Book of Luke - Ch. 17, Vs. 11-19 (04/11/2004)

All right, let's pray and then we'll begin with Luke 17 11. Father, we thank you for the scriptures that you had for us this morning and the glory of your plan of salvation. And Father we don't know how much of the mysteries of what our Lord went through you will reveal to us when we're with you someday, but.

But we know that it's it's probably more than we could handle anyway. But we thank you that you chose to Allow Jesus to be the perfect lamb the Lamb of God. And we thank you that the resurrection is what?

Proved That your justice had been Satisfied and so Lord as we study this passage this afternoon that we come to would you bless? By teaching us and being with us in Jesus name. Amen. Mm-hmm. So we start with verse 11 in chapter 17.

Mm-hmm. We have some front-row people that's good. They don't think so. Okay. If I keep these off, it won't matter what they do. I can't see him anyway, so. All right. It came to pass as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.

What what is the significance of Samaria in That day in time with respect from the point of view of the Jew. Yes, they may have hated that even worse than a straight-out Gentile. I don't know but It shows that Jesus was different.

I don't know that too many Pharisees would travel through Samaria trying to seek and save that which is lost with a Charlotte and I were talking about that on the way to church this morning about just thinking of Jesus.

Just as as an evangelist from that viewpoint of how different what he did was than what the established religious people of his day were like eating with sinners, you know and and witnessing to Gentiles and.

And Even commending certain Gentiles for their faith and saying that their faith he had not seen anything like it in all of Israel things like that. Totally different than the Pharisees and the religious leaders of his day would have been.

And here's another case. He passes through Samaria and Galilee. We're gonna find out that in this story. One of the key players is going to be a Samaritan the best I can tell from reading this. I believe he was and The Pharisees wouldn't have anything to do with these people but It says and as he entered into a certain village There met him ten men that were lepers.

Which stood afar off? Why did they stand afar off? The law said they had to. Yes, it is. Yeah, and the laws of Moses required that they do this also so they had to and So it says that these ten men were lepers and they stood afar off that reminded me of Ephesians chapter 2 verse 13 It says but now in Christ Jesus you who were sometimes far off Are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

These lepers picture sin leprosy pictures sin in the Bible and It the fact that they were standing afar off is a picture of the way we were before our salvation and We've been made nigh by the blood and that same thing is about to happen to these and So it says they lifted up their voices and said Jesus master have mercy on us.

Why do you think they would even call out to Jesus? Do you think they had heard stories about him? They had heard that he could heal so were they exhibiting a measure of faith just by asking him to Have mercy on them.

Yes, they they were all together and They would not have called out his name if they didn't have some measure of hope that he could in fact do something for them and When he saw them he said unto them go show yourselves to the priests had they been healed yet?

No, now this is unusual because in a lot of the different situations in the New Testament when Jesus would heal people he would Sometimes touch them. Sometimes he would spit on some mud and rub it in their eyes and then they could see and so forth and then there were even times when he would he would just Not even go to the to the house where the person was and yet they would go back and find that that person had been healed from the moment when Jesus had been asked to do something, but in this case he hadn't healed them yet and He says you go and show yourself to the priest and at the moment he said that they were still lepers.

So now what if you understand the Jewish law that those lepers knew what Jesus was telling them because in their law They had to go before the priest and there were certain specific Detailed things that the priest would do in cases of the leper.

So they knew that Jesus was saying to them go show yourself the priest because you're gonna be healed. But they looked at themselves and they weren't healed yet. But they headed towards the priests. Anyway, did that exhibit faith?

I Believe I believe that it did. Go show yourselves and to the priest and it came to pass that as they went. They were cleansed. And I think that is a beautiful picture of faith in the application of faith.

My one of my favorite pictures of faith in the Bible is is when the Egyptians, I'm having the Israelites had to take the hyssop weeds and dip it in the blood and apply it to the doorposts for the Passover and that hyssop weed is a picture of faith and What we do is is we apply the blood of Jesus to our lives.

Through the hyssop weed of faith from the human viewpoint. From the divine viewpoint who applies it. Obviously God does but from the human side we Find ourselves believing now. I'd have to ask you this at the first moment of your faith.

Did you understand that God had given you that as a gift or did you just view it as if all of a sudden you had believed. You felt that you had believed didn't you. Because that's what you had done and So these people it says as they went they were cleansed and the truth is there is no salvation on this planet.

Other than a salvation that's in the midst of true faith. It can't happen without the faith. It happens in the midst of the faith. It doesn't happen one second before it. It doesn't happen after it it happens at the same time or in the midst of it.

