All right, let's go back to the
text read a few minutes ago in Luke 17. This text is the account of our
Lord cleansing ten lepers and of one returning to give thanks.
And the Lord enabling this morning, I want to speak to you on the
subject. Common mercy and special grace.
Common mercy and special grace. And when we talk about common
mercy, we call them common mercies because of the abundance of them,
not because there's anything plain or common about them, but
simply because they're abundant. And we call them common mercies
because all mankind protects of them. All mankind is blessed
with these mercies of the Lord. Paul said, Our God is not worshipped
with men's hands, saying, He giveth to all life and breath
and all things. Those are common mercies. Those
are common mercies. You have life, God gave it to
you. Are you able to breathe? God
enables you. It's His air that we breathe.
Do you have anything in this world? You have breakfast this
morning? God gave it to you. That's common
mercy. Common mercy. Our Lord shows us common mercy
by sustaining us. By sustaining us. I'll tell you
another way that he shows common mercy to all, and that is he's
slow to anger. He's slow to anger. If God reacted
to us in holiness and justice, then he would not withhold judgment
as he does. Like some of those in the Old
Testament who tempted him, tested him, would be cast alive down
into the pit. The very fact that we're not
in hell right now is a common mercy. Common mercy. The psalmist
said this in Psalm 145, he said, The Lord is good to all, and
his tender mercies are over all his works. That's common mercies. Our Lord causes the rain to fall
upon the just. and unjust. That's a common mercy. Common mercy. But now listen. Grace. Grace, on the other hand,
is not common to all. It is not common to all. It is
special to God's elect. That's why I talk about special
grace. The grace of God in salvation
is special to his elect. For by grace are you saved. That's special. That's special.
Apostle Paul, when he wrote to the Thessalonians, said, We're
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's special. That's
grace. That is special grace. And beloved,
this special grace is always, always without fail accompanied
by that mercy of God, that special mercy of God, whereby propitiation
for sin, atonement for sin, reconciliation to God is made by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. in the center, is regenerated,
born again, newly created in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's given
new life, given a new heart, a new spirit, and a new nature. That's special grace, and has
with it special mercy. Hold that text there, if you
would, and turn over to Titus, Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3, and look at
verse 3, I'm sorry, verse 5. It's not by works of righteousness
which we've done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which
He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That being justified by His We
should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. That's the special grace that
we're talking about. And furthermore, the special
grace of our Lord by which we are saved is, first of all, is
sovereign. Our Lord is sovereign. All that
he does is sovereign. Sovereign in creation, in providence,
and especially in salvation. For he saith to Moses, I'll have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll be gracious to whom
I will be gracious." This special grace of our Lord is free, absolutely,
totally, completely free, therefore being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this grace is effectual by a grace Not, you might be saved. Not, by grace you are made salable. Oh, no. But by grace are you
saved. And I'll tell you something else
about this grace. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's all in Him. All through Him. All by Him.
All grace, all the grace of God that God has purposed for His
people is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that by the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved. without exception. Now, with that as a short introduction,
I want us to look at the text now that we've read a few minutes
ago. And look at verse 11. Luke 17, 11. It came to pass
as he, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, as he went to Jerusalem,
that he pass through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Now,
our Lord here is on the way to Jerusalem for the last time.
The last time. When he gets there, he's going
to observe that last Passover. going to institute his table.
