Were There Not Ten? | Sunday, November 10, 2024

Amen. Praise God. Thank you, Anthony and team. Good morning, Cross Connection. You guys can have a seat. Welcome to Cross Connection Church this morning. I am so glad that you are here.

I was reading this morning in Psalm 136, which opens with the words, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of gods, for His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy endures forever." That is what we do when we gather together here on Sunday mornings: we give praise and thanks to God.

A couple of times in the songs we sang this morning, the word "Hallelujah" came out. That may not be a familiar word to you; it is a Hebrew word that means "praise be to God." It is not just a statement but a call to invite people into praising the Lord. Built into the concept of Hallelujah is the idea of giving thanks to God, which is what we want to do this morning and throughout this month.

As this is the month of November, and the end of this month brings the holiday of Thanksgiving, we wanted to spend some time focusing on the subject of gratitude. Some of you have signed up for Pastor Mark's Thankful 30 campaign. Every single day this month, there is an email that goes out every morning with a video from Pastor Mark and a short devotion on giving thanks. More than a hundred of you have signed up for that, and I hope that it is a blessing.

In addition to that, we are doing a series this month that I am calling "In Everything Give Thanks." Those words come right out of what Paul wrote to the new Christians at a newly established church 2,000 years ago in the ancient city of Greece called Thessalonica. He said in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." It is God's will that we have hearts and spirits of gratitude and that we give thanks to God.

I am absolutely convinced that gratitude and thanksgiving are some of the keys to happiness. Since every single person we know is ultimately seeking happiness, it is important to recognize this. Blaise Pascal, the great French philosopher and theologian, said, "All men seek happiness." This is true of every individual. They may seek it and think that they find it in different areas, but everybody is in pursuit of happiness, which is a core feature of our culture and our nation. There are a lot of people trying to...

Many people believe that joy and happiness can be found in attaining financial wealth and security, or in achieving a certain business or political position. However, the fascinating thing is that often, those who reach these levels of what we deem as success come to realize, and even testify, that it did not bring them the fulfillment they expected. Great philosophers of our day express this sentiment, saying things like, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" and "I can't get no satisfaction." You may not have realized that songwriters are the philosophers of our time, but they truly are, identifying a reality that we are all seeking something, yet we can't seem to grasp it.

If we can identify some truths and principles from the Scriptures that reveal where fullness of joy comes from, we can better understand this pursuit. As I shared last week, and will continue to share in the future, one of Jesus's aims is that we would experience fullness of joy. In John's Gospel, He says, "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full." He desires for us to experience this fullness of joy, which is part of the reason He calls us to give thanks and express gratitude.

As I mentioned last week, national radio talk show host and author Dennis Prager wrote a book years ago titled "Happiness is a Serious Problem." He stated that there is indeed a secret to happiness, and that secret is gratitude. All happy people are grateful, while ungrateful people cannot be happy. We often think that being unhappy leads people to complain, but it is more accurate to say that complaining leads to unhappiness. You probably know a few people who are chronic complainers, and for some reason, they seem to be perpetually unhappy. Complaining does not help; instead, becoming grateful can lead to a much happier life. I believe Dennis Prager is right about this.

This month, we are celebrating a holiday dedicated to giving thanks, and I hope we can focus our attention on the subject of gratitude every single day. One of the things we can be thankful for is another holiday tomorrow: Veterans Day. As a nation, we are grateful for those who gave their lives to ensure that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today.

We pursue happiness as we do, and we are very grateful for those who served in our military. Tomorrow is Veterans Day, and I hope that you remember those who have served. If you have served in the military, would you mind standing this morning? Any of our military members in here? Thank you very much. We are grateful.

Today is also the 249th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. We do like our Marines, especially here in San Diego County. God desires, as expressed in the words of Jesus in John's Gospel, "I have spoken these words to you that my joy might remain in you and your joy might be full." He desires our fullness of joy, which I think He would even refer to as the Abundant Life. This is one of the reasons for which Jesus came to this world: to help us come into the fullness of Abundant Life.

Some of you are in business and hold executive positions where you work with a team to determine your objectives for the year or the next five years. You develop purpose statements and objective goals. Jesus, when He came, speaks very clearly a number of times in the Scriptures, explicitly outlining His purpose for coming. One of His purposes was to bring Abundant Life. He says it like this in John's Gospel, chapter 10, verse 10: "The thief has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy, but I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly," or that you might have it to the full.

