Where are the Nine? (Various Scripture Texts)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:06.480 Just by way of background. We think about Thanksgiving and supposedly even the the 2 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:13.150 secular world recognizes the importance of giving thanks what do we, as parents, 3 00:00:13.189 --> 00:00:17.390 or any parents in these days, say? Oh, the magic words are 4 00:00:18.070 --> 00:00:21.429 please and thank you. There is supposed to be a certain courtesy, a 5 00:00:21.539 --> 00:00:29.699 certain understanding, even for those who do not purport to be Christians. And 6 00:00:29.940 --> 00:00:33.460 there is a tremendous amount of things to be thankful for, because God pours 7 00:00:33.500 --> 00:00:38.530 out common grace even on those who do not believe him. He gives rain 8 00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:44.609 sometimes on the on the just and the unjust alike. He brings all kinds 9 00:00:44.649 --> 00:00:51.560 of blessings. But again, we are very, very confused about what real 10 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:58.799 biblical Thanksgiving is all about. And it's a it is a crucial issue because 11 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:02.880 when they look back into Romans, you may have remembered many months ago when 12 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:07.590 pastor Choka started is the Roman study. What is one of the first things 13 00:01:07.709 --> 00:01:15.150 that Paul brings out in his general condemnation, but particularly of those who don't 14 00:01:15.150 --> 00:01:19.099 have the law, gentiles? In Romans one, beginning of verse eighteen, 15 00:01:19.620 --> 00:01:25.060 it talks about for the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven Against All ungodliness 16 00:01:25.099 --> 00:01:30.180 and unrighteousness of men who buy their unrighteousness suppress the truth. What is that 17 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:34.250 truth? What it can be known about God as plain to them, because 18 00:01:34.329 --> 00:01:38.769 God has shown it to them, for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal 19 00:01:38.290 --> 00:01:42.209 power and divine name, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the 20 00:01:42.290 --> 00:01:47.159 world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse, 21 00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:52.920 for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give 22 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:57.760 thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts 23 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:06.790 were darkened. Lack of real Thanksgiving to God is a fundamental characteristic of an 24 00:02:06.790 --> 00:02:13.629 ungodly person. kind of makes sense. However, if we look around, 25 00:02:14.590 --> 00:02:17.780 there's a lot of confusion about true biblical thankfulness, even amongst professing believers. 26 00:02:19.460 --> 00:02:23.819 That can creep in, particularly in the kind of culture they were involved in 27 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:28.900 the day. So we need to understand what we are about when we are 28 00:02:29.020 --> 00:02:34.050 giving thanks and act accordingly. As a way of kind of working through these 29 00:02:34.129 --> 00:02:38.169 things, I want to direct your attention to an incident in Christ's earthly ministry 30 00:02:38.650 --> 00:02:43.210 found in Luke, chapter seventeen. So if you had turned back to that, 31 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:50.479 going to unpack this fairly short little episode, but there's a lot to 32 00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:53.919 it. Actually, I'm going to be referring to a lot of passages that 33 00:02:53.960 --> 00:02:59.789 I won't have a time to discuss in any detail. So I would suggested 34 00:02:59.870 --> 00:03:04.949 maybe you'd like to make notes about some of the reason they might be fruitful 35 00:03:05.550 --> 00:03:09.389 for you to look into in the week as you approach the Thanksgiving Day. 36 00:03:10.750 --> 00:03:19.900 So we're looking at luke chapter seventeen, versus eleven through nineteen, and I'll 37 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:23.539 give you a moment. I didn't tell you that before, but so we're 38 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:29.090 looking luke seventeen, beginning at verse eleven. On the way to Jerusalem, 39 00:03:29.129 --> 00:03:32.650 he was passing along between s Mary and Galilee and as he entered the village 40 00:03:32.689 --> 00:03:38.409 he was met by ten leppers who stood at a distance and lifted up their 41 00:03:38.409 --> 00:03:44.639 voices saying Jesus Master, have mercy on us. When he saw them, 42 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:49.599 he said to them go and show yourselves to the priests, and as they 43 00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:54.360 went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he 44 00:03:54.520 --> 00:04:00.909 was healed, turned back praising God with a loud voice and he fell on 45 00:04:00.030 --> 00:04:04.990 his face at Jesus feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 46 00:04:06.030 --> 00:04:12.460 Then Jesus answered, we're not ten cleansed. Where are the nine? 47 00:04:13.620 --> 00:04:17.100 Was No one found. Return and give praise to God except this foreigner, 48 00:04:17.980 --> 00:04:23.740 and he said to him, rise and go your way. Your faith has 49 00:04:23.819 --> 00:04:31.810 made you well. So let's go through this text a little bit, verse 50 00:04:31.889 --> 00:04:35.050 by verse, and kind of unpack some of the implications. There's a lot 51 00:04:35.089 --> 00:04:41.839 of historical background that we need to understand to get to the full meaning of 52 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:46.160 it, and then we'll see how it applies. So he's going through this 53 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:53.670 area on his way back to Jerusalem and it's between Samaria and Galilee, and 54 00:04:54.350 --> 00:05:00.310 this is historically important and you'll begin to see already the implications of this area 55 00:05:00.389 --> 00:05:05.790 leprosy and other things by remembering that this is the area where the Prophet Elisha 56 00:05:06.220 --> 00:05:12.500 had his ministry and there's a famous episode where he healed the Syrian general name 57 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:17.259 and from leprosy. So is right in the same area that leprosy was being 58 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:23.009 dealt with. So he's in this unnamed village, he's met by these ten 59 00:05:23.050 --> 00:05:28.730 lepers and they stood at a distance. That little phrase has a tremendous weight 60 00:05:28.889 --> 00:05:35.480 of cultural meaning. Leprosy is a dreadful disease in itself. We are not 61 00:05:35.639 --> 00:05:42.360 entirely clear what today we call leprosy, Hanson's disease, whether that is what 62 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:47.079 they call leprosy then. But the symptoms and the results are well known. 63 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:54.230 Basically, while you're still alive, your flesh waste away. Often it's the 64 00:05:54.389 --> 00:05:59.750 nose and other pieces of cartilage. Often there are terrible running sores. It 65 00:05:59.870 --> 00:06:02.990 affects the nerves so that often the sense of touch is lost and you don't 66 00:06:02.990 --> 00:06:06.779 know that you've been injured. You can't even take care of yourself, and 67 00:06:06.899 --> 00:06:12.060 so there's more damage. And so, as a result there's loss of limbs, 68 00:06:12.300 --> 00:06:19.209 noses, Chins, ears, general gross deformity. But what's important is 69 00:06:19.370 --> 00:06:25.610 it in scripture, leprosy is closely tied to sin, at in fact almost 70 00:06:25.649 --> 00:06:30.250 a symbol of what it means to be a sinful person. For example, 71 00:06:30.689 --> 00:06:36.360 back in numbers twelve, when Miriam basically sparked a revolt against Moses, was 72 00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:43.680 questioning his God given authority, God struck her with a leprosy. And Second 73 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:47.670 Chronicles Twenty six, King Ziah, when he attempted to do what was not 74 00:06:47.870 --> 00:06:50.910 fit for him as king but rather to go in and act like a priest 75 00:06:51.430 --> 00:07:00.110 and offer sacrifice, he was struck for the rest of his life with little 76 00:07:00.110 --> 00:07:08.459 leprosy. And so we see that there is a clear spiritual connection between leprosy 77 00:07:08.540 --> 00:07:14.220 as a punishment and as a symptom of sinfulness. And in those days when 78 00:07:14.259 --> 00:07:17.889 you were a leper, you are essentially cut off from everyone. You became 79 00:07:17.889 --> 00:07:23.649 a living dead person, a nonperson. There's a whole lot of details in 80 00:07:23.689 --> 00:07:30.199 Leviticus, chapter thirteen fourteen about how pre not go they we're not talking about 81 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:35.079 doctors, we're talking priests, are to detect leprosy and people or even in 82 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:41.839 pieces of property. It could be affected in houses. So they're moral implications 83 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:46.029 here, and it's talking about evil inside and outside. Inside the house, 84 00:07:46.069 --> 00:07:51.350 outside the house, visible on skin. If it's found, the person who 85 00:07:51.470 --> 00:07:57.310 is unclean has to go around with his clothes torn to reveal the disease and 86 00:07:57.470 --> 00:08:01.860 heads uncovered. These are also typical Jewish signs of mourning, and they had 87 00:08:01.899 --> 00:08:07.819 a lot to be mourning about. They were to cover the mustache or the 88 00:08:07.939 --> 00:08:13.930 face masked. It's another sign of mourning, but also they wrapped their dead 89 00:08:13.529 --> 00:08:18.689 covered up, so they're almost like again a dead person. So he is 90 00:08:18.769 --> 00:08:24.810 unclean, she is unclean and must live totally outside the camp, no longer 91 00:08:24.889 --> 00:08:28.920 a part of the community. They have to go around crying, unclean so 92 00:08:28.279 --> 00:08:33.960 no one will come near and be contaminated, cannot participate in any religious activity. 