Well, I want you to turn with
me to Luke's Gospel, chapter 17, to consider the verses from
verse 11 to verse 19. Verse 11 to verse 19. I've called
this message, 10 cleansed, but only one healed. 10 cleansed,
but only one healed. Eternity is very serious. It's a very serious thing. How
many people think about eternity? Not many, I would say, in this
world. The world around us, the world
of unbelief, is delighted with itself that it has cast off what
it regards as the yoke, the constraint of the living God. Let's get
rid of this we will not have this man to rule over us they
said of the Lord Jesus Christ But eternity is real and eternity
is very serious It's a question of heaven or hell You know, they're
not just different scales on, you know, fairly close together.
They're a chasm. What that parable of the rich
man and Lazarus. There is a chasm set that you
cannot cross. An enormous chasm between heaven
and hell. And you leave this life and nothing
can be done to change it. The state you leave this life
in is the state you spend eternity in. Heaven or hell. And we're
all close to it. We're all close to either heaven
or to hell. We're all close to eternal bliss,
indescribable eternal bliss, or indescribable torment of soul. That's where we are. And salvation
from hell Being saved from that fate of hell is only in one place. It's in Christ alone. To be saved,
you must be declared just. You must be declared righteous
before the law of God. The law must be satisfied. What
the law demands must have been satisfied either by you or for
you. For you to go to heaven, to be
saved. To be declared just, you must
have either obeyed the law in every particular, or the law
must have exacted its penalty, which is death. The soul that
sins, it shall die. One or the other. Can't be both. Can't have one foot in one camp
and one foot in another. You must have either obeyed perfectly
every minute of every day. Which of you, as Jesus said to
those Pharisees about to stone the woman caught in adultery,
and he said yes okay okay wrote the law down and then he said
to them the one of you that is without sin let him cast the
first stone at her. And every one of them, every
one of them went out, because not one of them, no, there is
none righteous, no, not one, not one of them was able to say,
I am just enough to cast the first stone at her, I have not
sinned, no, nobody, all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God. So then how is the law of God, divine law, Not
law made by parliaments and politicians, law made by God. How is divine
law going to be satisfied only in this? In death. In death. The soul that sins and either
you must die that death which is an everlasting death, or one
who is worthy must die it in your place." And that's Christ,
who died for him. You've heard us talk about Christ
dying for his people. That's what it means. He satisfied
the law for his people. That's how he justified his people.
He died that death in the place of his people. And this thing
is so serious of heaven and hell and of eternity. that Jesus says
at the start of chapter 17, look what he said, then said he to
the disciples it is impossible but that offenses will come.
There will definitely be offenses caused in the name of religion.
He's been talking to Pharisees who have been causing offenses
to people by pointing to the wrong things. He says offenses
will come but woe unto him through whom they come. Later in another
place he pronounces seven woes on the scribes and the Pharisees
with all their religious correctness. Seven woes he pronounces on them.
And he says this, it were better for the one who confuses people
about the facts of heaven and hell, it would be better if a
millstone, a heavy thing, were hanged about their neck and they
were cast into the sea. That would be better than the
fate of what God is going to do to those who cause confusion
regarding heaven and hell. Who are the little ones he's
talking about? The publicans and the sinners around who the
Pharisees were leading astray with their false religion. This
is a serious thing, a very serious thing. Does the seriousness of
eternity grip you? Do you know the reality of your
condition before the justice and character of God? Do you
know how God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity? There's
a world of atheism all around us, of people who have no sense
at all of eternity or of God, who are taught that all of these
things are just nonsensical superstition, that we now are so enlightened
that we know the right answer to everything. And the world
around us is going headlong down a broad way that leads to destruction,
for the truth of God stands firm. And a lot of people, you know,
like the Pharisees of the days of our Lord Jesus Christ, wanted
the benefits and the reputation and the comforts of their religion,
but not the truth of the gospel of grace about eternity. You
see, that's what many people are like today. They want to
continue in their life of material and worldly familiarity, but
have a bit of religion as a fallback. Now to illustrate the danger,
I want to look at the account of these 10 lepers in verses
11 to 19. In verse 11, we see that Jesus
is going to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, as he went
to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria
and Galilee. So he's going to Jerusalem. He's
set his mind to go to Jerusalem. And he has to go through Samaria
and Galilee. On his journey from the north,
Galilee, he goes down through parts of Galilee and then through
Samaria and on to Jerusalem. Why was he going there? The scriptures
tell us. Look back in Isaiah, don't look
now, don't turn there now, but Isaiah chapter 50, verse 7, talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. As a man, in his suffering, in
the place of his people, it says that they struck him on the face
and they plucked out his beard, and he says, but he set his face
as a flint. Means hard. Flint is hard. Determined. Absolute determination. He set
his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem. He's going to Jerusalem. Why is he going to Jerusalem?