God desires that we, in Christ Jesus, would experience fullness of joy. That's part of the reason that I think He wills our gratitude, because gratitude and Thanksgiving are keys to happiness. "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you," as stated in 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

With all of these things as the backdrop, we are looking at passages this month in this series on gratitude and Thanksgiving that present some principles and truths from the Scriptures about the subject of Thanksgiving and gratitude. When I think about passages in the Bible that deal with this, the passage we are going to look at today comes to mind right at the top of the list, because there are certain passages in the Bible where the point of the passage is so clear.

It is obvious and clear that you just cannot miss it, and I think that's what we find in Luke's Gospel. If you would take out your Bibles this morning, open to about the middle of your Bible, and start turning to the right, eventually you'll pass the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We are going to be in John's Gospel, chapter 17. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and an usher will bring you one.

We will be in Luke's Gospel, chapter 17, beginning at verse 11. I'm going to ask you to stand, and I will read through the section that we're going to look at today. Then we'll backtrack and go through it to see some of the truths that God has for us in this passage.

In Luke 17:11, we read, "Now it happened as Jesus went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. They lifted up their voices and said, 'Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.' So when He saw them, He said to them, 'Go, show yourselves to the priests.' And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned and with a loud voice glorified God. He fell down on his face at the feet of Jesus, giving Him thanks, and he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, 'Were there not ten who were cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except for this foreigner?' And He said to him, 'Arise, go your way; your faith has made you well.'

God, I pray as we consider this text of Scripture this morning in light of the concept of gratitude and Thanksgiving, that You would continue to do a work in our hearts and in our minds, transforming us. That's exactly what the Scriptures say that You do by Your Spirit and by Your Word. You transform us by the renewing of our minds so that we would be able to live and walk in Your will.

I pray that You would continue to do that work in each of us. God, make us more and more into the likeness of Your sons and daughters. Transform us in such a way that our lives begin to reflect Your glory to a world that is in such desperate need of Your light and Your truth. So God, speak to us from this text.

Change us, we pray, for we ask this today in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, "Amen." Amen. You can be seated.

As I said, I love this passage of Scripture because it is one of those sections where the point becomes so obvious as you go through it that it's almost impossible to miss. However, in moving towards that point, there are also a number of great truths that we can glean along the way.

Beginning right there at the opening words, the first three words of the passage in verse 11 say, "Now it happened." In those simple words, "Now it happened," is an important reminder for you and me that these are not fictional stories; these are actual events that took place. The city where Jesus was is not named, and the individuals that He interacts with are unknown to us. However, the interaction that takes place here and the way in which these individual lives were impacted and transformed by the life and ministry of Jesus actually occurred.

It is so good for us to recognize that the life and ministry of Jesus powerfully impacted individuals 2,000 years ago. The very fact that you are here this morning is a reminder that the life and ministry of Jesus continues to impact and transform people's lives today. It is an awesome thing to consider.

Every single one of you, though you may not think so, has trusted in Christ, and His life has so transformed you that you have an awesome testimony—a story to tell, like the story we find here in this passage of Scripture of a life transformed.

I understand that some of you may have grown up like me, within the church, and you don't have one of those crazy testimonies where people sit there and think, "That didn't really happen." But some of you do have those crazy testimonies, and I know this because I know some of you. Regardless, every one of us has a story of the way in which the life and ministry of Jesus has transformed us.

It is a great thing for you to recognize and realize that you can share that with other people as a validation of the truth of the testimony of Jesus. His life and ministry still impact and transform people today. One of the most awesome illustrations of this has happened just in the last six or so months in our own nation. It has been playing out in the online social media channels, where there is an individual you might know of; his name is...

Russell Brand definitely had some issues in the past. He has a significant history filled with various problems. However, earlier this year, it seems that he had an encounter with Christ, and his life has been radically transformed.

There are some skeptics who say he is only doing this to try to increase his platform, to cover up for his past horrible deeds, or to make money. But if you watch some of the things he is saying—I've come across a number of videos, as well as others that people have sent to me—it is phenomenal to see the transformation. Once again, we are reminded that the life and ministry of Christ radically transforms individuals, not just thousands of years ago, but at this very moment today. It is a beautiful thing to see that God still has the power to work in the lives of people around us.

It's important for us to recognize this as we see it happening in others or as we notice it happening in ourselves. Additionally, we should understand that this truth applies to those we know and interact with—maybe they are in your family, work with you, or live in your neighborhood. You might think, "That guy is a problem, and there’s no possible way anything could transform that individual." I guarantee you, God can still transform that person. I encourage you to pray towards that end.

