Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? I am already gone His grace hath all me saved thus far And grace will lead me home I'm shining as my son, with all that's left to say. I am so glad that our Father in heaven knows of His love in the book He has given. Wonderful things in the Bible I've seen. This is the dearest that Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves even me. Though I forget him and wander away, still he doth love me wherever I stray. Back to his dear loving arms would I flee. Can I remember that Jesus loves me? I'm so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. I'm so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves even me. Oh, if there's only one song I can sing When in His beauty I see the great King This shall my song in eternity be Oh, what a wonder that Jesus loves me I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. Jesus loves me. I am so glad that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves even me. O happy day that fixed my choice, on thee my Savior am I gone. O may this glowing heart rejoice, until its rapture's all o'errun. Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away. He taught me how to watch and pray, and live rejoicing every day. Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away. Oh, happy bond that seals my vows, to him who merits all my love. The cheerful anthems fill his house, while to that sacred shrine I move. Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away. He taught me how to watch and pray, And they're rejoicing every day Happy day, happy day When Jesus washed my sins away He's done the great transactions done I am my Lord's and He is mine He drew me and I followed on Joined to confess the voice divine Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away. He taught me how to watch and pray, and live rejoicing every day. Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away. I heard this song played the other day again, and I just love the words to it because if you're a Christian, you can just visualize everything in this song, so. ♪ I have seen my last tomorrow Sweet world of sorrow My new life begins with death I am standing on the mountain I can hear the angels' song take my hand Lord lead me home all my burdens are behind me I have prayed my final prayer don't you cry over my body. That ain't me lying there. No, I am standing on the mountain. I can hear the angels' song. over Jordan take my hand Lord lead me home I am standing on the mountain I can hear Take my hand, Lord, lead me home Yes, take my hand, Lord, lead me home Youth group, special, we thank you for that. And thankfully, we have those that will stand up and give praises to God for who he really is to us. We are glad to have Brother Smith with us again this morning, Brother Adam Smith. Glad to have him be back to speak for us again. And we do welcome here and his family. And pray God bless him upon his travel. We do want to just say that we are the Emanuel Missionary Baptist Church here in Old Town, Kentucky. This is our Sunday broadcast, and we use these as our Sunday programs as we continue on here. And we're very thankful for those who do tune in on the radio over sermon audio. We have these measures go out throughout the world, many places we do not know. But we do know that these measures reach faraway places. We're thankful for that. But today, we do want to Again, just be thankful for what God has done for us here at Emmanuel for these many years, and pray God we'll continue to bless. Brother Smith, you come and you preach the word that God has laid on your heart. I'm certainly happy to be back with you all this morning. I've been looking forward to it. Certainly you all have been in our prayers and will continue to be in our prayers. Really appreciate that singing. If you have your Bibles, we're going to go to Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter 17. We're going to begin reading in verse 11. And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go, show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, 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. And Jesus answering said, where were there not 10 cleansed, but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. I think this is a fairly popular passage of scripture, but it's one of those that we read it and we go, oh, that's nice. These 10 lepers were ill, and we're gonna break down what all that meant here in just a moment, and then they were cleansed, but then we see that As they turned away, as they were instructed to do, to go and to show themselves unto the priests, as they turned away to go do that, they were healed. But then what we find, and this is not a very good statistic, that 1 out of 10, so 10%, even bothered to stop and to return to give thanks to the Lord for their healing. Because what they had in leprosy was a death sentence. They were walking dead people. They were literally rotting and dying. And there was no cure, as we'll see here in just a moment. But during this period of Jesus' journeys, Which, honestly, it begins back in chapter 9, in verse 51, when it's recorded that he moved into the direction of Jerusalem. And these were the final months of Jesus' life. He was on his way to Jerusalem to do what he came to earth to do, right? But he's making his way to Jerusalem. This is not in any way a direct route. But he's making this path because this is what he was