Story Of The Ten Lepers

Q: What does the Bible say about salvation?

The Bible teaches that salvation is a work of God, where sinners are cleansed and justified by faith in Christ alone. Scripture presents salvation as entirely God's work, initiated by His grace and received through faith in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 states that we are saved by grace through faith, and this is not our doing; it is the gift of God. This demonstrates that salvation is not based on human effort or merit but on the divine initiative and sovereign will of God. Just as the ten lepers cried out for mercy and were healed as they obeyed Christ's command, so too are we called to respond to God's grace with faith, knowing that salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9).

Q: How do we know God's grace is sufficient for salvation?

God's grace is sufficient for salvation, as demonstrated through Christ's atoning sacrifice and His calls to the weary. The sufficiency of God's grace is illustrated beautifully in the story of the ten lepers. They were healed not through their works but through their faith in Christ's command, showing that it is God's grace that effectually saves. Romans 5:20 states that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. This assurance is rooted in the gospel message, which emphasizes that Christ came to save sinners and His sacrifice is sufficient to cover all sin. As we recognize our leprosy of sin, understanding that we bring nothing to our salvation but need, we find comfort in the promises of God that His grace is indeed sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Q: Why is gratitude important for Christians?

Gratitude is vital for Christians as it acknowledges God's mercy and grace in our lives. Gratitude is an essential element of the Christian faith, as demonstrated in the account of the one leper who returned to thank Jesus for his healing. In Luke 17:17-19, Jesus remarks on the absence of the other nine who did not return to give thanks. This highlights not only the importance of recognizing God's mercy but also our responsibility as recipients of grace to glorify Him. The act of thanksgiving reflects our understanding of our condition as sinners and the depths of God's love and grace towards us. Gratitude fosters a heart of worship and reminds us of our dependence on God, strengthening our relationship with Him. Proper gratitude ensures that we remain focused on God’s gifts rather than on our achievements.

Q: What does leprosy symbolize in the Bible?

Leprosy symbolizes sin, representing how it begins in the heart and ultimately consumes the whole being. In biblical accounts, leprosy serves as a vivid illustration of sin's pervasive and corrupting nature. It starts beneath the surface and gradually manifests outwardly, akin to how sin often begins in the heart and mind before being expressed in actions (Jeremiah 17:9). This condition leads to deterioration and separation, as lepers were marginalized in society, just as sin separates humanity from God (Isaiah 59:2). The narrative of the ten lepers highlights the redemptive work of Christ, who, like the healer for leprosy, offers salvation to those who recognize their sinfulness. Through the cleansing of lepers, we see a model of spiritual healing, emphasizing the necessity of acknowledging our sinful state to receive God’s mercy and grace.

Q: Why did only one leper return to thank Jesus?

Only one leper returned to thank Jesus, illustrating the rarity of true gratitude among those who receive blessings. The story highlights a profound truth about humanity's tendency to overlook the source of their blessings. While ten lepers were cleansed, only one returned to glorify God, reflecting the reality that many benefit from Christ's mercy without truly recognizing or appreciating it. This leper, a Samaritan, understood his unworthiness and the enormity of the gift he received, contrasting sharply with the others who may have felt entitled to their healing. Jesus’ question, 'Where are the nine?' points to the common spiritual condition of indifference or ingratitude even among those who experience God’s grace. This narrative serves as a warning for us to cultivate a heart of thankfulness and recognition of God’s sovereignty and mercy in all aspects of our lives.