Sometimes, those are the kinds of people we avoid, like the individuals we see in this passage. However, we need to recognize that God wants to reach them and still has the power to do so in an awesome way. You are a testament to that, and individuals like Russell Brand are a testimony to that as well. The individuals we find in this text this morning are examples of that too.

It says, "Now it happened as Jesus went to Jerusalem." One of the things that becomes clear as you read through the Gospels is that Jesus had a very clear focus about what he intended to accomplish. As I mentioned, there are several places in the Gospels where Jesus explicitly shares what his mission is. For instance, in John 10:10, he says, "I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly." In Luke 19, he states, "I have come to seek and to save that which is lost." In Mark's Gospel, he says, "I have come to give my life a ransom for many." There are numerous places where Jesus articulates exactly what his goal and purpose were, and what's fascinating...

At a certain point in His roughly three to three and a half year ministry, Jesus began to be very explicit in sharing with His disciples what His intended outcome or goal was. He started to say to them, "Listen, I am on this very clear mission. We are going to Jerusalem, and when we get to Jerusalem, the Son of Man"—He was speaking about Himself—"is going to be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they are going to put Him to death."

Now, Jesus's disciples had a hard time with that. They did not like it. In fact, one of them, Peter, got in His face at one point and said, "This will not happen." If you call Jesus Lord and say, "Lord, You will not do this," there is a kind of power dynamic that shifts, and Peter was not in the best place. In fact, Jesus said to him, "Get behind me, Satan," when Peter said, "You will not do this."

But Jesus had a very clear goal: "I am going to Jerusalem, and I will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and I will be crucified." He also told them, "On the third day, I will rise again." For some reason, they missed that part, even though He told them this at least three times in the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Luke says that Jesus set His face like flint toward Jerusalem. That is a very poetic way of saying that He had a goal or a purpose that He was focused on, and He would not be distracted or deterred from it.

He was heading in this direction toward Jerusalem, and yet, even though He was moving toward this goal and had a purpose, He never overlooked the needs of those who sought Him out. I don't know about you, but I can sometimes get into a frame of mind where I am so fixed on whatever goal or objective I need to accomplish that I tend to completely miss anything else that comes in, getting a little frustrated and angered by any sort of distraction from that. None of you are anything like that, so you can pray for me because I have this problem.

But it is awesome to see that Jesus had this clear intended outcome or focus, and yet He did not overlook the needs of those who sought Him out. His example in this is so encouraging to me. It reminds me that there is never a time we come before Jesus that He is too busy. But it is also challenging.

This is instructive to me because there are more than a few times when I find myself feeling too busy for certain things. There have been frequent events where I think I don't have time for this, and within like 15 or 20 minutes of having that sentiment, I feel a little knock on my heart from the Lord. It's as if He is asking, "Are you sure you're too busy for this? Maybe I actually would like you to deviate from your plan." It is so hard for me to do that, and yet Jesus never overlooked the needs of those who sought Him out. This means He will never be too busy for us. In fact, Hebrews chapter 11 says that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. I would encourage you to be a diligent seeker of the Lord and know that He is not going to turn you away as you seek Him and reach out to Him.

Jesus is on a mission; He is on His way to Jerusalem. We are told in this section of Scripture that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Samaria is the region in Israel, both today and then, just south of the region of Galilee, as one would make their way to Jerusalem. Every Jewish individual, if they were to be faithful to the faith of their fathers, was to go to Jerusalem at least three times a year for three feasts to offer gratitude and thanks to God. If they were living in Galilee, which many people did because it was the fruitful part of the nation, they would have to go through Samaria to get to Jerusalem.

However, Jews and Samaritans did not get along. In fact, it would probably be an understatement to say that they did not get along. The Scriptures say that Jews hated Samaritans. There was intense racial and ethnic division between Jews and Samaritans. Jews looked at Samaritans as lower than Gentiles; they were considered worse, and they didn't like Gentiles either. The animosity towards Samaritans was so strong that the most faithful Jews would go out of their way to cross east of the Jordan River, which split the nation, and then go around Samaria to reach Jerusalem. They believed that just to get the dirt of Samaria on them would make them unclean. It's kind of the way I feel about Los Angeles; I would go around Los Angeles as well.

Much as I possibly can, if I'm going to Santa Barbara or Northern California, I just want to go around it completely. I don't want to have to go through it, mostly because of traffic. But it's kind of the same idea.