93 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:41.190 So basically the leper was someone who is at a distance literally from both 94 00:08:41.269 --> 00:08:50.309 men and God. No community, no relationship to God, effectively dead while 95 00:08:50.389 --> 00:08:56.139 alive. In that numbers twelve episode, after Miriam is stricken with her leprosy, 96 00:08:56.580 --> 00:09:01.980 Aaron says, do not let her be like one dead where flesh is 97 00:09:01.059 --> 00:09:07.259 half eaten away, when he comes from his mother's womb. So we can 98 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:11.649 see that this is a terrible state to be in and it was recognized as 99 00:09:11.730 --> 00:09:18.730 being totally incurable by any human means. When the name and sends an inquiry 100 00:09:18.769 --> 00:09:22.889 to the King of Israel, saying Hey, I hear you've got this Miracle 101 00:09:22.970 --> 00:09:28.360 Working Prophet. You know, maybe you can help me, and the king's 102 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:35.720 replies, am I god to kill and make alive? Is, you know, 103 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:39.590 human beings. Leprosy is what it is. You know, there's nothing 104 00:09:39.629 --> 00:09:43.549 to be done about it. So this is the situation that these people find 105 00:09:43.629 --> 00:09:52.350 themselves in and they come and they call out to Jesus. Now what they're 106 00:09:52.350 --> 00:09:56.059 doing when they're calling out to him is a little bit unclear. Can we 107 00:09:56.220 --> 00:10:03.139 call them in some sense believers, some kind of faith? Because, as 108 00:10:03.259 --> 00:10:07.970 we just looked in Romans it says that evil men don't honor God or give 109 00:10:07.009 --> 00:10:15.210 him thanks, and there are some things about this episode which suggests that there 110 00:10:15.370 --> 00:10:20.559 is some kind of faith that's there, because they do apply to Jesus for 111 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:26.360 what is known to be incurable by human beings. So there is perhaps something 112 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:31.000 to be in for there that, because it's incurable by God except by God, 113 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:37.070 that they recognize him for that and they also call him master, they 114 00:10:37.190 --> 00:10:41.070 recognize him as an authority and as I understand it, to that word in 115 00:10:41.190 --> 00:10:48.110 Greek epistaties is used only by Luke in the Gospels and otherwise it's always about 116 00:10:48.149 --> 00:10:54.340 the disciples who are speaking to him. So there is some hints that perhaps 117 00:10:54.379 --> 00:10:58.820 they have some kind of a faith, but it's a difficult question because we 118 00:10:58.940 --> 00:11:05.929 also see that although they come this way, once they received this word from 119 00:11:05.929 --> 00:11:11.649 Christ, they turn around and go their way without actually even thanking him. 120 00:11:11.690 --> 00:11:16.529 To nine don't. So we remember the parable of the soils, where there 121 00:11:16.730 --> 00:11:20.840 is a kind of faith, it springs up and it's exuberance, but it 122 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:26.919 doesn't last. It's not for real, it has no root. But there's 123 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:33.190 also, and really there's a difference between the nine and the one, and 124 00:11:33.389 --> 00:11:37.669 so that that's going to be significant. So they call out to him, 125 00:11:39.029 --> 00:11:43.990 they beg for His mercy, and it's interesting because he doesn't say okay, 126 00:11:45.470 --> 00:11:50.139 you're well, you're healed, you're okay now. Instead, he says go 127 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:58.139 to the priests, and that's part of the live dcus fourteen ritual where if 128 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:05.330 someone believes that they are cured miraculously by God of the leprosy, they have 129 00:12:05.529 --> 00:12:09.049 to go to the priest who found them Lepros in the first place, and 130 00:12:09.649 --> 00:12:15.799 priests then certifies it. Yes, you're okay now, and they're after sacrifices 131 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:18.559 are made, then they're the declared clean and allowed to re enter the community. 132 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:24.559 But what we see here in the text is that it says that as 133 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:31.110 they were going they were healed. So there is a certain trial of faith 134 00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:37.990 which is going on here. He could have healed him instantaneously. This is 135 00:12:37.070 --> 00:12:41.789 a very interesting episode because it's the only really mass healing the Christ does. 136 00:12:43.350 --> 00:12:46.460 He does it by ones and twos and other places, but this is the 137 00:12:46.539 --> 00:12:50.179 only group of this size, and so we know from those other episodes you 138 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:56.139 could simply said you're clean, receive your sight and it could have happened instantaneously. 