Now, this is the story of our
Lord's healing of ten lepers, the story of ten men who were
lepers, and the story of their healing. But as with all the
scriptures, it goes much deeper than that. It represents a picture
of how God saves sinners. how God saves sinners. Let's read the text here in Luke
seventeen, verse eleven through nineteen. Luke seventeen, verses
eleven through nineteen. And it came to pass, as Christ
went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria
and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain
village, They 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 priest. And it came to pass, as they
went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw
that he was healed, or how that he was healed, he turned back,
and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face
at his feet, at Christ's giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering, or speaking
to him, said, Were there not ten cleansed? And where are the nine? They are not found that return
to give glory to God save this one stranger. And Christ said unto him, Arise
And go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole." Now, as I said, this represents,
although it's a picture of or a story of Christ healing ten
men of the physical plague of leprosy, this is a picture of
salvation, how that God saves sinners from their sin. Throughout the scriptures is
a picture of sin, a type of sin. The scriptures are clear, and
there are many reasons why sin is typified as leprosy. Number one, leprosy is all-consuming. When a man or a woman, back in
those days, acquired leprosy, it consumed every part of his
being, his or her being, until their whole bodies were nothing
but just open, running sores, until they finally, actually,
literally just dropped into a heap of corrupt flesh and died, all
consuming. It was always fatal. Anytime
someone acquired Leprosy, it was always fatal, just like AIDS
today, or much like AIDS today. Generally, it's always fatal. And here are the likenesses. Leprosy started out not on the
outside. It didn't manifest itself or
show itself on the outside. When a person acquired leprosy,
it started on the inside. It was a disease of the bones.
Leprosy starts in the bone marrow and begins to work its way outward. And at first, it's imperceptible.
When a person acquired leprosy, it was imperceptible. They didn't
see that they had leprosy. They might not even feel that
they had leprosy, but it was there. It was in the bone in
the innermost being and eventually and like I said the man or the
woman or young person may not be aware of it but eventually
it began to manifest itself. A few spots would appear on the
skin and the person might not think much about it they might
think well you just had a common ordinary disease but they knew
they'd get worse and they'd get worse. And they gradually would
degenerate into, like I said, that awful picture, until finally
they were totally consumed by it and become ugly and hideous
to look at. And the picture is too hideous
to even describe, of fingers dropping off and so on. Now, this is a picture of sin.
The Scriptures describe the sinfulness of man in a way that men don't
consider. The sinfulness of man, it first
begins not on the outside, but on the inside. It doesn't always
manifest itself outwardly at first, but it's on the inside. It begins in the innermost man. It begins in the heart. It begins
in the mind. It begins in the will. In the
heart the scripture says the heart is deceitful above all
things a man his heart may be so deceit he doesn't even think
he's a sinner. He's unaware of it. In the mind the mind is reprobate
the natural man the natural man is a mind that's void of judgment.
Why? Because of sin. Sin is a mind
that doesn't think like God doesn't think about God. but thinks about
dying things. In the will, it manifests itself. Sin begins in the will. Those of you with young children
see this very clearly. It begins in the will, doesn't
it? A strong predisposition in a little child to do their will. And generally the first words,
you know generally the first words that a human being speaks
in this world? It may be mama, it may be daddy,
it may not, but it generally is this, no. Or if it's not no, it's mine. Right? And even at the young
stage, little children, self-will, we're talking about a will for
self, a will for sin, a will against authority. Is it so,
mothers? How old is Elizabeth? How old
are your little babies? They're young. They're just babies.
Have you seen it yet? Clearly. Even the cutest little
darling little girls. I won't even mention boys. Even
the cutest little darling little girls. Sugar and spice and everything
nice. Not so. Sin and sin and everything
is sin. If it's born, it begins in them
at birth. Isn't that what the Scripture
says? In sin did my mother concede me, David said. He said I was
brought forth from the womb speaking lies. A little child, you don't
have to teach a baby how to lie. They come by naturally. Why?
To get their will and their way. Their will. Until finally it
begins to manifest itself in some sores, doesn't it? The older
they get, particularly, and I'm always picking on teenagers,
but I'm sorry. Because I was one and I know what they like.
Eventually, that little darling baby who manifests that will,
eventually that will begins to grow stronger until they get,
oh, the horrible age of thirteen. And then it's, I don't have to
do what you say. I've learned some things. I know
some things. I'm somebody. I know something. Mama doesn't know everything.
Daddy doesn't know everything. I've learned something. I'm big
enough to do it myself." Until it really begins to manifest
itself ugly, doesn't it? Doesn't that will come out in
a teenager? Ugly. Sometimes even younger than that.
Fits and tantrums. Have your kids ever thrown fits
or tantrums? Ugly. And you look at that darling
little child you thought was an angel, at least you told everybody
it is, and you think, Where did that come from? They throw this
ungodly, wretched fit, like a wild dog, foaming and gnashing, kicking,
yelling, screaming on the floor. Is that my child? Yes, it's your
child, and they got it from you, this sinful nature. And then, too, this thing about
sin. The thing about sin, as it was with leprosy, leprosy
would begin to degenerate the mind, so the memory would be
gone. The memory would be gone. They'd get a form of Alzheimer's
disease or whatever. They couldn't remember things.
Their mind would deteriorate. Not only would their bodies,
their flesh and bones deteriorate, but their mind, which is vessels
and blood vessels and so forth, it would deteriorate. It would
actually melt. until they just couldn't remember, didn't know
anybody, didn't know anything, until they were just vegetables. And that's the thing about sin,
too. The mind deteriorates. The older a man gets, the farther