Because it's his mission. It's the mission he came for.
He came to do the Father's will. Read John's Gospel, chapter 6. Let me remind you of this. Familiar
verses, I know. John's Gospel, chapter 6 and
verse 38. Well, verse 37, this is Jesus
speaking to those religious Pharisees. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. for I came down from heaven.
Why did you come? Let's ask him the question. Why
did you come? I came down from heaven not to do mine own will
but the will of him that sent me. What is that will? What is
that will? And this is the father's will
which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me. What's
the all he's given you? The people, the church, the bride.
the people chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that
of all which he has given me most of them will get to have
no he doesn't say that he says I will lose nothing he's not
going to lose a solitary one he's absolutely determined that
everyone that is his bride that is his church that is his people
that is the elect of God that every one of them should not
be lost, but should be raised up at the last day, raised up
into eternal glory. Enter that glory prepared from
the foundation of the world. And this is the will of Him,
the Father, that sent me, Christ, that everyone which seeth the
Son, have you seen the Son of God? Everyone that sees the Son,
and believes on him, these may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up at the last day." That's the will for which
he set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem. He was going,
he was going to satisfy the demands of the law for his elect. He
was going there, what did the law demand for his elect who
were sinners? They're already sinners. They're
sinners. They're not just. The law demands
that they die. He's going there to die in their
place and satisfy the law in their place. He's going to Jerusalem
determined. Nothing's going to prevent him.
He's going there, his time has come and he's going to Jerusalem
because he's going there to satisfy the law's demands for his elect.
They should have been perfect, they haven't been perfect, he's
going to die in their place. There's no remission of sin,
there's no forgiveness of sin, there's no putting away of sin
without the shedding of blood. And what kind of blood? Animal
blood in the sacrifices. No! Blood of bulls and goats
can never take away sin. Which blood? It must be Well,
what sort of sin was it? It was human sin. It was human
beings. His elect are human beings. It
was humans. They committed the sin. It must
be human blood that is shed for that sin. Human blood for human
sin. But no man. can give a ransom
for his brother, no man can redeem his brother, no man can pay the
price. Why not? Because we're all fallen.
Every single one of us. There's only one. There was no
other good enough, says the old hymn. There was no other good
enough to pay the price of sin. He only, who only? Our Lord Jesus
Christ only. could unlock the gate of heaven,
and let us in, and bring us in. The blood of God. There's a man
whose blood is the blood of God. Although it's human blood, the
Lord Jesus Christ, what does Paul tell the Ephesian elders?
Acts 20 verse 28. The church, he said, look after
the church, minister to it. The church which God has purchased
with his own blood. God's purchased with God's own
blood. The man who had human blood Son of Mary, the human
blood flowing in the veins of the Lord Jesus Christ was the
blood of God that he shed for his people. God as spirit could
never redeem human beings, so he had to become a man in order
to redeem his people. He had to be made sin to satisfy
the law. He, the perfect, spotless. Why did he keep the law? He kept the law perfectly, holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Why did he keep
the law? He was being examined. God sent
forth his son when the fullness of the time was come. Under the
law, made under the law, made of a woman, made under the law.