He's going to be betrayed into the hands of the chief priest
and Pharisees delivered to the Gentiles to be crucified. He's
going to be hung up between heaven and earth. He's going to die
as a common criminal. He's going to be buried, and
in three days, he's going to be raised from the dead. He's
going there to finish that great transaction that he began. As
the Lamb of God, bearing the sins of his people, he's going
to suffer and die, and so make atonement for sin and make reconciliation
to God. And by this time, as he goes
to Jerusalem, he's been in his public ministry now for three
and a half years, and his fame has spread throughout all of
Israel, all of that land. He preached and taught in their
synagogues. in the streets, in the fields. He'd perform miracles, miracles
of healing. He'd raise the dead to life. He'd restore sight to the blind,
cause the dumb to speak and the lame to walk. In doing all of
that, his fame spread throughout that whole land. This thing was
not done in a corner. Everybody heard about Jesus of
Nazareth and knew who he was. They knew some of the things
that he'd done. And it says here that he passed through the midst
of Samaria and Galilee. It appears that he avoided the
larger cities on the way to Jerusalem, going along the border between
these two places. You know, he grew up in Galilee,
Nazareth of Galilee. Call it Nazarene, call it Galilean. But he avoided those places,
the larger towns, the larger towns. But there's one phrase
in this verse that I want to call your attention to. And that
is the opening phrase of this verse, and it came to pass, and
it came to pass. Now, beloved, listen. This phrase,
it came to pass, is the mark and stamp of the divine purpose
and will and word. God stamps what he does with
these words, it came to pass. The phrase itself occurs 453
times in Scripture. It came to pass. And beloved,
it's the mark of God, the mark of his purpose, his will, and
his word, because it is peculiar to God alone. Only God can foretell
what will happen, and then cause it to come to pass. He said that by the prophet Isaiah
in Isaiah 46, verses we love to quote. He said, Remember the
former things of old, for I am God. There's none else. I am God. There's none beside
me. Declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, and I'll do all my pleasure. I call a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel
from a far country. I have purpose to it. I'll do
it. I have spoken it, I'll bring
it to pass. This is the purpose and the will
of God. This is the stamp of divine authority. It came to
pass. And I mention that because so
often in this world, we hear men stand in places as I stand
here today, and they tell you something like this, Oh, God
has a wonderful plan for you if you'll just cooperate. And
I'm telling you, that's hogwash. just pure old hogwash. God indeed
has a plan for the salvation of his people, without doubt
and without question. But his plan is not dependent
on your cooperation or mine or anybody else's. His plan is according
to his own purpose and grace given us in Christ before the
foundation of the world. It is God who saves us. and calls
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grants which was given us in the Lord Jesus
Christ before he ever floated this world in space." Is that
not what Scripture says? That's precisely what it says.
Precisely what it says. God saves his people. Now, you
listen. Hear me. God saves his people
on purpose. And God saves his people by grants.
Many of you have probably heard, probably heard from the mouth
of Brother Henry Mahan himself, how he told when Brother Rolfe
Barner, when he was a young pastor in Ashland, Rolfe Barner came
to town to preach for him, having this meeting. And as the pastor,
he was sitting right down here. And as Barnard got up to preach,
he looked down at him and said, Preacher, can you quote Romans
8, 28? And he said, Yeah, I think I can. And he stood up and he
said, All things work together for good to them that love God.
And he sat down. And Barnard looked at him again
and said, Well, can you quote the rest of it? He said, Yeah,
I believe I can. And he stood up. All things,
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the call according to his purpose. At which time Barnard yelled
out, Purpose! Purpose! If you want to learn
the gospel, you learn that God does all things on purpose. And that's what we're talking
about. That's what we're talking about. There is nothing left
to chance. In that eternal covenant of grace
and peace made between the triune God, God the Father chose a people
unto salvation. He chose them in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he gave those people to Christ, who agreed to stand
as their surety, substitute, redeemer, and Lord. And at the
appointed time, he came into this world made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. And
being the representative substitute of his people, he accomplished
salvation for them by obeying all points of the law, which
they were required to obey, and then as the spotless Lamb of
God, he died as their substitutionary sacrifice, and he didn't make
a down payment on sin, but he made an atonement for sin, and
he didn't try to reconcile us to God, but he reconciled us
to God, and he accomplished salvation, and when he cried on the cross,
it's finished! He didn't mean, I tried and did
the best I could, he meant just exactly what he said, it's done.
