Luke chapter 17, and tonight we want to look at the account of the healing of the 10 lepers. Luke chapter 17, and let's begin in verse 11. And it came to pass as he went to Jerusalem that he passed through the midst of Samaria in Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him 10 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 at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. And Jesus, answering, said, were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? They were not found that returned to give glory to God save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way, thy faith, have made thee whole. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this time in your word. We just pray that you would teach us and help each one of us, Lord, to apply this truth to our lives for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Here we have the account of the healing of the leper. This account appears only in the Gospel of Luke. And it's a very simple story that teaches us an important, but very simple lesson, and that is to be thankful. So we begin, Luke begins in verse 11, and he describes the direction where Jesus was heading. It says, and it came to pass as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. So after the Lord Jesus had He healed or raised Lazarus from the dead, we saw recently. Now he was heading into Jerusalem, and he was going to head through Samaria and Galilee. And Harry Ironside pointed out that he started off from the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, passing through the province of Galilee into Samaria, and then over the Jordan and down through Perea and onto Jerusalem. So after having raised Lazarus from the dead, the Lord Jesus was obviously, he went a little farther north to make this trip south once again. And he traveled through Samaria. Maybe if we can remember way back and early on in our study of the Gospels, the Lord Jesus made another trip through Samaria, only on that occasion it was to meet a woman from Samaria, a woman at the well. And, you know, we see throughout Jesus ministry, although his ministry was primarily to Israel at basic, it was it was to Israel all throughout the gospels. Yet even in Israel, the Lord Jesus always seemed inclined to reach out to Gentiles that happened to be in the nation of Israel at the time. And on several occasions, the Lord Jesus did something that really irritated the Jewish people. On several occasions, he mentioned that he had not found such great faith in Israel as he found in Gentiles that were residing there. And now he's going to say something very similar to that with respect to not a Gentile, but a half-Gentile, half-Jew, half-Gentile, a Samaritan. So here the Lord was making his way towards Jerusalem. And by the way, this would be the last time. He was about to be crucified. This is near the end of his earthly ministry, and he would soon face the cross, and he knew it. And so as he was on his way, we read in verse 12, as he entered into a certain village on his way to Jerusalem, there met him 10 men that were leopards, which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. So here these men saw Jesus and somehow they they came near to him. They were in a certain village. No name is given. We don't know what village it was. And it really doesn't matter what the name of the village was. It may not even be in existence anymore. What mattered. What matters is what happened there. And in that little insignificant village, the Lord Jesus traveled on his way to Jerusalem. And there he was met by a band of 10 lepers. And notice it says in these verses that they stood afar off. They stood afar off because they were lepers. They had a contagious disease, a deadly disease. And so they didn't want to draw near. So they stood afar off from the Lord Jesus and cried out to him. You know, the law of Moses required them to stand afar off from people. They weren't to have interaction in the cities or in the villages. They were ostracized. They were cast out. And that's what the law required. Turn back to Leviticus chapter 13 for a moment. Leviticus chapter 13, everyone's favorite chapter. Leviticus 13, and verse 45. And in verse 45, here we have a pronouncement by Moses as to how to deal with lepers in Israel. And the leper in whom the plague is, verse 45, his clothes shall be rent and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip and shall cry, unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him, shall he be defiled. He is unclean. He shall dwell alone. Without the camp, shall his habitation be so lepers were to wear garments that indicated such Their heads were to be bare. And when they came in contact with it, they were to dwell alone outside the camp. They couldn't go inside the society in the villages or in the cities. They had to dwell alone. The groups of lepers would travel in the wilderness by themselves. And when anyone came near, they were commanded by the law of Moses to cry unclean, meaning I'm unclean. Don't come near me. You'll catch a contagious and deadly disease. And so when a man had leprosy in those days, he was to live alone or with other lepers for the rest of his life. And he couldn't come in contact with anyone in society. It was a miserable life. It was a