to do. And it's taking months, actually, for him to finally arrive for the last time here in Jerusalem, which that is in chapter 19, which is just a couple chapters over in verse 28. He'll go into Jerusalem through Jericho in the 18th chapter. So we're very close to that particular and wonderful and great moment. During this time of months and months of ministry, there were healings, miracles, casting out of demons. He did a lot of things. We're just looking at an example here of what he had been doing up until this time and as he makes his way towards Jerusalem. And what we find here, and we're going to break down this story in the simplest of elements, and I think it describes every Christian. We were outcasts, just as these lepers were outcasts. You get diagnosed with leprosy, you lost everything. You lost your job. You could no longer go and work because you were not allowed to be around society anymore. You lost your job. You lost your home. You lost your family. And you were told to go and live amongst the other lepers in a leper colony because you were to be around no one else that did not have it. They were trying to prevent the spreading of this extremely terrible disease. So this is what these lepers were facing. This is their reality. We have them here clustered in a group of 10 because they were to be around nobody else. And that brings us to verse, let's go to Isaiah chapter 51 here before we start breaking this down. We're going to think about their condition a little bit. Now Isaiah chapter 51, As we think about these lepers, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 51 verse 1, hearken to me that ye follow after righteousness, that ye seek the Lord, look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit which ye are digged. So remember where you came from. Now the problem is, we just read in our opening text, 9 of the 10, went on their way. They wanted to go show and present themselves to the priests in order to be declared clean because they, let's be honest, they just wanted to get back to their life, didn't they? Hey, I'm clean. I don't have leprosy anymore. I can go back to my home. I can go back to my family. I can go back to my job. I don't have to separate myself. I am no longer dead, essentially. That's their new reality. Problem is, the nine of them were more than happy to take the healing, weren't they? I'll take it. You want to heal me? Wonderful. You want me to go present myself? I'll do that. But only one stopped and saw and recognized and returned to give God the praise, the honor, and the glory for it. How many Christians do we know that are more than happy? Pray for me, I'm sick. they get healed and God blesses and they don't give God the praise for it. I was reading a little bit of Spurgeon a little while ago in regards to this and he kind of brought up the same thing, you know, people will be baptized, they'll take and take and take and ask and ask and ask, but when it comes to giving praise, where's that? It's a summary of a pretty long paragraph of what Spurgeon actually had to say about this particular passage. I love Isaiah 51. Remember where you came from, because it is extremely important. We were once dead in trespasses and sins, but we have been made alive through Christ. Remember where you came. That's why we're to preach the gospel, because we remember where we were. And we're to share the gospel of what Christ has brought us from and out of. So remember what God has done for you. I know we've heard stories of leprosy and the horror stories of having it there in biblical times. And under Mosaic law, they were declared unclean. And actually our school, at least in the Cincinnati area, several schools, but our school last week, Monday through Wednesday, we had to close our school because of the flu, type A. Thankfully, we never got it so far, but a lot of teachers had it, and a lot of students had it. In fact, there were still 70 kids just at the elementary who were still out sick with it on Friday, and several got sent home. So it's been pretty bad in our area. We were out, but I worked. I was at work. It was a Wednesday, and the high school principal had been sick with it Monday and Tuesday. I think she was sick with it on Sunday as well, and I went downstairs for something. And she was there, and she started coughing, and I went, oh, I'm clean. I'm clean. And she started laughing. I said, I'm preaching about that on Sunday. That's why it's on my mind. So I better explain myself, right? I don't want to get sent to HR or anything. You'll find I like to joke. So you have these lepers who are declared unclean. They're not fit for anything. Again, they can no longer live with their families. If you go to Numbers 5, it's laid out for, especially there in verses 2 and 3, about camp of every leper, every one that hath an issue and whosoever is defiled by the dead. Verse 3, both male and female shall ye put out without the camp. shall ye put them that they defile not their camps in the midst whereof I dwell." And then if you jump to Leviticus 13.45, it says, "...and the leper in whom the plague is." And that's what I was calling the flu last week. We shut our school down for the plague. His clothes shall be rent and his head bare and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip and shall cry unclean, unclean. So not only are you separated from everybody, if anybody even gets remotely in your area, in your vicinity, you