Help is on the way

KJV . And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

13. And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

14. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

15. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

16. And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

17. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

18. There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

Lessons from Some Lepers…

Your Help is on the way!

Introduction:

A sense of our own spiritual leprosy should make us very humble whenever we draw near to Christ. It is enough to refer us to the compassions of Christ, for they fail not. We may look for God to meet us with mercy, when we are found in the way of obedience.

Only one of those who were healed returned to give thanks. It becomes us, like him, to be very humble in thanksgiving, as well as in prayers. Christ noticed the one who thus distinguished himself, he was a Samaritan.

This is an interesting little story told only by Luke. For such a simple story, it is filled with significance. There are at least ten lessons we can draw from these lepers:[1]

Your dilemma has a deadline! The reason I know that your dilemma has a deadline is because of verse 11…

(NKJV) — 11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

· Your dilemma has a deadline because Jesus passed through! Ain’t nothing happening until Jesus passed by! Verse 11

· God is never too busy to deal with your dilemma! Verse 11

I. The Necessity of Faith

(NKJV) — 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.

There is no place to small or insignificant for God to stop by to deal with your dilemma. A certain village…

To never give up on your healing…

Have enough faith to seek Him out just as your are… there met Him ten men who were lepers…

I am told that there are still such groups of lepers outside the villages I the Middle East. They do not stand directly in the road so as to make an actual meeting, but are close enough to beg.

The law required them to keep away from the rest of the people. () The rabbis are said to have prescribed a fixed distance at which lepers must keep some say as little as 16’ and others have is high as 500’. So Get as close as you can to Him. Who stood afar off

William Barclay described what a leper looks like: “The whole appearance of the face is changed, till the man loses his human appearance and looks, as the ancients said, ‘like a lion or a satyr.’ The nodules grow larger and larger. They ulcerate. From them comes a foul discharge. The eyebrows fallout, the eyes become staring. The voice becomes hoarse and the victim wheezes because of the ulceration of the vocal chords. The hand and the feet always ulcerate. Slowly the sufferer becomes a mass of ulcerated growths. The averaged course of the disease is nine years, and it ends in mental decay, coma, and ultimately death. The sufferer becomes utterly repulsive to himself and others”

Have the determination to say to yourself I’m not going to die like this… if they were dominated by doubt, then they would have died lepers…

Uncleanliness will cause you to be separated from God, and the people that love you.

As an ambassador of Christ our message should be one of hope for tired weary souls. So many people stand far off from the church and church service for fear that they are not good enough.

Sin will cause you to be driven away from fellowship with God. Many of our young people are like spiritual lepers they stand afar off from the only help for what’s hurting them!

II. The key to your breakthrough is in your mouth!

(NKJV) — 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

One thing about unclean people; they stick together, but church folk.

One of our problems is that there is no “they” in us…

If you want to get the Lord’s attention you better open your mouth!!!

Open your mouth while you’re still in the mess…

Calling on God will cost you something.

They didn’t even know what to ask God for…have mercy on us but because of their praise He fixed what they needed fixing!

III. The Importance of Obedience there is healing in His word

(NKJV) — 14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

Those who expect Christ’s favors must obey His commands. If you do what He says for you to do then you can have what He says you can have!

Go Show yourselves to the priest… go back to church, God is going to put your deliverance on display!

Had they not done what He said—or demanded something more dramatic, etc.—they would have missed healing because your help is on the way!

Disobedient saints miss so much of God’s blessings!

IV. The danger of being ungrateful

(NKJV) — 17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?

Faith enough to be healed is not always faith enough to be grateful…How often we hear requests; how seldom we hear praise.

There is more to God than just healing… When you are ungrateful you miss so much.

V. The Commitment to Doing Good

He did for them in spite of knowing they would be ungrateful

Doing good should be based on need, not on potential response…

V. The Grace of God in Christ

A. In spite of their lack of gratitude, they kept the blessing

B. Human ingratitude is not answered by divine retraction

C. Fortunately, lack of gratitude does not sacrifice most blessings

VI. The Lesson of the Samaritan

(NKJV) — 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

A. The grateful man was a hated Samaritan there will always be somebody who will give God glory. You can always tell who the Samaritans are… To whom I forgive much love me much.

B. Those we look down upon often excel us in virtue He was a Samaritan! It’s not going to be who you think.

VII. The Superiority of Spiritual Relationship

A. We assume he came back to Christ before visiting the priests; the others just went their way through a religious routine

B. Many are more concerned with (religious) routine than with any real relationship—we see this around us every day

VIII. The Urgency of Praise

A. The one who came back got something more

B. Failure of praise resulted in eternal loss for the others

C. We likely lose blessings when we fail to praise

IX. The Benefits of Gratitude

A. Nine were healed; one was saved

B. This is because only one bothered to show gratitude. Repentance and gratitude will strengthen your voice.

X. Your Help is on the Way…

You will ultimately find help in no other place than in Christ

Leprosy then was incurable; it could only be healed

Sin is incurable; it can only be forgiven[2]

And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Ø Many of us stop at the physical blessings!

Ø Jesus emphasized the fact that his faith made him whole.

Ø Whole implies spiritual and physical.

Ø Your help is on the way

Ø I may not be there yet but I’m on the way. The purpose of the mission is to get help and healing to those who are sick and suffering from the trials a pitfalls of life!

One day a little orphan girl who was about 5 years old had a visitor. The Nurse had pre warned the child that this wasn’t just any visitor. It was a lady who had severely crippled her back and her hands were withered. Her whole body was scared with deep wounds that made her look like something that belonged in a horror story. Her hair was blotched and didn’t grow in many areas and her lips were gone and she couldn’t seem to breathe normal. Now the nurse had told the little girl “no matter what you think about her remember that she is your mother”.

When the mother had entered the room the child turned her face from her in a shock from what she had seen saying…”no….no….you can’t be my mom…she doesn’t look like that….how come your so ugly to look at?”

The mother replied to the little girl “I know it’s hard to look at me but I am your real mother and before I leave there’s something I want to tell you. If you then decide you never want to see me again then I will understand and will leave you alone and never come back…but let me first tell you…when you were first born one day I was outside doing laundry for us.

The winds were blowing hard that afternoon and while I was yet away the house had caught on fire. I knew that you were helplessly in there and as the winds blew the fire started getting rapidly bigger. The smoke was so black and dark… I had to rush upstairs and find you not knowing what room you were in because my sight had gone dim. When I found you I covered you with my arms and wrapped you as tight as I could.

The only way out was through the flames. I carefully guarded you so you wouldn’t be burnt by the fire. When we got outside I had to roll on the ground till the flames that were on my body went out but thank God you were OK. I was terribly burnt to a crisp and bloodied. We lost everything and I had to give you up for adoption and now I am seeking you again.”

Then the little girl said with tears in her eyes, “Mommy….(while holding her mothers hands) these are the prettiest hands I have ever seen….your face is so beautiful….how could anyone every say anything bad about you and I love you so much for saving my life.”

[1] Wood, C. R. (1998). Sermon Outlines on Gospel Passages (47). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.

[2] Wood, C. R. (1998). Sermon Outlines on Gospel Passages (47–48). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.