul. Sin is like a leprosy. We read
of Israel in Isaiah chapter 1, from the sole of the foot even
unto the head there is no soundness in it but woes and bruises and
putrefying sores. And again if we were to read
in the Psalms such as Psalm 38 where David is confessing his
sinnership, he speaks very much in terms of the disease of leprosy. He feels his terrible uncleanness. Now, as the leper must go to the priest,
initially, and the priest is the man who makes the diagnosis
and pronounces, whether or not it is a case of leprosy and uncleanness
so with regards to his cleansing with regards to his cleansing
it is also the priest who is to make the pronouncement that
the man is now free from this terrible disease and we see it
again in the book of Leviticus and there in the 14th chapter
of Leviticus. And verse 4, Then shall the priest
command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds,
alive and clean, and cedarwood, and scarlet, and hyssop. And he gives instruction with
regards to the cleansing of the leper and what is involved. It's
some ceremonial uncleanness so there must be sacrifice. This
is why he is to take the two birds. It's a wonderful chapter
in Leviticus 14 with regards to the type of the cleansing
of the leper or the cleansing of the sinner. It is clearly
a type, not so much a type just of sin in general, leprosy, but
a type of sin when it has been opened up by the Spirit in the
heart of a man and he's made aware of what he is. David knew
it. when he is aware of his sin, because of the faithful ministry
of Nathan the prophet. Remember, we have the detail,
the sad history of his adultery and his murder. And now Nathan
comes to him and makes it plain he is the man, he is guilty before
God and he makes his confession there in Psalm 51. And what does
he say? Purge me. with hyssop, and I
shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow." That hyssop, you see, that was to be taken even
in the cleansing of the leper, as we saw there in verse 4 of
Leviticus 14, he makes mention of that, does David, with regards
to the cleansing of his sin. Here then we see quite clearly
that there is some spiritual significance with regards to
this matter of the cleansing of the lepers. But it is only
this one individual of these ten men who all receive physical
healing, it's only one who comes to that true saving faith. in
the Lord Jesus Christ. But let us look, as I said at
the outset, at true faith and false faith. Now false faith
is to be discerned with regards to these nine men. And we see
in the first place that false faith recognizes the Lord Jesus
Christ. These men recognize who He is.
As we see In verse 13, they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us. They obviously had heard something
of Him, they knew of Him. But we know also how that the
demons would recognize Him. In Mark's gospel, remember when
he's there in the opening chapter of Mark we see him in the synagogue
in Capernaum and there's a man there and he's possessed of a
demon and what does the demon say? Let us alone! We know thee
who thou art, Jesus of Nazareth, art thou come to torment us before
the time? We know that thou art the Holy
One Even the demons, you see, recognize Him and acknowledge
Him. James tells us, they believe
us there is one God. They believe us, well, the devils
also believe and tremble. And we see this so many times.
Even the demons recognize the Lord Jesus. We have the case
earlier here in Luke of the mad Gadarean. In chapter 8 verse 26 they arrive
at the country of the Gadarenes and when he went forth to land
they met him out of the city a certain man which had devil's
long time and wear no clothes neither abode in any house but
in the tombs and when he saw Jesus he cried out and fell down
before him and with a loud voice said what have I to do with thee
Jesus Thou Son of God most high, I beseech Thee, torment me not."
Or even the demons you see. How they fall down before Him,
how they come, how they acknowledge Him. And so we see it here with
these men, these lepers, all ten of them. They come to the
Lord Jesus Christ and they address Him. They recognize Him. In fact, we might say that false
faith is that faith that can even confess the Lord Jesus Christ. They call Him Master or Lord. Have mercy on us. Again, in the Gospel we read
of one, that rich young ruler who comes to the Lord Jesus.