Why? To redeem those who are under the law. And as the Lamb
of God, John the Baptist, when he saw him come and said, what
to the disciples? Behold, the Lamb of God. Behold, what did they do with
the Passover Lamb? The Passover Lamb was to be selected
from the flock for the Passover. And it was to be examined 14
days. It must be perfect. It must be
a lamb without blemish and without spot. Is the Lamb of God without
blemish and without spot? He came made under the law to
redeem those who are under the law. He came to be examined by
His law and He was found a fitting lamb to die in the place of His
people. To fulfill every type and picture
of the Old Testament. To be made sin. Why? that his
people might satisfy the law of God in his death. That the
law of God might be satisfied and that his people might be
made the righteousness of God. What righteousness do you need
to be right with God, to go to heaven and not to hell? You need
the righteousness of God, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. There was an eternal appointment
in the covenant of grace that was made between the Father and
the Son and the Spirit, that Christ would come, the second
person, would assume human flesh, would go to the cross, and there
would satisfy the broken law of God. That was done in the
covenant of grace. That appointment was fixed, Father,
Son, and Spirit. It was pictured throughout the
Old Testament. It was pictured as we saw a few
weeks ago in Abraham's journey to Mount Moriah, which Do you
know, we believe, was the very place which is Calvary, outside
of Jerusalem. And he went there to sacrifice
Isaac, to sacrifice his only well-beloved son, his only Isaac,
his only Isaac, the only one which was the son of promise. There was that appointment for
him to go to Jerusalem. It was reiterated in Daniel 9,
24, where it talks about the 70 weeks are determined to put
away sin. That was the time when the fullness
of the time was come. He had this appointment in Jerusalem
to save his people from their sins. But en route to Jerusalem,
en route to this appointment, eternal appointment in Jerusalem,
he had another appointment. And it was here, in Samaria and
Galilee. This place, I'm not sure where,
probably the south of Galilee, or the north of Samaria. Because
of these ten, one was a Samaritan, the implication being the other
nine were Jews. That's the implication. Maybe
they were Galileans, Galilean Jews. And the tenth was a Samaritan,
and he had an appointment with them. On his way to his eternal
appointment, set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem, he
had this appointment with ten lepers. And there were ten lepers
cleansed. Now notice, these ten lepers,
one of them is a Samaritan, and the other nine, the implication
is, were Jews. And yet, as different as they
were, because as we know from John's Gospel chapter four, the
account of the Samaritan woman when Jesus met her at the well,
as she said to him, why are you asking me for a drink? The Jews
have nothing to do with the Samaritans. The Samaritans were of the northern
10 tribes that mingled themselves with the Assyrians and they were
regarded as the mongrel race. They weren't the pure Jews of
Judea. They were the pure ones, but
the Samaritans had mingled themselves. They were not fit to have it,
don't have anything to do with them. We don't talk to them.
Divided in most aspects of life, but look, they were lepers. And the one thing, it doesn't
matter what differences were between them, there was one thing
that united them. They were lepers. They were united
in leprosy. Does that not say something to
us about the petty things that often divide those that say they're
the objects of God's grace? We fall out about secondary matters. We make secondary matters issues
of not worshipping together, not having anything to do with
one another. These Jews and Samaritans were united in leprosy. Are we not all sinners? Are we
not all that we are? by the grace of God, and but
for the grace of God, where would we be? That's what we are by
nature, sinners. And the leprosy that they had,
this disease of leprosy, you know something about it. In these
days of antibiotics, the treatment for leprosy, of course, is much
better. But then, it was a living death. It was a flesh-eating disease. It was a horrible... If you looked
on a leper, you looked on a horrible sight. They had to be put out
of the community because their disease would spread in the community. You know how Ebola is regarded
today? It's a kind of a, you mustn't
touch it. You must, if you go near someone with Ebola, you
must dress up in a suit and you must only handle things through
sterile, sealed environments. Well, leprosy was like that in
terms of the fear that it put on everybody. Leprosy pictures
sin. Leprosy, the disease of leprosy
in the scriptures is a picture of sin, a vivid picture. We don't see what we're like
as sinners by nature, but leprosy illustrates it. The vileness
of the condition of leprosy without treatment, the vileness of it
pictures the sin which is ours. The revulsion that the disease
of leprosy causes is a small picture of the revulsion of the
holiness of God against the sins of human beings. And as sinful
lepers, who don't physically have the disease, but as sinners,
all have As lepers, sinfully, it says in Ephesians 2.12, we're
by nature, in our flesh, without Christ. Aliens. As the leper
was put out of the community, we're aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. That doesn't mean the nation
Israel, it means the people of God, the true people. Aliens
from it. And strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope, and without God in the world. That's the natural condition
of man. And the leper, the leper was
sent to the priest. Under the Old Testament regime,
the leper was sent to the priest. And what did the priest do? The
priest just looked. and made a judgment. Is it leprosy,
or is it not? You read about it in Leviticus,
chapters 13 and 14, where if it looks like this, the priest
says, that's a leprosy. You're a leper. Out. Out of the
community. Cut off. Go and live in the colony
of lepers till you die. This terrible death. The priest
couldn't cure the leprosy. The priest could only pronounce,
yes, that's a leprosy, no, it isn't a leprosy. That's all it
could do. The priest, as leprosy is like
sin, so the priest is like the law. What can the law do for
you? There are those who preach today claiming to be gospel preachers,
and you listen to most of what they say, and their preaching
law works. and they're preaching healing
by the works of the law, by using the law as the believer's rule
of life. They're preaching healing, they're preaching sanctification.
