You got it? Okay, we're good
to go. The title of the message this
morning is, Where are the Nine? Where are the Nine? In this passage
of Scripture, the Lord Jesus Christ is passing through Samaria
and Galilee as He went to Jerusalem. And these ten lepers who'd approached
Him, they didn't approach Him Closely, they were far off crying. They cried unto Him, Jesus, Master,
have mercy on us. And He said, go show yourselves
to the priests. And as they walked away, as they
started going toward the priests in obedience, they were all ten
of them cleansed. All ten of these men were cleansed.
But yet only one, when he was cleansed, returned unto the Lord
Jesus Christ and gave glory to God. Now, the Scripture begins in
verse 11, and it came to pass. I want us to see in these couple
of words. I want us to, first of all, take
note that God's Word is sure. God's Word is sure. It came to
pass. The Apostle is not making an
allegory. This literally came to pass.
This event that took place, this miracle that is recorded for
us, it was sure. And people always make light
of the Word of God as though it were some myth or some legend,
as though you can take part of it and not the rest, or you can
pick out Which ones apply to your life and the rest discard? God's Word is not such a word.
God's Word is not some fairy tale. But it is actually something
that took place in time. It actually took place in time. It is a matter of record. The
Word of God is not speculation in any part. but is written that
we may know assuredly that Jesus is the Christ." Anyone who reads
the Bible will see that each writing, each
writer takes great pains to set the record according to time
and place. Look at this. Go to Isaiah. Look
at Isaiah chapter one, verse one. This is just one of many
illustrations, but I want us to see that the word of God is
something that literally happened. It's not something that just
was written as speculation. Look at this. The vision of Isaiah,
the son of Amos, when he saw which he saw concerning Judah
and Jerusalem. Now notice this. In the days
of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah kings of Judah. Do you not see that that took
place at a very specific time? He's not speculating. He's saying
this is the record. This is the Word of God. And
it took place during these kings' reign. It is a specific time
and place. In Jeremiah, next book over,
notice how specific Jeremiah is with his time frame that he
gives us. He said, the word of Jeremiah,
the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Aenoth, in the land
of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days
of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth
year of his reign, it also came in the days of Jehoiakim, the
son of Jehovah. Joshua, king of Judah, unto the
end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the king of Zedekiah, the son
of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem
captive in the fifth month. This prophet wrote down specifically
as to what month it was that they were carried away. The Word
of God is not speculation. The word of God is historical
fact. This is a word that was spoken and these prophets take
great pains as to tell us when and where, at what time and to
whom they wrote these things. See, the word of God is brought
into this world by certain men at specific times and so specific
were their accounts that there is no doubt that these things
are the truth. There's no doubt. There's no
escaping this. The Word of God is true. The
Word of God is true. And think of this, the Word of
God is not only true by its specific use of time and days, but it's
also true because it all speaks of one person. It all speaks
of one person. I'll tell you what, even today,
you could not find men who agree on one particular subject and
find that they agree all the way down the line upon one subject. But yet here we have sixty-six
books, many, many different authors, and yet they all speak together
in unity as though they were written in the same room, as
though they were written by the same person. They speak so consistently
of the Lord Jesus Christ that there's no guessing this is the
Word of God. There's no guessing that He is
the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Gospel of Matthew, if
you look at the genealogies and the specific line is kept in
great detail, tells us of how that Jesus is the Son of David. The son of Jacob, of Isaac, of
Abraham. And if you go into Luke's Gospel,
he goes all the way back to Adam. Traces the line of Christ all
the way back. Very specifically does the Word
of God speak of Jesus Christ and which line He would come.
You read Daniel chapter 9, and it is amazing as to the specific
amount of years It would take until the Lord comes. Seventy
prophetical weeks were determined. And it happened according as
He had prophesied. That Christ should come, finish
the work of the transgression, do away with sin, bring in everlasting
righteousness, seal up the vision, anoint the Holy One which is
risen from the dead, And a week after that, he said, a prophetical
week, they would do away with all the oblations. They tell
us, Daniel told us that they would even do away with the sacrifices
and that temple would be desolate. And it's desolate today. What's
over the temple in Jerusalem? Is there not a mosque put over
the top of that temple? An exclamation point by God saying
that that sacrificing has been done away with. Christ has come. In John's Gospel, in verse 31,
he tells us, and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence
of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these
are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing, you might have life. I'm glad
for His Word. I'm glad that I can read this
Word, and when it says, it came to pass, I know this. It came
to pass. This actually happened. This
literally happened. The Lord Jesus Christ did literally
heal ten lepers from their disease, from their curse. And so when
men despise the Word of God, it is not very complicated for
any one of us to dispute them. It is written specifically so
that... You know those books for dummies?