A few times in the Gospels, Jesus goes right into Samaria, and He goes into Samaria clearly for a reason. At one point, He meets with a woman at the well in John chapter 4 and ministers in a town called Sychar, which was one of the towns of Samaria. He would go where other people would not go; He would go to the people that others would intentionally avoid—those that they would identify as individuals they never interact with. He goes and ministers to them.

This is instructive, but it's also challenging. It's encouraging, but it's convicting that Jesus went to those people that others would avoid. It's also something for us to be thankful for.

Point number one, if you're taking notes: Jesus moves toward those others would avoid. This is really good news because you may have been, or maybe you still are, the person that others would avoid. Jesus moved toward those whom others would avoid. There are probably some people in your life that you would just assume avoid. Some of you had a person that came to mind just now. Might I challenge you? It may be that that's the very person or group of people that God might want you to reach with His grace—those whom you would just assume avoid.

But Jesus moved toward those others would avoid. We are told that He entered a certain village; we don't know the name of it. As He was coming into the village, there met Him, outside the village, ten men who were lepers.

Now, leprosy in the Bible is a category of illness that covered a number of different diseases. There is a disease still in our time, though we don't experience it so much here in our nation. In other places, it is more commonly seen and is called leprosy. It's connected, I believe, to a condition called Hansen's disease. In the Bible, leprosy was an umbrella category for an illness that would often be seen.

Physically, those who thought they had leprosy would not go to a physician; they would go to the priest. The priest would assess and inspect their bodies to see if they indeed had this condition. If it was determined by the priest that you had leprosy, it was considered to be incurable and clearly contagious. You were then set outside of society, with no interaction with people. You could no longer go to your home, enter a village, or go into a city. Certainly, you could not go into the temple. You became ostracized and an outcast. The only people you could associate with were those who also had the same condition.

Many times, they would gather together, as these ten lepers did. Even today, there are places known as leper colonies, which have existed throughout history, where these individuals would congregate. They would basically wait out the time until this disease, which was so frequently terminal, would take their lives. These individuals had no human contact or interaction, especially not touch from anyone other than people who were just like them. They were the outcasts. If ever there was a person that you would stay away from, it was a leper.

It was upon the lepers to ensure they did not come into contact with others. They had to dress in a way that made it very clear to other people to stay away from them. Many times, if someone approached them, they would cover their face or mouth and say, "Unclean! You can't get close to me."

Now, Jesus is met outside this village by ten individuals who were lepers. They knew their place; the text says that they stood afar off. They were the outcasts, the ones from whom people purposefully stayed away. Over time, they became blind to them; they were the missed ones. But Jesus does not miss them. He was not blind to them, and He did not avoid them.

As we learn later in the text, one of these lepers was a Samaritan. Presumably, the other nine were Jewish individuals. This man was doubly an outcast, at least as far as the Jews were concerned. They hated the Samaritans and would use the term "Samaritan" as a term of derision to apply to someone they despised. So, this man was a Samaritan—strike number one.

Leper strike number two. These individuals come to see Jesus; they stand afar off, but they cry out. They lift up their voices together and say, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." This right here is what we would call the petition or the prayer of faith, and it recognizes three very important things.

First, they recognize the person of Jesus. They identify this person, Jesus; there is something special about Him. Second, they acknowledge the position of Jesus. They call Him "Master," or in the original language, the Greek word "Kyrios," which means "Lord." Jesus, you are Lord. They recognize His person, they recognize His position, but they also recognize His power when they say, "Have mercy on us."

I began this morning by directing your attention to Psalm 136, where it says, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His mercy endures forever." In every single verse of that Psalm, it ends with those words: "His mercy endures forever." Here are these individuals, social outcasts, isolated far from all people, kept out from everything of the daily life of the Jewish people in that day. One individual, who we find is a Samaritan, is doubly outcast. They stand afar and say, "Jesus, Lord, have mercy upon us." They do not hold back; they lift up their voices together and seek from Him what only He has the power to give them.

In this petition, in this prayer of faith, I am reminded of the words of James the Apostle in his New Testament letter, where he says, "The prayer of faith will heal the sick." Here they come to Jesus, trusting that He alone can help them. No medicine has been able to help them; the religious rituals haven't been able to help them; the priesthood has not been able to help them. Only You, Jesus, can help us.

