This afternoon, if you'll turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 17, the Gospel of Luke chapter 17, I will be reading to you from verses 11 to 19, a very wonderful passage of the healing of 10 lepers and of one man who pleased the Lord Jesus very much, who turned back and gave glory to God after he had been healed. Let's bow together in prayer before I speak to you. Father, thank you for the truth of your word, the rich portions of scriptural truth that you give me to preach to your people and that we can learn from and grow from and that our understanding of spiritual truths and realities can be enhanced. in our lives as Christians, and if we don't know the Lord, that we can even think about what it means to come to know you through this passage. For that, we give you thanks, and we pray that we would learn much about Thanksgiving this afternoon, and be thankful in our hearts. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Luke chapter 17 and verse 11. It happened as Jesus 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 afar 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, 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 ten 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. So this afternoon I want to bring to your attention the fact that giving thanks to God is giving glory to him. This is what Jesus says here in verse 18, were there not found any who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner. And the text itself in describing what happened here says in verse 15, and one of the Samaritans when He saw that he was healed, returned him with a loud voice, glorified God, and fell down on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks." So to give glory to God is to give him thanks and to praise him. It's telling him how great he is. It's telling him how good he is. It's telling him that he alone does wondrous and excellent things. Giving him glory, expressing yourself to him in this way, telling him how much you appreciate him for who he is and for what he has done for you, this glorifies God. At this time, therefore, I would like to set before you three reasons why you should give glory to God at this Thanksgiving season. And these are things which you should praise and thank God for personally, as a Christian, because Christ himself has helped you, even as he has helped the Samaritan. God has helped you spiritually in Christ, in giving you all the blessings in the heavenly places in him. So let's consider these truths and think of how we might put them into practice in our own personal life. First of all, Give glory to our God that he always will have mercy upon you when you cry to him. Verses 11 to 13. Now Jesus's ministry was to all kinds of people who had very great needs. In this passage, we see that at one point in his ministry, he came into a certain village near Samaria and Galilee, and there were 10 men who had leprosy, who were standing a long ways off, the text says, from Jesus, and they were crying out, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. So they did believe in him when they're calling him Master, And it will be good if you and I can ask ourselves the question whether we know what leprosy is. Well, we don't see it much anymore in our day. Leprosy, that is, although it does exist in some places in the world. Leprosy is an infectious disease that causes really bad skin sores that break out sometimes all over your body. It can cause nerve damage in your arms, your legs, and skin areas all over your body. The disease has been around since ancient times, very ancient times, and outbreaks of it have affected people on every continent of the world. It isn't entirely known how the disease spreads. Some forms of it are worse than others. But in Jesus's day, there were many people who had it, and their doctors did not know how to cure it. And so here were these 10 men, and they had heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, coming through Samaria. And the moment he came into their village, here these leprous men were, calling out to him to help them. And they knew that they had to stand a long, ways off from Him because they knew that their disease was in some way contagious. That's why they had been isolated. And yet they knew they needed to cry out to Him that He might cure them and that He might heal them. I hope that you realize that this is the way that it always is when you have a disease that no man can cure. You must cry out to God. It glorifies God that you cry out. And I want you to turn with me over to Psalm 34, where I'll read you verses 1 to 6. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast. in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to him and were radiant and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out and the Lord heard him. and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear him and delivers them." It says here. Well, that's always the way that it is when you become a person of praise. It's an inviolable principle in the economy of God. If you resolve to praise Him and to give thanks to Him in everything, if your soul makes its boast in the Lord, When you seek Him, He hears you and delivers you from all your fears. You look to Him and are radiant. Now, if you look to Him, by the way, you cannot be sad and downcast all of the time. Because when you do seek Him, He hears you and He delivers you. from all of your fears. Even when you see yourself as poor and needy, when you look to Him, you will become radiant with joy. When you cry out to Him, He saves you out of all your troubles. He is the