chapter 17, and as we turn there, we'll dismiss the little ones for the Wonders of Worship program downstairs, led by Dave and Joyella Stafford today. Gospel of Luke chapter 17, let's begin in verse 11. Now, it happened as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as he entered a certain village, there met him 10 men who were lepers, who stood far off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 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. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well. Let's pray. Father, speak to us through this passage today. Remove from us anything that would hinder the working of your word in our hearts. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. We are, of course, most familiar with the term Samaritan from, first of all, Jesus' story that we know as the parable of the Good Samaritan, a story in which a Samaritan shows kindness to a Jew who had been robbed, beaten, and left for dead, even though some Jews passed him by. And we know it from John's narration of Jesus' discussion with a Samaritan woman recorded for us in chapter four of his gospel. The Samaritans were generally reviled as a mixed breed. That is, they were the descendants of the Assyrian invaders who had intermarried with the Jewish remnant after the Assyrian invasion many years before this time. Over the years, the Samaritans developed their own form of worship following just the first five books of Moses. And for a time, they even had their own temple. at the time of Christ, historians tell us that the animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans was at its peak. At one Passover, this would have occurred during Jesus' youth, this is according to Jewish historian Josephus, some Samaritans actually slipped into the Temple of Jerusalem and polluted the holy place by scattering human bones in the porches. Samaritans were subsequently cursed in the temple and even their food was considered unclean as swine's flesh. So it was common, as most of you know, for those who lived in Galilee, that is north of Samaria, to avoid the area altogether when traveling south to Jerusalem. Pilgrims would go out of their way. They would go east over the Jordan River and then south through Perea rather than have any interaction with those they viewed as cursed mongrels. But we read in Luke 17 that as Jesus went to Jerusalem on this occasion, he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a certain village, he was met by 10 men who were lepers, men who stood afar off, the Bible says. Now, the fact that one of these lepers was later identified as a Samaritan suggests that this was a mixed group comprised of both Samaritans, at least one we know of, and Jews, and that their common misery had drawn them together and caused them to overlook the animosity between their people. Even today, I understand Jews and Arabs, who would probably not otherwise associate, will band together when they are leprous. In biblical times, the leper was a walking object lesson of sin. Leviticus 13 says, 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. He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore, he shall be unclean and he shall dwell alone. His habitation shall be outside the camp. This is why, no doubt, they approached Jesus from far off as he was entering the village. They would not have been permitted to reside in the village. Now, what we commonly call leprosy today is a horrible disease, and we're not exactly sure if that's the precise disease that we're dealing with here in the Old Testament or in the scriptures. It resulted in, the disease that's known as leprosy today, results in the loss of feeling in your extremities. And I read an interesting book about it, how they figured out what was going on. The nerves were actually dying in your fingers and toes and eventually. And you don't realize how important those nerves are because the nerves tell you when you're touching something hot, they tell you when you're hitting your finger with a hammer, when you're cutting it with something. Those nerves have been given us by God for a good reason. And when they fail, then eventually you start to lose digits and it's a horrible disease and it's a disfiguring disease. Bishop Trench noted, all who have studied the disease tell us that an almost total failure of voice is one of the symptoms that accompany it. You lose feeling in your fingers, your toes, eventually you lose your fingers, your hands, your feet. As you can imagine, the stigma attached to the disease and the fear and revulsion that it would engender in the healthy would leave a leprous man or woman starved for the milk of human kindness. Do we ever read of Jesus turning a deaf ear to one who cries to Him? And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Jesus, Master, stood afar off, 10 of them, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. With all the voice they could muster. It was not unheard of that a leper might be cured of his disease either by God-ordained natural causes or by some special divine intervention. And Leviticus provides instruction as to what you ought to do if you're a leper and you believe you've been healed, you've been cleansed. This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest and the priest shall go out of the camp and the priest shall look. et cetera, Leviticus 14. And if the priest determined that the leprosy was cured, a ceremony of sprinkling was performed. That's one of the Old Testament washings, no doubt, referred to in Hebrews 9. And it's interesting, he uses the word baptizmoi. In the Old Testament, he says there were diaphoroi baptizmoi, various baptisms, and