Jesus met ten anonymous people in our story today, we are never told their names. All ten men were soon to die and all ten men were miraculously healed. Only one of the ten came back to thank Jesus. I wonder, if you were one of these ten, would you be a part of the nine who didn’t return to give thanks? Or would you be the one to return and give God praise?
If you have a copy of God’s Word, find Luke 17:11-19 with me.
Thanksgiving
The official Thanksgiving Day goes all the way back to 1789 when George Washington, the first President of the United States, proclaimed November 26th as a day of Thanksgiving. After that, Thanksgiving Day continued to be celebrated on different days in different states until finally, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a White House proclamation calling on “the whole American people to observe a special day of Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November of every year.” But you don’t have to wait until the end of November to be thankful. You and I need to be grateful for God’s daily goodness and mercy.
Today’s Scripture
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” (Luke 17:11-19).
What is Leprosy? While you can still find leprosy in underdeveloped nations of the world, but it’s largely forgotten. Leprosy was a disease of despair where few could help. The term for leprosy in the Bible can be a wide range of skin conditions in modern medical terminology. Seeing these men were to see walking lesions, swollen areas of the skin, or untold nerve damage. It’s been years ago now, but I remember when I was traveling in India, and I was told that we were going to visit a leper’s colony. A small amount of fear enveloped me at that moment at just the thought of visiting lepers. Seeing the ten men from our story was essentially like seeing ten men climbing out of their very own graves. You could call these men, Dead Men Walking.
Jesus really is amazing. It would be a tremendous thing for Jesus to heal one man of leprosy. Indeed, this would be a crowning life achievement for anyone other than Jesus to heal just one person. Yet, Jesus healed ten men at once. Of course, when you pause to really consider it, had Jesus encountered 10,000 lepers, it would have been nothing for Him to heal all of them at once. Such is the power of Jesus.
I hope that young and old will learn three lessons ahead of Thanksgiving.
Lesson #1: Know that More Receive from the Lord than Praise the Lord.
Lesson #2: Know that More Believe the Lord than Praise the Lord.
Lesson #3: Be the One Who Knows Where the True Temple Is.
1. Know that More Receive from the Lord than Praise the Lord
“Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?’” (Luke 17:17).
Again, here’s the first lesson we can learn: Know that More Receive from the Lord than Praise the Lord.
1.1 Where are the Nine?
Nine men were healed, and they went to the priests as instructed. But we never hear of their return. They just drop out of the story altogether. They received a life-changing miracle, and they go on their way, never to be heard from again. Don’t you marvel at that?
[Pause]
Isn’t that something?
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What do you make of that?
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1.2 Common Grace vs. Saving Grace
I wonder, do you and I have any idea just how much we owe to God and His grace? Are you cognizant of the wide spectrum of God’s rich goodness and grace toward us? No matter who we are and what has happened in our personal lives, do our brain cells devote time to drink in all of God’s grace to us? Jesus said: “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Again, Jesus said on another occasion: “…for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil” (Luke 6:35b). Jesus spoke of common mercy or mercy everyone receives no matter who they are or what they have done. The Bible teaches us that God has two kinds of grace for people: common grace and saving grace. Common grace is His kindness to all people. Common grace is His love for all people.
1.2.1 Baseline
Let’s establish a baseline for a moment. This is who I am before Christ, or this is the “before picture.” “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a).
I am one who does evil continually (Genesis 6);
I am one who is impure (Proverbs 20);
I am not righteous or good (Ecclesiastes 7);
I am full of evil and madness (Ecclesiastes 9);
I am full of wickedness (Psalm 58);
I am rebellious (Isaiah 59);
I am a person who loves darkness (John 3);
I am a slave to sin (John 8 and Romans 6);
I am a child of the devil (John 8);
I do not understand, nor do I seek God…
I am stiff-necked and a resister of the Holy Spirit (Acts 7);
I have turned aside and worthless…
I have not done good …
I have an unrepentant heart (Romans 2);
I am without fear of God (Romans 3);
I am an enemy of God (Romans 5);
I am hostile to God (Romans 8);
I am spiritually foolish (1 Corinthians 2);
I am spiritually dead and among the children of wrath (Ephesians 2);
I am darkened, alienated, marked by ignorance and hardness of heart (Ephesians 2);
I am callous, perverted, greedy, and impure in every way imaginable (Philippians 3);
I am defiled and unbelieving (Titus 1);
I am under the power of the evil one (1 John 5);
I am foolish, disobedient, and led astray…
I am hated by others and a hater of others (Titus 3)…
Apart from God intervening in my life, that is who I am. This is the baseline for all of us. We need Christ to save us from ourselves. “God save me from me!”