There's computers for dummies, and this is for dummies. The
Word of God for dummies. It's true. It's literal. And
you can't say anything against it. God has sealed it. Jesus said, O foolish and slow
of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought
not Christ to have suffered these things and entered into His glory?
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto
them all the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself. These things are concerning Christ. concerning God's salvation of
sinners. And this miracle that we have
recorded, it happened. It happened. But it has more
than just a physical annunciation of Jesus' power to heal. This has more for us than just
to know that Jesus Christ was able to heal physical sickness. There's a reason why the Lord
Jesus Christ healed. You remember that sick of the
palsy? who came to the Lord Jesus Christ, not to be healed. He
came for salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ said, Be
of good cheer, for I have sinned. And they murmured and complained
in their hearts. And Jesus said, Why are you complaining
in your hearts? But that you may know the Son
of Man hath power to forgive sins. He saith to the sick of
the palsy, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk, so that we may
know He has power to forgive sins on earth. We know this by
His power to heal. He testifies of His power to
forgive us our sins. And this is no different. So
as we look at this, we know this. It came to pass. It came to pass
as He went to Jerusalem. He passed through the midst of
Samaria and Galilee and entered into a certain village. I like
that. I don't really need to be anybody's
certain village. He went into a village. I don't know where the Spirit
of God comes. I don't know where he goes. But I know this. He is here in
this place, even because God has promised to be here. Because
God, in His Word, has promised to be here. He is in this place,
in this city, at this time. And He met there ten lepers which
stood afar off, and they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us. And Jesus, they cried unto Him,
and He healed them by telling them to go show themselves to
the priest. He said, go show yourselves to the priest. And
as they went, they all were cleansed. And yet one of them returned
to give thanks. And Jesus asked him, he said,
were there not ten? Didn't I heal ten? And yet only
this dog has returned. That's what he meant. This dog. This stranger. He is
the only one that has returned. And Jesus said, go thy way, thy
faith that made thee whole. First of all, this is a picture
to us. These ten lepers, picture everyone in this room. You are
one of these ten lepers. One of these two groups. You
are either of the nine, or you are represented by the one. But
you're pictured here. You and I are pictured here.
There were ten leprous men. All these men were lepers. Let's
give us a vivid picture. A vivid picture of what has happened
to us in our hearts. Leprosy is a picture, always
in Scripture, of sin. It is always a picture. It is a picture that is vivid,
leprosy was never given in Scripture as a sickness. If you have a
sickness, you do what? You go to the doctor. But a leper
never went to a doctor. In Scripture, leprosy was considered
a curse of God. Therefore, they were told to
go to the priest. It was a religious, it was a
spiritual matter. It wasn't just of physical sickness
that can be cured with medicine. But it was a curse. And man by
nature is born under a curse. Curse. This is not some hocus
pocus. It's not what I mean by curse.
Like somebody pronounces a voodoo curse or something on you. Somebody
gets one of those dolls and pokes you or something. That's not
what this is. This is a curse of God upon all
man, upon everyone that is born in this world. We are all born
under this same curse. The same curse. I don't care
where you were born or who you were born to. We all have this
same curse of sin. The same curse of death pronounced
upon us that was upon Adam. When Adam sinned, it says, wherefore,
as by one man's sin, he entered into the world. And death
by sin, so death passed on all men. How do we know? Are you
speculating that death passed? No, I can prove it. Have you
sinned? There. There's your proof. There's
your proof. You're born dead in sins. If
you've sinned, you're born dead in sins. You weren't born innocent
and then became a sinner. You were born a sinner. And the
only thing that happens when we grow up is we may be able
to cover it up a little bit better, but we're still sinners. All
of us are born with the leprosy of sin. All men do evil and all our works
are unprofitable and unacceptable with God. All men are born under
this curse of sin, born dead in trespasses and sins. In your own experience, believers,
was it not so that you hated the gospel of God's grace? I'll tell you, as a child, I
could not stand to go anyplace else. I could go anywhere. Take
me to an in-church seminar. And I would rather sit there
than in church, because I hated God. What a horrible thing. What a
horrible thing to hate the One that gave you life. What a horrible
thing the One that gave you all that you enjoy, all that you
have. God gave that to you, and yet
we still hated God. This is the leprosy of our sin.
We all have this leprosy. Second of all, all these men
needed cleansing. All these men needed cleansing.
See that all ten of these men cried the same thing. They said,
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Let me ask you, do you not think
they were all sincere? Do you think they were playing
when they cried for mercy? I bet you that they even had
tears in their eyes crying for mercy. I bet you they were begging
for mercy. I don't have any doubt of that.