lonely life. It was a life of suffering and agony where they watched the skin of their hands just peel off and sometimes a whole finger would rot off or a hand. It was an awful disease. And because it was so deadly and because it was so contagious, obviously there were good reasons why God said they were not to mingle in the cities or in the villages. They were outcasts. And so when these men came to the Lord Jesus, because of their respect for Jesus and because of their respect for the law of Moses, they stood afar off from him so that the Lord would not, in their thinking, catch this disease. And notice in verse 13, back in Luke 17, in Luke 13, Luke 17 verse 13, they cried out to Jesus, Master. Now often this word in the New Testament when people address the Lord as Master, it is sometimes a translation of the word Lord, a term of respect. But here he used a different word. This term only appears in the Gospel of Luke, and it's only used as a term of address in the vocative. It's a way of addressing someone. Now, Luke doesn't use the word rabbi because his audience was primarily Gentile. So he didn't use that term, which was Jewish. He used another term that meant an authority figure. And so he used the term, it's translated master here, but the word means someone who is over someone else. It speaks of a commanding officer, someone who had authority. And so these lepers recognized, at least at one level, we don't know how deep this level went, what they understood, but they recognized that Jesus Christ had authority over them. And perhaps they understood, that he had authority over disease. Remember, this is the end of his ministry. And Jesus had been ministering in a very small country for three and a half years. And he had healed multitudes, thousands of people. And so the news of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the end of his ministry, had spread all throughout this country. And my guess is that even these lepers had heard about the Lord Jesus. And they recognized his authority. Maybe they recognized his authority over disease as well. And they called out for mercy. Now, when they asked the Lord for mercy, it's obvious what expression, what kind of mercy they were looking for. They wanted to be healed of their leprosy. And so they were asking the Lord Jesus to use that special authority that he had over disease to heal them. I think if any one of us were in that same boat, we would cry out for exactly the same thing. They cried out for mercy, that they would be healed of their leprosy. You know, it's likely that these 10 lepers had heard about another incident way back in Luke chapter 5. In Luke chapter 5, early on in the Lord's ministry, the Lord Jesus healed one leper. He healed one leper of leprosy. And while news didn't travel as fast in those days as it does in our day with cell phones and all the rest, we know something. Sometimes it seems before it even happens on those cell phones. But news did travel fast in those days. And so after three and a half years or so, these men had plenty of time for the news of that other leper that Jesus healed to get to them, even though they were near a small village outside of Jerusalem. And so these ten lepers came to the Lord Jesus with the hope of being healed, of receiving mercy from the Lord. Do you know there has never been a person on planet Earth who has ever cried out to God with a sincere heart for mercy and has not received it? Doesn't mean every person is healed. But it does mean that every person who cries out to God for mercy, God is aware of all the cries of all the people. And when someone cries to God in a sincere heart, he responds in one way or another. And that's because it's God's nature to be merciful. Psalm 25 says, remember, O Lord, thy tender mercy and thy loving kindness, for they have been ever of old. God's mercy has always been around. In Psalm 36, the psalmist says, thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens and thy faithfulness unto the clouds. God's mercy goes on as far as the eye can see. In Psalm 86, the psalmist said, for thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive plenty, plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee." So God's mercy is unto the heavens, it's everywhere, and it's unto all that call upon him. And I take God at face value when he said that. Now just think, these men with leprosy were not born with leprosy. They used to be in Jewish society, except for the Samaritan, perhaps. They knew the scriptures concerning God's nature. They knew that God was merciful. And they had certainly heard of God's mercy shown to sick all around the country of Israel. And so these men came to the Lord Jesus with an expectation and a hope of being cured and healed of their leprosy. They had no hope anywhere else. It was an incurable disease. And so it says, they lifted up their voices loudly because they were at a distance. They couldn't get close to the Lord. They cried out, Lord, listen to us. Have mercy upon us. And no one who has ever cried to the Lord in sincerity for mercy went away disappointed. Now notice the Lord's response in verse 14. And when he saw them, he, the Lord Jesus, said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed. So notice what Jesus told these