this is one of them, I believe. The sprinkling of water upon the leper, the leper was to be announced clean, and he was to be welcomed back into society. So when he saw them, he said to them, verse 14, go show yourselves to the priests. Now think about this. The only reason to go show yourself to the priest is if you've been cleansed of your leprosy. They had not been cleansed of their leprosy. So why would Jesus tell them, go show yourself to the priest? We must assume this was a test of faith. As when the prophet Elisha told Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, to go wash in the Jordan River to be cured of his leprosy. Well, why should I do that? We got Abana and Farfar. We got our own rivers in Damascus. Why should I wash in your river? And that's not what he expected the prophet to say or do. And so here, Jesus says, go show yourselves to the priest. So here are these 10 lepers, and they go walking off to find a priest to show themselves. And if they get there and they're still leprous, the priest's gonna say, what are you doing here? And so, verse 14, the rest of it, and so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And they no doubt saw it in one another, felt it, felt and saw the cleansing take place. They experienced this miraculous healing, apparently all at once. And no doubt there was great rejoicing among them. Look at verse 15. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned and with a loud voice glorified God and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. This may have been the first time in years that he could cry out with a loud voice, afraid perhaps that Jesus would resume his journey before he could return from visiting the priest and he might never have the opportunity to thank him. Instead of going on with the other nine to the priest, he returned to find Jesus and he fell before him and gave thanks. He was a Samaritan. Look at verse 17, so Jesus answered and said, were there not 10 cleansed, but where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? and he said to him, arise, go your way, your faith has made you well. Now the implication I draw from Jesus' words is that most, if not all, of the remaining nine former lepers were Jews who might have been expected to return to Christ, not only to give glory to God, but perhaps to acknowledge Jesus as the promised Messiah in light of his miraculous power demonstrated on them. In any event, whether these men were Jews or Samaritans, talking about the nine now, Jesus marvels at what he recognized as their ingratitude. Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Now, it might have occurred to you that the nine were only doing what Jesus told them to do. After all, as Samuel told Saul, to obey is better than sacrifice. First Samuel 15, 22. But the Lord Jesus, who knows men's hearts, perceived something else here. No doubt an understandable excitement about the gift, the healing, and an eagerness to be restored to society, as you might well expect, but a consequent neglect of the giver, an attitude of ingratitude. I'd like us to focus this morning on two important lessons from this incident. First of all, notice the great weight that Jesus places upon thanksgiving. the great weight that Jesus places upon Thanksgiving, giving glory to God for his goodness. Now in this we have, first of all, Christ's example. His own example. I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Matthew 11, 25. And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to the disciples and the disciples to those sitting down. John chapter six. At Lazarus' tomb, we read Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. John 11, 41. And of course, as he instituted the Lord's supper, he took the cup and gave thanks, Matthew 26, 27. And then we have the examples of the heavenly host. In Revelation 4, we read of heavenly creatures giving glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and worshiping him who lives forever and ever. And all the angels stood around the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne, and worshiped God, saying, Amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Revelation 7. In Revelation 11, we read of the 24 elders, representatives of Christ's church, falling on their faces and worshiping God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is, and who was, and who is to come. because you've taken your great power and reigned. So we have the example of the Lord Jesus, the example of heavenly beings, and we have of course numerous exhortations directed to us To be thankful ourselves, be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. Philippians 4, 6. It is good to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises to thy name, O Most High. Psalm 92, verse one. We sang this morning a song based upon that song. Sing to the Lord, O you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. Psalm 30, verse 4. Make known His deeds among the people. Psalm 105. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5, 18. The first lesson then we derive from this passage is the great weight that the Lord places on thanksgiving. Were there not 10 cleansed, but where are the nine? The second lesson is the astounding prevalence of ingratitude toward God. Certainly reflected in this passage, nine of the 10 did not return to give thanks. It seems that thanklessness is characteristic of mankind. Does it not seem a shame to us that God should so often have to exhort us in scripture to do what even the brute beasts do, namely show appreciation to their masters. The ox knows his owner, the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know. My people do not consider. My people do not consider. We act like the hog under the chestnut tree, eating the chestnuts without so much as looking up. to see the tree from which they fell. The Apostle Paul said this ingratitude would become more pronounced as time went on. But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. 