The Lord impressed my heart with
these verses and I feel there's a great many lessons here in
these verses that we need to learn and I believe that we could
be excited this morning to praise the Lord more. I believe that's
a great need of this congregation. I believe that in the past, in
years gone by, in our Lord's churches that His people were
more grateful. I believe they were found to
be praising God a great deal more than the congregations of
the professed people of God in our day. I think we're more prone
to murmuring and complaining, more prone to frustration in
our day maybe than the Lord's people have been in any day before
us. And I also believe that self-righteousness
on our part is a great deal of the problem. I believe that we
all feel somewhat that God owes us a little more than what He's
been pleased to give us, and maybe we feel that we've been
dealt with rather harshly from the Lord's hand. Maybe our particular
situations, our circumstances are such that we feel that we're
not in a position to give praise, to offer praise unto our God. I hope this morning by the time
we're finished that we'll be more grateful and that we'll
praise our God more. Our Lord is worthy of honor. He is worthy of praise. In our
hearts this morning maybe the Lord will be pleased to give
us in our hearts the ability, give us a thankful heart. I remember
reading after Brother Warburton who uh... was uh... trying to praise the lord one
day walking down the road and uh... he just he just didn't
have the heart to do it but he went ahead just went through
the motions and uh... in after a while the lord was
pleased to give him a thankful heart and then he really praised
god as he ought and i trust god will give us that gift And if
ye must withhold other things, may ye not withhold that, that
may ye give us the gift of a grateful and thankful heart. Now, we read
this story to you about these ten lepers, and Jesus had went
to Jerusalem and passed through Samaria and Galilee, and he entered
into a certain village, and there met him ten men that were lepers,
which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices
and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Now the first thing
that I noticed here in this portion of the Word of God this morning
is how earnestly that men cry for help when they feel their
need of it. Now these ten lepers needed help. They needed to be healed. They
needed a touch from God. They needed. Their case was desperate. And we notice that the Bible
says they stood afar off. Now, beloved, these men were
indeed afflicted with one of the worst diseases that humankind
can possibly inherit in this world. They had a terrible, terrible
disease, and they were miserable, and they stood afar off. They'd
been cast off from society and from all communion with society. They had to stand alone. Now,
the men described in the text before us appear to be very sensible
of their wretchedness. They stood indeed afar off as
a leper must. Now you can read Leviticus chapter
13 and Leviticus chapter 14 and you'll find out a whole lot about
leprosy as it was dealt with in the Old Testament and the
role that the priests played in dealing with the cases, various
cases of leprosy that appeared among God's ancient people, the
Israelites. But leprosy is a very instructive
symbol to us. It is a very instructive symbol
from this standpoint that it is a symbol of sin in the human
soul and how it pollutes and how it destroys. Leprosy would
literally eat the flesh off a man's bones. Who can say among us this
morning the end results of sin rather than to say that it's
so destructive that it not only destroys men's bodies in this
life, but it will also destroy the soul. We know that it ends,
if a man should die in his sin, it will end in eternal death,
eternal separation from God. So leprosy is a very instructive
symbol. You know, our Lord looked upon
these ten men. I do not know what these men
knew about Jesus. They apparently knew that he
was a healer of men men's bodies. They apparently knew that he
had power. They apparently knew that he could speak a word and
have mercy on them and heal them and change their entire lives. But what sight, I thought about
what sights our Lord must see as He looks down upon men today. As He looked upon those lepers,
probably they were each one in various stages of the disease,
and each one of them possibly, as He looked upon them, He could
see how their lives had been ravished by this disease. But
I thought about how when the Lord looks upon men today, as
He looks down from heaven, how He sees men. We know that God
not only sees the outward, but God sees the inward. The Bible
says that all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him
with whom we have to do. God sees what is in the heart,
and God looks upon the world, and my the lepers, the world
is full of lepers. We read in the word of God in
the book of Isaiah that from the head to the foot that men
are full of wounds and bruises and putrefying sores and there
is no soundness in them. And the Bible says in 1 John
5 and 19 that the whole world lieth in wickedness, man by nature. Now I'm not talking about ten
men. I'm talking about tens of thousands. Yeah, I'm talking
about the population of the earth. All are afflicted by this desperate
disease of sin. And beloved, while some may appear
to have sound bodies, their soul is in desperate need. And so