Remember the manner of His coming. It's recorded in In Mark's Gospel,
and there in the 10th chapter of Mark, we have that particular
incident in Mark 10 at verse 17 following. We're told how
when Christ was gone forth into the way, there came one running
and kneeled to Him and asked Him, Good Master, what shall
I do that I may inherit eternal life? And the Lord Jesus deals
with him in a remarkable way. Why callest thou me good? There
is none good but one, that is God. How the Lord is searching
and sifting this man here. When he calls him good master,
does he really recognize who Jesus of Nazareth is, that this
is truly the Son of God? Now, we haven't time, of course,
to go through that whole incident. We're told at the end how the
young man went away grieved. because he had great possessions
but we see how he comes to the Lord Jesus and he comes to acknowledge
him to confess him when Nicodemus comes he addresses him very appropriately
Rabbi we know that thou art a teacher come from God no man can do these
miracles thou doest except God be with him and with Nicodemus
it seems that there was that genuine fire but now we see that
Even those whose faith is not altogether real, but proves to
be spurious, can come and they can confess the Lord Jesus and
acknowledge Him. In fact, we see that false faith
can even cry out to Him for help. This is what these lepers do.
They feel their need in that sense. They want to be cleansed
from their terrible disease. and so they cry out to the Lord
Jesus for mercy Jesus master they say have mercy on us or
where there is false faith there might even be that praying that
calling upon the name of the Lord and yet the faith does not
prove to be the genuine article where there is true faith you
see there is that that turning back there is that coming again
and again and again it's interesting is it not what we read concerning
the one who is so different to the other nine he is the one
who turns back verse 15 one of them when he saw that he was
healed turned back and with a loud voice glorified God and there
might be those who would cry to God, call upon God when they're
in some trouble and yet when they're delivered there is no
acknowledgement of God, there's no returning to God or where
there is true faith, real faith, there's that coming and that
coming not just once, coming time and time and time again
and coming also not only with pleadings and petitions but coming
also with thanksgivings. Without false faith, you see,
might well cry out to God and call upon Him and ask God to
come and grant His help. Again, with regards to false
faith here, we see that it in a measure appears to obey. It
appears to obey. What does the Lord say? As they
call unto Him, He answers them. In verse 14, when He saw them,
He said unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priests. And they obeyed. It came to pass that as they
went, they were cleansed. Here they are, they're obeying
the command of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what we are
told there in Leviticus chapter 14. He shall be the Lord of the
leper in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought unto the
priest. The Lord Jesus, you see, in directing
them to go to the priest, that's indicative that he's cleansing
them. And they are to be obedient therefore to what is required
in the law of Moses. And they are obedient. And so, as they obey the voice
of the Lord Jesus, so they discover that they are cleansed. There,
at the end of that 14th verse, it came to pass that as they
went, as they are obedient to the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ,
as they went they were cleansed. Or can we not see then here,
that in a sense they tasted the good word of God? They didn't
only hear the voice of Christ as He gave them this instruction,
this direction, this commandment, they didn't only hear His voice,
they were obedient to it, they tasted it. But what do we read
there in Hebrews chapter 6 concerning some who might taste of the good
word of God? It's a very solemn and searching
passage, is it not there? I'm sure you're familiar with
it, many of you, in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 4 it is impossible for
those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly
gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted
the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if
they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance seeing
They crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh and put
Him to an open shame. Now what are we to make of this
passage? Here we have it, you see. They tasted the good word
of God. Now you, reading these words,
might conclude that surely these people had real faith, genuine
faith. But I would say they did never
have such a thing. They had faith, but it was that
false faith. That's spurious faith. If they
had real faith, they could never be lost. If they were truly those who
by faith came to experience the blessings of union with Christ,
came to realize what it is for that eternal union which is in
the covenant, the eternal covenant of Christ, for that eternal union
to be realized in the fullness of time where there is an experience
of saving faith and true union and communion with Christ, such
can never be lost. Once in Him, they're in Him forever.