This means that once people sin, God’s justice would require only one thing — that they be eternally separated from God. This means that once people sin, God’s justice would require you and me to be cut off from experiencing any good from God Himself. Common grace is the grace of God, where He gives all people numerous blessings beyond hell. Despite this fact, God is kind to those who are both ungrateful and evil. Now, every breath I take is by the grace of God. God gives us life, breath, eyesight, love in our families, and good friends. All these are gifts that come from our Heavenly Father.
I cannot begin to catalog all the good things the Lord has done for me in this life. You cannot begin to catalog all the good things the Lord has done for you in this life. How could I not return to Him to give Him praise?
1.2.2 Only One Out of Nine
Jesus asks this question to the one returning: “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:18).
The Bible says only one in ten will return to praise God for what He has done for me. Nine people were healed, but only one person honored the Lord. Nine people were healed, but only one person praised the Lord. Only one person was found to be kneeling at Jesus’ feet, thanking Jesus. “One day in seven is devoted to the Lord’s worship, but not one man in ten is devoted to His praise.” Again, God gives us life, breath, eyesight, love in our families, and good friends. All these are gifts that come from our Heavenly Father. And we give Him a perfunctory “Thank you.”
Sit up straight for a moment, and let me ask you a pressing question ahead of Thanksgiving. Do you praise the Lord in proportion to how the Lord has blessed you? Do you worship the Lord with the right amount of intensity, seeing how He has treated you?
I loved how one 19th-century British pastor said, "We receive a continent of mercies and only return an island of praise.”
1.3 All Ten Prayed
“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’” (Luke 17:12-13).
Do the math with me now. Ten men prayed, but only one man praised. All ten lepers called out with a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Luke 17:13b). All ten sick men prayed where they united their feeble emancipated voices to join in one chorus: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” (Luke 17:13b). You would have thought that everyone who prayed would have also praised. But this was not the case.
1.3.1 Sick Man Recovers
A sick man or a woman prays earnestly to be healed, and God heals him/her. But no sooner that he’s back on his feet, his voice of praise grows sick. Again, you would have thought that everyone who prayed would have also praised.
1.3.2 A Consulting Firm Examines Your Praise
If we hired an outside consulting firm to transcript all your prayers, how would they rate your praise? If we hired an outside firm to review all your prayers for all your life, what percentage would be devoted to praising the Lord? If we could review all your prayers, how many times have you remembered to return to the Lord to give Him thanks, to give Him praise?
1. Know that More Receive from the Lord than Praise the Lord
2. Know that More Believe the Lord than Praise the Lord
“When he saw them he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went, they were cleansed” (Luke 17:14).
The ten lepers say, “Jesus, do something for us. Heal us, Jesus.” Do you know what He does? Look what he does.
2.1 It Takes Faith to Go to the Priest
Jesus says, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” The priests were the health officers of the community. They were the ones who could declare somebody a leper. They could also declare the leper clean and no longer a leper and take off the social sanction. They had no proof they had been healed, nevertheless, they were to head off toward the priest. When you ask the lepers to go to the priest, it’s sort of like saying to a blind man, “Throw me the ball.” If was as if you saying, “We asked for you to have mercy on us, and you’re sending us off to the health officer in this condition? You want to make us a laughingstock? Maybe they’re going to slap some other sanctions on us. This is crazy.”
Yet, they started walking to the Temple before they experienced healing. It was on their way to the Temple that they were healed. What if they said something like this, “I’m not budging an inch until I have proof that I am healed”?
2.2 Faith
Faith is the currency of the kingdom of God. You won’t get anywhere with counterfeit money at your nearest bank or in God’s kingdom. Don’t be a counterfeit but place your trust in Jesus Christ. You need to experience more than the common grace of God, you need the saving grace of God found at the cross of Jesus Christ.
Then ten lepers trust Jesus to go to the priest before they have any proof. I am in awe of their faith and wonder if I would have had enough faith to see the priest. Go past the nine lepers and not only place your trust in Jesus but praise Him as well.
Here are seven reasons to praise and thank God:
1. He knows you (Isaiah 43:1);
2. He sings over you (Zephaniah 3:17);
3. He upholds you (Isaiah 41:10);
4. He cares about you (1 Peter 5:7);
5. He watches over you (Genesis 28:15);
6. He guides you (Luke 1:79);
7. And He promises He will never leave you (Matthew 28:20).
2.3 More Believe than Praise
Again, here’s the second lesson we can learn: Know that More Believe the Lord than Praise the Lord.
