The One Who Turned Back

Seeking once again the Lord's help, I'd like you to turn with me to the chapter that we read together, the Gospel according to Luke chapter 17, and the text you'll find in verses 15 and 16. 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.

As we have over the past months been looking at the various miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ we come now to this one where the Lord Jesus heals ten men who were affected with leprosy and as we've seen before as the Lord Jesus Christ dealt with those who were leprous we know that the condition was of those with leprosy were to isolate themselves from the main body of people to live together and to go around declaring that they were unclean so that others would not draw near to them and be infected as they thought infected by the condition and we see these 10 men as the Lord Jesus Christ is walking through the middle of Samaria on his way to Galilee, that he entered into a certain village and they met him ten lepers who stood afar off.

The reason why they stood afar off is because they didn't want to come near or they weren't allowed to come near to the Lord Jesus. But they knew who the Lord Jesus was, no doubt. They had heard of others who had had leprosy and that they had been healed by the Lord Jesus. And so as they saw the Lord Jesus approaching them and walking by them, they cried out asking for mercy. asking for the Lord Jesus to heal them, to restore them, not only to restore them from their physical condition, but also the isolation that that condition would bring, the stigma that would be applied to them for having such a disease. And so the Lord Jesus, he doesn't heal them straight away, but he commands them.

He tells them, go to the go show yourselves unto the priests." If we look at the Old Testament, that was the criteria. If someone had been healed of leprosy, they were to go to the temple. It was at the temple where the priest would cut them off and tell them to isolate, and yet when they were when they were restored or when they became well again, they had to come to the priests. And it was him who had to go through a process of discovering whether they had truly been healed or not.

And so Jesus tells them, go to the priests. They obeyed the Lord Jesus Christ. And on their way, as they were walking in obedience to the Lord Jesus, they became healed. They continued on their journey. One of them turns back. Nine of them continue on to the temple, but one of them turns back. and comes and acknowledges the good hand of God upon him and gives thanks and worship to the Lord Jesus Christ. 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?

As we have seen over the months that the Lord Jesus Christ never did anything in a haphazard way. Every miracle that he did was set in a background to bring about teaching to his apostles and to his followers. That it was a physical demonstration of the teaching that he was seeking to set before the people. And so here is no different. The Lord Jesus at the beginning of the chapter is reasoning or teaching the disciples.

He's speaking to them about forgiveness and he is challenging them to have the same type of forgiveness, the same level of forgiveness as himself. that they were to take heed to themselves, examining themselves. And he says to them, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. If he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.

And then he comes alongside that teaching and he gives a parable. He gives a parable about a landowner, someone who has slaves. And he says that the man who has slaves, after his workers had been in the garden, after they had been tending the field, when they come in from the garden, does he make them dinner? Does he say to them, sit down here and I will make you dinner? Or does he expect those servants to make him and continue to serve him and after they have served him then they will be fed.

And Jesus says, this is how it is to be. This is what is expected from those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ. They are to do what God commands them to do. And they're not to expect a good pat on the back and say, well done. but they are to come to that full realisation as to who it is that they are worshipping, who it is they are serving, the great King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the one who has not dealt with them as they deserve to be dealt with, but has looked upon them in mercy and delivered them from the wrath to come. And so he says to them, so likewise ye, When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which is our duty. to do. And so this is one of the hard sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ, the hard statements of the Lord Jesus Christ. It shows us the greatness of God, but it also reveals to us the sinful nature of mankind.

By our nature, we think very highly of ourselves. We are gods of our own lives. We are kings and queens of our own lives. We sit on the throne of our own lives. And we like to make our own destiny. We like to set in order the things that we are going to do, the things that we are going to achieve. And by our nature, we feel entitled. We want and we expect everything to go well, everything to be according to my plan and my way. We want everything done to our own standard and our standard is set. very high, especially in the climate that we live.

When we live in an affluent country and we are surrounded with social media and we have influencers posting their next greatest thing online and have all the followers looking at what they are achieving, our standard begins to move up and we think, well, you know, if it's going well for them.

