Ten Men Healed; One Man Saved
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
Many years ago, a boat was wrecked in a storm on Lake Michigan at Evanston, Illinois.
Students from Northwestern University formed themselves into rescue teams.
One student, Edward Spencer, saved seventeen people from the sinking ship.
When he was carried exhausted to his room, he asked,
“Did I do my best?
Do you think I did my best?”
.......
Years later, R. A. Torrey was talking about this incident at a meeting in Los Angeles, and a man in the audience called out that Edward Spencer was present.
Dr. Torrey invited Spencer to the platform.
An old man with white hair slowly climbed the steps as the applause rang.
Dr. Torrey asked him if anything in particular stood out in his memory.
“Only this, sir,” he replied,
“Of the seventeen people I saved, not one of them thanked me.”
.......
Wow, Beloved...
It is harder to imagine a greater form of ingratitude...
However, the ingratitude we as humans sometimes show against God is truly the worst...
And today we will explore one of the examples of being unthankful when God was so merciful to a group who was in desperate need.
.......
So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 17 and focus on verses 11 through 19.
Our message this morning is titled “Ten Men Healed; One Man Saved.”
.......
As you are turning to our passage today please keep in mind this fact:
Although one aspect of today’s message deals with gorse ingratitude...
We also witness a great example of faithful gratitude from a person who society would label as a simple outcast!
.......
So, this morning we will cover three main points:
1) The Lepers
2) The Healing
And...
3) The Faith
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
.......
Heavenly Father...
You are the Mighty One...
You are our Strong Foundation...
You are the Creator of all...
You are Elohim!
.......
Help us to never loose track of all the amazing blessings You shower us with...
Help us to never be ungrateful of the things you provide for us...
And help us to always have an attitude of humility and thankfulness.
.......
Thank You for showing us mercy...
Thank You for giving us the gift of grace...
And thank You for adopting us into Your royal family!
.......
And it is in Jesus’ name we pray all these things...
Amen.
.......
Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.
12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance
13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.
15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice;
16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?
18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) The Lepers
1) The Lepers
Verses 11-13: On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
Let’s start our study today by looking at Luke’s context clues regarding the setting...
So, let’s start with the first words of our opening verse...
The phrase “on his way to Jerusalem” is the third mention of Jesus’ traveling to Jerusalem...
So, Luke is again reminding us that the time for Jesus to make His way into Jerusalem for the final part of His earthly mission is quickly approaching...
Time wise, we are getting closer and closer to the cross...
But at this moment Jesus is making His way between Galilee and Samaria...
Ans while ministering to those areas our Lord and Savior encounters ten leprous men who came out to meet Him.
.......
There is no doubt that they had already heard a great deal about our Lord and Savior...
There is no doubt that they had already heard a great deal about the amazing miracles that our Lord and Savior was performing...
There is no doubt that they had already heard a great deal about all our Lord and Savior was doing in Galilee and Samaria...
Like how He easily healed large numbers sick individuals and performed many mighty acts!
.......
So, these ten lepers sought Jesus’ aid...
And they cried out to Him that He should take pity on them for their desperate estate.
However, even in their desperate state, they are obedient to the laws regulating the behavior of lepers...
So, they do not venture to come anywhere near Him...
Instead they call to Him from a distance...
Instead they cry out with a loud voice for mercy...
Instead they cry out with a loud voice for help and healing from leprosy!
.......
So, Beloved...
You may be asking...
What exactly is “leprosy?”
Well, as recorded in Scripture, leprosy is a general term for a number of skin conditions...
So, we are not certain which skin condition it was...
But from the please from these ten lepers...
We know it was a sever case...
And the most severe of those under the label of leprosy in biblical times was Hansen’s disease, which is leprosy as it is known today.
Leprosy attacks the skin, peripheral nerves (especially near the wrists, elbows, and knees), and the mucus membrane.