So, verse 14 says, "When He saw them, He said to them, 'Go show yourselves to the priests.'" Point number two, if you're taking notes: Jesus sees and answers those who call to Him in faith. Those whom many of the people in His day would have looked down upon, avoided, or just been blind to—Jesus sees them. This is such a good encouragement for us because maybe you have felt like, in your...

In life, you may feel like the one that people overlook or the outcast. However, Jesus sees you. He sees and answers those who call to Him by faith. He says to them, "Go show yourselves to the priest."

On at least two other occasions in the Gospels, Jesus had interactions with lepers who were seeking healing, and in both instances, He says exactly the same thing as He does here: "Go show yourself to the priest." Why? As I mentioned previously, if you thought that you might have leprosy, you would go and appear before the priest, who would inspect and determine whether you had it. If it was determined that you might or do have this disease, you would set yourself apart. Only if the skin condition cleared up would you come back to the priest and say, "Inspect, it's gone away." With great joy, you would do so.

Then, after inspecting, if the priest determined that you did not have leprosy and that the skin condition had gone away, they would offer an offering to God and reintroduce you back into social life. So, Jesus says to these ten individuals who have leprosy, as they beg for His mercy, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." He responds, "Go show yourselves to the priest."

As they set out to do this, verse 14 says, "And so it was, as they went, they were cleansed." These ten lepers had enough faith to cry out to Jesus for His healing, but they also had enough faith to follow His command when He said, "Go and show yourself to the priest."

Now, when they started on their journey, the text seems to imply that they were not yet healed. It would feel like a futile endeavor; they were headed to the priest, and clearly, they were not cleansed. It might have seemed like a foolish thing to do, as they could have thought they would just get turned around. Yet, they still went. They had faith enough to come to Jesus, and they also had enough faith to obey Him and do what He said.

Here’s the amazing thing: there are actually a lot of people in this world who have enough faith, from time to time, when difficulties arise, to call out to Jesus for help. Yet, among those multitudes of people who, at some difficult time, call out to Jesus for help, it is a much smaller group that actually steps out to obey His word when He gives it to them.

But these individuals called out to Him by faith and followed what He commanded them to do. What is it called when someone does what Jesus tells them to do? It's called obedience.

Point number three: genuine faith in Christ produces obedience to Christ. We don't know if the healing of these ten lepers was dependent upon their obedience, but we do know that they experienced healing as they obeyed. I am willing to bet that their healing was not dependent upon their obedience because we see one individual in this story who ultimately does not go to the priests; instead, he comes back to Jesus. However, he still experienced healing.

It is fascinating to note that these individuals experienced healing as they were obeying the Lord. They were cleansed as they obeyed.

Now, finally, we come to the main focus of what I wanted to zero in on this morning in verses 15 and 16. One of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned and with a loud voice glorified God. He fell down on his face at the feet of Jesus, giving Him thanks. The Greek verb for giving thanks is "Eucharist," and he was a Samaritan.

All ten obeyed the command of Jesus to go, but only one returned to Jesus to give thanks to Him. Is it possible that only 10% of those who experience God's blessing return? I mean, I don't know if we have to extrapolate this out in such a way that we take it completely literally and just say that it's only ever 10% who come. It's probably wrong to say that, but I think it is true to say that there are many more who experience God's blessing and goodness who do not give Him thanks.

In fact, the Scriptures say every good and perfect gift comes from God. Everything that you have, your neighbor has, and your family members have—all people in this world have experienced the common grace and goodness of God. Every good and perfect gift comes from God. The rain falls on the just and the unjust; the sun shines on the just and the unjust. The common grace of God is given to all people, but not all people acknowledge and recognize that God has given it.

Blessed them. Not all people return to give Him joyful praise and gratitude for what He has given to all ten of these individuals. They wallowed in their illness together, but only one of them came and worshiped Him in his wellness. The rest of them did not.

It brings to mind a word from the great Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon. He said the number of those who pray is far greater than the number of those who praise. Let us chastise ourselves as we acknowledge that we offer so much more prayer than praise. Far more people in this world bring God petitions and pray in their low times and difficult times, but then, when times change and get better, they do not often return to bring God praise.

What’s amazing is that nine of these ten individuals still offered religious ritual. You can be certain that if they went to the priest, they offered a sacrifice and were reintroduced into Jewish social life. So, they did the religious thing, but they did not come back to Christ to give Him joyful praise and adoration. The number of those who received the blessing is greater than the number of those who often praise and give thanks to God for the blessing.