If they've been able to do this and they've been able to do that, surely, you know, I should be able to do that. Surely I should be able to obtain to that. My life is nothing compared to their lives. I'm having to work really, really hard and I don't seem to be getting anywhere. And yet these people, they just seem to be posting videos and they seem to be succeeding in the material things of life.

And so our standards begin to go higher and higher. and higher, we become more and more entitled, we want more and more and more and we expect more and more out of life. And I think also know in the welfare state that we live where the government sheds out money which often is obviously very helpful yet we can become more and more expecting we can believe that we deserve this money especially when we when we haven't really got anybody to say thank you to it just appears in the bank account we become more and more entitled we want more and more and more. Our standard of living goes up and up and up and once we've reached a certain level it still wants to go up and up and up. By our nature we are never satisfied, we can never say it is enough. We want more and more. We say, I deserve, I deserve this. We say, I can do better.

You hear people, don't you, on the TV and they say, don't you know who I am? They're entitled. You should know. You shouldn't be doing this to me. You shouldn't be saying that to me. Don't you know who I am? Don't you know who my father is? My mother is. You hear them say, I don't deserve this. I don't deserve this to happen to me. I'm such a good person. This bad thing shouldn't be happening to me in my life. I deserve much better than this.

And even though their standard of living is high, they become unthankful. They become forgetful of all that they have had, all of the mercies of God. And that's how, by our nature, we will continue. By our nature we remain unthankful because we haven't really got anywhere to direct our thanks to.

We have a standard by which is set, a standard that is set by the world and that standard keeps going up and up and up and it breeds a dissatisfaction, a discontentment and sadness. But saving grace knocks self off the throne. If by our nature we are the makers of our own destiny, if we are the kings and queens of our own lives, saving grace knocks us off the throne and puts the Lord Jesus Christ upon the throne of our lives. It makes us testify just like these servants in the parable of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which is our duty to do. Now this is a hard saying. This is very difficult for somebody to truly confess that we add no profit to God whatsoever by our existence and by our following him. The word unprofitable can be translated as useless. good for nothing. I am useless. I am good for nothing. I am an unprofitable servant to the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see what it does?

It takes us from being right up there and puts us right down there at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the writers, as I was looking at this yesterday, it says, better that confession come from you Better you declare yourself an unprofitable servant than the Lord to declare you an unprofitable servant. Notice who it was that said it.

Notice it was the servant who said I am unprofitable, not the Lord that said they were unprofitable. In Matthew 25, you would see there when the Lord Jesus gives that parable of the of the end of the talents. Matthew 25 and verse 21 and he said and he said unto him well done thou good and faithful servant thou has been faithful over a few things I will make thee rulers over many things enter thou into the joy of the law verse 26 it says, And the Lord said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knowest that I reapest where I was sown not, and I gathereth where I had not sown. And so here it is, in that second parable the Lord Jesus says the servants confess We are unprofitable, we are useless servants and we have done that which has our duty to do. What is the response from the Lord? It is, well done, my good and faithful servant.

And we could say the other one who believed himself to be something, didn't really understand who his master was, had a bad view of his master, thou wicked and slothful servant. And so as the writer wrote, he says, better you think yourself to be unprofitable than to be filled with pride and to be turned away from the Lord right at that last day. Useless and good for nothing. By our works, we add no value to God.

He's not obliged in any way to thank us for our service. to reward us for our service or to give us thanks because he is merciful and kind and because he blesses us in Christ Jesus. He always provides us with the things that we have need of and often gives us an abundance more than we could ask or think.

And so the Lord Jesus sets the scene with this parable about the servants and how they felt about themselves. And then he comes across these 10 lepers, not by chance, not by luck, but by divine appointment to demonstrate what he is talking about. Nine of them received the healing. Yet they did not want to return thanks to the one who gave them that healing. One of them turned back and gave thanks and he was a Samaritan.