Leprosy also forms lesions on the skin, and can disfigure the face by collapsing the nose and causing folding of the skin (leading some to call it “lion’s disease” due to the resulting lion-like appearance of the face).
.......
Additionally contrary to popular belief, leprosy does not eat away the flesh.
However, due to the loss of feeling (especially in the hands and feet), people with the disease wear away their extremities and faces unknowingly.
This horrible disfigurement caused by leprosy made it greatly feared...
Lepers where outcasts who were cut off from all healthy society.
Truly, this was a horrific skin condition that terrorized its victims.
.......
Adding to the physical suffering of those afflicted with leprosy was the added social stigma that leprosy brought about.
Not only were lepers cut off from family, friends, and banned from the rest of society...
But their condition was also considered to be divine judgment from God for their sin.
.......
This attitude was consistent with the traditional Jewish beliefs of that time...
That those who where plagued by leprosy were suffering due to God’s judgment for sin...
However, that belief is part of man-made tradition and was not what God said in His Word.
.......
Now, God’s Word did speak about leprosy...
These was much instruction on how to deal with leprosy in the Old Covenant...
So, although leprosy was not necessary God’s judgement on a person...
Those who had leprosy were considered unclean until they were healed...
As Leviticus 13:46 says:
46 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.
Furthermore, Numbers 5:1–3 says:
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead.
3 You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”
.......
For those who eventually healed from their skin conditions...
There was a specific process that the healed individual had to follow to be officially let back into one’s community...
Keep this in mind as Jesus, who was fully obedient to the Old Covenant, followed these laws as laid out in the Old Testament which we find in Leviticus 14:2–3, which says:
2 “This shall be the law of the leprous person for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest,
3 and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person,
.......
So, leprosy was greatly feared in biblical times...
In fact, so great was the fear of contagion that lepers were barred from Jerusalem or any other walled city.
They were forbidden to come within six feet of a healthy person...
And they were forbidden to come within one hundred and fifty feet of a healthy person if the wind was blowing from the direction of the leper...
On top of that, they were restricted to a special compartment in the synagogue.
.......
In fact, there is a story of a rabbi who once refused to eat an egg bought on a same street where there was a leper.
Another story tells of a rabbi who advocated that people should throw stones at lepers to force them to keep their distance.
This was the attitude of people for lepers...
So, as horrific as the physical ailment may be...
The attitude people had towards those with leprosy was often a far greater burden.
.......
To put it into perspective, in rabbinic teaching, leprosy was second only to contact with a dead body in terms of defilement.
and it was not merely actual contact with the leper that they said would make a person unclean...
Even a lepers entrance defiled a habitation...
And everything in that habitation was defiled which even included the very beams of the roof!
If the leper even popped his or her head into a place, it became instantly unclean!
.......
So, these ten men, from our passage, were ceremonially defiled and forced to live outside the village...
And they were legally required to stand at a great distance, and thus their communication with Christ was by shouting their cries to Him.
I hope this paints a clear picture for you of the scene we are witnessing in our study.
.......
Next, we will explore what Jesus says and does in response to these desperate please for help...
And that takes us to our next point.
2) The Healing
2) The Healing
Verses 14-16: When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
Now, in other records of Jesus healing lepers...
He is shown to lay His hands on them like it says in Matthew 8:2–3:
2 And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
3 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
However, something a little different happens in our passage...
Beloved, this is incredible...
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, cured all ten lepers from a distance...
Like with what transpired in Matthew 8:5-13 when Jesus healed the Centurion's servant from a distance...
And as recorded in John 4:46-54 when Jesus healed the royal official's son from a distance of about 20 miles...
Jesus did not have to be in close radius to perform these miraculous healings.
Likewise, Jesus does not touch these lepers....
In fact, Jesus does not even promise them healing or even directly acknowledge their request...
Rather, He simply orders them to present themselves to the priests...
And these lepers trust in Jesus’ ability to heal so much that they obey Him.
.......