139 00:12:56.500 --> 00:13:00.169 But he doesn't do that. They had to, in a sense, 140 00:13:00.330 --> 00:13:05.690 step out in faith, not knowing what the result would be, before the 141 00:13:07.049 --> 00:13:16.279 miracle was worked and they actually received blessing. So we have these instances of 142 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:22.360 instantaneous healings. So they had to step out in faith. And just kind 143 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:26.149 of a side note, what the shows is it God doesn't work on everybody 144 00:13:26.149 --> 00:13:31.350 in the same way, particularly when we look at our sanctification. There are 145 00:13:31.389 --> 00:13:35.909 some people who have problems, maybe an addiction or something else, and they 146 00:13:35.990 --> 00:13:39.389 can come to Christ and be basically instantly relieved of that. But there are 147 00:13:39.389 --> 00:13:46.539 other people who don't have that. It takes a long time for the process 148 00:13:46.620 --> 00:13:50.419 to occur, if at all. And so, as talks about in John's 149 00:13:50.460 --> 00:13:54.139 three the spirit moves like the wind. You don't know where it comes from, 150 00:13:54.179 --> 00:13:56.610 where he goes, how he's going to work, and so we have 151 00:13:56.690 --> 00:14:03.370 to be very careful about applying kind of cookie cutty, cookie cutter categories to 152 00:14:03.169 --> 00:14:13.759 people's experiences in coming to Christ. So Christ gives them this command they go, 153 00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:20.559 but only one of them, who realizes that he that he has been 154 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:26.830 cleansed, comes back. And what does he do? He glorifies God. 155 00:14:28.710 --> 00:14:33.149 He clearly proceeds the source of the blessing. He doesn't just thank himself for 156 00:14:33.269 --> 00:14:37.149 being lucky or wow, I'm sure glad I was part of that clinical trial 157 00:14:37.190 --> 00:14:41.580 or something like that. No, he recognizes that this is a miracle, 158 00:14:41.659 --> 00:14:48.899 a blessing by God, and he thanks Jesus, effectively acknowledging that Jesus is 159 00:14:48.940 --> 00:14:54.250 God. It would be totally improper for him to thank him in this way. 160 00:14:54.250 --> 00:14:56.490 Unless he did that, and notice that he does it with a loud 161 00:14:56.570 --> 00:15:01.289 voice. He's not off muttering in a corner, but he's shouting so that 162 00:15:01.529 --> 00:15:05.370 basically the whole world, that everybody that's within hearing, can know about it. 163 00:15:07.009 --> 00:15:13.320 And he falls on his face in complete humble submission to Christ. That's 164 00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:16.840 the way you showed submission those days. You didn't come up with a hearty 165 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:22.990 handshake or anything like that. You say, Whoa, I am not fit 166 00:15:22.350 --> 00:15:26.429 to lace up your shoes. I am bowing down before you in the dust. 167 00:15:28.669 --> 00:15:33.230 Isaiah hits the dust, you know, when he is confronted with God. 168 00:15:33.830 --> 00:15:37.779 This is the way we show our submission. But notice this, and 169 00:15:37.980 --> 00:15:43.139 Luke particularly points it out. He was a Samaritan, obviously not the same 170 00:15:43.179 --> 00:15:48.740 as the others who presumably were Jews, and this is important. Christ calls 171 00:15:48.779 --> 00:15:56.009 him a foreigner. He is outside now the covenant community because after the separation 172 00:15:56.129 --> 00:16:04.960 of the kingdoms, they had thrown out the worship of Jehovah which was conducted 173 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:11.039 in Jerusalem. They installed Golden Calves and after the conquest there were other, 174 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:17.080 even non Smitic, peoples who are brought in by the Assyrians to mix it 175 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:22.990 all up, and so they ended up with only acknowledging the five books of 176 00:16:22.190 --> 00:16:29.110 Moses to Pentituch as, carefully edited to sooth or purposes. So this is 177 00:16:29.389 --> 00:16:33.220 where this division between Jews and Samaritans came in. They were considered mongrels, 178 00:16:34.059 --> 00:16:40.899 no longer faithful to God. Again an important point. We hear that God 179 00:16:41.019 --> 00:16:47.289 is no respect your persons. He can save whoever he wants and he will. 180 00:16:48.330 --> 00:16:51.450 So we can't say, oh well, he's beyond the Pale, she's 181 00:16:51.529 --> 00:16:56.970 so bad it can't happen. God works in mysterious ways and quite often not 182 00:16:57.169 --> 00:17:03.039 in ways that we would even suspect, and so Jesus notes this strange situation. 