Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. If you would turn with me to
Luke 17. Luke 17. Luke 17 and I want to read verses
11 through 19. 11 through 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? They are not found that return
to give glory to God save this stranger. And he said unto him,
arise, go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Christ as we can see from scripture
in many instances never went anywhere, never did anything,
never said anything off the cuff. Jesus Christ does all things
on purpose. After all, he was about doing
his father's business, and God the Father does all things on
purpose. If I do something on purpose,
it is always shot full of self. I'm always concerned about numero
uno. Here is Christ on his way to
Jerusalem for one purpose, to be made sin for his people. Did
he know this? That is, did Christ know he was
going for this purpose? He was the ones that said this
word in Zechariah 13, 7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. this very one who was going to
be tortured and crucified because of other sins that he loved,
that love wherewith he loved us, he was on his way to doing
that, yet he takes the time to, on purpose, to go through these
specific places and help these specific people. It was not just
in this village that he did such things such as this. We know he did this for us before
we were born, but there were some who were with him during
this time. Jesus Christ was always about doing the will of the Father.
In doing the will of the Father, Jesus Christ always loved his
neighbor as himself. Did he not? Who is going to say
that our Lord, the Lord of glory, did not do what was the right
thing to do toward his neighbor? Jesus Christ is going to this
place and did not just happen upon this place or these men.
Our Lord knows all things and he knew what was going to happen
and they were done and recorded in his word for us. Christ went
to specific places and did specific things to specific people so
that you and I might learn of him in all of this. I wished
I could tell it to you like it should be told. But the Almighty
God, that one who breathed every word of his truth in what we
now have, which is called the Holy Bible, the Bible itself
is not holy. I mean the paper and ink and
the covering that might be on it. But the words contained therein
are God breathed. His word even tells us this.
So if I'm telling you what his word says, then I'm telling you
what God says. What do we read in scripture?
Matthew 1.22 we read, now all this was done that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying,
behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a
son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted
is God with us. What we read in Matthew was said
by Christ in the Old Testament. Isaiah 7, 14 we read, therefore
the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. The Old
Testament is full of Jesus Christ. Although it may not use the name
Jesus Christ, all of it is all talking about him. Even the law
of God testifies of Jesus Christ. Listen to these passages. Luke
24, 44 we read, and he said unto them, these are the words which
I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and
in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. John 1.45 says,
Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him, we have found
him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus
of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And then Acts 28, 23 we read,
and when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him
into his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom
of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of
Moses and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. Three
witnesses. All this to say that the whole
of the book speaks of Christ, even the law of God. Our Lord
spoke of himself, testifying of all things that should come
to pass and be fulfilled. This he did in times past. So
this I know when it says it came to pass, this was something intended
specifically by our Lord to do. He does not do anything off the
cuff, as I've already said. If he does it, he has always
wanted to do it and has always been pleased for how it turned
out. I know these passages may not hit you like it does me,
but this says that what was written in the Old Testament is what
Christ said, and it was written by the prophets. God uses means,
and he used the prophets to declare unto us what would come to pass.
This one who spoke to the prophets said he would come to this earth
being born of a virgin, and his name is Emmanuel, God with us. This is that one who has already
come that we are reading about today. This is that one that
just happened to go to this certain place, and that was tongue-in-cheek. So let's go through this passage
and see if we can see a little bit about who our Lord is and
see what these men saw about who our Lord is. We first have
Christ going into a certain village. So he specifically meant to go
to this place. It was a certain village, although
we are not given the name of that village. As he entered this
village, there were ten men who met him. Not face to face, because
they were all lepers. The law tells us what lepers
are to do, Leviticus 13, 46. All the days wherein the plague
shall be in him, he shall be defiled, he is unclean, he shall
dwell alone. Without the camp shall his habitation
be. These men were doing what the
law told them to do. They were standing afar off from
everyone else. These are those who, according
to the law, were pronounced unclean by the priest. Leviticus 13,
2 and 3, it says, when a man shall have in the skin of his
flesh a rising, 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
flesh. And when the hair in the plague is turned white and the
plague in sight be deeper than the skin of the flesh, it is
a plague of leprosy. And the priest shall look on
him and pronounce him unclean. So these were all leprous men. All of these men heard that it
was Jesus Christ coming through the village and listen to this. They all began to lift up their
voices. They were crying this out loudly. They first called him Jesus.
This is God in his humanity they were calling out to. But not
only that, they also called him master. These men desired mercy
from Jesus Christ the Master. Did they not? All of them were
crying out for mercy. They were saying this very loud
so as to be heard of Jesus Christ. They cried, Jesus, Master, have
mercy on us. So then what does Christ do?