No. All the law can do is condemn. All the law can do is set the
standard and condemn. Just like the priest couldn't
cure the leprosy, the law can only say That sin, by the law,
says Romans 3.20, is the knowledge of sin, not the cure of sin.
By the law is the knowledge of sin, not the remedy of it. And the leper was condemned to
isolation and a living death. And these lepers had been, and
they heard. When Jesus was on this journey,
he's coming. The news went before him. He was so renowned. They
heard of the fame of Jesus Christ. They heard that he had healed
others. The news went before them. And
in verse 13, they come. You know, you hear about the
Tour de France is going through certain town and all the people
come out to see them go by well on a different scale something
like that they the fame of Jesus went before him in his ministry
he that has healed the sick is coming this way and all of them
all the sick they came out to be healed they lifted up their
voices and said Jesus master have mercy on us That's the only
thing they could plead. We can do nothing. There is no
remedy. There is nothing we can do for
ourselves. All we can do is come before the one who alone can
dispense mercy. The God who is merciful. And
all they can do is they can say, have mercy on us. And when he
saw them, he said unto them, go, show yourselves to the priests. Go and get examined before the
law. And it came to pass that, as they went, they obeyed him,
they went, they were cleansed. Their leprosy disappeared. That
foul disease in their skin, in their flesh, it disappeared,
it was made whole, it was clean, their flesh was restored, exactly
to new flesh. That situation that they had
been in of condemnation and separation, in a word, was gone. They were
cleansed. Here is the one who is Jehovah
Rapha, or another, depending on which language it's translated
from, Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you. This is the healer,
who demonstrates he's the healer of sin by his healing of diseases. He has mercy on them, and they're
cleansed. What did nine of them want from
him? When they said have mercy, what
did nine of them want? They wanted just this. They wanted
acceptance back into society. They wanted to be able to carry
on with their living and their interaction with their friends
and neighbors just like they'd done before they got leprosy.
That's what they wanted. And that satisfied them. Lord
have mercy. Help us to get accepted back
into society. Make us clean so that we'll be
accepted back into society. Make us clean so the priest will
declare us clean and fit to be accepted. It was mere physical
cleansing for the nine. They were happy with that. They
were happy with what they could get in this life alone. Go and
show yourself to the priests. and you'll get your ticket back
into society. And as they went, they were cleansed.
They were legally, ceremonially, but only physically cleansed. Religion had given them what
they desired. And what was that? A reprieve
from leprosy until the day they died, for the rest of their lives.
A reprieve from death till they died. It was still After they
were healed, it was still appointed for them to die once and then
the judgment. Oh, they still had that appointment
with death and with the judgment before the judgment seat of Christ
to receive what they'd done in the body. That appointment stood,
nothing had changed that. Were they ready for it? Are you
ready for it? Many get temporary comfort in
religion on their terms, but just for a while, the appointment
with death remains. There was only one of these ten
who was made whole. Look at verses 15 to 19, and
one of them, when he saw that he was healed, the others were
cleansed physically, this one 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." Oh,
he wasn't one of the good ones, he was a Samaritan. And Jesus
answering said, Well they're not ten cleansed, but there's
only one of you here. Where are the other nine? Where
are they? They're not found that return to give glory to God,
save this stranger, this one who isn't a Jew, this one who
is a Samaritan. And he said to him, arise, go
thy way, thy faith. hath made thee whole, thy faith
hath made thee whole. One only saw not just that he
was cleansed physically in the flesh, he saw that he was healed
spiritually. The others just saw that they
were fit to go to the priest for their ticket back to society.