men. They cried out for mercy, and Jesus said, go away. Go to the priest. You know, the only other recorded incident of the Lord healing a leper was in Luke chapter 5. Nowhere else in the Gospels do we have that. And in that situation, the Lord touched the leper. He touched him, which is an interesting way of healing him, because it was forbidden for a person to touch an unclean leper. But of course, when the Lord touched him, he wasn't unclean. So the Lord didn't violate the law. But he healed the other man of leprosy very differently. He touched that other man, but these 10 lepers he didn't touch. He sent them away to the priest. And perhaps those 10 lepers were a little disappointed at first. Maybe they wanted him to touch him. Maybe they wanted an instant healing of their disease. But God doesn't always heal in the same way. However, his words implied that they were going to be healed. And we'll see that in a minute. So why would Jesus send these men to the priest? Well, look back in Luke chapter 5, the other incident, Luke chapter 5 and verse 12. And it came to pass when he was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy. This was a mature outbreak of leprosy, who, seeing Jesus, fell on his face and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and he touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. And he charged him to tell no man, but go and show thyself to the priest. and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. So why did Jesus send the first leper to the priests? Well, to go through the ceremonial rituals and sacrifices so that he could be declared clean, but also for a testimony. So at the very beginning, the Lord Jesus healed one leper and sent him to the priest to be a testimony. Now, think of what leprosy is in the Bible. It's a type of sin. And it's a really good type of sin. There are so many analogies between the disease of leprosy and sin. Leprosy, like sin, is deeper than the skin. It is deeply rooted, deeply embedded in us. That's what sin is like. And just as a leper is infected with the disease, even though he may be unaware that he has it, so too sin infects every one of us, even those who claim they're not sinners. Because outside, their skin doesn't look as bad as the skin of someone else. And like sin, leprosy horribly disfigures the body. It destroys the body from the inside out. and leprosy is deadly. It's incurable. It spreads and it's deadly. And so on so many levels, leprosy is a good illustration or a good type of sin and what sin does to us. And so what would be a good illustration of salvation if someone were cured of leprosy, if someone were healed of leprosy? And that's exactly what the Lord Jesus did when he healed that one leper at the beginning of his ministry. He cured that incurable disease and he sent him back to the priest. For a testimony. Now, the priest would have been talking about this. Because as far as the text goes, nobody ever went back healed of leprosy, and nobody ever went back to a priest for this. So when that first priest had this leper come and he was cured, now he would have been trained. He would have been trained in the Old Testament. He would have known those scriptures. But it would have been a little rusty. Leviticus chapters 13 and 14, because he had never practiced it before. They had never gone through that ritual, that ceremony before, at least as far as the record goes. And let's look, turn back to Leviticus chapter 13, at the role of the priest. Leviticus chapter 13. in verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, when a man shall have in the skin of his flesh arising or a scab or a bright spot, and in it be the skin of his flesh, like the plague of leprosy, then he shall be brought unto Aaron, the priest, or unto one of his sons, the priest. So that was a requirement of the law. When someone had leprosy, they were to be sent to the priest. So that's exactly what Jesus did. to these lepers. And as you read through Leviticus chapter 13, the priest, when someone was sent, if they were expected, if it was. suspected that they had leprosy, they would be inspected by the priest and the priest would look them all over and he would look for the rash in verses nine through seventeen. He'd look for a swelling or whiteness of raw flesh. And after verse eighteen, he'd look for boils and burns, any visible sores on his skin and verses twenty nine to forty four. This was a lengthy This was a lengthy exam, and many of the priests knew how to do that because there were lepers all throughout history. And the role of the priest was to examine these men. And they did that often. But in Leviticus, chapter 14. Look in verse two, this is the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing, and he shall be brought unto the priest. And then there's an elaborate ritual and they have to examine the body and all the ceremonies and sacrifices and the two birds that were to be one was killed and one was sent away. There was an elaborate ceremony when someone came and they discovered that he was cured of his leprosy. But as far as the record goes, the priest never had to do that. Miriam was healed of leprosy, but her brother Moses took care of that. And then we had Naaman the Syrian, but he was a Gentile, so he wouldn't go