faithful, prayer-hearing, covenant-keeping God to His people. In verses 17 to 19 of the same chapter 34 of the Psalms, David says, the righteous cry out and the Lord hears them and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit. It says, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." So when we're greatly troubled by what we're going through, even if we have a broken heart over our own sin, or over the troubles that we've come into because of someone else's sin, we must remember to cry out to God. And will you not learn to thank Him for His help when you cry out to Him, when you receive His help, telling Him that He is faithful, even when you are faithless? Don't let a root of bitterness spring up in your heart, but pursue peace with all men, like it says there in Hebrews chapter 12, and holiness. without which no one will see the Lord. As it says in Hebrews 12, 15, you should look carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by this many be defiled. You see, sometimes the waters of your life may become bitter because of experience that you've had in the past. But you don't have to be bitter, because you have Christ in your heart. And I want you to turn with me over to Exodus chapter 15, and verses 22 to 26, and see what it says here. Exodus chapter 15, and verse 22, it says, So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there. The waters were bitter, and therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, what shall we drink? So he cried out to the Lord, And the Lord showed him a tree, and when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. And there he made a statute and an ordinance for them. And there he tested them and said, if you will diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight. Give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes. I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you. Jehovah Rapha is what it is there in the Hebrew. The Lord who heals you. Now you will notice here that the children of Israel did not cry out to God themselves, but fortunately they had a leader, Moses, who did. And Moses, it says, cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, and he took the tree, and he threw it into the waters, it says, and they became sweet. That is, they became sweet enough to drink. What's this a picture of? Well, the tree is the spiritual picture of what Christ would come to do, to suffer and to die on the cross, to bear our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live to righteousness. But it's also the picture of Christ healing the waters of your personal experience. Dear Christian, He takes that which is bitter, and by the efficacy of His cross, and what He has done at the cross, He applies that to your life in the form of grace. He takes that which would be bitter in your life, and He makes it sweet by His presence, His power, His love, His grace, and His working in your life. Now you need to give Him glory that this is so. You need to give Him thanks that God is the one who can restore your soul. So that the waters of your life are not bitter, but rather are made sweet by Christ's presence, His power, His love, and His grace. He can give you grace which is so sufficient that you will see his power perfected in your weakness. Secondly, give glory to our God that when you have obeyed him, that he cleansed you. Verses 14 to 16 say, So when Jesus saw the lepers, he said to them, Go show yourselves to the priests. And so it was, as they went, that they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned him with a loud voice, glorified God. Now you'll notice here that the Lord Jesus did not need to physically touch any of these ten men to heal them. He merely gave them commandment to go show themselves to the priests, and it says, on the way, then they were healed. As they went, they were cleansed, it says. So they were healed of their leprosy immediately. And this is the same way it is when anyone obeys and believes and obeys the gospel, when they obey the gospel. When a person obeys the gospel concerning Christ, when they receive his good word to them concerning what he has done for them, as sinners, they are immediately cleansed of all their sins. But it's also important that they will come to a church of God's people. It's important that they talk with the leaders of the church, the local church, to have their cleansing verified, as it were, by a pastor in God's people, You don't need to be afraid of this, because those who know the Lord will have a real love and concern for you, for the reality of your being cleansed and healed of the great disease of sin. People in the local church need to be concerned for those who come into their midst and who say that they have believed in Christ. We need to say, has your disease been healed? You see, you can be a helper of people's faith in that way. You're not a priest. The Lord Jesus himself is your great high priest, but it's good to show yourself to the leaders of the church. And that day, Old Covenant commandment concerning the cleansing of any leper was that they go and show themselves to the priest. And what Christ did, but he was coming to fulfill the law, and he was our great high priest. Now I want you to turn with me over to Leviticus chapter 14, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus chapter 14. And I want to read you the first seven verses, this unusual pictorial typical passage luke 14 verse 1 then the lord spoke to moses saying 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 examine him. And if indeed the leprosy is healed in the leper, then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed, watch