these men who were lepers, these men who were diseased, these
men who had a great need, they did not stand idly by. The Lord
Jesus came by. The Lord Jesus came by. He had entered into this village. This was their opportunity. They
would possibly never meet Jesus again. Possibly they would never
be in a place and in a time where that they could could call upon
the Lord Jesus and they lifted up their voices and they said
Jesus they said Jesus they said Jesus master have mercy on us
they acutely felt the deplorable state of their bodies they acutely
felt their need and so they lifted up their voices and they cried
to the Lord Jesus have mercy on us they cried earnestly for
relief when a chance of relief appeared in sight. Here he was,
here he was, the man of Galilee. Here he was, that one who went
about doing good and healing all manner of diseases. Here
is that one whose ministry was attended with glory and power. And they knew Jesus apparently,
and they knew he could meet their need. Now, the conduct of these
ten lepers I think is very instructive. It throws a great deal of light
on what we ought to do when we feel our desperate need. Now this morning, I don't know
how many convinced sinners we have in our midst. I think a
great deal about trying to convince men and women of their true state
of nature. I don't have the words. I admit
that I fall far short in trying to teach those to whom I preach
their desperate need. But I know that the Holy Spirit
must accompany whatever words we use. And I know that only
the Holy Spirit can open your eyes. and make you to feel and
sense your desperate need. And I know that as the Spirit
of God does that, that there is something that you ought to
do, and that is that you ought to do exactly what these ten
lepers did, and that is you ought to cry to God about your need. You feel this morning that you're
cut off from God. You may feel this morning that
you have never experienced God in your life, that you've never
been touched by God. You may feel that your sin is
still heavy upon you, and that the burden of guilt is so upon
you that you can hardly manage it. Shifting it around from day
to day, you can hardly manage in this whole world. But I tell
you, the thing for you to do this morning is what these ten
lepers did, and that is cry to the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy. Cry to Him for mercy. There's
not a one of us here that can manage our sin. There's nobody
here that can handle sin. There's nobody here that can
in any way, shape, or form rid themselves of this horrible affliction
which was passed upon us from our Daddy Adam. There's no way
that we can handle it. Only the Lord Jesus can do it.
And I thought of how there was no available cure for these lepers,
but here's the Lord Jesus, and He can heal them. He can cure
them. There is no available cure for you this morning except the
Lord Jesus Christ as you stand in a state of nature. As you
stand in the depravity of your sinful nature, there is no cure
for your desperate condition except the Lord Jesus Christ
and the mercy which he has and will bestow upon believing sinners. And so hear these men cry. Now how is it that many never
pray? How is it that many never cry
to God? How is it that you can be around
people and you know where they stand, you know their condition,
you know their situation, but they're not sensible to it, and
they never cry to God. That men and women with souls
to be saved, souls to be saved or lost, are not crying to God. What a terrible thing. What a
terrible thing. You would think And I'm sure
of this and I've watched enough television and saw enough burning
buildings on television to know that if a man or a woman or a
boy or girl is in a building and it's on fire and it's burning
and whatever floor they're on, they make a desperate attempt
to get to the window to let somebody know their condition and know
what their situation is and how desperately they need to be rescued.
But I'll tell you what, we live around a lot of people that never
pray at all. They never cry to God. You never
hear them saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on me. You don't ever
hear them crying out like that to God, humbling themselves. You never hear any cry come forth
from their heart. And those people are on the way
to hell. They're in the vestibule of death,
and they're on the way to hell, and they're not crying to God
that they might be delivered. Now, the answer is short and
simple. These people have no real sense of their sin. They
do not feel their spiritual disease. They're not conscious that they're
lost, they're guilty, and that they're hanging over hell with
a thread, and that soon that thread is to be cut, and they're
to be cast into eternal burnings, And there the great gates, the
iron gates of eternity, will swing shut upon their soul, ever
to be lost, forever to be lost, forever to be cut off from God
and His mercy. Well, when a man finds out his
soul's ailment, then when he really finds it out, when the
Spirit of God uncovers it, when the Spirit of God does its withering
work, does his withering work in the hardened life, then a
man soon learns to pray. And these men, they begin to
cry to God because they knew their condition, knew their situation. Well, they'll find words to express
what they need when they learn their condition. You say, well,
I can't pray. I don't have the ability to pray.
