INTRODUCTION

Illustration

Jesus has been in and out of different towns. He’s spent a lot of time talking with the crowds, with the pharisees and the disciples. Last week Jesus addressed his words to the disciples and we talked about the threats we can be to our Gospel Community if we don’t individually pay attention to our own lives. The threat of being a stumbling block to others. The dangers of not rebuking those in patterns of sin. And when we rebuke our brothers and sisters and they repent, we should forgive no matter how many times they say they repent. And we must also beware of seeking out recognition for our good works.

I think Jesus was speaking these things to them because he’s heading near to His death. He’s on his way to Jerusalem as it says in v. 11. This is where he will lay down his life down on the cross for all of those who will ever place their faith in him. It’s getting close. The suffering he will face is looming in his mind. It won’t be long before his life will be demanded of him. And he wants them to be remain humble in every area of their lives.

Our passage today is a true story yet is very much like a parable in that there’s a story we see which is communicating a very important truth.

It’s this: Only the thankful are saved.

And if that’s the case we need to ask ourselves:

How Can We Grow in Gratitude?

How can we become more thankful people? Of course there’s a danger in this. It’s not that being grateful will save us. Instead gratefulness is a characteristic of one who is genuinely saved.

A person who has turned to Christ, has the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, can’t help but be thankful. And it’s having a grateful heart that really helps us grow in Christlikeness and bring us more joy!

So how can we grow in gratitude? We can do that by

Realize we are no more clean than the lepers before God

In verse 11 we see Jesus is in some village around Samaria or Galilee. Not sure of the name.

And here he meets 10 lepers.

Not the first in Luke Jesus encounters and heals a leper- 5:12-14.

What is leprosy? Generic for several skin diseases. In it was declared to make a person unclean.

Different levels of leprosy. Several minor non-life threatening. But there was a severe level of it.

A little bit about the disease: the disease is a bacteria that attacks the nerves and the skin. It anesthetizes the body and the limbs so that feeling is lost. Fingers and toes can literally be absorbed into the body because of the bacillus(buh-sil-us) (spore-producing bacteria) invading the bone marrow, impairing blood supply, causing the bones to shrivel and the rest of the body to shrivel as well. The bacteria usually starts around the eye, and it eventually destroys the eye, penetrates the teeth, penetrates all bodily organs.

Worst damage happens secondarily as the people have lost feeling and they do harm to themselves without realizing it.

It is miserable. It makes you ugly, it makes you smell.

Additionally, it made them religiously and socially defiled in every way; no family, no job, no friends, no worship, no hope, they were walking illustrations of sin, they were walking illustrations of divine judgement. In OT God would punish people by giving them leprosy. People with leprosy were assumed guilty of sin.. Why else would they have such a horrible disease?

LOOK FOR PARTS OF SCRIPTURE GOD PUNISHED MEN WITH LEPROSY.

They had a horrific life.

And that’s the leprosy these 10 had. Why says verse 12 they stood at a distance.

Had to warn others according to the law and shout Unclean! so people would stay away.

And so they see Jesus far off and shout to him.

“Master”- recognized Jesus as one of authority. Desperate for Jesus to help!

Explain

v. 11-12

v. 11-12

Here’s the thing: they knew they were unclean. No one had to tell them this. They couldn’t go to the temple. Couldn’t hug their family. They felt the stares from people. They were isolated from regular civilization.

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

And as we think about them we need to understand this is how we are spiritually before a Holy God.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles

Explain

Leper also healed 5:12-14

No better than an unclean, disfigured, rotting leper. But our condition is far worse because it’s a matter of the heart.

Illustration

- The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Because of this we are all born sinners as says:

- For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

You might be saying to yourself now: how is this suppose to make me grateful? What about this is suppose to lead me to be thankful?

It’s because of this: unless we realize how sinful we are, God’s grace won’t be all that impressive to us.

Until sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.-Thomas Watson

In other words one reason why we aren’t grateful people is because we don’t understand our depravity before a Holy God. We don’t understand that from our birth the only thing we deserve is the wrath of God.

-All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

It was because of our sin that the perfect son of God had to die. It was because we fall short of God’s standards that Jesus hung on a cross.

[PAUSE]

How often does that realization strike you?

Have you spent time this week thinking on these things? Do you believe these things to be true?

Or do you downplay your standing before God apart from Christ? Do you tend to think of yourself as a good person deserving of good things? Deserving of a blessed life?

If we don’t understand our brokenness, we will not be thankful people.

BUT we grow in gratitude when we realize we are no better than the lepers.

[PAUSE]

We also grow in gratitude when we...

Remember our sins are many but God’s mercy is more

Look at v. 13-14

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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Picture this scene: you have these unclean lepers. They realize their uncleanness. They are disfigured. No one wants to be around them. They are a threat to the health of others. There’s virtually no hope they will survive. And they cry out to Jesus for mercy.

His response? Go and show yourselves to the priest.

And all they can do is beg for mercy.

I picture them in disbelief at what they have just heard.

It seems pointless to do so.