He tells them to go show themselves to the priest. Christ is telling
them to do what the law says. Isn't this what the law says
for them to do? Leviticus 14, two and three,
we read that. We've read in Leviticus, but
here's what it says in two and three of 14. This shall be the
law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought
unto the priest and the priest shall go forth out of the camp
and the priest shall look and behold if the plague of leprosy
be healed in the leper. Now, I'm not going to read that
whole thing, but he does certain things, offers some offerings
and stuff, and eventually he would pronounce him clean if
the man was clean. So this is what the law says
to do. Go to the priest so that they
can pronounce you clean after doing everything commanded them
to do. These men did what Christ told
them to do, so they are on their way. And as they begin on their
way, they are cleansed. Did not the ten do what Christ
told them to do? They were doing what the law
commanded them to do, were they not? Which is what Christ told
them to do. The law says, show yourself to
the priest. Nothing is said about these other
men being worse than the one man. All of them cried out for
mercy. All of them knew they were unclean,
because they all stood afar off and cried for mercy, just as
the one man did. Why is it that some do one thing,
that some think one thing, that some say one thing, and others
do think and say different things? There was one of these men, one
of the 10, only one, that he says he saw that he was clean. All of them were cleansed. It
says they were cleansed. But it only tells us this one
saw that he was clean. What did this cleansing cause
this one man to do? This one turned. Why only this
one man? Why did he do what he did and
the others, as it would seem, just kept walking and going to
see the priest? Christ can heal anyone of physical
ailments, and he often does. If they are healed, it is because
he purposed for them to be healed. There's no doubt about that.
God is sovereign and in complete control. I'm talking about even
today. The rain falls on the just and
the unjust alike. But there is obviously a difference
between those men and this one man. only the priest after the
order of Melchizedek can make you whole. This is what the law
and the prophets pointed to. Was this one who would for his
people do what was needed to make them righteous in the sight
of God in him? First of all, we know this man
had faith because our Lord tells us he had faith. This faith is
a faith that not all men have, 2 Thessalonians 3 says, and that
we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have
not faith. We also read that faith without
works is dead, James 2, verses 19 and 20. Thou believest that
there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe
and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works is dead. Faith without works is dead.
That's what it says. So what are the works of faith?
Faith as it has been said before is the faith of Jesus Christ
the Lord. Faith is the fruit of the Spirit. Faith is eternal, so it never
comes into existence. It just is. It has always been
because Jesus Christ being God with us has always been. This
faith has to be given, and we know it is, because God tells
us in his word, Joe, that faith is a gift, and it is given by
God, and it is given in his measure. So men may have more faith than
others, but if God gives the faith to man, then he has the
faith of Christ. This faith then, if it is the
faith of Jesus Christ, always looks to that which is its source,
right? Faith always looks to Jesus Christ
because it is his faith. So then if faith has works, then
those works must of necessity be geared towards Jesus Christ
because that is the source of everything fulfilled. We can
see it right here in this passage. We have already read in several
places where the law and the prophets declared Jesus Christ. So we now have two or three witnesses
to this. So when that one who has been
given faith and recognizes he is healed when he has been told
to go see the priest, he realizes by faith that the priest he needs
to go see is the very one who healed him. This man and only
this man had faith here in this passage. Just as God's people
all do because of the work of God, we are going in a different
direction than everyone else. We are turned back to Jesus Christ
when faith is given us. It enables us. It points us to
Jesus Christ. It does not point us to the law
of commandments. We are dead to that law by the
body of Jesus Christ. We will not keep that law because
we cannot keep that law. Romans 7, 4 says, wherefore,
my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is
raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto
God. We cannot keep the law, that
is, we cannot do the works of the law of God, the law of commandments,
not before faith and not after faith. The scripture says that
the law is weak through the flesh. What does it tell us? We must
mortify our members. This is a never-ending battle
in this life. The flesh cannot keep God's law,
so we must continually mortify our members constantly. But God,
by Jesus Christ, took the law out of the way. In him giving
us the faith of Jesus Christ, we then fulfill that law through
this faith. Turn with me to Romans 3, verses
30. Romans 3, verses 30, if you would. Romans 3 verses 30 and I'm going
to read through chapter 4 and verse 5. Seeing it is one God which shall
justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through
faith, do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. What shall we say, then, that
Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory,
but not before God. For what saith the Scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. but to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness." The faith given to God's people,
that is the faith of Jesus Christ, is counted unto us for righteousness. Righteousness is life. We have
life before God because of the faith of Jesus Christ. This is
that faith which is given to us. Jesus Christ is our prophet,
our priest, and our king. 1 Timothy 2, 5 says, for there
is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus. A mediator is a priest. He is
the one that stands in the gap for us. He is the one that offered
a sacrifice for us. He is the one that cleanses us.