There are more that believe than there are that praise. There are more people who believe than there are people who praise. These ten men did believe, but only one praised the Lord Jesus.
Do you praise the Lord in proportion to how the Lord has blessed you? Do you worship the Lord with the right amount of intensity, seeing how He has treated you? Again, “We receive a continent of mercies and only return an island of praise.” Go past the nine lepers and put your trust in Jesus Christ. Fall at His feet. Oh, that you would Praise Him.
2.4 Quick Review
Let us go over those points again. More receive benefits than praise God for them. More pray than praise. And more believe than praise the Giver of those benefits.
1. Know that More Receive from the Lord than Praise the Lord
2. Know that More Believe the Lord than Praise the Lord
3. Be the One Who Knows Where the True Temple Is
“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” (Luke 17:11-16).
Here’s the third and final lesson we can learn: Be the One Who Knows Where the True Temple Is.
3.1 Samaritans and Jews
Luke earlier noted that Jesus is walking along the border between Israel and Samaria (Luke 17:11). It was at the border that the racial hatred between Samaritans and the Jews was felt, touched, and known by everyone. Right here, at the border, Jesus says it was only a Samaritan that was healed. Jewish people like Jesus would go way out of their way to travel around Samaria. Here were ten men, all of whom were lepers. They were joined together by their dreaded disease. Had they been normal, they would have hated one another because one was a Samaritan.
3.2 The Woman at the Well
One of the things that’s interesting about Samaritans is that the Samaritans had a different religion (see John 4). The Samaritans had a temple in Gerizim. The great controversy between Jews and Samaritans was about where was the real temple and who were the real priests. Jesus had this famous conversation with the Woman at the Well, where the two debated a little where the right place to worship. When the Samaritan leper was leaving and was told by Jesus, “Go to the priest and go to the temple and get yourself forgiven, cleansed, readmitted…” …the Samaritan would have asked himself, “Okay, which one? The Jewish one? Which one?” The Samaritan would have stopped to consider, “Should I find a priest where my people say to worship, or should I go where the Jews say to worship.” Isn’t it interesting that he doesn’t debate Jesus like the Woman at the Well did? And suddenly, he gets it. The only one to come back is the hated Samaritan. Why does he come back? Yes, he’s grateful, I know, but why does he come back? Jesus told him to go to the temple. Jesus told him to go to the priest. He gets it.
Jesus is the ultimate Priest. Jesus is the ultimate Temple. Jesus is the place you get your forgiveness. Jesus is the One. If you understand that, Jesus says, “If you have just a smidgen of understanding of what I did for you in the gospel, you have all you need.” You need more than to experience God’s common grace, you need to experience the saving grace of God. Oh, that you would place your faith in the Son of God and His cross to forgive you of sins this morning.
3.3 Three Marks of Praise
I am hurrying to a conclusion but before I do, let me show you three marks of true thanksgiving and praise.
3.3.1 Thanksgiving is Personal
Don’t allow a cold room full of believers to dampen your praise for even a moment, my friend. “One day in seven is devoted to the Lord’s worship, but not one man in ten is devoted to His praise.”
The Bible says only one in ten will return to praise God for what He has done for me. Ten people were healed, but only one person honored the Lord. Ten people were healed, but only one person praised the Lord. Only one person was found to be kneeling at Jesus’ feet, thanking Jesus. Don’t allow the nine to rob our Savior of His praise and love that He’s deserving.
Join the psalmist when he says: “Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:2-5).
If Christ has saved you, and your heart is right, you will say, “I must praise Him; I must love Him; I must thank Him!” Don’t allow the nine to rob our Savior of His praise and love that He deserves. Don’t allow a room full of reserved Baptists to dictate the level of your personal love for Jesus Christ. If I don’t praise Him, the rocks will cry out with His praise. If all the other nine want to go to hell, your turn back and receive Jesus Christ by faith! If all the crowds want to go to hell, you turn around to praise the Savior!
3.3.2 Thanksgiving is Prompt
The one leper turned back immediately to find Jesus. I don’t think Jesus lingered around forever in the same area. Jesus was busy. This leper turned back quickly to express his praise. Don’t linger but make your praise quickly. Express your soul in response to Jesus promptly and without delay.
3.3.3 Thanksgiving is Passionate
This one leper praised Jesus with a loud voice. The Bible says he turned back, found Jesus, and praised Him with a loud voice.
Thanksgiving is Personal
Thanksgiving is Prompt
Thanksgiving is Passionate
I love how the psalmist says it: “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever” (Psalm 30:11-12)!
Let us all turn around and make the trip back to our Lord to praise Him and His Father and His Spirit. Let us do it together.
