Audio - Healing of the Ten Lepers

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The Fourteenth Sunday After Trinity
Healing of the Ten Lepers
August 24, 2008

TEXT:  NKJ Luke 17:11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" 14 So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. 17 So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 "Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" 19 And He said to him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well."
 
Leprosy was until recently considered curable only by a miracle of God—the Laws given to Moses instructed God’s people to consider lepers unclean—since there was no known cure—lepers were considered dead—it was only a matter of time until they fell over and stopped breathing
 
The Law did contain a way to be declared clean again—this might have been provided because there were curable skin diseases that produced early symptoms similar to those of leprosy—the priest would make a decision as to whether a person was clean or unclean—God gave Moses extensive instructions for the priests to follow—let’s just look at one example
 
NKJ Leviticus 13:43 "Then the priest shall examine it; and indeed if the swelling of the sore is reddish-white on his bald head or on his bald forehead, as the appearance of leprosy on the skin of the body, 44 "he is a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean; his sore is on his head.
 
Once found unclean and a leper—the law required certain behavior
 
NKJ Leviticus 13:45 "Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, 'Unclean! Unclean!' 46 "He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.
 
Sometimes lepers were miraculously healed—this was done in the case of Moses to demonstrate God’s power to the Pharaoh of Egypt
 
NKJ Exodus 4:6 Furthermore the LORD said to him, "Now put your hand in your bosom." And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. 7 And He said, "Put your hand in your bosom again." So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh.
 
Leprosy was also healed by God’s grace in response to a prayer of intercession
 
NKJ Numbers 12:10 And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. 11 So Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12 "Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb!" 13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "Please heal her, O God, I pray!" 14 Then the LORD said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again."
 
There are other examples—but let’s now turn to our text—and examine the healing of leprosy by faith
 
TEXT:  11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
 
Lepers’ often grouped together—misery loves company—they had to fend for themselves—they would build a hut outside of town—they would take care of each other—the disease displaced any differences in ethnic—cultural—or religious backgrounds--these men were bound together by the disease—they stood unified in two things—their disease—and their faith that this man Jesus could heal them—they were desperate and without any other hope—they then turned to Jesus with the faith
 
This Gospel lesson is simple—10 lepers demonstrated great faith—Jesus demonstrated mercy and compassion—Jesus healed the 10—and attributed their healing to their faith
 
Now let’s examine the faith of the lepers—they approached Jesus with boldness—as if somehow they were assured that He would hear them—each of us should demonstrate this type of assurance when approaching God
 
NKJ James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
 
There is no limit to the power of faith—Jesus teaches this to His disciples in the Gospel of St. Matthew—Jesus had just healed a man’s son of epilepsy—the same boy the disciples had failed at healing
 
NKJ Matthew 17:19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
 
Jesus could have healed any—or all—of the lepers instantly—He had done it before
 
NKJ Matthew 8:2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." 3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
 
Let’s project ourselves into this situation—Jesus tells the 10 to go show themselves to a priest—but they can look at themselves—and each other—and know that they still have leprosy
 
Luke clearly states that they were healed on their way to the priests—surely they discussed this amongst themselves—should we go?  Are we healed?—they had enough faith to trust in the Lord—so they went to the priests
 
They first had faith that Jesus could heal them—then they had faith that they were being healed
 
Jesus knew that faith was sincere—He granted their request before they were finished making it—for the Scriptures say:
 
NKJ Isaiah 65:24 " It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear.
 
There was nothing special about these lepers—they were just ten lepers—perhaps there were ten so there would be less chance of us thinking they were just misdiagnosed—so we could be sure that this was a miracle healing—an example for us—an example of faith
 
Perhaps there were ten so that we could see the sin of ingratitude is prevalent in this world—ten were healed and nine did not even return to give thanks—all ten began with faith—otherwise they would not have begun their journey to see the priest—the nine that did not return were healed—just as the Samaritan was healed—but the Samaritan was healed by his faith—and the nine were healed by the compassion of Christ—the love of our Lord is revealed in this miracle—Jesus set an example for us and He taught us in Scripture, His example is to be followed by each of us
 
NKJ John 13:15 "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.
 
NKJ John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
 
It is our love that shows the world that we are Christians—our works are the fruits of our love—and our love is a gift of God—to convince ourselves of that we need only remind ourselves that God is love
 
NKJ 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
 
The Holy Spirit is God—and we believers are filled with the Holy Spirit—the Holy Spirit is God—and God is love—so when the Holy Spirit dwells within us we are filled with love
 
NKJ 1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
 
NKJ 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
 
The love of God within us fills us beyond capacity—and that love of God flows from us to those in need that surround us—just as Jesus healed those whose faith would diminish—we help those who we find in need—without regard to their spiritual condition—Jesus taught this lesson to us when He spoke to the woman at the well—who by the way was also a Samaritan
 
NKJ John 4:14 "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
 
We learn from God’s Word to not only love our neighbor—but to pray for his needs
 
NKJ Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
 
Our works are definitely related to our faith—our works show the world our faith—our works are a product of our faith
 
NKJ James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
 
Ten healed lepers showed themselves to the priests—one Samaritan returned to give thanks to God the Son
 
Why didn’t the other nine return?—they all did as Jesus instructed—they all did have enough faith to proceed to the priests—but only one continued to walk in faith—had these lepers not maintained their faith—they would not have completed their journey—but their faith-filled journey concluded with their healing—then they no longer had need of God
 
The Samaritan returned to thank Jesus—and continued his walk with the Lord—his walk was a walk of faith
 
We must cling to our faith—nurture it by reading our Bible daily—continue to grow as Christians until the Lord calls us to our heavenly home
 
NKJ Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
 
NKJ Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
 
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!