Now what we have there in that passage in Hebrews chapter 6
is that faith that is false and spurious. There is such a thing
and I say we see something of the marks of false faith in the
nine lepers who are cleansed of their physical condition but
know nothing of the cleansing of that spiritual leprosy which
is seen. Well, let us turn to the true
faith that we see in one of these men. And I just want to observe
two things that distinguish this true faith from that false faith. First of all, doesn't true faith
give thanks unto God, give thanks unto the Lord Jesus Christ? This
is what we see with this man, here in verses 15 and 16, and
one of them, 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." Now,
we might say that this man never went to the priest. He turns
back. He never went to the priest.
Can we not see that here is that man who is delivered from the
law and brought to the gospel all he sees, all his salvation
really only in the Lord Jesus Christ he's turning back, he's turning
away from the law of God and he looks to that one who was
made of a woman and made under the law and has stood in that
law place for all his people and for his people has honoured
and magnified that law has fulfilled it in every sense honored it
not only in terms of its holy precepts by the obedience of
that sinless life but honored it also in terms of all its terrible
penalties and the dreadful punishment that the law demands the soul
that sinneth it shall die Christ has honored it has he not he
has died the just for the unjust and this man turns and turns
from law to gospel, turns to that grace of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he's just one of the ten. Why was I made to hear thy voice
and enter whilst there's room when thousands make a wretched
choice and rather starve than come? He was one of those who
is of that remnant. And what are we told concerning
this man? He was a Samaritan, it says. He was a Samaritan. There at the end of verse 16.
Every word you see, here is the Word of God, every word is inspired,
every word therefore carries some weight and some real significance. Why do we have to be told that?
Why is this detail spelt out for us? This one who comes and
falls down on his face at the feet of the Lord Jesus and gives
him thanks. He was a Samaritan. In fact, what do we read further?
In verse 18, where the Lord speaks, There are not fowl that return
to give glory to God save this stranger. He's a stranger, you see. He
is not a true Israelite, is he? You know where the Samaritans
came from. They were those who were descended
from the Ten Tribes. After that awful division that
came in the days of King Jeroboam, the son of Solomon, when the
Ten Tribes rebelled and chose Jeroboam son of Nebat to be their
king and there was a division. and that northern kingdom which went
by the name of Israel and the southern kingdom the two tribes
that remained faithful to the house of David tribe of Judah
and little Benjamin they still had their capital at Jerusalem
in the south but the ten tribes in the north they set up their
capital in Samaria and eventually they they were taken, they were
scattered by the Assyrians they were lost but there were those
amongst them who were intermarried with other nations, they were
the Samaritans they were the Samaritans and in John chapter
4 when the Lord Jesus again ministers to a Samaritan, the woman of
Samaria they worship God in a certain sense in their own way, they
did it in this in a way that I imagine was acceptable
to God, but it wasn't right. As the Lord Jesus says, God was
to be worshipped there in Jerusalem. That was the passage in the Old
Testament. And there was a great despising, of course, by the
true Israel of God. The Jews despised the Samaritans,
but it is the Lord Jesus. There in John chapter 4 we are
told he must need to go through Samaria. He must need go through
Samaria. Why? He must meet with that particular
woman. She was an object of the mercy
and the grace of God and so too here we might say with regards
to this man. It is a similar incident. In
verse 11, it came to pass as he went to Jerusalem that he
passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. This man who is
saved, who has true faith is a Samaritan but he is a stranger. Or there is mercy, you see, for
those who are so far off and those who are so much despised. As Joseph Hart says in the hymn
223, Lord pity outcasts, vile and base, the poor dependents
on thy grace whom men disturb as call. The outcasts, the outcasts of
Israel. That's what these Americans were.
