Luke 17:11-19

[0:00] Luke chapter 17 beginning at verse 11 it says, And it came to pass as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee, and as he entered into a certain village there may have been ten men that were lepers which stood afar off, and they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, master have mercy on us, and when he saw them he said unto them, go shoot yourselves under the priests, and it came to pass that as they went they were cleansed, and one of them when he saw that he was healed turned back and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet giving him thanks, and he was a Samaritan, and Jesus answering said were there not ten cleansed but where are the nine?

[0:51] They are not found that return to give glory to God saved this stranger, and he said unto him, arise go thy way thy faith hath made thee whole, we'll stop right there, and I said we've all heard this account we've all should have read this account at some point but we should all be somewhat familiar with it, Jesus here it says that he went as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee he entered into a certain village and there met in their tomb that were lepers which stood afar off, and we know a little bit later in this account that Luke is speaking of that there must have been nine Jewish lepers there and one Samaritan leper that was there this one Samaritan turned around to give God praise and he turned around to thank Jesus for cleansing him but when they first went into this certain village we have no idea exactly which village it was it doesn't matter it says it was a certain village that went in and there were ten lepers that stood afar off why were they standing afar off well first of all if there were

[2:06] Jewish lepers there that were doing precisely as the Levitical law told them to do the Levitical law said that as long as the plague was within them that they were defiled they would live outside the camp they would live by themselves they couldn't go within the camp they were cut off from family they were cut off from friends they couldn't work they couldn't go anywhere than anyone who was not affected by the plague was so they were following along with exactly what the law said I'm sure at this point they had been to the priest you can look up any of this in Leviticus 13 and Leviticus 14 in the Old Testament but they had to go to the priest if they had a blot in their skin if they had a brot spot in their skin if they had a blemish of any kind they would go to the priest the priest would put him away for seven days when they would go back and look if it had spread it was considered leprosy if it had not spread they were considered to be clean and it was some other blemish on their skin but either way these lepers the bible says that they were lepers they were they were cut off from the rest of their family from the rest of the community they were out there a bar off away from the people away from fellowship all they had to go on was fellowship within themselves they could only fellowship with other lepers they could only touch other lepers could only communicate with other lepers that's all that they had was one another now folks there was a Samaritan among these lepers here one Samaritan that we know of among these 10 the Jews hated the Samaritans and the Samaritans could not stand the Jews but how much does it draw us together when bad things happened to us these people had a defilement in their skin a defilement of their body and they were drawn together they didn't look whether he was a Samaritan he didn't look to see if they were a Jew there was something that they had in common with one another they were all lepers here so this

[4:20] Samaritan and these Jews were standing afar off just as they should have been so away from the city away from the gate away from quote unquote the healthy people they were doing exactly as they should but what did they do they didn't just stand there they saw a need they knew their need they had a disease that there was no cure for they couldn't just go and pop a few pills and go on their merry way they couldn't go to the doctor get a shot of penicillin and it clear right up they couldn't do some of the things that we can nowadays if you had leprosy it was pretty much a death sentence on you it took a miracle from Almighty God to be healed of this disease to be healed of this leprosy that they had so they all recognized that they had a disease they all recognized that they had a problem but they recognized one that was coming into the distance they recognized one that they I'm sure that because Jesus had already performed miracles his fame had spread about through all the region they had heard of this man and they said Jesus had mercy on us hey how much more firmly would we pray when we truly have a need how often do we hit our knees and repeat the same things over and over because we don't feel a need in our lives these men here they knew a need they knew they were on death row so to speak so they saw the one that could fix this they cried out to Jesus Jesus have mercy on us nothing about anything else they wanted mercy Jesus heard

[6:15] Jesus heard now listen he didn't go up to him he didn't touch each one on the forehead he didn't take his suit jacket off and beat the tar out of him he didn't do anything along these lines he simply told him go show yourselves to the priest okay and folks that was part of the Levitical Law go show yourselves to the priest you had to go be pronounced clean by the priest and that was an order of Almighty God that was God's directions that that happened it was God's directions you read over there in the Old Testament it's not only in Leviticus you can read about it in Deuteronomy as well that God gave charge to the priests to pronounce them clean and pronounce them unclean folks now listen I've heard this talk that that that that preachers nowadays they have the charge to pronounce someone saved or pronounce someone lost that is not what this is getting at that's nowhere near what this is getting at this is showing what Jesus Christ can do in a life not only physically but spiritually as well yes he cleans there he cleans 10 people here he told them go show yourselves to the priest and they all took off no doubt those nine Jews that were on their way to the priest that what do they have on their mind I get to go back to my family I get to go back to my friends I can go back to my job I can go within the city I can commute with people again not be stuck out here with just these other lepers that's exactly what was on those Jews mind folks this is American that was the furthest thing from his mind I believe not just because he turned around gave glory to God and he did do that and he fell down to feet of Jesus and he praised him and he thanked him and he worshiped Jesus Christ yes the folks he was a Samaritan