And so picture the scene

But Jesus said this in order to follow the law. In order for a leper to be declared clean, a priest had to do a health inspection of them to determine if they were clean or not.

And then something remarkable happens. Each of the 10, by faith, take off to go see the priest. Despite what things looked like on the outside, they obeyed Jesus.

And as they were walking, they were all cleansed. Completely healed from head to toe. They went from being deformed, bodies falling apart, to completely restored.

Did they do anything to deserve it? Was there something impressive about them that led Jesus to want to heal them?

There was nothing. They were unclean. They sat around suffering alone.

Yet Jesus in his mercy offered them cleansing. At no cost to them.

The same is true for us. We stand guilty before the Lord. Unclean with nothing to offer God. Unable to make ourselves right with him.

And yet he saves us by His mercy. It’s not our works that make us right with him. It’s not our goodness that would have God saves us.

Our salvation is a gift from him.

And when we realize our sinfulness is great and then see how His mercy goes beyond that, all we can do is respond with gratefulness.

Illustration of undeserved mercy.

Rejoicing in the Giver, not the gifts

v. 15-19

English Standard Version Chapter 17

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.”

It was amazing that all 10 ten obeyed in faith what Jesus told them to do. They trusted what Jesus said and they went to the priest.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Explain

It was amazing that all 10 ten obeyed in faith what Jesus told them to do. They trusted what Jesus said and they went to the priest.

Amazingly, all 10 of the men were healed. What power Christ displayed in conquering such a horrific disease. And in a MOMENT 10 had their lives miraculously changed.

But here’s what I find to be most shocking. Only 1 person came back to give praise to Jesus for healing them.

1 person out of 10 came back to acknowledge the gift he gave them.

90% of the people healed just left without even a THANKS.

Only 1 gives praise. Same true today. So many receive blessings from God. Few praise him.

In verse 15 we read that the man who came back to praise Him was a Samaritan.

What’s the significance of that? I think there’s a lot.

Samaritans- a half breed people the Jews considered unworthy of God and unworthy of any kind of relationship with them.

And here is Jesus, a Jew, who chooses to interact and even heal this Samaritan.

This makes me believe the others were Jews. Look at Jesus’ response in verse 17.

10 people are healed and who comes to give the proper praise to Jesus? the foreigner. The one who can’t go to the Jewish temples and worship Jesus. The one not of Jewish decent, God’s chosen people in the OT, is the only one who responds in true worship.

The one who would have the best reason to reject Jesus because of race.

All 10 were amazed no doubt at their healing. All believed in faith and cried out to Jesus. But only 1 was truly grateful.

Illustration

And that same sort of thing happens with us today. We want what these lepers received. Maybe it is healing from sickness. Mending a broken relationship. Getting out of hole we’ve dug yourself. Financial provision of a major need we have. Healing from a broken heart.

And we ask God for them. He meets that need. But we like the 9 just go about our way placing God on a shelf until we need him to meet a need again.

This is not the heart of one who is grateful. This is not what it’s like for those who realize they deserve nothing but eternal punishment.

If this is how you treat God, you are no better than the 9. If this is how you respond to God, you just love His gifts and not himself.

The reality is the greatest gift he could ever give us is himself! His presence. The protection of His presence. That doesn’t mean we will be free from pain and suffering. But what it does mean is that no matter what happens to us, Jesus will hold us through it all.

Last week Zach read for us. Remember what it said?

Read

In we are told he will NEVER leave us or forsake us.

One of the greatest robber of joys is when we want God’s gifts more than God himself.

[PAUSE]

And so we need to ask ourselves again:

Am I a grateful person? Do I regularly give thanks to God for his many mercies?

[PAUSE]

Or am I a person who spends more time complaining than giving thanks? Who grumbles when prayers aren’t answered the way you want them to be? Who doubts that God is working everything for my good?

10 were healed. Only one was grateful...

And then Jesus makes this shocking statement: “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

What is Jesus saying here?

He’s not saying, “ your faith has healed your leprosy. Your faith has taken this sickness away.”

That’s not what he is saying at all.

Rather, he is saying “your faith has saved you from your sin. Your faith has brought you from death to life. Your eternity was hell but now it’s heaven.”

You see this is why it matters if we are grateful people. It gives us a glimpse into our hearts.

We can be people who go to church every week. We can be people who pray and cry out to God for mercy. We can even have signs of obeying God. We all are receivers of God’s mercies, His grace.

But if there isn’t true worship of Jesus for His character, if we don’t find ourselves with grateful hearts before him simply for who he is apart from what he can offer us, then chances are we are lost like the other 9 lepers.

Are you grateful? Let us continue to grow in it. Let this morning be a reminder to give thanks every day. Realize what you deserve because of your sinfulness. Remember our sins are many but His mercies are more. Rejoice in the giver more than the gifts.

And if you find yourselves realizing you are a complainer. You aren’t grateful. Repent! Run to the great high priest who can declare you clean. Turn from your sinful ways and rest in the savior. And if you need help processing that please meet with one of us up front. We will take as much time as you need to help you process.

Let’s pray.

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