and thou thou despised. And this man, you see, is the
man of the ten who is saved. Oh, the grace of God, the grace
of God as we see it revealed in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We see it again, do we not, here
in chapter 7 where we read of the Pharisee and the harlot. There in in chapter 7 at verse
36 following one of the Pharisees we're told desired him that he
would eat with him and he went into the Pharisee's house and
sat down to meet and behold a woman in the city which was a sinner
when she knew that Jesus sat at meet in the Pharisee's house
brought an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his feet behind
him, weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears. And he wiped
them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed
them with ointment." This woman, you see, she was a sinner, she
was a common harlot, a prostitute. But what does the Lord say concerning
her at the end of the chapter? Speaking to the Pharisee, he
says, Wherefore I say unto thee, Sins which are many are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom
little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto
her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meat with
him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins
also? Only God can forgive sin. And
he said unto the woman, thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace. For thy faith hath saved thee. Isn't this what the Lord says
also to this man, this Samaritan, this stranger? Verse 19, he said
unto him, Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. But of course the vital thing,
and we have to recognize this, the vital thing always is the
object of faith. Faith is a self-denying grace. We don't see any merit in faith. It is the one that faith has
to do with. It's the object of faith. What does faith do? Faith gives all the glory to
God and not to self. We don't substitute saving faith
for the works of the law. We're not to imagine that the
gospel is teaching some easier way of salvation. There have
been those, you know, in church history, they were called Neonomians. They said that the gospel is
some sort of new law. And they substitute the works
of the law with faith. But there's nothing meritorious
in faith. Faith is the denial of self. Faith gives glory to
God. And we see it here, do we not,
in this man? Verse 18, There are not found
that returned to give glory to God. To give glory to God save
this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise,
go thy way, thy faith hath made thee or it is the one who speaks
those words, it's the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Saviour. Christ is the only Saviour of
sinners, is He not? By grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And what is this faith, this
saving faith, that is to be distinguished from that false faith? Well,
saving faith is the work of God. As we have it there in John chapter
6 and verse 29, this is the work of God, says the Lord Jesus,
that ye believe in him whom he hath sent. God must work this
faith in the soul of the sinner. The sinner cannot produce his
faith in and of himself. As I said just now, there's that
sense in which these other nine had faith. But what was that
faith that they had? It was a false faith. It was
not a genuine article. It comes very close to it. All
the windings and the twistings and the turnings, you see, of
that false faith. It seems to be so really. There
are those, you see, imagine that they can of themselves
believe savingly. No one can believe savingly. We might have an historic faith
and be those who are ready to recognize the truth of what is
written in scripture concerning the person and the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We accept that, but that's not
necessarily saving faith. And when God deals with us, what
does he do? He has to put forth His power and He has to make
us to feel our own weakness, our own impotence, our complete
and utter inability to believe. And John knew, certainly knew
something of it. What does he say in the hymn?
Oh, could I but believe! Then all would easy be I would,
but cannot, Lord, relieve. My help must come from Thee. It must be that faith of the
operation of God. Isn't it interesting to see how
time and again that saving faith is associated with the power
of God? We have it there in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 1 and the end of verse 11 where Paul speaks of faith. He speaks of faith in association
with God's power, the work of faith, he says, with power. Again in Ephesians 1 and the
beginning of verse 19 we have the exceeding greatness of his
power to us all that believe. Not just power, not just great
power, But the exceeding greatness of His power is necessary in
order to faith. Who is the object of this faith? It is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He only is the Saviour. So what are we to do? We are
to look to Him. Oh, we must be those who are
ever looking to Him, always looking to Him. Looking away from every
other object. Looking only onto Jesus. we must
look to Jesus alone as we have it there in Hebrews chapter 12
and verse 2 looking on to Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith that is the one you see and so when this particular leper comes and calls upon Christ,
it is a genuine cry that he is making, is it not there in verse
13, Jesus Master he says, have mercy. Oh friends that we might
be those who do come in all our weakness and call upon him and
for the Lord to come and speak to us. Here at the end of this account
of this remarkable miracle Verse 17, Jesus answering 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 he said unto him, Arise,
go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And it was not just
physical wholeness, it was not just cleansing from The leprosy
which was in his skin, it was the cleansing of the leprosy
that was in the soul of the man. That man was truly saved and
therefore he was the one who came to give thanks and to glorify
God. May the Lord be pleased to grant
us such a faith as that. Amen. George, number 59.