2 Timothy 3.2. An unthankful spirit is lamentably one of the chief characteristics of our day. The pilgrims who suffered so much didn't fail to praise and thank God for his blessings. We, who have been blessed so much, certainly relative to the trials they went through, and have suffered so little, seldom pause to thank God. Some of us could say with Hamlet, to beggar that I am, I'm even poor in thanks. It said that a soldier in the American Third Army was sent to a rest camp after a period of active service. And when he returned to his outfit, he wrote a letter to General Patton and thanked him for the splendid care that he had received. And General Patton wrote back that for 35 years, he had sought to give all the comfort and convenience that he could to his men. And he added that this was the first letter of thanks that he had received in all his years in the Army. It seems that an unthankful spirit may be characteristic of our society. A lack of thankfulness directed to one another, and worse, a lack of thankfulness directed toward God. But yeah, but we do have a day of thanksgiving every year, don't we? We do have a day set aside for Thanksgiving. Well, as we've noted before, one wonders if a foreign visitor or an alien could come to any proper understanding by observing our traditions of just what we're thankful for and to whom. He might conclude by our Thanksgiving parades that we're thankful for cartoon characters. Snoopy, I suppose the Minions will be there this year, and Dora the Explorer, Broadway shows, TV celebrities. We're thankful for dancing troops. We're thankful for country music singers. We're thankful for clowns and high school bands. Most of all, we're thankful for the king of the parade, Santa Claus. What a visitor might conclude also from the day that we're thankful for football, we're thankful for turkey, we're thankful for stuffing and pumpkin pie. And of course we should be thankful for all good things. Although one would think other blessings from God might take precedence in our minds. But more importantly, I think the foreign observer would have a difficult time determining precisely who it is we're thanking. Let me suggest two reasons why we're prone to thanklessness. First of all, the obvious one is that in our natural state as fallen creatures, we're so preoccupied with ourselves that true thanksgiving It doesn't come naturally to us. It has to be instilled in us. This is why scores of times in my childhood, my parents had to say to me, now what do you say? I don't know. What do you say? What do you say when Aunt Charlotte gives you You're welcome? Thank you, thank you. We're quite simply, in our fallen state, not inclined to thanksgiving. We do not glorify him as God, nor are we thankful, Romans 1, 21. And then secondly, our secular society has emphasized man so much that we have, to some extent, as a people, thrust God out of our thoughts. I think I mentioned before I caught the last half of a National Geographic program some years ago. It was called, I think, The Science of Winter or The Science of Cold, something like that. And it included all these fascinating facts about how animals endure frigid temperatures. It's amazing how God has designed them. Polar bear skin is black to absorb heat. A walrus can stay in near-freezing water for up to eight days. because blood from its body's surface is withdrawn and focused on its vital organs. And something similar happens to humans when the body temperature begins to fall. That's why people can survive long periods of time in frigid water and often are able to be revived. And then the program ended with a goofy statement like this. So the next time your body protects you in extreme cold, you know, shivering or whatever, Thank the science of winter. And I thought, what? You want me to thank the science of winter? You know, I was under the impression that science involved observing and describing and categorizing and explaining the natural world that already exists. Now it appears I'm supposed to thank science for the natural world. Thank you, science, for trees and Photosynthesis. As I noted before, at this rate, before long they'll be ending nature programs with a doxology. Praise science whence all blessings flow. All evolved beings here below. All you on other planets know. We're here because science made it so. Darwin. I mean that's how crazy it's becoming if you watch nature programs. We're attempting to thrust God from our thoughts. The wicked in his proud countenance does not Seek God. God is in none of his thoughts. Psalm 10, verse 4. And this can extend even to rewriting history to excise references to God. A parent showed me one of his children's textbooks some years ago describing the first Thanksgiving. And here's what it said, quote, the pilgrims thanked the Indians and the Indians thanked the pilgrims. The first Thanksgiving, God was excised from the picture. 