But this one's healing was not merely outward physical, but
inward spiritual. This was healing of sin. the
sin of which his leprosy was but a vivid picture. That sin
was revealed to him and in that moment the healing from it by
the one who had pronounced his physical recovery. He saw in
that moment what he was by nature, that the leprosy just indicated,
pictured on the outside. And he saw in that moment of
physical cleansing, the spiritual cleansing of the one who had
pronounced his physical cleansing, this one. a Samaritan, despised
by the Pharisees, the religious hierarchy, a stranger, a foreigner. He was born again of the will
of God. This man was born again. This
man was given spiritual eyes to see that which the natural
man receiveth not. He was born, as John 1.13 says,
not of blood, not family lines, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God, of the will of God. He was
born again of the will of God. He was born, as it says in Romans
9, not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that shows mercy. Show me your glory, said Moses
in Exodus 33. And this is the glory of God.
I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, says God. I will
have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, says God. And this man
gave God the glory for his salvation, not himself. He didn't decide,
God opened his eyes and he gave God the glory. Now, I'm not sure
how he saw this and believed, but clearly he was given faith.
Verse 19, thy faith hath made thee whole. Ephesians 2.8, by
grace are ye saved. If you are saved, it's by grace.
How? Through faith. through that sight
of the soul that sees the truth of the gospel of grace. And where
did you get that faith? Because you're better than others?
No, not of yourselves. The faith that you have is the
gift of God. His faith was the gift of God.
It caused him to believe that Jesus Christ who cleansed his
leprosy physically had healed his sin disease. in the redemption
that he would accomplish. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, but here he is with his face set
as a flint to go to Jerusalem to accomplish that which all
the law of the prophets point to. that he must needs go to
Jerusalem to die in the place of his people, that they might
be saved from their sins, that their sins might be forgiven,
that it might be said, Psalm 103 verses 3 and 4, bless the
Lord. Does your soul know this? Do
you say this? Does this resonate with your soul? Bless the Lord,
oh my soul. Come on my soul, bless the Lord.
Forget not all his benefits. who forgiveth thine iniquities. My sins are forgiven. Who healeth
all thy diseases. What does it mean to have your
sins forgiven? It means this. When you have that appointment
with death, you know you will stand before the judgment seat
of Christ and he will find no sin in you. Why? Because he's
taken it away. He's nailed it to his cross.
He's taken it out of the way. He's paid its price. It's not
there anymore. There is nothing left to burn.
There is no sin there left to burn up, because he has burnt
it all up in himself, in his body, on the cross. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth thine
iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life
from destruction. It's pictured in the Levitical
cleansing of removed leprosy. Maybe this is what this man,
you know, the Samaritans knew a thing or two. You remember
the Samaritan woman, she said, we know that when Messiah comes,
he will tell us all things. Where should we worship? We know
when Messiah comes, he'll tell us all things. I am he that speak
to you. I answered Jesus to. I'm the
Messiah. They knew a bit of scripture.
I wonder if he remembered. Turn with me to Leviticus chapter
14. Leviticus chapter 14. Let me just read a few verses
to you. Leviticus chapter 14 and verses 1 to 7. This is the
law of the cleansing of the leper. This is what happens when the
recovered leper goes to the priest to show the priest for the priest
the law to declare that leper clean. No longer a leper. Leviticus
14 and the first verse. Leviticus chapter 14 the first
verse. And the Lord spake unto Moses
saying this shall be the law of the leper in the day of his
cleansing. Yeah? Was this a day of cleansing
for those ten lepers? I think so. They were all cleansed. This shall be the law of the
leper. I wonder if this man remembered this. He shall be brought unto
the priest, and the priest shall go forth out of the camp, because
you mustn't let him mix until it's proven he's not a leper
anymore, and the priest shall look, and behold, if the plague
of leprosy be healed in the leper, then shall the priest command
to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive, two
birds, and clean, and cedarwood, and scarlet, and hyssop, And
the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in
an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird,
he shall take it, and the cedarwood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop,
and shall dip them, and the living bird, in the blood of the bird
that was killed over the running water. and he shall sprinkle
upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times
and shall pronounce him clean and let the living bird loose
into the open field. What's that all about? Any ideas? What's that all about? What's
that all about? What did Jesus say? These scriptures
are they that testify of me. Those two birds, that earthen
vessel, that killing of one and letting the other go and sprinkling,
it's about Christ. That's what it's about. I wonder
if this man who, in the day of his cleansing, saw these things