So there's a nice picture of this as they went they were cleansed. So right in the middle of their experiencing faith. They were cleansed. Philippians 3 12 says not as though I had already attained. Either were already perfect.

But I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Jesus Christ. Their faith wasn't perfect yet in the sense that we might consider as It will be someday. But it was saving faith.

And the Apostle Paul said he himself had not even attained yet, but he said I'll tell you this. I Don't look behind. I look forward. And I've pressed towards the mark towards the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

So that is a living ongoing traveling faith and That's kind of what this pictures Verse 15 and one of them when he saw that he was healed so you see they did not recognize that until they were already on the way to the priests and he looked down and just noticed that his body was healed and He turned back and with a loud voice glorified God and Fell down on his face at his feet giving him.

Thanks, and he was a Samaritan. Now the Jews it implies it doesn't say so. I don't think it you know, I don't Recognize that it just out now says it but it strongly implies that the other nine were Jews and They didn't come back.

I Don't think you can prove that that means they that it didn't picture that they that there many times these healings pictured Spiritual salvation as well. I don't think you can prove they weren't saved.

But they certainly weren't as thankful as this particular man was and this exhibits The way it is if we look around us in churches all over the place There are always those who are more thankful than others and Doesn't mean the others are not saved necessarily we can't judge that anyway but we do know that this that there were ten of them who were healed and Because of faith they were healed and there was one that came back and gave thanks this word for thanks literally Means to be grateful and Then to express that gratitude all that's carried in the meaning of the word so he not only felt it in his heart, but he expressed it outwardly and Jesus answering said were there not ten cleansed.

Detect a little sarcasm there, but where are the nine? Therefore are not found that They there are not found that return to give glory to God. Except for this stranger the word stranger means he's a Gentile Stranger meaning not a Jew so that to me implies the other nine were were Jewish people who were saved and healed.

Stranger literally in the Greek there means different Different, but it means that he's different because He is a Gentile and he said unto him arise go that way that faith hath made thee whole. Faith here is the familiar word peace tease which comes from peace to Oh, which means to stick to like glue.

It means to be persuaded of it means to have confidence in. And so this man had that kind of faith. That's the God-given faith. That truly is a gift from heaven. It's Jesus's faith actually. And It said he made him whole this word is the word so-so which is sometimes interpreted saved.

But it always means delivered. So when you see this man healed from his leprosy, it is a picture of the deliverance that comes with salvation deliverance from sin and It just shows that this brand of modern Christianity where People say strange things like well, I got saved years ago and but today I'm gonna make Jesus my Lord and things like that.

And or they'll say I got saved but they have absolutely no power Over sin whatsoever in their personal life. That's not true biblical salvation because biblical salvation is a synonym with the word deliver.

So it's an ongoing deliverance from The sin habits that we had before salvation. And if that deliverance is not taking place one ought to question his own salvation because that's not Bible Salvation the word itself carries the meaning to deliver so In this passage, I think we see a beautiful physical picture of spiritual salvation.

The fact that before it we were far off we weren't you can't say well this person is closer to God. So he'll probably get saved this one over here. So far. He won't it doesn't work that way everyone is either far off or they're not and we were all far off just like these lepers stood far off from Jesus and Yet they cried out to him That he would have mercy upon them.

I Verses in the Bible that teach salvation what the person that got saved really asked was Lord have mercy on me. They didn't say the Lord Jesus come my heart and save me and all this Formulas, you know the prayer formulas that we have at all.

They just said had mercy on me a sinner so that is a simple from the heart Desire that these men had and so because of that faith They turned and went toward the priest and were healed as they went in that amazing beautiful picture of true faith.

You see real faith like James taught is accompanied by works now the lost world can't figure that out. They want to teach you their salvation by works or easy believism, you know, but the truth is they're tied together.

And so their faith showed because they started walking towards that priest and they were saved as they went and They recognized that they were healed. That's something that a brand-new Christian begins to recognize.

He begins to realize he's been saved and So they become thankful. However, not all of them do some more than others some some seem to see what they really were and what God saved him from more than others and Those are the ones that seem to love him more because it's as if they've been forgiven more and they see that and that's pictured by this Samaritan and so He says arise and go thy way that faith Hath made thee whole your faith has delivered you.

So let's stop there for the day. My dad's about to stand up. So it's time to stop. Mm-hmm Lord thank you for this passage of Scripture. Thank you for this. This dear Samaritan man who came back and fell at your feet feet and gave you proper.

Thanks, may we be like that one and we ask it in Jesus name.