And because of that, because he said, it's expedient for you
that I go away, if I go not away in the comfort of walking. Because
of who he is, and because of what he's done, through his death,
hell, and resurrection as our substitute and redeemer, he sends
forth the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God goes forth
through the preaching of the gospel. And the Spirit of God
breathes on all the elect, redeemed people of God and irresistibly
calls them to life and to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ without
fail. The covenant runs this. We quoted
Romans 8.28 a few minutes ago. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
call according to His purpose for whom He did foreknow, them
He also did predestine. to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom
he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified." Now, what are you going to say to that? Oh,
praise God. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Who is he that condemns us? It's
Christ Yea, rather than be risen again, it was even at the right
hand of God, who also made a fair session for us. From election
to glorification, it's all of God, it's all in Christ, it's
all by grace. According to that eternal covenant.
Oh, it came to pass. It came to pass. It came to pass
because it was purposed and ordered of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ
came to this earth on purpose. He did what he did on purpose. And right here in this place,
he's on his way to Jerusalem. He goes between Samaria and Galilee
on purpose. And he does it not only on purpose,
but for purpose. He has a purpose in doing it.
You know what his purpose is? His purpose is to save his people.
To save his people? Oh, it's a faithful saying. It's
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. If he went here, it came to pass
that he went here, and he went for purpose. Then he went to
save the sinner that was chosen and given to him and redeemed
by him. Now look at verse 20. And as
he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were
lepers which stood afar off. Do you notice that he entered
into a certain village? It wasn't one that just happened
to be in the way. It's a certain village. You knew
where he was going, but there on purpose. No accident here. There are no accidents with God,
and there are no accidents in salvation. Is that right, Brother
Dick? That's absolutely right. He came to this certain village,
and he was met there by ten men. And you know what? All of them
were lepers. And here again I mention to you
that our Lord is absolutely sovereign in providence. He rules and he
overrules all things for the accomplishment of his purpose.
That's why he's here. That's why he's in this certain
village. That's why he's here at this particular time. That's
why he's met with these ten men who are lepers. Now, I know those
of you who are familiar with Scripture, you know that leprosy
in the Scripture is typical of sin. Typical of sin. Leprosy
is to the body what sin is to the soul. Leprosy is a disease
from within the body, which eventually breaks out, breaks out in the
flesh, it breaks out into open souls, and it ends in death,
because it's humanly incurable. And all ten, all ten of these
men were lepers. Now, beloved, in like manner,
all mankind are sinners. We have the disease from within. We have it by birth. because
of what Adam, our father, did in the garden. By one man's sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men. Adam's sin in the garden was
imputed, charged to all that were in him, all his posterity. And we all spring from Adam.
We're all guilty of original sin. And then after Adam's fall,
he begat children of Eve in his own image. What was that image?
Not the image of God in which he was created, but the image
of fallen sinful men. Therefore, sin was imparted to
us. And when we came forth, we were
conceived in iniquity and brought forth from the womb speaking
lies. That's our nature. We were born
with a sin nature. And we're sinners by practice.
Everything we do is contaminated with sin. There's none good.
No. Not one. Is that what God says
in His Word? Was He playing a trick on us?
No, sir. No, sir. We're sinners through
and through. And I'm telling you, that sin
within breaks out, and it doesn't take long, does it? It doesn't
take long. Go down to the hospital, maternity
ward, and you see these brand-new babies born, and all Dale, it
just breaks your heart with joy. It just fills you up. I know
you parents and grandparents just can't hardly contain yourself.
The sweet, and we say the sweet little innocent things. Sweet,
yes. Innocent, no sir. And it don't
take long to show it. All of you who have brought forth
children in the rear, Dale, did you teach your children to lie?