If you think of how many people there are upon the face of the earth, some eight billion plus people. How many people receive temporary benefits and blessings from the Lord? How many people receive the rain, the sunshine, the health? How many people receive the wealth and all of those things that are so precious to the people of the world? We could say billions of people. How many people return thanks unto the Lord for all His mercies? How many people return thanks to Him for all of His goodness, for not dealing with them as they deserve to be dealt with? They are happy to receive the temporary blessings for their body, but they are not happy to return thanks.

This man, As he is walking, he sees he receives bodily healing. but he turns back to the Lord Jesus Christ and to give thanks and to worship him. He sees who the Lord Jesus Christ is and falls down at his feet and worships him. He acknowledges him as God. He acknowledges him as the healer and he declares him worthy to be worshipped. And what is the response of the Lord Jesus? Arise, go thy way, thy faith has made thee whole, O Lord, thy faith has saved thee.

Not only did he experience physical healing, but also he experienced the healing of the soul. He experienced salvation, that his soul, his heart was changed. The others continued on their journey to the temple, but this man experienced the work of God within the soul that drew him back. to the Lord Jesus Christ and so he experienced fleshly a temporary blessing.

If you think, if you are made well, naturally speaking, if your body is made well, it is only temporary. One day you will get ill again and you may be healed of that illness and you will get ill again and eventually you're going to die. And so it doesn't really matter how many times you are made well, what matters is the healing of the soul. What matters is what goes on down within your heart, the transformation of your soul, so that you see the Lord Jesus Christ for who He truly is. These turned their back upon the Lord Jesus and they went back to the temple. One man turned around and came face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ and fell down at his feet and worshipped him.

That is what is necessary. That is what is the one thing that is needful, the receiving of that great gift and then returning thanks to the one who gave it as we looked on on Wednesday. Faith is the gift of God. Faith is given to us to believe in the greatest gift of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so God gives us these two gifts to draw us to himself, the beloved son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this man, he sees the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is, the son of God, worthy of his worship. He sees him as the one who has healed him, and therefore he wants to return thanks. And so grace, the illumination of the heart, being born again, makes somebody thankful.

In 2 Timothy, Chapter 3, it tells us there in, know this also, that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful. unholy, without natural affection, truth breakers, false accusers, incontinent or unable to restrain sin, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. That is what we see round about us. That's what we see in our own hearts. We are unthankful by nature but grace Grace makes us thankful.

Grace directs our eyes and our thanks to the one who gave it, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he turns back in thankfulness and in appreciation to all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done. Thankfulness, if we look at it, you know, it must be directed. People, they say, oh, I'm thankful for a nice day. I'm thankful for good health. But if you really press them, who are you thankful to?

The unbeliever, someone who denies the existence of God, they're not really thankful to anybody, but they're just in a state of thankfulness. Their thankfulness is not directed to anybody, just maybe luck or chance that it happens to be a nice day. But the believer is able to direct their thanks to a specific person. And that person is the Lord Jesus Christ, who God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, who has abounded in mercy towards them.

My grandad, he always used to say, he always disliked people saying thanks. He says, he used to say that it had to be directed. He used to say you should say thank you grandad or thank you grandma, thank you mum, thank you dad. Acknowledge the one who has given you that thing, the one who has interacted with you or spoken nicely to you. Acknowledge them. The world cannot acknowledge why they are feeling thankful. They're just feeling thankful, but the believer, he comes to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and he worships him and his thankfulness is directed to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace helps us not to be forgetful. helps us to acknowledge it's like those, we do not deserve the least of the mercies of the Lord. We are unprofitable servants. We do that which is required for us to do. And grace knocks us apart off that throne of ours and helps us not to be forgetful of the mercies of the Lord. Grace reveals to us who we truly are.

This man, as he turned back to the Lord Jesus Christ, he was not forgetful. He was not feeling entitled, but he was humbled. Humbled. He fell down on his face. at his feet, giving thanks. What did he ask for? He asked for mercy. Jesus, have mercy on us. Do to us what we do not deserve to have done. Grace, God gives us what we don't deserve to have. He had received mercy. He had received what he had asked for and therefore he responded in thankfulness to the Lord.