are to shout unclean. You're just to point it out to everybody so everybody knows. Can you imagine having that in your mind all of the time. You have to shout unclean to keep anyone from approaching you. So this contagion would not spread any farther. So to be a leper meant no intimacy with anyone, no friendship with anyone other than other lepers. Can you imagine how thrilling it must be to hang out with other lepers who are on a death sentence. It's not going to be the best of times. There's not going to be a lot of rejoicing there, right? They're just waiting to die. So you lost everything, your family, your job, your money. Everything's gone. That's just a picture of us, right? Just the walking dead. There's nothing a leper could do. There was no cure. There was no magic pill for them. They were just to separate themselves. When we were born into sin, we were separate from God. Dead and trespasses and sins, there's not one thing we could do to pay that sin debt, to cure that sin debt. There's not one thing we can do. Nothing. There's not a certain amount of good works you can perform. How many, baptism's not going to do it, the Lord's Supper's not going to do it. Those things do not save you. Those things are for after you are saved. Those are pictures, those are ordinances that Christ gave and I know you all are partaking of that and I think, I know you had announced that but I'd forgotten and then I was reminded about it today that you were going to do that tonight. This is, I guess, kind of appropriate because it's a picture of what Christ has done and we're talking about what Christ has done in regards to this passage here in Luke chapter 17. What an awful way to live. Now Eaton's Bible dictionary says of the disease that leprosy was the outward and visible sign of the innermost spiritual corruption. It's an internal disfigurement spiritually, like the lepers, external disfigurement that they were dealing with. So we too were outcasts and had nothing, could offer nothing. What are we to offer, Christ? Hey, come save me. What do we got to offer? We have nothing. We're deader than a doornail spiritually. guy I used to know who he preached his father's funeral a number of years ago. He was telling me about it. And his dad was in the church and he was in the casket up in the front and he went down and he went and tweaked his dad's nose during the funeral. And he said, what's my dad going to do? There's literally nothing he can do because he is dead. And he went on to present the gospel. There is nothing you can do whatsoever. It is by the grace and the mercy of Christ that we have salvation. That's it. He didn't look at us, spiritual lepers, and say, oh, you know, I like that. What's to like? He just showed us mercy. We're dirt. We're worse than dirt. But notice here in our text. As Jesus passed through the midst of Samaria, the Jews and the Samaritans will just say they did not get along. They did not like one another. But Christ is making his way through here. And he entered into a certain village. And we have these 10 lepers. But notice how these 10 lepers presented themselves here. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. Master, did you notice that? I find that to be kind of interesting. Of all the words they might have chosen, they chose master. It's only used in this particular Greek word here, and it's all Greek to me. I don't really pronounce those words very well. But this particular word, epistats, it is used only by Luke in here, and it's only other instance where someone other than his followers refers to Christ in this way. So this is it. One of very few times this particular word is used. It's a word that I think has a lot of weight to it. It's a word of honor, master. As you come tonight to observe the Lord's Supper, you're coming to the master, the one who made it all possible. In fact, this word speaks of someone who has notable authority, not just some level of authority, but something notable, notable power. It's something that people have made note of. The word has spread. People have heard about it. It's miraculous power, and that's why this word is used to apply it to Christ. Because these lepers, doctors said, there's nothing we can do. Families said, there's nothing we can do. You're going to have to separate yourselves and go and just wait to die. But they, I'm sure, had heard during these months and months of ministry what Christ had done to other lepers, to others who were dead and he had raised from the dead, other sicknesses he had healed. He had this notable notoriety and power, this authority. He was doing things that no one else could do, and they had heard about it. They knew his reputation, I guess we could put it that way. This was their only hope. This was their only chance. They had no way out of their dilemma. There were no cures. There were no solutions. I always like to think of solutions. I don't know. You get presented a problem. You never know what a day may bring forth. Sometimes you have to be creative, especially when I was working elections and something was happening and you've got to think outside the box a little bit. like to think of solutions. Well this is one where there's just there's no way of thinking yourself out of it. There's no shortcut one can take or miracle pill that one could take. They came to the only person that could do absolutely anything about their condition. They had exhausted every