You see, Beloved, the priests who would receive the ex-lepers functioned as the local health inspectors...
And there was an elaborate process laid out in Scripture regarding what needed to be done...
For example the process lasted for eight days and involved various examinations, sacrifices and rituals, to determine whether a person was truly free of leprosy...
This process can be found in great detail in Leviticus 14:1–32.
.......
I love how the late pastor John MacArthur put it:
“Ironically, the very priests who vehemently rejected Jesus would have to validate the undeniable fact that the lepers had been healed.
They would be forced to confirm His supernatural power and strict adherence to the law, and thus become reluctant witnesses to His deity.
And during the eight days that their healing was being validated, the men themselves would be living witnesses to Christ’s divinity.”
.......
However, before the lepers got to their destination...
Before they made it to their respective priests...
Any Samaritans among the lepers would present themselves to priests on Mount Gerizim...
And any Jews among them would present themselves to priests in the temple in Jerusalem.
.......
So, the impossible happened...
All of them where healed!
.......
Now, the healing was sudden and immediately visible...
However, it only occurred after these ten lepers where obedient to Christ’s instructions.
.......
As a result of this healing, these men could resume a normal life...
So, there was no small cause for thanksgiving and continued faith...
However, all ten lepers may have had trust in Jesus’ ability to heal...
But not all of them truly put their faith in Him!
.......
Consider Satan and His demons...
They know for a fact that Jesus has the ability to heal, too...
Yet, they do not put their own trust in Him...
As James says in his epistle in James 2:19, which says:
19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
However, one of the lepers was unlike the rest...
One trusted in Jesus’s ability to heal and fully put his trust in Jesus, too!
We see that when we see that this one leper went back to thank Jesus.
And the big shocker is that this lone leper is none other than a Samaritan!
.......
Now, to add some context to understand the magnitude of this fact...
We must keep in mind that the people of Samaria were of mixed Israelite and foreign descent...
So, the Jewish people did not accept them as part of the Jewish community.
This lead to severe hostilities between Jews and Samaritans that has dated all the way back to the late sixth-century BC.
.......
The Samaritans worshiped Yahweh and used a version of the Pentateuch as their Scripture, but they worshipped on Mount Gerizim, not in Jerusalem like the Jews did.
Thus the Samaritans were despised by Jews for both ethnic and religious reasons...
Likewise, there was mutual hatred by the Samaritans toward Jews.
.......
Now, it is not stated, but it may be heavily implied that the other nine former lepers are indeed Jewish...
And this one Samaritan had been permitted to associate with them since they were all already ceremonially unclean...
However, they may have associated together but their response to being healed where very different.
.......
You see, Beloved, these nine Jews were so eager to be declared clean and return to normal life in society, that they continued on to their priests and did not bother to give thank to Jesus for healing them!
As we will see later in our study, Jesus points out the gross ingratitude on the part of the other nine lepers...
They chose not to glorify and thank God...
They were so selfishly taken up by their cure that they do not even take the trouble of turning back to our Lord and thank Him out of gratitude, as the Samaritan did.
.......
As you are processing all of this, Beloved...
I want you to focus on this important take away...
One can experience God’s work of grace and yet fall short of receiving salvation.
In our passage ten lepers were healed...
All ten experienced the beginning of what looked like faith, for all went out in trust to show themselves to the priests.
Yet, like the seed that fell upon the rock in Jesus Parable of the Sower as found in Luke 8:4–15...
They received Jesus’ word with joy...
But it only lasted for a little while...
And then it was gone.
Only one represented the seed that fell on soil that retained the Word of God and persevered in the faith...
Only one represented the seed that fell on soil that savingly believed in Jesus.
.......
Beloved, we must remember what our Lord and Savior warns us of when we appear to start to make positive changes in our lives...
However, if it is not genuine...
And we simply return to our wickedness...
Our last state becomes far worse than our previous state...
Or as it says in Luke 11:24–26:
24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’
25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.
26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
.......