[8:11] Jesus saw Samaritans as nothing more than Gentiles why was that Jesus was a hey don't take my word for it you read John chapter four what he tell that woman over there at the well that he met he said you know no not what you worship he said we know what we worship because salvation is of the Jews he was telling that to a Samaritan woman he saw Gentiles as Gentiles he saw Samaritans as Gentiles the only Jews were true blue Jews not these half-breeds from Samaria Jesus Christ saw him as dead just as much as the disciples of Jesus Christ saw them as dead but he did not turn this one away he didn't cleanse nine and leave the other one for dead he cleansed them all but this Samaritan would not have been under the same law as those Jews were he turned around gave God praise he recognized God Samaritan or not he recognized God he gave him praise he went and bowed down before Jesus he recognized Jesus as his healer and he gave him praise praise folks Jesus nowhere in the scripture does it show where he gave an ounce an ounce of consideration to Samaritan priests an ounce of consideration to Samaritan law both their laws were different their priests were different their religious practices were different Jesus Christ paid no attention to that

[9:42] Jesus Christ followed the Levitical law to a T because it's a law that God the Father put in place Jesus Christ would have never ever went above or below or around that law he came to follow the law every jot and every tittle of that law he followed until he died on the cross he could go home to the Father say I've done it it is finished I've done what you sent me to do every bit of that law was fall Jesus Christ here he was following the law or he was encouraging others let me refreeze to follow the law he told everyone to go show yourselves to the priests what were people will give these other nine down the road so they didn't turn around they didn't give them thanks folks they were being obedient to what Jesus said he said go show yourselves to the priests they were doing exactly what they knew they had to do in order to be restored in order to be restored to their families and to their friends to the community that they were from in order to do that they had to be pronounced clean by the priest the law was still in effect cross had not been offered as the ultimate sacrifice yet Christ was sitting here telling these men this he was standing here telling them go show yourselves to the priest so before we looked at our nose at those nine that did not come back to give him thanks we need to consider who those nine were they were nine that not only were following the law of moses which was still in effect at this point but they were following the orders and the commands of Jesus Christ God himself that had given them those commands the only one that turned around came back was a Samaritan as I said and I ain't trying to be ugly and saying he was a half-breed he was a half-breed Jew and that's why the true blue Jews from Jerusalem did not like the ones from Samaria and that's why Samaria did not like the ones in Jerusalem it was basically a racial war between the two of them they made the Jews made fun of the Samaritans the Samaritans made fun of the Jews and it had been like way for centuries at this point but nevertheless the one that came back was the one that that law didn't really apply to to begin with a Samaritan he's the one that came back and he gave praise to Jesus but folks consider again I know already brought it up consider the state that they were in they were dying dying but they recognized that we've got to recognize our need before we never get saved if I had never been shown that I was a sinner on my way to hell I would have never been saved because I would have still thought that I was alright I would have still thought that all was okay all was fine and well in the world and my life was great that's what I thought before I was saved I had to be shown my state I had to be shown that I was dead in my trespasses and sins before I could realize my need to be lifted up out of those trespasses and sins to have life breathe into my dead body my dead spiritual body I had to be shown first that I was dead these men here they knew their state they knew their condition and they saw their need and they saw the one that could meet that need they cried out to Jesus Jesus told him go show yourselves to the priest and on their way there they were cleansed Jesus didn't have to touch a one of them now you flip over to mark chapter one you'll have to turn there now there's another account mark chapter one's one of the first miracles performed in in Mark's account naturally in mark chapter one but there was a leper and it says that Jesus moved had compassion on him he came to Jesus that's going to be healed and says Jesus reached out and he touched him and he made him whole made him please that be thou clean be thou clean now folks that was a different circumstance that was a different leper that was a different that was a whole different when God came to you and saved your soul he didn't save you any differently than he did me he saved you out of different sins than what he saved me out of and he saved me out of different sins than what he saved you out of and he saved you with the same gospel he saved you with the same blood he saved you saved you with the same plan that he had had in place from the beginning of time he done all that but your sin was different and my sin was different Jesus touched that leper in mark chapter one because it was a different way that needed to be done in the eyes of God in the eyes of Christ it needed to be done differently that way but these 10 he said go show yourselves to the priest and on their way there they were cleansed what excitement that must have been what excitement they must have they don't say how long they've been lepers could have been a year could have been five years could have been 10 years we don't know we have no no idea but what excitement that must have caused for them you've went back over into the Old Testament 2nd Kings there was a man named Naaman he was a Syrian king and he he was a leper it talks about how mighty he was and how valiant he was it says but he was a leper he was a leper and what what happened there as some of the some of the Jewish girls there was a