every option and they knew that this master the Lord Jesus Christ could be the one to heal them. And notice they call him master, but they ask or they plead for something. Have mercy on us. So they cry out for mercy. Have you ever cried out for mercy? Have you ever been sick enough, laying in a hospital or laying in a bed of affliction and you just cry out, have mercy on me, please heal me, help me. I've been pretty sick before where I'm like, I don't know, I'm pretty bad off. Help me, please, somebody help. Maybe you've been in a car wreck and you're just pleading for help. That's what they're doing here. Have mercy. His power and his compassion was very widely known and they were absolutely 100% aware of it and they are crying out to him for healing. Romans chapter 5, you know, so often we like to think we're sufficient. We have, we're born in this flesh with a lot of pride and we like to think and pride ourselves and I'm a self-made this that or the other and I did this and I did that and How far are you gonna get if God turns the oxygen off? Brother Pyle always used to say that. You get so full of yourself, well, what are you gonna do if God turned the oxygen off? You're not gonna last very long. We look to him for absolutely all things. When you look at these 10 lepers and the healing they got, you know, the sun shines down on the just and the unjust. I mean the lost are blessed by God every day and they give him zero credit for it. The sun shines on their face, his air, they breathe his air, they eat his food, he's given them clothing and housing and everything that this earth has to offer. God has given it to them but they don't love him, they don't care, they don't believe in him, they don't want him. One day, one day he's going to return. And even the most staunchest, most stubborn of atheists, I find it interesting, atheists who don't believe in God, they are the most militant about it. They get so mad and so angry, don't they? How dare you Christians? And they go out of their way to be mean and angry and obnoxious to Christians. And, oh, you use religion as a crutch? Yeah. Is that supposed to be an insult? Yeah, I'm leaning on the everlasting arm. Yeah, go on with whatever it is you're doing and when the Lord comes back and these final judgments come, what are you going to do? You have nothing to lean on except your unrighteousness and you'll be cast into the lake of fire. Yeah, okay, they mean to insult us but in fact I think it's a compliment to what Christ has done. Yeah, I'm not relying on myself. You're right, I'm not. But notice here in Romans chapter 5, Verse six, for when we were yet without strength, in due time, I love that, at the right time, at the right place, it was all the plan all along. As often as they wanted to kill Christ, they hated Him so much, they wanted to throw Him off a cliff. We could go read that verse if we had time to do so, but they wanted Him gone, but in due time, He did all that He needed to do in His earthly ministry. And at the right time, he was led to Calvary, died on the cross, and rose again. All according to plan, all on God's timeline. It didn't matter who rose up against him and wanted him dead. It didn't matter who tried to stop him, who wanted to throw him off a cliff. It was accomplished. We can fast forward to the verse where Christ said, it is finished. He did it. All the way to the cross. accomplished what God has sent him to accomplish. So in due time, I love that. Christ died for who? The ungodly, the spiritual lepers. That was us. We were spiritual lepers. We were just like these ten lepers here in Luke chapter 17. Here in the Greek, to be without strength means to be absolutely, totally helpless. Refers to humanity's spiritual condition before salvation, we could do nothing. Completely powerless to save ourselves. How's a dead man supposed to save himself? You can't. It's like when Christ came and Lazarus was dead and he had been dead, what, four days? And they said, behold, he stinketh. What's Lazarus gonna do? And of course, his sisters were, where were you? We waited for you. We called for you days ago. And if you go back a few verses, Christ says, well, he just, he sleepeth and we'll get there. And he tarried on purpose, right? To prove a point that he was Christ. And it didn't matter that Lazarus was dead. Christ was gonna raise him from the dead anyway. So did Lazarus, was he able to raise himself from the dead? Now, what happened? Christ came and said, Lazarus. Now, if Christ had come forth, a whole multitude of people could have come right out of their graves. But he said Lazarus, that shows the personal salvation. This was a particular calling for one person that particular day, Lazarus, who was dead and stunk and was decaying. And Lazarus came out and he had his grave clothes on and those came off. Christ took care of all of it. He was once 100% dead and now 100% alive again. Isn't that amazing? That's how salvation works, 100% spiritually dead and 100% made alive, quickened as the Bible, the word used there, quickened, made alive. But helplessness, it's not always just about physical weaknesses or limitations. I'm talking from a spiritual standpoint. There's been plenty of times I've been physically weak. I'm sure we've all been physically helpless from time to time. But we need to realize, we need to understand, we need to tell others and show others that spiritually, you're helpless. You can't do