Theologian Robert H. Stein makes this great observation regarding the faithfulness of the former leper e who is a Samaritan:
“This one had been not only physically healed but spiritually healed as well.
Whereas the other nine received God’s word and believed for a time, they fell short of the ultimate healing, i.e., experiencing the divine salvation.
They had ‘been enlightened … [and] tasted the heavenly gift’ in their experience of divine healing, but they fell short of saving faith.”
.......
Additionally, this passage illustrates how it is the Gentiles who will ultimately respond positively to and receive the Gospel...
Yet the Jews, who are God’s chosen people, will as a whole, reject Jesus and the Gospel which saves.
This reality is completely unexpected just like it is completely unexpected that the one former leper who is ends us saved is the Samaritan and not any of the Jews.
.......
Jesus even used parables where the faithful individual in the story was surprisingly a Samaritan.
We see this recorded in the Word of God in passages like Luke 10:30–37, which says:
30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Jesus could not be more clear...
Being part of the chosen people did not save...
Being a Jew did not save...
Being a religious leader did not save...
One has to look at the heart...
And the only heart that is alive and made of flesh is a heart that has been transformed...
For we are saved by grace through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
.......
Consider this, Beloved...
In every instance i which thanks is given in the New Testament for a miracle is id given directly to God the Father except here...
So, only here in all the New Testament are such thanks directed to Jesus.
Elsewhere they are directed to God the Father.
.......
This is proof for Jesus’ divinity...
And this is further proof that only faith in Jesus saves!
In fact, Luke made clear in Acts 10:25–26 that such homage does not belong to humans and only belongs to God...
That passage says:
25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.
26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.”
The fact that Jesus accepts thanks and worship is a clear indication that Jesus is God in the flesh...
And it shows that Jesus is worthy of our faith...
And that right there takes us to our third and final point.
3) The Faith
3) The Faith
Verses 17-19: Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
As we already talked about, the nine Jews also should have been there gratefully worshiping Jesus, but having taken what they were given from Him, they felt no compulsion to remain.
They got what they wanted from Jesus and then they where gone.
Since their interest in Him was only selfish and superficial, they had no desire to worship Him or even give Him any thanks.
Sadly, that reflected the prevailing attitude toward Jesus throughout His ministry with the Jewish people.
.......
Trusting in their Abrahamic lineage, the Jewish people believed that they were entitled to blessings from God.
They had no true sense of sin, remorse, or desperation in the face of judgment and Hell.
They were self-righteous and did not look for a savior from sin.
Instead, they wanted a savior from Rome.
Instead, they wanted a political and military Messiah...
That was their expectation...
Someone who would powerfully deliver them from their enemies...
Someone who would provide them with all they needed physically in this world...
Someone who would heal all of them from their physical diseases.
.......
Sounds a lot like the prosperity gospel...
Sounds a lot like the name it and claim it churches...
Sounds a lot like Satan when he was trying to tempt Jesus in the wilderness.
.......
However, we as a people, we needed a savior from sin...
That was our critical need!
The one Samaritan got that...
Unfortunately, the nine Jews did not.
.......
Again, the nine represent unbelieving Israel, who had only a superficial interest in Jesus.
The people wanted what they could get from Him—healings, food, deliverance from demons, rescue from the oppression of Roman rule...
But they refused to acknowledge Him as God and worship Him.
.......
On the other hand the penitent man...
The enemy of the Jews...
The Samaritan..
He pictures the believing remnant among the Jews and any non-Jewish repentant sinners who will enter the kingdom of God.
You see, when Jesus said, “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?,” it strongly suggests that the other lepers were Jewish.
And here is the irony, Beloved...
This Samaritan would have been barred from worshiping God in the inner court of the temple in Jerusalem...
However, here he is, humbly worshipping God incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ!
.......
Now, the phrase “has made you well” is literally has “saved you.”
What the Samaritan man receives here the others do not.
Here we see that true faith...