And he is the one that pronounces us clean. All this being based
on who he is and what he has done. Acts 7.37 says, this is
that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, a prophet
shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren,
like unto me, him shall you hear. This man was that great prophet
who told men and women the gospel of himself. He let prisoners
go free. Luke 4.18 says, the spirit of
the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. And that
was Christ speaking. But he is also our king, Revelations
19, 16 says. And he hath on his vesture and
on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. He is our sovereign, almighty
God and king, for the kingdom is his and his kingdom is forever. But we have seen in this passage
where there were nine men who heard of Christ and were crying
out for mercy from Christ, just as this one man did. Their asking
of mercy was no different than the one who turned back to Christ.
The only difference was that faith given by the great high
priest. This faith caused him to know
who it was that was speaking with him, and he seen that. It
was that great high priest after the order of Melchizedek that
was his priest. He turned to that one that the
law of a commandment spoke of. These others continued on to
looking to that law. Are we to turn back to that law
wherein we were held in bondage? Absolutely not. We, if we have
been given the faith of Jesus Christ, we look to him knowing
that all of the whole book speaks of this one who is the great
high priest. All others, even if they are
healed of physical ailments, and these men were, if Christ
has not healed them spiritually, can do nothing but turn to works
for salvation. I hope you can see Christ in
the scripture. If you do, it will be because
of him revealing it to you by faith. What does the passage
go on to say in Luke 17? And Jesus answering said, were
there not ten clans, but where are the nine? He was not asking
this question because he did not know the answer. He knew
the answer of which he gives it to us in the next verse. Luke
17, 18. There are not found that return
to give glory to God, save this stranger. They did not give God
the glory. God will have all the glory,
Joe. He will not share any of his
glory with another. If you do not give Jesus Christ
all the glory, because it is he that has done all the work,
then you will perish, even if you are cleansed of leprosy.
But then he says, save this stranger, a Samaritan, basically what most
consider to be the same as a heathen, as I read from John Gill. Heathens,
that's what we are. So what does he now tell this
man, this Samaritan in verse 19? And he said unto him, arise,
go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. The faith of Jesus Christ, which
was a gift of Jesus Christ, made this man whole. What does that
mean? He could see that he was clean.
God Almighty through Jesus Christ allows us to see we are clean
before God. Jesus Christ cleansed us by his
death. He then by faith pronounces us
clean so that we hear it with our own ears, so to speak. This
is salvation to a believer, and I am thankful for this. All of
what I've spoken to you about today brings a certain passage
to mind, Matthew 22, 14. For many are called, but few
are chosen. There were 10 men here, but nine
of them kept going save this one man who turned to Jesus Christ. What is the hallmark of those
who have been truly healed of their infirmities? They glorify
Christ. But not only that, they do this
at his feet. This is not a one-time thing.
They continue to do this. They will fall and fail, but
they will continue until the end, worshiping God at the feet
of our prophet, our great high priest, and our king, Jesus Christ. Christ has put away that law,
which was a yoke that we cannot bear. If God has opened your
eyes, you can see the law of commandments, and you can see
that. I cannot do this. It will leave you nowhere to
turn but to that one who did do this. He fulfilled the law
and satisfied God on our behalf. We are now clothed in his righteousness,
his life, and because of that, we have life before a thrice
holy God. We stand before him clean. What does Christ tell this man?
Arise, go thy way. What way would that be? The same
way you are already headed. to the feet of Jesus Christ. Thy faith, that is the faith
of Jesus Christ, which points you to Jesus Christ, has made
you whole. That cleansing for which you
were seeking has been found. Where? At the feet of Jesus Christ,
the Lord. Do you really want to turn to
the law and commandments? Let me ask the question a little
different way. Would you rather approach God
by the works of the law or by the works of Jesus Christ? The best instruction I can give
you is to do this. Turn to Jesus Christ, the author
and finisher, or that is, the perfecter of faith. Amen. Dear Lord God, thank you
for your mercies towards us, dear Lord. May it be that you
will cause us to look to you for all things, because you are
all things, dear Lord, to your people. Cause us to cry out for
mercy, dear Lord. We need mercy, but cause us to
look to you for that mercy. Be with those who are not here.
May you heal them in your way. All these things we ask in Christ's
name, amen.