183 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:08.200 Out of only out of ten, only one gives any kind of public 184 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:14.480 acknowledgement of his healing, and that the least likely one, one who had 185 00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:18.710 normally despised Jews, has a poor knowledge of God, and so he this 186 00:17:18.910 --> 00:17:25.109 one Samaritans, marked out for special recognition and there appears to be a special 187 00:17:25.190 --> 00:17:30.740 blessing to because the language is important, because there are different words here. 188 00:17:30.980 --> 00:17:37.099 Jesus answered and said, we're not ten cleansed. They got what they asked 189 00:17:37.180 --> 00:17:44.450 for, they had their physical leprosy removed, but only to this one does 190 00:17:44.529 --> 00:17:52.809 he say your faith has made you well. There's a clear distinction being drawn 191 00:17:52.009 --> 00:17:57.569 here. There's faith, there is acknowledgement of Christ, there is real thankfulness, 192 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:07.440 and so that's the only one who is really well. So let's look 193 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:14.190 at this and see how it applies to us and to others today. Basically, 194 00:18:14.230 --> 00:18:17.430 we were looking at is a picture of what, by nature, we 195 00:18:17.630 --> 00:18:22.910 are and how God deals with us and right and wrong responses to His grace. 196 00:18:23.910 --> 00:18:27.460 Our natural state is that we are spiritual lepers. We are born, 197 00:18:29.220 --> 00:18:33.859 even like in that reference to to Miriam, as a child that comes out 198 00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:41.420 deformed and flesh eten and so forth. We're spiritual zombies. I aide Zombie 199 00:18:41.450 --> 00:18:48.250 movies, but they provide a wonderful illustration the living dead, eaten up with 200 00:18:48.450 --> 00:18:55.650 corruption, incapable of doing anything but shuffling around committing evil. So there's some 201 00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:00.920 kind of animation there, but it's not to any good purpose and it's dead. 202 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:07.119 They are dead to any spiritual good and so we have this loathsome disease 203 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:12.710 which cuts us off from God and men. Ever since genesis three, this 204 00:19:12.869 --> 00:19:22.910 has been our genetic disease, passed on sin, separated literally to greater lesser 205 00:19:22.910 --> 00:19:26.859 degrees, from God, certainly, and even from our fellow men in the 206 00:19:26.900 --> 00:19:33.259 way we treat one another, and we are utterly incapable of doing anything about 207 00:19:33.259 --> 00:19:40.490 it. We to the extent of were alive. We're alive as slaves of 208 00:19:40.609 --> 00:19:45.490 sin were. Scripture also tells us that we are dead in our trespasses and 209 00:19:45.569 --> 00:19:51.450 sins, or not just kind of sick, we're not just making mistakes, 210 00:19:52.089 --> 00:19:59.079 we're dead in it, and dead people can't do anything for themselves. So 211 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:04.160 we are incapable in and of ourselves, in anything human, of dealing with 212 00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:11.430 our sin problem, this spiritual leprosy. But God can we see it. 213 00:20:11.230 --> 00:20:15.910 That which is impossible for man, he does all the time. And so 214 00:20:17.109 --> 00:20:22.660 God deals with us. He gives grace, not what we Merrit, because 215 00:20:22.660 --> 00:20:27.819 we don't merit anything we marry. Well, we got grace, mercy, 216 00:20:29.380 --> 00:20:33.779 and he says, but not all. His is an electing grace, a 217 00:20:33.859 --> 00:20:38.450 distinguishing grace, just as we see here. They're all these people who got 218 00:20:38.769 --> 00:20:42.009 the same benefits, should have been thankful in the same ways, but only 219 00:20:42.089 --> 00:20:51.640 one really had the right kind of faith. And actually, earlier I think 220 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:56.799 it's Luke, for he talks about Elijah and the healing of name and and 221 00:20:56.839 --> 00:21:00.920 he says they're all kinds of lepers, you know, wandering around needing healing. 222 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:07.509 But God shows through Elisha to heal this one man, this again a 223 00:21:07.589 --> 00:21:15.230 foreigner, and he does it by the blood of Christ. Once again we 224 00:21:15.309 --> 00:21:18.549 see this tide in all the way back. Will of it, because fourteen 225 00:21:18.059 --> 00:21:26.579 how is the healing recognized and an effect made effectual to the eyes of the 226 00:21:26.660 --> 00:21:30.339 community? It's through the blood of a sacrifice. We have the blood of 227 00:21:30.380 --> 00:21:37.890 a sacrifice applied to US Jesus Christ, and so we have an effesions to 228 00:21:38.970 --> 00:21:42.170 I'll let you read that, but it's very familiar. Paul says. We 229 00:21:42.250 --> 00:21:48.400 were dead in our trespasses and sins, incapable of helping ourselves, but we 230 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:59.279 were made alive passively God acting in Christ. So how should we respond when 231 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:03.750 we see God's grace in our lives, even in what we call the little 232 00:22:03.829 --> 00:22:11.670 things? How To