All ten of them. Every one of them. One historian said this, He said,
you would rather, you would soon rather find a nation without
an alphabet or a language than you would without a temple or
a God. You would sooner find a nation,
a language, a people without a language or an alphabet rather
than find one without a God. All men have a God. Even atheists have a God themselves. When they say there is no God,
they are proclaiming themselves to be God. So every man has a
God. All men know there is a God,
and all men have the law of God written on their hearts, and
therefore, all men are without excuse. All men are without excuse. I received this beautiful flyer
in the mail near the church. It must have cost them a fortune
to put those out. I just usually tear them up and
throw them away, but this one, before I tore it up, I looked
at it, and it was about that movie that's coming out. There
is, God is not dead. Duh! And I tore it up and threw it
in the trash. Why in the world is it such a big deal for people
to, oh look at that, they're having a movement now. It's a
religious movement. Look, they're convincing men
that God is alive. They already know God's alive. All men know this. You don't
need a movie to tell them this. You don't need to try to debate
this with them. If they say they know God, they're
a fool and leave them alone. We have no reason or cause to
debate this with any man. They know it. And because they know there is
a God, all men call on a God. All men will call on a God. All
men know there's a God and they by nature exchange the truth
of God for a lie and would rather serve beasts And even worse than bowing down
to a beast is to bow down to ourselves. It's worse to worship
men than it is to worship a beast. Why? At least a beast knows God. At least a beast knows where
he gets his food from. But man doesn't know or care. Man desires to worship a God
of his own imagination. God said, Thou thoughtest. that
I was altogether such in one as thyself." These men were trying,
by nature men try to satisfy their own conscience and therefore
they make a god after their own image. All men do this. False religion of our day calls
their god by the same name. You can go to any false church
that you want to that does not preach the gospel of God's free
grace in Christ, and you will hear them say the name Jesus. All ten of these men said, Jesus,
Master. You can go to any false church
and hear the same name, Jesus. But one thing, it's one thing
to call Him Jesus. To call Him Master. But it is
altogether a difference to be resurrected from the dead
and know He is Master. To know He is Master. Men called
Jesus, Master, blindly. And Jesus said, Not all they
that say unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Isn't that something? Try to tell that to the religious
world of today. Oh, no, he made a profession
of faith. Where is he? Well, I don't know, but he made
a profession. I can preach him into heaven when he dies. No,
you can't. No, you can't. They don't know who he is. They
just blindly call on him. And the Jesus of this age is
not the Christ that is testified by the prophets. He is not the
Christ. Even because their Christ has
died for all men and saved none of them. Well, I don't know who
that is. Do you? I have no idea who that
is. The Christ we worship is not
the Christ that they worship. Even because Christ, our Christ,
is sovereign. Our Christ saved His people from
their sins. Our Christ. is God manifest in
the flesh. So all men may call upon Jesus,
but that doesn't mean all men are saved. You remember when
the Lord Jesus went through and it said there are many that believe.
And then you read in the next couple of verses and they turn
on Him. These that believe, he said,
if the Son of God shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.
And these that believe, they said, oh, we are free. Who are
you to say we're not free? Thirdly, this passage of the
Word of God testifies to us that all who call upon God for mercy
are first pointed to the law. Look at this. When they cried,
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Notice what Jesus said. He
said, go show yourselves to the priest. In other words, He pointed
them to the law. To the law. If any man is going
to believe on Jesus Christ, he must first be exposed to his
sin. He must first be exposed to his
sin. And what's the purpose of the
law? Why do we have the law? The law doesn't save anyone.
What is its purpose? Its purpose is to simply expose
us for what we are by nature, sinners, guilty before God. That's
what the law does. Jesus said, go show yourselves
to the priest. This is what the word of the
law gives to every leper, who would declare himself to be clean,
go be inspected by the law. You want to be cleansed by your
self-righteousness? By your own works? By your own
obedience? Then go show yourself before
the law and see where you stand. Go show yourself and be exposed
to the priests of the law and see where you stand. To everyone who cries, Lord,
Lord, will be given this directive. Have you been given this directive?
