The Unity Of Ten Lepers Dws#3 Series

The Unity of Ten Lepers...

I. Birds of a Feather Flock Together...

a) Read:

Luk 17:11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

Luk 17:12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

Luk 17:13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

Luk 17:14 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.

Luk 17:15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,

Luk 17:16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

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

Luk 17:18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

Luk 17:19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

b) Sinners And Lepers Alike...

How many in here tonight know that leprosy symbolizes sin?

And how many know that sinners like to hang out with sinners?

There’s an old saying that says...

"Birds of a feather flock together." Amen?

My dad was in here Sunday night

and he was talking about how everyone’s a

Christian when they find out you’re a preacher.

And how many knows he was right?

As soon as they find out you’re a preacher or

when they find out that you’re a Christian,

All of a sudden they don’t smoke no more,

they don’t drink,

they don’t do this, and they don’t do that! Amen?

How many in here tonight know what I’m talking about?

But in all actuality they aren’t Christians.

They can’t wait to get back to their side of the fence.

They don’t want to be around you!

They want to be around others like them!

But as long as they’ve got to be around you

they don’t want you to know that they need Jesus.

They don’t want you to know that their living in sin,

Because if you knew that then you’d probably

preach to them.

And how many knows that when you were out

there living in the world,

The last thing that you wanted to do was listen

to somebody preach to you. Amen?

You wanted to be around people who lived like you,

And partied like you,

And drank like you,

You wanted to hang with your crowd because

they couldn’t preach to you even if they wanted to!

They couldn’t preach to you because they were

guilty of the same sins that you were guilty of

and they didn’t have any room to talk.

So you felt comfortable with them. Amen?

Well in the same way these ten lepers kept

company together.

Their common misery drove them to each other. Amen?

There was not a one of them healthy.

They all had leprosy!

And there leprosy kept them together.

It was illegal for them to go out in public and

fellowship with other people.

They couldn’t worship in the temple, but they

had to stay out side the city gates.

And if someone were to approach them they had

to yell out unclean, unclean!

They were to be seperated from the clean,

And they were drawn together by their ailment. Amen?

And their leprosy not only kept them together,

But it kept them at a distance from Jesus!

The Bible says that they stood afar off!

How many knows that Sin does the same exact thing!

It keeps you at a distance from Jesus.

It keeps you away from the things of God,

The things that God wants you to have,

And instead you group together with a group of

people just like you.

People who need Jesus just like you,

And together you listen to the devil tell you that

you don’t need Jesus.

But how many how many know that you do?

See, without Jesus your going the wrong way. Amen?

II. Different Directions...

See, when you’re not walking with the Lord,

You’re going in the wrong direction!

Luk 17:12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

The Greek word translated in that verse to the

phrase "there met" is Apantao.

Apantao comes from the primary particle Apo

which refers to:

any kind of separation of one thing from another

by which the union or fellowship of the two is destroyed,

How many knows that that sounds like the

seperation from God that sin causes. Amen?

Apo also refers to a physical seperation by