Here we see genuine faith which leads to salvation...
Here we see a faith that is intimately connected with glorifying God...
Here we see a faith that is connected with the forgiveness of sins
Here we see a faith that is connected to entering God’s kingdom and inheriting eternal life.
Theologian Darrell L. Bock say it this way:
“One can experience God’s grace in terms of general mercy and still not benefit fully from it, because the response never moves beyond reception of kindness to the exercise of faith.
Faith responds to God’s goodness and publicly acknowledges God and Jesus, a response that the Samaritan illustrates.
Once again, Luke notes the link between faith and ultimate salvation.”
.......
In other words, it is the trust in Jesus...
Not ritual, sacrifice, or works...
It is the trust in Jesus that brings one into a right relationship with God.
.......
So, Jesus assures the Samaritan that his faith has saved him...
Not merely cured him of his bodily sickness...
But saved him in the fullest sense of the word...
Because he really believes in Jesus and has entered into a personal relation with Christ.
.......
This man alone out of the ten who were miraculously healed received the miracle of salvation from sin.
This man’s trust...
This man’s gratitude...
This man’s humility...
This man’s commitment...
This man’s love...
This man’s praise...
This man’s worship...
All of it marks his faith in Jesus as the faith that truly and fully saves!
.......
The Pillar New Testament Commentary on Luke says:
“The experience of Jesus reflects that of many ministers, evangelists, and missionaries who invest their lives in other people and situations and often see very little response.
Skeptics often assert that, if only they saw a true miracle, they would believe.
This story debunks that commonplace.
The other nine witnessed a miracle in their own flesh.
They were doubtless convinced of the miraculous—and content with it—but it did not lead them to Jesus, faith, or salvation.
The Samaritan experienced the same miracle but encountered God in it.
He returned to Jesus in gratitude, and in returning, Jesus declares him not simply ‘cleansed,’ as a priest would, but ‘whole,’ even ‘saved.’”
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like you to consider this:
One Thanksgiving season a family was seated around their table, looking at the annual holiday bird.
From the oldest to the youngest, they were to express their praise.
When they came to the 5-year-old in the family, he began by looking at the turkey and expressing his thanks to the turkey, saying although he had not tasted it he knew it would be good.
After that rather novel expression of thanksgiving, he began with a more predictable line of credits, thanking his mother for cooking the turkey and his father for buying the turkey.
But then he went beyond that.
He joined together a whole hidden multitude of benefactors, linking them with cause and effect.
.......
He said, “I thank you for the checker at the grocery store who checked out the turkey.
I thank you for the grocery store people who put it on the shelf.
I thank you for the farmer who made it fat.
I thank you for the man who made the feed.
I thank you for those who brought the turkey to the store.”
.......
Using his Columbo-like little mind, he traced the turkey all the way from its origin to his plate.
And then at the end he solemnly said “Did I leave anybody out?”
.......
His 2-year-older brother, embarrassed by all those proceedings, said, “God.”
.......
Solemnly and without being flustered at all, the 5-year-old said, “I was about to get to him.”
.......
Well, isn’t that the million dollar question about which we ought to think about?
Is God really on our minds in our gratitude and thanksgiving for the blessings we receive in this life?
Are we thinking about our material and physical needs being met...
Or are we truly concerned with our spiritual needs that can only be met by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords...
Our Savior, Jesus Christ!
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray...
.......
Heavenly Father...
If anyone hearing this message right now does not know You in a saving way:
Then I ask You for a miracle...
I plead with You to turn their dead and stone hearts into hearts of living flesh...
Please, Father, give them that Damascus Road experience that all believer experience to various degrees...
.......
I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
.......
For those hearing this message who already know You:
Equip us to share the Good News with our friends and family...
Give us the boldness to share the Gospel with our community...
Enable us serve You faithfully at all times...
.......
Again, I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
.......
It is in Jesus’ name we pray all these things...
To God be all the glory.
Amen.