Come on now, did you? Do they lie? Why do they look
you straight in the eye and say, Mommy, I didn't do that? You
don't teach your children to steal, and yet, you've been in
the cookie jar when I told you not to? Oh, no, no, no. I wouldn't
do that. You see, it breaks out, just
like leprosy from within breaks out in open sores in the skin. Sin breaks out in acts, and we're
guilty. All of these ten men who met
our Lord were lepers! They're sinners. Sinners. And
just like leprosy, sin is humanly incurable. Man can't cure the
sin problem. He cannot make a sin-sick soul
whole. Cannot do it. He can't put away
sin. He can't cease from sin. Because
it's his nature, it's what he is. Who? Who can forgive sin? But God only. None. None. Absolutely none. And all, did you see this, the
last part of verse 12? They stood far off. They stood
far off. You know, a lot of these people,
these men knew, they knew they were lepers. They could see it
breaking out in their skin. But not only that, but under
the law, they were to present themselves to the priest who,
according to the strict word of God, examined them according
to very strict guidelines, and either pronounced them to be
lepers and unclean, or not lepers and clean. And these men had
been to the priest. And he examined them. And he
said, You're a leper. You're unclean. And being unclean,
they were cut off from the people of God. They were set apart out
of the camp. They weren't allowed to come
up to a tabernacle, the place of worship. They were separated
from God. They stood afar off. They were
required as they went through, whoever, whoever, unclean, unclean,
don't come near me, I'm unclean, touch me and you'll be defiled.
They stood afar off. They weren't allowed in walled
cities. Do you know those cities that
had a defensive wall built around them? They weren't allowed in
a walled city. That tells us why our Lord didn't go through
those main cities. He went to a certain village,
didn't have a wall, little country village out here. The leper could
be there. The leper could be there. You
see, that's what sin does for us. It's just like leprosy separated
these people. Sin separates us from God. Your
sin, your iniquities are separated between you and your God. It
separates us. And just like leprosy ends in
death of the flesh, sin ends in eternal death, the soul that's
in it, it shall surely die. What in the world are they going
to do? What are they going to do? That's a terrible, terrible
place, isn't it? To be a leper, to be cut off,
to be unclean, unclean, separated from God, separated from the
worship of God, separated from the people of God. Death, staffed
all over you. you going to do?" Well, here's
what they did, verse 13. They lifted up their voices,
and they said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Oh, beloved,
they saw mercy. They saw mercy. Now, they knew
they were lepers. The priest examined them. The law declared them to be so.
And I don't have any doubt that they had heard that the Lord
Jesus, the Lord Jesus had had mercy on a leper. that he had
mercifully cleansed Solomon from leprosy. This is at the end of
our Lord's ministry. They heard about him doing that.
Turn back to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter 8, early in our
Lord's public ministry. Matthew 8 verse 1, When he was
come down from the mountain, a great multitude followed him.
And, behold, there came a leper, and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean." Oh, what a way to approach
our blessed Lord. Lord, if you will, if you will,
if you be willing, not my will, but yours, if you will, you can
make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him. Won't he be contaminated with
his leprosy? Won't he be made unclean? No, you don't know about this
Holy One, this Holy One of God. He touched him saying, I will
be now clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. Don't you think these ten men
heard that? Do you think they knew all about that? Well, I'm
sure they did. I'm sure they did. And oh, here
he was. Here he was. They couldn't go
to the large town, but here he was in this tiny little village
where they were. Here he was with an earshot.
So what are they going to do? Jesus asked for that mercy on
us. And beloved, I'm telling you,
the only hope for a sinner, the only hope for a sinner is the
mercy and grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot
earn mercy. You cannot merit mercy. You cannot
demand mercy. You cannot obligate God for mercy
by uttering some words like a parent. Can't do it. It's not of him
that will, not of him that runs. It's of God that showeth mercy.
But I tell you what you can do. I tell you what you can do. If
you know yourself to be a sinner, and you know something about
who he is, you can ask him for mercy. Jesus, Master, have mercy
on us. Some of you have been there,
haven't you? I tell you right here's an old leper that's been
there. Any more? Yeah, much more. like that publican
in the temple, wouldn't even lift his face, wouldn't even
look up to God, smote on his breast and cried out, God be
merciful to me, the sinner. Let thy blood be propitiation
for me upon the mercy seat. Now, here's the point. Listen
to me. For the people of God meet together. Christ is there. Do you know
that? Do you want to So I don't know where thank Christ. Well,
you find out where his people are. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I. Where? Right in the middle
of them. Right in the middle of them.