this, two living and clean birds, cedarwood, scarlet, and hyssop, and the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dip them, and the living bird, in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water, and he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean. Wow, that's really amazing. And then it says, shall let the living bird loose in the open field. So we need to understand that this procedure of examination by the priest represents what Christ personally does, what Christ personally did as the high priest of his people, and does for any polluted sinner who has the sores and wounds, the leprosy of sin, and has been made clean by him. You see, only Christ can cleanse you from the guilt and shame of your sin and heal you of the wounds and sores of sin. So we need to give thanks to God that Christ fully represented in his person and his sufferings the things which were pictorially represented here by the two living and clean birds and then the one dying, but the priest taking the cedarwood, the scarlet, and the hyssop The two birds represent, by the way, if we want to dig into this a little bit, the two natures of Christ, the human and the divine, and is one blessed person. And because of this, our faithful High Priest was fully equipped to accomplish our redemption. His, like the cedar, pictures in metaphorical language the power of an endless and indestructible life. He was God the Son, and He took upon Himself our nature, except without sin. The two birds, therefore, represent His going to the cross as the God-Man. And what He did there by His sufferings was what the priest was representing in his dipping the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed. In other words, the value of his sufferings and the efficacy or the power of his sufferings was established by his being God the Son. And yet he must needs really and actually suffer in our place in order to bear our sins and in order to purchase our redemption, in order to his being able to cleanse us. by His precious blood. Hebrews chapter 9. Verses 11 to 14, but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come with a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. That is not of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood. He entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ through the eternal spirit offered himself to God cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Well, the scarlet that this priest had represents the sufferings of Christ and the blood that was shed to cleanse us. The hyssop plant leaves tied to a stick. dipped in the blood of the sacrifice, were used by the priest to sprinkle the person who had been leprous. And this was to represent the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. In the priest's actions, he would take the living bird, the cedar, the scarlet and the hyssop, and put them all together and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. It says in 1 John chapter 5 that Christ came by water and blood. He came as a clean vessel. pure in his heart and mind, and righteous in his words and actions. And he died for our sins, he died for our cleansing, and he rose again so that we would be set free from sin and be able to be cleansed not only initially at the time of our conversion, but all through our life when we are polluted by any sin. Now, I want you to see here, this is why the Samaritan man, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God. He was free from the disease of leprosy. He was so thankful to be healed, and he simply had to express his thankfulness and his joy, his holy exuberance, over being made clean again. He fell down on his face, it says, at Jesus' feet, and he gave him thanks. Now let me ask you, if you have been cleansed in this way that we're talking about here, if you give thanks, if you've been cleansed of your sins, that you give thanks in this way to the living risen Christ, the one who loved you and gave himself to die for you so that you can have a clean heart and a new heart and be free from the leprosy of sin. When you know that you've been made clean, you should want to do what this leper did, this very thing, this cleansed leper, this Samaritan, did, he gave glory to God. And giving glory to God is giving thanks. That's what I want you to see here. Verse 17, you see that Jesus says here, we're not their ten cleansed, but where are the nine? You see, Jesus wanted them to return and give thanks. He didn't command them to do so, but he just expected that since they had been cleansed that they would be just like this man who did turn back, who did come back, and who did express his thanks in this way. Jesus says, weren't there not found any who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? And he said to him, arise and go your way, your faith has made you well. It's a very sad thing in one sense, is it not? That Jesus healed 10 leprous men and only one came back to thank him for what he had done. He makes specific mention of this, I think, for that reason. And it's so very important Dear Christian, that if your faith is real, and it is real, as a true Christian, it's so important that you thank God for what He has done for you. That's glorifying God. That's giving glory to Him. That's expressing to Him in the most profound way that you can. You are declaring your thanks to Him. for what He has done for you, what He's presently doing for you, all that He will do for you in the future because of His faithfulness. You see, this glorifies God, I'm saying, when you give thanks to Him. That's what Jesus is saying here. That's what