19th century Presbyterian pastor W.G.T. Shedd in a sermon called The Glorification of God said, no higher dishonor can be done to any being than to forget and ignore him. In common life, if a man wishes to express the highest degree of contempt for a fellow creature, he says, I never think of him. I do not recognize his existence. But this is the habitual and common attitude of man's mind toward the everlasting God. The great being who exists of necessity, who is the creator and preserver of all other beings, is ignored by the world at large. God is not in their thoughts, and practically, he's reduced to non-entity. For so long as we do not think of an object or a being, so long as we do not recognize its existence, it possesses none for our minds. Before Columbus discovered America, it could not be an object of reflection for the people of Europe and Asia, and therefore, in relation to the old world, America had no existence. It had existence for God and for higher intelligences. The sons of God knew of it and shouted for joy over it as part of that glorious world which rounded to their view upon the morning of creation. But until the bold Genoese navigator revealed it to the thought of Europe, it was a non-entity for Europe. The whole continent, with its vast mountain ranges, great rivers, boundless plains, had scarcely the substance of a dream for the people of the Eastern world. And just so it is in respect to the existence of God, He verily is. and fills immensity with his presence, but how few of the children of men are constantly and habitually aware of it. How few of them are busy with thinking about him. How few of them make him real to their minds by meditating upon his being and his attributes. But of course, it's not just secularists and materialists who fall short in thanksgiving. Many of us who declare our belief in the Lord are unthankful as well. As you know, the word, as we mentioned before, at least, the word thankfulness, the English word thankfulness is derived from the word thinkfulness. It's only when we think that we can truly thank. What are some things that we can think about that we can be thankful for? Well, first of all, that God chose to create human life at all. He was self-sufficient. He did not need us. Secondly, that God chose to create your life. Or did you do something to deserve it? And then for your preservation through time, from childhood diseases, from accidents, from innumerable potential dangers. Preservation in a generation that perceives the killing of unborn infants to be a constitutionally protected right. Some of you were at the Alpha Pregnancy Banquet a few weeks ago, and you heard the testimony of the speaker. was a high school student, I think he said in Texas. And shortly after she and her steady boyfriend broke up, she discovered that she was pregnant. She was under great internal and external pressure to have the infant growing within her killed and removed from her body so she could avoid the shame and embarrassment that she anticipated. But she resisted that pressure, she carried the child to term, and she placed him up for adoption. Meanwhile, a young pediatric physician and his wife with just one daughter had been told they could have no more children and they had been praying daily for another child for several years. They went to that adoption agency and that's how Dr. James and Shirley Dobson became the adoptive parents of their son, Ryan, who over four decades later is passionately pro-life and an adoption advocate. Those of you who were born in the late 20th or early 21st century, especially those born after the 73 Roe v. Wade decision, should be particularly thankful that your parents didn't make the choice that tens of millions of parents have made. What are some other things that should draw forth Thanksgiving from us very quickly? Our faculties, our sight, you know, the ability to distinguish shapes and colors, to recognize faces, to perceive beauty and creation. How much would we be thankful for it if it were removed from us for a time and then returned? Our hearing. Imagine life without music, without the sound of the human voice. I think Nancy, you posted something about that this morning on Facebook. Imagine if it were removed from us. If we couldn't hear music, sounds, imagine if it were removed and then later restored. How thankful would we be to have it? A speech. The ability to speak, how precious it must have been to Zachariah after he couldn't speak for a portion of a year. The ability to walk, the use of our arms, our hands, the sense of taste, the sense of smell, our minds, the ability to imagine, to remember, to create, to meditate, to reason. And then what about thanking God for upholding all things? The constancy of what we call the laws of nature. Imagine if one of those laws were to be suspended for a time. Suppose you woke up one morning to find that you and your bed and everything in your bedroom that wasn't fastened down was floating up against your bedroom ceiling, right? You turn on your clock radio that's floating but still attached to the wall outlet by a cord. And you quickly discover that this phenomenon is evidently worldwide. Earth's gravitational pull has been dramatically reduced, presumably, the experts are saying, by some catastrophe in the inner core. I don't know, don't ask me to explain it. Objects of great weight and mass, trains and ships and trucks and large cars seem unaffected, but the sky is full of smart cars and mini Coopers and motorcycles and things. lawn furniture and small animals and uh... and uh... the boys brigade they were camping out somewhere I imagine that prayer would be offered by some who had never prayed before right? Lord you know I mean think of Psalm 46 you know the earth is removed and the waters be carried into the midst of the sea and the mountains be removed we will trust God You know, people would be crying out to God, God, help us. And if a few days later Earth's gravity were to be restored to its previous levels, there would be great rejoicing throughout the Earth for this blessing that we had previously taken for granted. The very