That's what we're doing here this morning. We're gathered
in his name. In his name. His authority, his power, his
character, his attributes, his person. Furthermore, where the
gospel of his grace is preached, his power to save is revealed. Paul told the Romans, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jews first and also to the
Greeks, for therein, in that gospel of Christ, is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it's written, the just
shall live by faith. That's why when we meet, when
we meet, we meet for fellowship. We meet and sing these hymns
of praise to our God. We meet and we read God's Word. We meet and we pray to God, asking
His blessings. But I'm telling you, beloved,
we worship God in the preaching of His gospel, the gospel of
His grace, the gospel of His glory. And that's where He's
made manifest. That's where He's made manifest.
And I'm telling you, just like it was no accident that He went
down to that certain village, It's no accident that you're
sitting right here, right now, hearing these words, reading
this Scripture. Not an accident. Well, you say,
wait a minute, Preacher, I decided I was going to come here this
morning. I know you did. You did what you wanted to do.
But you did precisely what God had before ordained to be done.
There ain't no question about it. And now the question, of
course, simply is, are you a sinner? Are you like these lepers? Are
you? Are you without hope, without help, without God in this world?
Huh? Are you in need of mercy? Well,
if you can say yes, I say, why don't you believe His Word, and
why don't you call on Him and ask for it? You mean it's that
simple? Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. But how are they going to call
on Him in whom they've not believed? How are they going to believe
in Him of whom they've not heard? How are they going to hear without
a preacher? How are they going to preach except they be saved?
That's what we're tempted to do. This Lord is telling you
about Christ, so that you can believe on Him. There are many
Christs, many false prophets going out into the world. I want
you to know the Lord Jesus Christ, my God and my Savior. And I'm
going to tell you about Him, and I'm going to read to you
about Him. For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word
of God. Huh? One more thing I want you
to know. But look how they addressed him.
And this is Jesus, Master. The thing I want you to note
here is how they did not address him. Do you remember how the
other leper back in Matthew 8 addressed him? Lord, if you will, you can. They didn't say that here. They
said, Jesus, Master. Now, I took some time and looked
at this. Our Lord, indeed, is Master. He told the disciples, he said
this, he said, You call me Master and Lord, and you say when, for
so I am. Call no man Master, for one is
your Master, you and Christ. He's the Master. But as I looked
in Scripture, I saw this, except for the disciples, except for
the disciples of Christ, Master, while it was a title of respect,
Yet it was a denial and not an acknowledgment of his worship.
Now, just a couple of examples I want to show you then. First,
we'll turn back to Matthew 19. This is so important. This is
so important. Matthew 19. Look at verse 16. Matthew 19, 16. And behold, one
came and said unto him, to our Lord, good master, good master,
What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Now
that sounds all right on the surface, but it doesn't. Look
what our Lord said. He said unto him, Why callest
thou me good? There is none good but one, that's
God. You know what he's saying? You
don't believe I'm God, don't call me good. You don't believe
I'm God, don't call me good. Don't call me master. Now over
to John chapter 3. Here's a very prominent fellow,
Nicodemus. Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews,
a Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin. And he came to Jesus by night,
John 3, 2. And he said unto him, Rabbi,
Master, that's what they did, Master, we know that thou art
a teacher come from God. It's a respectful title. But
it is not an acknowledgment of his Lordship. You understand?