respond? Well, the first thing we have to do 233 00:22:12.869 --> 00:22:22.779 is to in fact step out in faith. Hebrews Eleven says that the faith 234 00:22:22.859 --> 00:22:26.579 is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 235 00:22:29.619 --> 00:22:33.250 We have to take the promises of God at face value. I was struck 236 00:22:33.289 --> 00:22:37.009 by that of verse and at him that we just saying before we started here, 237 00:22:37.529 --> 00:22:41.450 about God has said it, so so it must be. I'm paraphrasing 238 00:22:41.450 --> 00:22:47.160 a little bit, but that was the essence of the line. He doesn't 239 00:22:47.160 --> 00:22:48.599 change his mind, he doesn't lie. When he says it, when he 240 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:52.559 promises it, it happens, and so we need to rely on that, 241 00:22:52.920 --> 00:23:00.829 even when we aren't seeing results immediately, sometimes even when we know that through 242 00:23:00.910 --> 00:23:03.990 Christ we are convinced that we have been justified, we have been saved, 243 00:23:04.029 --> 00:23:10.309 we've been brought into communion with him. It takes a while for that cleansing 244 00:23:10.509 --> 00:23:15.660 of our lives to become fully evident. That's the process of sanctification. Facts 245 00:23:15.740 --> 00:23:21.099 not going to become fully evident until we're glorified. But it takes time. 246 00:23:22.380 --> 00:23:26.140 But what is our response? Say, oh well, I'm not seeing sanctification 247 00:23:26.299 --> 00:23:29.769 happening in my life, so I'll just sit here and wait for some sanctification 248 00:23:29.930 --> 00:23:32.970 to come on me. No, we have to get out and work for 249 00:23:33.049 --> 00:23:40.130 it. We make our calling and election sure by obeying God's commandments, which 250 00:23:40.130 --> 00:23:44.680 include loving him, loving one another and all it goes with that. So 251 00:23:44.839 --> 00:23:49.119 we have be diligent and obedient and, Paul says, to press on in 252 00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:53.240 order that we may lay hold of that for which, all so we were 253 00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:59.910 laid hold of by Christ Jesus. That's Philippian three and twelve. So we 254 00:24:00.029 --> 00:24:03.349 can't be complacent, we can't just lie back and say, Oh well, 255 00:24:03.390 --> 00:24:04.910 I'm waiting for it to happen. It'll all know when it gets here. 256 00:24:06.670 --> 00:24:11.259 It's getting here when we start getting to it. So we have to step 257 00:24:11.299 --> 00:24:17.099 out in faith and then we have to examine ourselves. It mentions that the 258 00:24:17.339 --> 00:24:22.900 lepers saw that they had been healed, and particularly this one, there has 259 00:24:22.940 --> 00:24:26.210 to be an awareness of our spiritual condition. It. We can't say, 260 00:24:26.250 --> 00:24:30.690 Oh wow, he just happened, that's cool, without again realizing the spiritual 261 00:24:30.769 --> 00:24:37.890 consequences. But most of all, we must think and glorify God, and 262 00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:45.440 this really should be the natural response. How do I say that? Well, 263 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:52.640 giving thanks. In Verse Sixteen. That the Greek word used as Eucharisteo. 264 00:24:52.589 --> 00:24:56.910 That that that sound a little bit familiar. That's where we get the 265 00:24:57.029 --> 00:25:06.589 term Eucharist for the Lord's Supper, which means basically Jesus giving thanks, and 266 00:25:06.869 --> 00:25:11.019 the rude word in the Greek, which is Charus or grace, is the 267 00:25:11.140 --> 00:25:17.819 stem for both the blessing or the gift and for the term for giving thanks 268 00:25:17.859 --> 00:25:22.210 for it. It ought to be automatic. You get a gift, you 269 00:25:22.410 --> 00:25:26.809 thanks that. That's what we're supposed to do. So this, this blessing, 270 00:25:26.849 --> 00:25:33.609 should naturally call forth to thanks. But we're not again totally sanctified, 271 00:25:33.690 --> 00:25:37.119 and so there is still that weight of sin, that that ongoing propensity of 272 00:25:37.240 --> 00:25:42.480 sin that dwells in this even when we have been justified and drawn to Christ. 273 00:25:45.880 --> 00:25:49.869 But it should work this way. Psalm fifty, and I would recommend 274 00:25:49.869 --> 00:25:53.789 that as one of your readings. God says, Call Upon me in the 275 00:25:53.789 --> 00:26:00.109 day of trouble. Okay, I shall rescue you and you shall honor me. 276 00:26:00.910 --> 00:26:07.460 That ought to be the automatic sequence. You ask, he allows us 277 00:26:07.500 --> 00:26:10.900 to ask, he encourages us to ask, he says ask of me. 278 00:26:11.059 --> 00:26:17.660 You know your your earthly parents know how two good gifts give you good gifts. 