it. Christ's death was not for the righteous or the strong, but for us, the ungodly, who could do nothing. That's just His grace. I love that in due time. I can't stress that enough. In Luke chapter 17, back in our text, we'll read verse 14. And when he saw them, isn't that nice that he didn't just ignore them? He would have been just to just let everybody march right down into hell. He didn't have to save anyone. We're all guilty and 100% deserve eternal punishment, every single one of us. But he looked and wrote before the foundation of the world, the book of life, those who he would save and he didn't have to do that. Election is almost a lost doctrine anymore, but it is literally in the Bible. The word is in the Bible and people have to choose to ignore it. But he looked through before the foundation of the world and God the Father chose who would receive this gift of salvation that no one deserved, but he saw mercy and showed grace to a select few. So he saw them. He looked over and had compassion on them. How often do we look right past people? Just look right by them. You know, we're to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Are we looking at people? Are we paying attention? Christ saw them, and it wasn't just enough to see them, notice, and he said unto them, He saw them, he acknowledged them, he recognized them, he saw their need, he knew it. He knew it was going to happen that day anyway. But he saw them, he heard them, and he said unto them, go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. So this compassion of Christ that he had on them and told them to go and present themselves to the priests as the law commanded. That's exactly what they were supposed to do. The priest would go and inspect them and give them a clean bill of health. Can you imagine being that priest that particular day? You had already seen them and declared them unclean and told them, you gotta go. And now here they come, not one, Not two. Eventually ten of them. Nine of them come right away to go and show themselves. But here comes ten of them? That's an amazing thought too. Not just one, but ten. It just goes to show his Compassion is limitless. His abilities are limitless. It doesn't matter the number or the amount of sin and transgression that we have. He is capable of taking care of all the sin for all of his people. He has no limits. His love, his compassion, his grace and mercy have no limits. I just couldn't help but think, imagine that priest. What happened? How did this happen? You guys were dead. I never expected to see you again." And here they are 100% physically whole. It's an amazing thing. We could read in Leviticus 14 too about bringing themselves to the priest. But as they begin their journey, they were cleansed. They were told to go and as they went on their journey, they were cleansed. Can you imagine all of the sudden? The pain and the torture and probably the stench of the rotting flesh and all that was part of having leprosy as you started walking to the priest, you started getting better. And all of a sudden you're made whole. I don't smell like rotting flesh anymore. My body's not decaying. My arms, the sores and the decaying and everything that was happening to their bodies. I can't help but imagine they were like, Where'd all the pain go? Where'd all the sorrow go? I would imagine the emotional trauma that they were experiencing having that disease, and I'm sure they were worried about not just their own physical well-being, but their families. Maybe they had kids and wives, and they had to leave it all. And now they're all better. The shock and amazement that they would have I'm sure they were hightailing it as fast as they could to the priest so they could get back to their lives that they had lost. It's a stunning, shocking, and compelling event. And the word used, cathares, means nothing was left. Not one little bit of that disease remained. 100% eliminated, taken away, and healed. In verse 15 of Luke 17, and one of them, so they all were on their way and they all were made whole, and one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and with a loud voice glorified God. So here it is, the significance of this is 1 out of 10 stop to give thanks to God. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. You'll find that about me. It is my favorite. I love it. It is Rachel's grandmother's favorite holiday. When we would have Thanksgiving with them, she would have index cards with Bible verses all over the place, all around the table at all the place settings, and we would go around and read them and share what we were thankful for. We just love Thanksgiving. Often, even people of the world will say, I'm just so thankful. They may not be the least bit Christian, religious, nothing. go about their time, they have nothing to do with God, they don't go to church, they are not saved, and they'll say, oh, I'm just thankful. To who? For what? Often when someone that doesn't believe in God says they're thankful, really they're just thankful to themselves, that they worked and have the stuff that they have, and what good is all that, being thankful to yourself, when all of that honestly could be taken away in an instant? One stock market crash, one car wreck, one illness, people lose everything. God gave you what you have, even the very breath that we have. But this guy stopped in his tracks, does an about face, does a 180. Full of joy, I can imagine