He said, you're a teacher. No man can do these miracles
that you do, except God be with him. He didn't say except you
be God, except God be with him. And our Lord answered him very
sternly, Nick Davis, you must be born again. You must be born again. You want
to see Bill and that prophet pray? Lord opened his eyes. Now
what did he say? You must be born again. Lord
opened his eyes. Well, listen. I mention this
because it's vital. It's vital. There must, of necessity,
be a belief and confession of the Lordship of Jesus Christ
in salvation. I hear people say, well, you've
accepted him as your Savior. Won't you make him Lord? That's
more hogwash. That's more hot. If He's not
your Lord, He's not your Savior. And you can't make Him Lord because
God has made that same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord
and Christ. And we must, we must believe
and confess that He's Lord in order to be saved. If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Our
Lord in John chapter 8 was dealing with a bunch of Pharisees, religious
hypocrites, self-righteous monsters, blind leaders of the blind. And
he said unto them, I said, therefore, you shall die in your sins. Four,
if you believe not that I am, what's that mean? Same name God
gave himself when Moses asked him at the burning bush, who
shall I say sent me? You tell them, I am hath sent
you. And if you don't believe that
Jesus Christ is God, no need to apply for mercy, because he
can't show it. Now that's just simple fact,
I'm sure, of the gospel. And we'll see this a little bit
further on, but I've got to pick up speed. Now look at verse 14,
back in our text. And when he saw them, he said
unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priest. Go show yourselves
to the priest. Here again, under the law, under
the law, that law which was still in force, only the priest could
pronounce a man clear of leprosy. Lepers who was healed, you went
to the priest. The priest examined you according
to the law and pronounced you either a leper, unclean, or non-leper,
unclean. And the importance of this is
very simply this. We learn here that the salvation
of Christ is in complete agreement with the law of God. Do we then
make void of the law? God forbid. God forbid. Do we through faith make void
of the law? God forbid, yeah. We establish the law. And you
need to understand this also, that the law does not cause sin. And the law does not cure sin.
It only pronounces the person, the presence or absence of it.
And that's what it'll do. That's what it'll do. In that
last great death, according to the strict standard of judgment,
The law of God has never been abolished, never been set aside,
according to that strict standard. We'll be examined, and that law
will say, unclean or clean, unclean or clean. That's just so. But notice, read on now. Go show
yourself to the priest. And look at this divine stamp
again. It came to pass. It came to pass. What? What is
the purpose? became the path. Then as they
went, they were cleansed. All of them, all ten of them
were cleansed of leprosy. Now, if nothing else, this is
a good illustration of faith here. Let me give it to you quickly.
They acted on his word. He said, Go show yourself to
the priest. And they set off to the priest. They set off to
the priest before there was any indication that there was a cure.
Before there was any indication that they were any better. Before
they felt cured. Before they'd done any work.
Here, go show yourself. Off they went. That's pain. And
beloved, I'm telling you. I'm telling you. Are you a leper?
Are you a Christian? Do you call out for mercy from
Christ? But don't wait for signs. Don't wait until you feel better.
Don't wait until you see evidence of a cure. Don't wait until healing
begins. Don't wait for a good feeling. Believe on Christ. and do as
he commands. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved." Is that enough? That's enough! The head writer
said, let not conscience make you linger, nor fitness fondly
dream. All the fitness he required is
to feel your need of him. Are you a needy sinner? Just
set off right now at his Word, at his Word. Verse 15, And one
of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and
with a loud voice glorified God. And he fell down on his face
at this feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan, a hated,
despised Samaritan. And Jesus answered and said,
Were there not ten cleansed? Well, where are the nine? Where
are the nine? Now listen, right here we have
an example of the general and effectual call. We have an example
of common mercy and special grace. One, one of the ten, a Samaritan,
evidently the other nine were Jews, but one returned to give
thanks. And he came back, he glorified
God with a loud voice. He glorified God how? Well, he
acknowledged his healing was of God. He acknowledged his cleansing
was of God. And he fell down at the feet
before he stood afar off. Now he comes near and falls at
the feet of his Lord and Master and worships him, giving him
thanks. He glorifies God. He said, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly blessings. according
as he chosen us in him, from before the foundation of the
world. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again
into a living whole, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Oh, he blessed God. Something happened here. Something
happened. Now, listen to me. All ten of
these lepers had some kind of faith. All ten of them. But one returned to glorify God
and give thanks. Nine of them went on to the priest,
went on down there and worked priestly. I just almost bet when
they got there, they entered into a theological discussion
with that priest concerning the doctrines of grace. But one,
but one, one had the faith of God's elect. And he came to the
priest, but he came to that great high priest over the house of
God. And he worshipped him. He worshipped
him. I'll tell you something else.