he gets from God, right? Until he's just a hellion, he's
meant for hell, he's on his rocking chair, just sitting back, ain't
giving a god a thought in all his days, and he wouldn't now.
It's impossible, nearly, for him to think about God. It's
mind-void of judgment and understanding. And it causes hallucination.
Leprosy would cause hallucination. In men, the Scripture says, their
wicked minds have imagined all sorts of wicked things. Hallucination. You know what images are? Men
create images and idols. That's imagination. They worship
a god of their imagination. I think God is this, I think
God is that, is that way, irregardless of what they say. And they imagine
all sorts of ways that God, they think God is. And it's hallucinating. It's hallucinating. Until finally, he hallucinates
so much that he thinks everything's all right between him and God.
He doesn't have the foggiest notion of who God is. And he
really doesn't have the foggiest notion of what he's like. There's
disease in him. until finally he thinks he's
all right. It's like people with AIDS. I
keep coming back to this, but people that get AIDS now, do
you think, do any of those people, do you
see or hear them on television acknowledging that it was their
evil lifestyle that made them acquire this disease? Do you
see anybody mourning feeling remorse over the fact that because
they lived in the bathhouses and a wicked and sinful life,
they got what was coming to them. You see anybody mourning that
fact or saying, yeah, this is the reason I'm like I am and
I'm getting what I deserve? Have you ever seen or heard anybody
like that? Do you think if they were healed that they would quit
that? That's the reason they want a
cure for it so bad, so they can go right back to it and live
like that. That's the way man is, a sin. Even religious people,
they don't want cured from sin, they want cured from the consequences
of it. They want to go to hell. I don't
want to get sick. You want a miracle, don't you?
Sure, who doesn't? You want a good job, don't you?
Believe on Jesus. OK, that sounds good enough. You want your sins
forgiven? You want this sin blotted out
of you, this evil principle within you? I haven't really thought about
it. It's like leprosy. Number two,
leprosy, not only does it consume the whole being, but it defiles
everything that they do. Leprosy in a man, everything
he would touch, everything he would contact, come into contact
with, he would defile it. It was a highly contagious disease,
highly contagious. Everything they came in contact
with was defiled, and the scripture says it was to be burnt. Everything
that a leper touched or came across, whether he sat on a chair,
laid in a bed, touched anything, it was to be burned with fire. Eating and drinking utensils,
the common ordinary things, bedding and so forth, housing, everything
was to be burned. And that's man. Sin, isn't it?
Everything man touches, he defiles it. Everything. Eating and drinking. You know,
the Scripture talks about I don't know exactly where the Scripture
is, but Mark, take my word for it, this Scripture does exist.
It says, even the plowing of the wicked is evil in the sight
of the Lord. Even the plowing. You take a man out there who
is plowing his garden. That's good. That's a good thing
to do, isn't it? Isn't that a good, honest, hard
labor? Plow your garden, plant a little garden. What's wrong
with that? Well, if that man is not giving God Almighty all
the glory that the fact that he has a It's wicked, and God
will send him to hell for it. If that man, if his taters begin
to grow up, if his maters begin to shine, if his beans begin
to multiply, and he hasn't given God all the credit and all the
glory, did he make them grow? Who made them grow? He can plant
and water. Sure, who gives the increase,
Scripture says? If he doesn't utter a word more than that,
if he doesn't give God all the credit and all the glory and
all the thanks for his garden, that's wicked. And that will
rise up in the judgment against him. Yes, he's made her patch. Everything he touches is defiled.
Why? Everything he does, what defiles it? Self. Pride. Look at my garden. Ain't I got
a beautiful garden? We were out there admiring Charles's
garden. Charles, no really, buddy, what do you have to do with that,
huh? God's made it rain now for two months. Everybody's garden's
pretty, isn't it, buddy? The man who hadn't even tended
his garden, he's got a good garden. Right? You went and got manure
and this and that and the other, fine, that's fine. But the man
who didn't get any manure's got a good garden. Everybody's got
a good garden this year. I don't know much about gardening,
but I've got the finest garden you'll ever see. God opened the
windows of heaven and poured rain just day after day and grow
in our garden. But we touch it, we put the hand
to the plow, we pick them and all that and say, look at my
garden. That's pride. And God says, what do you have
you haven't received? Why in the world are you glorying
as if you had not received it? You ungrateful wretch. See that? Everything he touches, even the
plowing, even the plowing, our good deeds even. Those good humanitarian efforts
that people do, you know. Whatever it may be, go take a
dish down to a lady who's sick, or go visit somebody in the hospital.
Why don't we do those things? Doesn't the Scripture say all
our righteousness, Isaiah 64, 6, even our righteousnesses,
our good deeds are, what does it say? Somebody say it. Filthy
rags. Why is that? Because it's full
of sin. We want somebody desperately
to know that we did that. No. We give an anonymous gift
to somebody. A hundred dollars or whatever.
Anonymous. We sure hope it doesn't stay
anonymous. No. We want somebody to find out
that. What? So now, thank what a good person we are. Sin. Didn't do it from a motive of
love and true concern and compassion and see a need. Can anybody say
they've ever done anything out of a pure motive, 100% for the
glory of God and because that person just needs it? Can you
say, anybody? Raise their hand and say, yes, I've done it. You're
a liar if you say that. Anything we touch is defiled.
Everything. This preaching. The preaching I'm doing right
now. It's full of pride. If it wasn't for the blood of
Christ, God would damn me for it. Religion, prayer, preaching,
whatever it might be, singing. How many in here, son, know songs
for the glory of God? I mean, with a heart just full
of praise and thanksgiving and glory to God. Some of you didn't
even sing them. How does that define? Like leprosy. sin covers us from head to toe. And isn't that what Isaiah 1,
verse 6 says? For those of you who know that
verse, from the sole of our feet to the crown of our head, it
says there's no soundness in us, no goodness in us, nothing
but wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores that have not been bound