[15:18] Jewish maid that was taken basically hostage we would call it nowadays but she said she said the Naaman's wife whom she waited on she said I would the God would be with Naaman I would the God would have a hey he could he could heal his leprosy if God was just there and they they told him about Elisha they told him about the man of God the prophet of God that was that was over there and they went and said the next thing you know Naaman sit up outside the door of Elisha's house and Elisha sends a messenger under Naaman and the messenger tells him go down there to the Jordan River dip yourself seven times and you will be clean hey Naaman didn't like that idea Naaman didn't want to dunk himself in the muddy filthy nasty Jordan River he said hey there's a couple of rivers where I'm from that are perfectly clean why should I dunk myself in this one says he was raw he was mad with the answer he was mad with the healing that was sent that way folks when people hear the gospel now when lost people hear the gospel they get mad they get wrathful they want vengeance they want everything they get upset because this book tells them exactly what they are sinners on their way to hell same thing it told me same thing it told you it tells them that

[16:42] Naaman didn't like that answer he said these rivers these other rivers I can dunk you but what happened he was convinced said this is the prophet of God this is Elisha said he did this thing and went and he dunked himself seven times and his leprosy was healed folks he could have saved himself just a few extra minutes of suffering or a half a day suffering or a few hours suffering I don't know exactly how long it was from the time he became wroth and rebelled against the answer to the time he actually went through with but he could have saved himself from suffering imagine how much suffering I could have saved myself if I'd gotten saved the first time God chased after me I have no idea how old I was I don't know how old you all were when God finally got a hold of you when God finally tracked you down and saved your soul but I know I was 33 when it happened to me imagine how much suffering that I could have not necessarily physically have escaped but that God could have helped me through God could have walked with me through how much how much less suffering

[17:51] I would have had and I just got safe-centered you know what God's plan is perfect and I and I and when God came he saved my soul he knew exactly what he was doing well I'm persuaded and I've heard people say it before well I wish I was 15 again I wish I was 20 again and I wish I was 25 again I wish I wish I was 18 again I've heard people say that and every time I hear that I'm like not me because I didn't have Jesus when I was those ages I didn't have Jesus when I was 15 I didn't have him when I was 18 or when I was 20 I wouldn't go back to those times for anything regardless how much energy I had regardless of if if I could work three jobs and no sleep for four or five days in a row regardless of any of that I would not go back to it because I didn't have the answer I did not have Jesus now would I go back to 33 when I got saved no because I'm closer to going home now now was the time closer to it now than I was then folks let's just take what God gives us take it don't take it with a grain of salt take it with a grateful attitude even Paul says that he says to come before God with with thanksgiving in our heart he says with prayer and supplication yes hey these lepers here they said they uttered a prayer when they said

[19:12] Jesus had mercy on us they uttered a prayer but there was one that's a marathon that came back before Jesus bowed himself down and he come to him with prayer and thanksgiving and supplication just as Paul would ride several years after this happened he done it exactly the way it was supposed to be without the instructions to do so without without Paul's instructions to do so folks there's all kinds of lepers we could read about holy scripture now leprosy is a picture now listen it's a it's an actual physical ailment it's an actual disease and it can actually kill people and it killed plenty of them back back then now we've got medicines that can treat it thank God but it's still it's still a relevant thing today even here in the United States you go over the Midwest you see quite a few cases of leprosy why because armadillos carry leprosy they're known leprosy carriers and it doesn't really affect them like it does the rest of the animal world or does the human world for that matter but you see leprosy even here in the United States we just don't read about it or hear about it a whole lot because we can treat it now that brings us to complacency that brings us to being comfortable so what if I get leprosy they can treat it give me a couple shots give me a bottle of pills another week or two I'll be fine that's that's getting too comfortable folks and we do that with God we do that with God we get comfortable who say I'm a say born again child of God I don't need to pray I'm a say born again child of God I don't need to go to church