Here, the one man who returned was a Samaritan. He was among that group of people who were looked down upon, avoided, and considered to be worse than dogs, worse than Gentiles. Yet, this one came back to Jesus. Those who would have been expected to recognize the glory of God in Jesus—the Jewish individuals, we presume the other nine were Jewish—did not return to offer Him praise. And yet, this one came to Jesus.

In verses 17 and 18, Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten who were cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except for this foreigner?"

Point number four: this one is a challenge for me. God acknowledges gratitude and ingratitude. I kind of wish that Jesus didn't notice when we're not thankful, but He notices. He acknowledged the gratitude of this man who was down at His feet.

Worshiping and praising Him, He also noticed and acknowledged those who didn't show up and who didn't bring Him praise. He acknowledges gratitude and ingratitude. As I said previously, every good and perfect gift comes from God. We all are the recipients of God's common grace, the blessings that we have in this life. However, far fewer are those who receive those blessings and return to God with gratitude. God takes note.

The prophet Malachi is the last of the Old Testament prophets, right before the New Testament. In Malachi 3:6, he says that God records, almost as in a book, the times when His people praise and worship Him. He takes note of the things that we say glorifying Him, and the implication of the Scriptures is that He also takes note when we don't. There is a judgment spoken to those who do not have gratitude or thanksgiving, those who are ingrates. We find this in Romans chapter 1. It says in verse 18 that the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. His wrath is revealed upon them because what may be known of God is revealed to them, and God has shown it to them.

Since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even God's eternal power and His godhead, so that man is without excuse. Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful. God notices this, and there will be a judgment that comes upon ingratitude. It is a heavy thing to consider.

Now, these other nine experienced the blessing of God; they experienced healing from their leprosy and were presumably reintroduced back into Jewish social life after they went to the priest. But this one came to Jesus, put himself on the ground at Jesus's feet, and praised Him as God. Jesus had something more for him than just physical healing.

Look at the last verse, verse 19. Jesus said to him, "Arise, go your way; your faith has made you well." The King James Version says, "Your faith..."

Has made you whole. It seems that there was a greater measure of blessing given to this one who came and gave Jesus praise and gratitude for the gift of healing that he had received than that which the other nine had received.

Point number five, and I'll wrap it up: Jesus brings wholeness to those who praise the glory of His grace. He wants you to experience wholeness as you give Him praise and thanksgiving. I want to encourage you, as I wrap things up this morning, to maybe take some time today or this week. Set aside a time; it doesn't have to be a long time. Maybe it's just 5, 10, or 15 minutes to sit down by yourself. Take a pencil or a pen and a pad of paper, and ask the Lord. Write down at the top of that, "What do I have to be thankful for?" Spend a few minutes writing down what you have to be thankful for.

There are some things here in this text that I see that apply to us and that we could be thankful for. Number one, Jesus passes through Samaria. He goes where other people don't want to go. Why? Because He draws near to those who are infirmed and sick because of sin. He has mercy upon those who cry out to Him. He cleanses sinners; that's good news. He receives outsiders, and He blesses those who are grateful. Those are some things to be thankful about.

But I guarantee you, you have dozens, if not hundreds, of other things that, if you spent some time—even if it was just a few minutes writing those things down—you might begin to see that you have been blessed with many things beyond just God's common grace. You've been blessed with great things that could not be anything other than supernatural grace.

May it be that as we begin to see these things, we give thanks to God. Our thanksgiving to God acknowledges His greatness, testifies of His goodness, glorifies His grace, amplifies His glory, exalts His throne, and invites His blessing. I don't think there's a single person here this morning who does not want to experience more of God's blessing. I suggest that one of the keys to it is gratitude.

God, help us. God, help me to be a grateful, thankful person. Let's stand together; we're going to close in prayer. Father God, I pray that You would do a...

Work in me first, Lord, that I would notice the ways in which You have blessed and been good to me. I confess it's so easy for me to get busy and distracted by all the different things that are often good things. However, in doing the good things, I can fail to come and sit at Your feet and bring You joyful rejoicing and praise.

So, God, would You remind me today and throughout this week of some of the great things that You have done? Remind me of the awesome ways in which You've given me Your grace and Your mercy. Stir my heart just as the psalmist sought to do in Psalm 136: "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever."

God, we thank You for Your grace, for Your mercy, and for Your kindness towards us. We certainly don't deserve it, but You have poured it out upon us in abundance. Would You stir us to be a grateful people? We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.