to the Jewish priest. And in fact, in Luke chapter 4, Jesus said that in the days of Elijah, there were many lepers in Israel, but none of them were healed except for the Syrian, that non-Jew, Naaman. So while the Jewish priests had to learn all the rules and regulations concerning the cleansing of a leper, All throughout their history, as far as the Bible goes, the record goes, they never had to practice it. Because leprosy was incurable and none of the lepers were ever cleansed. Not until Jesus came on the scene. And then, as far as the record goes, when this first leper was healed, Jesus sent him back to the priest so the priest could get out Leviticus chapter 14, blow off the dust, and figure out what the method was to dealing with this. And that would have worked its way through all the priesthood. Something new had taken place. The leper had to have an offering sacrifice for him by the priest in Leviticus 14. Then he had to be sprinkled in the blood seven times, and there were sacrificial birds that were offered, and there was an elaborate ceremony. And then in verse 7 of Leviticus 14, the priest would finally declare, he's clean. The man who was unclean is now declared to be clean when he has gone through all the examinations, and he passed the examination, and he's gone through the ceremonial rituals, he is declared clean. Now, in Luke 17, the fact that Jesus sent these lepers back to the priest implied that they would be healed. They had already been to the priest the first time and were examined and were declared to be unclean and were cast out of society. So now they're going back a second time and the only reason a leper would go back to the priest was if he suspected that he might be clean, that the disease was gone, to be examined and to be declared clean. But it never happened before this. Now notice in Luke, chapter 17, in verse 14, it says, at the end of the verse, and it came to pass, as they went, they were cleansed. So Jesus didn't touch them like he touched the one at the beginning of his ministry. Rather, he said to all 10, go back to your priests. And as they did what Jesus said, as they were heading back to the priests along the way somewhere, we don't know at what point, but at some point, they were all cleansed. So these men came to the Lord Jesus. They called him the authority figure. over them, and perhaps even, they understood, over the disease. They didn't come proclaiming their goodness or worthiness before the Lord. They cried out for mercy and grace, which they didn't deserve. They recognized that God is full of mercy, and that was their only hope. They humbled themselves when they came before the Lord Jesus. They respected the law by standing afar off. And they likely had heard of that earlier leper who was healed by Jesus and were hoping that Jesus would heal them, too. But instead of touching them like he did earlier, he sent them to the priest. And even though they may have been disappointed initially, they did what he said. They obeyed. And as they went, in obedience to what Jesus said, they were all healed, all 10 of them. They were clean. And that's the only reason a leper would ever go back to the priest to be examined again if they thought they were clean. And these men were. And as they went, they recognized that their bodies, the skin was coming back to the way it should be. I can't imagine the joy that went through that little group of men as they saw each other and looked at their hands and their arms and their legs and who knows what other kind of disfigurements that they had. They must have been leaping for joy as to what the Lord did. But it was short lived. It was great what Jesus did for us. But only one of them was really overwhelmed in gratitude. And only one of them, we're told, returned to thank the Lord. Look in verse 15. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, he could see it, his skin was getting its color back and who knows what other miraculous things were taking place in his body. He saw that he was healed and he turned back. And with a loud voice he glorified God and fell. Now notice the nouns and the pronouns here. He glorified God and he fell down at his face, on his face, the leper's face, and at his feet. He glorified God and fell down at his feet. Now he was going back to Jesus here. You know, usually the closest Antecedent is the most likely, and it's very easy to see in this the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. This leper who recognized the authority that Jesus had now saw that his body had been healed supernaturally and miraculously because of the word of the Lord Jesus. And he returns and he bows down to him as God and worships him. And Jesus accepted the worship. You know, there were some, like Cornelius, who came to Peter and fell down and tried to worship Peter and said, rise, get up, I'm just a man, don't worship me. The leper who came, the former leper who came, was a Samaritan. And here, he seemed to understand who Jesus was. He recognized his authority, and he fell down to worship him. And I have to say that kind of worship must have been so heartfelt and sincere. And my understanding here is that he put his faith in the Lord Jesus and was saved. He really understood who Christ was. And notice that we're