And Jesus says, where are the nine? Nine of them had received healing. Sorry, 10 of them had received healing. Nine of them went on their way. They were happy to receive the blessing but they remained unthankful. How many are like that? In our entitled state, we are quite happy to receive things and we receive them because we believe we deserve them and we don't truly have a thankful heart for them. and never wanted to give back.

In Luke chapter 7 we have the lady who came to the Lord Jesus Christ and fell at his feet, who was a sinner. She had been made aware of who the Lord Jesus Christ was. She believed in him, she trusted in him and she wanted to worship him. When she found out where he was, she came to the house of Simon. From verse 44, she is washing his feet with her tears and wiping her hair with her head.

Sorry. And he turned to the woman and said to Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house and thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in has not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.

Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same love is little. And he said unto her, thy sins are forgiven. this lady, what does she do? She returns. She returns to give thanks. She returns to worship the Lord. She returns to an act of devotion to him and she is blessed with the forgiveness of her sins.

Her sins were forgiven. could say she turned back in thankfulness to the Lord and offered those acts of devotion. And so true thankfulness must come from a real need. If you have ever been really hungry and then you are provided with a meal, you are truly thankful for that meal, mostly As we sit down for our dinners and we may give thanks, we may say grace for our food, are we truly thankful for it? we are really not really hungry we just eat it for the sake of eating it and we're not truly thankful but if you if there is that great need if there is that real hunger it is then that you are truly thankful and appreciative for that for that meal the same with you're really really thirsty if you if you are not thirsty and someone gives you a drink of water you you don't want it You may pour it away, but if you are truly thirsty, if there's that true need, then you are very thankful for that drink and you are appreciative of that and with this lady. the scripture says that she was a sinner. She felt to have had a great need of her sin and she comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and she's cleansed of her sin and therefore she acts in a great response to that and understanding that she is a sinner, a great sinner before a holy God and that she has been cleansed from that sin and so she is filled with thankfulness. And so where there is a great need and that need is fulfilled, then the response is thanks, appreciation.

But more than that, if you understand that you don't deserve it and someone gives it you anyway, then the thanks will be even more overwhelming. You see, if you have, say, £10,000 in your account and someone gives you a pound, you're not going to be very thankful for it. It just won't make any difference. It doesn't matter if you left it on the seat behind, it won't make you any different. But if you have absolutely nothing, if you are brought down to rock bottom and somebody gives you a pound and with that pound you're able to go and buy some bread, then you're going to be truly thankful for that gift and for the person that has taken the time to give you something. And so where there is a great need, then the response is thanks.

And so grace makes us aware of our need. Grace makes us aware that we are unprofitable servants. Grace makes us aware that we do not deserve the least of the mercies of God. Grace makes us aware that we've been knocked off the throne of our own lives and anything that the Lord gives to us is done because he is kind and merciful. We are by nature unprofitable, yet He chooses to do us good through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so if we have a low view of ourselves and a high view of God, that will give us a truly thankful heart, that we'll be able to live in a state of thankfulness. Now you may be thinking, you know, I don't have much to be thankful for. right for this man he was a leper and the Lord healed him so it's obvious that he's going to be thankful but it's not obvious that he's going to be thankful because nine of them also received healing and yet they didn't return thanks unto the Lord it was grace that made him to differ he saw something in the Lord Jesus Christ that drew him back to Christ to worship You might say, well I haven't had this physical manifestation of healing.

I don't have much in my life to be thankful for. My life is very difficult and very dark and you're living in a cloud of despair. When we come to those times in our lives, when we do live in clouds of despair, It's very sad isn't it that we do only see the things that we don't have. We lose sight of everything that we do have and we focus on the things that we don't have and our lives plummet into despair.