[20:54] I'm a say born again child of God I don't need to read my Bible I don't need to do this and I don't need to do that you don't need to do it for salvation no if you've already got it you don't have to do those things but if you've truly got salvation you will have a desire in your heart to do those things this is a marathon here it's obvious he didn't just go running home to the wife and to the kids and say hey honey I'm home he had a desire to turn around and thank the man that clans to him and he went and he done it he wasn't complacent at all and I'm saying those other nine were complacent or they were comfortable once again folks Jesus commanded them to do something and they were going off to do it now I ain't saying that command didn't apply to the Samaritan but that command pertained to the law that those Jews had to follow because it was still in place it was still in place Christ had not been crucified as of yet the Bible praised God the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the end of the law under salvation but folks Jesus Christ's death was the end of that law under salvation his death had not yet occurred he had not yet been crucified the law was still in effect it was in effect to who to those that believed in the law those that the law was given to Jews those other nine were Jews this one Samaritan turned around went back he obviously had a desire he wasn't quite comfortable with just running home and saying hey I'm here I'm clean all as well plus he would have had a little bit further to run as opposed to these Jews that were here considering where they were they were in north of Jerusalem at this point Jesus had done set his face like a flint he set his face steadfastly toward Jerusalem he was moving in that direction he had to have come south gone along the edge of the Jordan