the amazement that was in his heart and in his mind, full of wonder, trying to process what's going on. He understood the implications of what had just happened to him being made whole, and he could not help himself but to turn around and go back and give Christ the praise. That is how we're to respond each and every single day. The fact that we're able to get up and get out of bed every morning is a blessing because not everybody has that. I try to tell my kids that I don't want to do this and I don't want to do that, you know, too bad. The phrase I use a lot, it is what it is. Get up, be thankful you're able to get up. There are kids with cancer that can't get up. Maybe they're in the hospital. There are kids that can't go to school, can't go to church, can't be around other kids. For whatever reason, you're blessed, I'm blessed, we're all blessed. One of my favorite hymns is count your blessings because I think that's important because you're counting your blessings, you're too busy doing that, you won't count your problems, which is what I think we often are more hardwired to do than counting our blessings, right? It's easy to count our problems. Oh, my back hurts. My knees hurt. I have a headache. My wife says that a lot. I think it's me. I'm the headache. I figured that would get an amen. You'll get to know me. Don't worry. There's always something to complain about, right? You're too busy counting your blessings, you won't have time to think about the problems. But this guy started counting his blessings. I get to go home. I get to resume my life. I better thank Christ. Because if He hadn't come by and He hadn't acknowledged me and listened to me and then responded to me, I wouldn't be alive. I wouldn't have all that I'm about to go have again. He understood it and He could do nothing but turn and go and glorify the author of His cure, right? The author and finisher of our faith. And He went to give Him the glory for it. Notice verse 16, and he fell down on his face. That is a sign of reverence. Getting down on your face, bowing down at Jesus' feet, giving Him thanks, not himself. He didn't say, well, good thing I did my part, right? He had no part. He couldn't do anything. Christ made him whole, right? So he got in the most humble and reverent posture that he possibly could get in and gave him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. From a Jewish perspective, he was the least likely to be healed. He was actually an outcast. The only reason he could even associate with the Jews was because he was a leper with the nine other ones. But the nine that left, they didn't care. The one guy, the Samaritan, the one stranger of the group, of all of the people to stop and give praise, the Samaritan did it. The Samaritans had a strange hybrid religion and Mount Gerizim that the Jews just absolutely despised. They had no relationship with them at all, but they were forced together in this misery of leprosy. And of all the people to stop and to give praise to Christ, it was the Samaritans. Surely no one would expect God to heal a Samaritan. I mean, come on. But not only did God heal one, but go to John chapter 4. John chapter 4, and we'll read in verse 39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified, and he told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them, and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word. And he said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. So Christ goes to lepers, and he goes to Samaritans. The lepers that everybody would assume they, I don't want to get anywhere close to them, just prefer to stay away from them. But also, I prefer to stay away from the Samaritans too, because I don't like them. They're outcasts. Christ went to both of them. And he went to one that had both of those things. What are we supposed to do? Go into all the world and preach the gospel. So he who was a stranger in Israel was the absolute only one that returned to give glory to God. Let's not be self-righteous. Let's not think more of ourselves. I bet those nine that ran away, the Jews, were just, they just probably thought they were better, still better than that guy. Can you imagine being in the same boat, but then all of a sudden you're healed and they still look down on him? Self-righteousness is a disease we need to bring under subjection. We need to ask God to help us. We're no better than anybody else because we're all in the same boat. Back in our text, Luke 17, verses 17 and 18. And Jesus answering said, were there not 10 cleansed, but where are the nine? So there's the title of my message this morning, but where are the nine? There are not found that return to give glory to God save this one. So we're not 10 cleansed. A cure by wholesale, a large group of folks cured 10 healed in one word, right? And one. Return, where are the nine? As I read that thing from Spurgeon, he kept just repeating that question, but where are the nine? But where are the nine? And you just go through other examples of just how often we can just fail to give God's praise. Where are the nine? Where are they that want to give praise to God? Why don't you want to give praise to God? What's stopping you from giving praise to God? And John 1 verse 11, it says, He came unto His own and His own received Him not. People just reject, reject, reject, reject, reject, constantly reject Christ. Let's not reject Him. Let's praise Him. Let's not forget to praise Him. Often I think we just, we're so caught up in the here and the now and what's going on right now that we just do not praise Him as we should. Let's look at verse 19. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Do we really perceive the ways that God has blessed us? I'm not hungry, I'm clothed, I have a home, I have two cars. Some people have none of those things. Talking about from the devotion this morning, the country that we live in, that we've been blessed with the freedoms, that we can come here. We don't have a government official padlocking the door or telling us how to worship God. We don't have a state-run religion. We can come and open God's word and preach what it says without fear of retaliation, not being thrown in prison. Do we understand what we have? If we did, I think we would act more thankful than we do. Be thankful. If you're thankful and you take the time to show thanksgiving, your heart's going to abound with love for the Lord and your relationship with Him. You're going to grow closer to Him. You're going to love Him more. And as a result, I think you'll serve Him better. But it starts with thanking Him, reading His Word, being prayerful, and drawing closer to Him. We're not drawing closer to Him as we should. And Proverbs 30. Proverbs 30 beginning at verse 7, we'll read through verse 9. Two things I have required of thee, deny me them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain. You know, being rich in the Lord, being rich isn't just having a bunch of money and a big house and a big fancy car. It's being rich in the Lord, having salvation, being a member of one of His churches, true churches that teach His word in truth and in love. That's being rich. So often we get fat in our worldly riches that we have, and as Americans, we have an abundance. And with that often comes us forgetting the Lord. We have so much stuff that we often just find ourselves forgetting the Lord. We see there in verse nine, lest I be fool and deny thee. Well, that happens more than I think we would want to admit in our own lives, in my life. So these ungrateful nine just kind of illustrate the general attitude of the Jews, but also I think us. Where is our praise and where are we in praise to him? In closing, Colossians 3. Colossians 3 verse 17. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." I try to remember this verse. I don't always succeed in doing so. If you have a bad day at work and you feel like you want to complain or mumble and grumble and wish I had things different or whatever the case may be, you want to protest something, I don't know. I try to think of this verse because I love how it says, whatsoever ye do, anything, whatever it is, your job, your family, whatever you're doing, you're out and about in this world, interacting with people, whatever it is you're doing, Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, not yourself, not your own personal gain. And what am I going to get out of this? And then when things don't go your way, you're complaining about it or whatever it is. And I'm just as bad as anybody. It's easy to complain. We got to give thanks to God because whatever he sends our way, whether it be blessing, whether it be something we may consider a trial or a tribulation or a trouble, he sent it our way or allowed it to take place in our lives for a purpose. It may be something good, it may be something that makes us uncomfortable, it may be something painful, but it's for our own good, and ultimately, we should give God the praise for it, and people should see us doing so, because we're to be different. And people should see us in the midst of a trouble or a trial and say, why isn't he complaining? Why isn't she complaining? Why is she happy? They have this going on in their lives, yet they're happy. They're going to church. I would shake my fist and ask God why, but they're not doing that. Often our actions speak a lot louder than our words and people are watching us more closely than you realize. Our kids are watching us more closely than you realize. They're listening more than we realize. So whatever we're doing, word or deed, do all and do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks. I need to do that better. I need to give thanks more. I think if we're all honest with ourselves, we all probably need to do that. But where are the nine? Let's not be one of the nine, running off, doing whatever it is we want to do. We'll take God's blessing, but we don't want to give Him the praise for it. Let's give Him the honor and glory. Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light, ♪ O'er the gated valley, in its blistering sea ♪ ♪ Day in time to be lonely, while the world wishes on me ♪ ♪ He is like heaven, He is like mercy ♪ ♪ There ain't time to be lonely ♪ ♪ Let Him be thy guide ♪ ♪ And when I'm in need of Him ♪ ♪ I'll let Him be my guide ♪ ♪ In joy or in sorrow ♪ ♪ That holds still the rest of your world ♪ ♪ There ain't time to be lonely ♪ ♪ You're deep in my soul ♪ ♪ Each time you call my name ♪ ♪ Deep in this control ♪ ♪ As you slip by the street in a band ♪ ♪ With you and your love ♪ ♪ Oh, send me some love ♪ We've never experienced diseases like these people have, but we've all got one disease called AIDS. And we're not able to pick her up and what she's just gone through for us. And we're thankful for our Savior. We thank the Lord for us. And we're off today. I pray, God, that this