Being saved and saying thank you (Go Teach)

Text Luke 17:11-19 Time 26 04 21 Place Go Teach thanksgiving on Zoom

This evening I want us to worship God by looking briefly at the story of Jesus and the ten lepers. Lepers not leopards. I heard of a boy who thought it was ten leopards! It would be quite a different story if it was ten leopards. No, ten lepers! It's a great story for kids. I'm not sure if it's on the Go Teach syllabus. There is Jesus healing a leper and Elisha healing lepers but not this specific story.

The Bible uses the word leprosy for various serious skin diseases. It's not entirely clear whether the word is used in exactly the same way as we use it. Leprosy, as you know, is a horrible, debilitating illness, that leads to various levels of disfigurement. Today called Hansen’s disease it can be healed quite easily through a course of medication – as long as the patient is able and willing to keep taking the tablets. Sometimes if the disease is quite advanced, a person can have serious problems being rehabilitated.

As you know, in Jesus’s day there was no cure. Lepers were obliged to live apart from society. It was a wretched thing to get leprosy, then. It meant the end of regular contact with family, friends, the worshipping community, society in general. It meant a bleak future with practically no hope of recovery. Whenever we read about it, it reminds us of our own wretched state by nature.

This story of Jesus miraculously healing a group of lepers reminds us first of all then of our wretched state by nature and the fact that there is hope for all who come to him in faith and then secondly of the importance of those who have been saved always giving thanks to God.

1. Remember the wretched state of men, women, boys and girls by nature and how to be saved

If we are involved in Go Teach in any way then we must never forget this.

1. By nature we are all in a wretched state.

That's the first thing to take in. These lepers give us a striking picture of sin.

• Diseased. By nature we are riddled with sin. It's something we're born with. Sin manifests itself in different ways in different people – some are more disfigured than others - but the truth is we all suffer from it. It begins subtly but there is no permanent way, humanly speaking, of stopping its daily advance. In the end it leads to death. In our very souls something is seriously wrong and there is no cure. There are things designed to produce relief; some even claim they can cure you by means of rules, etc, but the truth is the heart is desperately wicked, beyond cure. Our situation is hopeless by nature. Remember that.
• Cast out. Cut off from God. As I've said, lepers were outcasts, not allowed to live in society once they contracted this terrible disease for fear of contaminating others. Now because in this world we all have leprosy that sense of being an outcast isn't always there. We need to remember, however, that as large as the world is, it is nothing but a great leper colony where we are living out a wretched existence but for the grace of God. This is a fallen world, a world cut off by nature from God's presence. We have no right to heaven, no right to come into God's presence. This is one of the reasons for the sense of alienation people often feel. Remember that fact.
• Far off. Far from Christ. At the beginning of the story we read how the lepers stood at a distance from Jesus. They knew they had no right to approach anyone, least of all him. Again that's our position, in one sense. What right have we to draw near God? What right to come to him? None at all, in ourselves. However, and this is the amazing thing, we can draw near to Jesus today and ask him, as these people did, to have pity on us and rescue us and save us from sin.

These things are true not just of some of us but all of us. We know nine of these men were Jews and one was a Samaritan. However, they all had leprosy. There was no difference in that respect. So whatever differences there may be among us, we are wretched sinners.

2. The only one who can save us is Jesus Christ.

This is the second thing we need to underline. As I've said, leprosy was incurable at this time and these men knew their situation was hopeless. However, somehow they'd heard about Jesus’s power to heal so when they encountered him they saw an opportunity and cried out for mercy. We're told that at this point (11) Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, but at that point he was travelling along the border between Samaria and Galilee. Jesus was headed for the cross. It is by his death that he would win atonement for sin. It is because of that death that your sin and mine can be taken away. He was at this moment on the border between Samaria and Galilee. Jesus is often found on the borders – at the margins of life. He is seldom centre stage. He can be found at the edges of life.

We too need to see Jesus is our only hope. Because of his death on the cross there is forgiveness for all who come to him. Are you aware of the burden of sin? Do you have a sense of its misery, its power over you, how it threatens to spoil everything in your life? There's no way to be rid of sin in the ordinary way. Jesus is the only one who can deliver you. He alone can save you. There's no point looking in any other direction. He alone can save. Come to him; come to the margins and find him. If you've already found him, remember there is but one way to be saved - through him.

3. Cry out loudly to the Lord and seek his pity.

We read (13) that these men called out in a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have pity on us! These men knew how wretched they were so when Jesus came by, they cried earnestly and loudly. They were determined not to miss this opportunity. They acknowledged Jesus as their Master and they pleaded with him to show them pity. That is how to go to Jesus. If you know how bad things really are, then you'll cry earnestly for forgiveness. Look to him for mercy!