told here this man was a leper, this man was a Samaritan. A Samaritan? The Jews and Gentiles were, Jews and Samaritans were not on friendly terms. Socially or religiously, there was no interaction, no fellowship between them. Remember what the woman at the well said, the Samaritan woman at the well, when Jesus spoke to her? She said to him, how is it that thou, being a Jew, askest a drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. You know, when the religious leaders wanted to slander Jesus in the eyes of the people, they called him a Samaritan. They said, aren't thou not a Samaritan and hast a devil? They said he was a demonically inspired Samaritan. And throughout the ministry of the Lord Jesus, as it was becoming more and more clear that the Jewish people were rejecting him, we see the faith of Gentiles and half-Jews and Samaritans coming to the surface, and the Lord Jesus praising them and highlighting them as he rebuked and cursed the cities of Jerusalem. Capernaum, thou art cast down to the ground. The judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah will be easier than yours. And yet he's praising this Samaritan whom the Jews hated. Jesus used their bias and hatred between Jews and Gentiles, and it was mutual, to highlight his love for all mankind. And so here we have a healed Samaritan leper One of ten that were healed. And it says, he came giving him thanks. And that's a present tense meaning he just kept on thanking him and thanking him and praising the Lord. Now the other nine, they didn't come. They kept going on their way. You know why? They wanted to have the sacrifices offered for them so they could be pronounced ceremonially clean so they could go back into society and live their old lives again. But this man came back to thank Jesus. He was the only one. And he just kept on thanking Him. Imagine being there and seeing that. This man just, thank you, Lord, thank you. He was just gushing with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. And you know, that's what really pleases God. Sure, the sacrifices had to be offered, but what really pleases God is when hearts are thankful and grateful and people praise the Lord for His goodness. Psalm 107 says, let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing. That's what pleases the Lord, a thankful heart. Now, a sacrifice offered to God, apart from a thankful heart, is just empty worship. Dead works, going through a ritual. That's what supposedly the nine were about to do. In Psalm 51 it says about the Lord, For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. That's what God wants. a heart that's broken. And it says in the book of Hebrews, by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. That's what truly pleases the Lord and we can see in this little story that that's what pleased the Lord Jesus. This one man who was healed and he came back and he was just gushing out with thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. And then notice the response of Jesus in verse 17. And Jesus answering said, weren't there 10 cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that return to give glory to God save this stranger, a foreigner. None of the Jewish men came back, just this foreigner. And he said unto him, to the healed Samaritan leper. Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. So in response to the praise and thanksgiving of the Samaritan, Jesus immediately asked, where are the other nine? They were healed just like you were. The Lord instantly recognized the lack of gratitude. in those who received from Him, but didn't come back to thank Him. And that lack of gratitude for what Jesus did for them was really, at this point in the ministry of the Lord Jesus, a reflection of the attitude of the whole nation of Israel towards Christ. He had been ministering to them and healing them and feeding multitudes and walking about doing good for three and a half years all throughout the land. And the nation wasn't thankful. Instead, they were ready to chant, let him be crucified. The nation had rejected their Messiah. Three and a half years, Jesus walked to all the cities and villages all throughout the land, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing the sick and raising the dead and doing good deeds for all of them. And the nation was not thankful for his ministry. They did not respond to the ministry of Christ in faith and obedience as this Samaritan leper did. So Jesus commented here about the Jews, the nine Jews that were healed. They were ministered to Jesus, but they didn't give him glory. And the only one that gave him glory was a stranger, a foreigner, an outcast, the one the Jews despised. Israel didn't want Jesus to reign over them as their king. And you know, like the nine who did not return to give thanks to Jesus, there are millions, billions of people in the world today, unsaved men all around the globe, who receive blessings from God, physical blessings from God, every single day. and they choose not to be thankful or glorify God for it. God's mercy is shown worldwide to men in every nation, every city, every little village around the globe, every day. And it's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Jesus said, He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good. He sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. God blesses all men indiscriminately every day. Food and air to breathe and good health and water, rain and sunshine. Luke writes in Acts 14, nevertheless, he left not himself without a witness in that he did good. He gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. God provides all of that for everybody around the world, and very few give him glory for it. Psalm 145 says, the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works, globally. And yet, Paul writes in Romans chapter 1, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, and their foolish hearts were darkened. And so what's right at the top of that awful fall of the Gentile world into total depravity? A refusal to glorify God and thank him for the simple, basic things of life. That was the fountainhead of it all in Romans chapter one, a lack of simple gratitude. You know, the nine who were healed, they were rejoicing when they saw that they were healed. They loved getting a blessing from God, just like so many loved it when Jesus gave them free bread or he healed their uncle or they healed them. They loved getting things from God, but they weren't grateful to God. And in verse 19 of Luke 17, the Lord sent this grateful Samaritan on his way. And he said unto him, arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. Now, a literal translation of this, thy faith hath made thee whole, is thy faith hath saved thee. The word whole is the word for saved. And it could be, evidently the King James translators understood it to mean a salvation or a deliverance from their physical disease. And it certainly would incorporate that. But I take it to mean this man was really saved. He believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and he demonstrated by his grateful heart. And then once he did that, the Lord sent him on his way back to the priest, because that's what the law required. Just like the other nine, they were healed of their leprosy. They had to be ceremonially clean. They had to go through the rituals, offer the sacrifices and all the rest. The Samaritan leper. received a healing from his leprosy. But much more importantly, his sins were washed away. He was healed in his soul. You know, it's one thing to be externally ceremonially cleaned by a human priest. That's what the other nine healed lepers were going to receive. It's something That's far better to be saved by our great high priest. The other nine now had good physical health and they were rejoicing in their health, but they were going to get sick again one day and die and face the second death, eternal death. The Samaritan was given the blessing of physical health. He was healed. But more importantly, now he had eternal life. Simple lesson for us. If God has saved us, he expects thanksgiving. He expects a grateful heart. He expects praise and thanksgiving from every one of us, not just on one Thursday in November, but this should be the norm for the believer every day. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift, so great salvation. Thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. God expects thanksgiving. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. You know, if God gives us a gift, he expects us to be grateful. Don't ever cease from being thankful for our salvation. These lepers were not thankful. They received from God, but they didn't thank God. Tracy, have you ever ministered to someone medically on the field and they never said thank you? Yeah, probably. Have you ever had people come back and profusely thank you or the mother thank you for what you did? Yeah, that happens. Not everybody is grateful for what God does, even in the simple earthly things. How much more should we be grateful for what we have in Christ? So many blessings, members of the body of Christ, the indwelling Holy Spirit, the life of Christ is in us. The power of the resurrection is available to us. We're citizens of heaven. We've been raised into heavenly places. We have eternal security. We have rewards in heaven. We've all been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We have so much to be grateful for. Let's not be like the nine. Don't ever lose the wonder of it all, of our salvation. that Jesus loved us and died for us so that his blood would be able to wash away our sins. Don't ever forget the most fundamental, the most basic, the most wonderful, and the most important blessing of all is eternal life, the salvation of our souls. We should be eternally grateful for what God has done. One songwriter was He wrote a simple hymn, thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation so rich and free. And may that kind of gratitude characterize our lives as believers in Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for Simple lessons of gratitude, but important to you. Help us, Lord, not to get caught up in the busyness of life and to be distracted from our relationship to Christ, that we might be grateful, that we might be thanking and praising you for all the blessings in spite of the trials and the headaches and the sorrows of life in a cursed earth, we have so much to be thankful for. Help us, Lord, to be a grateful people. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.