constancy of God's provision for us seems to sometimes stifle our thanks. Think of the blessing of living in a land ruled by law. The blessing of police and courts and civil government. The blessing of being able to call for help when you need it. The blessing of being ruled by elected representatives as opposed to drug lords or a military junta. How about the blessing of freedom as opposed to tyranny? And we should thank God for the blessing of family, for friends, parents, grandparents, siblings, wife, husband, children, grandchildren. What about the blessing of a church family? As you know, we post our sermons on the internet. Sometimes I receive messages from people who say, we listen to your sermons and we listen because there is no Bible-believing church within driving distance of our home. They live in some rural place or they live, one lady wrote from Canada and said, there's nothing in my town where the word of God is proclaimed. That's a sad situation. Thank God that we have a church family where we can enjoy fellowship and encouragement and read God's Word together, pray together, proclaim God's Word, hear God's Word, bring our offerings to the Lord. That's a blessing that a lot of people in this world don't have, even people who live in countries where it's free to assemble. We should even be thankful for afflictions, for trials. Peter said, Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. Talked about this up at Carol Lutheran this week with the folks. We're all gonna be joyful when the Lord returns. We're all gonna be joyful when we're called home to be with him. But those who have suffered here, whether it's persecution or affliction of some sort, those who have suffered here are going to be glad with exceeding joy. They're going to rejoice with exceeding joy. Think of Johnny Erickson Tada, who for, what, 50 years has been unable to use her arms or legs. We're all going to be glad to be in heaven, but she's going to be glad with exceeding joy, right? So even our trials, even our afflictions should be objects of thanksgiving for us. 1 Peter chapter 4. And then we should be thankful, of course, for the Lord himself, for who he is. Give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness, for what he's done. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift, the gift of his precious son, eternal life through him. Be thankful that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's, of course, the first thing that comes to mind when we think of Thanksgiving as Christians. And then, be thankful for your particular salvation, giving thanks unto the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. The saints who will dwell in the realm of light, Colossians 112. Now let me sum this up. Jesus graciously cleansed those 10 lepers. He wasn't obligated to do it. Their cleansing was unmerited. It was not of themselves, it was by grace through faith. Go, show yourselves to the priests. They believed, they went. It was much the same with you, Christian. You were plagued by sin. It had stained every aspect of your nature. your intellect, your will, your emotions, your judgment. You suffered the consequences of sin every day of your life. You had no hope of ever ridding yourself of it or avoiding the tragic consequences of falling into the hands of a holy God who had already sworn in his word that the soul who sins must die, the wages of sin is death. You'd already declared that every sin deserves his wrath. You could do nothing but stand afar off and cry out, Jesus, master, have mercy on me. That's, in effect, what we did, right? When we came to Christ, Jesus, master, have mercy on me. He wasn't obligated to save you. You certainly didn't deserve his favor. But just as with the 10 lepers, he extended mercy to you. He bestowed his grace on you. You were forgiven. You were healed. You were cleansed. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He who has the Son has life. The Samaritan who was healed returned to give glory to God. And Christian, that is now your life's work. You have been called to give glory to God, the one who redeemed you, the one who created you, who sustained you, who preserved you, and the one who redeemed you. You're called to give glory to this God. for the rest of your life, man's chief end, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. So Christian, how well are you fulfilling that great calling? And one more thing. If you've not yet cried out to Christ for mercy, if you've not yet been healed, been cleansed, if that leprosy is still troubling you, filling your mind and heart, the leprosy of sin, and you've never had it forgiven, today can be the day of salvation for you. You just come to God. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God, forgive me and save me. Cleanse me. Give me this new life the Bible talks about. You come to God that way, sincerely, broken as a little child, not proud and puffed up. God promises to forgive all your sins and give you this precious gift of everlasting life. Let's pray. Lord, we we thank you so much for your word and. For all that it reveals to us about you, Lord, it's true. We tend to be ungrateful. We often do not thank those who Bless us in our kind and gracious and generous toward us. Forgive us for this. Lord, I pray especially that as we come to a day of Thanksgiving this week, that we will truly take time to thank you. for who you are and what you've done and all these blessings, many of which we've touched on today. Lord, so many things we can be grateful for. And most of all, for the gift of life through your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for him. In his name we pray, amen.