4. How to be saved.

So what did Jesus do? Three things. They show how he deals with all who come in faith.

• He sees us, so take comfort. Jesus could've ignored these men, I suppose. He could've looked the other way, passed by on the other side. But he doesn’t do that. He sees them. He sees us too. He sees you; he sees me. He sees the children in Sunday School or club, whether their parents are believers or not. He knows our need. He understands.
• He commands us to obey. 14 When he saw them, he said, Go, show yourselves to the priests. What is this about? Well, you'll recall those Old Testament laws that explain how anyone with signs of leprosy was to show himself to the priest. It was the Old Testament priest who was able to pronounce a person clean or unclean. Jesus planned to cleanse these men so they needed to go to a priest and be declared clean. No doubt it crossed their minds that this would happen but they still had to obey. We too are under an obligation to obey. Whatever Jesus says, we must do. He calls on us to repent and believe. This we must do. Are we?
• He cleanses from sin, so be glad. And as they went, they were cleansed. It is in the path of obedience that Christ meets us and saves us. Jesus didn't say to them ‘If you obey me I will cleanse you’ nor does he say today 'if you do this I will save you'. No, in both cases he says ‘Do this’ and as it is done so he cleanses and saves. Here is reason to be glad then – Jesus can cleanse, he does cleanse, as we obey. Obey him, therefore, and be sure of salvation.

That's the first part of the story. But there's more. There's the story of how one leper, a Samaritan, comes back and says thank you. On the face of it there is a lesson there about thankfulness. But there's more. Surely it's a lesson for believers on how to live, now we've been saved.

2. Remember now to be grateful, if you've been saved and if God has blessed you in any way

1. Here is an example to follow

• Come to the Lord. We learn that of these ten men (15) One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back. It seems that as these men went on their way they were healed. Nine just carried on. One of them, however, was so thankful to the Lord for what he'd done that he went straight back to him to thank him. If you're a Christian, if you're repenting from sin and trusting in Christ then surely you have an obligation daily to come to Christ. There is never any excuse for neglecting him.
• Give him praise. This man came we read praising God in a loud voice. No surprise there. What a deliverance he'd known. What a change! And it was all due to this one man, to Jesus. Shouldn’t we have the same attitude too? What reason we have to give praise to God.
• Humble yourself before him. 16a He threw himself at Jesus’ feet. When did you last do that? He knew he owed everything to Jesus. He was therefore willing to humble himself before the Lord. Isn’t that the attitude we ought to show to the one who has shown us such loving kindness?
• Give him thanks. This is the most obvious thing and thanked him. Christ had given him life. He'd delivered him from disease and misery and separation. Imagine how thankful he was. The same sort of thankfulness ought to be typical of the believer. What good things God has given us. How kind, how compassionate he's been. What mercies we've known. We ought to be thankful every day and yet how often we are not. How often we fail to give thanks.

2. Hear this rebuke to the many.

Listen next to these words of rebuke (17, 18) Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no-one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? (he was a Samaritan). Nine out of ten lepers did not come back to give thanks and the one who did was perhaps least instructed in the way of righteousness. Perhaps it's the same today. How many believers are as prompt and as thorough as they should be to give thanks? It may be that the most thankful are those who we'd least expect. Perhaps it's not the ministers and missionaries, not those who grew up in Christian homes but those who seem to be very ordinary Christians in many ways but who are thankful people. Oh how thankful they are. How they praise God! We don't know who the most thankful are but God knows. He sees. What about us? How thankful are we? Thanksgiving ought to seep into every part of our lives.

3. Hear this encouragement for the few.

The final thing to notice is what Jesus says to this unnamed man, this good Samaritan. He says

• Rise. There's a word to lift him up. It's right that we humble ourselves before God when we think of all that he's done for us but it's right too that we rise with confidence when we know our thanks and praise have been received.
• And go. We must also go. We can't spend every moment in prayer. There are things to be done, lives to be lived. There ought to be regular coming to Jesus to give him thanks but also regular going out in his name and strength.
• Your faith has made you well. Salvation is by faith. Jesus wanted this man to see faith's importance. Whether it was true in the same way of the others or not it was true of this man that his faith in Jesus had healed him. If you're a true Christian it must be by faith. It's because you trust in Jesus that your sins are forgiven. It's very important then that you go in faith. It's by faith you've been saved – in faith you must go on, looking only to Jesus.