All ten were cleansed. All ten were cleansed of leprosy,
but only one gave glory to God. And I'm telling you, even so,
many are called, but few are chosen. Many hear the gospel. Many make a profession of faith
and look clean on the outside. They have some knowledge, and
they have an experience, and they look to it, but they don't
acknowledge or worship Christ Jesus as our God and our Savior. Like Thomas, when he finally
saw it, he said, I won't believe until I see Him and I put my
hand into His wounds. And our Lord appeared to him
and said, stretch forth your hand to do that. And he fell
down and said, my Lord and my God! I'm telling you, that's
what I say. Be my Lord and my God. whatever
anybody else says. He's mine. He's mine. Now here's
the question. Here's the question. What made
the difference between this one and those nine? Something more
excellent than this one? Something better? Some little
ability in his, some little thing that he did? No, sir. No, sir. What made the difference was
the sovereign grace of mercy of Christ in salvation. That's
what made the difference. And it was experienced and evidenced
in that new birth by the Spirit of God. Knowing, brethren, beloved,
your election of God, for our gospel came unto you not in word
only, but in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in Doesn't come to
everybody that way. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, I have the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. That by these precious promises,
we're made partakers of the divine nature. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creation. Old things passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. That's why he came back. That's
why he gave glory to God. That's why he fell at the feet
of Christ and worshiped and gave thanks. Verse 19, And he said
unto him, Our Lord said to this one who came back, Arise, go
your way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now you know, you
who are instructed of God, you know that faith is not the Savior,
Christ is. It was not faith that made him
whole, it was Christ that made him whole. But not without faith.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Therefore being
justified by faith, We have peace with God. Faith is the channel
by which this grace of God flows over. Therefore it is all faith,
but it might be by grace to the end of promise, might be sure
to all to see. Nothing required. All with grace. All with grace. All with grace. But here's the difference. Now
listen to me. Ten men were cleansed of leprosy. There's no question
about that. That's clear. They all had physical healing,
but one was made w-h-o-l-e. Now wait a second. Thy faith hath made thee whole. There was something lacking.
You see, by sin, because of sin, we're dead. We're spiritually
dead in trespasses and sin. But by grace, we're made whole.
We're spiritually alive. Alive unto God. Did you know
that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily? And you are what? Come on now,
tell me. Complete in Him, which is the
head of all the principality of my pathetic lacking. This
man, by the grace of God, through the redemption of Christ, by
the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, was made whole. He was made whole. And, beloved,
listen, physical healing is not salvation. I know you go down
to the hospital and you find all these sick folks down there,
and the vast majority of them, if they're sick enough, they'll
cry out to God and say, Lord, heal me. Well, He heals a lot
of them. You know, all healing is of God. His name is Jehovah-Ripha,
the Lord that healed me. But physical healing is not salvation. It's not salvation. Now, I'm
thankful for healing, aren't you? healing of the soul, the
spirit that I mentioned. Because eventually, this old
body is going to die. It's going to go back to the dust. But the
child of God will never die. He that believeth on the Son
hath eternal life, and shall not come into condemnation, but
is passed from death unto life. of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord Jesus Christ. Make sure you've got the right
Lord. And thou shalt be saved. Father, how we thank you. How
we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of your
grace. Father, we thank you for this
day and the opportunity we have of meeting in this place and
worshiping at thy feet. Father, we pray that according
to your divine purpose and will, Your word might go forth in this
place in the power of thy spirit, and might break hard stony hearts,
might reveal unto people their need, and might cause them to
look to Christ and cry out for mercy. Lord, be merciful unto
us and save us. We plead no merit but the merit
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We plead no cost but for His
glory, we desire that He might be glorified in all things. Granted
for His sake, and in His name we pray. Amen. All right. A little bit long-winded this
morning. You got your 10 cents worth,
didn't you? I am personally delighted
to have my sister and her husband in the congregation this morning
for the first time. Sue and Ron, would you all wave
your hands or stand up? We'd be delighted to have you
with us.