Where Are The 9?

Pray.

This morning I want us to look at one of Jesus’ many miracles recorded in the Bible.

The last verse in the book of John says this, And there are also many things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written, Amen. John speaking about all of the miracles performed by Jesus, during His three year ministry here on earth.

Remember John made that statement and remember John walked with Jesus daily for three years and was an eyewitness to those miracles. Understand, what we have recorded in the Bible, is just a scratch on the surface of Jesus’ accomplishments for God.

This morning I want us to look in the book of Luke at chapter 17 , starting in verse 12. Out of all of the miracles recorded in the Bible, this is perhaps one of the least acknowledged, probably one of the least preached on and honestly, as I flipped my Bible from cover to cover asking God to stop me where He wanted, He stopped me here in this text, so here we go.

Let’s read vs. 12-19 and then discuss

Quickly, in this true account, Jesus heals ten men that were stricken with leprosy. Look at vs. 12. 10 men had leprosy, they stood afar off, meaning they were banned from the city. Banned from society because of their disease, thus they stood afar off.

So notice vs. 13 They cry out to Jesus , they’re a far off, outcasts, misfits , not allowed around other people, So they have to cry out, they have to yell out to Jesus and they said, Master have mercy on us.

So far, isn’t this a picture of salvation. No, We may not of had leprosy, currently if you’re not saved, you may not have leprosy, but before salvation, we were all in an unclean state, spiritually speaking, we all had spiritual leprosy, born with our backs towards God and stood afar off from Him. But notice their faith in vs. 13, They cried out Master have Mercy on us.

They were smart enough, they had faith enough to cry out to Jesus to save them from their current condition. They were wise enough to cry out to the only One who was able to cure them.

If you are saved here this morning, You too cried out to Jesus to Save you from the sinful state you were in. If you are not saved here this morning, You are still lost in that sinful state and on your way to hell, because faith in Jesus is the only way to heaven. If you’ve never cried out to Jesus do so this morning, Cry out for His Mercy, Believe in Him and what He did for you on the cross and call upon Him to be the Lord of your life and take you to heaven when you die. Do it at the close of the service.

Faith in Jesus is the only way to be made whole again, as seen here in this story. It was their faith that healed them and their faith alone in Jesus Christ.

Jesus rewards their faith vs. 14 . They were cleansed and made whole again and able to enter back in to society.

Isn’t that what Jesus did for you, the moment He saved you, through your faith, He cleansed you from all unrighteousness, and restored your relationship with God through Him, making you a part of God’s society, part of God’s family.

I said all of that , comparing our text to salvation to get to the real meat of the sermon.

Look at vs. 15

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

Vs. 16 And he fell down on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks and he was a Samaritan.

Now, our key verse , vs. 17 look at the response of Jesus Christ

Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?

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

Jesus said, I healed 10 men. I cleansed 10 men from their leprosy, But only 1 out of ten came back to thank God and give Him the glory and honor He deserves.

Now the actions of the other nine men are not malicious or overly rude towards Jesus. Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests, who had to make an official ruling on their healing. And that’s what they did, but that’s all they did. And It quickly became about them and not God.

Where are the other 9? In your life, who is it about? God, church, your worship, your service; Is it about you or is it about God? In our text Jesus healed 10 men, but only one returned to thank Him, the other nine were busy getting on with their lives. They can now return home to see and be with their families, they can go shopping at Wal mart now, They can go into McDonald’s and eat with everyone else, They can live normal lives again.