up nor mollified with ointment. That's the picture of man, sin.
Do you get the picture? And also, here's another thing,
thirdly, a leper was shut out from society. Whenever a man
or a woman or a young person contacted, contracted, what's
the word? I get it mixed up. Acquired,
got leprosy. They were shut out from society.
They were shut out. They defiled everybody else.
You had to stay out there. And it says that in the Old Testament
Leviticus thirteen the exact it says that they had to stand
whenever an ordinary person came by the leper had to cover his
face so he wouldn't breathe. That's just good practical medicinal
laws isn't it Rick that God has given don't breathe these germs
on before they even knew germs existed God said cover your face
so we won't breathe these germs out. But anyway he covered his
face his eye or his face with a so he wouldn't breathe on a
common ordinary person. And he had to cry, unclean. Whenever
somebody was getting too close, the leper had to say, unclean,
unclean. Don't come near me, I'm unclean. And shut him out. And generally
they lived together in a leper colony. All of them together,
shut out. Confined with other lepers. Sin, the scripture says, has
separated us from our God. And Scripture says your sins
have separated you from your God. There's a great gulf fixed
between us and this holy God. And lepers can't just up and
say, Here I am, God. Oh, no. Separated. Separated. Confined to the company of lepers.
Where's that? Planet Earth. You know that this
is a leper colony. You know that planet Earth is
a leper colony? I'll just read the paper. Turn on the TV. You'll see it's leprosy. It's
everywhere, isn't it? It's just full of iniquity, sin
and iniquity bound. Nothing but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. What do you see in the paper
or hear on the news that's good? Huh? Is there any goodness, righteousness,
gentleness, kindness, meekness, truth, holiness? Do you hear
or see any of that? Huh? Even the people you work
with, do you hear out of their mouths? Any beautiful and glorious
things, the glory of God? No. It's filth. And we're confined to the company
of leprosy on this earth. And man has got to cover it. That thing that covers his leprosy.
And it's called religion. And we're all sitting here this
morning, aren't we? Some of us, all dressed up. Like me. Not many. There's a few in here
that look good. But we think we do, don't we?
We think we do. We're all dressed up. Fit to
kill, I don't say anything. Fit to kill. Dressed up. And
we think we look pretty good, don't we? But if you'd split
this man wide open where you could see the innermost thoughts
and desires and hearts of every one of us in here. And this doesn't cover it, does
it? Not the eye of God. It doesn't cover the eye of God.
And you know what? Everything that comes out of
our mouth is what? Like the lepers of old. Everything
that comes out of our mouth is what? Unclean. Like I was saying,
mostly murmuring, complaining, bitterness. And let's say that
in Scripture. Our mouths are full of bitterness,
murmuring, complaining. I never remember cursing. Unclean, unclean, dead to God. This is man by nature. But God,
who is rich in mercy, passes by some lepers like he did these
old boys. and shows them. First thing he
does, Jeanette, is to show them they're lepers. They're lepers.
You know that's the greatest gift that God, the first greatest
gift that God can give to a man or a woman is to show them their
sinfulness? Huh? You know that? Why is that? Because everybody's a leper and
they don't know it. They look pretty good. They're
going to go down to the grave and die and be damned before
a holy God thinking they're all right. What if every AIDS patient
went to the doctor and every one of the doctors said, you're
all right. You're going to be all right. I've got a wonderful
plan for your life. God loves you. You're OK. You're
going to live. Well, thank you, doc. And he
just begins to gradually deteriorate. What's wrong with me, doc? You're
OK. It's OK. You'll be all right. Give me $1,000. Give me $1,000
more. You'll be all right. And he does. The greatest gift
that God can give a man or a woman first is to show them their leprosy
stain, isn't it? For a faithful man to stand up
and say, you're a leper, you're dying. God, through his word,
to reveal to you, hey, I'm a leper, that's me, and I'm going to die
because of it, if something's not done about it. And then, that unspeakable gift
is for the healer of souls to come along. the Master, the Lord,
the Savior, the Great Physician, John, to come by where that leper
is and reveal himself to you. And you'd cry out to him, Lord,
I'm a leper, would you heal me? And every time, every leper that's
ever called on him, he has healed. You know that Christ saves every
sinner. When I'm talking about lepers,
I'm talking about people that know it and want rid of it. And
when I'm talking about sinners, I'm talking about people that
know it and want rid of it and finally see there's only one
place they're going to get rid of it. And every single sinner
that's ever called on Christ has been healed, been forgiven
their sins. Turn with me and look at verse 12 here in our
text. It says, And as he entered into a certain village, there
met with him ten men that were lepers, and they stood afar off. They stood afar off. You know
that if God ever shows you yourself, you won't feel like, you won't
feel worthy of coming in this place. If God ever shows you yourself,
you won't feel worthy of, you won't stand afar off. You know,
the public, there were two men in Luke 18, the very next chapter,
it says there were two men that came into the temple, came to
worship. That's a good thing. That's the place to be. One of
them was a Pharisee. He was a moral man. He was a
Sunday school teacher. He had grown up in church, you
know. He lived a moral life, a good citizen, a deacon, a treasurer,
a preacher maybe, a pastor. And he never drank, smoked, cussed,
or chewed, you know. And he came into church one day
and he said, and he looked up toward heaven, you know, like
they do today, and raised his hand and said, I thank you, Lord, that I'm not
like old Joe Blow down there who's in the bar drunk today.
I love Jesus. I thank you I'm not like other
men. Well, I tithe. Here I am in church. I give a tenth of what I own.
Thank you, thank you, thank you." Christ Almighty said that man
went down condemned. He said he was a sinner of the
worst sort. Why? But then there came in an
old boy who was a sinner, and he knew it. I mean, he'd lived
in open sin. A publican, the worst sorts of
peopleâ€”cheap, liar, no good, extortioner, full of extortion
and excess. Harlots and publicans came to
him. Publicans were linked with harlots, one and the same. And
he came in the place to worship before God, and he wouldn't look
to heaven. He didn't feel worthy to look