Listen, when you come to feel your real need deep down, when
you really discover who you are and what you are, when you really
discover what you're in for, when you die and pass from this
life and stand before God, you'll find words to express yourself
just like these lepers did. Jesus, Master, have mercy on
us! and you'll use those words and
go to the Lord. Well the next thing I see here
is how help meets a person when they're in the path of obedience. Now in verse 14, and when he
saw them, that is when Jesus saw them, Jesus said unto them,
he said unto them, go and show yourselves unto the priest. Well,
if you were to read Leviticus 13 and 14, as I suggested earlier,
you would understand why that Jesus told them to do this. A leper could not be admitted
back in among the people in villages and in cities and towns until
the priest passed on them until a priest investigated and saw
that the disease was cured or that it was over so Jesus said
to these fellas he said you go to the priest and immediately
what he was saying to them was go to the priest get your clearance
to go back in to society it's over with it's done you're healed
go and so as they left came to pass as they went they were cleansed
as they obeyed the word of the Lord, as they believed what he
said. Now they could have questioned and said, well, why should I
do that? They don't need to be going to
the priest yet, because I still got the leprosy on me. But, as
it came to pass, as they went, they obeyed, they walked in the
path of obedience, and they were healed. Now we're told that when
these lepers cried to our Lord here, this was his only reply. He didn't reach out and touch
them or he didn't even do the things that he did on other occasions
when he healed men. He just simply said to them,
go show yourself unto the priest. He didn't prescribe any medication,
no washing, no use of outward material means, none whatsoever. Healing power accompanied the
words which our Lord spoke. Go and show yourself unto the
priest. What a tremendous statement.
What a tremendous statement. It's over with. It's done. The
disease is cured. Go and show yourself to the priest
and get your clearance. Go! Well, this is such a blessing
to me. Well, healing power accompanied
these words. You see, our Lord created the
heavens and the earth. Our Lord spoke the world into
existence. When our Lord speaks, there's
power in the command in His word. Now, relief met the afflicted
company as soon as they obeyed His command. It came to pass
that as they were cleansed, this shows us the wisdom of simple,
childlike obedience to every word that comes from the mouth
of Christ. It does not become us to stand
still and reason and doubt when our Master's commands are plain
and unmistakable. If the lepers had acted in this
way, they never would have been healed. What he calls for is
simple, childlike faith in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, beloved, if you're in trouble,
if you feel any kind, that you feel in any way, shape, or form
that you need the intervention of God, if you feel that you
need a special touch from God, if you feel that somewhere or
another your case is so desperate that you need that God intervene
on your behalf and deal with your case, you began to pray
Cry to the Lord and then listen very carefully. Get quiet before
the Lord. Practice meditation. Think and be still before God
and listen for God to speak a word. For God to say to you, go show
thyself unto the priest. For God to say a word. for him
to say one word and where the word of the king is there's power
and God will as he speaks to you and as you are enabled to
obey it's just like the man with the withered hand Jesus said
stretch forth thine hand and here he is, he had no strength
in it, it was palsied but he stretched it forth and immediately
his arm was made whole and I'll tell you, you listen carefully
to what God says to you And you attempt to obey what God says. You do what God tells you to
do. In spite of what it costs you if it kills you, you do what
God told you to do. And what He tells you to do.
And I'll tell you there will be victory, there will be healing,
there will be a lifting up, there will be salvation, there will
be deliverance if you do what God tells you to do. Simple faith
in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, I tell you this
morning that we must read the Word of God diligently. Be reading
the Word as you're in quiet before the Lord, as you're being quiet
before Him. Meditate upon the Word and read
it diligently and try to pray over what you read and attend
the means of grace. as you're in trouble and waiting
upon the Lord to deliver you. And I think these are duties
which Christ requires at our hands. And these things we must
do without asking a bunch of vain questions. Oh, why is it
me? Oh, why am I in this state? Oh,
why, why, why, why, why? Don't ask the vain question,
but be still before the Lord and seek a word from God. Seek
a word from God that would heal you. It is in the path of unhesitating
obedience that Christ will meet and Christ will bless you. Now,
the third thing I see here is what a rare thing that thankfulness
to God is. We're told that of all the ten
lepers whom Christ healed, there was only one of them who turned
back and gave thanks. Only one of them who turned back
and gave thanks. Now, there was ten of them that
were healed. And this one, immediately, when
he was healed, he didn't go on to the priest. He didn't say,
well, outward religion is more important than spiritual devotion.