279 00:26:17.660 --> 00:26:19.690 You know, think about me, as your heavenly father, what kind 280 00:26:19.690 --> 00:26:23.049 of gifts I can give you. But you've got to ask, call upon 281 00:26:23.210 --> 00:26:30.970 me. I rescue you and you shall honor me. Now what should we 282 00:26:30.890 --> 00:26:34.720 how should we be doing this, thanking and glorifying God? Well, it 283 00:26:34.839 --> 00:26:38.200 ought to be public as well as private. Obviously we're going to be thanking 284 00:26:38.759 --> 00:26:44.799 God in our hearts, but he also spoke it out. There is a 285 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:48.869 real confession, a real witness as going on here. He glorified God in 286 00:26:48.990 --> 00:26:55.990 a loud voice, prostrate to himself before Christ. What is effusions to say? 287 00:26:56.069 --> 00:27:00.109 We are created for good works. So we have word. Indeed, 288 00:27:00.589 --> 00:27:03.859 thank you God. I'm going to do whatever I can to acknowledge that and 289 00:27:04.700 --> 00:27:11.059 go forward with it. That's a proper response. How should we not respond? 290 00:27:15.059 --> 00:27:18.170 Well, we can respond by not doing what we're supposed to do, 291 00:27:18.009 --> 00:27:26.210 by not by withholding our praise, with holding thanksgiving. This is an integral 292 00:27:26.289 --> 00:27:36.400 part of the Christian life. Some quick notes. In the Psalms Thanksgiving is 293 00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:41.880 referred to more than sixty times. It's as very frequently appears, Christ himself 294 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:48.630 gives thanks to God, his father, when he prays to him. Thanksgiving 295 00:27:48.750 --> 00:27:53.950 his commanded or commended in most of Paul's epistles. Just get at your book 296 00:27:53.990 --> 00:27:59.940 and start tracing it through. Giving of thanks in all circumstances is said to 297 00:28:00.019 --> 00:28:07.460 be the will of God in Christ Jesus for You as first Tessalonians eighteen and 298 00:28:07.140 --> 00:28:11.900 revelation shows that the giving of thanks as part of the worship that goes on 299 00:28:11.059 --> 00:28:15.130 in heavens. You Got Angels, you got elders, you got living creatures. 300 00:28:15.529 --> 00:28:21.650 Everybody's giving thanks. So it's seemed like it's pretty important. This ought 301 00:28:21.650 --> 00:28:26.890 to be the automatic response of a truly saved person, and so if you're 302 00:28:26.890 --> 00:28:34.559 not, then you've got some questions, some self examination to do. Being 303 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:41.710 given thanks pleases God. Another good reading is psalm sixty nine, basically thirty 304 00:28:41.789 --> 00:28:47.630 three, thirty two. It pleases him. That same psalm says it encourages 305 00:28:47.670 --> 00:28:52.630 others. It is basically obedient. Just the things that I've talked about and 306 00:28:52.029 --> 00:29:00.099 if we don't, we lose a benefit ourselves. Dr Lloyd Jones wrote a 307 00:29:00.220 --> 00:29:06.740 very insightful book on spiritual depression and he said that there are many miserable question 308 00:29:06.940 --> 00:29:11.250 Christians who are that way because of things they don't understand or don't do, 309 00:29:14.410 --> 00:29:18.609 and so that's something that we need to bear in mind. Why are we 310 00:29:18.730 --> 00:29:25.240 miserable? Are we not understanding something or are we not doing something that we 311 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:30.440 understand that we should be doing? God himself spoke to Kane. Kane was 312 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:37.750 mad, he was upset. Is Sacrifice had been rejected as improper, and 313 00:29:40.390 --> 00:29:45.630 God said the Kane, if you do well, will not your countenance be 314 00:29:45.750 --> 00:29:48.069 lifted up? I forget which translation that's in. It's not in the SV, 315 00:29:48.269 --> 00:29:52.980 but that's a valid translation. If you do well, if you're doing 316 00:29:53.099 --> 00:29:56.980 the things that you're supposed to be, your attitude is going to be affected. 317 00:29:57.740 --> 00:30:03.579 So here all ten were healed, but only one was made well. 318 00:30:06.099 --> 00:30:11.009 The others may well have been true, but of the miserable Christian variety save 319 00:30:11.210 --> 00:30:15.529 but not having the joy that the otherwise could have. Again there's there are 320 00:30:15.690 --> 00:30:19.170 things that way either way about whether they were really Christians or not, really 321 00:30:19.210 --> 00:30:25.920 believers. So why didn't the others nine respond? When you don't know that 322 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:30.079 we're not specifically told, it may be significant that they were Jews. There 323 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:36.349 are lots of instances in the gospels where Jews, even the most religious ones, 324 00:30:36.390 --> 00:30:40.190 are condemned. Were thinking that just being Jewish is all that it took. 325 00:30:40.670 --> 00:30:42.670 Oh, we've got we're Jews where des Center from Abraham, we got 326 00:30:42.750 --> 00:30:48.509 the laws, we follow the laws as we interpret them, and so you 327 00:30:48.630 --> 00:30:53.579 know, of course God will bless us. So they may have almost felt 328 00:30:53.579 --> 00:30:59.059 a sense of entitlement. Well, here's this person, he's obviously at least 329 00:30:59.059 --> 00:31:03.380 a prophet, he does miracles, he's Jewish, where Jewish? So the 330 00:31:03.460 --> 00:31:07.329 buddy system works. He certainly has a responsibility to help us. So