to God. God won't listen to me, but I've got no place else to
go. Got no place else to turn. Oh, he won't have mercy. I'm too wicked. But he cried
out anyway, didn't he? Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. If there ever was a sinner, I'm
it. Christ said that man was forgiven, justified, just as
if he had never sinned. And that other man, who never
thought he had sinned, was full of it, and God held him accountable
for it. And Christ, the healer of souls,
comes by some lepers, and they cry out for mercy. Cry out for
mercy for their leprosy. Turn with me to Leviticus 13.
Leviticus chapter 13. You've got to see this, folks.
I've showed this to you before, but this will thrill your heart
if you didn't see it the first time. Leviticus chapter 13. Now,
everybody are lepers. Like I say, like Scripture says,
everyone is a sinner. All people are lepers, but some
don't see it. And this is a clear picture here
in Leviticus 13 of leprosy and the healing of leprosy, the cleansing
of leprosy. And in short, you go home tonight
and you read all of this, but I'm going to sum it all up for
you real quickly, OK? Just take my word for it. If
not, go home and read what it says about it. If one person
now if you had leprosy back then God said you go to the high priest
just like Christ told him to you go to the high priest and
you go through these cleansing rites. Now if one of them had
mostly good flesh if ninety nine point nine percent of his body
was clean and white or tan as they were then or over there. cleaned up no real you know looks
pretty good but you've got a little problem they have a little patch
right here. One little spot he can't quite
explain it a little scaly itchy spot right here. And he goes
to the to the to the high priest and says. I look all right I'm
going to I got this one little problem here and I just wanted
to see what you had to say about the high priest would look and
say unclean. You're a leper. Well, then if a man came along
who was covered with leprosy, mostly bad, I mean, he was in
the last stages of leprosy, but he had one you I'm getting healed here. And
he'd go to the high priest and say, look, I believe I'm getting
better. I'm coming out of this thing, aren't I? I look pretty
good, huh? The high priest would say, you're
unclean, you've got leprosy. But get a load of this. Look
at Luke 13. Look at Leviticus 13, verse 13. It says, Then an old boy had
come to the priest, and the priest would consider this fellow, or
look at him and behold him. And if the leprosy has covered
all his flesh, no goodness in him anyway. Not one clean piece
of flesh on him. The high priest would pronounce
him clean. Now, there's some blank looks
on some faces here, but there's some smiles on some other ones.
Clean. It's all turned white. He's clean. Do you know what that's talking
about? Huh? Clean. This is a picture of man. You see, here comes a man. He's
gone to church and all these things, good moral, good citizens
and so forth. He's got one little bad hat.
He likes to snuff. Or whatever he may be. He's got
one little fault, you know. But he's a good moral man. He
comes to God and he says, I'm pretty moral. I'm pretty clean.
I'm all right. I've got a few I've made a few mistakes. Nobody
likes to talk about sin, do they? Talk about mistakes. I've got
a few faults. Yeah, you're one whole fault.
But I've got a few faults. I've got a few problems. But
I'm pretty good, aren't I? What does the priest, what does
God say about that man? Unclean. You're a sinner of the
worst sort. You're a self-righteous sinner.
Oh, then he comes along, the man, and we see these people
all the time. You go down to Joe's bar or Sam's bar or whoever's
bar, it's a day or whenever it's open, and you pull up on the
barstool beside old Smitty or whoever he is, and you talk to
him about his religion. And he's sitting there, he's
showing his off, you know. And he's been there for days.
And you're going to talk to him about his religion. Do you know
God? Well, yeah, I was born. I mean, he may be the most defiled,
wicked fellow living in open sin. I mean, yeah, he's got some
good points. He ain't never killed anybody. Well, my wife, she won't let
me. Just, you know, he's got some good points. He may be the
most filthy, vile, wretched, wicked fellow on the face of
the earth, but he's got some good points. What does God say
about that man? Oh, unclean. But you take a man, a woman,
a young person, that comes before God Almighty and says, God, there's
no good in me. My thoughts, my works, my flesh,
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, Paul says in Romans 7.
And he was a preacher. Nothing good in me. There's none
that doeth good, no, not one. There's none righteous, no, not
one. And you take any man, any woman, Any young person who comes
before the Holy God like that says, there's nothing good about
me. God have mercy upon this old
sinner. What will God say? Every time
God will say, clean, forgiven, justified. Why? Because the blood of Jesus Christ.
You see, Christ said it, John, didn't He? He said, I'm not come
to call the righteous. He didn't come to be a righteousness
for people that have one. What do you need Christ for?
You're all religious and fixed up. You're as sure for heaven
as if you're already there, like old Jerry tells everybody. What
do you need Christ for? Why do you need a mediator at
the right hand of God? Why do you need an intercessor? Why
do you need an advocate at the right hand of God? Why do you
need him to pour out the blood on the mercy seat daily? What
do you need the mercies of God every morning for when you quit
sinning? Huh? But no, the man who knows he's
a sinner, the woman who knows she's a sinner and can't quit
it, she or he needs a Savior daily, hourly, moment by moment,
an ever-living intercessor at the right end of the car to make
intercession, to plead the blood for me. Right? Unclean, unclean. Go back to the text, and I've
got to hurry. Back to the text. Let's read verses thirteen and
fourteen. And you stand afar off, crying for mercy, and Christ
the high priest, that great physician of souls, he comes along. In verses thirteen and fourteen,
they lift up their voices and say, Jesus, Master! Now these
folks had leprosy. You go down to the hospital again,
where people were dying with AIDS, and a man is laying there
on his deathbed, and he's hooked up to machines, and he can't
hardly take another breath. And his body is an amazing weight
of 90 pounds. And you come across with him,
and somebody says, I've heard there's a, I've heard there's
a, a, a, a cure! What do you think that man's
going to do? With his dying breath, with every fiber of his little
scrawny being, he's going, help me! Won't he? Somebody give it
to me. Really? Right? Won't you make
your decision for Jesus? Won't you come down here and
confess to being a sinner? Don't you know? Well, I think