He didn't say it's more important that I go ahead on and go through
the formality of going to the priest. He turned back and immediately
began to praise the one that had healed him, the one that
had cured him of his affliction. Now then, the lesson before us
is, I think, very important for us to see. The Lord Jesus said,
Here he said where are the nine? He said well, they're not ten
cleansed in verse 17, but where are the nine? Where are the nine
where the others that were cleansed and so we're going to talk a
little bit about the rare what a rare thing a thankfulness is
it seems to me like that we need to be dealt with and our hearts
about are rendering unto the Lord the praise that is due His
name for what He has done in intervening on our behalf and
saving our poor souls. We're more ready to pray apparently
than to praise. I guess all ten of these cried
to God, but only one of them was interested in praise. And
so what that means is that there's a whole lot of people interested
in getting something from God, very few people interested in
paying Him the praise and thankfulness of their hearts. More people
that were willing to pray than there are to praise the Lord.
Those who pray is greater than the number of those who praise. We hide our mercies and we set
our trials and tribulation and our needs on a hill for all to
see, but then we do not praise the Lord. only one praised him
in this case. They all joined in the prayer,
only one returned to give thanks. Multitudes pray while they're
sick and dying, but when they get better, no real praise. Praise
to God, no song of thankfulness. It is too sadly true, beloved,
there's more prayer than there is praise. There are more who
receive benefits than ever give praise for those benefits when
they are given by God. There are more who pray for something
than those who give praise after the benefits are given and the
blessing is received. Ten heal, one praise. We ought
to remember all of his benefits in this life. We ought to remember,
beloved, what God has done in our lives, what the Lord has
done in life, giving us health, giving us the eyesight, the hearing,
the love of friends and loved ones, the salvation which Christ
has been pleased to buy in our room instead and place Him paying
all of the debt, Him paying it all. We sing that old song, Jesus
paid it all. Well, beloved, do we not have
a word of praise in our heart for Him who paid it all? For
Him who paid it all? You know, the Lord, we mentioned
last week how that the Lord chose us in Christ in old time, and
didn't give any consideration to what we had done, good or
evil, and that our election depended entirely upon the good pleasure
of God from old eternity, didn't give any consideration to what
we would do or would not do in our lifetime, and then the Lord
Jesus, here we stand, naked before God, and we're going to need
to be righteous. We're going to be born as sinners
in this world, and we need to be righteous. And the Lord Jesus
stepped forward and said, I'll make them all beautiful before
you, Father. They'll have my comeliness. I'll
give them my merit, my righteousness. I'll provide all you demand of
them. And so the Lord Jesus did that. And God the Father chose
us, you know, in Christ. and he never looked upon us outside
of his son and that's why that God loves his Jacobs is because
he chose them in Christ and he always looks upon them favorably
because he sees them as they stand in the Lord Jesus. Oh how
much room there is to praise the Lord. How much room there
is because of what Jesus has done, what God has done in the
salvation of our souls. Christ, His death on our behalf,
the Holy Spirit in the effectual working of His power, calling
us out of the world and as He is the agent in the new birth,
giving us a birth from heaven, us being born again, us being
Born into the family of God. How we need to praise God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The eternal
God in His providence. You know, the providence of God
is God working out all that goes on in this world. And when we
look upon the providences of God, how we ought to praise Him. How much better is things with
us today than they ought to be. how much, how many things in
this world have not happened to us. that have happened to
others. How much praise should be in
our hearts to God. Things are indeed better with
us than we deserve that they be. And so we need to praise
God for His mercies which are new every day. And remember the
goodness of the Lord and all the benefits which we receive
from His hand. There is one man in ten who thanks
God for these, and this seems to be the ratio in all time. This seems to be the ratio, one
in ten. 1 in 10. Where are the 9? If all the 9
were here this morning, we couldn't get them all in this building.
Where are the 9? Well, the 9 are out and gone.
The 9 are not here. It's like Isaac Watts said, Hosannas
languish on our tongues and our devotion dies. And there's a
lot of truth to that. We do not praise the Lord fitly.