Have you seen what you are by nature? Every conscience that is defiled
and feels a guilt of sin must be sent first to the schoolmaster,
to the law, to see our need. You remember that rich, young
ruler who said, Good Master, what must I do to be saved? What
did Jesus tell him? He said, You know the law. What
does the law say? He said, Well, love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your strength, with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
He gave a great theological disposition of the whole law. And Jesus said,
That's right. Now go do it. Go do it. If that's the way you
want to be saved by your works, go do it. If you desire to be
saved by your obedience, go do it. Go show yourself to the law
and see if you stand up to the measure of
the law. The Word of God, the true Word
of God reveals that religion may clear the conscience, but
not save the soul. Religion may clear the conscience,
but not save the soul. Look at this. He said, go show
yourself to the priest. And it came to pass. There's
those words again. It's just sure. This is just, just happened. It happened this way. That as
they went, They were cleansed. Who was cleansed? All of them
were cleansed. If you tell a self-righteous
man to go look at the law, he's going to see the law and his
conscience will be cleansed. His conscience will be cleansed.
Why? Because he thinks he has enough to merit God's favor. Men by nature think themselves
to be worthy. Matter of fact, they believe
God owes it to them. Oh God, I came to you. You must save me. Because I willed
it so. What arrogance. What arrogance. Religion clears the conscience.
All these were cleansed of their physical leprosy. And I'll tell
you, religion does cleanse the conscience of men. It may even
result in a life-changing experience. I've known men who were drug
addicts and alcoholics, and all of a sudden they got religion,
and man, they turned the world upside down. They don't do that
anymore. They'll tell you right fast,
they don't do that anymore. I got that whooped. I obey the law. Sure. I'm righteous. Once men see they have a need
of guilt and conscience, once pointed to some work of religion,
their conscience is immediately washed. And they keep on going.
They keep on going. These men were cleansed and they
kept on going. Why? They wanted to show themselves
to the priest. Look at what I've got. Look at
this. Oh boy, I'm all clean. Look at
this. See this? They're so proud of it. Religious
men are so proud of their self-righteousness. They all call to Jesus and they
start living better, they start doing better, they feel better
about themselves. But it's not soon long after
they start feeling better about themselves, and the more they
go to the priest, the further they go from Christ. You notice
that? He said, go show yourself to
the priest. And where did they go? They went away from Christ. to show themselves to the priest. Many shall say unto me that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name
cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful See the arrogancy? Even standing before the white
throne of God's judgment, they would stand there and say, look
what I did for you. Surely you owe me heaven. And he will say to them, depart
from me, I never knew you. And behold the question the Lord
asks, concerning these men, one of them turns around. One of them, when he saw that
he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God
and fell on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was
a Samaritan. Now, of the ten cleansed, only
one man returned to give glory to God. Now, this prompting the
Lord to ask the question in the next verse, He said, were there
not ten clans, but where are the nine? Where are the nine? This one leper who came back
to Jesus is a picture. All ten men are a picture of
us by nature. We are lepers. All ten men picture
us that we by nature serve a God. We would always want to be cleansed
by our own righteousness. Yet, there is a distinction made
here. One of them turned from going to the priest. One of them turned around and
glorified this man Jesus as He is God. He glorified Him as God. He turned back. This one had
the same curse. This one had the same desire
to be healed. And He started out the same way
as everyone else. But yet there was something different.
This man turned. This man turned and returned
back to the Lord. As soon as he saw he was clean,
he repented, he returned to the source of his healing. He returned to the source of
his healing and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down at
his, whose feet? God's. God's feet. Giving him God thanks. According to the sure word of
God, this is a result of all who are saved by the sovereign
grace of God. This man represents me. This
man represents you who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are. We are all not drawn to the law
or by works. But we bow down at the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ. At first glance, the law, we
know that all the law can do is condemn us. When we feel the
guilt and need of righteousness, the guilt of our sins, and God
turns us to the law, what then do we see? We see that we are
incapable of obeying the law. One thing about this man in being
a Samaritan is that he wouldn't have been accepted. He realizes,
he turns around, walks away, he's cleansed, and he realizes,
I'm not going to be accepted by them. I'm not going to be
accepted by them. Friends, we need a new heart. We realize that we need a new
heart. We need to be cleansed not only
of physical, outward leprosy, but we need to be cleansed of
our sins, the guilt of our sins. We need to be washed. And we need the salvation that
only the God-man, Jesus Christ, can provide. And we cannot be satisfied with
anything else. We who have turned and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, turned away from the wall because there's
no hope for us there. We turn to Christ because He
is our hope. He is all our salvation. And
we cry and give glory to God for all our salvation. Glory
to the Father that chose us. Glory to the Son that accomplished
our salvation. Glory to the Spirit of God that
applies that salvation to us and heals us in the inner man
and gives us a new nature. I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful. Praise God we are called with
an holy calling. Praise God that we have believed
and have faith. If you have faith, do you realize
that's a spiritual gift? It's not natural for man to believe. It's not natural for man to believe
on Christ and turn away from religion and law. It's not natural. It's supernatural. It's a gift
of God. If you have faith, it is a gift
of God. Therefore, see the truth of the word of God that many
are called the nine, but few are chosen. That is the truth of God's word. God always has a remnant. And for the most part in history,
it's not the masses, but the few. It's not the masses, but the
few. Do you realize that only eight? There were only eight
people. Not even of the eight, they were
not all believers. But only eight people were saved
during the flood of Noah. And not all of them were saved.