I am. Why don't you say so? You know, accept Jesus as your
prayer. You'll say, that ain't crying for mercy, is it? When the people at Pentecost,
when they saw what they were, they said they were pricked in
their hearts, didn't they? That publican in the temple said,
he's broke and he's crazy, didn't he? And cried out in one of these,
how did they cry? Repeat after me. Did Christ say,
repeat after me? Jesus, Jesus, Master, Master,
have mercy on her, have mercy on her. Oh no. Isn't that a, isn't that blasphemy?
Isn't that the worst sort of hypocrisy you can imagine? They cried out. And we can't
even, I can't even imitate these fellas. They were dying of leprosy. Jesus! When they saw the one
they'd heard of, he'd healed some of the lepers. Have mercy
on us! And there's a story about blind
Bartimaeus. He said he wouldn't shut up. And people said, shut
up! And he wouldn't. He cried that
louder. Didn't he? Until finally Christ stood still. Well, they cried. Look at verse
fourteen. It says, When he saw them, You
know the salvation is that Christ seeing you, not you seeing Him. It's Him looking at you with
eyes of love, everlasting love, according to His eternal purpose
and glory. And He saw them in their sin. It's God seeing us
in our misery and coming to where we are. And He said unto them,
go. Now look at what He says to them.
to the priest, unto the priest. And it came to pass, that as
they went, they were cleansed. As they went, they were cleansed,
healed, healed. I have to tell you, this was
a big day for this fellow. Salvation is of the Lord. You
know, you know that Salvation is of the Lord, cleansing from
sin, acceptance with God. The best thing we can do is God
won't accept it. Like I said, because it's full
of sin, like Scripture says. Salvation is in the person. That
is the power, the authority, the will, the purpose. of Jesus
Christ, because he's Lord over all. It says that God has placed
every man, every woman, young person in his hand to do with
them as he will. It's not man's will, it's his
will. He says, I do according to my will in the armies of heaven
and among the heavens of the earth, and none can stay in my
hand or say unto me, you've got no right to do that. Yes, I am.
I can. I've got it. There's none else. And man in
whose hands he is, God, in whose hand man is, and in whose are
all his ways and his very breath, God will turn him whithersoever
he is. Salvation is of the person and
the sacrifice, the work of the Lord. It's not us working. It's
not us believing. It's not in us deciding. It's
not in us willing. It's not in us quitting, working,
quitting, doing, not doing. It's in Christ. working. It's
in Christ obtaining salvation, purchasing, paying a price which
was blood, living a life which God demands of us which we can't
live, that he had to do it for us, and then giving that to us.
Not because we earned it, not because we even asked for it,
because he decided to. The high priest, he's the high
priest, right? He's the high priest. And in
order to be saved from sin, we've got to present ourselves, like
these lepers, to the high priest. Christ said, Come unto me. What
did Christ say when they said, What must we do to be saved?
When the men cried, What must we do to be saved? When the Philippian
jailer said, What must I do to be saved? When the people of
Pentecost said, Men and brethren, what must we do to be saved?
What did they say? You better quit your drinking. You better
quit your smoking. You better quit. You better start
going to church. And those are good things. You
ought to quit them. But that won't save you. Accept
Jesus as your personal Savior. Come down front and dedicate,
consecrate, read this and read that. Recommit. Is that what
he said? Just believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And thou shalt be saved. Christ
is coming to me to call you to labor and heavy laden. I'll do
it for you. I'll give you rest. I'll do it
for you. Christ said, no man comes unto
the Father but by me. He said, you better come to me.
You want to get to God? You better come to me. You better
come to me. And like that leper, we're totally
passive in this world. Christ does it all. That leper,
if you read that in Leviticus 13, that leper just stood back,
watching. I'm sure he had his worries,
his doubts, his fears, and all of it. He thought, well, this
is what I'm supposed to do. And the priest said that he could
do it. I believe he's able. I believe God's able. And I'll
just stand here until I'm clean. He's totally passive in that
thing. And the high priest did it all. The high priest went
over and poured the blood out, killed him, poured the blood
out, washed his hands, went into the Holy of Holies, made the
sacrifice, came back out, anointed the fellow, you know, and told
him what to do and so forth. He did it all. Salvation's of
the Lord. Of the Lord. All right, notice
what Christ said quickly. Christ, he didn't tell these
men that they were cured already. He didn't say, you'll be all
right, you're okay, but go to the priest and show yourself.
He didn't tell them they were cured, but he told them to go
to the priest and show the priest as if they were already cured. Now listen, this is important.
He said, You just go to go to show yourselves as priests. As
if you're already cured. Salvation is trusting Christ. Though sinful. Now listen to
me, this will give you some comfort. Though sinful and leprous. Though
you don't feel healed. Say, Lord, I still feel like
a sinner. You are. I've got to go to Christ. I still
got to go to Christ. Right? don't heal you. Experience is
not the first step in salvation. Works, prayer, that's not the
first step in salvation. That comes afterward. When God
calls you by His grace, you call on Him. Yeah. A child doesn't
begin to cry until after he's born, does he? Huh? Doesn't John
1, 12, and 13 say that? As many as received him, to them
gave he the power to become the sons of God. As many as believed
on his name, why did they believe on his name? Verse thirteen said
they were born of God. They were born of God. This will
help me. Don't wait on so much repentance. I just haven't repented enough.
I haven't felt sinful enough. Are you listening to me? Don't
wait on repentance. I haven't repented enough. You
never will. You never will repent of your sins like you ought to.
We say, I don't feel. I just don't feel. Where does
it say salvation is feeling? Does it say in Luke chapter 12,
verse 25, that if you feel saved, you are? Does it say that anywhere
in the Scripture? If you feel saved, then you'll
be saved. What about the days you don't
feel saved? Does that mean you get unsafe? Feelings come, feelings
go. Feelings are deceiving. My hope,
your hope, our only hope is in the Son of God. No one or nothing
else is worth believing. Feelings come, feelings go. It's
not in your knowledge either. I don't know enough. I just don't