We do not praise the Lord proportionately. We do not praise the Lord intensely
as we ought to. One said that we receive a continent
of mercies and only return an island of praise. And I believe
that's a pretty good statement. The years roll on and we seldom,
if ever, Have you ever, let me ask you this question, we seldom
if ever observe a day of praise. Did you ever in your life, as
a Christian, ever set aside one day saying I'm not going to ask
God for anything today, I'm not going to be asking for anything
concerning this vain world, anything concerning my human appetites,
I'm not going to do that, I'm going to set aside this day for
praise unto God and I'm going to praise the Lord from the beginning
of the day to the time I wake up in the morning, every time
I think of it, every time it crosses my mind, I'm going to
praise the Lord. Have you ever done that? Have
you ever sat aside or observed a day of praise unto God? The widespread thanklessness
of Christians is the disgrace of our day. And beloved, I feel
that. It overwhelms me. It overwhelms
me. The widespread Thanklessness
of Christians is the disgrace of this day. We lived in the
day of plenty, and if we ever feel a pinch, We feel that God
has turned his back upon us and that his mercies are clean gone
and that God will never again prosper us and we're going to
be left to languish and finally lose all and go to the poor house
and die a pauper as we come to die. My soul, my friend, we need
simply to remember the goodness of the Lord and begin to praise
God for all of his goodness and all of his benefits for our souls. Now, the next thing I see here,
and I'll hurry on, the characteristics of true thankfulness. This man's
simple act shows the character of praise. And I want you to
get this, because this helped me, and I believe if it helps
me, it'll surely help somebody else here. Now, praise does not
take the same shape in everybody. somebody said that love to christ
is like living flowers they all wear a little different uh... form they all are uh... they
have many forms living flowers have many forms only artificial
flowers are all alike christians are not artificial they're not
like artificial flowers we manifest praise and thanksgiving and our
love to god in various forms in various ways Living praise
is marked first of all by individuality, by individuality. Men can sin
in company, they can go to hell in company, but when you obtain
salvation, you obtain it as an individual before God in Christ,
and you are to give praise to Jesus Christ alone. This man
quits the company of the other nine, and he comes to praise
the Lord as an individual. If your heart is right, you must
praise Him. You must love Him if your heart
is right, and you must praise Him as an individual. You don't
have to wait until the preacher does. You don't have to wait
until the preacher preaches a sermon on it. You praise God as an individual. Now, you will not be kept back
by the state of the other nine, will you? All the other nine
They were gone off to the priest and then they had to get back
home and get back to their businesses. They had to get back in society.
They didn't have no time to come back and praise the Lord. But
you're not going to be influenced by the other nine, are you? Well,
the worldliness of your family, the coldness of the church that
you attend, are you going to be influenced by that? To where
your praise ceases? No, it's individuality, my friend. Your personal love to Christ
will make you praise Him even if heaven and earth is all wrapped
up in absolute, total silence. If you really love the Lord,
if you really do, I mean if you really are in Christ, if you've
ever really felt his mercy, if you ever really have been delivered,
then you will praise the Lord. The poet said, O may the sweet,
the blissful theme fill every heart and tongue till strangers
love thy charming name and join the sacred song. Well, the next
characteristic of this man's thankfulness I believe, was promptness. Promptness. First of all, it
was individuality, and secondly, it was promptness. He was back
to Christ almost immediately. Almost immediately. He didn't
get to the priest. He got back to Christ. Now, when
you're saved or blessed, the quicker you can express your
gratitude, I think the better. The quicker you can praise the
Lord, the quicker you can say, to one of the deacons, the quicker
you can say to one of the members of the church or to the pastor,
the Lord save me, praise his name. I've been delivered, praise
his name. The Lord visited me where I was
at this morning, praise his name. The better off you are, the quicker
you can praise the Lord. We all plan, you see, to praise
the Lord by and by. But like one fellow said, it's
better to lay a brick today than to prepare or propose to build
a palace next year. It's better to lay one brick
today. It's better to praise the Lord today. Say, well, I'm
going to get around to praising the Lord someday. Well, why don't
you just start now? Praising the Lord. Let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord. Now, magnify the Lord in the
present. Magnify the Lord right now magnify
the Lord in your soul next I want you to notice the intensity that
this man this is another characteristic of true praise there's intensity
in it you notice that with a loud voice this man glorified God
with a loud voice well somebody say you didn't have to get so
loud about it why do you have to get so loud about it why is
it necessary you know i used to listen quite a little bit
people a they they're always complaining preachers either
talking too loud or he's or he's not talking loud enough and folks
never satisfied with with with the sound of things but this
man with a loud voice glorified god he was intense uh... he was just cured of leprosy
he couldn't whisper you know i think when he had this disease
he might have had problems talking above a whisper. But once he
was healed, he could speak with a loud voice. And so he spoke
quite loudly, glorifying God. Fain would I sound it out so
loud that earth and heaven should hear, the poet said. Fain would
I sound it out so loud that earth and heaven should hear. Fains,
listen to me. Listen to me if we're in Christ.