Is that not something? God says to Elijah, he thought
he was it. He thought he was the only one
left. And he said, Lord God, just kill me because I'm the
only one left. God says, I've got 7,000. That
sounds like a lot, but out of 2 million people, 7,000? Remnant. According to the election of
grace. A remnant. Many are called, but few are
chosen. Only the chosen are called to come back to Christ. Only
the chosen will come back and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
So then where are the nine? Well, the nine are satisfied
with carnal religion. That's what they are. They're content
with carnal religion. They're content with just being
healed outwardly. They're content with just outward
actions and zeal of carnal religion. That's it. They're content with
that. They're happy. So when you tell them they're
lost, they get all frantic. They get all out of whack. Why? Because they're content. What
are you messing with my contentment for? Why would you tell me to believe
on Christ? Well, I already believed on Christ.
I remember the date and time I believed on Christ. Because
I remember it was a Sunday and we had this church service and
I came down the front and I received Jesus. See, he's happy with that. See, I'm not content with my
faith that I had yesterday. Are you? I believe now. I trust Christ
now. Right now, I bow down and I worship
the ever-living Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for
me. He's worthy of my praise and
all the honor I can give Him. He's worthy of it. And notice this, this man who
turned, he was a Samaritan. This man was an outcast. This man was despised of his
own race. And because he was part Jew,
he was despised of the Gentile race. He found no race he could
identify with. Me either. Me either. I'm an outcast of all men. This Samaritan, who was commanded
to go to the priest, knew he could find no acceptance there.
So he turns and he finds acceptance in the only place that a Samaritan
could find acceptance. And that's with the One who healed
him. Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, the Lord Jesus
Christ tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. Do you realize
He's talking about Himself? He testifies that He is the Good
Samaritan. Is that not wonderful for us
Samaritans? Is that not wonderful for us dogs? Yes. Yes. Do you realize, believer, that
we who are not accepted of this world were accepted of God in
Christ before the world began? We were accepted. I know that it feels good to
be accepted. And I know that it hurts to be
rejected. But I really don't care about being rejected of
men if I'm accepted with Christ. I don't care. I don't care about them. If they
ever accept me, it doesn't matter. I was accepted in Christ. There were ten who made a physically
whole, but only one was made spiritually whole. And that's
the one who bowed down to the feet of Christ. So where are the nine who are
cleansed? What happened to them? Well, I imagine they lived a
life for a short period of time, and they died. They may have
spent the rest of their life cleansed from leprosy, never
to see leprosy again all the days of their life. They went
to the priest, they showed themselves to the priest, they went on and
lived about their daily life, and they died. That's what happened. Where are
the nine? They died. Well, you know the same thing
happened to the nine happened to the one? He died too. Where are the nine now and where's
the one? The nine are in hell. The one is now in heaven. The one is in heaven because
of Jesus Christ. Are you one of the nine? Are
you following after some thought of your religious zeal, some
hope in yourself that you have done something to merit the favor
of God? Then you are with the nine. I tell you, return and be the one. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. What a wonderful message to someone
who needs salvation. What a wonderful message to someone
who needs to be cleansed. And lastly, we see that this
one was bid to go his way. Jesus said to them, were there
not ten cleansed, but where are the nine? They are not found. to 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. What was his way?
His way was a faith. That was his way. This man is
bid to go his way. I tell you who believe on Christ,
go do what you want to. What do you want to do? I desire to be found in His righteousness
and none of my own. That's my way. That's what I
want. I have no desire to go to the
law. I have every desire to be found
in Him. My way is not one that begins
by grace and ends by my works. My way is not one that begins
by grace and ends by my words. It begins by grace. It walks
by grace. It's finished by grace. I walk
by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Every day of my life. That's my way. That was His way. If you believe
that's your way. I'm so grateful for his healing
power to save me from my sins. And you know what? This man,
he gave thanks. Shouldn't we give thanks? Shouldn't we give
thanks? I know this is not original with
me, but I heard it from someone else. But how can you give thanks
and not be content? Is that possible? I'm thankful,
but... You know, I just don't really... No, that don't sound like thankfulness
to me. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. May we give thanks. Let's stand where we just missed
in prayer.