know enough about Scripture. Ah, boy, if it had anything to
do with knowledge, I wouldn't be preaching. I wouldn't be preaching. You know what this is like? You
know, waiting on feelings and waiting on repentance, waiting
on knowledge, waiting until you get old enough? You know what
that's like? It's like going to the doctor, you've got an
illness, and the doctor prescribes, he says, here's penicillin, it'll
cure you. Now go home, you take this three
times a day. You go home, take the medicine, you'll be cured.
Now if you have any confidence at all in his ability as a physician
and the ability of the medicine to cure you, you'll take it,
won't you? But waiting on feelings is kind
of like saying, I'm not going to take this until I know it'll
help. I'm not going to take that until
I'm better. Right? I'm not going to take the medicine
until I start feeling better. That's real smart, isn't it? I'm not going to trust Christ
until I feel like I've repented. I'm not going to trust Christ
until I feel something, until I feel inspired. No inspiration
might have been a bad pizza the night before. You can get real
inspired. See things. Hear voices. As you are in my hand, no price
I bring, just as I am, without one plea. And my only plea is
that when Christ died, He died. I'm a sinner. I'm not even a
good sinner. I don't even feel sinful enough
to call myself a sinner. But I'm a sinner. Christ died
for sinners. Would you heal me? And it says,
As they went. Do you see that? As they went,
they were cleansed. They were cleansed immediately.
Now, a wonderful thing happened here. A wonderful thing happened. A most astounding thing happened.
These men that had leprosy were cleansed immediately. White as snow. Skin like babies. Surely all
ten of them just ran back to Christ and embraced Him, just
crying and laughing and kissing Him and giving joy, wanting to
follow Him all the day. One man. Isn't that astounding? One man. Verse fifteen, "...and one of
them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with
a loud voice..." I like to hurt him. glorified who? God. The high priest? No. God. And look at this, verse 16. And
he fell down on his face at whose feet? God's feet. He said, God doesn't have feet.
Yes, he does. And they're not ours. Not like these false religions
that say God has no feet, but pure feet. No, they're Christ's
feet. And that man fell down at God's
feet, Christ's feet, his high priest, his high priest's feet. He hadn't gotten to the earthly
high priest yet, Sheriff. He didn't make it. Thank God
he had already seen him. He saw the high priest already.
And the high priest was about to make that atonement. And he
gave him thanks. And he was a Samaritan of all
people, all people. And Christ said in verse seventeen,
Jesus said, weren't there ten clans? And here's a question
of all questions. Where are the men? Now, very quickly, I'll give
you five more minutes, okay? Give me five more minutes, would
you? This, you can be, this is a story,
a picture of how that you can be outwardly religious, you can
experience many blessings, You can go to church, you can do
this and that, you can be partakers of the things of God and still
miss Jesus Christ. This story represents a truly
saved man and these nine who were mere professors of religion,
merely religious. A true child of God and those
who just said they were. Now listen, all ten of them,
listen to this thing, all ten of them cried for mercy, didn't
they? Didn't all ten of them cry out,
Jesus, have mercy on us? I was in a Jesus Master who said
the right thing. I prayed the sinner's prayer.
Right? Everybody all over the United
States, every doctor in the church has to pray the so-called sinner's
prayer. And I despise the sinner's prayer. If you want the sinner's prayer,
go to Luke 18 and find out what that publican said. Somebody will have to teach you
the sinner's prayer if you're a sinner. you'll know what it
is. Secondly, they all went to the priests. And everybody today,
they go to church. They sing, they pray, they read,
they do all the right things, they do all that's told them
to do and everything, right? Thirdly, they all believed. Well, Jesus said this, so let's
go. Jesus, Master, we'll have mercy on you, we'll do this.
Okay? And they believed Jesus. Most religions today believe
in heaven, they believe in hell, they believe in the blood, the
book, and the blessed hope, they believe in Jesus, they believe
in the gospel, a gospel, right? Over and over through the scriptures
it says many people believed on Christ, doesn't it? And it
says Christ in many places said he would not commit himself to
them because he knew what was in them. Unbelief. They didn't
believe him. He said, turned one time and
said, you follow me because you got your bellies full. Your God
is your belly. You want heaven. You want your
bills paid. You want a new car. You want
your body healed. You don't believe me because
you want your sins forgiven. That's the difference. Only one,
only one did differently. What did he do differently? Look
at verse fifteen again. One of them, when he saw how
that he was healed, that properly reads in the original Greek,
to how he was healed. It says he turned back, he turned
away from the nine. These fellas, where'd they go?
I don't know where they went. I bet they went to church. They
went on down to the high priest. What were they doing? Probably
discussing the abortion issue. Probably, you know, discussing
theology. Probably enrolling in seminary,
since they've had this miracle in their lives. Going to serve
Jesus, you know. One of them, John, turned away
from that, away from the nine, away from the world's religion
and turned to God. For once I'd like to see a man
truly convicted run down the aisle in one of these crusades
and one of these soul healers come up to him and the man say,
get out of my way, I don't need you, I'm coming to God, wherever
God is. I didn't come to you Billy Graham,
I'm coming to God. And you can't find God down there
at the feet of Billy Graham, not even at the feet of Christ.
And you find him in your closet on your knees in prayer. Lord
God, reveal Christ to me. And it says, He gave him all
the glory. This is significant, Stan. This is the whole story
in a nutshell, and I took too long to get to it. He gave him
all the glory. He gave God all the glory. Only
one saw how he was healed. How, or rather who, did the healing? Who? And he glorified God for
his healing. glorified God, and he fell on
his face at Christ's feet and gave Him thanks, all the thanks. He glorified God and placed himself
at Christ's feet. And Christ said, Where are the
nine? Where are the nine? Perhaps those nine thought they
deserved this miracle, and they claimed it, and it was there.
They were Jews anyway. And they thought God was supposed
to love them. You know, God loves everybody, and they were supposed