The Bible says, give thanks for everything in Christ Jesus. Give thanks for everything, for
this is the will of God concerning us in Christ Jesus. If you're
in Christ Jesus, things are better with you than you know them to
be. You say, well I suspect they're always worse with me than I think
they are. Beloved, you've got the wrong
mentality. You've got to start thinking
the other way. Things are better with you than
you think they are if you're in Christ Jesus. You couldn't
be in a better position. Somebody said, oh preacher, I
think I could be in a whole lot better position than I am now.
You could not be in a better position than to be in Christ. to be in Christ. Give thanks
for everything. This is the will of God concerning
us as we stand in Christ Jesus, the Apostle said. And so there
isn't anything for which we cannot be grateful, for which we can
give thanks to God. We do not have the right to,
in some way or another, claim exemption from this responsibility
based on our situation, our circumstances. I know that you have a lot of
self-pity, and I know that you don't think that things will
ever be right with you again, and that you're in a situation
that nothing can ever change, and so on and so forth. I know
you feel that way. I feel that way almost every day of my life.
I feel that way all the time. But I'll tell you this. I'll
tell you this, there is only one victory in all this world,
from the cradle to the grave, for the people of God, and it's
the victory of faith! You must believe, if God said
that you give thanks for everything in Christ Jesus, everything,
give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you, that he meant for you to do it, because things are better
with you than you know them to be. as you stand in Christ as
you stand in the Lord Jesus because God sees me like he sees Christ
and God there is nothing that God purposes to do for me that
he'll ever be turned away from doing because he sees something
in me he don't like he always looks at his son and sees him
and then he sees me and because of Jesus and because he always
pleads God listen to these words from the mount of transfiguration
God said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased now
that is never going to change and as I stand in him God is
asking, now this is not blasphemy. Oh, the devil says it is. The
devil says, wait, watch your mouth. Watch your mouth, preacher.
But as I stand in the Lord Jesus, God is well pleased with me. he's well pleased with me he
don't deal with listen what do you say about old jacob neesaw
he said i took no account of their good or evil i've done
i've made up my mind as a i've chose them in christ i didn't
choose them because they were had some good or because i didn't
choose this one because he was evil i didn't bypass him because
he was evil i didn't take that into consideration now that puts
the works religionists out of business but once he chooses
a man in Christ, he don't ever look at him any other way except
as he stands complete and perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ. I tell
you, give praise. Give thanks to God. I tell you
that things are alright with you. I tell you they're better
with you than you'll ever see them to be with the eye of flesh.
I tell you your old heart, your old flesh heart will lie to you
and it'll tell you that your battle this thing isn't any good,
that it'll never work. I tell you, give thanks for everything. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Give praise to the Lord. Intensity. Somebody said, I wouldn't want
anybody to hear me. Well, if you believed it, you wouldn't
care. Well, they urge you not. And if you were convinced of
it yourself, you sure wouldn't care for anybody to know that
you believe this, that you had a standing in Christ. And regardless
of what the relatives thought of you, that God thought highly
of you because he thought as much of you as he did his own
son. Now, brother, that'll stand the fellow instead and make him
open his mouth. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Well, next,
in true thankfulness, there's humility. Look at verse 16. And
when this fellow came back with a loud voice glorifying God,
he fell down on his face. He went right down on his face,
at his feet, and gave thanks. And he was a Samaritan. He was
a half-breed. He wasn't one of them pure-blooded
Jews. He wasn't one of those people
that thought, well, God owes me something. And them Jews thought,
well, hey, I'm just getting what I do. I mean, I deserve this. I mean, here I am. I'm a child
of Abraham. I came forth out of Abraham's
loins. I got this coming. Here's this
half-breed. He knows he's nothing. He knows he didn't have anything.
He fell down on his feet. He didn't feel he was in place. until he was at his feet. And
I'll tell you what, Brother Sister, Brother Sister, if we ever get
this right, we will feel out of place anywhere else but at
his feet. We'll feel out of place anywhere
else but at his feet, offering him praise, him and him alone,
for the complete salvation of his people. To know we're undeserving
is the true secret of a thankful spirit to know we're undeserving.