it 331 00:31:07.410 --> 00:31:12.609 may not in the sense of been as joyful or an unexpected occasion as it 332 00:31:12.809 --> 00:31:23.440 was for the Samaritan, but this is also an important lesson because sometimes those 333 00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:29.799 who are who have been raised in Christian homes or have been long time believers, 334 00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:33.950 even if not raised as Christians, we can become complacent, we can 335 00:31:34.069 --> 00:31:40.230 become assuming, we can expect God to do the things that we want him 336 00:31:40.230 --> 00:31:45.869 to do, and he doesn't work that way. He's not a cosmic vending 337 00:31:45.910 --> 00:31:49.779 machine where you just plop in the prayer quarter and out POPs to the gift. 338 00:31:52.059 --> 00:31:56.660 So are we really responding to him with that sense of humility and faith 339 00:31:57.019 --> 00:32:02.210 that we saw and Mr Number ten? And if we're not giving thanks, 340 00:32:02.970 --> 00:32:08.970 maybe we're not saved at all. That really is what we glean from Romans 341 00:32:09.089 --> 00:32:15.000 one. If there is a real absence of thankfulness, there may be no 342 00:32:15.119 --> 00:32:19.559 faith at all. fact, it's a good sign that there isn't. And 343 00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:24.839 so that's time for some real honest self examination. Where am I in my 344 00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:29.599 relationship to God? Am I really giving him the thanks, the honor that 345 00:32:29.720 --> 00:32:36.910 he is due or not? If I'm not, I'm in trouble. So 346 00:32:40.869 --> 00:32:45.059 I don't know everyone's hearts here. You know, we don't judge one another. 347 00:32:45.700 --> 00:32:49.619 There may be those who are not Christians at all and know it, 348 00:32:50.259 --> 00:32:54.700 or you may and be in doubt. So this is just something to take 349 00:32:54.740 --> 00:33:00.170 heat of, because it's possible to appear smooth and clean on the outside, 350 00:33:00.650 --> 00:33:07.170 like maybe those nine did after they were healed, but it's God who sees 351 00:33:07.410 --> 00:33:14.599 the heart as that part been made. Well, is it well with your 352 00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:21.039 soul? Some of you probably maybe high school literature something read a book or 353 00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:24.960 a short story called the picture of Dorrian Gray, is about a man who 354 00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:30.509 wanted to retain his youth and not age and get to be what he thought 355 00:33:30.589 --> 00:33:35.509 was old and nasty ugly, and so he basically sold his soul to the 356 00:33:35.589 --> 00:33:40.700 devil. And so what happened was that there was a portrait of him that 357 00:33:40.779 --> 00:33:45.140 he stuck away in the closet because all the things would naturally happen to him, 358 00:33:45.339 --> 00:33:51.779 especially because he was leading a filthy into general life, didn't show on 359 00:33:51.859 --> 00:33:55.329 him on the outside, but they're showing up on that portrait that was showing 360 00:33:55.329 --> 00:34:00.009 the Real Hymn God looks on the inside. He knows this as we are, 361 00:34:00.690 --> 00:34:05.529 do we know us as we are? We need to think carefully. 362 00:34:07.769 --> 00:34:12.079 If you are a Christian, if you are giving thanks, keep it up 363 00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:17.000 that that's a good way to be. But what about the situation where it's 364 00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:22.199 so unclear about the other nine? When it again, the scriptures are not 365 00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:25.989 definitive. Were they saved in a spiritual sense or not? Not altogether clear. 366 00:34:27.670 --> 00:34:35.670 Can argue both ways. I hope that the proportion of professing Christians who 367 00:34:35.670 --> 00:34:40.340 are not giving proper thanks isn't ninety percent, like it is a my story. 368 00:34:42.940 --> 00:34:45.739 And so what we need to do now, to the extent we're not 369 00:34:45.820 --> 00:34:50.860 giving thanks, and none of us do it very well, is to begin 370 00:34:51.820 --> 00:34:59.250 without looking back. After Peter was restored, after his denials of Christ, 371 00:34:59.969 --> 00:35:04.650 he basically was pointed forward to the ministry that God would give him to do 372 00:35:04.809 --> 00:35:08.199 in the future and a benefit that he could be to others, because we 373 00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:14.199 can't get stuck in the past. But we all need to take the lesson. 374 00:35:15.679 --> 00:35:22.590 Where are the nine? What is their condition? Are we them or 375 00:35:22.630 --> 00:35:28.429 are we met? Mr Number Ten, time for some prayer and self examination 376 00:35:28.949 --> 00:35:34.909 and giving of real thanks for real gifts which are spiritual healings, not just, 377 00:35:35.670 --> 00:35:39.539 you know, two days of black Friday shopping before Thanksgiving or anything like 378 00:35:39.659 --> 00:35:47.340 that. It's has God made us alive in Jesus Christ. So let's pray