to be of Jews. But this Samaritan didn't. He
knew he didn't deserve it. He knew he couldn't do it. He
knew he couldn't get it. And he knew where he got it.
And he gave him all the glory for it. Of him, through him,
and to him, and for him are all things. All glory. Christ said,
Where are the nine? And like I said, this story represents
a true believer in outward religion. And I ask the same question,
where are the nine? How many people we have in here this morning?
Not very many. Where are the nine? What are
we doing here this morning? What we're endeavoring to do
from the very start is give God all the glory. I'm not bragging
on a soul in here. I didn't acknowledge our visitors.
I haven't acknowledged that this is Father's Day. I've been talking
about my daddy. There's one father I want to
acknowledge, my Heavenly Father. There's only one person we're
here to give glory to and to brag on. There's only one name
worth mentioning. That's the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Where are the nines? Where are all the people who
want to glorify God? Where are all the people giving all glory
to God and not bragging on Mama on Mama's Day and Daddy on Daddy's
Day and thanking the visitors for coming to worship God? Of
all things, people ought to thank God for the privilege of coming
to worship in Him. Where are the nines? people giving
God all the glory and coming and worshiping Christ. Where
are the preachers preaching Christ? What is salvation anyway? A decision? A baptism? A church joining?
What is salvation? Christ! Where are the preachers preaching
Jesus Christ? He said, If I be lifted up, I'll draw men to me.
Not if you stick ten-dollar bills under the seat. Not if you have
so many in Sunday school. If Christ be exalted, if the
gospel be preached, people will be saved. But where are the people
doing it? Where are the nines out of the
so-called Baptist church down the road? You know, they're full.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine. What does it mean to give God
all the glory? And I'll quit. It means just that, to give God
all the glory. A-double-M. Give him all the
credits. All the credits. You're a good
Christian, aren't you? No, I'm not good. There's nothing good
about me. There's nothing good but God. Right? Isn't that what
Christ said to the rich young ruler? Why are you calling me
good for? Don't call any man good. God's the only one that's
good. Well, you believed on Jesus, didn't you? No, it's a gift of
God. By grace you say through faith. That's not of myself.
It's a gift of God. Well, you did decide for him. You did will.
No, it's not of him that willeth or him that runneth. It's God
that worketh in me to both to will and do of his good place.
He did it all. Well, you believe, don't you?
You've got faith, don't you? He's the author and the finisher of
my faith. It's his faithfulness. Christ, God, all the glory. The
doctrines of grace, you'd better believe it. You'd better believe
it. We call the doctrines of grace.
Sometimes they're nicknamed Calvinism. But all it is saying, all these
five or six points are saying is that God does it all. God gets all the glory. Man's
dead, who's going to give him life? He's going to decide to
have life? No, God has to give him life. Man has to be chosen
to salvation. Is he going to choose God of
his own free will? No, he can't. He's dead. God has to do it. God gets all the glory. How's
he going to be saved? By quitting this, by quitting
that, by doing good work? No, it's the blood that makes atonement
for the soul. And everybody for whom the blood is shed will be
saved. God did it. The Son of God will shed His
blood. Well, how's He going to do it? Is He going to live in
the Spirit? No, it's the Holy Spirit's going to have to come to Him
and convince Him of sin, righteousness, judgment, give Him repentance,
faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit's going to have
to do it all! Right? Man, you know yourself,
if you get to heaven, why is that? God's going to get all
the glory. That's the reason everybody in
heaven from day one till all through its heart is giving God
all the glory. No man's name is going to be
in heaven. And if they ever persevere till
the end, if they're ever saved finally, they're going to realize,
God did it. The only reason I got to heaven
where everybody's going to say, the only reason I'm here is not
because I prayed through or not because I believed on Jesus,
not because I did anything, because Jesus Christ did it all. What more can be said? of the king. And that's about
the ratio today. A remnant, the scripture is called
a remnant according to the lexicon of grace. One man given God all
the glory and worshiping at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So that's who God is. And you know what the last verse
said there? Did you notice that? The last verse, I think it's
verse 19. It said, you go your way. What was his way? Stan,
I bet you a dollar he followed Christ. What do you want to bet?
And it says, your faith has made you whole. Oh, he got his leprosy. Oh, yeah. He got his sins forgiven. Like that woman, you know, he
said to that woman one time, caught in an act of adultery,
he said, I don't condemn you. You're justified. I don't condemn
you. But he did say, he went on to
say, go and sin no more. That's what we're going to talk
about tonight. I hope you'll come back. Where are the nine? Huh? I'm just thankful. I really, I mean this. I get
upset sometimes when crowds are down. Crowds. There's never a
crowd. When our folks are gone, but
you know, there's reasons. But everybody's here whom God
intended and sovereignly ordained from the foundation of the world
to be here. God's God. It has to be that way. And I'm
just thankful. I really am. I'm thankful that
there's nine. I think there may be nine in this group right here
that believe this. And you can have that 999 that
have believed in religion. I'll take nine. I'll take two. Christ said he'd take two or
three. Two or three gathered together in my name for the glory
of God to worship Christ for all that he's done. He said,
I'll be there. He may have been here this morning. All right, stand with me and
I'll get to it.

Story Of The Ten Lepers

What does the Bible say about salvation?

How do we know God's grace is sufficient for salvation?

Why is gratitude important for Christians?

What does leprosy symbolize in the Bible?

Why did only one leper return to thank Jesus?

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Story Of The Ten Lepers

What does the Bible say about salvation?

How do we know God's grace is sufficient for salvation?

Why is gratitude important for Christians?

What does leprosy symbolize in the Bible?

Why did only one leper return to thank Jesus?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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