[22:47] River you look at it on one of these Bible maps sometime he had to have followed right along the Jordan River because in the very next chapter we find them in Jericho which is down on the other side of Jerusalem he went this way because he knew there were 10 lepers there they needed cleansing it ain't no different than the woman at the well it would have been a much shorter route for him to a width a different way but he said I must have needs to go through Samaria because he knew that woman would be there and their well he knew that Samaritan woman would be there he knew what she needed and he knew that he was the only one that could provide it and he knew what he knew all these things Jesus routed himself accordingly he didn't step he didn't take one step his entire earthly life I'm persuaded Jesus didn't take one step that hadn't already been preplanned that wasn't preplanned from the from the beginning of the the Bible calls him the ancient of days the Bible calls in the beginning in the end the first and the last the alpha the omega every step that he took every everywhere that he went every person he spoke to it was preplanned there were no mistakes there were no coincidences in scripture it is impossible it is impossible I preach an entire sermon here on it one time it is impossible to have coincidence in a universe that is governed by sovereign almighty God there is no such thing as coincidence we might see it like that in our eyes in our human eyes our fleshly eyes we might see like that in our mind that there is no such thing as coincidence with a sovereign god that is older everything everything happens as as he knew that it would happen and everything happens according to his plan and that includes these 10 lepers here as I said they they were standing far off just as they were they knew that they should they knew that they had to stand to far off they were not allowed to see there's another story in second kings in fact Naaman I believe you find him in the fifth chapter second kings and you flip just a couple of chapters over to the seventh chapter of second kings and you find these four lepers they're outside the city they're right outside the gate of this city but they can't go in why because they're lepers they're they're not wanted in there they're and they said why should we sit here till we die there was a famine going on inside the city within within the gates there was a famine going on there was and the the enemy they were camped out in the desert there and they were basically waiting on them to starve out inside the city so they could go in they could loot they could plunder they could kill what was left they could do all these things there were four lepers outside the city and they say why sit we here until we die if we go into the city hey we'll die of starvation but if we go out yonder to this camp to this enemy's camp I believe it was Syrians that was out there in the desert if we go out into their camp hey they'll either kill us or they'll take us in but either way we're gonna die because we're sitting here as lepers they went out into the desert and they found the encampment and they went into a tent there was nobody there they'd lift their asses tied up left their left their horses tied up they've left all their meat all their gold all their silver all their flour everything that they had they left it why because God had made a noise and he had driven the enemy away he made a noise it sounded like a huge army yeah that was coming and those the boys they said let's get out of here and they fled so those those lepers four lepers went into one tent as they ate they got they got some goodies together went off and hit them and then they come back went into another tent they ate a little bit more got some more goodies and they said what good are we doing here are we doing good with what we found we should go to the city we should go to the city and tell them what we found so they go to the city and now folks listen these are lepers we're talking about leprosy in the bible yes it's a physical element it is a picture of sin though it is a picture of sin it just slowly eats away at you it slowly eats away that's why we that's why we degrade from the time that we're born to the time that we die because we have sin nature in us inherited from Adam and Eve our original mother and fathers we slowly degrade over time because of sin leprosy is a picture of sin but these were lepers and they said what good are we doing we should go tell them in the city what we found they're all starving over there at the city and i'm sure they they had some ulterior motive behind that hey maybe they'll like us maybe they'll even let us in maybe they'll give us our own corner right there in the in the middle of there right over there in the side of the city somewhere who knows what they would do but they went to the city and they called for the porter and the porter came down and they said hey there's a camp out here in the desert of the enemy and they've left all their things there's food out there there's flour and the the prophet of god had made a had made a prophecy not long before that he said in the very gate of the city that a deal of flour will be sold for a shuckle and all these things will come to be and he said and he told the leader of that that people he said you will see this but you will not eat there all yeah so they went to the city they told them about it they said let's take on the five horses that we have left most of them were starving that means their animals were starving too and if they weren't starving they was eating the animals they didn't want to get their hands on folks as a count in scripture of Jewish people eating their own babies that's right and they were eating their own babies because of famine but folks it wasn't even so much because of the famine it was because of sin it was because of idolatry that they were doing that but they were hungry they you eat about anything you can get your hands on you get hungry enough these people were eating their animals they're eating water they get their hands on they said that we got five horses let's send let's send the horses let's send men on the horses out of this camp see what's going on they went out there they found it to be true they found the vessels of the enemy spread all over the trail that was leading away from that camp because they had gotten rid of those vessels and in haze they got rid of the vessels got rid of the weapons got rid of everything anything to get the weight off of them so they could bleed that noise that they thought was an enormous army coming to smite them went out there and the city was saved yeah they went out there got all those supplies of the enemy brought them there but that one that the prophet of god testified against he got trampled to death right there at the gate of the city his prophecy came true he saw the flower being sold for such a cheap price that he said was impossible he saw it happen just as the prophet said but he got trampled underfoot of those there at the gate of the city so that prophecy came true but folks it was lepers it was lepers there and their their idea at the beginning of that whole account second king's chapter seven why sit we hear till we die yeah why sit we hear till we die that's why i like to scream at lost people when they hear the gospel preach why sit we hear till we die knowing that the gospel is gone now knowing that the good news of jesus christ has gone out and yet they still sit there was now folks i can free shot the blue in the face if the holy ghost of god ain't dealing it won't do a lost person any good the holy ghost has got to draw that person but i would love to scream that because i'm convinced i'm persuaded that when the gospel goes out the holy ghost is moving sometimes he'll move don't he'll move on save people sometimes he'll move on lost people sometimes he moves across an entire congregation of saved and lost folks but he will deal with each person according to their needs just like jesus christ dealt with one lever differently than he dealt with ten it was according to their needs that it happened they had a need folks i have a need even being a saint born again child of god i still have a need of jesus christ and i will always have that need of jesus christ that's more complacency we're talking about folks don't let yourself get too comfortable and you walk with god i ain't saying don't struggle up with and i ain't saying don't let him pick you up and cradle and i'm not saying that at all but don't get too comfortable and you're a walk because once you start getting comfortable you're gonna say sit me down just a little while let me walk along the side of you just a little while instead of you carrying me in the second you start walking beside you're gonna see a distraction to the right you'll see a distraction to the left you'll see something to get you off the way not because god wants you to go that way but because you and your simple nature wants to go that way don't get complacent and you and you walk with god and your relationship with god again these ten lepers had a need jesus met that need when they had when they saw their or they recognized their need they knew what needed to be done and they shouted they prayed they prayed under the one that could fix that need and nine of them went on and done what they were told to do one of them come back and get praised under god get praised under god and thank jesus at his feet and jesus the very last line of that i guess is and he said to him to arise goes out where thy faith has made thee whole thy faith has made thee whole jesus said that to a lot of people in the scriptures we think that woman with the issue of blood was healed because she touched the hand of his garment or the tassel of his garment whatever you want to call it touched the end of his garment they had nothing to do with jesus told her himself thy faith has made thee whole now it's an awesome account that we have in the scripture that there was a crowd of people around jesus there and she come pressing through the crowd no doubt she was crawling trying her best hey she shouldn't even been out there with those people to begin with she she wasn't much better than these lepers here with an issue like that she was forbidden by the law to touch people to be near people her husband couldn't touch her she was not supposed to be anywhere close to those people but she saw the one that could fix and that could supply her needs these lepers are no different the lepery mark chapter one's no different naiman is no different the four lepers in the city and for second kings chapter seven are no different folks you and your sin nature is no different me and my sin nature is no different there is one that can meet our needs jesus christ and it takes us recognizing our need whether that's needs of salvation whether it's a need of healing whether it's a need of whatever jesus christ is the only one that can meet that need we cry out to him and he will meet it he says that our faith has made thee whole never forget that it is not something that you did no everything that jesus christ did that makes us whole