and remembered it. Two birds, clean and alive, picturing
Christ. An earthen vessel. An earthen
vessel. What does that picture? The human
nature. The human flesh. Of the God-man
as he walked this earth. Paul says of preachers that we
possess the treasure of the gospel in earthen vessels. You're looking
at one now. Earthen vessel. Earthen vessel. Yeah? Easily broken. Not posh,
not nicely glazed, an earthen vessel. This thing, the cleansing
was to be done with an earthen vessel. And underneath, and that's
speaking of the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ, the body that
was prepared. And the running water speaks
of cleansing. The running water speaks of cleansing,
and because there was blood shed, it speaks of blood cleansing. Because 1 John 1, 7, the blood
of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth us, his people, what from? All sin. The blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses from all sin. They killed one bird. The priest
had to kill one bird as Christ would die for his people. And
its blood was in the earthen vessel. And the live bird, the
other one, was dipped in the blood and let go. And the blood
was sprinkled on the cleansed leper. Now what's that picturing? Is that not picturing the death
and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ in the place of
his people? His death, his broken body, they
broke the bird's neck, they killed it, they wrung off its neck,
broken body, shed blood, This is the elect's surety and substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ, satisfying divine justice. The soul that
sins, it shall die. And he died in the place as the
substitute and surety for his people. And looking to this,
God gives us faith to see that that is what cleanses from all
sin. That is what cleanses the people
of God. And your faith has made you whole. Your faith Not your believing,
your act, your work of believing, but what you believe in. That
he has done it. That Christ has borne the sins
of his people. That Christ has paid its penalty
to divine justice. That he has fulfilled the law
in the elect's place. How? By paying its penalty. That's
how he's done it. And so, Paul says about his current
state, He says, I am crucified with Christ. Crucified with Christ. Galatians chapter 2 verse 19. For through the law, I am dead
to the law. Why? That I might live to God. How am I dead? I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. What faith?
His faith as the God-man in the saving purposes of God. His faith
that Him going to the cross with His face set as a flint would
accomplish God's purposes. That He was faithful, He was
obedient unto death, even that death of the cross, that shameful
death. I live by the faith of the Son
of God who loved me. and gave himself for me. I do
not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by
the law, by law works of any type, if righteousness come by
the law, then why did Christ die? He didn't need to, but he
did need to, because that was the only way to satisfy the law.
He died in the place of his people. Is that not pictured by those
two birds for the cleansed leper on that day? How do you know? Where are you now? Are you with
this one who came back glorifying God? Or are you with the nine
that had got what they needed, their ticket back into society?
How do you know that you're with the one and not with the nine? The one that was healed and not
with the nine that were merely cleansed? By faith. You believe. You have faith,
the gift of God. Election, your election of God,
is evidenced by sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. What truth? The truth that Christ
was faithful, was obedient unto death, the death of the cross.
What pays the price of redemption? What secures justification for
the elect of God? The faith of Jesus Christ in
going to the cross. to die in their place. Romans
3, 21 and 22. Now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested. Even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ in doing what he did, in dying
unto all and upon all them that believe. Galatians 2.16, A man
is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith
of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Jesus Christ,
and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Galatians 3.22, the promise of
salvation by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. And they believe, because they're
the objects of it, they're the beneficiaries of it. That's what
the birds pictured to the cleansed leper. That's what the death
of Christ says to the saved sinner. Does it say it to you? you know
imagine that man, you know I know I'm reading more than he actually
says but I think it's reasonable to speculate in the day of his
cleansing I wonder if he thought of Leviticus chapter fourteen
verses one to seven of those two birds of what the priest
was going to do and thinking there's the lamb of God come
to die in my place he's going to take away my sins and because
he is going to do that I am going to be declared righteous by the
law of God. The law of God is going to be
fulfilled for me, on my behalf, by what He is doing as my Redeemer. Where are you? I mentioned right
at the start the broad road that leads to eternal destruction.
Jesus warned of it. Many are on that broad way that
leads to destruction. Even many with their religious
niceties and their doctrinal systems. It's still a broad way. It still ends in destruction.
Or are you on the narrow way? Giving, like this man, glory
to God for so great salvation.