There was a young lady who was suffering with depression and she was told Like that hymn, count your blessings, count them one by one, and then you will see what the Lord has done. I typed that into chat GBT yesterday. Is it beneficial? for someone who is suffering from depression, someone who's living in a cloud of despair, somebody who can't see anything that is going well in their lives. Is it beneficial for them to count their blessings?

And he came back. Yes, it is. Just as the scripture says, be ye thankful. You see, as we look at all that the Lord has done, every single day, every single morning is a new sun. Every single morning is another opportunity to live a life for the glory of the Lord.

Count your blessings, one thing, two things, three things that are beneficial and three things that have caused you to be thankful in your life. Surely there is more than one thing to be thankful for. If one thing can cause you to sink, maybe two things can cause you to float. Two things can cause you to turn back to the Lord and to fall at his feet and to worship him, knowing that all the good things come from him. Look at what you have.

Faith in Christ, If Christ is the greatest gift, the treasure hidden in a field, the pearl of a great price, surely you should be focusing upon the Lord Jesus Christ, to be thankful for Him. And then as you look at the Lord Jesus Christ and be thankful for Him, look at all the benefits that are surrounded in His perfect sacrifice, His gift of eternal life. Look at the promises that he gives to his people, that they're not to fear. Don't be anxious about anything, but by prayer and supplication, that your requests be made known unto God. And be thankful. And be thankful, what?

For glory. strangers and pilgrims upon the earth, as we wander through this narrow way that leads to life. Satan, what? Wants to make us unthankful. Satan wants to focus upon us, the things that we don't have, to drive us to despair, so that we don't shine as lights in a dark place, that we hide our light underneath a bushel. But the Lord says, look to me.

The Lord says be thankful for the abundant mercies you have received, be thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ. In Thessalonians it tells us there, pray without ceasing in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God. in Christ are concerning you and so by the nature of the world they are unthankful that's how they walk they are entitled rulers of their own lives but Christ knocks self off the throne and puts himself there and when he's there He is the object by which we return thanks to. He is the one that we fall down at His feet and worship Him, praying without ceasing and in everything give thanks for this is the will of God. What is the will of God? that you give thanks, that you return to the Lord Jesus Christ like this, a Samaritan, that you fall down at his feet and worship him. 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 thanks, and he was a Samaritan.

Have you received that healing? Not the healing of the body, but the healing of the soul. And are you walking away from the Lord Jesus Christ just like these 10? Or have you returned unto Him to give Him thanks for all that He has done for you? Have you fallen down in obedience and worshipped Him? And Jesus says, were there not ten cleansed, where are the others? Where are the nine? Why are you hiding away?

If love caused that lady who had her sins forgiven to fall down at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ in devotion to Him, surely shouldn't walk away from him. Surely you should return to him and walk in obedience to him and devote yourself unto him. Jesus says, were there not ten cleansed, where are the nine? May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.

The final hymn is from Gadsby again, 567, to the tune 857. 567. Jesus, the Lord, my saviour is, my shepherd and my God, my light, my strength, my joy, my bliss, and I, this grace, repay. 567. ♪ As the Lord my Savior is, my shepherd and my food ♪ ♪ My light, my strength, my joy, my peace ♪ ♪ There are needy in Jesus' house ♪ ♪ And there is rest for me ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my lover ♪ ♪ Yes, I'm free ♪ ♪ His treasures make me free ♪ ♪ Of righteousness and Christmas richly made ♪ ♪ In Jesus Christ the King of praise ♪ ♪ Ever shall I stand glorified ♪ When wilderness I roam, His blessings I'll hold near. And when I safely reach my goal, God still adores me.

♪ And shall be thy song for me, for me was made. ♪ ♪ And with me all the heavenly throng shall join and sing. ♪ Almighty God, we do pray that Thou help us to be thankful for all of Thy many mercies towards us. We pray that Thou help us to be knocked off the throne of our own lives and to have Christ reigning within our hearts. We pray, Lord, that we may be dismissed with Thy blessing. And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father, and the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit, are to be with you each now and for evermore. Amen.

The One Who Turned Back

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The One Who Turned Back

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