He's looking for. God is not an unfeeling God. He is not an unmoved mover. But God has the most exalted, if you will, of feelings which are past our comprehension, that are not like our feelings that ebb and flow. But God nevertheless loves it when you turn back and give thanks to Him for what He has done for you. He wants you to do this. He expects you to do this. He is looking for you to do this. And you should see this this afternoon and learn if you have not expressed yourself to this way in the Lord Jesus and to God the Father that you would do so. But it even goes somewhat deeper than that. Some people are more interested in the healing of their body. than they are the cleansing of their heart. And this is the reason that Jesus says to this man, go your way, your faith has made you well. Now that's the only way a person is saved, by faith. And it must be the exercise of your faith. It is true that faith is the gift of God, but you must exercise it. And when you exercise it, then you come to have the first degree of assurance, which is the assurance of faith. Over time, you're gonna have the assurance of hope that will come to you. When you're doing and keeping the commandments of God and you love God and the fruit of the Spirit's seen in your life, you look at that and you realize that that's not the old you, that that's Christ that's given you the grace to show forth love and joy, peace and patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, self-control, gentleness. See, that's what it means. I'm saying some people are more interested in their body than they are in their soul. But you and I, who are Christians, we need to be very much concerned about our soul, and we also need to be concerned about the souls of other people, so that we can learn to encourage them, strengthen them, and help them. In regard to the things we're talking about here, that God is faithful, and we need to praise him for it. And we need to express our thanksgiving to him, as I've been saying all day today, over and over to him, day by day to him, so that we might be strong Christians, so that we might be joyful Christians, so that our witness will be a true one to them. And they'll say, you know, I see something different about you that I don't have in myself. And that's God's doing. And you're thankful for it. But you see, you do know God's promise of what he will do for you, even in the midst of bodily ailments, physical difficulties that you're gonna face in your life, sometimes when you don't feel joyful, when it hurts all over and you can't do anything about it. You know God's promise, Psalm 34, 19, that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. And you say, well, what about death? Well, even death is your being delivered out of your affliction into eternal life and into the very presence of God. So how thankful should we be for that? That if you're a true Christian, you should not fear death, but look forward to it, because you are going to eternal glory, where the moment that you die, you will step into eternity and see the face of your loving Savior. and you will know why you should have given him or why you did give him thanks. Great thanks for everything that he did for you. In Psalm 103, verses one to four, it shows you how you can give thanks. It says, bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. So God is watching over us faithfully all throughout our life, and he does all of these good things for your soul and body. And finally, when you die, he heals you completely of all of your diseases, completely and forever. And that's why we can know that that verse is true, that's what he's going to do. And this should make us want to return and over and over again to thank him with a loud voice and glorify God and give him thanks. I pray that each of us will do this during this Thanksgiving season. Well, let's pray together. Lord, we thank you that we can take up this passage this afternoon and truly benefit from it in our heart and mind, realizing that you are the strength of our heart and our portion forever. And we praise you this day that you have given us grace to be able to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, to sit down with you someday, Lord Jesus, to sit on your throne with you and to extol you and praise you and to magnify your name forevermore. Oh, may it begin now with us, dear Lord. May it begin now in our hearts and may it continue on all through our life so that we become people of praise and thanksgiving that no one can contradict and which we ourselves will eternally benefit by. We pray it and ask it in your precious name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Well, let's, in closing, sing hymn number 98, Father of Peace and God of Love. I think this tune is somewhat unfamiliar to us, but it's not hard. So if you could play through it once for us, I think that would be good. Let's stand together and sing hymn number 98. All right, here we go. Father of grace and God of love, we own thy power to save, that power by which our shepherd rose victorious o'er the grave. Him from the dead Thou brought again, When by His sacred blood Confirmed and sealed forevermore, The eternal covenant stood. O may Thy Spirit seal our souls, And hold them to Thy will, That our weak hearts no more may stray, But keep Thy covenant still. Let's do this a cappella. that all we think and all we do be pleasing in Thy sight. Through Jesus Christ to whom be praise in endless glory bright. Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. And all of God's people said, Amen. You are dismissed. May you have a happy Thanksgiving.