It is self-righteousness that robs God Almighty of His praise. It is this feeling that God,
because of the family that I grew up in, and because of my ancestors,
because of my father and mother, because of my great-grandfather,
it's because of this that God owes me something and I'm here
to collect it. You'll never have a grateful
heart. You'll never praise the Lord. God's not interested in
anything that comes out of your filthy mouth. He's not interested
in it. Your heart's deceitful and corruptible and God doesn't
listen to any of that foolishness. It's when you come to the end
of yourself and you feel undeserving. It's the man who feels his debt
to grace and remembers that in reality he deserves nothing but
hell. This is the man who will bless
and praise God with an intense, fervent heart. This is a man
that will do it. I'm nobody from no place, this
man seems to say. I am a half-breed, and I don't
have nothing coming to me. I am through religion. I have
nothing coming to me through the religion of the Israelites,
but at His feet. I'd rather be nobody at Christ's
feet than to be everybody somewhere else. How about you? I'd rather
be nobody at Christ's feet than to be everybody everywhere else.
At His feet. There's no place so honorable
as down, down, down at the feet of Jesus. Thankfulness is a flower
which will never bloom with exception upon a root of deep humility. And you don't forget it. Leprosy
of sin? Ah, listen, my friend. All worship be to His Supreme
Majesty. He healed me. He delivered me. Then there's no other thing.
Well, let me say this. There's one other thing that
I'd like to call to your attention here, and that is that this fella
who returned and give thanks, something just stood out to me
in this story, and that is this, that his silence as to censoring
others the other nine when they did not come back and glorify
God. Now look here, look at this.
And Jesus answering said, where were there not ten clans? But
where are the nine? Now, who do you suppose he was
talking to? He owes his debt to grace and
remembers that in reality he deserves nothing but hell. This is the man who will bless
and praise God with an intense, fervent heart. This is a man
that will do it. I'm nobody from no place, this
man seems to say. I am a half-breed, and I don't
have nothing coming to me. I am through religion. I have
nothing coming to me through the religion of the Israelites.
But at his feet, I'd rather be nobody at Christ's feet than
to be everybody somewhere else. How about you? I'd rather be
nobody at Christ's feet than to be everybody everywhere else
at His feet. There's no place so honorable
as down, down, down at the feet of Jesus. Thankfulness is a flower
which will never bloom with exception upon a root of deep humility. And you don't forget it. Leprosy
of sin Ah, listen, my friend, all worship be to his supreme
majesty. He healed me. He delivered me. Then there's no other thing.
Well, let me say this. There's one other thing that
I'd like to call to your attention here, and that is that this fella
who returned and give thanks, something just stood out to me
in this story. And that is this, that his silence
as to censoring others, the other nine, when they did not come
back and glorify God. Now look here, look at this.
And Jesus answered and said, where were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Now,
who do you suppose he was talking to? He was talking to this fellow
who returned. I mean, that's my assumption. I believe he was
talking to this man who returned. And he said, boy, I tell you
what, now that's... He didn't censure them. He did
not stand up and say, they're all gone off to the priest. He
didn't say, well, I'm astonished at them that they didn't return
to thank you. I'm really put out with them.
I'm really put, no he didn't say that. This fella, he didn't
say nothing. He didn't say a word. And that's
true humility, beloved. That's saying, well I don't know
about them. They'll have to stand before
you as they stand. I can't explain that. All I can
do is, I can just go ahead on and praise you myself. He did
not reply. He didn't say, I just don't understand
people that don't praise the Lord. He said, I just don't understand
them. They're just not as spiritual
as I am, that's all. No, he didn't say nothing. He
just praised the Lord Himself. He was there. And our Lord noticed
it. And I hope that we can get rid
of our self-righteousness. Beloved, if I can just do what
I should, If I can just do what I should. If I could just praise God like
I want to praise Him. For the mercies that I have received.
If I could just do that. Well, there are some lessons
to be learned here. I'm just going to give them to
you quickly. Let me just give you a couple
more things. We are to put praise in a high
place, number one. Let us pray for a thankful spirit. It's the spirit which God loves
to honor, a thankful spirit. Let us pray and let us praise
at the same time. Let us pay our praise to Christ
himself, personally, vehemently. Personal praise to a personal
Savior must be our life's object. If others don't praise our God,
let us be sorrowful, but let us not be disappointed. Listen
to this. Do not expect gratitude yourself. Do not wonder if you bless others
and others do not bless you. Don't wonder about it. Our Lord
blessed ten. There was only one of them that
honored him. Only one of them. So, even the Master did not...